The northernmost monastery in the world was founded by St. Tryphon of Pechenga, one of the great galaxy of Orthodox ascetics of the Far North of the 16th century. Together with his friends and like-minded people, the Venerable Theodoret of Kola and Varlaam of Keret, Saint Tryphon, the “apostle of the Lapps,” managed to accomplish the great work of enlightening the Kola North and annexing these “eternally disputed” lands to the kingdom of Moscow, this northern land was given to the Russian state with the great blood of Russian pioneers , monks of northern monasteries. The heyday of the monastery began after the saint visited Moscow in order to ask Ivan the Terrible for a charter to endow the monastery with land and fishing grounds. After reading the petition, the king listened detailed story Tryphon o northern country , about the “wild loppa” living there, about herds of reindeer and countless schools of fish going to spawn in the northern rivers, about the importance of developing those places to strengthen the power of the Russian state in view of the claims of the Norwegians and Danes on them. The charter given by Ivan the Terrible to Tryphon actually declared the Pechenga Monastery a new stronghold of the Russian state in the North. “We granted Guria (abbot) and other monks of the monastery the sea lips of Mototskaya (Motovsky Bay on modern maps), Ilitskaya and Urskaya, Pechenga and Pazrenskaya, and Navdenskaya lips in the sea, all kinds of fishing and sea sweepings.” The charter ordered “to extend the monastery’s possessions to stranded whales and walruses, to sea shores, islands, rivers and small streams, headwaters of rivers, toni (fishing areas), mountains and pozhni (hayfields), forests, forest lakes, animal catches,” and all the Lapps and their lands were henceforth declared subordinate to the monastery. By a special royal decree, the monastery was resolutely protected from the greedy encroachments of “all sorts of German people,” who were “ordered to deny that that land was Lena and from time immemorial the eternal patrimony of our Great Sovereign, and not of the Danish Kingdom.” All this marked the final annexation of the “midnight country” to Novgorod. The diploma was very important for the monastery. The extensive possessions granted by the charter gave the monastery the opportunity to develop its educational activities and significantly strengthened the economy. The monastery, taken under state control, began to grow rapidly, developed extensive economic activity, and established an extensive trade in handicraft products both with the central Russian lands and with Western European merchants. In memory of the royal bounty, the Monk Tryphon built for the Lapps in 1565 on the Pasvik River a church in the name of the holy martyrs, noble princes Boris and Gleb. This river was distinguished by an abundance of fish, so it attracted the Lapps of western Lapland. According to legend, it was here that the simultaneous baptism of two thousand Lapps with their wives and children took place. Consecrated on the day of remembrance of the holy martyrs, noble princes Boris and Gleb, the church for a long time served the Lapps who lived in these places and was considered the center of western Lapland. The temple in the name of Saints Boris and Gleb has still been preserved and is located in the border strip with Norway. The Monk Tryphon continued to work as the last novice. The saint’s humility was so great that, asking the king for a letter of grant, he did not want his name to be mentioned in it as the founder and organizer of the Pechenga Holy Trinity Monastery. 18 versts from the monastery on the banks of the Manna River (at its confluence with the Pechenga River), where Saint Tryphon initially lived and where he often retired to silently serve God, he founded a small hermitage (skete) and built a temple in honor and memory of the Dormition Holy Mother of God. Here, according to legend, there is a cave at the foot of a high stone mountain, in which the Saint hid from the wrath of the pagan Lapps. In memory of this, the mountain is called the Savior. Like a blessed lamp, Saint Tryphon burned and shone in the monastery, illuminating his spiritual children with the light of Christian asceticism. Under his experienced leadership, the monastery blossomed, enlightening the entire deserted northern region with faith and piety. By the 80s of the 16th century, the Pechenga Monastery had created the largest economy in the Far North, which had extensive marine industries, shipyards, salt pans, beaver traps, salmon fences, barnyards, dairy farming, etc. The monastery of St. Tryphon became a real stronghold Orthodoxy in the Far North, a Russian border settlement, which by the very fact of its existence established the final right of Russian jurisdiction over all lands east of the Pasvik River.
After many labors and exploits, having lived in Lapland for more than 60 years, the Monk Tryphon fell ill. Hegumen Gury and the brethren of the monastery began to mourn their imminent orphanhood. To this the Monk Tryphon answered the brethren with the following spiritual testament: “Do not grieve, my children, and do not interrupt my good path. Place all your trust in God. Jesus Christ, my God, did not abandon me alone in all the misfortunes that befell me, much less will he abandon you, gathered in His name. I command you: love Him, glorified in the Trinity, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. My children! Love each other too. Keep your monasticism honestly and temperately. Avoid bossing; you see: for many years my hands served not only my own needs, but also yours, and I was a novice to everyone, but I did not seek power. And I also pray to you - do not mourn my death. Death brings peace to the husband. In every person, the soul stays in the body like a wanderer for some time, but then it leaves and the dead body soon turns to dust, for we are all pus, and every person is a worm. And the rational soul goes to its heavenly fatherland. My beloved, strive to where there is no death, no darkness, but eternal light. One day there is better than a thousand days on earth. Do not love the world and what is in the world. After all, know how damned this world is. Like the sea he is unfaithful and rebellious. As if there were abysses in it, the tricks of evil spirits, as if it were agitated by the winds of destructive lies, and bitter with the devil’s slander, and as if foaming with sins and raging with the winds of evil. The enemy only thinks about plunging the peace-loving people, spreading his destruction everywhere, crying everywhere. Finally, death for everything..." The monk commanded to bury his body in the desert near the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where he spent a lot of time in solitude and silence.
Having received the Mysteries of Christ and already exhausted, Saint Tryphon shed tears. The brethren turned to the Reverend: “Reverend Father, you forbid us to grieve for you, for you joyfully go to your sweet Jesus, tell us why you shed tears?” The monk’s answer was prophetic: “There will be a grave temptation at this monastery and many will suffer torment from the edge of the sword; but do not weaken, brethren, in trusting in God; He will not leave the rod of sinners in His lot, for He is strong and able to renew His abode.” After this, the Reverend sank down onto Rogozina, his face lit up, the dying man seemed to smile, and thus gave up his soul to the Lord.
Thus, on December 15 (28), 1583, the Monk Tryphon ended his difficult journey in life, remaining in a clear mind and excellent memory. Before his death, he left the brethren a formidable prophecy about an impending terrible disaster, about the destruction of the monastery, and that many of them would suffer a “fierce death at the edge of the sword.” The orphaned brethren honorably buried the laborious body of the Monk Tryphon at the place indicated by him in the desert, near the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
After the death of St. Tryphon, it was not for a long time The monastery still flourished. And then the Saint’s prophecy about the destruction of the monastery and the martyrdom of his brethren came true. This the most important moment in the history of the Pechenga monastery and the entire region. After all, it is on the blood of martyrs for the faith of Christ that the Orthodox Church has always stood and will stand. The blood of the “116” holy martyrs killed for the faith is the guarantee of the inviolability of Tryphon’s Orthodox possessions.
The Reverend's prophetic prediction was exactly fulfilled seven years after his death. In 1590, a week before the feast of the Nativity of Christ, an armed detachment of Finns (subjects of the Swedish king) - “Germans of the Kayan side” - under the leadership of Peki Vezaysen, a native of the town of Ii in Finland, approached the monastery desert on the Mann River and burned the Church of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary , where the relics of St. Tryphon rested hidden. At the temple were Hieromonk Jonah, who after the death of St. Tryphon performed the Divine Liturgy daily for seven years, commemorating his mentor, and the cassock monk Herman, sexton and cleric of the temple. Having tortured them, the Finns headed to the monastery itself. According to legend, for a whole week they did not dare to approach the monastery, since it seemed to them that there were many armed soldiers on the monastery fence.
Already on the very feast of the Nativity of Christ, robbers broke into the monastery and, with brutal cruelty, began to kill the monks and novices who were in the Holy Trinity Church. Some were cut in half, others had their arms and legs cut off. Hegumen Gury and other monks were especially tortured: they were stabbed with weapons, burned on fire, trying to obtain information about the whereabouts of the brotherhood of the monastery. Christ's sufferers, in the midst of severe torment, did not answer their tormentors and only looked at the sky. The enraged Finns chopped them into pieces too.
Having robbed everything they could, the robbers set the temple on fire along with the bodies of the martyrs and all the buildings of the monastery. All buildings and most of the property were burned, barnyard, mill. They also burned a village called Vikid, where there was a monastery harbor and a camp of Lapps, all the carbas and boats, and the remaining ships were cut into pieces. The Lapps who were in the village were killed along with women and children, a total of 37 people.
Thus, not a single building remained from the monastery, except for a bathhouse located not far away, and two dugouts on the islands located on the Pechenga River, where the Finns could not penetrate.
