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He had neither arms nor legs. Artist Grigory Zhuravlev

Grigory Zhuravlev with his brother Afanasy

He was born in 1858 in the village of Utevka, Samara province. It was unusual child: Gregory was born without arms and legs. From early childhood, the boy began to show talent as a painter. Neighbors remember how surprised they were when they saw a crippled baby crawling around the yard with a piece of coal in his mouth. With this charcoal, the kid drew on the fence everything he saw around him.

A few years later, Grisha was sent to study at a men's gymnasium in Samara. In addition, the parents constantly took their son to the cathedral in the city and to the workshop where icons were painted. One day the boy showed his drawings to the icon painters. The works impressed the masters, and they invited Grisha to study icon painting.

After studying at the gymnasium, Grisha Zhuravlev returned to his native village, where he began to study icon painting. They constantly ordered icons from him, so the young man did not sit for a single day without work.

In 1885, construction began on the large Trinity Cathedral in Utevka. Zhuravlev was offered to paint the walls of the cathedral. Especially for him, a stage was built in the building, on which he spent almost whole days at work. It was especially difficult for the painter, who was deprived of arms and legs, to design the dome of the cathedral. He had to constantly lie on his back, which is why he developed ulcers on his shoulder blades, the back of his head and his sacrum. Despite the pain, Gregory completed the painting of the temple. The frescoes he painted glorified the Trinity Cathedral throughout the area.

Temple of the village of Utevka today

Tsar Nicholas II soon learned about the talented master. Zhuravlev was invited to work in the capital, where the master lived for 3 years. He painted a group portrait of the reigning family. Returning to his homeland, Zhuravlev began to receive a pension of 25 rubles, which, by royal decree, was assigned to him immediately after the master left the capital.

Despite the fact that Gregory had enough funds for his own maintenance, he continued to paint icons with inspiration, behind which famous icon painter Buyers came from the most remote corners of Russia. At that time, Zhuravlev already had students who mainly helped him prepare boards for icons, prime them and mix paints.

Contemporaries recall that Gregory had a very cheerful disposition, he almost never lost heart, did not become despondent, and accepted all events in life calmly and calmly. Many people loved him very much and never felt pity for him, since Grigory Zhuravlev was distinguished by his gigantic fortitude, which could be the envy of many healthy and beautiful-looking people.

After the death of the icon painter in 1916, his body was buried near the church, as clergy are buried.

The revolution of 1917 greatly changed life in Russia. The temple, painted by Grigory Zhuravlev, was closed for 70 years. People were able to enter its doors again only in the 90s. The icon painter's frescoes were restored. And those parishioners, in whose house the icons by Grigory Zhuravlev were kept, donated these wonderful images to the temple.

“He had no arms, he had no legs - that’s how God created him.” - a parable song by Svetlana Kopylova about the Russian icon painter Grigory Zhuravlev. The icons he painted were valued by the people because they emanated special grace and purity; they were considered not made by hands: without the help of the Lord, a person without arms and without legs, holding a brush in his teeth, could not do such wonderful work.

Life and art (1858 - 15.02.1916)

Grigory Zhuravlev with his brother, who supported him, like the rest of the family.

The name of Grigory Zhuravlev became widely known in Russia and abroad after in 1963 in Yugoslavia, the art historian Zdravko Kaimanovich, while taking inventory of the cultural monuments of the Serbian Orthodox Church, discovered an icon in the village of Purachin, on which was written in Russian: “This icon written in the Samara province, Buzuluk district, Utevskaya volost of the same village with the teeth of the peasant Grigory Zhuravlev, armless and legless, 1885, July 2." The State Archive later confirmed this information: there was such an icon painter.

Grigory Zhuravlev was born into a large peasant family in the wealthy village of Utevka, near Samara in 1858. The parents experienced a deep shock when they saw that the baby was crippled. He had no arms or legs. The mother was crying, the father was looking gloomy, the neighbors were whispering: “I’m offended by God.” According to recollections, Gregory’s mother wanted to commit suicide (drown herself) out of great grief, killing the baby along with herself, but his grandfather, Pyotr Vasilyevich Traikin, prevented this, “proving the harmfulness of his daughter’s plan.” He said that he would raise Grisha himself.

Time passed, and the boy, despite his injury, grew up cheerful and inquisitive. “God has looked upon His servant,” this was the judgment expressed by the residents of Utevka. The crippled child evoked not so much pity as surprise: crawling around the yard, he took a twig in his teeth and spent a long time drawing people, houses, and animals in the sand. Yes, he did it so cleverly - it’s a sight to behold.

It turned out that Grisha was not offended by God, but was especially noted for his talent. When the boy grew up, his grandfather began taking him to school. In winter on a sled, and in summer on a cart. After the death of Pyotr Vasilyevich, the school had to be left, but with smart child The teacher of the Zemstvo school, Troitsky, studied at home.

