A. V. Posternak

The history of women's ministry to the sick and the needy has its roots in the era of early Christianity, which from the moment of its inception equated the concepts of serving God and neighbor and defined charity as a personal, individual feat of a person in relation to the people around him. Therefore, charity, taking organized forms, turning into a certain system of social relations, paradoxically, gradually loses its deep inner connection with church Christian life, retaining only the outer Christian shell, and sometimes even losing it. And this is quite natural, because few people can constantly live a feat for the sake of their neighbors. It is much easier to formalize this process, turning it into cash transfers or material assistance to those in need, although even in this form it played an important role in society in cases where church and state did not completely solve social problems. It is not for nothing that private charity flourished in Russia during the period of increased secularization in the late 18th and early 20th centuries. It is with this period (starting from the first half of the 19th century) that the history of the Russian communities of sisters of mercy is connected, which well illustrates this process: from heroic enthusiasm to formalized organization in helping others.

In modern literature, the problem associated with the history of the communities of sisters of mercy has been little studied. Published materials in most cases are descriptive and are only touched upon by researchers in connection with other topics: women's medical education, the general history of charity, the heroic activity of women in the context of general and Russian history. Of particular interest were such personalities as the founder of the Exaltation of the Cross community N. I. Pirogov and the Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, who created the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. Articles appeared on individual women's organizations in the context of Moscow studies with descriptions of the architectural features of communal buildings and essays on the sisters' awards. The only book in which an attempt was made to examine in detail the activities of women who cared for the sick and wounded was the work of P. A. Ilinsky, dedicated to the Russian-Turkish war [ .

in Russia until the 19th century. there were no special institutions for the care of the sick. The first attempts to create this kind of charitable organization date back to the beginning of the 19th century, when in 1803 widows' homes were founded at the educational houses of St. Only in 1844, Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna and Princess Teresa of Oldenburg founded in the capital the first community of sisters of mercy in Russia, which in 1873/74 received the name Holy Trinity (until that time it had no name). In form, it was a kind of tracing paper from Western models such as organizations of Protestant deaconesses or Catholic sisters of Vincent de Paul, but on Russian soil the new institution acquired the features of a church-communal structure, close in spirit to the monastic one. In this sense, the Trinity community will become a prototype for a number of other, but by no means all, sisterhoods, which initially gravitated towards semi-monastic charters, although in the form of charitable activities close to Western models. This characteristic feature, having undergone a significant evolution, will remain until the beginning of the 20th century.

On October 25, 1854, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna established the Exaltation of the Cross Community of Sisters of Mercy in St. Petersburg. The remarkable Russian surgeon Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov became the chief doctor and immediate leader of the community, and he carried out a thorough reorganization of the community. Any woman who wished to join it underwent tests in hospitals under the guidance of older sisters for a year: at the end of the first month of the term, when she was still “on observation,” she was given uniforms. During the period of service, the sister could not marry and was obliged to live in the community. Distinguished in any way - zeal, special behavior, even a good education - could be accepted earlier than the deadline. The sisters did not receive a salary, but they had, in addition to official clothes, a table and housing. The direct supervisor of the sisters was the abbess. The described structure subsequently formed the basis for the structure of most Russian communities of sisters of mercy.

Twenty years after the Crimean War, Pirogov, in one of his letters, reflected on the future fate of the community - about what worldview is necessary for a sister of mercy. “I think,” he wrote, “that our institutions of sisters should not borrow anything from the West, but should be established on new principles. Our sister of mercy should not be an Orthodox nun. She must be a woman with a practical mind and a good technical education, and at the same time she must certainly retain a sensitive heart. According to Pirogov, the sisters of mercy were supposed to maintain maximum independence from the hospital administration, and the older sisters had a moral influence on the hospital staff - this was the main function of the sisters during the Crimean War. “If we would take it into our heads to introduce a formal religious trend in our communities, then ... we will get female Tartuffes.” Thus, Pirogov's main idea was that a sister of mercy should be a "woman of her time" - not too ecclesiastical, not very cynical, cold-blooded and with a warm heart. This image fully met the aspirations of the liberal public in the middle of the 19th century. and was quite abstract and far from being embodied in reality, since any worldview (and the sisters of mercy had to have a certain worldview) has a solid spiritual foundation, and it is not found in Pirogov's reasoning. On the other hand, these considerations anticipated the appearance in Western countries and Russia of a new Red Cross Society, which later developed on the basis of universal human values, not ecclesiastical ones.

Before the Russo-Turkish war, there were about two dozen communities in Russia. In addition to Troitskaya, Nikolskaya and Krestovozdvizhenskaya, in 1850 the Sturdzovsky community arose in Odessa, in 1853 - the community of the Liteynaya part, 1858 - Pokrovskaya, 1870 - in the name of St. George in Petersburg. Later, the St. George community will become the largest organization of the Red Cross - in the 70s it was headed by Elizaveta Petrovna Kartseva, who left the Exaltation of the Cross community. The sisterhood appeared in Kharkov in 1872. In 1875, in the Crimea, in the vicinity of Yalta, on the estate of Baroness M.P. in Tiflis (Tbilisi) - Tiflis. Before the war, the Catherine community appeared in Novgorod, two similar organizations - in Pskov (one was called Ioanno-Ilyinsky), small sisterhoods arise in Kostroma, Kursk and Revel (now Tallinn)]. In Moscow during this period, two communities were created: "Assuage my sorrows" (1865) and Vladychne-Pokrovskaya (1869).

Gradually, the main functions of the communities began to be determined:

1) general charitable goals (charity for the poor, care for the sick, raising children: Trinity, Pokrovskaya communities in St. Petersburg);

2) military (assistance to the wounded and sick soldiers: Exaltation of the Cross, Georgievskaya, "Satisfy my sorrows");

3) under the jurisdiction of the Synod, assigned to women's monasteries (Vladychne-Pokrovskaya in Moscow). These communities became a special phenomenon in Russian church life, as they arose in many dioceses and did not always aim to help the sick, gradually turning into new women's monasteries. However, the listed areas of activity among the existing communities were not strictly delineated.

Russo-Turkish War 1877–1878 was popular among the Russian intelligentsia - ardent patriotism was the product of an unnecessarily heated public opinion. Most of the women had no idea what awaited them in the war, and almost everyone rushed to the front line, where they were not allowed in - the fear of a new and not entirely clear profession, which twenty years ago was chosen by the sisters of the Cross, who managed to become famous and "beat through path" for others. The huge influx of sisters brought many superfluous and random volunteers to the infirmaries. The legal and administrative status of the sisters of mercy during the war was determined by the "Rules on the Sisters of the Red Cross" published in 1875 and the rules drawn up for those wishing to join the sisters of the Red Cross only for the period of the war. Thus, the status of those who worked in the communities and those who wanted to become a sister of mercy temporarily, called by the people “civilians” or “volunteers”, was initially distinguished.

The sisters were subordinate to two organizations: the military department and the Red Cross, and the relationship between these organizations largely determined the situation among medical personnel, and they did not develop in the best way. The Russian Red Cross Society (ROKK) had huge funds at its disposal: during the war it managed to collect more than 9 million rubles, of which 1 million rubles. was never spent. However, in the theater of war, this organization played a supporting role, since the arrangement of mobile infirmaries near the battlefields, shelters for convalescents, evacuation stages, “flying” detachments to pick up the wounded after the battle was not thought out - everything was formed rather spontaneously and with the loss of precious time.

