Visit the sights and environs of Bautino.

“If you have a lack of faith, then being does not believe in you”

Lao Tzu.

Sights Bautino.

The 130th anniversary of the foundation of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker would be celebrated by the inhabitants of the village of Bautino. But the parish was empty, and Christian shrines were orphaned during the years of Soviet power.
In the early 80's. XIX century, the idea of ​​building a temple arose in the village of Nikolaevskaya (now the village of Bautino). From the very foundation of the village, the villagers were considered parishioners of the Peter and Paul Military Church, located four miles from the village, in Fort Alexandrovsky.
The remoteness and the strong gusty winds prevailing in this area did not make it possible to visit the temple, especially the elderly and children. Often during the holidays, such an evil hurricane was played out that the entire space from the Fort to the village was covered with clouds of dust, and in ten steps it was impossible to distinguish objects.
And in winter, when a blizzard rose or the region was covered by severe frost, communication with Fort ceased completely. There were no horses in the village of Nikolaev at all to facilitate communication between settlements.
The construction of the temple is, of course, a noble, but difficult task, since funds for this were considerable. And when this project seemed unrealizable, one of the villagers, Zakhar Kuzmich Dubsky, a man of high moral and religious found a path to the fulfillment of the dream of the village people.
Skillfully taking up the matter, he invited nikolayevets to make a fee for the construction of the temple. Everyone eagerly responded, and donations flowed. Half of the funds were invested by Zakhar Dubsky himself and his relatives.
And by the year 1883, a capital of 3,500 rubles was raised. But the funds raised were not enough for the construction of the temple. It is known that if you strive for a goal, then chance comes to the rescue. Once Dubsky found out that a stone church was being built in the village of Gorodofortinsky, Astrakhan province, and the former wooden church, almost new, was being sold.
How much joy there was when this disassembled church was brought to the village. All nikolayevets together unloaded it from the schooner and according to the grace, transferred it by log to the place of construction.
In 1884, the church was assembled and finished. Father Vasily Logvinovich was appointed priest. He was instructed to consecrate the church in the name of the Savior and Miracle Worker Nicholas, celebrated on December 6.
On November 30, 1884, consecration took place. So the Nikolaev parish arose in the village of Nikolaev, near the Fort-Alexander Trans-Caspian region. Nikolai the Miracle Worker, or Nikolai Ugodnik, has since become the patron saint of Russian settlers in Bautino.
In the terrible 30s of the now past century, the temple was overthrown, the priest was exiled, the psalmist was planted, the parish was empty. In the 50s, the walls of the former temple housed production warehouses, then the temple became a temporary shelter for visiting geological prospectors from Russia. A native of Tupkaragan, Batyrzhan Igibaev, said that in 1962 - 1963, one of the local old-timers dragged the relic of the “Chapaev’s” times, the Maxim machine gun, into the walls of the once glorious temple.
And the Bautin children with pleasure played there in the “war game". And then the locals adapted the destroyed building of the temple under the gym for the local children. Today, a hundred-year-old tree remained from this holy place, in the shadow of which parishioners took refuge in prayer.
Currently, a hundred-year-old tree hears only the sound of the wind; prayers have not been heard for a long time. By the way, the village of Nikolaev was named after the Emperor Nicholas, who was so named in his time in honor of Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Saint Nicholas is revered not only by Christians, but also by representatives of other religions. It was he who became the prototype of Russian Santa Claus and European Santa Claus. Nikolai the Miracle Worker, like the Sultan-epe, is considered the patron saint of travelers.
For many years, the Orthodox church served as a guide for sailors and guests of the region. In an important document of seafarers, in the Lotsiya of the Caspian Sea, compiled by the main navigation and oceanography department of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR, there is amusing information:
“The landmark at the entrance to the Tupkaragan Bay is Cape Tupkaragan, which is recognized from afar. From the south-west, the refrigerator tower is noticeable. From a closer distance, the church is noticeable on the southern outskirts of the village of Bautino, 3.5 kbt to SW from the tip of the Bautino spit.”
In 2008, the rector of the Church of the Annunciation, Father Igor, visited the ruins of the church. There he talked about how one of the local entrepreneurs who wanted to buy land in the village of Bautino visited his parish.
Upon learning that an Orthodox church was once located on this land, he came to ask permission to begin construction. Father Igor advised that there were few parishioners left in the village - the main part moved to the district center, while others moved farther. He warned the new owner of the land that for a century at this place both parishioners were baptized and buried.
The great sin to mock at the shrine, they say, yesterday's shrines do not happen. And the land is big, you can build a house in another place.

Authority:
Natalia Zaderetskaya. "Tupkaragan is the cradle of Mangistau."

Photos
Alexander Petrov.