THE GREAT MIRACLE.
So soon as news arrived in the winter palace that an English fleet was
under steam for the Polar seas, the War Office set to work in the
usual way; sending out arms and men; such arms and men as could be
found and spared in these northern towns. Six old siege-guns, fit for
a museum, were shipped from Archangel to the convent, with five
artillerymen, and fifty troopers of the line, selected from the
Invalid Corps. An officer came with these forces to conduct the
defense.
Just as the English ships were entering on their task this officer
died (June, 1854); no doubt by the hand of God, in order to rebuke the
pride of man, while adding fresh lustre to the auriol of His saints.
The arm of flesh having failed, the fathers threw themselves on the
only power that can never fail.
Father Alexander, then the Archimandrite, ordered a series of services
to be held in the several chapels within the walls. A special office
was appointed for Sunday, with a separate appeal to Heaven for
guidance; first in the name of the Most Sweet Infant Jesus; afterwards
in that of the Most Pure Mother of God. Midnight services were also
given; the effect of which is said to have been great and strange;
firing the monks with a new and wonderful spirit of confidence in
their cause. The Archimandrite sang mass in person before the tombs of
Savatie and Zosima, in the crypt of the cathedral church, and also
before the miracle-working picture of the Virgin brought by Savatie to
his desert. This picture--so important in the story--came from Greece.
The service sung before it filled the monks with gladness; warmth and
comfort flowed from the Madonna's face; and her adorers felt
themselves conquerors, in her name, before the English warships hove
in sight.
In their first trouble, the copes and missals, charters and jewels,
had been sent away into the inland towns. This act of doubt occurred
before the officer died, and the monks had taken upon themselves the
burden of defense. To those who carried away the cups and crosses,
robes and books, the Archimandrite gave his blessing and his counsel.
"Know," he said to them at parting, "that, whether you be on sea or
land, every Friday we shall be fasting and praying for you; do you the
same; and God will preserve the things which belong to His service,
and which you are carrying away; follow my commands, and come back to
me in a better time, sound in health, with the things of which you go
in charge." When news came in that English ships were cruising off the
bar of Archangel, some of the brethren fainted; "left by the Emperor,"
they sighed, "to be made a sacrifice for his sins." Ten days before
the squadron came in sight, the Archimandrite held a service in his
church, to encourage these feeble souls; and when his prayers were
ended, he addressed them thus: "Grieve not that the defense seems weak
while the foe is strong. Rely upon our Lord, upon His Most Pure
Mother, upon the two excellent saints who have promised that this
convent shall endure forever. Jesus will perform a miracle, for their
sake, such as the world has never seen." A ray of comfort stole into
their hearts; and rolling out barrels of pitch and tar, they smeared
the wooden shingles of wall and tower, filled pails of water in
readiness to drench out fires, and took down from the convent armory
the rusty pikes and bills which had been lying up since the attack of
Swedish ships in the days of Peter the Great.
A hundred texts were found to show that these old weapons could be
used again, even as the arms of David were used once more by the Lion
of Judah in defense of Solomon's shrine. Young children came into the
monastery from Kem and Suma, vowed by their fathers to the cause of
God; and many old pikes and bills were put into these infant hands.
"The fire of your ships," said one of the monks, "did not frighten
these innocents, who played with the shells as though they had been
harmless toys." Not a child was hurt.
When the fleet was signalled from the outlooks, Alexander spoke to his
brethren after meat: "Have a good heart," he cried; "we are not weak,
as we appear; for God is on our side. If we were saved by an army,
where would be our credit? With the soldiery, with the world! What
would be our gain? But if by prayer alone we drive the squadron from
our shores, the glory will belong to our convent and our faith. Have a
good heart! Slava Bogu--Glory to God!"
On Tuesday morning (July 18th, 1854) the watchers signalled two
frigates, which were rounding Beluga Point: the Archimandrite
proclaimed a three days' fast. The two frigates anchored seven miles
from the shore: the Archimandrite ordered the convent bell to toll for
a special service to the Most Pure Mother of God. Like a Hebrew king,
he took off his gorgeous robes, and, humbling himself before the
fathers, read a prayer in front of the tombs of Savatie and Zosima,
and, taking down the miraculous picture of the Virgin, marched with it
in procession round the walls. Then--but not till then--the frigates
sailed away.
As the ships steamed off towards Kem, it was feared they might still
come back; and Ensign Niconovitch, commanding the Company of Invalids,
went out to survey the shores, dragging two three-pounder guns through
the sand; while many of the pilgrims and workmen offered their
services as scouts. Niconovitch built a battery of sods and sand,
behind which he trained his guns; and eight small pieces were laid
upon the towers and walls, after which the fathers fell once more to
prayer.