After the war, the Main Military Medical Directorate found it necessary to organize the training of sisters of mercy to create a reserve: according to approximate estimates, in the event of war, about 3,000 people could be required. . In 1893, this figure was already determined to be twice as high, but in reality, the ROCK could provide only 1,300 sisters at the disposal of the military department, which became an additional impetus for the creation of new communities. In 1879, in addition to the above-mentioned organizations, under the jurisdiction of the ROCK, there were: the community of sisters of Princess Baryatinsky and the Alexandrovsky department of the sisters of the Red Cross in St. Petersburg, communities in Helsingfors, Tambov, Vilna, Warsaw, Kyiv (less than thirty in total), but by 1900 there were the number increased to 84. Geographically, the distribution of communities across the country can be represented as follows: the northernmost city is Arkhangelsk, the westernmost city is Warsaw, the southern one is Tiflis, the eastern one in the European part of Russia is Yekaterinburg, the easternmost city beyond the Urals is Khabarovsk.

With the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. The Russian Red Cross was unable to provide the necessary number of medical personnel, and as a result of the huge demand for female labor, the requirements of the communities for applicants were reduced to a minimum. The training was very diverse: from six weeks to four years, among the sisters there were both semi-literate and graduates of foreign universities. Due to this spread in knowledge, the quality of women's work largely depended on their general level of education, since short preliminary training (on average 1.5-3 months) was not enough to prepare professionals. The material support of the sisters was also not the same. In the communities in peacetime they did not receive a salary, but during the war the sisters were entitled to maintenance, which usually depended on the financial situation of the community: 5, 20 or 30 rubles a month. Sometimes the military department took on part of the costs, therefore, as in the Russian-Turkish war, many sisters, for material reasons, were more willing to go to military hospitals, and not to the institutions of the ROCK, although the work and conditions were much harder here. In total, about two thousand women worked in military hospitals during the Russo-Japanese War [ . According to official statistics, there were about 200 sisters of mercy in the institutions of the Red Cross in the Zabaikalsky district alone.

Little is known about the activities of the sisters of mercy during the First World War - no time was allowed for memoirs and detailed reports due to the outbreak of the revolution. The information that has come down to us is very incomplete and uninformative. By 1915, there were 115 communities in Russia run by the Red Cross Society, in addition, the sisters were at three local administrations and two Committees of the ROCC, the Evangelical Hospital and four foreign hospitals in Petrograd. The largest organization, numbering 1603 people, was the community of St. George. The next largest were the Petrograd sisterhoods named after Lieutenant-General M. P. von Kaufmann (952 people) and St. Eugenia (465 people). In total, there were seven communities in Moscow by the beginning of the war. It should be clarified that the lists included not only women who were in active service, but also sisters in the reserve, so that their real number turned out to be smaller. In 1916, according to official lists, 17,436 sisters were sent to the front, who served more than two thousand field and rear institutions of the Red Cross. On November 1, 1915, about 780,000 people were being treated in all infirmaries. By this time, 28 sisters had died of infectious diseases, four had died in accidents, five had been murdered, and twelve had committed suicide. After the war, it was supposed to publish a "Golden Book" with biographies of all the dead sisters, but the project was not implemented.

All communities of sisters of mercy at the beginning of the 20th century. were administered by the Red Cross Society under the auspices of the widowed Empress Maria Feodorovna, wife of Alexander III and mother of Nicholas II. Their activities were regulated by the General Statute of the Red Cross Communities approved in 1903]. Interest in the profession of a sister of mercy among the wealthy sections of Russian society and the intelligentsia woke up only when, during the war period, the image of a sister was shrouded in a haze of patriotic romance - then many volunteers appeared. In peacetime, it was possible to become a sister only through the community, so women often went to women's organizations, knowingly disagreeing with the statutory conditions of work and ready to violate them. Some of them, for example, demanded remuneration for their care in private homes. After the Russo-Japanese War, almost none of the sisters returned to the communities the balances from the amounts allocated for their equipment. Many were just waiting for an opportunity to move on to better paid jobs, considering the communities and the Red Cross to be the institutions where they are being exploited.

On the other hand, the disastrous financial situation of the communities is also explained by the lack of regular state funding, which was also fixed by the Normal Charter (§ 64). A rather sad picture: the organization of assistance to the sick is forced to arrange festivities, lotteries and mug gatherings for self-sufficiency! A special source of income was payment for the treatment of patients, which in a number of communities was quite high. In this regard, the bitter words of one sister become understandable: “The Red Cross communities are undoubtedly on the decline, and, unfortunately, moral decline, apparently, will come before the material one, and with them, along this path, they can captivate those institutions which at first they tried so hard to imitate.

That is why the foundation of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent seems so symptomatic - not just an organization for the care of the sick, but a whole phenomenon that summed up the brief period of the existence of communities of sisters of mercy in Russia - a fruit that ripened in an era when their decline began. The appearance of such a person as the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, who embodied the best features of unknown workers, is also not accidental. It can be said that the Grand Duchess is a collective image created by the sisters of the previous time, since it would be historically unfair if the communities of sisters did not give birth to their own saint. Elizaveta Fedorovna saw in the activities of the sisters of the monastery a restored form of church service for women in the Orthodox Church - the service of deaconesses. Actually, this was also indicated by the new rank of the appointment of the abbess of the monastery. In the future, the Grand Duchess called herself almost a nun, it is possible that she took secret tonsure, - contemporaries colloquially called the sisters of the monastery deaconesses. The charter of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent was approved in 1908, and then twice more: in 1911 and 1914. In 1908, according to the project of the architect Shchusev, the construction of the Church of the Intercession on Bolshaya Ordynka (now house 34a) began. The monastery itself opened on February 10, 1909. After the tragic death of Elizabeth Feodorovna in 1918, the community existed until 1926, when most of the sisters of the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery were taken from Moscow to Central Asia, and two years later the substituting abbess Tatyana Golitsyna was arrested.

Communities of sisters of mercy in Russia arose not only as special organizations for the care of the sick, but also as religious institutions based on the sincere impulse of women to care for the sick, the wounded and children. In this sense, the monastic tradition was closer to them, in contrast to Western Europe, where, with the advent of Florence Nightingale, they began to see a certain profession in care. F. Nightingale laid the foundations for women's medical education, and the religious moment was far from decisive in the development of the new system. No wonder the original designation of the sisters

(nurses) in English is still applied to nurses, while the Russian revolution became a watershed between the concepts of "sister of mercy" and "nurse".

As soon as the communities of sisters of mercy in Russia receive systematic development, the initial enthusiasm begins to fade - it is replenished and gradually replaced by the general charitable and professional medical activities of women. An important role in this, on the one hand, was played by the activities of the Red Cross Society, and on the other hand, the desire of women to acquire the same status as men in society. Emancipation contributed to the development of women's education, but the desire of women to become like men in everything gradually led Russian communities to the same results as in Western Europe: nursing becomes a profession, and the spiritual basis of medicine is either forgotten altogether or becomes something of a secondary importance. After the revolution, another extreme appeared: only professionalism was charged to nurses, while elementary care, which took into account not only the physical, but also the spiritual condition of the patient, was lost. One can only hope that the communities of sisters of mercy that are reviving in modern society will not repeat their previous mistakes and restore the lost tradition of caring for the sick, which is possible only if they realize the religious meaning of their ministry.