The Lopar legend complements the picture of the bloody drama that took place in the Pechenga monastery more than four centuries ago. According to this legend, preserved in people's memory for centuries, the Gentiles were led to the monastery by their homegrown Judas. He was a nomadic Lapp, the owner of a reindeer herd, his name was Ivan and he was christened by the Monk Tryphon himself. Ivan was only baptized out of greed, expecting gifts from God. But, not receiving them, he harbored great anger both at the Reverend and at God Himself, continuing to live as a pagan. And God abandoned him. This year his reindeer had a bad time, the snow was frozen, the reindeer died every day from lack of food, and the herd was melting before his eyes. The Lapp Ivan became completely angry. Therefore, he himself proposed to bring the robber detachment that passed through those places to the Pechenga Monastery. The robbers were happy, since they did not know the way to the monastery, and gave the traitor 20 silver Swedish coins, promising to give another 30 coins when they arrived at the monastery. Two hours before the attack on the monastery, after the festive Divine Liturgy on the day of the Nativity of Christ, there were 51 brethren and 65 novices, workers and pilgrims at the tables in the refectory. But before blessing the meal, Abbot Gury, according to custom, took the holy book and had just opened it to read the teaching where he had the bookmark, when he turned pale, staggered and fell to the floor. The brethren thought that he was weakened from abstinence; one ran to raise the abbot and wanted to read in his place, when he screamed, covering his face in fear. Everyone stood up and saw with horror that where the abbot’s bookmark lay, in bloody letters there appeared a memorial to the newly deceased slain and a list of their names followed, starting with the name of the abbot. There was crying and confusion, but the abbot firmly ordered everyone to go to church and there, together with the brethren, fell before the icons. At this time, robbers attacked the monastery and began to break into the doors of the sacred temple. Among the monks and workers there were many young and strong, who, seeing through the windows that there were no more than 50 attackers, began to ask the abbot to bless them to defend the monastery, since they had axes and crowbars. But the abbot said: “No, this is the will of God, the Monk Tryphon predicted it before his death, without mentioning the hour, and therefore one cannot resist it and it is necessary to unquestioningly prepare to accept the crown of martyrdom.” Hearing these words, the brethren humbled themselves and fell silent. The monks fell prostrate before the altar with fervent prayer. At this time, robbers burst in, but not one of the monks moved or answered the question about the monastery money and junk. The robbers went wild and everyone who was in the temple accepted martyrdom, without raising his head and with prayer on his lips. Having killed everyone, the robbers began to rob the monastery. They took everything that was of any value to them, and mercilessly burned the rest. Meanwhile, the fire engulfed the entire monastery, and the robbers, afraid of being burned, climbed onto a nearby rock and began to divide the loot. At the same time, the Lapp Ivan got a chalice - a Chalice from which believers receive Holy Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ, which he, shaking with greed, hid in his bosom. Suddenly, three snow-white swans appeared in the air above the burning monastery. The robbers began to ask each other in confusion: “Where are these swans from? Now it’s winter, and they’ve never been here in winter.” And the swans rose higher and higher above the burning monastery and suddenly spread in the sky into a golden circle that burned brighter than the fire. Then, one after another, more birds began to fly out of the flame, white as snow, as tall as a seagull, only more beautiful and whiter, rising up and merging with the golden circle, which flared up and expanded so that it hurt the eyes. A total of 116 swans flew out. “Apparently we have committed a great sin by shedding righteous blood,” cried the leader of the robbers, and everyone, together with the guide, rushed to the reindeer sleds in confusion. For a long time they rushed in great fear, leaving the Pechenga land. Judas-Ivan rushed ahead of the robbers. Already on the Pasvik River, he approached the clearing, languishing with thirst and wanting to drink, he pulled out a silver Cup from his bosom, scooped up water with it and greedily presented it to his lips. But the water turned out to be warm and red, I tried it - blood... With horror, Ivan threw the Cup into the water, but it did not sink, stood on the water and shines like fire, and inside its blood burns like a ruby. The Christ Seller's hair stood up, his eyes popped onto his forehead; wants to cross himself - his hand does not move, it hangs like a whip. But then a column of water rose and carefully carried the Cup to the sky. As the sun burned in the air, the Holy Chalice became light all around, like on a summer day. The Lord Himself extended His right hand and accepted the Cup into His holy bosom. Then everything went dark again, and immediately a dark night came. With a roar, a column of water that rose into the sky fell down, engulfed the half-dead Ivan, spinning him around and pulling him into the underground abyss... And the robbers got lost and died of hunger: only a few of them escaped, to be the unfortunate messengers of blatant lawlessness.
In December 1589, during an attack by a detachment of Swedish Finns, the absolute majority of the brethren showed true, even to the point of death, obedience to their abbot, who forbade massacres in the church. As a result, on their knees, they all accepted a terrible death and inherited the heavenly abodes.
The huge monastery-fortress of the 16th century was completely destroyed, everything was burned to the ground along with the martyred monks. The few surviving inhabitants moved to the Kola fort, where the history of the monastery continued until its abolition in the middle of the 18th century.
In the fall of 2003, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow and All Rus', “the brethren of the Pechenga monastery, killed together with Abbot Gury,” was glorified among the venerable martyrs.
The Lower Monastery is on the site of the ancient (16th century) Holy Trinity Monastery. In the center is the Chapel of the Nativity of Christ (built for the 300th anniversary of the ruin of the monastery over the grave of the monks killed in 1589/90). Subsequently, a church building was added to it, and the chapel became its altar part. On the left is the hotel (built in 1891–1894). Sør-Varanger Museum
General features of monasteries
The monastery is:
· A form of organization of a community of monks living according to a specific charter and observing religious vows.
· A complex of liturgical, residential, utility and other buildings, usually enclosed by a wall.
In defining a monastery, we are more interested in its second part.
The history of monasteries is presented on the pages of works devoted to religion. The chroniclers can rightfully be considered the first researchers of this topic. As a rule, they came from monasteries and sought to tell about them in more detail. The main theme raised in the earliest narratives is the founding of monasteries. For example, information about the creation of Kiev Pechersky Monastery contained in the Tale of Bygone Years and the Life of Theodosius of Pechersk. In the works of historians, the topic of monasteries took its place only in the 19th century. There are many topics in this area that interest historians. These include monastic landholdings, monastery charters and many others. We, in the context of our topic, are interested in monasteries as fortresses, Special attention We focus on their construction, architecture, and the role they played in society, and will only briefly touch on other issues. Chronicles still constitute the main source base for the history of monasteries. They are supplemented by lives. The Kiev-Pechersk Patericon is of particular importance. The third group of sources are acts. Finally, the most important sources are archaeological and architectural monuments. Monasteries appeared in Rus' with the adoption of Christianity as the official religion.
The first information about the existence of monasteries refers to Kyiv. In the Tale of Bygone Years, under 1037, there is information about the founding of two monasteries by Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich. Thus began the construction of monasteries by the princes. The characteristic thing was that they were intended directly to serve the princely families. Consequently, at this stage small monasteries were built. The Kiev-Pechersk Monastery was formed differently. The first mention of it dates back to 1051. It does not arise thanks to the funds of wealthy investors. The monastery acquired significance thanks to its first ascetics and their exploits; it was created by the labor of monks on the alms of believers. Reverend Anthony received permission from the prince to own the land where the monastery would be built, thus avoiding dependence on the princely power. In the period from the middle of the XI to the middle of the XIV century. In Kyiv, according to the latest data, about 22 monasteries were created, mostly princely, including 4 for women. With the spread of Christianity, monasteries appeared in other regions. The beginning of this process dates back to the 12th century. Novgorod can be especially highlighted; quite complete information about it has been preserved. The first monastery appears here around 1119. The princely power in Novgorod was weak, so there are only three princely monasteries here: Yuriev (1119), Panteleimonov (1134) and Spaso-Preobrazhensky (1198).
In Novgorod, monasteries were created at the expense of the boyars, marking the beginning of a new phenomenon in Rus'. These are, for example, the Shilov Monastery, Belo-Nikolaevsky (1165), Blagoveshchensky (1170). In Novgorod, local rulers also build monasteries. Archbishop John, together with his brother Gabriel, founded two monasteries - Belo-Nikolaevsky in the name of St. Nicholas in 1165 and Blagoveshchensky in 1170. At the beginning of the 14th century. A notable figure appears in Novgorod: Archbishop Moses. He founded several monasteries: in 1313 St. St. Nicholas in the Nerevsky end, in 1335 - the Resurrection Convent on Derevyanitsa, in 1352 - the Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on Volotovo, the so-called Moiseev, etc. All these monasteries subsequently retained their connection with the Novgorod hierarchs. During the period XI - mid-XIV centuries. There are 27 known monasteries in Novgorod, including 10 for women. In North-Eastern Rus' a different picture is observed. The grand-ducal throne was moved here from Kyiv. Here the princes, as in Kyiv, began to build monasteries. As in Novgorod, in the North-East of Rus' monasteries were founded by local hierarchs. Thus, two monasteries were founded in Suzdal and one in Yaroslavl. There are about 26 known monasteries in North-Eastern Rus', 4 of which are women’s.
Information about the monasteries of South-Western Rus' appears only from the 13th century. This is probably due to the fact that during the reign of Roman Mstislavich (1199-1205), a strong Galician-Volyn principality was created, which occupied one of the leading places in the political life of Ancient Rus'. Monasteries were also associated with princely power. An important issue in the study of monasteries is their location. Thanks to archaeological excavations, it was possible to create a fairly accurate picture of the location of the monasteries. A characteristic feature of early monasteries was that they were built within or near cities. The two main known types of monasteries are hermitic and cenobitic. The first monasteries in Rus' were more hermitic. The Kiev-Pechersk Monastery originally consisted of many caves with a cave church. This continued until the number of monks grew so large that they could no longer live in caves. Then a monastery was built. Cenobitic monasteries, which require the presence of a charter, appear in Rus' later, from the era of Sergius of Radonezh. Quite important is that the founders of the monasteries received lands, and sometimes the right to collect tribute from them. In addition to villages and lands, they also received forests, ponds and other lands.