The boy learned to write by holding a pen in his teeth. And his handwriting was very good. Fellow villagers flocked to Gregory’s house asking them to write a letter to their relatives or a petition to an official. Natural abilities allowed the disabled person to graduate (externally and with honors) from the Samara Men's Gymnasium at the age of 22. God helped him in his studies, and in everyday life - his elder brother Athanasius. After the death of his mother, he became his nanny, or rather, his arms and legs: he carried him, fed him, washed him. Gregory loved to visit the temple, where his brother brought him to services. The artist had stumps instead of legs just below the knees, and he could still walk on his knees. He tied leather stilts to his knees with straps and moved, according to the Samara Vedomosti newspaper in 1880: the arms were atrophied from the hand to the shoulder and the legs from the foot to the knee, but he could still walk on his knees. So they either carried it, or it slowly moved on its own.

Returning home, Gregory began to independently study drawing, human anatomy, painting, and iconography. And later he began to paint icons. In 1885, the newspaper Samara Provincial Gazette wrote: “Zhuravlev decided to learn to write at all costs. oil paints"real images". And so, at the age of 15, he, who had never left his native village, arrived in the provincial town and turned to the painter Travkin, who lived here, with a request to show him how to paint images. He kindly received the unusual student, left him in his apartment for several days and introduced him to the first techniques of painting. This was enough for Zhuravlev. Having purchased paints, brushes and other things in Samara, he returned to his native Utevka and, having ordered himself a table with special devices, began to study painting.”

After 5 years, the young icon painter decided to give several icons to high-ranking officials of Samara. People paid attention to his “living” icons and orders began to arrive. And soon the Provincial Zemstvo Assembly, taking into account the plight of the Zhuravlev family, assigned him an annual pension of 60 rubles.

The whole family helped Gregory in his work. Brother Afanasy made wooden blanks for icons, he prepared paints, grandmother selected brushes, and father delivered icons to Samara. Later, Zhuravlev had students - Mikhail Khmelev and Vasily Popov.
Grigory loved to study, read a lot, fortunately, there was a large library in the house.

In 1884, Zhuravlev turned to the Samara governor, who had always taken part in his life, with a request to present the painted icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker to Tsarevich Nicholas, the future Emperor.

In the personal archive of Governor General A.D. Sverbeev there is a letter addressed by Zhuravlev to the Tsarevich: “To His Imperial Highness the Sovereign Heir Tsarevich. Your Imperial Highness, I humbly and earnestly ask Your Imperial Highness that I, a peasant of the Samara province of Buzuluk district. Utevka Grigory Zhuravlev, with all my heart I wish to present to Your Imperial Highness the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which I painted with my mouth and not with my hands for the reason that by nature I do not have strength and movement in my arms and legs. Your Imperial Highness, I humbly ask Your Highest Name to accept this icon, which I offer to Your Imperial Highness with all my soul and love. Your Imperial Highness! I humbly ask you to allow this icon to be conveyed to your Most High name because I do not have arms or legs. And he painted this icon at the admonition of Almighty God, who allowed me into the Light of God. And he gave me a gift. Then the movement of my mouth opened, with which I control my skill at the command of God." The Tsarevich graciously accepted the icon. Soon Emperor Alexander III invited Zhuravlev to the palace. Here the peasant painter painted a portrait of the Romanov family.

There is a legend that on the way back, Gregory, against his will, ended up in a traveling circus on wheels. They took it around Russia for six months and showed it to the public as a curiosity. It was with great difficulty that I managed to return to my homeland.

There is also this version of the story: at the beginning of the 20th century, rumors about the peasant god reached Tsar Nicholas II. The Tsar summoned Gregory and commissioned him to paint a portrait of the whole royal family. The Utev icon painter lived in St. Petersburg for a whole year. He completed the work, and the king was pleased. Although the portrait has not been found, it is reliably known that the sovereign granted the Samara peasant a lifetime monthly pension of 25 rubles in gold. At that time it was a lot of money. And the Samara governor was ordered to “give Zhuravlev a pacer with summer and winter travel.”

In memory of the miraculous rescue of the Imperial family during a train crash from a terrorist bomb in October 1888, Samara nobles ordered an icon from Grigory Zhuravlev to present to Alexander III, as evidenced by documents stored in the State Archive of the Samara Region.
The image of the patron saint of Samara, Saint Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow, Samara Governor A.D. Sverbeev also commissioned Zhuravlev to paint.

According to the surviving memories of the residents of Utevka, Grigory was of a cheerful disposition, very approachable, and loved to make vigorous, peasant jokes. He was very energetic, loved fishing, and sang ditties fervently. To amuse the children, he took a shepherd's whip in his teeth, waved and slammed it with a deafening whistle.