Shibkov A. A. The first women of Russia in medical school and in the war until the 20th century. L., 1957; Shibkov A. A. The first women doctors in Russia. L., 1961.

Vlasov P. The abode of mercy. M., 1991.

German F. A. Merit of women in the care of the sick and wounded. Kharkov, 1898; Khechinov Yu. Guardian Angels. Pages of the history of the Fatherland. M., 1993. 316

Bushuev V.F. N. I. Pirogov and the beginning of women's care for the sick and wounded in the war. Kyiv, 1908; Suslov V.S. Pirogov and the first nurses (to the 85th anniversary of the death of N.I. Pirogov) // Nurse. 1969. No. 6. S. 56–57.

Miller L. Holy Martyr of Russia Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. M., 1994.

Burakov Yu. N. Satisfy my sorrows // Science and religion. 1991. No. 10. S. 46–51; No. 11, pp. 24–26; No. 12, pp. 13–18; Golovkova L. Iberian community on Bolshaya Polyanka // Moscow Journal. 1992. No. 10. S. 30–32; 1994. No. 5. S. 22–31.

Gribanov E.D. Award badges of Russian sisters of mercy // Medical assistance. 1996. No. 6. S. 47–51; Gribanov E. D., Potapchuk T. B. Badges of nurses in Russia // Medical assistance. 1996. No. 7. S. 48–53.

Ilinskiy P. A. Russian woman in the war 1877–1878 SPb., 1879.

About one conquest of the revolution

Is it true that when the first communities of sisters of mercy arose, care for the sick and wounded in the modern sense simply did not exist?

Care was, but it was insignificant. It was carried out mainly by male personnel, the so-called servants. If it was about military events, then it was a servant from the soldiers - from the decommissioned, slightly wounded, etc., who did all the work. In the civil department there was such a servant - both male and female - from the most diverse persons of the lowest rank. This job has always been very low paying. And, of course, a little professional.

- Can we say that the women's nursing movement gave rise to the profession of a modern nurse?

Here it should immediately be noted that there were completely different movements concerning the same subject - a sick person. There were people who came to this job because they simply had nowhere to go. Often they were people who were drinking and leading an absent-minded lifestyle, they were often seen stealing, they were often kicked out, and there was a staff turnover.

The second category is people who came all the same in order to care for the sick. For example, the institute of compassionate widows. These were, as we would now say, the homes of veterans, or rather, the wives of civil service veterans, the widows of those who died in the line of duty. Some of these women were engaged in caring for the sick, thus receiving additional earnings. Their activities did not have a purely religious direction. Since the religion was state and everyone was Orthodox, then, naturally, compassionate widows took an oath on the Gospel, kissed the cross, etc. But still, these organizations cannot be called religious communities.

The third direction is women's public formations in times of troubles and national catastrophes. For example, the Red Cross, which was also in many ways a women's organization.

And finally, the fourth ones are religious communities, where service to the sick was considered as a kind of service to God and the way of salvation.

- How did the pre-revolutionary position of the sisters of mercy differ from the current one?

Previously, sisters were a very protected category, including socially protected. The working age was short - fifteen years, then a pension. And the pension is good, you could support yourself and another relative, give him an education. Those. the matter was taken seriously, and the person who was caring for the sick gave him all his health, he knew that the community would not leave him later. Most of the communities had capital, and they lived on interest from this capital. And the sisters often worked for a fee, by the way, for a lot of money. But the money did not go to them, but to the general cashier.

- That is, in the old communities, the sisters lived on full provision?

Yes, on official clothes, on official food ... It was a certain way of life, which now seems almost impossible to me. Well, before doctors lived at the hospital, teachers at schools. Now this system is broken.

In addition, if we take the real community of sisters of mercy, they all worked in departments that were strictly closed to any other help. There has always been administrative support. A special department, special hospitals were allocated, a special procedure for the work of these sisters was created, their legal status was determined. Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov wrote that the feat of a sister of mercy is possible only if there is a strong male guardianship behind it. Then the woman can handle it.

It is necessary that a sister of mercy feel her rights, so that she understands that if she asks for something, demands something, disagrees with something, then she will be supported, listened to. Now this is not. If a sister in the department wants to do something to take care of the sick, for example, to get some linen, she goes to the hostess, the hostess sister sends her obscenities, and everything ends there.

In addition, the former sisters always had very important controlling functions. Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov, for example, wrote to his wife during the Crimean campaign (in a joking manner, true, but nonetheless) that the sisters of mercy in Odessa shot the chief pharmacist. "Truly merciful sisters!" - writes Pirogov. The story was this: the pharmacist stole medicines, and the sisters, with great effort and with high support (the patroness of the Exaltation of the Cross community was nothing less than Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, who had very great power) achieved a trial. Giant machinations were uncovered, and the apothecary shot himself in disgrace.

- And how is a sister of mercy different from an ordinary nurse? Are these different professions?

Now there is some confusion with the concept of "sister of mercy". One of the difficulties of the present time is that everyone puts their own meaning into this concept. And if we return to history, then we must understand it quite unambiguously: a sister of mercy before the revolution is just a nurse. Here were the professions: an officer, a lawyer, a priest, a cab driver, and there was a profession of a sister of mercy. The sisters of mercy were different - depending on the type of communities to which they belonged: confessional, Red Cross, heterodox, there were also atheists, atheists. But professionally it was the same.

A revolution comes and everything changes. The revolutionaries were the first to react to the word "mercy". And not even because the sisters of mercy were religious, but because for the revolutionaries the word "mercy" was associated with religion and was subject to destruction. By the 25th or 26th year, the Bolsheviks removed the word "mercy" from the lexicon. Thus, without wanting it themselves, they gave it an ideological meaning - it was associated with a religious, that is, a spiritual attitude to the matter.

And it turned out that when now this name - "sister of mercy" - returned, it began to mean something else. Using it now, we oppose a sister, who formally refers to her duties, with a Christian sister, and on the other hand, we oppose the health care system that exists, some other - more humane, more reasonable.

By the way, Count Alexander Sturdza, the founder of the well-known Odessa Orthodox community of sisters of mercy and a very pious person, has the same idea in his address to the sisters: he tries to oppose his sisters of mercy to some others that existed in his time. “For between a truly compassionate nurse and an ordinary nurse,” he writes, “there must be a considerable essential difference: a simple nurse (consider a simple sister of mercy. - A. F.) can be serviceable without much sympathy for the patient. On the contrary, a compassionate sister, ministering to the sick for the sake of Christ, must be inspired by faith and love, in which lies all our merit and all our wisdom. That is, there was some opposition then.

It seems to me that today, officially calling a person a sister of mercy, we always confuse his status. After all, it's actually an appraisal. And it happens that today I am a sister of mercy, and tomorrow I am a viper. Because today I love the patient and take care of him, but tomorrow I'm tired of them all and I don't want to take care of them. And I am no longer a sister of mercy.

