Story. Bulavinsky uprising and Nekrasovtsy Cossacks

Reservoirs 26.02.2024

Reservoirs

Nekrasov Cossacks: “Don’t submit to tsarism! Don’t return to Russia under the tsars!”

A dark spot in the history of the Russian Cossacks (Orthodox Cossacks in the service of the Crimean Khan)

Excerpt from the chapter "Neighbors of the Black Sea people, military service, campaigns and unrest of the Cossacks." From the book: “History of the Kuban Cossack Army” (1910)

Acquaintance with the internal life of the Black Sea residents would not be complete without the military situation. The Black Sea people went from beyond the Bug to the Kuban “holding the land.”

In the letter granted to the army it is categorically stated: “the Black Sea army is to be kept vigil and guarded against the raids of the peoples of the Trans-Kuban region.” The Cossacks, therefore, were aware in advance of the position they were supposed to occupy in the new region. For them, therefore, it was extremely important who their neighbors would be and how these neighbors would treat them as strangers. The border neighbors of the Black Sea residents turned out to be Russians and Circassians. The Russians were the so-called Nekrasov Cossacks, who settled in the Caucasus long before the former Cossacks even thought about moving to the Kuban. In the Caucasus, fugitive schismatic Cossacks from the Don were called Nekrasovtsy or Ignat-Cossacks.

With the emergence of a split on the Don, intensified persecution of schismatics by the Russian government began. Peter the Great especially persistently persecuted schismatics. The schismatic Cossacks, due to historical circumstances, were forced, therefore, to flee from the Don to the Caucasus.

Book "History of the Kuban Cossack Army" (1910)

The struggle of the Russian government with these fugitives was captured by the executions of two prominent representatives of the schism - the Don Cossack Kostyuk and Ataman Manatsky. These were the leaders of the parties of schismatic Cossacks who fled from the Don to the Caucasus. The third major leader of the schismatics was Ignat Nekrasov, after whom the fugitives themselves were named. The Nekrasovites left the Don under Peter the Great, much later after Kostyuk and Manatskaya laid down their heads, and formed in the Caucasus the most stable group of free Cossacks, who were looking outside the homeland for conditions for the implementation of religious freedom and institutions in the spirit of primordial Cossack ideals. After the suppression of the Bulavinsky rebellion, says the historian of the Don Army, Rigelman, “Ignashka Nekrasov ran to his Esaulovskaya village and, taking his wife and children, went with all his comrades to the Kuban, and there, with his accomplices and with their entire gang, he surrendered himself to the Crimean Khan.” .

The Bulavin riot itself was a vivid manifestation of popular strength and power, and Bulavin was one of the major fighters for Cossack ideals. The Bulavin uprising was caused by the central government's ban on accepting fugitive landowners into the Cossacks. The Cossacks could not come to terms with this ban, and Bulavin became the head of the popular movement, laying down his life for Cossack freedom and autonomous rights. Nekrasov was Bulavin's right hand in this fight against government troops. Bulavin immediately made him a colonel and then entrusted him with command of thousands of troops. When Bulavin, broken everywhere, shot himself in despair, Nekrasov took his place. Having made his way to the upper villages, Nekrasov gathered a new crowd of freemen and came with them to the Volga. Here he robbed the cities of Saratov and Tsaritsyn, and ruined Kamyshenka, which offered him stubborn resistance, to the ground. Since with the death of Bulavin the Cossacks little by little began to confess, Nekrasov found it impossible to continue fighting the government troops. Wanting to avoid capture and execution, he made his way to Kuban in 1708 with his accomplices. Two other Bulavin leaders also arrived here afterwards: Gavryushka Chernets and Ivashka Dranoi.

In the Kuban, the Nekrasovites took a place in the center of the former Bosphorus kingdom. At the direction of the Crimean Khan, they settled in three towns - Bludilovsky, Golubinsky and Chiryansky, on the Taman Peninsula between Kopyl and Temryuk. These towns are named after those villages from which the main mass arrived in Kuban. fugitives, were fortified with earthen ramparts and six copper and one cast iron cannons taken from the Don. Subsequently, the community of Nekrasov Cossacks grew numerically and became stronger economically. It must be assumed that the Nekrasovites had already found in the Kuban some of the schismatic Cossacks who had left the Don and that both the Agrakhan schismatic Cossacks and the schismatic Cossacks who settled at the mouths of the river merged with them. Labs. At least, later both of these immigrants disappeared from their previous places of settlement. But the main influx in the Nekrasov community was provided by new fugitives from the Don, settling in settlements between the three named villages. The Nekrasovites, in Rigelman’s sarcastic language, “increased themselves into Cossacks, the same thieves that they themselves were.”

Translated into a more delicate language, this means that Cossack freemen clung to the Nekrasovites, who did not want to put up with the order in their homeland or who had fled from under the whip and exile. All sorts of people, of course, ended up here; but the main coloring of the Nekrasov Cossack army was given by religious renegade, elevated to a feat and breathing with irreconcilable fanaticism.

The Crimean Khan and the Tatars were able to use these qualities of the “Ignat-Cossacks”. In them they found staunch and embittered opponents of the Russian troops and those Cossacks who were on the side of Orthodoxy against the schism. The enmity of the 6eglets, which originated on the Don, was transferred to the Kuban, and here not only did not fade away, but smoldered continuously, like a spark that could flare up at any time into a huge fire.

The Nekrasovites turned not only into subjects of the Tatars, but also into their allies. Their commitment to the khans was so great that the latter used some of the Nekrasovites against internal unrest and to suppress unrest among the Tatars. During raids and wars with the Russians, the Nekrasovites joined the ranks of the enemies of Russia and brought revenge and devastation to the places of their former homeland. The Tatars, having given the Nekrasovites refuge, gave them complete freedom in matters of faith and internal regulations. The Cossacks still had their own administration, their own elected authorities.

Depending on the khan's administration, in their internal life the Cossacks were guided by age-old customs and historically established institutions.

The Cossack community was headed by an elected military ataman and a “Cossack circle” or a gathering of full-fledged representatives of the community. These higher governing bodies were equally characteristic of the entire Nekrasov army and those small units into which it was divided. While Nekrasov himself was alive, he was also a military ataman due to the high authority that he enjoyed among the Cossacks, Tatars and Circassians. Afterwards, undoubtedly the most prominent persons in the army in terms of their activities were elected as military atamans.

Along with self-government, the Nekrasovites enjoyed the broadest religious freedom, living among Muslims. The Tatars did not encroach on their faith, or even on folk customs; The Nekrasovites built churches and chapels completely freely and held services in them according to their own rituals. Moreover, they established monasteries and monasteries, and the Tatars not only did not interfere with them, but also treated these religious institutions with due respect. The faith of the fathers, the “old faith,” was among the Tatars under the protection of the authorities, as an inviolable national shrine.

Further, the Tatars provided the Nekrasov Cossacks with a sufficient amount of land and various types of land. It must be assumed that the choice of the location of the settlements and the lands surrounding these settlements was made by the Cossacks themselves, and the Crimean Khan and his agents only expressed consent to this. The Raskolniks, in fact, settled in an area rich in fishing and convenient for hunting animals and marsh birds. At that time, the Kuban reeds and floodplains abounded in wild pigs, goats, deer, pheasants, geese, ducks, etc., and the Cossacks were originally fishermen and trappers.

