Below Vetluga, on the right bank of the Volga, is the city of Kozmodemyansk, built in 1588 with the purpose of serving as a stronghold and for maintaining peace in the Cheremis country. During the time of Stenka Razin, the Kozmodemyansk people were transferred to the rebel gangs, but later, during the Pugachev rebellion, they remained in the Brny government and behaved so energetically that Pugachev did not attack Kozmodemyansk, but, bypassing it, headed from the Pugachev bank to Yadrin. Regarding Kozmodemyansk, there is a legend that a new Cheremis, named Aknars, was so devoted to the Russian Tsar Toann the Terrible that he led the Russian army when it went to Kazan; Having visited Akpars, the king gave him a silver cup, which is now kept in the church as a shrine.
Residents in Kozmodemyansk are up to 8,500. The city is especially lively during the two months of May and Monday, when there is a summer fair with a turnover of up to 2 million. rubles Many rafts coming from Unzha and Vetluga stop at Kozmodemyansk, where traders from different cities flock. The rafts sold (almost entirely in cash) are sent from here to Kazan, & often to lower cities.
Next to Kozmodemyansk is the city of Cheboksary, so to speak, the capital of the Chuvalts and the main center of their trade and industrial activities. The name of the city is derived from the names of two Chuvash 10mz5 “) Chebak and Sara who lived here in ancient times.
A year after the capture of Kazan, the village of Cheboksary was turned into a city, and the next year Archbishop Gur1y transferred the miraculous icon of the Mother of God to Cheboksary from the village of Vladimskoye, which icon remains to this day in the cathedral church of the city.
During this time, it must be assumed that Cheboksary flaunted its external furnishings, at least the Empress Catherine II, in her letters to Count M.I. Panin, speaking about Nizhny Novgorod, expressed it this way: “this city is beautiful in its situation, but disgusting in its construction; everything is either lying on its side, or close to it; Chebaksary is better for me in everything.” Nizhny Novgorod." Of course, at the present time it cannot come to mind to compare Cheboksary with Nizhny Novgorod. The location of the city is very beautiful, but it differs from a decent village only in the abundance of churches. From a distance it even seems that Cheboksary is a group of churches with village huts stuck here and there. S. Monastyrsviy cites interesting historical data, from which it is clear that in Cheboksary there is a pound of copper in church bells for every resident.
*) Tomz were the pagan Chuvash elders who monitored the fulfillment of religious duties.
rituals; They appointed days of sacrifices and prayers, predicted the future, treated the sick, and so on.
[fragment illegible in the scan of the first edition]
And it really goes like this: with 6,000 inhabitants in 129 bells, the ringing of which is heard over Cheboksary, there are up to 6,000 pounds. “And it turns out,” says Monastery, “that the sparsely populated and poor Cheboksary city, or TPibaksara, to put it in Chuvashek, is incomparably more glorious than London and Paris in terms of the bell.” Justice, however, requires saying that such an abundance of bells is largely explained by the almost 150-year existence of the bell factory in Cheboksary, the activity of which only since 1830 moved into the field of arched bells, bells and wood grouse tied under the necks of baggage horses.
Among the churches, the miniature Church of the Archangel Michael, leaning against the wall of the nearby St. Nicholas Cathedral, attracts attention with its strongly inclined tower, which looks like a leaning tower.
Among the minted icons, the icons of the Vladimir Mother of God and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (in the Trinity Monastery) are especially respected by the population. In former times, in view of the sheer self-interest of the officialdom, the Chuvaigs, Cheremis and even the Tatars were especially afraid to go to court with any complaints; It was assumed that the Cheboksarsevyu judge of that time would either award or not award, but in any case, rip off both the right and the wrong. For this reason they went to the image of St. Nicholas to sue; everyone here - be it Chuvash or Cheremis, or even a Muslim Tatar, fearing the banner of the miraculous icon, set out the truth before it, even to the detriment of their own interests; with the participation of selected intermediaries here,
in front of the icon, quarrels would end and litigation would always end to the mutual satisfaction of the parties and would always appeal to another instance without the slightest hesitation. It is a pity that such a patriarchal custom has now receded into the realm of legend.
At 85 versts. below Kozmodemyansk
Cheboksary. Falling bell tower.