Along with the lands, the monasteries also received the people who inhabited them. Thus, we can say that the monasteries had all the conditions for development and prosperity. The fact that monasteries were located near cities led to the fact that they, one way or another, participated in the political life of society. Firstly, controversial issues concerning princely power were resolved in the monasteries. In this case, the monasteries became a meeting place for princes. An important function of ancient Russian monasteries was the preparation of future church hierarchs, bishops and archbishops. Monasteries sometimes served as places of imprisonment. During this period, they included mainly representatives of princely families solely for political reasons. So, before accepting martyrdom at the hands of the people of Kiev in 1147, Prince Igor Olgovich, the son of the Chernigov prince Oleg Svyatoslavich, was arrested and imprisoned first in the Kiev St. Michael's Monastery, and later transferred to Pereyaslavl within the walls of the Ioannovsky Monastery. From the second half of the 12th century. A new organization arose in ancient Russian cities - the archimandrite. This is a monastery that occupied a leading place among the rest.
The archimandrite maintained the connection between the black clergy and the city, the prince, the episcopate, and also largely controlled the relationship between the monasteries themselves. The emergence of archimandrites, according to Ya. N. Shchapov, was possible after the monasteries became independent feudal economic organizations. Being subordinate to the metropolitan and bishops in terms of church discipline, they had independence in administrative terms and in participating in city life. The first such monastery arose in Kyiv in the second half of the 12th century. In North-Eastern Rus', including Moscow, the archimandrite arose later - in the 13th - first half of the 14th centuries. also in princely monasteries. For example, in Yaroslavl - in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery (1311), and in Moscow - in the Danilov Monastery (beginning of the 14th century). Their emergence is associated with the need for princely power to maintain control over the clergy. Monasteries were not only large feudal owners, closely connected with the political life of the city and state, but were also centers of ideological life. Within the walls of monasteries, manuscripts were created and copied, and then distributed among believers. There were schools at the monasteries in which literacy and theology were taught.
Over time, monasteries acquired exceptionally great importance, located both far from cities and in their centers, and among suburbs, and on the near and distant approaches to cities, where they sometimes became “watchmen” - advanced outposts, in the language of another era.
The walls of monasteries could acquire a fortress character. In the XVI - XVII centuries. such monasteries received a very noticeable, if not leading, position in the ensembles of cities. In fact, these were cities within cities, as directly written about, for example, by Baron Herberstein, who visited Muscovy in the first half of the 16th century. Turning into large feudal owners, the monasteries became, in a certain sense, competitors of cities; in a number of cases they found themselves in the position of a city-forming core, that is, they began to play the role of a detin or the Kremlin of a new city, the settlements of which were formed from monastic settlements. This is how the city of Trinity-Sergiev Posad arose. And in Yaroslavl, for example, the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, which adjoined directly to the ramparts of Zemlyanoy Gorod - the main settlement territory - took on the significance of the Kremlin, while the ancient fortress core - Detynets, called here "Chopped City", in the 16th - 17th centuries. it has lost its original meaning. The monastery, well fortified with stone walls, became the de facto citadel of the entire city, which the townspeople themselves called the Kremlin.
Monastic ensembles developed according to their own laws. In their formation, a significant role was played by those hidden symbols that permeate religious views and ideas about the world. At the same time, the organizers of the monasteries could not ignore real dangers, with which life was so generous - both the foreign enemy, and the princely strife, and the thief in the night. Therefore, from the very first steps, the monasteries acquired a courageous, serf-like appearance. And the place for their installation was chosen accordingly. Moreover, monastic hermits also needed protection from life’s temptations (a hermit - withdrew from external life, that is, protected from it). So, compared to fortresses, monasteries needed additional degrees of protection.
It is interesting that Sigismund Herberstein wrote that each of the Moscow monasteries, and there were more than forty of them at that time: “if you look at it from a distance, it seems like something like a small city.”
However, this was so from the very beginning of monastery construction. Already in the 12th century, Abbot Daniel wrote about Russian monasteries that “they were made into cities.”
And the process of their formation is a chain reaction model. New ones sprang from large, authoritative monasteries. Thus, from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery alone, taking into account mutual branching off, twenty-seven desert and eight city monasteries were formed. Almost all ancient monasteries in their original form were wooden, but over time, wooden churches were replaced by stone ones, the territories expanded, and were outlined with stone fortress walls instead of wooden ones. And now a speculative restoration of the appearance of wooden monasteries is possible using ancient images, plans, descriptions and imagination.
The principles of order, both in the formation of individual religious buildings and their ensembles, were based on the symbols of faith. The temple was a symbol of heaven and earth, heaven and hell - a concentrated image of the world. The altar part of the temple should look to the east where the center of the earth is located - the city of Jerusalem, where Jesus Christ was crucified on Mount Golgotha. And at the entrance to the temple on the western side there should be a baptismal shrine, as a symbol of coming to Christianity and gaining faith. The altar symbolizes the Bethlehem cave in which Christ was born. The colors and gestures in the images had symbolic meanings. The invisible was hidden in the visible and understood through the visible. There was mystery and magic in everything. And the composition of the ensemble followed the symbolic reproduction of the “City of Heaven - Jerusalem”. Its essence was a centric system - a model of cosmic order. The central symbol of the ensemble was the dominant building in its spiritual significance - the main cathedral of the monastery. Just as in a temple the height of the image of a saint unambiguously characterizes its spiritual hierarchy, the semantic, value hierarchy of buildings was characterized by proximity to the main temple. The ordered form should be "quadruple". This is the “mountain city of Jerusalem.” As it is said about it in the Apocalypse: “The city is located in a quadrangle, and its length is the same as its latitude.”
At the same time, ideas about the symbolic world order were not the only regulating principle. The shape was determined by the relief, the landscape, and the need to increase territories over time. Therefore, in real monastic ensembles there is always a compromise between the ideal scheme and the circumstances of place and time. “At the construction sites of Kremlins and monasteries, one of the most precious properties of Russian architecture took shape and matured - the unique picturesqueness of the ensemble. The combination of horizontal massifs of walls with unevenly high verticals of towers and belfries, with the roundness of domes and slender hipped tops - all this gives the old monasteries a free variety of silhouette, making them related with the Russian landscape, with its free, soft outlines, with its special community of smooth fields and copses scattered across them."
Features of the construction of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery
The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is located in the center of Kyiv, on the right, high bank of the Dnieper, and occupies two hills, separated by a deep hollow descending to the Dnieper. In the 11th century the area was covered with forest; Hilarion, the priest of the nearby village of Berestov, retired here to pray and dug a cave here for himself. In 1051, Hilarion was installed as Metropolitan of Kyiv and his cave was empty. Around that time, monk Anthony, a native of Lyubech, came to Kyiv from Athos; Life in the Kyiv monasteries was not to his liking, and he settled in Hilarion’s cave. Anthony's piety attracted followers to his cave, including Theodosius, from Kursk. When their number increased to 12, they built a church and cells for themselves. Anthony installed Varlaam as abbot, and he himself retired to a nearby mountain, where he dug a new cave for himself. This cave served as the beginning of the “near” caves, so named in contrast to the previous, “distant” ones. With the increase in the number of monks, when the caves became crowded, they built the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and cells above the cave. The number of people coming to the monastery increased, and Anthony asked Grand Duke Izyaslav Yaroslavich for the entire mountain above the cave. A church was built on the site of the current main cathedral (1062); The resulting monastery was named Pechersky. At the same time, Theodosius was appointed abbot. He introduced a cenobitic studio charter in the monastery, which was borrowed from here and by other Russian monasteries. The harsh ascetic life of the monks and their piety attracted significant donations to the monastery.
In 1096, the monastery suffered greatly from the Polovtsians, but was soon rebuilt. Over time, new churches were added. The entire monastery was fenced with a palisade. At the monastery there was a hospice house, built by Theodosius to shelter the poor, the blind, and the lame; 1/10 of the monastic income was allocated to it. Every Saturday the monastery sent a cart of bread for the prisoners. With the relocation of the brethren to a large monastery, the caves were turned into a tomb for monks, whose bodies were placed on both sides of the cave corridor, in the recesses of the walls. The monastery belonged to Foresters; Theodosius dug a cave there for himself, in which he lived during Lent. In the XI and XII centuries. Up to 20 bishops came out of the monastery, all of them retained great respect for their native monastery.
In 1240, during Batu's invasion, the monastery was destroyed. Some of the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery were killed and some fled. It is unknown how long the desolation of the monastery lasted; in the 14th century it had already been renewed, and the great church became the tomb of many princely and noble families. In 1470, the Kiev prince Simeon Olelkovich restored and decorated the great church. In 1483, the Crimean army of Mengli I Giray burned and plundered the monastery, but generous donations enabled it to quickly recover. In 1593, he owned two cities - Radomysl and Vasilkov, up to 50 villages and about 15 villages and hamlets in different places Western Rus', with fishing, transportation, mills, honey and penny tributes and beaver ruts. Since the 15th century the monastery received the right to send people to Moscow to collect donations. In 1555-56. the great church was again renovated and decorated.
Features of the construction of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra
The Trinity-Sergius Monastery played an outstanding role in Russian culture and history. The highest spiritual and personal authority of its founder promoted it to one of the most prominent places among the monasteries of Rus', and the experience of its development and construction was taken as a model in the monastic construction of ancient Rus'.
The first evidence of the original appearance of the monastery comes from the pen of its hagiographers Epiphanius the Wise and Pachomius the Serb. Epiphanius lived for a long time in the monastery under Sergius of Radonezh and began making his notes in 1393 or 1394 (“in the summer, one or two” after the death of Sergius). Pachomius the Serb wrote the Life in 1438-1449, but had the opportunity to “investigate and question the ancient elders” who lived in the monastery under Sergius.