Since the Tatars were predominantly cattle breeders and the cattle breeding itself was carried out with the help of migrations, it is quite possible that the choice of place of settlement by the schismatic Cossacks did not in the least violate the interests of the nomadic Tatars, who needed steppes more than water and swamp lands. The Nekrasovites did not conduct extensive cattle breeding, although they bred excellent horses. Their main branches of economic activity have always been fishing and hunting. Finally, in their views on property, on international relations and on methods of waging war and military operations, the Cossacks and Tatars completely agreed on essential points.

The stealing of cattle, the extraction of yasyr, the destruction of enemy dwellings, and cruel reprisals against him were carried out in exactly the same way by the Nekrasov Cossacks as by the Tatars. Both were not temporary allies on the military field, but united representatives of the same system of relations, alien to humanity and respect for the human person. The allies went after booty in order to capture as many people as possible and steal as many livestock as possible. The population then turned into slaves and an object of valuable trade, and the livestock entered economic circulation.

And so, therefore, the four links that connected the Nekrasovites with the Tatars underlay the relationship: broad self-government, complete religious freedom, the establishment of favorable conditions for the Cossack economy and a commonality of views on the most important issues, property and international law. These are the general conditions under the influence of which a unique Cossack community of Nekrasovites emerged in the Kuban.

The history of this community is directly related to the Kuban region and somewhat related to the history of the Black Sea army, which occupied the very places where the Nekrasovites previously lived. Being in a constant alliance with the highlanders, Turks and Tatars, the Nekrasovites consistently participated in all Russian wars with the Turks and the Tatars and highlanders dependent on them. In 1708 they settled in the Kuban, and in 1711, during Peter the Great’s unsuccessful campaign against the Prut, they, together with the Tatars, devastated Russian villages in the Saratov and Penza provinces. Peter the Great ordered the Nekrasovites and their allies to be punished for the raid. The Kazan and Astrakhan governor Apraksin was ordered to move a detachment of Russian regular troops, Yaik Cossacks and Kalmyks to Kuban.

Around the time when peace was concluded with the Turks on the Prut, this detachment destroyed a number of enemy settlements located along the right bank of the Kuban, including Nekrasov villages. This was the first punishment that befell the Nekrasovites at their new place of residence. Two years later, Nekrasov himself, his associates Senka Kobylsky and Senka Vorych with the Cossacks, participated in the devastating raid of the Crimean Khan Batyr-Girey on the Kharkov province; and in 1715 Nekrasov organized a whole detachment of spies sent to the Don region and Ukrainian cities.

About 40 people from Nekrasov, under the leadership of the fugitive monastic peasant Sokin, penetrated into the upper reaches of the Khoper and into the Shatsk province of the Tambov province. Under the guise of beggars and monastic brethren, they looked out for the location of Russian troops and persuaded the population to escape to Kuban. But soon the actions of these spies were discovered and many of them paid with their heads for their daring attempt.

Two years later, in 1717, the Nekrasovites, as part of a detachment of Kuban highlanders led by Sultan Bakhty-Girey, destroyed villages along the Volga, Medveditsa and Khopru. Nekrasov himself and his Cossacks did not spare anyone and cruelly took out their anger against the persecutors of the schism on the civilian population. Only the united forces of the military ataman Frolov and the Voronezh governor Kolychev defeated the Tatar troops and along with them the ferocious Nekrasovites were defeated.

Nekrasovites in Turkey (photo from the early 20th century)

In 1727, among the convicts there were conspirators in the escape of the Don Cossacks to the Kuban to Nekrasov. According to the testimony of the fugitive soldier Serago, entire towns and villages were preparing to escape to Nekrasov in the Kuban. The riding towns were all inclined to flee, under the influence of general dissatisfaction with the rules - the introduction of the census, passports, etc. In 1733, Nekrasovets Ivan Melnikov with six comrades built bridges along the highway from Azov to Achuev.

In 1736, the Crimean Khan sent Tatars and Nekrasovites to Kabarda “to take the language.” In 1737, the Nekrasovites, together with the Tatars and Circassians, ravaged and burned the Kumshatsky town on the Don. Etc., etc. In subsequent times, the Nekrasovites did not miss a single opportunity in the raids of the highlanders and Tatars on Russian possessions. Above, when describing the struggle of Russian troops and Cossacks with the Caucasian peoples, these cases and the participation of Nekrasovites in the wars of Turkey with Russia were already noted. in 1737, 1769, 1774, 1787, 1791

In a word, the Nekrasov Cossacks were enemies of the Russians right up until the resettlement of the Black Sea people to the Kuban and as such they met their new neighbors. But the debt is clear in payment. In retaliation against the Nekrasovites, the Don and Russian troops, together with the Kalmyks, repeatedly attacked the Nekrasovites and devastated their homes during campaigns for the Kuban. In 1736, according to the testimony of Nekrasov’s Naum Gusek, the Don Cossacks with Kalmyks burned three Nekrasov villages, captured several Nekrasovites with their wives and children, and drowned even more of them in the river.

The following year, 1737, the Cossacks and Kalmyks, crushing the Tatars and Circassians, burned the Nekrasov town of Khan-Tyube, killed several Nekrasov residents and stole their cattle. Of course, under the influence of these retaliations, mutual hostility between the Nekrasovites and the Donets grew. The Nekrasovites treated Russians in general with even greater ferocity. There were, however, moments in the history of the Nekrasovites when both the Russian government and the Nekrasovites themselves were inclined to peace: the Russian government repeatedly invited the Nekrasovites to return to their homeland, and the Nekrasovites, for their part, asked the Russian government for the same.

The agreement was hampered by various conditions set for the resettlement by both sides, and sometimes by the conditions for the attachment of the Nekrasovites to the Kuban. During the war between the Russians and the Turks, Empress Anna Ivanovna agreed to forgive the Nekrasovites and provide them with their former places of residence on the Don. But the Nekrasovites could not take advantage of this, since they were held by the Trans-Kubans, who were threatening the Cossacks with the Moscow gallows.

In 1762, Empress Catherine II allowed schismatics who fled from her, including Nekrasovites, to move to Russia. The Nekrasovites did not accept this challenge, since the Russian government did not mention anything about the rights that were granted to fugitives who returned to their homeland. In 1769, General de-Medem turned to the Nekrasovites with a written proposal to move to the Terek, but the Nekrasovites did not even respond to this letter.

In 1772, the Nekrasovites themselves asked for permission from the Russian authorities to return to the Don; but the State Council, which was instructed by Catherine II to speak out on this matter, did not find it possible to give the Nekrasovites their former lands and suggested that they occupy the free lands along the Volga. The Nekrasovites did not agree to such a relocation. In 1775, the Nekrasovites, through Count Rumyantsev, again began to ask to move to the Don, but the State Council found it possible to resettle the Nekrasovites in small parties, who were supposed to settle in different places in Russia, according to the instructions of the authorities. The Nekrasovites did not accept these conditions.

