Quarantine measures referring to Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra estates and entrances to Kyiv

Did you know that Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra organized quarantine measures referring to its estates and entrances to Kyiv in 1760–1761?

At the end of 1760, Archimandrite Luka (Bilousovych) wrote a letter to hieromonk Ananias, the governor of Vasylkiv. It was about plague and the rumors that the disease began spreading around Vasylkiv. Empress Elizabeth issued the order according to which quarantine measures were intensified in the border towns and outposts. The responsibility over the observance of those measures was allocated to the regimental Cossacks. After Kyiv, similar measures were introduced in Slobozhanshchyna (north-east part of the modern Ukraine), Zaporizhzhia, Crimea and Bendery). At that time, those people who lived in Lavra and had to leave Kyiv through the outpost in Vasylkiv, could not do that. By order of the hieromonk Sava, Chief of the Holy Intercession (Holosiivska Pustyn) Monastery, the archimandrite orders on observance of quarantine restrictions were read in Purohiv village. Its residents, led by their village headman, did not allow the passers-by to leave Kyiv without special passes. Those who tried to get in or out of the city without those documents were detained and taken to the city governor. Those who wanted to go out of the city had to use the main roads only. This made the work of the guards easier as they did not have to control all the check-points.

Captions to the illustrations:

1. Plague. Engraving of the 19^th century

2. The Horseman of the Apocalypse. A fragment of the wallpaper by N. Batay, 14^th century

Hanna Filipova