In 1885, construction of a new building began in Utevka. stone temple. The church in honor of the Holy Trinity was built according to the drawings and under the direct supervision of Grigory Zhuravlev (thus we can say that he also had architectural talent!). All the frescoes were painted according to his sketches. And his church turned out to be squat, spreading wide, as if holding tightly to the ground. As the artist’s fellow countrymen say, it is somewhat similar to Gregory himself. And the artist painted the ten-meter-diameter dome of the temple himself. He lay down in a special cradle and worked while lying down. After two or three hours of such work, a spasm of the jaw muscles occurred so that Grisha could not remove his hand from his mouth. He was able to open his mouth only after wet hot towels were placed on his cheekbones. And so day after day, month after month, year after year. As a result of this work, bleeding ulcers formed on the artist’s shoulder blades and the back of his head. The leather straps dug into his body... Constantly looking at the drawing almost completely ruined his vision. Her lips were cracked and bleeding, her front teeth were worn away. Finally, in 1892, the work was completed. It was a feat...

These images have been preserved to this day: the Holy Trinity and the seven Archangels are depicted on the dome. On the frescoes are the apostles John the Theologian and Andrew the First-Called, Metropolitans of Moscow Peter and Alexy. Quite recently the face of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye.
The temple has excellent acoustics; the builders built special pots (voices) into the walls. The church was consecrated in 1892. She had a school and a small library.

In 1934, Soviet authorities began to destroy the bell tower. Fires were lit under wooden supports. Icons were torn off the walls with hooks. The most valuable ones were sent to Samara, the rest were brought at night to the collective farm apiary - for the manufacture of beehives. But beekeeper Dmitry Lobachev secretly distributed the icons to the village residents. In return they brought him required amount boards
The authorities began to destroy the temple itself more than once. But unexpected circumstances forced the God-fighters to postpone their plans every now and then. Thus, by the Providence of God, the church has been preserved to this day.

It was returned to believers in 1989. Two years later the temple was consecrated. The administration of the Neftegorsky district allocated 100 thousand rubles for the construction of the destroyed bell tower. 8 bells were brought from Voronezh. On the largest of them, in honor of the Utev artist, the inscription “Gregory” was made.

In 2006, a new carved iconostasis was installed in the church. An unquenchable lamp glows in the temple...

Grigory Zhuravlev. Icon of the Mother of God "Seeking the Lost"

A miraculous images Zhuravlev were found in almost every Utevsk hut and in neighboring villages. The peasants were unable to buy a cheap icon, so the artist painted images for them on wood and without gilding. But after a trip to St. Petersburg, when the family became wealthy, he increasingly wrote images on gold and signed them with his own hand. back side: “This icon was painted with his teeth by the peasant Grigory Zhuravlev of the village of Utevka, Samara province, armless and legless.”

…IN last years local residents The icons of Zhuravlev’s letters “Lord of Hosts”, “Myrrh-Bearing Women”, “Blessing Savior”, “King David”, “Baptism of the Lord”, “Resurrection of Christ” were returned to the temple. The icon “Saints Cyril and Methodius” was brought from Kazakhstan. A message came from Moscow that Zhuravlev’s image “Saint Leo – Pope of Rome” is in the church-historical office of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra along with works by Viktor Vasnetsov, Vasily Surikov and Mikhail Nesterov. Another Zhuravlev icon was recently discovered in the Urals.

The Samara diocese, together with the provincial authorities, is doing a lot to revive the memory of the amazing icon painter. In the Diocesan Church History Museum and in the Samara Regional Museum of History and Local Lore named after P.V. Alabin, his miraculous images have been on display for several years...

“Thank God that in our time historical justice is being restored and tribute is paid to such talents as the painter Grigory Zhuravlev,” said Archbishop Sergius of Samara and Syzran. – Born with an illness, but having deep faith and fortitude, he worked in the name of God and for people. His icons bring Divine light and help people.

Grigory Zhuravlev died on February 15 (new style) 1916. With the blessing of the ruling bishop, he was buried in the fence of the village church. After the revolution, the grave was razed to the ground, and long years no one even remembered the self-taught artist who amazed the king with his talent. It was possible to determine the burial place of Zhuravlev, in the fence of the Utevsky temple, indicated by a resident of the village, Maria Emelyanovna Pestimenina, the granddaughter of the trustee of the temple, Ion Timofeevich Bogomolov. At the icon painter’s resting place, with the blessing of Archbishop Sergius of Samara and Syzran, they installed Orthodox cross- this is how his grave is marked. The house of the master icon painter has been preserved.

It is unknown how many icons Grigory Zhuravlev painted. We hope that the fates of many of them will be revealed to us over time.