In 1778, Suvorov tried to return the Nekrasovites to Russia. According to the famous commander, Nekrasov’s men at that time settled down in kurens two hundred steps from the seashore at the mouth of the Kuban on a cape, between the mountains in the forest. Here they had at their disposal a hundred boats, four dumbas, pulled onto land to protect them from the cruising Russian squadron. On these ships, the Nekrasovites intended to go, if the weather was favorable, to Anatolia. Suvorov himself personally talked with some Nekrasovites through Kuban, and sent two Don Cossacks to invite them to their homeland. The Nekrasovites did not accept Suvorov’s proposals and detained the Cossacks. Since the Nekrasovites obviously did not trust the Russian authorities, Suvorov considered it necessary to issue the Highest Manifesto on the forgiveness of the fugitives.

The Nekrasovites did not go back to Russia, mainly fearing lack of rights. Two circumstances - the deprivation of Cossack self-government in Russia and the persecution of the split - kept the fugitives from returning. to my homeland. Anger against the Russians grew and developed on the basis of mutual military raids and requisitions. The Nekrasovites, who previously occupied the Taman Peninsula, moved to the left bank of the Kuban River. During the reign of Anna Ivanovna they were so constrained that the Crimean Khan, under whose authority they were, tried to resettle them in the Crimea to Balaklava.

The attempt failed and the Nekrasovites settled in the Kuban again. From the Taman Peninsula to the left bank of the river. Kuban Nekrasovites moved in 1777 during the occupation of the Taman region by Russian troops. In 1778, the Crimean Khan himself and the Tatars drove them out of Phanagoria. In 1780, the Nekrasovites entered into an agreement with the Turks and accepted Turkish citizenship. Around this time, some of the Nekrasovites moved from the Caucasus to Bulgaria - to Dobruja on the Danube. Up to 100 of their families, however, remained on the left side of the Kuban, living in the mountains along with the Circassians. The Black Sea people came into contact with these Nekrasovites who remained in the Caucasus, moving to Kuban.

The Nekrasovites received the Chernomorets with hostility and treated them treacherously. In the winter of 1792, Pyotr Maly, a Cossack from the Dyadkovsky kuren, was engaged in fishing and, at the invitation of the Nekrasovites, crossed to the left side of the Kuban. The Nekrasovites, who were transporting Malago through the Kuban in their boat, treated him treacherously. When Maly, noticing the danger, tried to flee to the right bank of the Kuban, they grabbed him, slightly wounded him with a dagger, took away his gun, took off his clothes and tied him with a belt, took him to the mountains and sold him into slavery to the Circassian Murza for 4 cows with calves, one ox, a gun and 6 pieces of rams. Subsequently, Maly escaped from captivity, and one of the Nekrasovites who captured him, Mazan, who was caught near the Kuban, confessed during interrogation to the murder and drowning of the Russians and the sale of 11 people to the Circassians into captivity.

Maly himself saw 7 soldiers from Russian light horse regiments in captivity among the Circassians. In 1793, Golovaty reported to Suvorov that a Cossack picket under the command of military colonel Chernyshev, standing at the Temryuk branch, was attacked on the night of April 9 by 20 people who had crossed from the opposite side of the Kuban in boats. Chernyshev, quickly uniting two pickets into one team, entered into a firefight with the attackers. Of the Black Sea men, Sergeant Major Chernoles and three Cossacks were slightly wounded. The next day, in the morning, 4 people who died from wounds were found in the reeds, “who, judging by their attire and other signs,” turned out to be Nekrasovites.

Sometimes the Black Sea residents, mistaking the Nekrasovites for their own by their clothes, were themselves captured by them. In 1795, a Cossack from the Medvedovsky kuren, Roman Rudenchenko, mistaking two Nekrasovites for his Cossacks in foggy weather on the shore of the Bugaz Estuary, was robbed by them and taken to the mountains. Here, in different places, Rudenchenko saw up to 60 people of various ranks of Russian people captured by the Circassians and Nekrasovites. Rudenchenko himself was sold to a Turkish official in Anapa, from where he fled to the Black Sea region. These isolated incidents of clashes exhaust the relations of the Black Sea residents towards their Russian neighbors. At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, the Nekrasovites partly moved to their co-religionists on the Danube and moved to Anatolia, and partly, in isolated cases, they seemed to dissolve in the Circassian mass, merging with it. Consequently, the Russian neighbors of the Black Sea people, the Nekrasovites, did not have any noticeable influence on the military life and service position of the Black Sea Cossacks, and especially on the whole army.

The history of the Nekrasovites represents only an episodic section of local Kuban history, which, therefore, could not be passed over in silence.

Testaments of Ignat Nekrasov

1. Do not submit to tsarism. Under the tsars, do not return to Russia.
2. Do not connect with the Turks, do not communicate with non-believers. Communication with the Turks only for needs (trade, war, taxes). Quarrels with Turks are prohibited.
3. The highest authority is the Cossack circle. Participation from 18 years of age.
4. The decisions of the circle are carried out by the ataman. They strictly obey him.
5. The chieftain is elected for a year. If he is guilty, he is removed ahead of schedule.
6. Circle decisions are binding on everyone. Everyone monitors the execution.
7. All earnings are donated to the military treasury. From it everyone receives 2/3 of the money earned. 1/3 goes to the cat.
8. Kosh is divided into three parts: 1st part - army, weapons. 2nd part - school church. 3rd - assistance to widows, orphans, old people and other people in need.
9. Marriage can only be concluded between members of the community. For marriage with non-believers - death.
10. The husband does not offend his wife. With the permission of the circle, she can leave him, but the circle punishes her husband.
11. The only way to gain wealth is through hard work. A real Cossack loves his work.
12. For robbery, robbery, murder - by decision of the circle - death.
13. For robbery, robbery, murder in war - by decision of the circle - death.
14. Shacks and taverns should not be kept in the village.
15. There is no way for Cossacks to become soldiers.
16. Keep, keep your word. Cossacks and children must play the old tunes.
17. A Cossack does not hire a Cossack. He does not receive money from his brother.
18. Do not sing worldly songs during Lent. Only old ones are possible.
19. Without the permission of the circle, the ataman, a Cossack cannot leave the village.
20. Only the army helps orphans and the elderly, so as not to humiliate and humiliate them.
21. Keep personal assistance secret.
22. There should be no beggars in the village.
23. All Cossacks adhere to the true Orthodox old faith.
24. For the murder of a Cossack by a Cossack, the killer is buried alive in the ground.
25. Do not engage in trade in the village.
26. Who trades on the side - 1/20 of the profit in kosh.
27. Young people respect their elders.
28. A Cossack must go to the circle after 18 years. If he doesn’t walk, he’s fined twice, and on the third time he’s whipped. The fine is set by the ataman and the foreman.
29. Ataman to be elected after Krasnaya Gorka for a year. To be elected Esaul after 30 years. Colonel or marching chieftain after 40 years. Military chieftain - only after 50 years.
30. For cheating on a husband, he gets 100 lashes.
31. For cheating on your wife - bury her up to her neck in the ground.
32. People beat you to death for stealing.
33. For theft of military goods - a whipping and a hot pot on the head
34. If you get mixed up with the Turks - death.
35. If a son or daughter raises a hand against their parents - death. For offending an elder - a whip. The younger brother does not lay hands on the older one; the circle will punish him with whips.
36. For treason to the army, blasphemy - death.
37. In war, don’t shoot at Russians. Don't go against blood.
38. Stand up for small people.
39. There is no extradition from the Don.
40. Whoever does not fulfill Ignat’s commandments will perish.
41. If not everyone in the army is wearing hats, then you cannot go on a campaign.
42. If the ataman violates Ignat’s covenants, punish and remove him from the atamanship. If, after punishment, the ataman does not thank the Circle “for science,” flog him again and declare him a rebel.
43. Atamanship can last only three terms - power spoils a person.
44. Keep no prisons.
45. Do not send a deputy on a campaign, and those who do this for money should be executed by death as a coward and a traitor.
46. Guilt for any crime is determined by the Circle.
47. A priest who does not fulfill the will of the Circle is expelled, or even killed as a rebel or a heretic.