Apparently, the foundation of the monastery can be dated back to 1345, when Sergius, on a low hill - Mount Makovets in the forest, away from roads and housing, with the help of his brother, cut down a cell and erected a “small church” next to it, dedicating it to the Life-Giving Trinity. Gradually new monks joined him. Each one cut a cell for himself. Already in 1355, the monastery was surrounded by a “not very spacious fence,” a “goalkeeper” was stationed at the gates, and a charter for community life was adopted in the monastery. The charter provided for general management of the economy. Everyone took part in the work, including the abbot. It was necessary to build all the common services. Refectory, Cookery, Bakery, Portomoyn, etc. At the same time, the monastery was rebuilt according to the unified plan of Sergius. Epiphanius spoke about it this way: “When the most prudent shepherd and wise man in virtues expanded the monastery into a larger one, he commanded to create cells in four shapes, in the middle of them the church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity is visible from everywhere, like a mirror - a table and food for the needs of the brethren.” Thus, the monastery received a shape close to a regular rectangle. On its sides there were cells facing the square, where the church and all public buildings stood. Vegetable gardens and outbuildings were located behind the cells. Epiphanius reports that Sergius decorated the church “with all such beauty.” The entire monastery was probably surrounded by tyn - vertically placed oak logs 4-6 meters high with a pointed top. The logs were placed on the earthen “slide” formed when the ditch was dug. Apparently, towers were cut down in the wall. It is known that after Dmitry Donskoy visited the monastery before the Battle of Kulikovo, a gate church was established above the eastern entrance of the monastery in the name of his spiritual patron, Dmitry of Thessalonica.
The monastery was burned in 1408 by Khan Edigei. Sergius's successor, Abbot Nikon, rebuilt the monastery again, largely maintaining its shape, but expanding it to the north and east. The new Trinity Church, also wooden, was consecrated in 1412. In the 15th century, the first stone churches appeared in the monastery. In 1422-1423 - Trinity Cathedral - on the site of a wooden church. The wooden church is moved next door and consecrated in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. In 1476, the stone Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit was erected in place of the wooden one.
Features of the construction of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery in Yaroslavl
The oldest monastery in Yaroslavl - Spassky - was first mentioned in the chronicle in 1186. According to other sources, it was founded in the 13th century, but most likely this is not the date of its foundation, but the construction of the first stone churches on the territory of the monastery - the documents indicate the years 1216-1224.
The monastery was located on the left bank of the Kotorosl, at the crossing, and was located not far from the Kremlin; it was designed to protect the approaches to it from the west. Initially, all the buildings and walls were wooden, but already in the first half of the 13th century the monastery received the patronage of the Yaroslavl prince Konstantin, who erected a stone cathedral and a refectory church here. But the prince did not limit himself only to the construction of new churches: with his support, the first theological school in the north-eastern part of Rus' was opened here - the Grigorievsky porch; the monastery housed a magnificent, very rich library, in which there were many Greek and Russian handwritten books. The monastery became not only religious, but also cultural center the edges. It was here, in the Spassky Monastery of Yaroslavl, in the early 90s of the 18th century, that the famous lover and collector of Russian antiquities Alexey Ivanovich Musin-Pushkin discovered a copy of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” one of the masterpieces of ancient Russian literature.
The current Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral - ancient building Yaroslavl, which has survived to this day, was built on the foundation of the first cathedral in 1506-1516. The first cathedral was badly damaged by a city fire in 1501 and had to be dismantled.
Features of the construction of the Ascension Pechersky Monastery in Nizhny Novgorod province
Voznesensky Pechersky Nizhny Novgorod province monastery, male 1st class, in Nizhny Novgorod, on the upland side of the Volga; is under the direction of the Archimandrite. The initial foundation of this monastery was laid by St. V.K. Yuri II (George) Vsevolodovich, around 1219, but it gained great fame already in the 14th century, when, after the Tatar devastation, St. Dionysius, who was later Archbishop in Suzdal: he dug caves here with his own hands, following the example of those in Kyiv, and until 1364, that is, before his ordination to the rank of Bishop, he remained in them, asceticizing in fasting and labors; at the same time, the monastery itself was rebuilt by him. Glory to the pious life of St. Dionysius attracted many monastic associates here, and the renovation of the monastery gave rise to some historians even attributing its foundation to this saint of God. In this situation, the Ascension Monastery, called Pechersky, existed for about 250 years. But in 1596, June 18, the mountain on which this monastery stood crumbled, apparently due to an earthquake, and the churches and other monastery buildings collapsed; Fortunately, the monks, noticing the shaking of the mountain, managed to escape in advance, with all their utensils and church property. Why, as a result of the decree of Tsar Theodore Ioannovich, under Archimandrite Tryphon, the monastery was moved to its present location, and previously consisted of wooden buildings, and then, through the diligence of Patriarch Filaret Nikitich, his current huge churches, a bell tower, two-story cells and a fence were erected - all stone; and at the same time, many contributions and gifts from Tsars, princes and individuals raised it to the level of the richest monasteries: until 1764, more than 8,000 souls of peasants belonged to this monastery.
There are four churches here:
1) Cathedral of the Ascension of the Lord;
2) Dormition of the Virgin Mary, warm;
3) Makaria Zheltovodsky, sick leave;
4) Euthymius of Suzdal, above the western gate.
In the former monastery, from which only one chapel has survived to this day, they were tonsured into monasticism in the 14th century: a disciple of St. Dionysius St. Euthymius Archimandrite of Suzdal and St. Macarius of Zheltovodsk and Unzhensky. In a special stone tent is the tomb of Joasaph the Recluse, respected for his pious life; he was a monk and lived in seclusion at the previous monastery; when he fell, the coffin of this hermit, placed in that very gate, was crushed and filled up, and was found already in 1795.
Features of the construction of the Valaam Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery
In church historical science there was not and does not exist an unambiguous answer to the question of the time of the establishment of the Valaam Monastery. The most important dating source is missing - the ancient lives of St. Sergius and Herman. Archival research of the 19th-20th centuries. relied on indirect data, mentions of certain events from the life of the monastery in various monuments of Russian literature.
A number of modern publications (guidebooks, encyclopedias, etc.) often contain contradictory information about the time of the founding of the Valaam Monastery. The emergence of the monastery is attributed to XIV century, then to the first centuries of the spread of Christianity in Rus' - X - XI. More than once during enemy invasions (XII, XVII centuries) the monastery experienced devastation, and monastic service was interrupted here for many decades. During the invasions, church monuments and monastery shrines were destroyed, the richest monastery library and repository of manuscripts were burned and looted, and so the lives of St. Sergius and Herman of Valaam were lost.
Let us consider the two main concepts of the origin of the monastery that exist today.
The first of them dates the foundation of the monastery to the XII-XIV centuries. This dating was supported in their studies by church historians of the 19th century: Bishop. Ambrose (Ornatsky), bishop. Filaret (Gumilevsky), E. E. Golubinsky. Currently, a number of modern scientists adhere to this version: N. A. Okhotina-Lind, J. Lind, A. Nakazawa. These researchers base their concept on the 16th century manuscript “The Tale of the Valaam Monastery” (edited by N. A. Okhotina-Lind). Other modern scientists (H. Kirkinen, S. N. Azbelev), noting this manuscript as “new research material among other primary sources concerning the early history of the Valaam Monastery,” believe that “the publishers of the newly found text, along with the people who presented this source ", treated him too confidentially from the point of view of critical research. In the fit of their passion... they did not carry out a thorough source analysis of the original source." It should be noted that so far no other sources have been found that would confirm the data of the "Tales of the Valaam Monastery", in particular, the statement that the founder of the monastery is not St. Sergius of Valaam, as is commonly believed, based on centuries-old church tradition, which is reflected in liturgical texts, and St. Ephraim of Perekom.
The second concept dates the founding of the monastery to the 10th – 11th centuries. It is based on one of the editions of the life of St. Abraham of Rostov, which contains a mention of the saint’s stay on Valaam in the 10th century, as well as a number of chronicle references to the transfer of the relics of St. Sergius and Herman from Valaam to Novgorod in 1163. It should be noted that historians of the 19th century (N.P. Payalin, I.Ya. Chistovich) knew only one entry from the Uvarov Chronicle about the transfer of relics. Archival research in recent years has made it possible to discover other similar references: in the collection of the Russian National Library and in the Institute of the History of Material Cultures. There are a total of eight such records. Of greatest interest, as the most informative, is the entry from the Likhachev collection (f. 238, op. 1, no. 243): “About the holy Velikinovgorod bishops and archbishops, and venerable wonderworkers"XVIII century. The manuscript commemorates St. Sergius and Herman, indicates the modern (XVII century) destruction of the monastery, and provides a reference to the ancient cathedral Chronicler, which indicates the dates of the discovery (1163) and return (1182) of the relics to Valaam.
Church and monastic traditions adhere to the latter concept, which claims that the foundation of the monastery took place during the era of the Baptism of Rus'.
It seems possible to combine two views on the time of the establishment of the monastery: ancient monastic life on Valaam could have ceased after the 11th century, and then resumed at the turn of the 14th – 15th centuries. Perhaps in the future scientists will discover new historical sources, more fully covering the ancient history of the Valaam monastery.
The 11th century was the century of the first difficult trials for the monastery. Having been defeated by the Russians, the Swedes, sailing on ships on Lake Ladoga, in annoyance attacked defenseless monks, robbed and burned peaceful monasteries.
