Anna V. Treshchalina

The article attempts to focus on the so-called "places of power" on the way of St. Andrew the First-Called through the territory of ancient Russia. The presence of various underground tunnels, wells and caves in the places of the Holy Apostle's stay is noted. The Valaam archipelago in Lake Ladoga, which has become the spiritual center of the Ladoga lands, is considered in more detail. The analysis of the peredvizhnichestvo of St. Arseny, the founder of the Konevetsky Orthodox monastery on Ladoga, is carried out. As a result, it can be assumed that Christian missionaries were sent precisely to the "places of power" of ancient civilizations living in the Northern regions of Eurasia. Thus, a kind of continuity was obtained in the location of Orthodox monasteries and religious centers of previous eras.

The article presents an analysis of some aspects of the activities of the heroes of "Kalevala", the hero Väinämöinen and the "son of the glade" Sampsa Pellervoinen from the standpoint of assessing the plausibility of the events described in this epic. An analogy is drawn between the Karelian runes and Russian legends about Ilya Muromets, based on the identity of the archeological finds at the site of the destroyed Murom Monastery (Lake Onega) and the artifacts of the Volosovskaya and Panfilovskaya sites located in the vicinity of Murom. Materials are considered that testify to the residence of giants in the northwestern Ladoga and White Sea regions.

Historical descriptions of the "Valit Stone" and an analysis of the variants of the origin of the surname "Valit" are given, as well as excerpts from the diaries of Arab historians Akhmer Ibn-Faldan and Abu Hamid Andalusi, who visited Volga Bulgaria in the 11th century.