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Nekrasovtsy (Nekrasov Cossacks, Nekrasov Cossacks, Ignat-Cossacks listen)) - descendants of the Don Cossacks, who, after the suppression of the Bulavinsky uprising, left the Don in September 1708. Named after the leader Ignat Nekrasova.

For more than 240 years, the Nekrasov Cossacks lived outside Russia as a separate community according to the “testaments of Ignat,” which determined the foundations of the community’s life.

Relocation to Kuban

After the defeat of the Bulavinsky uprising in the fall of 1708, part of the Don Cossacks, led by Ataman Nekrasov, went to Kuban, a territory that at that time belonged to the Crimean Khanate. In total, about 8 thousand people left with Nekrasov (according to various sources, from 2 thousand Cossacks with their wives and children, 500-600 families, up to 8 thousand people). Having united with the Old Believers Cossacks who had gone to the Kuban back in the 1690s, they formed the first Kuban Cossack army, which accepted the citizenship of the Crimean khans and received quite broad privileges. Runaways from the Don and ordinary peasants began to join the Cossacks. The Cossacks of this Kuban army were called Nekrasovtsy, although it was heterogeneous.

For a long time, the Nekrasovites carried out raids on the Russian border lands from here. After 1737 (with the death of Ignat Nekrasov), the situation on the border began to stabilize. In 1735-1739 Russia several times offered the Nekrasovites to return to their homeland. Having failed to achieve a result, Empress Anna Ioannovna sent Don Ataman Frolov to Kuban. Unable to resist Russian troops, the Nekrasovites began relocating to Turkish possessions on the Danube.

On the Danube and Asia Minor

In the period 1740-1778, with the permission of the Turkish Sultan, the Nekrasovites moved to the Danube. On the territory of the Ottoman Empire, the sultans confirmed to the Nekrasov Cossacks all the privileges that they enjoyed in the Kuban from the Crimean khans. On the Danube they settled in the Dobrudzha region, in the floodplains of the Danube, next to the Lipovans. In modern Romania, the Lipovans still live. On the Danube, the Nekrasov Cossacks mainly settled in Dunavtsy and Sary Kay, as well as in the villages of Slava Cherkasskaya, Zhurilovka, Nekrasovka, etc. After the defeat of the Zaporozhye Sich in 1775, the Cossacks also appeared in the same places. Disputes over the best fishing spots between the Nekrasovites and the Cossacks began to lead to armed clashes. And after the Cossacks took Nekrasov’s Dunavets and resettled the Zaporozhye kosh from Seymen there, in 1791 most of the Nekrasovites left the Danube and moved to Asian Turkey to Lake Mainos and Enos off the coast of the Aegean Sea. Thus, by the beginning of the 19th century, two groups of Nekrasovites had formed - the Danube and Mainos. Some of the Nekrasovites of the Danube branch, who remained faithful to the “precepts of Ignat,” subsequently replenished the Nekrasovtsy settlements on Mainos, and those who remained in Dobrudja were completely absorbed by the significantly predominant Lipovans and assimilated into their midst and the Old Believers from Russia arriving in that area, lost the language of their ancestors, customs, folklore, legends and songs about Ignat, his “testaments”. Although it was beneficial for them to continue to be called Nekrasovites, due to the provision of a number of privileges by the Turkish authorities. The Nekrasovites from Mainos called them “Dunaki” or “Khokhols” and did not recognize them as their own. Aegean Enos as a separate settlement of the Nekrasovites also ceased to exist, moving to Mainos in 1828 and completely joining the Maino community. By the middle of the 19th century, the community's property stratification occurred, religious differences emerged, and in the second half of the 1860s, part of the Maynos (157 families), as a result of a split in the community, left and founded a settlement on the island of Mada (on Lake Beisheir). Their fate turned out to be tragic - as a result of the epidemic, “dead” land and contaminated water in the lake, by 1895 there were only 30 households left on Mada, and by 1910 there were only 8 families left in the village. Thus, the community of Nekrasov Cossacks living according to the “covenants” remained only on Mainos and a small part on Mada.

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a site for thinkers and seekers decided to remind readers of the history of our country and the Cossacks, who were an example of unshakable courage, bravery and fidelity to the faith of their ancestors.

We thank the author Dimitry Urushev both for the timely material provided to us and for the simplicity of presentation and presentation. This text is part Essays on the history of the Russian Church, which was published with the support of the site.

We recommend that everyone who is interested in this topic familiarize themselves with the extended material “”, and also, if possible, visit the planned September 19-22 international “Linguistic ecology: problems of endangered languages and cultures in history and modernity”, which will take place in the modern settlement of Nekrasov Cossacks in the village of Novokumsky, Levokumsky district, Stavropol Territory.

It is the duty of every person to protect his land and his family from invaders, robbers and oppressors. The sacred duty of every Christian is to defend his faith and his Church from heretics and atheists.

Love for Christ and His Church is higher than love for homeland and relatives. After all, someone else’s land can become a new homeland, and someone else’s relatives can become a new family. But no one and nothing can replace the Orthodox faith and the Orthodox Church. Under Tsar Peter, this was proven by the Nekrasov Cossacks, who left their fatherland to preserve the faith.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the south of Russia was buzzing. The banks of the Don and Volga were engulfed in a people's war led by Ataman Kondraty Afanasyevich Bulavin. Its participants - Russians and Little Russians, Cossacks and barge haulers, townspeople and peasants - opposed bosses and officials, governors and boyars, moneylenders and the rich.

The war began when Colonel Dolgorukov arrived from Moscow to the Don with a detachment of soldiers. He was ordered to find serfs who had fled from the landowners and return them to their owners. But according to ancient custom, everyone who found refuge on the Don was considered free people - Cossacks. And the appearance of the royal troops outraged the Donets.

The colonel, with unheard-of cruelty, began to capture the fugitive peasants, sparing neither women, nor the elderly, nor children. Bulavin and the Cossacks stood up for their brothers and sisters. On the night of October 9, 1707, they attacked Dolgorukov’s detachment, killing all the soldiers and the colonel himself.