One work by Zhuravlev stands out in particular - “The Utevskaya Madonna”. This is not a canonical icon. It depicts a simple peasant woman. The work was kept for many years in the house of an Utev resident. And when she died in the late 90s, her nephews refused to return the icon to the temple. According to the rector of the temple, Father Anatoly, they decided to sell the valuable relic and sent it to Samara. The further fate of the Utevskaya Madonna is unknown. In his book, Professor Alexander Malinovsky, who closely studied the work and life of Zhuravlev, writes: "

“The small-format icon depicts a peasant woman in a white scarf with a baby in her arms,” Malinovsky writes in his book “ Joyful meeting", dedicated to the artist. – The face is simple, typical of the Volga region. Large dark eyes. There was a faint smile on his lips. There is not a shadow of churchliness. But still she is perceived as an icon. As far as I understand, in Rus' icons were not invented by icon painters. They appeared to the world. This icon appeared to Grigory Zhuravlev, you can feel it.” There is a legend that Zhuravlev painted his beloved, neighbor Ekaterina Gracheva with a child in her arms.

The painter's fellow countrymen – doctor technical sciences, professor, Alexander Malinovsky and local history teacher, member of the Union of Writers of Russia, Kuzma Danilov, collected a lot of historical material about the genius artist. In those schools in the Samara region where the "Fundamentals" are taught Orthodox culture", teachers also tell children about the peasant icon painter Grigory Zhuravlev.

In our time, one artist painted his portrait from a photograph of Grigory Zhuravlev.

There are even people who would like to canonize Grigory Zhuravlev. But for canonization, miracles are needed through prayers to the ascetic. Or miracles from Zhuravlev’s icons. Not many such facts are known, but they exist.

In addition to the icons, a pencil portrait has been preserved young man the work of Grigory Zhuravlev, it is kept in the Utev Museum. According to the former owner of the portrait, it depicts Ivan Solovyov, who arrived in the village of Kryazh with his wife from the village of Kinel-Cherkassy. It is known that Zhuravlev painted two more portraits. But we have not yet been able to find them.

Four icons are in the Samara Church and Historical Diocesan Museum. These are icons Mother of God"Mammal", Smolenskaya, Saints Cyril and Methodius, Myrrh-Bearing Women. The last icon is not signed by Zhuravlev, so it cannot be said that it is his work, but it is attributed to him. There is also a sketch of the head of a child in Zhuravlev’s letter. The icon "St. Leo - Pope of Rome" is located in the church-archaeological office of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. The icon of the Savior, known to many, is kept in the Utevsky Holy Trinity Church. There are also icons of “Jesus Christ with Those Who Come”, “Beheading of John the Baptist”, “Recovery of the Lost”, “Quick to Hear” and others. There is also an icon of “St. George the Victorious” in the Pukhtitsa Monastery (Estonia).

In the icons of Grigory Zhuravlev there is silence, peace and tranquility, they call for true repentance, which is so necessary for us...

The penetrating gaze of wise eyes, a traditional peasant beard, lips ready to smile - this is how we see the Russian icon painter Grigory Zhuravlev in his rare portrait. Nearby is brother Afanasy, to whom Gregory only reaches to the waist: the fact is that the boy was born with legs up to his knees and hands up to his elbows...

The future icon painter was born in 1860. in the Samara province, the village of Utyovka, in a peasant family. Thanks to his grandfather, Grisha began attending a rural school, where he learned to read. When his grandfather died, the boy had to study at home - with the help of the zemstvo teacher Troitsky. Having understood how a pencil works, Grisha began to learn to write and draw, holding it between his teeth...

At the age of 15, Gregory and his brother Afanasy went to Samara with the dream of learning to become an icon painter. The local artist Travkin, to whom the armless young man turned with a request to teach him the techniques of painting, was so amazed that he settled the extraordinary student with him and taught him the basics of icon painting. Having mastered them, Gregory acquired brushes, paints, a table with the necessary equipment and returned to his native village, where he began to develop his own skills and hone his skills.

The young icon painter was helped by his grandmother: she prepared the paints, cleaned the brushes, and seated Gregory in a special way. Afanasy made wooden blanks for icons. Over five years of persistent and continuous work, the talented self-taught man reached such a level that he decided to give several of his icons to high-ranking officials of Samara...

The Samara authorities liked these icons so much that Zhuravlev began to receive good orders. In addition, the provincial zemstvo assembly assigned Gregory an annual 60-ruble pension - in view of the plight of the family and for personal work on self-improvement in painting.

So the legless and armless icon painter became the breadwinner of the family, since they paid a lot of money for his work. For example, Zhuravlev could receive 50 rubles for an image (for comparison, the salary of zemstvo doctors and teachers at that time was 10-15 rubles).

Grigory Nikolaevich also met the governor of Samara A.D. Sverbeev himself and corresponded with him. In 1884 Zhuravlev asked his patron to convey to Tsarevich Nikolai, the future to the Russian Emperor, an image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker written especially for him. Having graciously accepted the icon, the Tsarevich own money granted the peasant Zhuravlev a one-time allowance of 100 rubles.