In our school, we put ourselves on the hook: with our name - "school of sisters of mercy" - we kind of announced that this title can be fixed in the educational program, that this is the formal name of the profession. What this word is not and should not be. This is a fundamental moment.

A sister of mercy is a professional physician, but with special mental and spiritual qualities. These qualities may be given to some from God from birth, as a dispensation of the soul, but most often they are acquired as a result of acquisition, as a gift from God for our labors. And these special spiritual and spiritual qualities cannot be an element of professionalism in the bureaucratic sense of the word. They cannot be part of a qualification.

Now, in fact, there is a formalization, standardization of all life. What Dostoevsky said: when right comes, love goes. Before our eyes, there is an increase in the paper "legal field", a terrible paper "must" and "should" - and the washing out of normal, free human relationships, where love is present. Even people entering into marriage are encouraged to conclude a contract, which defines the duties and responsibilities of the parties. The same is true in medicine. But the more they try to force the physician to work for the patient through formal requirements, the more opportunities he will have not to do this. It's a paradox, but it's true. Because inside formal conditions one can always be absolutely soulless. Here I am supposed to turn the patient over five times an hour to prevent bedsores. I know, I feel, or I was told that this particular patient should not be turned over five times, but twenty-five times, and maybe not even once in the next hour. But formalism gives me the opportunity to show an absolute dislike for him. I have written - five times, and I will do as it is written.

Here we have one sister wrote a dissertation on bedsores. And she writes there that in the department where patients with spinal injuries lie, a formal approach to professional activity is unacceptable. That is, bare professionalism does not work there. There must be certain mental and spiritual qualities and properties for this work - that is, something that goes beyond professionalism.
"I'm standing and crying..."

- When schools like yours or the community of sisters of mercy are being created now, is the goal to return to some ideal in the past?

This is a difficult question. When we created the school, the idea that the spirit of the former communities of sisters of mercy was being revived was, of course, present. But in fact, in the form and role in which those communities of sisters of mercy existed, nothing can be revived. What was before the revolution and what is now are two different states. And it is simply impossible to "adopt" the previous experience.

The main idea was different. When perestroika began, there was such a joyful feeling that our society itself would be able to participate in solving social problems. Everyone thought: now something like this will open. The problems of sick people will be dealt with not only by officials, but also by society itself, it will form some structures that will figure it out and do what is necessary.

After all, we lived in a society where the patient was unnecessary. He was a cog - shorn, dressed in a uniform that was practically a repetition of the form of convicts. And there was not a single lawsuit about what happens in the hospital, the patient could never be right. Everything that the doctors offered was the ultimate truth, the doctor was a kind of official managing human health.

Perestroika began, and it seemed to everyone that reasonable approaches would finally prevail. And one of the reasonable approaches was the return of the Church to social activity.

So, when our school of sisters of mercy was created, the main idea was that in society, in the Church, there is a certain stratum of people who would like to be engaged in providing real reasonable help to the sick. And only a small thing remains - to organize, unite, train them, and then everything will go by itself: they will come to the hospital and arrange chic, brilliance, beauty there.

And when for the first time we announced: "Come!" - people came, exactly those same ones. Mostly those already educated, having life experience, adults who came to God and realized that they used to live wrong, but now they know how to do it right. And the right thing is to work with patients. And our task was not to teach them mercy, but to give them professional skills for such work.

- Then something changed?

There were only two or three such sets. The trend emerged almost immediately: we "selected" these people in Moscow rather quickly. The stock has run out! And the main idea has changed. If the first idea was: "I need this education in order to go to the sick," now: "I need an education, and what I will do next - we'll see. But the place where I am is good. The place is church, here is spiritual atmosphere, it's calm here, they don't smoke, they serve lunch..."

Now very young people come to us, who, in general, know little about themselves. And I must say, do not open it. This is such a misfortune - many of them, when they act, say all sorts of lofty words, but in fact there is nothing behind these words, except for the understanding that such words should be said, and not vice versa. It is clear that a person cannot come and say: I have come to you, because a sister of mercy gets a lot or quickly makes a career ... They speak accumulated newspaper words, behind which there is no essence. When we started, the essence was, because the person said: “I’m walking, I see your ad is hanging on a pole, I read it, I’m standing and crying like a fool ... Because I suddenly realized that I had worked at a factory for 20 years - an engineer, but in fact, that's where I need to be ... "These were living words.

And when the children come, they themselves do not yet know what they want. Over the years, while they study, grow up, they completely change and they have a lot of plans - maybe very good ones, but not directly related to working with patients. We think that we are a school of sisters of mercy, but in fact we have people who have no idea what it is. And they do not have a real need to help the sick, because this need is formed much later, already in an adult.

And by the way, the sisters of mercy were not admitted to the old communities until they were 20 years old. And 20 years then - it was already about-th-th age. People who made their choice came to the old communities.

So now our school of sisters of mercy performs the function of a kind of haven for young people who, during their studies, can not only remain clean, but also, if they wish, grow in church life and in holiness.

But there are ordinary medical schools and institutes where Orthodox people study. Isn't it enough for a physician to simply be a believer, why is a special Orthodox medical education needed?

Of course, a Christian must be in the world. But for this he must be a very strong Christian. Are there any now? I don’t know about others, I myself am a bad Christian, and it’s very difficult for me. So I imagine how difficult it is for children.

Given the current situation, Orthodox educational institutions are very much needed. In ordinary institutions, and even more so in schools, there are a lot of temptations now. Medical students tell me what's going on there. They drink, walk, debauchery, take drugs. We recently went with our students to the anatomical museum of the medical institute. We come to the locker room, and on the column there is a huge inscription with a felt-tip pen, completely indecent.

We sometimes like to complain: it’s bad here, our teachers are not good enough ... But children from other schools come and say: I want to transfer to you, our teachers swear at us in the classroom. We may not have perfection, which, probably, never and nowhere at all, but still, in comparison with other schools, the situation here is completely different, which allows children not to die.
Aptitude test

But maybe the young can be taught? How do you explain the meaning of nursing to them?

We are trying to teach them that another person is very important for a sister of mercy - his worries, needs, his experiences, that when communicating with other people, we should always ask ourselves: "What can be done for him?" That is, we teach them to prepare themselves for service. But to what extent this is possible, I don't know. Some girls get it. Maybe this is somehow connected with innate characteristics, because there are people who are prone to self-sacrifice, to helpfulness, and there are people who believe that, on the contrary, everything should be given to them.

But speaking is speaking, and deed is deed. It is necessary to work with the sick, and for the students nearby to see it. Because no words can replace deeds. And here you can immediately see who is good for what. It happened with us like this: students go to the hospital with one of the older sisters, and then this sister tells me: they came to the department, they had to shake off the dirty blanket from the homeless, and the girls said: we don’t want it, it’s dirty. And mercy is just this: the blanket is dirty and nasty, but the homeless needs the blanket to be shaken and turned over, he doesn’t need anything else ...

The second point, very important, in my opinion: if she is a doctor, a sister of mercy should be brought up in a medical institution. The whole paradox is that we do not have such medical institutions where we can educate sisters of mercy.

- Which means what?

