Yeletsky Znamensky diocesan convent, the city of Yelets. Znamensky Monastery in Yelets Yelets Znamensky Monastery

September 6th, 2013 , 01:48 pm

Yeletsky Znamensky convent- in the city of Yelets, on the top of Kamennaya Mountain. The location of the monastery is very suitable for its privacy: on the southern side of the monastery there is a small river called Yelchik, and on the north-eastern side there is a deep ravine called “Sukhoi Luchok”. Stone Mountain is also called Argamakova, and according to legend, it was here that ancient fortress Dace.

2. From the city center, it is best to walk along Lenin Street, from which you can see panoramic view to the monastery. The street leads to the bridge over Yelchik. Znamensky Monastery is on the opposite bank.

3. "- Do you want to come to the monastery with us? - the coachman turned to me, whipping a pair of well-fed horses that were reluctantly climbing the mountain.
- Yes, take a look at the monastery!
“Our monastery, sir, is extraordinary.” True tenderness!.. From the recluse herself, from Melania, such severity was instituted. Real angels, just in human form! - he immediately became emotional.
I went to the so-called Kamennaya Mountain to see and get to know these angels, where on the edge of Yelets stands the Znamensky nunnery.
The view of the monastery from a distance is remarkably beautiful. A huge stone staircase runs in terraces along the sand along the mountain. Above, behind the walls, you can see the domes of the temples..."

V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko "Women's Cloister"

4. “...it shone against the sun with the chalky whiteness of its walls, and from the gate of its gate came a young nun in rough shoes, in rough black robes, but of such subtle, pure, ancient Russian icon-painting beauty that I, amazed, even stopped, - then went to Argamache, again descended to the tributary and went up to the cathedral...
On the cliff behind the cathedral I stood, looking at the rotten plank roofs of the bourgeois shacks that clung to the hillocks along the river below, at the insides of their dirty and wretched courtyards, and I kept thinking something about human life, about the fact that everything passes and repeats itself, that , it’s true, and three hundred years ago there were still the same black plank roofs and all sorts of weedy rubbish that grows in wastelands, on clay mounds."

Ivan Bunin "The Life of Arsenyev"

5. Two pre-revolutionary postcards with a view of the monastery and “bourgeois shacks” scattered over the hillocks.

Bunin was right - everything passes and repeats itself. The 100 years that have passed here are rich in dramatic changes and events: the revolution, the closure of the monastery, a workers' village instead of the former cells... But now the monastery still shines with the chalky whiteness of the bell tower and a newly built copy of the destroyed Znamensky Church. When looking at the panorama of the monastery, it seems that nothing has changed here at all. But the main thing is when you see the walls of the monastery from below, from the river, you get a feeling of some special grace of the place.

7. River Yelchik.

10. From the southern gate there is a descent in the form of a wide staircase, which was built in 1881 to the holy spring at the foot of the monastery.

11. At the source there is a font and a chapel.

12. The chapel here was built at the end of the 19th century, destroyed after the revolution (before 1930).
Archive photos:

14. The chapel was recreated in the same shape and size in 2004, but not in the same place, but closer to the source, 20 meters north of the original.

15. A bathhouse (with two fonts) was built on the site of the old chapel.

16. Canopy over the source.

19. There is also an icon shop here.

22. On a steep slope near the walls of the monastery there are picturesque outcrops of limestone rocks.

27. Those steps that lead down from the gate on the south side, “along the entire mountain were laid out from a new hewn plinth, with a contour of the plinth railings or walls and a cast-iron grate, with two lamp posts at the top of the terrace.”

29. From the stairs, both then and now, there is a wonderful view of the city.

30. The staircase, apparently, was not simple, but with underground tunnel, leading to the territory of the monastery.

38. Here, on the slope, to the left of the southern gate, there was a two-story building of a parochial school (not preserved). It can be seen on pre-revolutionary postcards (photos 5 and 6).

40. At the beginning of the 20th century, the monastery acquired the appearance and significance for which it was famous far beyond the borders of Yelets and the Oryol province.

43. C west side A stone bell tower was built, in the first tier there was a holy gate through which religious processions were carried out.

45. Archival photograph, 1970s.

46. ​​Western gate near the bell tower.

47. The same gate in 2004.

48. After the 1917 revolution, services in the Znamensky Cathedral continued, and the nuns lived according to monastic custom for some time. In 1922-1923, church utensils, some books and icons were confiscated from the monastery. In order to protect themselves from the attacks of the godless authorities and retain their housing, the nuns formed a labor artel in 1922. And in 1926, another artel was created, which was part of the Yelets Union of Lacemakers. Thanks to this, the nuns were left alone for some time, and in general, life in the monastery did not change. In 1924, the abbess, Abbess Antonia, and the rector of the Znamensky Cathedral, Archpriest Vladimir Kavkazsky, were arrested, but the court soon released them. In the second half of the 1920s, the split among the nuns of the monastery deepened even more, caused by the spread of the opposition movement in the region due to the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius. Some of the mothers openly supported the opposition, and therefore they left the monastery in Vladimir Church Black Settlement, where the enemy of Metropolitan Sergius, Bishop Alexey of Voronezh, served (in 1928-1929 he was in exile in Yelets). Meanwhile, the anti-monastic campaign launched by local authorities in 1928 was growing.