Ancient Novgorod chronicles report the discovery of the relics of Saints Sergius and Herman and their transfer to Novgorod during the Swedish invasion in 1163-1164. "In the summer of 1163. About Archbishop John. He placed Archbishop John the First in the Great Novugrad, and there were bishops before. That same summer the relics of our venerable fathers Sergius and Herman of Valaam, Novgorod miracle workers under Archbishop John of Novgorod were found and transferred..." It was then that the local glorification took place. founders of the Valaam Monastery and the beginning of the church veneration of the Venerable Sergius and Herman within the Novgorod diocese was laid. In 1182, when the danger had passed, the monks transferred the holy relics of their heavenly intercessors back to Valaam. Fearing an insult to the shrine, they carved a grave deep into the rock and hid the holy relics of the saints in it, where they remain “under cover” to this day. In memory of the return of the holy relics to the Valaam monastery, a church festival is held annually on September 11/24. Evidence of numerous miracles from the relics of holy saints was included in the monastery chronicles until the closure of the monastery
Before the first destruction, Valaam was called a monastery Holy Trinity, as evidenced by the life of St. Abraham of Rostov. In all likelihood, the wooden Trinity Valaam Monastery was destroyed by enemies to the ground. When the danger had passed, its main temple was rebuilt from stone and consecrated in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Large contributions were made to build the monastery. The “great and extremely beautiful and lofty” stone church in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord had chapels in honor of the Nativity of Christ and St. Nicholas. From the life of the Monk Alexander of Svirsky, who labored in the monastery in the 15th century, we can conclude that the monastic cells were built quite conveniently, each had a vestibule, and for those who came to the monastery there was a hotel outside the monastery fence.
A brief history of the Danilov Stavropegic Monastery in Moscow.
Danilov Monastery - the first in Moscow - was founded by the Holy Righteous Prince of Moscow Daniil, the youngest son of the Holy Righteous Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, glorified in the history of the Church and State, and his wife, the Righteous Princess Vassa.
Saint Daniel was born in 1261 in Vladimir-on-Klyazma, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. When he was two years old, he lost his father. In 1272, young Daniel was given an inheritance by lot. Muscovy, meager compared to others where his older brothers ruled. At a time when Rus' was under the heavy Mongol-Tatar yoke and was weakened by princely civil strife, the meek disposition, peace-loving and kind-hearted Prince Daniel, as the Degree Book tells about him, with the wisdom given to him by God, pacified hostility without bloodshed and created peace. During the 30 years of his reign, Saint Daniel took part in hostilities only once. Having defeated the Tatar detachment near Pereslavl of Ryazan, brought by the Razan prince Constantine to seize the Moscow lands, Prince Daniel did not seize the Razan principality as usual. And Prince Constantine, having been taken prisoner, was kept in Moscow with honor, as a guest, until a truce was concluded. Piety, justice and mercy earned the saint universal respect. In 1296, Prince Daniel was given the power and title of Grand Duke of All Rus', and soon after that his rule extended to the vast Pereslavl-Zalessky land. Prince Daniel ruled for 30 years and during this time managed to raise the importance of Moscow to the most influential principality of Rus', laid the foundation for the unification of the Russian lands around the future capital and became the first Moscow Grand Duke of All Rus'. Prince Daniel tirelessly cared for the people of his principality and the capital city of Moscow. On the right bank of the Moscow River, five miles from the Kremlin, no later than 1282, he founded the first monastery in Moscow with a wooden church in the name of St. Daniel the Stylite - now the Moscow Danilov Monastery. On March 17 (4th century), 1303, at the age of 42, the holy noble prince Daniel reposed in the Lord, having shortly before taken monastic vows into the schema, and, according to his will, was buried in the Danilov Monastery.
The Danilov Monastery has gone through a lot throughout its 700-year history. In 1330, the brethren of the Danilov Monastery were transferred to the Kremlin, where a new monastery, Spassky, was built at the Church of the Savior on Bor. In 1490, under John III, the Spassky Monastery was moved to Krutitsky Hill above the Moscow River and became known as Novospassky. Thus, the Danilov Monastery laid the foundation for a new, one of the most significant monasteries in Moscow. The Danilov Monastery itself was desolate for almost two and a half centuries. In its place there was a small church, which became a parish church, and a cemetery. But the holy noble prince Daniel did not leave his monastery. Miracles began to occur at his grave and healings of the sick began to take place. Under Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the Danilov Monastery began to be revived, monastic life was resumed there, and the first stone church was built in the name of the Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. In the 17th century, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Prince Daniel and his incorruptible relics were found. Since then, two days of memory of the holy noble prince Daniel of Moscow have been established: March 17 and September 12 (according to the old style: March 4 and August 30).
The Danilov Monastery has always been an important link in the defense of the southern borders of Moscow. He played a major role in repelling the attack in 1591 Crimean Khan Kazy-Gireya. In 1606, near the Danilov Monastery there were battles between the troops of Tsar Vasily Shuisky and the rebels led by Bolotnikov, who were defeated. In 1610, the impostor False Dmitry II, who fled from Moscow, set the monastery on fire, but was soon rebuilt and surrounded by a brick wall with seven towers. During the Patriotic War of 1812, the French desecrated and robbed the monastery churches, stole silver frame from the tomb of Saint Prince Daniel. They tried to destroy the monastery many times, and each time, through the intercession of its holy founder, it was reborn anew.
Many outstanding figures of Russian culture were buried at the Danilov Monastery cemetery: the great Russian writer N.V. Gogol, poet N.M. Yazykov, artist V.G. Perov, musician N.G. Rubinstein and many others.
After the revolution, churches gradually began to be taken away from the monastery, and in 1930 the Danilov Monastery was finally closed - the last in Moscow. The majority of the brethren of the monastery were shot in 1937. The relics of Saint Prince Daniel disappeared without a trace. After the closure of the monastery, the temples were devastated and reconstructed, the graves of the most famous people were moved to other cemeteries, and the Danilovsky necropolis was destroyed. A children's colony and warehouses were set up on the territory of the monastery.
Through the intercession of Holy Prince Daniel, the monastery, which was the first to be founded in Moscow, was the first to be returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1983. For the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' in 1988, the monastic monastery, destroyed almost to the ground, was restored and restored. On the territory of the monastery is the residence of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.
The monastery has been restored to its historical appearance in the 17th-19th centuries. The oldest of the monastery's churches is the Church of the Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, a complex structure that includes several churches. After restoration, the iconostasis of the Kostroma school of the 17th century was installed in the temple. On the ground floor there is the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Trinity Cathedral is the largest cathedral of the monastery. Built in 1838 according to the design of the architect O. Bove in the style of late Russian classicism. The main altar was consecrated by the holy Metropolitan of Moscow Philaret (Drozdov). After restoration, the interior of the cathedral was recreated in a form close to the original. This cathedral contains miraculous icons: Mother of God"Three-handed" and St. John Cassian the Roman. Sunday and holiday services are held in the Trinity Cathedral.
Also in the monastery, churches were recreated or rebuilt: the gatehouse of St. Simeon the Stylite (1732), in honor of the Nativity of John the Baptist, St. Seraphim of Sarov; funeral and superstructure chapels.
On September 4, 1997, on the eve of the celebration of the 850th anniversary of Moscow, a monument to the Holy Blessed Prince Daniil of Moscow was opened and consecrated on Tula Square.
On March 17, 1998, a chapel in honor of the Holy Blessed Prince Daniel of Moscow was consecrated on Tula Square. It was recreated according to a new architectural design near the site of the original chapel, which was demolished after the revolution and had a 300-year history.
In 2003-2008 Through the efforts of the brethren of the monastery, with the financial support of the Link of Times Foundation, with the active assistance of the administration and students of Harvard University in the USA, a set of 18 historical bells was returned to the Danilov Monastery, which in the 1930s, on the initiative of a member of the American charitable mission in Moscow, a research fellow at Harvard University To save Thomas Whittemore from being melted down, it was bought by the American industrialist Charles Crane and donated to Harvard University.
The main shrine of the monastery is particles of the relics of the holy noble prince Daniel of Moscow, located in arks in the cathedrals of the Trinity and the Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. The first particle of the relics of Saint Prince Daniel after the revival was transferred to the monastery in 1986 by Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America Theodosius.
Danilov Monastery is stauropegial, that is, its abbot is His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. The daily life of the monastery is managed by its abbot with the rank of archimandrite. According to its charter, the Danilov Monastery is cenobitic - common prayer, work and meals for the monks. Divine services are held daily. The brethren of the monastery participate in charity and mercy works in medical and children's institutions, in places of detention, and teach in secular and religious higher educational institutions. The monastery operates a Sunday school, catechetical courses for adults, the Danilovsky Blagovestnik publishing house, an excursion service, and various workshops. The monastery has metochions: in the Ryazan region, in the Moscow region and the Church of St. Nicholas in Izmailovo.
INTRODUCTION
Russian culture is a huge variety of possibilities, coming from many sources and teachers. Among the latter are the pre-Christian culture of the Eastern Slavs, the beneficial lack of unity (Russian culture at birth is a combination of the cultures of many centers of the Kiev land), freedom (primarily internal, perceived both as creativity and destruction) and, of course, widespread foreign influences and borrowings.
In addition, it is difficult to find a period in our culture when its spheres developed evenly - in the 14th - early 15th centuries. Painting came into first place in the 15th – 16th centuries. architecture prevails, in the 17th century. the leading positions belong to literature. At the same time, Russian culture in every century and over several centuries is a unity, where each of its spheres enriches the others, suggests new moves and opportunities to them, and learns from them.