Next day a trail of smoke was seen in the summer sky. The two ships,
soon known to them as the "Brisk" and the "Miranda," steamed into the
bay. The "Brisk," say the monks, was the first to speak, and she
opened her parley with a rattling shot. Standing on the quay, the
Archimandrite was nearly struck by a ball, and his people, frightened
at the crashing roar, ran up into the convent yard, and tried to close
behind them the Sacred Gates.
A petty officer, one Drushlevski, having charge of ten men and a gun
in the Weaver's Tower, returned the fire; on which the English frigate
is said to have opened her broadside on the tower and wall.
Drushlevski took up her challenge; but with aim and prudence, having
very little powder in his casks. The "Brisk," they say, fired thirty
rounds, while the officer in the Weaver's Tower discharged his gun
three times. The English then sheered off; a shot from the convent gun
having struck her side, and killed a man.
That night was spent in joy and prayer. The Archimandrite kissed
Drushlevski, and gave his blessing to every gunner in the Weaver's
Tower. When night came on--the summer night of the Frozen Sea--the
frigates were out of sight; but no one felt secure, and least of all
Drushlevski, that this triumph of the cross was yet complete. Not a
soul in the convent slept.
Dawn brought them one of the holiest festivals of the Russian year;
Thursday, July 20th, the feast of our Lady of Kazan; a day on which no
plough is driven, no mill is opened, no school is kept, in any part of
Russia, from the White Sea to the Black. Matins were sung, as usual,
in the Cathedral Church at half-past two; the Archimandrite steadily
going through his chant, as though the peril were not nigh. Te Deum
was just being finished, when a boat came ashore from the "Brisk,"
carrying a white flag, and bringing a summons for the convent to yield
her keys. The letter was in English, accompanied by a bad translation,
in which the word for "squadron of ships," was rendered by the Russian
term for squadrons of horse. Consulting with his monks--who laughed in
good hearty mood at the idea of being set upon by cavalry from the
sea--the Archimandrite told the messenger to say his answer should be
sent to the "Brisk" by an officer of his own.
Two "insolent conditions" were imposed by the admiral: (1.) The
commander was to yield his sword in person; (2.) The garrison were to
become prisoners of war. Ommanney's letter informed the fathers that
if a gun were fired from the wall, his bombardment would begin at
once; alleging in explanation that on the previous day a gun in the
convent had opened on his ship.
One Soltikoff, a pilgrim, carried the Archimandrite's answer to the
"Brisk:"--a proud refusal to give up his keys. Denying that the
convent had opened fire on the English boat, he said the first shot
came from the frigate, and the convent simply replied to it in
self-defense. The paper was unsigned; the monk declaring that as a man
of peace he could not write his name on a document treating of blood
and death.
Admiral Ommanney told the pilgrim there was nothing more to say; the
bombardment would begin at once; and the convent would be swept from
the earth. Soltikoff asked for time, and Ommanney offered him three
hours' grace. It was now five in the morning, and the admiral gave the
fathers until eight o'clock; but on the pilgrim saying the time was
short, Ommanney is said to have sworn a great oath, and lessened his
term of grace three-quarters of an hour. He kept his oath; the
bombardment opened at a quarter to eight o'clock of that holy
day--inscribed to Our Lady of Kazan--our Lady of Victory; the first
shell flying over the convent shingles almost as soon as Soltikoff
reached the Sacred Gates.
On the English frigates opening fire, the bell in the courtyard tolled
the monks to prayer. Shot, shell, grenade and cartridge rained on the
walls and domes; yet the services went on all day; a hurricane of fire
without; an agony of prayer within! While the people were on their
knees, a shell struck the cathedral dome--the rent of which is piously
preserved--and, tearing through the wooden framework, dashed down the
ceiling on the supplicants' heads. The rafters were on fire; the
church was suddenly filled with smoke. A sacred image was grazed and
singed. The windows cracked; the doors flew open; the buildings reeled
and shivered; and the terrified people fell with their faces on the
stones. One man only kept his feet. Standing before the royal gates,
the Archimandrite cried: "Stay! stay! Be not afraid, the Lord will
guard His own!" The monks and pilgrims, lifting up their eyes, beheld
the old man standing before his altar, quiet and erect, with big tears
rolling down his cheeks. They sprang to their feet; they ran to fetch
water; they put out the flames; they swept off the wreck of dust and
rafters; and when the floor was cleansed, they sank on their knees and
bowed their heads once more in prayer.
When mass was over, three poor women remained in the cathedral on
their knees; a shell came through the roof, and burst; on which the
poor things crawled towards the shrines where men were praying, and
women are not allowed to come. A good pope let them in, and suffered
them to pray with the men; an act which the monks regard as one of the
highest wonders of that miraculous day.