In March 1929, the Yelets City Council decided to close the monastery and transfer its buildings for “cultural and educational purposes.” And at the end of May 1929, all the monks left their cells and families of workers moved into the vacated 120 apartments.
The territory of the monastery began to be called the Workers' Town. The fate of the former nuns of the monastery was difficult - many were sentenced to long periods
imprisonment and execution. The first time after its closure, its buildings were used for housing and gradually fell into disrepair. In 1937, the dismantling of the Znamensky Cathedral, which was completely destroyed during the war, began. During these same years, the chapel at the holy spring under Kamennaya Gora, some cells, and the refectory building were destroyed. Only the bell tower, part of the monastery wall and a few cells survived.

Archival photo that does not show the Znamensky Cathedral:

49. Only in 1997, the complex of monastic buildings was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church, and since 2003, restoration work has been carried out here.
50. Currently, the vast territory of the monastery is being improved, the restoration of the bell tower has been completed, the monastery fence has been restored, and new buildings have been built.

51. And this is how V.I. described the cells of the Znamenskaya Monastery at the beginning of the 20th century. Nemirovich-Danchenko:
“Each house was built not according to a general plan... but as its owner wanted. Sometimes it is narrow, on two floors, with two or three windows in each, sometimes low and long, sometimes with high, sharp, sometimes flat roofs. And every cell feels its neighbor with its elbow... Each house is painted in its own color: blue, green, red, gray, log, planked - but all with porches facing outwards, sometimes under a colorful canopy, sometimes completely simple. Between them are somewhat larger and more elegant, iron roofed with rows of windows... In front of some are front gardens.”
Photo from the beginning of the 20th century.

“Would you like to come to the monastery with us?” the coachman turned to me, whipping a pair of well-fed horses that were reluctantly climbing up the mountain.
- Yes, look at the monastery!
- Our monastery, sir, is extraordinary. True tenderness!.. From the recluse herself, from Melania, such severity was instituted. Real angels, just in human form! - he immediately became emotional.

I went to the so-called Kamennaya Mountain to see and get to know these angels, where on the edge of Yelets stands the Znamensky nunnery. The view of the monastery from a distance is remarkably beautiful. A huge stone staircase runs in terraces along the sand along the mountain. Above, behind the walls, the domes of the temples are visible..."
Nemirovich-Danchenko V.I. Women's monastery. Holy Mountains. Memories and stories from a trip with pilgrims. St. Petersburg, 1904.

"2"
The Znamensky Monastery, now being revived with the blessing of His Eminence Bishop Nikon in the city of Yelets, the second most important spiritual center of the Lipetsk-Eletsk diocese, is located on the top of the so-called Stone Mountain.
According to legend, it was here that ancient Yelets of the pre-Mongol period was located for some time. This place, before the construction of the Znamensky Monastery, was called the “Old Settlement”.

"4"
The monastery was founded through the labors of St. Mitrofan, Bishop of Voronezh on the site of the Trinity Skete monastery, built in 1629 on Kamennaya Mountain.
In the census books of the 1690s, two churches are listed in the Znamensky Monastery: the Nativity of the Virgin Mary of the ancient structure and St. Nicholas of the new one. In 1764, in connection with the establishment of ecclesiastical states, the convent was abolished by decree of Catherine II, but the nuns did not leave it, and services continued in the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. During the great fire in Yelets in 1769, all the monastery buildings, including St. Nicholas Church, burned down.

"5"
Only two old women remained in the ashes; they lived in the surviving cellar and prayed tirelessly. In 1770, a new wooden church was built by the nuns, consecrated in the name of the Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”.

The revival of St. Nicholas Church took place only at the beginning of the 21st century. In 2006, according to the design of Yelets architect A.V. Novoseltsev, a new wooden church was founded in the ancient part of the monastery, where the Church of St. Nicholas stood before the fire of 1769. Construction of the church took less than a year, and on December 31 it was consecrated by Bishop Nikon of Lipetsk and Yelets.

"9"
The monastery remained illegal for a long time, but the efforts of the residents of Yerevan to restore the monastery did not stop.
The second official opening of the monastery took place in 1822 by decree of Emperor Alexander I.

"10"
In 1779, Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, who visited the monastery, indicated the site of construction of the stone cathedral. The sisters, strengthened by the blessing of the Saint, began to build a stone church. In the period 1804-1813. On the territory of the monastery, the construction of a large stone church with a main altar in honor of the icon was carried out Holy Mother of God"The Omen".