Amazing icons of Grigory Zhuravlev

Samara local historian and writer Alexander Malinovsky has been collecting materials about the life and work of Zhuravlev for several decades. In 2013 The fifth edition of his documentary story “A Joyful Meeting” about the amazing Utyov icon painter was published. The book contains chapters about new found Zhuravlev icons.

It is not yet known how many images the armless icon painter painted. Currently, Alexander Stanislavovich, who has been collecting information about Zhuravlev since the 60s of the last century, has found out the location of 100 of his works. In particular, the icon of St. Nicholas that we mentioned, once a gift to Nikolai Romanov, is kept today in the Hermitage. The inscription on the back reads: “From the archives of the Tsarevich.”

In general, the geography of distribution of Zhuravlev’s icons is very wide. For example, one of his works was discovered in 1963. in Serbia, which was then part of Yugoslavia.

But the icon painter has one very unusual painting, to which Alexander Malinovsky gave the name “Utevskaya Madonna.” A small format, it depicts a peasant woman wearing a white scarf on her head, holding a baby in her arms. The woman has a typical Volga region, simple face with large dark eyes and a barely visible smile on her lips... There is no touch of churchliness, but the picture is perceived as an icon.

Utyovka resident Alexandra Podusova was the last known owner of this unique painting. The woman said that she loved the icon painting very much and treated it as family heirloom. Unfortunately, she did not save the “Utevskaya Madonna”, and where this painting is now stored is unknown.

The greatest spiritual feat of an icon painter

In Utyovka there is the Holy Trinity Church, built in 1892. Over the course of seven years, it was built “with the diligence of the parishioners.” This temple was painted according to the sketches of Grigory Zhuravlev. Old-timers said that the icon painter was lifted under the dome in a special cradle with leather belts, and he, lying in it, painted frescoes. At the same time, Grigory Nikolaevich clenched his brush in his teeth so tightly that his cheekbones cramped. To loosen them, warm wet towels were applied to the face...

Grigory Zhuravlev died on February 15, 1916. from transient consumption. With the blessing of the Samara bishop, the icon painter was buried in the fence of the temple he painted.

In 1934 The Holy Trinity Church was closed and a granary was built there. In 1989 it was returned to the church. Now this temple houses nine icons by Zhuravlev. As rector Anatoly Kopach says, they are mainly brought by the descendants of those who kept the holy images all their lives and thus saved them after the destruction of the temple.

Father Anatoly says about Grigory Zhuravlev himself: this amazing person gives people hope. Doomed, it would seem, to complete helplessness and inaction, he accomplished a spiritual feat and with his whole life showed that it is possible to create even when it seems unthinkable...

There have always been and are people around us who are capable of not breaking in the face of misfortune. They find the strength to actively serve society. The fate of Grigory Zhuravlev - a man of faith and with a pure soul - bright that example. Born with a terrible illness, but having deep faith and fortitude, he worked in the name of God and for people. Having learned about such a person, I want to talk about him in order to help someone return to creative work, to bring someone out of a state of despair and hopelessness, and for someone to find faith that was lost for various reasons.

In 1858, in the village of Utevka, Samara province, a child without arms and legs was born in a darkened hut.

One body and a head. Everything is smooth, kind of like an egg. At this time, Father Deacon came to the hut, to whom the relatives turned:

How could this happen?

Hmmm, Orthodox Christians, this is a complicated question. Apparently, the Lord saw a great man in this baby. Maybe he was appointed by the Lord to be a general, or maybe even a bishop. But the devil, out of evil intent, took it and took away the baby’s arms and legs. However, maybe I’m wrong, so forgive me for Christ’s sake.

On the eighth day the baby was brought to church:

Servant of God Gregory is baptized. In the name of the Father. Amen. And the Son. Amen. And the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“And what kind of child is this, just a mouth,” the receiver grumbled, receiving the baptized Grisha in dry diapers.

Father, looking reproachfully at the receiver, said:

We don't know which one yet God's providence about this child. And as for the mouth, with this mouth he can do even greater things. After all, the mouth is not only used for eating food, but the Scripture says: “In the beginning was the Word.” Wait, he will still feed you. What is impossible for man is possible for God,” said the priest, approaching the child with the holy world...”