The uprising was supported by poor Cossacks, landless peasants, and oppressed Old Believers. But the wealthy Cossacks were against Bulavin, they did not want to shed blood for poverty, they did not want to quarrel with Moscow. The rich conspired and killed the chieftain on July 5, 1708. Having learned about this, the king was so happy that he ordered prayers to be served and cannons to be fired.

The rebellion was suppressed. The sovereign's troops plundered and burned many Cossack villages and carried out terrifying executions: men were quartered and hanged, and women and children were drowned. The royal military leaders executed about 24 thousand people, including many pious priests, deacons and monks.

Bulavin himself adhered to the old faith. Most of his associates were Old Believers - Nikita Goly, Ignatius Nekrasov and Lukian Khokhlach. Therefore, they called on people to speak out not only against the oppressors, but also against the “Hellenic faith” - Russian Orthodoxy, modified by Nikon according to the Greek model. They called on the people to rise up in defense of ancient church piety.

Kondraty Bulavin, on behalf of the Don army, addressed the common people:

“We, as a whole army, became unanimous in order to stand with all our zeal for the house of the Most Holy Theotokos, for the true Christian faith, for our souls and heads, son for father and brother for brother, to stand for each other and die at the same time.”

Nikita Goly explained to the common people:

“We don’t care about the blacks.” We care about the boyars and those who do lies. And you, you little thing, go from all the cities on horseback and on foot, naked and barefoot. Go ahead, don't be afraid! You will have horses, weapons, clothing and a salary. And we stood for the old faith, for the house of the Most Holy Theotokos and for you, for the whole mob, so that we would not fall into the Hellenic faith.

APPEAL BY KONDRATY BULAVIN

(from a message to the Kuban Cossacks)

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us. Amen.

From the well-done Don atamans, from Kondraty Afanasyevich Bulavin and from the entire great Don army, petitions and congratulations to the servants of God and seekers of the name of the Lord, the Kuban Cossacks, Ataman Saveliy Pafomovich and all the well-done atamans.

We tearfully ask for mercy from you, well-done atamans, we pray to God and inform you that we sent our military letters to Kuban about the peace between you and us and the strong state of how the old Cossacks lived before this.

Let us inform you, fellow atamans, about our former foremen and comrades. Last year, 1707, they corresponded with the boyars so that all the Russian newcomers on our river could be expelled without a trace, no matter who came from where. And according to them, former elders, with the boyars, they, the boyars, sent a letter and advice from themselves to our river, Colonel Prince Yuri Dolgorukov with many leading people [officers] in order for them to ruin the entire river.

And they began to shave their beards and mustaches, and also change the Christian faith, and the hermits who live in the desert for the sake of the name of the Lord. And they wanted to introduce the Christian faith into the Hellenic faith.

And how they, the prince and the elders, went along the Don and along all the rivers to search for and expel the Russian people, and sent the leading people from themselves. And he himself, the prince, with our elders, with his comrades, drove along the Seversky Donets through the towns [Seversky Donets is the right tributary of the Don]. And they, the prince and the elders, being in the towns, burned out many villages with fire and beat many old-time Cossacks with a whip, cutting their lips and noses. And they hung babies from trees. They burned out all the chapels and the shrine...

And now we, our sovereigns, fathers, Saveliy Pafomovich and all the fellow atamans, promise to God that we will stand for piety, for the house of the Most Holy Theotokos, for the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church and for the traditions of the seven ecumenical councils, as they, the saints, at the seven Ecumenical councils confirmed the Christian faith and laid it down in the books of the fathers.

And we pledged each other’s souls, kissed the cross and the Holy Gospel, so that we could all stand in unity and die for each other.

Although the war for Cossack freedom and the old faith was lost, Bulavin’s cause did not die. It was continued by Ataman Ignatius Fedorovich Nekrasov, a zealous Christian and courageous warrior.

Nekrasov sent envoys to Russia who called on the Cossacks and peasants to move to the Kuban in order to live freely under the khan, and not vegetate without rights under the tsar. Then many left their homeland and went to foreign lands, although the authorities did their best to prevent this. The freedom-loving people who united around Ignatius Nekrasov began to be called Nekrasovites.

This is how a Christian community arose, in which the rules of self-government of the Don army were preserved, brotherhood and mutual assistance reigned. The highest power in it belonged to the circle - the general meeting. The chieftain was elected by the circle for one year. The circle was judged according to Nekrasov's laws, which were called "".

Here are some of them:

- do not submit to the tsars, do not return to Russia under the tsars;

– no member of the community can leave without the permission of the circle or ataman;

– the Cossack donates one third of his earnings to the military treasury;

- for treason against the army, shoot without trial;

– for marriage with non-believers – death;

– for the murder of a community member, the perpetrator should be buried in the ground;

– the husband must treat his wife with respect;

– a husband who offends his wife is punished in a circle;

- stick to the old faith;

- shoot for blasphemy.

Strict adherence to the “precepts” helped the Nekrasovites survive in the Basurman environment, preserve the Orthodox faith and the Russian people.

Ataman Nekrasov died in 1737. Soon the annexation of Kuban to Russia began, ending in 1783 under Empress Catherine II. Not wanting to live under the rule of the tsars, the Cossacks gradually left Kuban and moved to the area of Dobrudzha on the Black Sea coast. Then these lands belonged to Turkey, and are now divided between Bulgaria and Romania.

But the borders of Russia expanded and moved towards Dobruja. Again there was a threat to fall under royal power. And then most of the Nekrasovites moved to Turkey and settled on the shores of Lake Mainos [Mainos (Manyas) is a large freshwater lake in the western part of Turkey].

Living in a closed community, surrounded by an alien Turkish environment, the Cossacks held firm - they preserved Don self-government, their native language, folk songs and legends, Russian clothing, and the memory of Ataman Nekrasov. His “testaments” were written down in the “Ignatus Book”. It was kept in a special casket in the church. The banner of Nekrasov was also kept.

Return of the Cossacks, oil on canvas, 1894, artist Józef Brandt

There was a school in the community where boys were educated. A third of the funds received by the Cossacks from agriculture, cattle breeding and fishing went to school and church, to the maintenance of the elderly and sick, and to armament.

The Nekrasovites remained faithful to the “precepts of Ignat” and did not return to Russia under the tsars. Only in the twentieth century, when the autocratic government was overthrown, did they move to their homeland.

The material was provided by the Old Believer historian and writer Dimitry Urushev for publication on the website.

Sources of images – including English

And this is the most “infatuated” photograph of the Nekrasovites in Turkey, on Lake Mainos, beginning. 20th century.