There should be nurses and doctors who love the sick, set an example of selfless service. The entire hospital staff, the team, should be an example. We have practically no such examples - well, no more than two or three departments where our sisters of mercy work. But if we have 250 students, we cannot send them to practice in one department. And when they come to other places, they find themselves in conditions of life that have nothing to do with mercy and Christianity. I do not want to scold anyone, but now the atmosphere in hospitals is becoming very difficult.

There are not enough nurses in hospitals. There are people who have nowhere to go to work. Giant burdens fall on the sisters. There are not enough working hands, there are no medicines, there are no items of care, linen. The conditions are very difficult. Just imagine - a man comes and says: I will play the violin! They tell him: please play. Only we don’t have a violin, we don’t have bows, and the orchestra went into the next room ... And what should this violinist do? And modern sisters live in this all the time, all the time they are faced with the fact that it is impossible to carry out their activities. This causes a very difficult mental and professional internal conflict. And many break down and stop doing something at all.

At the same time, there are wonderful nurses who need to erect a monument. Those who stayed to work, who work with seriously ill patients. They are also sisters of mercy. Of course, they are non-church, but they are sisters of mercy, because they love the sick and take care of them. And they give their lives for them. Here they would be churched ...

Therefore, if I were now asked how I see the future of the school, I would say this: it should be made a school for advanced training. For nurses with a diploma of secondary medical education who worked in a hospital and realized that they lacked mercy and something very important inside. So that they can come here and, being churched, living the church life together, receive this.

- What prospect do you see for the communities of sisters of mercy in the current situation?

I believe that the place of a sister of mercy in modern society must be determined by law. It is necessary to find people in state structures who are interested in creating medical institutions where sisters of mercy would work. But is it real, I don't know. Not sure.

Until we find administrators who want not to make money in every possible way (and the modern system allows you to make money on anything, including the hospital), it is unlikely that anything will work out. Well, a simple thing: let's say, a big hospital with many buildings. The Orthodox community comes: "Let's repair one building together and make a hospice here." But the head physician is not interested. He will rent this building to some firm for much more money.

In order for the sisters of mercy to have a future in state structures, it is necessary that the state show a non-material interest in this. Or it should be like Elizabeth Feodorovna - with very high patronage and very high prosperity. It was, after all, a completely self-financing unit. If Elizabeth Feodorovna had not had money, there would have been no Martha and Mary Convent. She bought a hospital, she bought land, she bought medicines, she hired teachers for the school, and so on.

There should be a law on state orders, i.e. the state must determine the areas in which it entrusts public and religious organizations with work. This is, for example, the problem of homeless children, or the problem of the homeless, or the problem of the elderly, the disabled, etc. A program should be developed in which the state budget would be allocated to a specific executor to solve a specific problem. Here, let us suppose, is the community of sisters of mercy. She concludes an agreement with the state that she takes 50 children to raise. And she gets the state budget for it. And the state, in turn, controls how this money is spent.

This law is in force in many states. With us, unfortunately, everything remains now at the level of personal agreements. That is, let's say, the rector of the church and the director of the state orphanage agreed, they took several sisters to the orphanage, then a few more sisters, then a priest comes there, reads prayers, a chapel appears, then the church is consecrated. Such a slow, slow path is probably possible - in the event that there is a specific person who wants to do this. But such people are actually very few.

The organization of patient care in our country is closely connected with the activities of the communities of sisters of mercy. In 1844, there were 56 communities of sisters of mercy in the world, of which 35 were organized in Germany, 6 in Russia (St. Petersburg, Vyborg, Saratov, Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki) and 1-3 communities in other countries. sister mercy sick

The first such structures in our country were created through private charity.

The first Russian community of sisters of mercy is considered to be the Holy Trinity community, created in 1844 following the example of Catholic communities on the initiative of led. book. Alexandra Nikolaevna and Princess Theresa of Oldenburg (the first Orthodox community of sisters of mercy in Russia (since 1873 - the Holy Trinity community of sisters of mercy in honor of the Holy Trinity Church existing in the community). Later, the movement of the sisterhood took on a mainly secular character. Among the founders and trustees communities were wives, sisters and daughters of Russian emperors, representatives of the most prominent Russian families. With the formation of the Russian Red Cross Society (ROKK), most of the communities came under its jurisdiction. Before the communities, the question was raised about the training of sisters of mercy, capable of assisting combatants, including number in the theater of operations.

In peacetime, the sisters worked in hospitals, shelters, almshouses, visited prisoners, and helped the population affected by natural disasters. Some communities had their own medical and charitable institutions. Nursing courses organized in the communities contributed to the formation of a system for training medical personnel in Russia. By the beginning of the twentieth century. communities of sisters of mercy worked in almost every provincial town.

According to the charter of the community, which was approved in 1848, its purpose was "the care of the poor sick, the consolation of the mourners, bringing to the path of the true persons who indulged in vices, the upbringing of homeless children and the correction of children with bad inclinations." The community included: a department of sisters of mercy; women's hospital; an almshouse for the terminally ill; reform school; boarding house; shelter for visiting children; branch of the "Penitent Magdalen".

The revival of the communities of sisters of mercy, whose activities were interrupted by the October Revolution, began in the renewed Russia in the early 1990s.

In conditions of a catastrophic shortage of nursing staff in medical hospitals, parishioners of Orthodox parishes began to unite into sisterhoods, which set Christian service in medical institutions as their goal. This became a logical step on the way of understanding oneself in church life for many believers, an expression of one of the most important gospel postulates formulated by the Apostle Paul: "Faith without works is dead...".

All modern communities and sisterhoods are registered as religious or public charitable organizations. Most of them are headed by a priest, and the main sisters play the role of his assistants.

The activities of the communities and sisterhoods extend to hospitals, hospices, almshouses, shelters, patronage services. Many sisters devote their free time to charitable service without leaving their main professional occupations.

The community accepted widows and girls of all classes aged 20 to 40 years. Before receiving the title of sister of mercy, women had to work in the community for a year. The procedure for enrolling in the sisters of mercy took place in a solemn atmosphere, as well as during the dedication to compassionate widows.

There was a community on charitable funds. In the 1950s, the community was going through a difficult period - the household fell into disarray, the discipline of the sisters worsened, and the question arose of closing it. However, since 1859, when the community was headed by E. A. Kublitskaya, its activities began to revive.

The professional training of the sisters of mercy included teaching the basic hygienic rules for caring for the sick, some medical procedures. Subsequently, the scope of their duties was significantly expanded.

In addition to working in the branches of the community, the sisters of mercy selflessly cared for the sick in low-income and poor families. The women's hospital at the community was organized with 25 beds, and, starting from 1868, it already had 58 beds. In 1884, a men's hospital with 50 beds was opened.

The sisters of mercy of the community participated in all major wars of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Over several decades of its activity, the Holy Trinity Community of Sisters of Mercy has made a significant contribution to the care of the wounded and sick in Russia.

In 1844, in St. Petersburg, Princess M. F. Baryatinsky founded the community of sisters of mercy of the Foundry part.

The community's goal was to help those in need in the area. According to the charter, it consisted of three departments: sisters of mercy; abandoned poor old women (24 people) and nurseries (12 children). Adult girls or widows were accepted as sisters of mercy after a six-month probationary period.