"11"
After the 1917 revolution, the Znamensky Monastery and its cathedral continued to operate. In 1922 and 1923, church utensils were removed from the temple.
In March 1929, the monastery was “liquidated”, and its buildings (including the cathedral) were transferred for housing to the families of workers of the Yelets factories. In July 1929, all property was confiscated from the cathedral church. In 1937, the dismantling of the Znamensky Cathedral began: the iron roof was removed, the floor and interfloor ceilings were broken. During the war, the temple was finally dismantled, only its foundation was untouched.

After the transfer of the monastery complex to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1997, the surviving foundation of the cathedral was cleared, but its restoration took place only after the revival of the Znamensky Monastery in 2004. In 2005, work began on the construction of the Znamensky Cathedral based on surviving archival drawings.
Now the temple is fully built, consecrated and operational.

"17"
In 1778, the future locally revered blessed recluse Melania, a great ascetic who lived in the monastery for 58 years and died in 1836, was accepted into the hermitage. Saint Tikhon, while in Yelets, visited the hermit. Then he indicated the place for the future stone temple.

"18"
The story of Melania the Recluse, her sacrifice, asceticism, spiritual exploits, struggle with temptation, high morality deserve special attention and can serve as an instructive example.

"19"
The residents of Yelts believed that she had the gift of foresight and healing of the sick, and they often turned to her for advice in solving their everyday affairs.

Eletsky Znamensky Monastery

Monastery
Yeletsky Znamensky Diocesan Convent
A country	Russia
City	Dace
Confession	Orthodoxy
Diocese	Lipetsk and Yeletskaya
Type	Female
First mention	1629
Date of foundation	1683
Main dates:
Date of abolition	1764, 1929
Building: Temple in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Bell tower Spasovsky-Nativity Church Gate chapel Chapel-bath at the source
Notable inhabitants	Ascetic of piety Melania the Recluse
State	Active

Yeletsky Znamensky Diocesan Convent- an Orthodox monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church, Lipetsk and Yeletsk diocese is located in the city of Yelets, Lipetsk region.

Story

Base

The monastery was founded on the site of the skete of the Trinity Monastery, built in 1629 on Kamennaya Gora.

The monastery remained illegal, but the efforts of the residents of Yeltsin to restore the monastery did not stop. The second official opening of the monastery took place in 1822 by decree of Emperor Alexander I. Strict rules of monastic life were restored, construction of a bell tower, a warm refectory, and a new brick fence around the monastery with four towers and three gates began. In 1841, on the south side, a descent to the holy spring was made in the form of a wide staircase. By 1861, the construction of the three-tier bell tower was completed. By the middle of the 19th century, the territory of the monastery and the lands that belonged to it continued to expand, and the monastery was beautified.

By the beginning of the 20th century, 400 people lived within the walls of the monastery, and there were 150 buildings on its territory.

The main shrines of the monastery were the miraculous image of the Most Holy Theotokos “The Sign” and the image of Christ the Savior, which were safely preserved after the fire of 1769. The monastery contained revered icons: the “Three-Handed Woman”, written on Mount Athos, and the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, donated by St. Theophan the Recluse.

A lifetime portrait of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk was kept in the Znamensky Monastery.

Renaissance

By 2004, only a few cells, monastery walls and the descent to the holy well remained in a severely damaged state. Not a single temple building survived. By decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Znamensky Convent was reopened in 2004.

The restoration of the desecrated shrine becomes a real and feasible matter.

In 2005, a chapel was built over the holy spring, and in the same year the restoration of the Znamensky Cathedral began. In January 2005, the Church of the Nativity of Christ, located on the other side of Yelchik and clearly visible from the territory of the monastery, was transferred to the Znamenskaya monastery for services. In a short time it was brought into proper shape inside, and today services are constantly held in the temple for the nuns of the monastery and parishioners.

In 2006, a wooden church was built in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and consecrated by Bishop Nikon on December 31 of the same year.

The restoration of the bell tower was completed, the monastery fence was partially restored, new refectory and cell buildings were built, several former cells were purchased and put in order. There is a revival of the monastery with its glorious history and spiritual exploits.

Temples and chapels

• Znamensky Cathedral. First stone church The monastery was built in 1813. In the mid-1930s it was closed and work began on dismantling it for bricks. Restoration work began in 2005, and by 2009 main temple The monastery was completely restored to its original form.
• Christ the Nativity (Spassovsky) Church (Located not on the territory of the monastery)
• Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The first wooden St. Nicholas Church on Kamennaya Gora was built in 1657. During the great fire of 1769, all the monastery buildings, including St. Nicholas Church, burned down. The revival of the church occurred only in 2006, when, according to the design of Yelets architect A.V. Novoseltsev laid the foundation for a wooden church. In the same 2006, St. Nicholas Church was built and consecrated.
• Chapel of the Icon of the Mother of God Life-Giving Spring. The chapel at the holy well was built at the end of the 18th century. It was destroyed before 1930. Its reconstruction in its previous shapes and sizes began in 2004. In 2005 it was finally built and consecrated.

