MOSCOW: August 25, 2011
Descendants of Russian Emigres Participate in Restoring a Skete in Solovki

An August 2011 expedition to, and renovation of, Holy Trinity Skete on the island of Anzer of the Solovki Archipelago in Russia recently came to an end.

Twenty-one people participated, among them five citizens of France, descendants of the first wave of Russian emigres, as the Foundation of St Andrew the First-Called reported to Interfax-Religia. The Foundation organized this event jointly with the Center for National Glory.  

The volunteers spent their free time attending divine services at Transfiguration of Our Lord Monastery, and participated in an excursion to Great Solovetski Island.  

In 1920, a Camp for Special Purpose was established in Solovki, which held thousands of prisoners. During Soviet times, Solovki was mainly used to imprison bishops of the Russian Church, along with monastics and priests, participants in the White Movement, representatives of the creative intelligentsia, as well as kulaks [wealthy peasants] from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.  

One of the first prisoners in Solovki in the 1920’s was the grandfather of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, repressed for organizing a Sunday school.