The Slavic peoples were first introduced to the heights of culture through Christianity. The revelation for them was not the “physicality” that they constantly encountered, but the spirituality of human existence. This spirituality came to them primarily through art, which was easily and uniquely perceived Eastern Slavs prepared for this by their attitude towards the surrounding world and nature.
Monasteries played a major role in the formation of spirituality and in the cultural development of the Russian people.
IN Rus'
Monasteries appeared in Ancient Rus' in the 11th century, several decades after the adoption of Christianity prince of Kyiv Vladimir and his subjects. And after 1.5-2 centuries they were already playing important role in the life of the country.
The chronicle connects the beginning of Russian monasticism with the activities of Anthony, a resident of the city of Lyubech, near Chernigov, who became a monk on Mount Athos and appeared in Kyiv in the middle of the 11th century. The Tale of Bygone Years reports about him under the year 1051. True, the chronicle says that when Anthony came to Kyiv and began to choose where to settle, he “went to the monasteries, and did not like it anywhere.” This means that there were some monastic monasteries on the Kyiv land even before Anthony. But there is no information about them, and therefore the first Russian Orthodox monastery is considered to be Pechersky (later the Kiev-Pechora Lavra), which arose on one of the Kyiv mountains at the initiative of Anthony: he allegedly settled in a cave dug for prayers by the future Metropolitan Hilarion.
However, the Russian Orthodox Church considers Theodosius, who accepted monasticism with the blessing of Anthony, to be the true founder of monasticism. Having become abbot, he introduced into his monastery, which numbered two dozen monks, the charter of the Constantinople Studite Monastery, which strictly regulated the entire life of the monastics. Subsequently, this charter was introduced in other large monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, which were predominantly sociable.
At the beginning of the 12th century. Kievan Rus broke up into a number of principalities, which were, in essence, completely independent feudal states. The process of Christianization in their capital cities has already gone far; princes and boyars, wealthy merchants, whose lives did not at all correspond to Christian commandments, founded monasteries, trying to atone for their sins. At the same time, rich investors not only received “service from specialists” - monks, but could themselves spend the rest of their lives in the usual conditions of material well-being. The increased population in cities also ensured an increase in the number of monks.
There was a predominance of urban monasteries. Apparently, the spread of Christianity played a role here, first among rich and wealthy people close to the princes and living with them in the cities. Rich merchants and artisans also lived in them. Of course, ordinary townspeople accepted Christianity more quickly than peasants.
Along with large ones, there were also small private monasteries, the owners of which could dispose of them and pass them on to their heirs. The monks in such monasteries did not maintain a common household, and investors, wishing to leave the monastery, could demand their contribution back.
From the middle of the 14th century. the emergence of a new type of monasteries began, which were founded by people who did not have land holdings, but had energy and enterprise. They sought land grants from the Grand Duke, accepted donations from their feudal neighbors “to commemorate their souls,” enslaved surrounding peasants, bought and bartered lands, ran their own farms, traded, engaged in usury, and turned monasteries into feudal estates.
Following Kiev, Novgorod, Vladimir, Smolensk, Galich and other ancient Russian cities acquired their own monasteries. In the pre-Mongol period, the total number of monasteries and the number of monastics in them were insignificant. According to chronicles, in the 11th-13th centuries there were no more than 70 monasteries in Rus', including 17 each in Kyiv and Novgorod.
The number of monasteries increased noticeably during the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke: by the middle of the 15th century there were more than 180 of them. Over the next century and a half, about 300 new monasteries were opened, and in the 17th century alone - 220. The process of the emergence of more and more new monasteries (both men's, and women's) continued until the Great October Socialist Revolution. By 1917 there were 1025 of them.
Russian Orthodox monasteries were multifunctional. They have always been considered not only as centers of the most intense religious life, guardians of church traditions, but also as an economic stronghold of the church, as well as centers for training church personnel. Monks formed the backbone of the clergy, occupying key positions in all areas of church life. Only the monastic rank gave access to the episcopal rank. Bound by the vow of complete and unconditional obedience, which they took at the time of tonsure, the monks were obedient instruments in the hands of the church leadership.
As a rule, in the Russian lands of the 11th-13th centuries. monasteries were founded by princes or local boyar aristocracy.
monasteries in Rus'
The first monasteries arose near large cities, or directly in them. Monasteries were a form social organization people who have abandoned the norms of life accepted in secular society. These groups solved various problems: from preparing their members for the afterlife to creating model farms. Monasteries served as institutions of social charity. They, closely connected with the authorities, became the centers of the ideological life of Rus'.
The monasteries trained cadres of clergy of all ranks. The episcopate was elected from the monastic circle, and the rank of bishop was received mainly by monks of noble origin. In the 11th-12th centuries, fifteen bishops emerged from one Kiev-Pechora monastery. There were only a few “simple” bishops.
THE ROLE OF MONASTERIES IN THE CULTURAL LIFE OF Rus'
Orthodox monasteries played a huge role in the cultural, political and economic history of Rus' and Russia. In our country - as, indeed, in other countries of the Christian world - the monasteries of monks have always been not only places of prayerful service to God, but also centers of culture and education; in many periods national history monasteries had a noticeable impact on the political development of the country and on the economic life of people.
One of these periods was the time of consolidation of Russian lands around Moscow, the time of flourishing of Orthodox art and the rethinking of the cultural tradition that connected Kievan Rus with the Muscovite kingdom, the time of colonization of new lands and the introduction of new peoples to Orthodoxy.
Over the course of the 15th and 16th centuries, the wooded north of the country was covered with a network of large monastic farms, around which the peasant population gradually settled. Thus began the peaceful development of vast spaces. It went simultaneously with extensive educational and missionary activities.
Bishop Stefan of Perm preached along the Northern Dvina among the Komi, for whom he created the alphabet and translated the Gospel. Reverends Sergius and Herman founded the Valaam Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior on islands in Lake Ladoga and preached among the Karelian tribes. Reverends Savvaty and Zosima laid the foundation for the largest Solovetsky Transfiguration Monastery in Northern Europe. Saint Cyril created a monastery in the Beloozersky region. Saint Theodoret of Kola baptized the Finnish tribe of Topars and created the alphabet for them. His mission in the middle of the 16th century. continued Saint Tryphon of Pecheneg, who founded a monastery on the northern coast of the Kola Peninsula.
Appeared in the XV-XVI centuries. and many other monasteries. A lot of educational work was carried out in them, books were copied, original schools of icon painting and fresco painting developed.
Icons were painted in monasteries, which, along with frescoes and mosaics, constituted that genre of painting that was allowed by the church and encouraged in every possible way by it.
Outstanding painters of antiquity reflected in icons both religious subjects and their vision of the world around them; they captured in paint not only Christian dogmas, but also their own attitude to pressing problems of our time. Therefore, ancient Russian painting went beyond the narrow framework of church utilitarianism and became an important means of artistic reflection of its era - a phenomenon not only of purely religious life, but also of general cultural life.
XIV – early XV centuries. - This is the heyday of icon painting. It was in it that Russian artists managed to fully express the character of the country and people, and rise to the heights of world culture. The luminaries of icon painting, of course, were Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev and Dionysius. Thanks to their work, the Russian icon became not only the subject of painting, but also of philosophical discussions; it says a lot not only to art historians, but also to social psychologists, and has become an integral part of the life of the Russian people.
Providence extremely rarely orders in such a way that for 150 years, great cultural figures live and create one after another. Russia XIV-XV centuries. in this regard, she was lucky - she had F. Greek, A. Rublev, Dionysius. The first link in this chain was Feofan - a philosopher, scribe, illustrator, and icon painter, who came to Rus' as an already established master, but not frozen in the themes and techniques of writing. Working in Novgorod and Moscow, he managed to create completely different frescoes and icons with equal sophistication. The Greek did not disdain adapting to circumstances: frantic, amazing with irrepressible imagination in Novgorod, he bears little resemblance to the strictly canonical master in Moscow. Only his skill remains unchanged. He did not argue with time and customers, and taught the life and tricks of his profession to Russian artists, including, probably, Andrei Rublev.
Rublev tried to make a revolution in the souls and minds of his viewers. He wanted the icon to become not only an object of cult, endowed with magical power, but also a subject of philosophical, artistic and aesthetic contemplation. Not much is known about the life of Rublev, like many other masters of Ancient Rus'. Almost his entire life path is connected with the Trinity-Sergius and Andronnikov monasteries in Moscow and the Moscow region.
Rublev’s most famous icon, “The Trinity,” caused controversy and doubt during the author’s lifetime. The dogmatic concept of the Trinity - the unity of deity in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit - was abstract and difficult to comprehend. It is no coincidence that it was the doctrine of the Trinity that gave rise to a huge number of heresies in the history of Christianity. Yes, and in Rus' XI-XIII centuries. they preferred to dedicate churches to more real images: the Savior, the Mother of God, and St. Nicholas.
In the symbol of the Trinity, Rublev distinguished not only an abstract dogmatic idea, but also a vital idea for that time about the political and moral unity of the Russian land. In picturesque images he conveyed a religious periphrasis of a completely earthly idea of unity, “unity of equals.” Rublev's approach to the essence and meaning of the icon was so new, and his breakthrough from the canon so decisive, that real fame came to him only in the 20th century. Contemporaries appreciated in him not only a talented painter, but also the holiness of his life. Then the Rublev icons were updated by later authors and disappeared until our century (let’s not forget that 80-100 years after their creation, the icons darkened from the drying oil covering them, and the painting became indistinguishable.
