“She ascended”: how was the farewell to Inna Churikova in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

“Akhedzhakova put on a scarf on the run”

On January 17, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, they said goodbye to the People’s Artist of the USSR Inna Churikova. It was originally supposed that the civil memorial service would be held at Mark Zakharov’s Lenkom, but the place was changed at the insistence of relatives. For the Lenkomites, this decision was a real shock: Churikova first appeared on their native stage (at the invitation of Mark Anatolyevich himself) in 1973 and gave the theater decades of her life. But admirers of Inna Mikhailovna’s talent did not practically notice the symbolic and “logistical” substitution – a temple instead of a theater.

Although the beginning of the funeral ceremony was scheduled for 11 am, at ten the first people with flowers could already be met on the street. Volkhonka. MK journalists arrived at the scene in a large group and dispersed around the perimeter so as not to miss anything. Fences, “cordons” with metal detector frames, a large number of police, the National Guard and security officials from a certain security service who walked around the temple in suits with spring-loaded headphones, like agents in the movie “The Matrix” – the thought that goodbye can to come Putin, arose immediately. The rumor that the president would arrive, if not at the church, then at the cemetery, was circulating in the crowd. But the GDP did not come. From the first persons of Russia, Valentina Matvienko, the chairman of the Federation Council, appeared at the coffin of Churikova.

According to the church calendar, the Council of the Seventy Apostles fell on January 17, but there were most likely few parishioners in the church. At about 10.30 the blizzard intensified, at the same time two “government” cars with flashing lights drove up to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior – and the press officers who were on duty at the entrance rushed to the temple. These two circumstances led to the formation of “congestion”.

Then it turned out that from a practical point of view, bringing a large bouquet is unprofitable. Modest bouquets were simply passed through an introscope, but visitors with chic bouquets in baskets were taken to a special entrance and inspected super-carefully, highlighting each petal with a flashlight.

The clock on the Spasskaya Tower had not yet struck eleven, and a queue of more than 20 meters long lined up in the temple. Everyone calmly approached the open coffin, upholstered in white silk, touched it, crossed themselves, kissed the icon installed nearby, and went out into the street. And all this in complete silence. Only the exclamation of the priest broke it. At the beginning of the service, the priest loudly read to Churikova’s relatives, including her husband Gleb Panfilov and son Ivan, the archpastoral word of consolation from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

In addition to relatives and admirers, Lenkomites gathered in the temple, among them the theater director Andrei Sokolov, actor Viktor Rakov and others. They stand separately, to the right of the altar. A little time passes, and the stars of Russian cinema begin to arrive: Karachentsov’s widow Lyudmila Porgina, Evgeny Gerasimov, a little later – Liya Akhedzhakova, who puts on a scarf on the run – the ring of mourners is very dense, and near this bulk, 84-year-old Liya Medzhidovna seems still smaller and more fragile. She can’t get through on her own: the guards are creating something that looks like a corridor. Green chairs have been prepared for her and other VIPs near the coffin. Akhedzhakova tries to endure the service, cries, but cannot stand the excitement and sits down, like several other key guests. Yevgeny Mironov and Alexandra Zakharova appear. Then – with a bouquet of white roses – Sergey Garmash. Mironov, by the way, will stay almost until the very end, at about one in the afternoon he will break through the crowd of people to put a candle at the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker …

Purely psychologically, what was happening seemed like a dramatic action. Several “ordinary spectators” drip Corvalol into plastic cups. But, thank God, no one gets sick. And at the same time, the tension grows. It seems that the grief experienced by those gathered becomes common and spills out beyond the boundaries of the majestic building. When the memorial service ended and silence settled in the temple and the lights were dimmed, the tension became almost unbearable. It was already known that the hearse was ready and it would all be over soon. Gleb and Ivan Panfilov knelt at the coffin. Ivan is in tears. The closest people hug and cry. And all this – in almost total silence.

The reverent silence was not broken even at the moment when the organizers gave the command and the queue began to move. Exupery in The Little Prince warned against trying to measure and evaluate beauty and love in numbers. But I tried to do it. As the people moved, I calculated that thirty people passed me in a minute. How many such minutes were there? How many people? Hundreds? Thousands? And what figure is capable of reflecting the love of the whole people? “God’s man! She ascended! Look at her husband – love reigned between them, without a doubt! – the woman says admiringly to her friend. “It was a fantastic woman and actress, it’s a pity …” another whispers. “That’s it,” the man breathes. And the flow of people dries up. This temple was closed to the entrance. But not dozens, but millions of Russians remained outside its walls, not a single cathedral could accommodate them all.

Read the report “Fans of Shatunov, Zhirinovsky and Menshov gathered at the funeral of Inna Churikova”

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 28952 dated January 18, 2023

Newspaper headline:
National farewell