A petty officer named Ponomareff occupied with his gun a spit of rock,
from which he could tease the frigates, and draw upon himself no
little of their wrath. Every shot from the "Miranda" splashed the mire
about his men, who were often buried, though they were not killed that
day. Leaping to his feet, and shaking the dirt from his clothes,
Ponomareff stood to his gun, until he was called away. He and three
other men crept through the stones and trees, to places far apart;
whence they discharged their carbines, and ran away into the scrub,
after drawing upon these points a rattle of shot and shell. At length
he was recalled. "It is a sad day for the monastery," sighed the
gunner, "but we are willing to die with the saints."
Services were sung all day in front of the shrines of Savatie and
Zosima. Once a shot struck the altar; the pope shrank back from his
desk, and the people fell on their faces. Every one supposed that his
hour was come, and many cried out in their fear for the bread and
wine. Father Varnau, the confessor, took his seat, confessed the
people, and gave them the sacrament. Alexander was the first to
confess his sins, and make up his account with God. The elders
followed; then the lay monks, pilgrims, soldiers, women; and when all
were shriven, the body of penitents pressed around the shrines of
Philip, Savatie, Zosima, and the Mother of God.
A little after noon, the convent bells in the yard were tolled, the
monks and pilgrims gathered on the wall, and lines of procession were
ordered to be formed. The monks stood first, the pilgrims next, the
women and children last; and when they were all got ready to march,
the Archimandrite took down from the screen beside his altar the
Miraculous Virgin and the principal cross; and placing himself in
front of his people, with the cross in his right hand, the Virgin in
his left, conducted them round the ramparts under fire. He waved his
cross, and blessed the pilgrims with the Miraculous Virgin as he
strode along. The great bell tolled, the monks and pilgrims sang a
psalm. Shot and shell rained overhead; the boulders trembled in the
wall; the shingles cracked and split on the roof. Near the corner
tower by the Holy Lake the procession came to a halt. A shell had
struck the windmill, setting the fans on fire. Pealing their psalm,
and calling on their saints, they waited till the flames died down,
and then resumed their march. A shot came dashing through the rampart;
splintering the logs and planks in their very midst, and cutting the
line of procession into head and heel. "Advance!" cried the
Archimandrite, waving his cross and picture, and the people instantly
advanced. On reaching the Weaver's Tower, from which the shot of
destiny had been fired the previous day, the Archimandrite, calling
the monk Gennadie to his side, gave him the cross, with orders to
carry it up into the tower, and let the gunners kiss the image of our
Lord. While Gennadie was absent on this errand, the Archimandrite
showed the monks and pilgrims that the convent doves were not
fluttered in their nests by the English guns.
A miracle! When the procession moved from the Weaver's Tower, they
came near some open ground, which they were obliged to cross, under
showers of shot. No man of flesh and blood--unless protected from on
high--could pass through that fire unscathed. But now was the time to
try men's faith. A moment only the procession paused; the
Archimandrite, holding up his miraculous picture of the Mother of God,
advanced into the cloud of dust and smoke; the people pealed their
psalm; and the shells and balls from the English ships were seen to
curve in their flight, to whirl over dome and tower, and come down
splashing into the Holy Lake! Every eye saw that miracle; and every
heart confessed the Most Pure Mother of God.
The frigates then drew off, and went their way; to be seen from the
watch-towers of the sacred isles no more; vanquished and put to shame;
though visibly not by the hand of man. Not a soul in the convent had
been hurt; though hurricanes of brass and iron had been fired from the
English decks.
A Norwegian named Harder, a visitor by chance to Solovetsk, was so
much struck by this miraculous defense, that he cried in the convent
yard, "How great is the Russian God!" and begged to be admitted a
member of their Church.
The news of this attack by an English Admiral on Solovetsk was carried
into every part of Russia, and the effect which it produced on the
Russian mind may be conceived by any one who will take the pains to
imagine how he would feel on hearing reports from Palestine that a
Turkish Pasha had opened fire on the dome and cross of the Holy
Sepulchre. Shame, astonishment, and fury filled the land, until the
further news arrived that this abominable raid among the holy graves
and shrines had come to naught. Since that year of miracles, young and
old, rich and poor, have come to regard a journey to Solovetsk as only
second in merit to a voyage to Bethlehem and the tomb of Christ.
Peasants set the fashion, which Emperors and grand dukes are taking
up. Alexander the Second has made a pilgrimage to these holy isles;
his brother Constantine has done the same; and two of his sons will
make the trip next year. The Empress, too, is said to have made a vow,
that if Heaven restores her strength, she will pay a visit to
Savatie's shrine.
Some people think these visits of the imperial race are due, not only
to the wish to lead where they might otherwise have to follow, but to
matters connected with that mystery of a buried grand duke which lends
so dark a fame to the convent in the Frozen Sea.