The sisters cared for the sick, mostly the poor. In 1854, a small hospital for wounded officers of the Baltic Fleet was opened at the community, reorganized in 1856 into a temporary charity home for the widows and orphans of officers killed in Sevastopol. In 1863-1877. the community operated a children's hospital with 10 beds.

In 1850, the Odessa almshouse for compassionate sisters was organized. The purpose of the community is to care for sick women and train those who wish to take care of them, which included distributing medicines, dressing wounds, making beds, distributing food, etc.

The community included a hospital with 24 beds and a department of compassionate sisters, where girls and widows of the Orthodox faith were admitted between the ages of 20 and 40. In 1854, the wounded in the Crimean War were being treated in the community hospital.

The Intercession Community of Sisters of Mercy was founded in 1859 in St. Petersburg by Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna. According to the statute (1861), the goal of the community was "to take care of the incoming patients, to train experienced sisters of mercy and to bring up poor and homeless children."

The community included a nurses' department, a hospital, an outpatient clinic, a pharmacy, an infants' department, a junior children's department, a boys' school, and a school for the training of paramedics. 35 people worked in the department of sisters. As a rule, girls and widows aged 17 to 40 were accepted here. The trial period was 3 years, after which, in a solemn atmosphere, after taking an oath, the sisters received a golden cross on a blue ribbon with the inscription "Love and Mercy".

Sisters, subjects and pupils of the school for paramedics were on duty in the hospital, outpatient clinic, pharmacy and were obliged to follow the orders of the doctors.

The community hospital had 20 beds for adults and 30 for children. The hospital for outpatients provided assistance free of charge by consulting physicians who were on the staff of the hospital.

The department for young children was designed for 98 people of both sexes. Orphans, cripples, blind children, children from poor families were accepted here.

The school trained 100 paramedics; the training included two stages - preparatory (gymnasium) and special (medical). The curriculum included the study of anatomy, physiology, physics, pharmacology, clinical disciplines, minor surgery, desmurgy, methods of patient care. The course of study was 4 years. The sisters of mercy who graduated from college received a certificate giving the right to work as an assistant to the doctor.

In 1861, Princess M. M. Dondukova-Korsakova created a community of rural sisters of mercy in the Pskov province.

In 1863, Princess A.V. Golitsyna organized a shelter in Moscow for nuns from other cities, and with it a hospital and a community of sisters of mercy.

In 1866, Princess N. B. Shakhovskaya created a community of sisters of mercy "Satisfy my sorrows." The community established at the prison hospital later opened an orphanage for girls, a hospital and a dispensary. Subsequently, the community became the largest in Russia, in 1877 it consisted of 250 sisters of mercy.

A special place in the activities of the first communities of sisters of mercy is occupied by the Exaltation of the Cross community, which was established in St. Petersburg at the very beginning of the Crimean War on the initiative of the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (the day the community was founded - November 5, 1854 coincided with the Orthodox holiday of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross - a symbol of the Christian faith) . It was the world's first female medical unit to provide assistance to the wounded on the battlefield.

Helping the wounded by the forces of the sisters of mercy of this community was a prototype of the activities of the future Red Cross Society. The sisters of mercy took part in all the wars of the second half of the 19th century. They selflessly worked in hospitals, at dressing stations, and also provided assistance to the wounded and directly on the battlefield.

In the post-war years, the community was headed by E. M. Bakunina, who began negotiations with representatives of the military department on the constant use of the work of sisters of mercy in hospitals. In 1860, E. I. Karpova replaced her as abbess of the Exaltation of the Cross community.

The community gained wide popularity not only in Russia, but also abroad. She participated in the international hygienic exhibition in Brussels in 1876, and the sisters E. S. Vysotskaya and S. P. Suhonen assisted in the creation of the first community of sisters of mercy in Bulgaria in 1900 at the request of the Bulgarian Red Cross Society.

By January 1, 1891, there were 119 sisters of mercy and 19 probationers in the community. In 1894, after the abolition of the department of the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, the community came under the jurisdiction of the Russian Red Cross Society.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, there were about 30 thousand state, public and private institutions in the Russian Empire that provided charitable and medical assistance to the population. A worthy place in this work was occupied by the communities of sisters of mercy.

mercy red cross charity

A manifestation of high morality and spirituality was the movement of community sisters of mercy, which arose in the middle of the 19th century. It was started by the Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna and Princess Teresa of Oldenburg, who in 1844 in St. Petersburg founded the first community of sisters of mercy in Russia, called Holy Trinity.

In Moscow, a similar community arose in 1848 during a cholera epidemic. It was organized by two prominent people, Princess Sofya Stepanovna Shcherbatova and Dr. Fyodor Petrovich Gaaz. During the Crimean War of 1853-1856, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna in 1854 established a community of sisters of mercy in St. Petersburg, called the Exaltation of the Cross, specially designed for work in the army. The organization and activities of the community took place under the leadership of the great Russian surgeon N. I. Pirogov. The new undertaking in the highest circles was met with skepticism. High-society moralists expressed their fear that sending women to the front could lead to the disintegration of the army.

However, women with selfless work and impeccable behavior have earned universal respect and appreciation. N.I. Pirogov highly appreciated the hard work, dedication and great moral influence that the sisters of mercy had on the soldiers.

Noting the exploits of meek women in battle, a military award was established for them by the highest command - a breast gilded cross, which was awarded to 158 sisters, and 68 sisters of mercy - a soldier's medal "For the Defense of Sevastopol". The historic initiative of the sisters of mercy of the Nikolskaya and Exaltation of the Cross communities to provide assistance to the wounded in the army had a huge impact on the further development of military medical affairs throughout the world.

In Moscow, following the Nikolskaya community of sisters of mercy, Alexandrovskaya, Pokrovskaya, Iverskaya, Pavlovskaya and Marfo-Marinskaya were soon formed. Their creators were mainly wealthy ascetics who profess the gospel covenants of mercy. A special role in this piety belongs to the Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, who organized a charity society for destitute children and the elderly, headed the Moscow branch of the Russian Red Cross Society, formed infirmary detachments and medical trains for the wounded and sick soldiers, patronized almost all the communities of mercy in Moscow.

The statutes of the communities, although they were strict, unlike the monastic ones, left some elements of freedom for the members. The sisters retained the right to own their own property, they could marry or return to their parents who needed care. The community accepted widows and girls of all classes aged 20 to 40 years. Those wishing to enter the community first passed a probationary period of up to two years. During certification, they took a vow of impeccable behavior, an ascetic lifestyle and renunciation in the name of those suffering from worldly temptations.

In peacetime, the sisters cared for the sick in military hospitals and civilian hospitals, as well as in the apartments of private individuals. In wartime, they were seconded by the community council to the disposal of the chief representative of the Russian Red Cross Society and distributed to hospitals. Well-bred, neatly dressed, correct, sensitive and attentive, the sisters of mercy brought a special moral and psychological climate into the hospital life, instilling peace and confidence in the souls of the wounded.

The leadership of the community, as a rule, remained in the hands of its founder, who made the main contribution to the treasury, which was then replenished by contributions from members of the board of trustees, generous gifts from philanthropists and payment for treatment in the community hospital and outpatient clinic.

