"The Siya Chronicles of Abbot Varlaam" is a leisurely, first-person account by a man who has lived and served in one of the most remote monasteries in the Arkhangelsk region for 25 years. We encounter portraits of residents and monks, laborers and ordinary pilgrims, as winter gives way to summer, and summer to winter, the 16th century gives way to the 17th, and the 20th to the 21st, and "everything returns to normal" in the area where the hermit and ascetic Anthony of Siya first arrived in 1620.




A river, water flowing towards the camera, a bridge in the distance.
A bearded man (a monk) sits at a table by the window, writing something.
A suspension bridge over the river, swinging.
A monk is also there, at the table.
Writing.
Water in the river, a panorama of the forest on the banks.
Water in the river.
The Siya Chronicles of Abbot Varlaam.
A panorama of a monastery on an island, flying over the monastery.
A wooden house, a man walks past with his back to the camera.
A monk is also there, by the window.
A suspension bridge, people are walking across it, looking at the camera.
A monk on the street looks at the camera.
People with banners are walking across the bridge, looking at the camera.
A monk's face, looking at the camera.
A procession of the cross is moving across the bridge, looking at the camera.
A monk under the trees, looking at the camera.
Aerial view of a suspension bridge, flying over the bridge.
A man is carrying a model of a church out of a garage.
A church in the panorama.
A monk is speaking in the monastery courtyard.
Another monk is speaking.
A man in a cassock speaks against the background of the church.
A monk is sitting on a log near a hut, speaking.
A bearded man is turning a meat grinder in the kitchen by the window.
The door to the temple, part of a fresco is visible through the door.
A boy is walking towards the camera.
A boy (legs) is walking across an icy suspension bridge.
A horse is pulling a sleigh.
Icy bridge.
A horse is pulling a sleigh to the monastery.
View of the monastery from the shore.
Summer.
Water in the river, panorama of the banks.
A monk at a table by the window.
A bearded man is chopping wood.
Winter.
The man who was chopping wood is looking at the camera.
A castle.
An axe by the log.
Men are loading wood onto a cart.
Panorama of the temple wall.
A bearded monk is turning a meat grinder in the kitchen.
Flour is being poured from a saucepan into a vat.
The monk with the meat grinder continues to speak.
The mechanism is turning.
Continuation of the SNH of the monk with the meat grinder.
Hands take dough out of the vat, place it on the scales.
Continuation of the SNH of the monk with the meat grinder.
The baker puts bread in the oven, crosses himself at the oven, closes it.
Continuation of the SNH of the monk with the meat grinder.
Bread.
Wooden chapel, camera panning upward, flying over the village.
Monastery, a man in a cassock approaching with his back to the camera.
Panning across tulle with a crucifix.
Feather on brickwork.
A monk in the monastery courtyard on the bank, speaking.
View of the monastery from the river.
Continuation of the monk's panorama.
View of the temple domes.
Continuation of the monk's panorama.
Profile of a monk in the temple.
Panning upward toward a candle.
A boy with a feather stands on a suspension bridge, the camera pans out.
A fisherman casts his line, ripples on the water, the temple in the reflection.
Various shots of the fisherman.
Reflection of the temple in the water.
Monk at the window at the table.
Man's face, looking at the camera.
Baker looking at the camera.
Man looking at the camera.
Schema monk standing on the threshold, crossing himself, entering the house.
Wooden chapel, nearby a man mowing the grass.
Panning upward, view of the forest, river, monastery in the distance.
A man in a gray robe speaking.
Blooming Grass.
Continuation of the SNH of a man in a robe.
A panorama of the blooming grass and the domes.
Continuation of the SNH. View of the river.
Continuation of the SNH. A man mounts a bicycle and rides off into the distance.
A horse pulls a sleigh through the snow.
View of a monastery.
A flock of pigeons under the roof of a church.
A wheelbarrow.
View of a monastery.
Zama.
A panorama of rows of water canisters.
A priest speaks in a church.
An embroidered face.
Continuation of the SNH of a priest.
Entrance to the monastery, the camera enters the gates, a view of the church opens, the camera pans up.
View of the church under scaffolding.
A book is turned over.
View of the monastery.
A monk at a table by the window.
A priest during a service in the church.
Faces of the parishioners.
The priest takes a book from the canon and leaves.
Hands sort loaves of bread.
A man in the library.
He speaks.
A page of an ancient book.
Continuation of the SNH of a librarian.
An icon, a hand finishing the face.
An icon painter at work.
A boy with a feather looks into the camera, throws a feather.
Water in the river, panorama of the banks.
The interior of the church, frescoes.
The artist's studio.
View of the monastery from the shore.
An icon painter in his studio speaks.
Brushes on the windowsill.
Continuation of the icon painter's sketch.
Panorama of the church vault.
Interior of a ruined church.
Panorama of the church vault, interior of an empty church, details.
Window.
A book page turns.
A boat sails toward the monastery.
A novice speaks against the background of a church.
A priest enters the church, a woman runs after him.
Continuation of the novice's sketch.
A bell in the bell tower, a panorama of the belfry, a monk entering.
A bell tower, a monk in the belfry, zooming out to a general view of the temple complex.
Priests and people on a ferry, various shots, faces.
A group of people walking along the shore.
A procession in a field.
A view from above of the procession.
A view from above of the procession on the bridge.
A bridge, a boy passing.
A boat moors.
Men in the boat.
A fisherman.
The interior of the temple.
A monk speaks in the monastery courtyard.
A silhouette of a priest in the temple.
Continuation of the monk's SNH. A man and a boy fishing.
Men near the porch of a house.
A man carries a model of the temple into the garage.
A panorama of a wooden apartment building.
A monk sits at a table by the window, writing.
He closes his notebook.
A monk stands up and leaves the frame.
A monk walks through the monastery, towards the camera, passes by.
A horse pulls a sleigh to the monastery, panorama from the horse to the temple.
A man with dogs at a house unloading logs with a crane.
A cleaver.
Unloading logs with a crane.
A river, winter.
An icy suspension bridge.
The interior of the temple.
Panorama.
View of the temple.
Winter.