Grisha's ability to draw manifested itself early. While still very small, he surprised his fellow countrymen when, crawling around the yard on his stomach, he squeezed a piece of food with his teeth charcoal and drew everything he saw: people, trees, houses. With his childish mind, he penetrated into the very essence of things and events. It seemed that through his suffering he saw many things that others did not see. One day, a rural school teacher caught him doing this and asked his family to bring Grisha to school. Studying was easy for the boy. He did well in all subjects, although he wrote with a pen in his teeth. When the boy grew up, he was sent to study at the Samara boys' gymnasium. Brother Afanasy helped him in everything. In addition to the gymnasium, Grisha was taken to the city cathedral for services and also to an icon-painting workshop. When Grisha found himself in the workshop, he was simply not himself. Inhaling the smell of drying oil, turpentine and varnishes, he experienced a joyful festive feeling. One day he showed the owner of the workshop his drawings on paper in pencil and watercolor. The drawings passed from hand to hand, the masters shook their heads and, clicking their tongues approvingly, patted Grisha on the back. Soon they, without being lazy, began to teach him their skill of fine icon painting, from the very beginning, from the basics. It was difficult at first, oh how difficult it was. His brother put a brush in his mouth and he began. The board had to lie flat on the table, evenly, so that the paint did not flow down. The brush had to be held vertically in relation to the board. The better this was done, the finer the drawing came out. Being too close hurt my eyes and my neck hurt from tension. After two or three hours of such work, a spasm of the jaw muscles occurred so that Grisha could not remove his hand from his mouth. He was able to open his mouth only after wet hot towels were placed on his cheekbones. But successes were evident: the design on the icon came out solid and correct. No one else can do it with his hand as Grisha does with his teeth. He started with simple icons, where there was one figure of a saint, but then little by little he moved on to more complex iconography.

At twenty-two, Gregory graduated from the Samara gymnasium and returned to his native Utevka, where he began to paint custom icons. The images he painted sold like hot cakes. Not only were the icons good and blessed, but the people especially appreciated and noted that they were not ordinary icons, but not made by hands. By 1885, during the reign of the Emperor Alexandra III, in the village of Utevka they began to build a cathedral church in honor of St. Life-Giving Trinity. The church project raised some objections from Grigory Zhuravlev, and fellow villagers entrusted him with correcting the shortcomings. According to the drawings he improved (another talent of a nugget), the Utev church was built. As for the picturesque decoration of the temple, Gregory was invited to paint the walls. He spent whole days on “stages” specially created for him. It was terribly difficult to paint the dome of the temple. He had to lie on his back, suffer from fatigue and pain, but he still managed to complete the painting of the dome. From this work, painful bleeding ulcers formed on the shoulder blades, sacrum and back of the head. From hard work and constant looking at the drawing, my vision was almost completely damaged. My lips were constantly cracking and bleeding, my front incisors were thoroughly worn away. When he, sitting at the table after work, could not eat because of pain in his mouth, his loved ones told him: “You are a martyr, Grishenka, you are our martyr.”

Soon a rumor about unusual master reached the Royal House. Zhuravlev was invited to the capital and surprised everyone there with his art. He stayed in St. Petersburg for three years. For the last family to reign in Russia, Zhuravlev painted a group portrait, with which Nicholas II was pleased. He returned to his homeland with a pension assigned by the Tsar in the amount of 25 rubles in gold monthly. And the Samara governor was ordered to give the icon painter a pacer with winter and summer travel.

Although Gregory had the means, he did not start an icon-painting workshop; he still painted the images himself. The students helped him grind paints, prepare icon boards, and prime them. People came from the distant outskirts of Russia to buy the icons of Grigory Zhuravlev. In life, he was always in an even, peaceful mood, nothing shook or darkened his soul. Always cheerful, cheerful, he shone like a light to people, supporting them as best he could in difficult times. He did not give people the impression of a man deprived of fate. On the contrary, he was distinguished by his extraordinary strength of spirit, everyone respected and loved him.

In 1916, when the going was tough bloody war with Germany, Grigory became bored and began to get sick often. During one particularly serious illness, he had a revelation: that hard times would soon come when he himself and his icons would not be needed by anyone. And three years later this happened, but Gregory did not see it, because he was already lying in the grave. He died at the end of 1916, just before the revolution. He was buried in the church fence of the Utev Trinity Church.

In the Holy Trinity Lavra of Sergius, in Sergiev Posad, one of the icons by Grigory Zhuravlev called “St. Leo - Pope” is carefully preserved. It is an example of one of the icon painting schools of the 19th century.

The fate of Grigory Zhuravlev, a believer with a pure soul, amazes with the power of faith and the beauty of his soul.

Born with a terrible illness, but having deep faith and fortitude, he worked in the name of God and for people. Having learned about such a person, I want to talk about him in order to help someone return to creative work, to bring someone out of a state of despair and hopelessness, and for someone to find faith that was lost for various reasons.