Abbesses of the monastery

• 1685 - 1697 - Abbess Iulita
• 1705 - Abbess Capitolina
• 1720 - Abbess Vera
• 1765 - Abbess Pelagia
• 1764 - Abbess Iulita - Abolition
• 1772 - 1823 - nun Matrona (Solntseva) - Head of the Znamenskaya community
• 1823 - 1837 - Abbess Glafira (Taranova) - Recovery
• 1837 - 1867 - Abbess Pavlina (Tolstaya)
• 1867 - 1889 - Abbess Cleopatra (Golovacheva)
• 1889 - 1900 - Abbess Valeria (Tarnovskaya)
• 1900 - 1914 - Abbess Raphaila (Bredikhin)
• 1914 - 1929 - Abbess Antonia 1 (Krivorotova) - Abolition
• 2004 - 2009 - nun Cherubim (Goncharova) - Recovery
• 2009 - present - Abbess Antonia 2 (Polikarova)

Gallery

see also

Literature

• Hieromonk Gerontius. Historical description Yeletsky Znamensky nunnery, on the stone mountain. - Yelets: Printing house A.A. Slanskoy, 1895. - 120 p.
• Klokov A. Yu., Naidenov A. A., Novoseltsev A. V. Temples and monasteries of the Lipetsk and Yeletsk diocese. Temples of Yelets. - Lipetsk: Lipetsk Regional Society of Local Lore, 2006. - P. 421-455. - 464 s. - 5000 copies.
• - ISBN 978-5-8125-0941-5

Morev L. A. Yeletsky Znamensky Convent and the fate of its nuns during the years of Soviet power // Bulletin of Church History. 2008. No. 4(12). pp. 154-162.

Over its centuries-long history, the Znamensky Monastery was completely burned and destroyed. It was only in the early 2000s that the monastery began to be restored using the remains of the foundation and surviving drawings.

History of the Znamensky Monastery

The Znamensky Convent was founded on the site of the monastery of the Trinity Monastery at the insistence of St. Mitrofan in 1683. In 1764, by decree of Empress Catherine II, the monastery was abolished, but the nuns did not leave it, but remained to live within the walls of the monastery, surviving on alms from city residents. Five years later, during a big fire, all the monastery buildings burned down. The two nuns managed to save only some church utensils. They themselves remained to live in a stone cellar.

In 1770, on the site of the fire, parishioners opened a small wooden church in honor of the Icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos. The number of nuns began to grow, but the community on “Kamennaya Gora” was in an illegal situation: the authorities refused to build a monastery. And only in 1822, by decree of Alexander I, the official opening took place. The monastery began to be revived. In 1829, construction began on a stone double-altar refectory church and a bell tower, and a stone wall was erected around the monastery instead of a wooden fence. By the beginning of the 20th century, 400 people lived in the monastery, and there were about 150 buildings outside its walls.

After the October Revolution, the temple was transformed into an artel, and the nuns were expelled. Since 1929, the monastery officially became known as the Workers' Town. During these years, the Znamensky Convent fell into decay: the walls and tower crumbled, the living quarters collapsed. Until 2004, several cells, the descent to the holy spring and the monastery walls remained in a severely damaged state. The residents of Elsk actively restored the territory, cleared the foundations of the Znamensky Church, and in 2004 the monastery was reopened.

There are two churches on the territory of the monastery. The Temple in honor of the Sign of the Mother of God was restored according to drawings found in the archives. By December 2006, the roof was completely covered, the quadrangle of the temple was restored, and heating was installed. The temple has been consecrated and is operational.

In the ancient part of the monastery, in the spring of 2006, according to the design of the architect Alexander Vasilyevich Novoseltsev, a wooden church was founded in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Consecrated on December 31 of the same year. Since the St. Nicholas Church, on the site of which the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built, burned down during a fire in 1769, it is impossible to accurately restore its structure. The architect conceived it in the traditions of Russian wooden architecture. Wooden work was carried out by craftsmen from Moscow; the frame for the temple was delivered from Chaplygin.

Shrines

The main shrines of the temple are the miraculous image of the Most Holy Theotokos “The Sign” and the image of Christ the Savior, preserved after the fire of 1769. In the monastery there was a lifetime portrait of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, and the “Three-Handed” icon painted on Holy Mount Athos. Within the walls of the monastery there is the grave of the revered ascetic recluse Melania, who lived there for 58 years, and the “Life-Giving Spring” in honor of the icon of the Mother of God.