We also know little about the third luminary of icon painting. Dionysius, apparently, was the favorite artist of Ivan III and remained a secular painter without taking monastic vows. In fact, humility and obedience are clearly not inherent in him, which is reflected in his frescoes. And the era was completely different from the times of Grek and Rublev. Moscow triumphed over the Horde and art was instructed to glorify the greatness and glory of the Moscow state. The frescoes of Dionysius do not perhaps achieve the high aspiration and deep expressiveness of the Rublev icons. They are created not for reflection, but for joyful admiration. They are part of the holiday, and not an object of thoughtful contemplation. Dionysius did not become a prophetic predictor, but he is an unsurpassed master and master of color, unusually light and pure tones. With his work, ceremonial, solemn art became leading. Of course, they tried to imitate him, but his followers lacked some small things: measure, harmony, cleanliness - what distinguishes a true master from a diligent artisan.
We know by name only a few monks - icon painters, carvers, writers, architects. The culture of that time was to a certain extent anonymous, which was generally characteristic of the Middle Ages. Humble monks did not always sign their works; lay masters also did not care too much about lifetime or posthumous earthly glory.
This was the era of cathedral creativity. Metropolitan Pitirim of Volokolamsk and Yuryev, our contemporary, wrote about this era in his work “The Experience of the National Spirit” as follows: “The spirit of conciliar work touched all areas of creativity. Following the political gathering of Rus', simultaneously with the growth of economic ties between various parts of the state, a cultural gathering began. It was then that the works of hagiographic literature multiplied, general chronicle collections were created, and the achievements of the largest provincial schools in the field of fine, architectural, musical and singing, and decorative and applied arts began to merge into the all-Russian culture.”
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Monasteries- these are communal settlements of believers who live together, withdrawing from the world, while observing a certain charter. The oldest are Buddhist monasteries, which arose in India in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. In the Middle Ages, Christian monasteries in Europe were built as fortresses or castles. Russian Orthodox monasteries Since ancient times, a more free picturesque layout has been characteristic.
Monasteries began to appear in Rus' at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century. One of the first - Kiev-Pechersk- was founded by Saint Theodosius in 1051 on the banks of the Dnieper in artificial caves. In 1598 it received the status of a monastery. The Monk Theodosius laid down a strict monastic rule according to the Byzantine model. Until the 16th century, monks were buried here.
Trinity Cathedral- the first stone building of the monastery, erected in 1422-1423 on the site of a wooden church. The temple was built at the expense of Dmitry Donskoy’s son, Prince Yuri of Zvenigorod, “in praise” of Sergius of Radonezh. His remains were transferred here. So the cathedral became one of the first memorial monuments of Moscow Rus'.
Sergius tried to spread the veneration of the Holy Trinity as a symbol of the unity of all Rus'. Icon painters Andrei Rublev and Daniil Cherny were invited to create the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral.
At the end of the 12th century, instead of the ancient chambers, a refectory was erected - an elegant building, surrounded by a gallery, decorated with columns, ornaments and carved platbands.
Trinity Monastery(XIV century) founded by the brothers Bartholomew and Stephen on the northern approaches to Moscow. When he was tonsured, Bartholomew received the name Sergius, who began to be called Radonezh.
“Reverend Sergius, with his life, the very possibility of such a life, made the grieving people feel that not everything good in them had yet extinguished and froze... The Russian people of the 14th century recognized this action as a miracle,” wrote historian Vasily Klyuchevsky. During his life, Sergius founded several more monasteries, and his disciples founded up to 40 monasteries in the lands of Rus'.
Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery was founded in 1397. Legend has it that during a prayer, Archimandrite Kirill of the Simonov Monastery was commanded by the voice of the Mother of God to go to the shore of White Lake and found a monastery there. The monastery developed actively and soon became one of the largest. From the first half of the 16th century, great princes came here on pilgrimage. Ivan the Terrible took monastic vows in this monastery.
Ferapontov Monastery was founded in 1398 by the monk Ferapont, who came to the North with Cyril. From the middle of the 15th century, the Ferapontov Monastery became the center of education for the entire Belozersky region. From the walls of this monastery came a galaxy of famous educators, scribes, and philosophers. Patriarch Nikon, who lived in the monastery from 1666 to 1676, was exiled here.
Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery was founded at the end of the 14th century on the site of the Zvenigorod watchtower (hence the name - Storozhevsky). During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, he used the monastery as a country residence.
Dionysius the Wise- this is what the contemporaries called this famous ancient Russian icon painter. At the end of his life (in 1550) Dionysius was invited to paint a stone Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary at Ferapontov Monastery. Of all the painting ensembles of Ancient Rus' that have come down to us, this is perhaps the only one that has survived almost in its original form.
Solovetsky Monastery was made of wood, but from the 16th century the monks began construction in stone. At the end of the 17th century, Solovki became an outpost of Russia.
In the Solovetsky Monastery, the water-filling dock, dams, and fish cages are amazing. The panorama of the monastery is unfolded along the sea. At the entrance to the Spassky Gate we see Assumption Church.
Solovetsky Islands - nature reserve in the White Sea. The distance from the mainland and the severity of the climate did not prevent the settlement and transformation of this region. Among the many small islands, six stand out - Bolshoi Solovetsky Island, Anzersky, Bolshaya and Malaya Muksulma and Bolshoi and Maly Zayatsky. The monastery, founded in the first half of the 15th century by settler monks, brought glory to the archipelago.
Suzdal is one of the first monastic centers of Rus'. There were 16 monasteries here, the most famous - Pokrovsky. It was founded in 1364 by the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod prince Andrei Konstantinovich and went down in history as an aristocratic one. Starting from the 16th century, noble women were exiled here: the daughter of Ivan III, the nun Alexandra; wife of Vasily III - Solomonia Saburova; daughter of Boris Godunov - Ksenia; the first wife of Peter I - Evdokia Lopukhina, as well as many other women from famous families.
Spassky Monastery was founded in 1352 by the Suzdal prince Konstantin Vasilyevich. In the 16th century it was one of the five largest monasteries in Russia. Its first rector was Euthymius, an associate of Sergius of Radonezh. After the canonization of Euthymius, the monastery received the name of Spaso-Evfimiy. Under the Poles there was a military camp here.
IN Transfiguration Cathedral The monastery was the family tomb of the Pozharsky princes. Next to the altar apses there was a crypt where representatives of this ancient family. The crypt was destroyed by the monks themselves in response to the monastic reform of Catherine II.
Rizpolozhensky Monastery was founded in 1207. This monastery is the only one that has brought to us the names of its builders - “stone builders” - Suzdal residents Ivan Mamin, Ivan Gryaznov and Andrei Shmakov. The Rizpolozhensky Monastery played a major role in preserving the topography of ancient Suzdal: the oldest Suzdal road passed through the monastery gates, coming from the Kremlin through the settlement along the left bank of the Kamenka River. The double-tented Holy Gate of the monastery, built in 1688, has been preserved.
Church of the Assumption of Gethsemane Skete- one of the most interesting buildings of Valaam. It is made in the “Russian style”, which has undergone changes under the influence of the architecture of the Russian North. It stands out for its complex decor.
March 14, 1613 representatives Zemsky Sobor They announced to Mikhail Fedorovich, who was in the Ipatiev Monastery, his election to the kingdom. This was the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty. Associated with his name is the feat of the peasant Ivan Susanin, who led Polish soldiers into the forest who were looking for the way to the monastery in order to take the young king prisoner. At the cost of his life, Susanin saved the young monarch. In 1858, at the request of Emperor Alexander II, the monastery cells of the 16th-17th centuries were rebuilt. The emperor ordered the creation of a family nest for the reigning dynasty here. The reconstruction was carried out in a style stylized in the 16th century.
Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma was founded around 1330 by Khan Murza Chet, who converted to Christianity, the ancestor of the Godunov family. The Godunovs had a family tomb there. The most ancient part of the monastery - the Old Town - has existed since its foundation.
Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery on Valaam was a major center of religious life. It is believed that it was founded no later than the beginning of the 14th century. The monastery was repeatedly attacked by the Swedes. After the end of the Northern War, according to the Treaty of Nystadt in 1721, Western Karelia was returned to Russia. The buildings of the monastery belong to different eras and styles.
Monastery in Optina Hermitage founded in the 16th century.
the most ancient monastery in Russia? The oldest monastery
In 1821, a monastery arose at the monastery. This event predetermined his future fate and fame. In the second quarter of the 19th century, such a phenomenon as “elderhood” arose here. Among the elders there were many educated people involved in religious and philosophical problems. The elders were visited by N.V. Gogol, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, A.A. Akhmatova.
Archipelago of Lake Ladoga Valaam- an amazing corner of Karelia. Everything here is unusual: boulders, mighty trees, rocks... Each of the ensembles has its own appearance, interesting architectural structures and agricultural buildings, dozens of chapels, crosses. In clear weather, the outlines of the archipelago are visible from afar.
The architects of Valaam knew how to reveal the character of nature, and modest buildings turned into memorable landscapes. The painting of the cathedral is close to the naturalistic art of Western countries.
Emergence and initial construction Resurrection Monastery near Istra is associated with Nikon - the Orthodox reformer churches XVII century. Voskresenskoye was purchased by Nikon in 1656. In addition to the serfs of the patriarch himself, craftsmen from all over the country were involved in the construction. The white stone was delivered from the village of Myachkova along the Moscow River and its tributary Istra. Nikon set out to create a semblance of the Jerusalem Temple (hence the second name - New Jerusalem).