In 1963, in Yugoslavia, the Serbian art historian Zdravko Kajmakovic Orthodox Church In the village of Purachits near Tuzla, he discovered an icon, on the reverse side of which there was an inscription in Russian: “This icon was written with his teeth by a peasant who lived in Utevka, Samara province, armless and legless. July 2, 1885.”
Zdravko Kaimakovich wrote about this in the USSR and, through the State Archives of the USSR, received confirmation of the information that was written in white paint on the reverse side of the icon: the icon painter - Grigory Nikolaevich Zhuravlev, born in the village of Utevka, Samara province in 1858 - was indeed deprived of arms from birth and legs Soon the head of the Utevskaya local history circle high school Kuzma Emelyanovich Danilov learns about this find, and a correspondence begins between them. As Zdravko Kajmakovich writes in one of his letters: “... The icon is of medium size, executed in oil paints on a board and depicts the Slavic first teachers St. Cyril and Methodius. The saints are painted with scrolls in their hands. The icon represents a very careful delicate work, so at first I thought that this was the work of an icon painter with an academic education, assuming that Zhuravlev’s text was a hoax. Hence my joy that such a phenomenon as your fellow countryman Zhuravlev really exists. Overcoming the cruelty of nature, he managed to rise to the heights artistic arts. He is an artist not because he created with a brush in his teeth, but because he was able to create a truly artistic work."

Grigory Nikolaevich Zhuravlev (1858-1916) was born in the village of Utevka, Buzuluk district, Samara province, in the family of a local peasant, the owner of a carpentry shop, and was disabled since childhood - he had atrophied legs and arms.

Initially, his grandfather, the father of his mother, Pyotr Vasilyevich Traikin, played a large role in the upbringing and education of Grigory Zhuravlev. At the age of 9, Gregory began going to school, where his grandfather took him and picked him up. Thus, he attended school for two years until his grandfather's death. Grigory learned to write while holding a pencil in his teeth, and in the same way he later painted his paintings.

After the death of his grandfather, Grigory began to study at home on his own, in this he received great help from the teacher of the zemstvo school from Utyovka, Troitsky. During the period of homeschooling, Gregory read a lot and educated himself.

Grisha's ability to draw manifested itself early. While still very young, he surprised his fellow countrymen when, crawling around the yard on his stomach, he clenched a piece of charcoal with his teeth and drew everything he saw: people, trees, houses. With his childish mind, he penetrated into the very essence of things and events. It seemed that through his suffering he saw many things that others did not see. One day, a rural school teacher caught him doing this and asked his family to bring Grisha to school. Studying was easy for the boy. He did well in all subjects, although he wrote with a pen in his teeth. When the boy grew up, he was sent to study at the Samara boys' gymnasium. Brother Afanasy helped him in everything. In addition to the gymnasium, Grisha was taken to the city cathedral for services and also to an icon-painting workshop. When Grisha found himself in the workshop, he was simply not himself. Inhaling the smell of drying oil, turpentine and varnishes, he experienced a joyful festive feeling. One day he showed the owner of the workshop his drawings on paper in pencil and watercolor. The drawings passed from hand to hand, the masters shook their heads and, clicking their tongues approvingly, patted Grisha on the back. Soon they, without being lazy, began to teach him their skill of fine icon painting, from the very beginning, from the basics. It was difficult at first. His brother put a brush in his mouth and he began. The board had to lie flat on the table, evenly, so that the paint did not flow down. The brush had to be held vertically in relation to the board. The better this was done, the finer the drawing came out. Being too close hurt my eyes and my neck hurt from tension. After two or three hours of such work, a spasm of the jaw muscles occurred so that Grisha could not remove his hand from his mouth. He was able to open his mouth only after wet hot towels were placed on his cheekbones. But successes were evident: the design on the icon came out solid and correct. No one else can do it with his hand as Grisha does with his teeth. He started with simple icons, where there was one figure of a saint, but then little by little he moved on to more complex iconography.
Years passed, and Grisha learned a lot in the icon-painting workshop. At twenty-two, he graduated from the Samara gymnasium and returned to his native Utevka, where he began to paint icons to order. The images he painted sold like hot cakes. Not only were the icons good and blessed, but the people especially appreciated and noted that they were not ordinary icons, but not made by hands. The Lord God Himself helped Gregory, the icon painter; a man without arms and legs cannot do this. This is a holy deed, this is a feat according to Christ. By 1885, during the reign of Emperor Alexander III, a cathedral church in honor of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity began to be built in the village of Utevka. The construction of the temple is directly related to the name of Grigory Zhuravlev. The church project raised some objections from him, and his fellow villagers entrusted him with correcting the shortcomings. According to the drawings he improved (another talent of a nugget), the Utev church was built. As for the picturesque decoration of the temple, Gregory was invited to paint the walls. He spent whole days on “stages” specially created for him. It was terribly difficult to paint the dome of the temple. Only a prayerful cry to Christ and the Mother of God poured into him strength and perseverance for this feat. He had to lie on his back, suffer from fatigue and pain, but he still managed to complete the painting of the dome. From this work, painful bleeding ulcers formed on the shoulder blades, sacrum and back of the head. From hard work and constant looking at the drawing, my vision was almost completely damaged. My lips were constantly cracking and bleeding, my front incisors were thoroughly worn away. When he, sitting at the table after work, could not eat because of pain in his mouth, his loved ones told him: “You are a martyr, Grishenka, you are our martyr.”