On July 6, 1707, the tsar sent a decree to Colonel Prince Yuri Dolgorukov to restore order on the Don: “... to find all the fugitives and send them for escorts and wives and children, as before, to the same cities and places from where they came.” But the autocrat probably knew very well the unwritten law of the Cossacks: “There is no extradition from the Don.” On September 2, 1707, Yuri Dolgorukov arrived in Cherkassk with two hundred soldiers. Ataman of the Don Army Lukyan Maksimov and the elders formally agreed with the royal decree, but were in no hurry to implement it. Then the prince decided to start catching the fugitives himself. However, the nobleman did not understand that he was not in the Ryazan region, and to capture the fugitives he split his forces into several detachments. On the night of October 8-9, 1707, the Cossacks, led by Kondrat Bulavin, killed Dolgorukov himself, 16 officers and clerks, disarmed the soldiers and released them on all four sides. This is how the famous Bulavinsky uprising began.
On April 12, 1708, the tsar ordered Major of the Life Guards Vasily Dolgorukov, the brother of the murdered Prince Yuri, to suppress the Bulavin uprising. Peter’s instructions for dealing with the Don Cossacks are curious: “Since these thieves are all on horseback and have very light cavalry, it will be impossible for them to reach them with regular cavalry and infantry and only for that reason to send the same ones after them. To go to those towns and villages (of which the main one is Pristannaya town on Khopra), which are pestering theft and burn them without reserve, and chop down people, and impale the owners on wheels and stakes, in order to more conveniently discourage the desire to pester theft from people, for this sary cannot be appeased except by cruelty. The rest relies on the judgment of Mr. Major.”
On July 5-6, a stubborn battle took place near the walls of the Azov fortress, during which the Cossacks of Ataman Lukyan Khokhlach were completely defeated and fled. Khokhlach himself surrendered.
On July 7, in Cherkassk, Cossack elders led by Ivan Zerschikov carried out a coup. Kondrat Bulavin was killed, and according to another version, he shot himself.

According to descriptions, Ignat Nekrasov was of strong build.

Only the raid of Ataman Ignat Nekrasov along the Volga to Kamyshin and Tsaritsyn was successful. Having learned about the death of Bulavin, Nekrasov led his people to the Perevolochna area (between the Don and the Volga). And later, Nekrasov’s men had to go over to the side of the Ottoman Empire.
Finding themselves surrounded by infidels, the Cossacks preserved their customs and rights. “Testaments” preserved in their memory the image of ancient social relations, forgotten by the Cossacks under Russian rule. One of the Russian officials (V.P. Ivanov-Zheludkov), who visited Mainos (Turkey) in 1865, spoke about the extraordinary honesty that reigned in the settlement of the Nekrasovites: “Everyone unanimously assured me that if Nekrasovets had a bag of chervonets lying under his feet, he wouldn’t even take one, on the grounds that you can’t take anything on your own land.” Also interesting is his testimony that atamans, even during their service, are responsible for misdeeds on an equal basis with other members of the community: “That an ataman can be flogged and flogged is beyond doubt and is not at all out of the ordinary events of the Maynos life. In exactly the same way they put him on his face and in the same way force him to bow to the ground and thank him with the words: “Christ save us for what you taught!”; then he is given a mace, a symbol of his power, which is taken away by some old man during the punishment. Having handed over the mace, everyone falls at the ataman’s feet, yelling: “Forgive me for Khryast’s sake, Mr. Ataman!” - God will forgive! God will forgive! - the people’s chosen one answers, scratching himself, and everything returns to its previous order.”.

Teaching children musical literacy using "hooks". Among the Old Believers, song books are written not with notes, but with pre-schism signs - “hooks”. This singing is called naming.
You can listen to an example here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPbFF2cCXEM

IGNAT'S TESTAMENTS
(a set of rules elevated to the rank of law by the Nekrasov Cossacks)

1. Do not submit to tsarism. Under the tsars, do not return to Russia.
2. Do not associate with the Turks, do not communicate with non-believers. Communication with the Turks only for needs (trade, war, taxes). Quarrels with Turks are prohibited.
3. The highest authority is the Cossack circle. Participation from 18 years of age.
4. The decisions of the circle are carried out by the ataman. They strictly obey him.
5. The chieftain is elected for a year. If he is guilty, he is removed ahead of schedule.
6. Circle decisions are binding on everyone. Everyone monitors the execution.
7. All earnings are donated to the military treasury. From it everyone receives 2/3 of the money earned. 1/3 goes to the cat.
8. Kosh is divided into three parts: 1 part - army, weapons. Part 2 - school, church. Part 3 - assistance to widows, orphans, old people and other people in need.
9. Marriage can only be concluded between members of the community. For marriage with non-believers - death.
10. The husband does not offend his wife. With the permission of the circle, she can leave him, but the circle punishes her husband.
11. The only way to gain wealth is through hard work. A real Cossack loves his work.
12. For robbery, robbery, murder - by decision of the circle - death.
13. For robbery and robbery in war - by decision of the circle - death.
14. Shacks and taverns should not be kept in the village.
15. There is no way for Cossacks to become soldiers.
16. Keep, keep your word. Cossacks and children must play guitar in the old way.
17. A Cossack does not hire a Cossack. He does not receive money from his brother.
18. Do not sing worldly songs during fasting. You can only use old ones.
19. Without the permission of the circle, the ataman, a Cossack cannot leave the village.
20. Only the army helps orphans and the elderly, so as not to humiliate and humiliate them.
21 Keep personal assistance secret.
22. There should be no beggars in the village.
23. All Cossacks adhere to the true Orthodox old faith.
24. For the murder of a Cossack by a Cossack, the murderer must be buried alive in the ground.
25. Do not engage in trade in the village.
26. Who trades on the side - 1/20 of the profit in kosh.
27. Young people respect their elders.
28. A Cossack must go to the circle after 18 years. If he doesn’t walk, he’s fined twice, and on the third time he’s whipped. The fine is set by the ataman and the foreman.
29. Ataman to be elected after Krasnaya Gorka for a year. To be elected Esaul after 30 years. Colonel or marching ataman - after 40 years. Military chieftain - only after 50 years.
30. For cheating on a husband, he gets 100 lashes.
31. For cheating on your wife - bury her up to her neck in the ground.
32. People beat you to death for stealing.
33. For theft of military goods, a hot cauldron is whipped on the head.
34. If you get mixed up with the Turks - death.
35. For treason to the army, blasphemy - death.
36. If a son or daughter raises a hand against their parents - death. For offending an elder - a whip. The younger brother does not lay hands on the older one; the circle will punish him with whips.
37. In war, don’t shoot at Russians. Don't go against blood.
38. Stand up for small people.
39. There is no extradition from the Don.
40. Whoever does not fulfill Ignat’s commandments will perish.
41. If not everyone in the army is wearing hats, then you cannot go on a campaign.
42. For violations of Ignat’s covenants by the ataman, punish and remove him from the atamanship. If, after punishment, the ataman does not thank the Circle “for science,” flog him again and declare him a rebel.
43. Atamanship can last only three terms - power spoils a person.
44. Keep no prisons.
45. Do not send a deputy on a campaign, and those who do this for money should be executed by death as a coward and a traitor.
46. Guilt for any crime is determined by the Circle.
47. A priest who does not fulfill the will of the Circle is expelled.

The banner of the Nekrasovites.