One of the most famous monasteries - Joseph-Volokolamsky- founded at the beginning of the 15th century in the city of Volok Lamsky, known since 1135. The city was founded by Novgorodians on the site of an ancient portage (dragging overland) of ships from the Lama River to Voloshna.
Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery- one of the best monuments to the War of 1812. Architect M. Bykovsky organically integrated the fence, bell tower and tomb of General Tuchkov into the monastery.
Literature
- Russian Great Children's Encyclopedia, Modern Writer, Minsk, 2008
The appearance of the first monasteries in Kievan Rus
In the oldest Russian sources, the first mentions of monks and monasteries in Rus' date back only to the era after the baptism of Prince Vladimir; their appearance dates back to the reign of Prince Yaroslav (1019–1054). His contemporary, Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kiev from 1051, in his “Sermon on Law and Grace,” said that already in the time of Vladimir, monasteries appeared in Kyiv and monks appeared. It is likely that the monasteries that Hilarion mentions were not monasteries in the proper sense, but simply Christians who lived in separate huts near the church in strict asceticism, gathered together for divine services, but did not yet have a monastic charter, did not take monastic vows and did not receive the right tonsure, or, another possibility - the compilers of the chronicle, which includes the “Code of 1039”, which has a very strong Grecophile overtones, tended to underestimate the successes in the spread of Christianity in Kievan Rus before the arrival there of Metropolitan Theopemptus (1037), probably the first in Kyiv hierarch of the Greek installation and Greek origin.
Under the same year 1037, the Old Russian chronicler reports that Yaroslav founded two monasteries: St. George (Georgievsky) and St. Iriny (Irininsky convent) - the first regular monasteries in Kyiv. But these were the so-called ktitorsky, or, better said, princely monasteries, for their ktitor was the prince. Almost all monasteries founded in the pre-Mongol era, that is, until the middle of the 13th century, were precisely princely, or ktitorsky, monasteries.
The famous Kyiv cave monastery - the Pechersky Monastery - had a completely different beginning. It arose from the purely ascetic aspirations of individuals from the common people and became famous not for the nobility of its patrons and not for its wealth, but for the love that it gained from its contemporaries thanks to the ascetic exploits of its inhabitants, whose entire life, as the chronicler writes, passed “in abstinence and great repentance, and in prayers with tears.”
Simultaneously with the flourishing of the Pechersky Monastery, new monasteries appeared in Kyiv and other cities. From what is placed in the Paterikon we learn that in Kyiv even then there was a monastery of St. Mines.
Dimitrievsky Monastery was founded in Kyiv in 1061/62 by Prince Izyaslav. Izyaslav invited the abbot of the Pechersk Monastery to manage it. Izyaslav’s rival in the fight for Kyiv, Prince Vsevolod, in turn also founded a monastery - Mikhailovsky Vydubitsky and in 1070 ordered the construction of a stone church in it. Two years later, two more monasteries arose in Kyiv.
Thus, these decades were a time of rapid monastic construction.
Old Russian monasticism and the first monasteries in Rus'
From the 11th to the middle of the 13th century. Many other monasteries arose. Golubinsky has up to 17 monasteries in Kyiv alone.
In the 11th century Monasteries are also being built outside of Kyiv. Monasteries also appeared in Pereyaslavl (1072–1074), in Chernigov (1074), in Suzdal (1096). Especially many monasteries were built in Novgorod, where in the 12th–13th centuries. there were also up to 17 monasteries. Just until the middle of the 13th century. in Rus' you can count up to 70 monasteries located in cities or their environs.
The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery is the main attraction; the names of more than 25 Orthodox saints are associated with it. Many scientists are confident that this monastery can be considered the oldest in Russia. However, the monastery has a very difficult history, and more than once the monastery was on the verge of destruction and extinction...
The first mention of the city of Murom itself in the Tale of Bygone Years dates back to 862, and the Transfiguration Monastery of the Savior - to 1096. However, there is every reason to believe that it was founded even earlier, during the reign of the blessed prince, passion-bearer Gleb.
Having received the Red Sun of Murom as an inheritance from his father, Grand Duke Vladimir, the young Prince Gleb Vladimirovich came here not just to reign, but with the goal of converting the local population to the Orthodox faith. He did not receive a warm welcome from the Murom people and was forced to settle outside the city. Gleb of Murom built his residence on the banks of the Ushnya River, twelve miles from the city, and on the high bank of the Oka he built the first temple in the name of the All-Merciful Savior, and then a monastic monastery.
In 1015, Gleb and his brother Boris were treacherously killed, and an era of bloody civil strife began in Rus'. But even in such difficult times, the Transfiguration Monastery continued to remain the center of Orthodoxy on the Murom land.
Gratitude from Ivan the Terrible
The new mention of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery dates back to the era. In 1552, the tsar made a third attempt to capture Kazan. Murom became the battle camp of the Grand Duke: military tents were pitched on the banks of the Oka, and rafts and plows were prepared here for the crossing. Praying for victory practically under the walls of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, the tsar made a vow: if captured, to build new churches in Murom.
Ivan the Terrible kept his word: soon after the campaign against Kazan, stone construction began in Murom, and soon the city was decorated with four new stone churches. At the same time, a new cathedral was built in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery. The Emperor did not forget the monastery throughout his reign, made considerable monetary contributions, donated church utensils, vestments, and books.
Icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear” – the savior of the monastery
In subsequent years, the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery faced many trials. It was plundered during the Time of Troubles, suffered from the church reforms of Peter I and from the policy of secularization of monastic lands pursued by Catherine II. The Spassky Cathedral even had to be closed due to dilapidation: it was dangerous to serve in it, since the walls could collapse at any moment. could not be performed in the monastery due to the lack of bread and wine.
But even the impoverished monastery did not lose its significance and continued to be famous for its library with a unique collection of ancient written monuments.
And in 1878, a real miracle happened, which began the revival of the monastery. The rector, Archimandrite Anthony (Ilenov), brought from the Holy Mountain the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear,” which became the main shrine of the monastery. Many note that the face of the Mother of God changes depending on the events of the day - on holidays she is joyful and smiling, and when tragic events occur, she darkens and is sad.
The icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear” saved the monastery from ruin: with its appearance, money and donations suddenly began to flow in. These funds were used to restore the temple and the abbot's building, build a fraternal building, and restore the walls.
“Terrible” 20th century
Remains found on the territory of the destroyed Soviet time monastery cemetery
In 1918, an anti-Bolshevik rebellion broke out in the monastery; as a result, the brethren were accused of supporting the white movement, and the monastery was closed and placed under the leadership of the military department. Part of the property was transferred to the Murom Museum, and the monastery itself was occupied by a military unit in the 1930s. Barracks for soldiers were built in the fraternal buildings, and a gym was installed in the Transfiguration Cathedral. The necropolis, which was located behind the apses of the Intercession Church and the Spassky Cathedral, was destroyed, and a parade ground was built in its place. The soldiers marched essentially over the bones of people buried here...
After the return of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery to the church, the parade ground was dismantled, and in place former cemetery A huge number of remains from the desecrated burials were discovered. For their burial, a chapel-ossuary was built according to the Athonite model. There is an inscription on its wall: “Remember every brother: we were like you, you will be like us.”
New revival of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery
Monastery garden
In 1995, the Transfiguration Monastery was returned to the Church. The academician played a major role in the salvation and revival of the monastery, who petitioned Patriarch Alexy II for the revival of the monastery. Hieromonk Kirill (Epifanov) was appointed her deputy. He recalled: “A depressing picture appeared before my eyes. The domes collapsed, the roof was demolished, the barracks were piles of bricks. At first I couldn’t even imagine how to restore all this...”
The icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear” came to the rescue again, which for almost 80 years was kept in the storerooms of the Murom Museum and finally returned to the monastery. Restoration proceeded at a rapid pace: brethren gathered at the monastery, benefactors and experienced helpers were found.
Monastery subsidiary farm
Today the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery is one of the most beautiful monasteries in Murom. Currently, on the territory of the monastery there are two large churches, a sacristy, a bell tower, a bathhouse, chapels, a fraternal building, a pilgrimage hotel and a refectory, and an educational building.
Sights of the monastery
The Icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear”, which played such an important role in the history of the Transfiguration Monastery, is now in the Intercession Church of the monastery. There is also a myrrh-streaming cross with a particle of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord installed here. Nearby is an icon of the righteous saint with a piece of his robe, an icon and an ark with a piece of the relics of the holy noble princes, the Murom Wonderworkers.
In the lower temple of the Church of the Intercession there is a shrine with a particle of the relics of St. Elijah of Muromets, the legendary defender of the Russian land, originally from. Finally, he was tonsured a monk at the Kiev Pechersk Monastery and glorified as a saint in 1643. Raku is decorated with a sculptural image of the hero, which was recreated from the incorruptible relics of the saint by the famous sculptor Sergei Nikitin.
In 2005, a church was built on the banks of the Oka, the peculiarity of which is the bells cast according to ancient “recipes”. Anyone can ring these bells, so while walking around the monastery you can hear the bells ringing at any time.
The bakery operating in the monastery is also a kind of attraction. The bread baked here is in high demand among local residents and guests of the city. On the territory of the monastery, rolls of bread, a symbol of Murom, are baked, and the monastery prosphora is distributed to all churches of the Murom diocese.
How to get there:
Address of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery: Murom, Lakina Street, building 1.
You can get to the monastery from Moscow by train from the Kazansky railway station to the city of Murom. In Murom, the most convenient way is to take a taxi - you can get to the monastery for only a hundred rubles.
You can also get to the monastery by car - along the Gorkovskoye Highway to Murom.