For several years, Grigory Zhuravlev painted the temple and glorified the church throughout the province with his frescoes. Grigory Zhuravlev also had other important orders.
In 1892, the Cathedral Cathedral of Christ the Savior was consecrated in Samara. Judging by the photographs and memories of witnesses, it was magnificent, harmony reigned in the architecture of the cathedral, and its entire appearance, the numerous domes extending into the sky, set one in a high mood. In size it had no equal in Russia. The Samara City Duma even published a book on the history of creation cathedral. It also contains lines about those who painted icons for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior: “... The icons in the iconostasis were painted on zinc in Sidorsky’s workshop in St. Petersburg, and one, namely the icon of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow, was painted on behalf of the then former Governor A. Sverbeev (now a senator) a peasant of the village of Utevka, Buzuluk district, Grigory Zhuravlev, deprived of arms and legs from birth, painting icons, holding a brush in his teeth, with the Word. God's help... "St. Alexy was considered the patron saint of Samara. Governor A. Sverbeev commissioned Grigory Zhuravlev to paint the icon of the heavenly patron, thus expressing recognition of the talent of the icon painter. (The further fate of the Samara Cathedral of Christ the Savior is sad: there is no temple, it was blown up by the atheistic authorities of Soviet times).
Soon rumors about the unusual master reached the Royal House. Zhuravlev was invited to the capital and surprised everyone there with his art. He stayed in St. Petersburg for three years. For the last family to reign in Russia, Zhuravlev painted a group portrait, with which Nicholas II was pleased. He returned to his homeland with a pension assigned by the Tsar in the amount of 25 rubles in gold monthly. And the Samara governor was ordered to give the icon painter a pacer with winter and summer travel.
As can be understood from the above examples, fame did not bypass Grigory Zhuravlev. His talent was obvious to his contemporaries. Although Gregory had the means, he did not start an icon-painting workshop; he still painted the images himself. The students helped him grind paints, prepare icon boards, and prime them. People came from the distant outskirts of Russia to buy the icons of Grigory Zhuravlev. In life, he was always in an even, peaceful mood, nothing shook or darkened his soul. Always cheerful, cheerful, he shone like a light to people, supporting them as best he could in difficult times. He did not give people the impression of a man deprived of fate. On the contrary, he was distinguished by his extraordinary strength of spirit, everyone respected and loved him.
One of Zhuravlev’s modern biographers, V. Lyalin, writes: “... Year after year, ice drifted along the river, carrying times and dates into Eternity. And now, the new twentieth century has come, a century in which humanity has known the horror of unheard-of bloody wars, monstrous atrocities of self-destruction , generated by arrogant and proud fight against God. In 1916, when there was a difficult bloody war with Germany, Gregory became bored and began to get sick often. During one particularly serious illness, he had a revelation: that hard times would soon come for both himself and his icons. no one will need it. And three years later this happened. And thank God that Gregory did not see this, because he was already lying in the grave at the end of 1916, just before the revolution. He was buried in the church fence of the Utev Trinity Church. They put a simple cross on the grave."
It is unknown how many icons Grigory Zhuravlev painted. But it seems that the fates of many of them will be revealed to us over time. The life and work of this amazing man went far beyond the Samara region. Here is another example that proves this. In the Holy Trinity Lavra of Sergius, in Sergiev Posad, one of the icons by Grigory Zhuravlev called “St. Leo - Pope” is carefully preserved. There, in the museum of the Church Archaeological Cabinet, icons and other ancient monuments are collected different eras. The icons that can be seen there belong to outstanding masters of different times and schools: these are Byzantine (Greek) writing of the 12th century, and the ancient Russian heyday - 14-16th centuries, and the work of Russian masters of the 18-20th centuries. Zhuravlev's icon "St. Leo - Pope of Rome" is among the works of such famous artists, like Surikov, Vasnetsov, Nesterov, Polenov. The work of Grigory Zhuravlev is for us an example of icon painting schools of the 19th century. This is a typical classical tradition of realistic writing. While in the museum of the Church Archaeological Cabinet, you fully realize the correctness of the words once expressed by the priest and philosopher Pavel Florensky in his work “The Trinity-Sergius Lavra and Russia”: “... We see here a magnificent selection of icons of all types and designs; how can one imagine Lavra without a school of icon painting and without icon painters? Isn’t this an unconditional recognition of Grigory Zhuravlev’s talent?!

For some, Utevka is “the end of the world,” but for Grigory Zhuravlev it was the place where he first saw the light. It was here that he was born and over time painted many blessed icons. This is where he died. He lay down with his bones near the cathedral he painted. In the ancient Russian village, places associated with the life of this amazing man have been preserved. Here, everyone you meet will show you the preserved house on Samarskaya Street, where the formation of his personality took place, his daily work on himself, expressed in the willful overcoming of physical weakness, and the place near the church fence where he is buried. And nearby, in the temple, there is a “cast” of his soul: images, as if woven from unearthly rays...