For more than 240 years, the Nekrasov Cossacks lived outside Russia as a separate community according to the “testaments of Ignat”, which determined the foundations of the life of the community. In total, Nekrasov left, according to various sources, from 2 thousand (500-600 families) to 8 thousand Cossacks with their wives and children . Having united with the Old Believers Cossacks who had gone to the Kuban back in the 1690s, they formed the first Cossack army in the Kuban, which accepted the citizenship of the Crimean khans and received quite broad privileges. Runaways from the Don and ordinary peasants began to join the Cossacks. The Cossacks of this army were called Nekrasovtsy, although it was heterogeneous.

Preparing the bride for the wedding.

First, the Nekrasovites settled in the Middle Kuban (on the right bank of the Laba River, not far from its mouth), in a tract near the modern village of Nekrasovskaya. But soon the majority, including Ignat Nekrasov, moved to the Taman Peninsula, founding three towns - Bludilovsky, Golubinsky and Chiryansky.
For a long time, the Nekrasovites carried out raids on the Russian border lands from here. After 1737 (with the death of Ignat Nekrasov), the situation on the border began to stabilize.
In 1735-1739 Russia several times offered the Nekrasovites to return to their homeland.
Having failed to achieve a result, Empress Anna Ioannovna sent Don Ataman Frolov to Kuban. Unable to resist Russian troops, the Nekrasovites began moving to Turkish possessions on the Danube. In the period 1740-1778, with the permission of the Turkish Sultan, the Nekrasovites moved to the Danube. On the territory of the Ottoman Empire, the sultans confirmed to the Nekrasov Cossacks all the privileges that they enjoyed in the Kuban from the Crimean khans.

This year there was an anniversary, 50 years since the last Nekrasovites returned from Turkey. On September 22, 1962, from Turkey, the village of Koca-Gol (before 1938 - Bin-Evle or Eski-Kazaklar, in Nekrasov's language Mainos) 215 families living there, with a total of 985 people, returned to Russia. In total, by 1962, about 1,500 Nekrasovites moved to Russia and the USSR, of which just over 1,200 were from Mainos. Now their descendants live in the villages of Kumskaya Dolina and Novokumsky, Levokumsky district of the Stavropol Territory.
A few pictures of the first steps on our native land. Whether the Cossack women made a good or a bad decision, we cannot judge... but some of the Nekrasovites did not go to the USSR, but moved to the USA, where they are called “Turks”.

On September 5, 1962, we arrived in Prikumsk, and that is what the city of Budennovsk was called at that time, from Turkey to the USSR, for permanent residence, arrived by rail from Novorossiysk, where, in turn, we sailed on the motor ship "Georgia" from Istanbul.
By the way, one little boy was born on the ship and at the station in Prikumsk, the first on Russian soil - Kondrat Poluektovich Shepeleev.

In 1707, a famous uprising broke out on the Don under the leadership of Kondraty Bulavin, a centurion of the Bakhmut Cossack hundred, who later became a military chieftain. The cause of the uprising was the atrocities committed by the royal expedition under the leadership of Prince Yuri Dolgorukov, who arrived on the Don on behalf of Peter I to search for and return fugitive serfs. Already in October 1707, Kondraty Bulavin with his hundred, joined by fugitives: peasants and the poorest part of the Cossacks, came out against the tsar's envoy. This is how the famous Bulavinsky uprising began.

One of Kondraty Bulavin’s closest associates was Ignat Nekrasov, a 47-year-old Cossack from the village of Golubinskaya. However, in the spring of 1708, significant military forces were sent to suppress the Bulavin uprising, including not only army units, but also Zaporozhye Cossacks and Kalmyks. July 7, 1708 Kondraty Bulavin died under strange circumstances. Suffering defeats from the tsarist troops, the remaining Bulavin forces under the command of Ignat Nekrasov began a retreat and retreated to the Crimean Khanate. Initially, Nekrasov and his followers, called Nekrasovtsy, settled in the Kuban - on the right bank of the Laba River, 7 km southeast of modern Ust-Labinsk. A fortified settlement arose here, called the Nekrasovsky settlement, and later - the village of Nekrasovskaya.

At that time, the lands of Kuban were still under the rule of the Crimean Khanate, so Ignat Nekrasov had to obtain permission from the Crimean Khan to create his own settlement here. By the way, the khan, who was interested in allies in the fight against Russia, naturally gave his “go-ahead” to the Nekrasovites. An internally autonomous formation appeared on Kuban soil - the free Cossack republic of the Nekrasovites. Nekrasov's republic, unfortunately, has been studied rather superficially. Meanwhile, the very phenomenon of a unique Cossack freemen under the patronage of the Crimean khans is surprising. Life in the Nekrasov republic was built according to the “Testaments of Ignat”. Written samples of this document were lost back in the 18th century, and perhaps did not exist at all, so the “Testaments” were passed down orally, from elders to younger ones, from generation to generation. The basis of the “Testaments of Ignatus” was the uniquely interpreted Orthodoxy of the Old Rite. Nikonianism and the Nikonian clergy were rejected by the Testaments; the Nekrasovites adhered exclusively to the Old Believer tradition. At the same time, unlike other Old Believer communities, in the Nekrasov Republic the Cossack Circle was placed above the clergy.

If you believe the Nekrasov tradition, “The Testaments of Ignat” were compiled by Ataman Nekrasov himself. Be that as it may, they represent a very interesting monument of alternative lawmaking. Many historians still cannot come to a conclusion about what formed the basis of the “Testaments of Ignat” - whether only the Old Believers and the traditions of the Cossack way of life and self-government, or whether there was also the influence of the same Islam, professed by the Turks and Crimean Tatars - after all The “Covenants” too regulated not only the features of governance in the Cossack community, but also the private daily life of its members.

The principles in the Nekrasov community were tough, but fair. Moral and behavioral attitudes were determined not only by religion, but also by the peculiar ideas of Nekrasovites about social justice. It should be noted here that the backbone of the Nekrasovites was formed not only from Cossacks, but also from fugitive peasants fleeing the oppression of serfdom on the Don. The Nekrasov community was based on both the principles of Don Cossack self-government and the rebellious attitudes of the Bulavinites, who no longer wanted to submit to any state oppression.

The Krug was recognized as the main governing body that resolved all judicial and administrative issues in the settlement of the Nekrasovites. It was he who had the right to make all the most important decisions regarding both the community as a whole and each individual member. Morals in the Nekrasov community were very strict. Firstly, alcoholic beverages were clearly prohibited - both production, trade, and consumption. Secondly, a very strict hierarchy of relationships was established between elders and younger, parents and children, husbands and wives. Violation of accepted rules of behavior was punishable, depending on the severity of the offense, by either flogging or beating.

Very serious punishments were imposed for debauchery and adultery. A woman who cheated on her husband could be buried in the ground up to her neck and thrown into the water in a bag. On the other hand, husbands who offended their wives were also mercilessly punished. However, the Circle was free to release the criminal from punishment. By the way, after punishment, the criminal was considered restored to his rights and no one could remind him of his past crime or misdemeanor. This did not apply to murderers or traitors, who were also buried or drowned. The same fate awaited the children who dared to raise their hands against their parents.

Very severe punishments were also provided for attempting to create a family with people of other faiths - the death penalty was imposed. With the help of such harsh sanctions, the small Nekrasov community sought to preserve its ethnic and religious identity, to protect itself from dissolution in the culturally, linguistically, ethnically and religiously alien Turkic-Caucasian environment.