Within their walls, communities opened specialized hospitals, where 10-15 percent of the places paid by philanthropists were allocated for the poor. In addition, free medical care was provided by the diocesan communities during regular visits by the sisters to the afflicted in overnight homes and various slums. The sisters of mercy of the Moscow communities selflessly worked during epidemics of cholera, typhus and other diseases in the Volga region, in the Urals and even in Yakutia, and during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905 and the world war of 1914-1915 - in field hospitals, sanitary trains and hospitals.

The atmosphere of sacrifice and civic duty in the communities has given rise to a good tradition among teachers of schools and orphanages, doctors and pharmacists of hospitals and outpatient clinics - to work on a voluntary basis and without compensation. It is impossible to ignore the care of the communities for their honeycombs that have worked for more than 20 years or have lost their efficiency. For them, well-maintained almshouses with full board were arranged at the communities. Often, out of compassion, homeless elderly people who were in particular need of help were placed here, who also enjoyed free food, clothing and treatment.

With the women's communities of sisters of mercy, the process of establishing social work as a professional activity begins. After all, all members of the organization took a course of study according to a specially designed program, and only after receiving the appropriate certificate did they start work.

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1 Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Ufa Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences

The article is devoted to the study of the history of charity in Bashkortostan at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century on the example of the activities of the community of sisters of mercy, founded by the Ufa local administration of the Red Cross Society in the city of Ufa in 1896. The community trained experienced sisters of mercy to care for the sick and wounded in wartime. In peacetime, the sisters of mercy looked after the sick in hospitals; the help of the sisters of mercy was especially important in cases of epidemiological diseases. The article reveals the problem of the existence in the Ufa province of a shortage of specialists in the field of healthcare on the basis of statistical data from the Ufa provincial administration. The article clearly displays the significant role of the community of sisters of mercy in resolving the issue of training qualified medical personnel of the lower level and providing medical care to the population.

Ufa province.

Red Cross

community of sisters of mercy

charity

1. Overview of the Ufa province in 1896 - Ufa, 1897. - 99 p.

2. Report on the activities of the Ufa provincial zemstvo council for the maintenance of hospitals and charitable institutions of the provincial zemstvo. - Ufa, 1899. - 84 p.

3. Report of the Ufa local administration of the Russian Red Society for 1896 - Ufa, 1897. - 54 p.

4. Report of the Ufa local administration of the Russian Red Society for 1899 - Ufa, 1900. - 49 p.

5. Report of the Ufa local administration of the Russian Red Society for 1902 - Ufa, 1903. - 127 p.

6. The first general census of the population of the Russian Empire, 1897. XLV. Ufa province. Notebook 1. - St. Petersburg, 1901. - 186 p.

7. Collection of statistical information on the Ufa province: factories, plants and industrial establishments of the Ufa province. Part 1. T. 10. - Ufa, 1908. - 600 p.

In 1896, the Ufa local administration of the Red Cross Society in Ufa formed the Community of Sisters of Mercy on the grounds set forth in the resolution of the local administration of the society on May 27, 1895 and approved by the general annual meeting of members of the Ufa department on May 28 of the same year. On August 28, 1895, the charter of the community was approved by the General Directorate of the Red Cross Society. The activity of the Society of Sisters of Mercy in 1896 was mainly preparatory. The local government, at a meeting held on February 28, in accordance with § 8 and 9 of the charter, elected the guardianship of the community, consisting of: the trustee - Nadezhda Alekseevna Brudinsky, the wife of the chairman of the provincial zemstvo council, and members: the provincial medical inspector, doctor of medicine D. G. Levberg, doctor Z. Ya . Anglin, Mayor A.A. Maleev, priest of the church of the city-Ufa charitable institutions K.A. Mislavsky, a full-time intern of the provincial zemstvo hospital, a doctor, collegiate adviser A.L. Nagibin.

The initiator of the creation of the community of sisters of mercy was Olga Petrovna Loginova, the wife of the former Ufa governor, who previously headed the local administration of the Red Cross Society. She constantly strived to organize in the city of Ufa such an institution that would train experienced sisters of mercy to care for the sick and wounded, who are urgently needed in wartime, in peacetime to care for the sick in hospitals and private homes, especially in cases of epidemic diseases in villages. where it was difficult for people to get medical care.

At a meeting of the local Red Cross Society on May 27, 1895, Loginova's project on the establishment of a community of sisters of mercy in Ufa was considered. According to him, initially the community could be arranged for 7 sisters, one of which should be the eldest. It took 2,000 rubles a year to maintain the entire staff and rent a room with heating and lighting, as well as the purchase of the necessary equipment. On the basis of § 7 of the charter, the community is governed by guardianship, which was entrusted with the direct management of all its affairs.

The community of sisters of mercy is located on Bolshaya Uspenskaya Street in the Novikovs' house. The lease agreement for the premises amounted to 240 rubles per year. “The room is quite comfortable, bright, warm and spacious. The room consisted of: an entrance hall, a reception room (it is also a classroom), a room for an older sister, 3 rooms for other sisters, a kitchen and a closet. The staff of the community, according to the charter, was defined as 7 people, divided into two categories: the first included persons who were just preparing for the title of sisters of mercy and therefore were called probationers, the second - persons already prepared for this title and passed the exam.

All office work was carried out by the trustee. She also compiled monthly reports on the receipts and expenditures of the community's funds, submitted them to the local administration of the Red Cross Society, which were considered and approved at meetings of the society.

The training of the sisters of mercy was carried out through the organization of the educational process with the involvement of invited teachers. Thus, the priest of the church of Ufa K.A. introduced the listeners to the Law of God. Mislavsky. Assistant to the provincial medical inspector, doctor, state councilor Z.Ya. Anglin taught a nursing course. Teaching was conducted in the premises of the community 2-3 times a week. In the first years of study, due to the lack of teaching aids, the educational process was of an introductory nature according to elementary information. The elder sister and the trained girls visited the provincial zemstvo hospital every day to get acquainted with the practical care of the sick, where they were on duty and were present when the patients were examined by doctors. Sometimes, at the request of individuals and with the permission of the community's trustee, some of them looked after the sick, for which they received a small fee, namely, 50 kopecks per day. The work of the sisters of mercy can be assessed as the work of a qualified specialist, in comparison with the unskilled labor of a laborer. He was paid an average of 25 kopecks in summer in the Ufa province in 1898, and 38 kopecks in winter. At the same time, the work of a skilled carpenter was estimated somewhat higher: in summer he was paid 58 kopecks, and in winter 42 kopecks.

The sources of the community's funds in the first reporting year were: the estimated amount of 2,000 rubles issued by the local department of the Red Cross, of which 500 rubles were used to purchase equipment, 1,500 rubles for the maintenance of the community during the year, as well as funds received from an amateur performance given in favor of the community in the amount of 221 rubles 91 kopecks; money raised by the community from private individuals for the care of the sick by sisters of mercy in the amount of 36 rubles; donation by the founding member of the Ufa department of the society S.L. Sakharov in the amount of 100 rubles; a donation from the store owner Stakheev in the form of purchasing goods in the amount of 6 rubles 65 kopecks.

