In 2001 the Fellowship restored the chapel of Saints Peter and Paul. On 21 August 2001 it was blessed by his Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Alexii II.

Rowing Boat House: the Ambar

Since 2001 the NSF has been restoring the Ambar (rowing boat house) on Herring Point (Seldyanoi Mys). The boathouse had been in a sadly dilapidated condition. By 2003 the central part of the building had been completed (the northern end of the building which had once been built out over the water had not survived at all). It is planned to house a dry dock in the central part where historic wooden sailing craft will be reconstructed and also a naval museum. The first vessel to be built in the dry dock is a slightly reduced version of the Saint Peter yacht originally built in 1693 in Arkhangelsk for Tsar Peter the Great (shipbuilding). The Ambar had been used by the monks of Solovki to house and repair their karbas boats (typical small boat used in White Sea area), so its new use is totally in keeping with its history.

The authorities at The Solovetsky Stavropegial Monastery of the Transfiguration have given their blessing to the NSF’s project to return the Ambar to its original use. On 30 July 2005, the feast day of Saint Irinarch of Solovki, archimandrite Joseph, the acting father superior, conducted a special service of blessing of the reconstructed part of the building. It was attended by a large crowd of locals and visitors. On 30th July 2006 the first exhibition was opened in the new gallery, Living with the Solovetsky Sea: the Peoples of Northern Russia.

Reconstruction work continues on the Ambar. It is being carried out by Palata, a Solovetsky restoration and design cooperative, and a team of Moscow University students with graduates from other universities and colleges.

Crosses

The erection of large crosses was a great tradition in the Pomor region. They were put up in thanksgiving, in memoriam, for people to pray at and so on. In former times there were a huge number of these crosses along the White Sea shores.

Prayer Cross on Kenga Point

On 2 September 1992, NSF members lead by Sergei Morozov erected a prayer cross on Anzer Island’s Kenga Point. It stands there to this day.

Prayer Cross in the Prosperity Bay (Bukhta Blagopoluchia)

In 2002 the NSF ordered a very large cross from the monastery cross carving workshop. On 22 August the completed cross was carried by monastery inhabitants to the Holy Gates to be blessed. In earlier times a cross like this had stood on the harbour of the Bay of Good Fortune opposite the monastery’s Tsar’s Gates. On 23 August 2002 the cross was blessed by the acting father superior of the Solovetsky Monastery, archimandrite Joseph. In the summer of 2003 members of the Fellowship and a team of volunteers from the State Institute of Theatrical Arts achieved the complex feat of installing a base for the cross made from two interwoven timbers, on its historically correct site. They filled the base with large stones to keep it securely in place and to protect it from ice. On 19 January 2004 the cross was erected on its original site on the harbour of Good Fortune.

Prayer Cross in Long Firth (Dolgaya Guba)

By kind permission of archimandrite Joseph, acting father superior of the Solovetsky Monastery, in August 2002 NSF members erected a prayer cross on the site where the wooden chapel of Saint Barbara used to stand. The chapel, built in the 19th century, was close to the monastery’s quayside on Long Firth where the roads to Rebolda and the paths to Varvarinskoe Lake meet.

The chapel’s dedication was obviously linked to its location. Saint Barbara who was martyred for her faith early in the 4th century and who is believed to have received after death special grace to help those threatened with sudden death, has traditionally been revered as the patroness of those travelling by sea. The monks of Solovki and pilgrims leaving Long Firth for Anzer Island would pray in the chapel for a safe crossing. In the days of the camp the chapel and associated buildings were used by the foresters. The camp held a large number of inmates, among whom at one time was the holy martyr Hilarion (Troitsky), archbishop of Vereisk (died 1929). He worked as a forester and lived in the chapel itself. Later it was dismantled and used for firewood and the site became overgrown. The cross on the site of the chapel was blessed on the day of its erection, 29 August 2002, by archimandrite Joseph.

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