Social justice in the Nekrasov community was also supported quite strictly. For example, the Nekrasov Cossacks were prohibited from using the labor of their brothers for the purpose of enriching themselves. If they served it to the poor, then it must be the food that they themselves ate. Each family gave a third of its income to general needs - to the treasury of the troops, from where the funds were spent on educating children, helping orphans and widows, purchasing, and maintaining church institutions.

Cossack men aged eighteen years and older were considered full members of the community. Each Cossack was obliged not only to personally participate in campaigns, but also to discuss community issues on the Circle. A worthy Cossack over the age of 30 could be elected Esaul of the army. A respected person could count on being elected a colonel or a marching chieftain - but only if he was already forty years old. A Cossack aged fifty years or older, who was elected for a period of one year, could become an army chieftain. Thus, the basis of the democratic principle of governance of the Cossack community was the age hierarchy.

It is noteworthy that Nekrasov managed to achieve recognition of the de facto autonomy of the Cossack republic he created by the Crimean Khan and the Ottoman Sultan. He also managed to build relatively peaceful relations with his closest neighbors - the Circassians and Nogais. The Crimean khans actually equalized the rights of the Nekrasov Cossacks with the Muslim population of the Khanate, not only by allowing the carrying of weapons, but also by organizing the supply of weapons and ammunition to the Nekrasov community. In response, the Nekrasovites began to perform the functions familiar to the Cossacks - protecting the border lines, only of the Crimean Khanate, and not of Russia. In addition, the Nekrasovites pledged to participate in campaigns as part of the Crimean troops as a separate military unit, distinguished by high valor and excellent fighting qualities.

In 1711, Ignat Nekrasov with an impressive detachment of Cossacks (according to some sources - up to 3.5 thousand sabers) launched a daring raid on Russian territory, invading the Volga provinces. In response, Peter I even equipped a punitive expedition under the command of Peter Apraksin, but it failed and returned back, unable to defeat the Nekrasovites.

By the way, the Crimean Khan Mengli-girey even ordered the creation of a Cossack hundred as part of his own army for personal security, staffing it with Nekrasovites. The Cossacks continued to profess the Orthodoxy of the old rite and were relieved of their duties to perform services on Sundays. The decision to create a security unit of Cossacks was a very far-sighted move by the Khan, since the Cossacks were not integrated into the Crimean Tatar alignments and were not associated with the opposing clans. For service as part of the Khan's hundred, the Khan's government granted the Cossacks large plots of land on Temryuk and provided them with the necessary weapons and uniforms.

In 1737, 77-year-old ataman Ignat Nekrasov, as befits a Cossack, died in battle during a small clash with Russian troops. However, even after his death, the Nekrasovites retained Ottoman citizenship. But in the middle of the 18th century, given the advance of Russia in the Kuban, the Nekrasovites began to move to a more distant region of the Ottoman Empire - to Dobruja, where several Nekrasov villages were founded. Here the Cossacks - Nekrasovites - took up their usual business - they carried out guard duty and periodically participated in Ottoman campaigns. However, the Nekrasov Cossacks faced dissolution in the more numerous environment of the Lipovans - also immigrants from Russia, Old Believers, who began to move en masse to the Principality of Moldova at the beginning of the 18th century. Since the faith and foundations of the Lipovans and Nekrasovites largely coincided, the latter were soon assimilated into the Lipovan environment.

Another group of Nekrasovites in 1791 moved from the Danube to Asia Minor - to the region of Mainos (Lake Kush), where a very large Nekrasov community also appeared. It was she who remained committed to the original foundations laid by Ignat Nekrasov for the longest time. Units of Nekrasov Cossacks took part in many Russian-Turkish wars - on the side of the Ottoman Empire. However, political transformations in the Ottoman Empire itself played a role in the future fate of the Nekrasov community. The modernization of the state structure and armed forces of the Ottoman Empire could not but affect the position of the Nekrasovites.

In 1911, their privileges were abolished and the Nekrasovites, like representatives of other ethno-confessional groups, received the obligation to send conscripts not to their own units, but to parts of the regular Turkish army. This circumstance could not please the Nekrasov community, which very carefully guarded its autonomy. By this time, the “sins” of the Nekrasovites against the Russian Empire had already been forgotten and the Russian authorities gave permission for the Nekrasovites to return to Russia. It is worth noting that the Russian authorities have long sought to return the Nekrasov Cossacks. The presence of an impressive community of Cossacks on the territory of one of the main opponents of Russia at that time - the Ottoman Empire - dealt a serious blow to the image of the Russian state. Moreover, they also took part in hostilities against Russian troops. The first attempt to organize the return of the Nekrasovites to the Russian Empire was made by Empress Anna Ioannovna - almost immediately after the death of the community’s founder, Ataman Ignat Nekrasov. However, both this and the subsequent invitations of the Nekrasovites to Russia did not find support among the Cossacks who settled in the Ottoman possessions. Only at the beginning of the twentieth century. the situation began to change. And the Cossacks themselves, the Nekrasovites, already understood that in Russia they were not in any danger, and in Turkey they would always be strangers, especially in the context of the growing desire of the Turkish elite to suppress national minorities.

The Turkish authorities, who by this time had already accepted the new paradigm of government, did not oppose the return of the Nekrasov Cossacks to Russia. The first settlers flocked to Russia and were allocated lands in Georgia. However, in 1918, when Georgia gained political independence, the Nekrasovites began to move from Georgia to the Kuban - to the area of the village of Prochnokopskaya. The settlers were included in the Kuban Cossacks.

The repatriation of Nekrasovites to Russia was interrupted by the Civil War and the subsequent formation of Soviet statehood. Only in the early 1960s. the return of the Nekrasovites from Turkey to the Soviet Union resumed. In September 1962, 215 Nekrasov families with a total of 985 people returned from the village of Kodzha-Gol to the USSR. They settled mainly in the village of Novokumsky, Levokumsky district, Stavropol Territory. In addition to the Stavropol region, the Nekrasovites settled in the Rostov region, in the Krasnodar region - in the Novo-Nekrasovsky farm of the Primorsko-Akhtarsky district; in the villages of Potemkinsky and Novopokrovsky of the same district and the village of Vorontsovka in the Yeisk district of the Krasnodar Territory. Another 224 Nekrasovites, who did not want to return to the Soviet Union, emigrated to the United States of America, and only one family expressed a desire to remain in Turkey. That is, by the beginning of the 1960s. The “Turkish” era in the life of the Nekrasovites, which lasted more than two and a half centuries, ended.

Of course, returning to the USSR did not contribute to the preservation of Nekrasov’s foundations in their pristine purity. Despite the fact that the settlers tried to adhere to their own way of life, integration into Soviet society led to rather sad results for the community. The younger generations of Nekrasov Cossacks gradually assimilated into the environment and switched to a lifestyle common to Soviet people of that time. Nevertheless, many Nekrasov Cossacks still try to preserve the memory of the unusual history of their community and, to the best of their ability, remain faithful to their traditions.