Thus, the community's funds in 1897 amounted to 2364 rubles 56 kopecks, which, according to the Charter, were kept in the local administration of the Red Cross, from the cash desk of which they were issued to the community trustee as needed. During the reporting period - from May to December 1897 inclusive, it was spent: for the purchase of inventory and furniture - 200 rubles; rent for an apartment of 20 rubles a month - 140 rubles; heating and lighting - 40 rubles; food and water delivery for those living in the community - 173 rubles 82 kopecks; clothes and linen, their cleaning - 349 rubles; shoes and their repair - 43 rubles 95 kopecks; the issuance of benefits to the sister and the subjects - 70 rubles 92 kopecks; teaching aids, stationery and an extract from the Bulletin of the Red Cross Society - 50 rubles 67 kopecks; a cook's salary of 5 rubles 67 kopecks per month, starting from June - 37 rubles 45 kopecks; household needs and postage - 34 rubles 95 kopecks. In total, it was spent in 1897 - 1140 rubles 76 kopecks. Given that the daily diet of one sister of mercy accounted for about 10 kopecks, it can be assumed that the diet of sisters of mercy was relatively modest, because, for example, beef of the 1st grade in the Ufa province at prices in 1898 was equal to 23 kopecks per 1 kg . . In total, the community had 1223 rubles 80 kopecks.

On April 27, 1897, on the basis of the Decree of His Greatest Imperial Majesty the Sovereign Emperor, the community of sisters of mercy began to be called Alexandrovskaya in honor of Her Imperial Majesty Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

In 1899, in connection with the departure from Ufa, the trustee of the community, N.A. Brudinsky and the serious illness of her assistant Anglin, the duty of a trustee was entrusted to the community teacher, county doctor, state councilor A.P. Gerasimov. In accordance with the new state, the members of the guardianship were: the assistant to the trustee, the county doctor, state councilor D.G. Levberg; Governor of the Treasury Chamber, Acting State Councilor N.P. Zarubin and the mayor, State Councilor A.A. Malleev. Until September 29, 1899, the staff of the community consisted of 7 people, which was then increased to 10 people with the permission of the local administration of the Red Cross.

In 1899, the sisters of mercy had no theoretical classes. The reason for this was the incomplete staffing of the study group, since there were vacancies, as well as the non-simultaneous admission of female students to the community or long business trips of the sisters. Practical classes were held in the Ufa provincial zemstvo hospital under the guidance of the senior doctor of the hospital A.V. Sokolov and intern A.L. Nagibin, under the supervision of a member of the local administration of the Red Cross Society, inspector, State Councilor D.G. Levberg. In addition, some sisters and students of the community were sent to Belebeevsky and Birsky districts at the disposal of the Samara-Ufa sanitary detachment to combat typhoid and scurvy epidemics. In 1899, the community of sisters of mercy was maintained, as in previous years, at the expense of the local government of the Red Cross Society.

From September 29, 1899 to June 18, 1901, the wife of the Governor of the Treasury, Elizaveta Ivanovna Zarubina, was in charge of the community, and from June 18, 1901, Doctor of Medicine Sergei Nikolayevich Urvantsev. With his coming to the leadership of the community, the training of the sisters of mercy acquired a systematic and orderly character. The classes were held under the supervision of S.N. Urvantsev. Lectures were given by doctors daily from 7-8 pm in the following disciplines: human anatomy and physiology; the study of disease processes and injuries; medical hygiene and dietetics; patient care and monitoring; preparation of materials and items for dressings and operations; pharmacology and formulation; economy.

Practical classes were held under the guidance of doctors A.V. Sokolov and A.L. Nagibina in the provincial zemstvo hospital, where the students served day and night shifts, were present at the examination of patients, operations and worked in a pharmacy. Teaching was carried out free of charge: the priest of the St. Nicholas Church I.I. Khitrov, senior doctor of the provincial zemstvo hospital A.V. Sokolov, regular intern of the provincial hospital A.L. Nagibin, doctor A.I. Gerasimov, Doctor of Medicine A.I. Podbelsky, I.I. doctor Eisymont and pharmacist of the provincial zemstvo hospital M.Z. Chaliapin. In 1902, lectures began on November 11th. In addition to boarding school students, for the first time, 5 volunteer students were allowed to listen to lectures in accordance with § 26 of the charter of the community.

The training of the sister of mercy was combined with practice in the medical institutions of the city and in general in the province. They worked in the provincial zemstvo hospital, the Sterlitamak zemstvo hospital, the eye clinic of the Empress Maria Feodorovna's Guardianship for the Blind, the temporary city typhoid hospital, and the Red Cross sanatorium. In addition, 6 sisters of mercy and 3 students were sent in the first half of the year to assist the population affected by crop failure in Belebeevsky and Menzelinsky counties and throughout the year looked after the sick in private homes both in Ufa and in counties with a fee of 50 kopecks per day, in case of low-income patients, the duty fee was reduced to 30 kopecks. Thus, the sisters of mercy and pupils spent 2497 days on duty in 1902 (in 1901 - 937 days), of which 1108 were on business trips, 799 were in hospitals, 590 were on private duty in 36 houses.

The first graduation of the students of the community, who were awarded the title of sisters of mercy of the Russian Red Cross Society, took place on March 19, 1898. Among the graduates of the first graduation were: Belova Z.I., Milesheina A.N., Seleevskaya M.P., Maltseva T.A., Sorokina L.F. The second graduation took place on August 16, 1901, among the graduates were: Yusova E.V., Fon-Golfand A.A., Ivanova E.G., Petrova A.G., Maltseva V.A., Kassirova E.G. , Kulagina T.K. .

According to the 1897 census, the population in the Ufa province was 2,196,642 people, including 107,303 people in cities. To provide medical care to residents in the province in 1896, there were doctors - 91, of which 89 were permanent and epidemic, invited by the Ufa provincial and Birsk district zemstvos, to combat epidemics of typhus and diphtheria - 2, paramedics and paramedics - 189, of which permanent - 180 and epidemic - 9, midwives and midwives - 34. In Ufa, there were 30 paramedics and paramedics, in county towns - 36, in villages of counties - 123. There were 16 midwives and midwives in Ufa, in county towns - 10 and counties - 8 .

From the above data, one can clearly see the shortage of healthcare professionals that existed in the Ufa province. Thus, the creation of a community of sisters of mercy in Ufa played a significant role in resolving the issue of training qualified lower-level medical personnel. Given the fact that the sisters of mercy were very mobile in their activities and were not assigned to any particular medical institution, this circumstance contributed to the prompt solution of the tasks of providing medical care to the population in cases of epidemics, wars or various emergencies.

Reviewers:

Suleimanova R.N., Doctor of History, Head of the Department of Modern History of Bashkortostan, Federal State Budgetary Institution of the Institute of History, Language and Literature, Ufa Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ufa.

Yakupov R.I., Doctor of History, Professor, Leading Researcher Department of the History and History of Culture of Bashkortostan, Federal State Budgetary Institution of the Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Ufa Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ufa.

Bibliographic link

Baibuldin A.G. EDUCATION OF THE COMMUNITY OF SISTERS OF MERCY IN UFA AND THE FIRST YEARS OF ITS ACTIVITY // Modern problems of science and education. - 2014. - No. 2.;
URL: http://science-education.ru/ru/article/view?id=12438 (date of access: 04/19/2019). We bring to your attention the journals published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural History"