The very first Christian monastery in the world. Dictionary

General features of monasteries

The monastery is:

· The form of organization of the community of monks who live according to a certain charter and observe religious vows.

· A complex of liturgical, residential, utility and other buildings, usually enclosed by a wall.

In the definition of a monastery, we are more interested in its second part.

The history of monasteries is presented on the pages of works devoted to religion. 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 touched upon in the oldest narratives is the founding of monasteries. For example, information about the creation of the Kiev Caves Monastery is contained in the Tale of Bygone Years and The Life of Theodosius of the Caves. In the writings of historians, the theme of monasteries took its place only in the 19th century. There are many topics in this direction that are of interest to historians. These are monastic land holdings, charters of monasteries and many others. We, in the context of our topic, are interested in monasteries as fortresses, we pay special attention to their construction, architecture, and the role they played in the life of society, and we will only briefly touch on other issues. Chronicles still constitute the main source base for the history of monasteries. Lives complete them. Of particular importance is the Kiev-Pechersk Paterikon. 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 the year 1037, there is information about the foundation of two monasteries by Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich. Thus began the construction of monasteries by the princes. It was characteristic that they were intended directly to serve the princely families. Consequently, small monasteries were built at this stage. The Kiev Caves Monastery was formed differently. The first mention of it refers to 1051. It does not arise from the funds of wealthy investors. The monastery gained importance thanks to its first ascetics and their deeds, it was created by the work of monks at the alms of believers. Saint Anthony received permission from the prince to own the land where the monastery would be built, thus avoiding dependence on princely authority. 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, among which 4 were for women. With the spread of Christianity, monasteries also appeared in other regions. The beginning of this process dates back to the 12th century. Novgorod can be especially singled out; 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: Yuryev (1119), Panteleymonov (1134) and Spaso-Preobrazhensky (1198).

In Novgorod, the monasteries are created at the expense of the boyars, marking the beginning of a new phenomenon in Rus'. These are, for example, Shilov Monastery, Belo-Nikolaevsky (1165), Annunciation (1170). In Novgorod, monasteries are also built by local lords. 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 XIV century. a prominent figure appears in Novgorod: Archbishop Moses. He founded several monasteries: in 1313 St. Nicholas in the Nerevsky end, in 1335 - the Resurrection Monastery on Derevyanitsa, in 1352 - the monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin on Volotovo, the so-called Moiseev, etc. All these cloisters subsequently retained their connection with the Novgorod hierarchs. Between the 11th and mid-14th centuries. 27 monasteries are known in Novgorod, 10 of them are for women. In North-Eastern Rus', a different picture is observed. Here was moved the throne of the Grand Duke from Kyiv. Here the princes, as in Kyiv, begin to build monasteries. As in Novgorod, in the North-East of Rus', monasteries were also founded by local hierarchs. So, two monasteries were founded in Suzdal and one in Yaroslavl. About 26 monasteries are known in North-Eastern Rus', 4 of them are for women.

Information about the monasteries of Southwestern 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 Galicia-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 draw up a fairly accurate picture of the location of the cloisters. A characteristic feature of the early monasteries was that they were built within or near cities. The two main known types of monasteries are hermit and cenobitic. The first monasteries in Rus' were rather hermits. The Kiev-Pechersky Monastery originally consisted of many caves with a cave church. This continued until the number of monks grew so much that they could no longer be accommodated in the caves. Then a monastery was built. Community monasteries, which require the presence of a charter, appear in Rus' later, from the era of Sergius of Radonezh. It is quite important that the monasteries received land from the founders, and sometimes the right to collect tribute from them. In addition to villages and lands, they also received forests, reservoirs and other lands.

Together with the lands, the monasteries received the people who inhabited them. Thus, we can say that the monasteries had all the conditions for development and prosperity. The fact that the 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 related to princely power were resolved in the monasteries. In this case, the cloisters became the venue for the congress of princes. An important function of ancient Russian monasteries is the training of future church hierarchs, bishops and archbishops. Monasteries sometimes served as places of detention. During this period, mainly representatives of princely families fell into them 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 Mikhailovsky Monastery, and later transferred to Pereyaslavl within the walls of the Ioannovsky Monastery. From the second half of the XII century. in the ancient Russian cities a new organization arose - the archimandrite. This is a monastery that occupied a leading position among the rest.

The archimandrite provided a link between the black clergy and the city, the prince, the episcopate, and also largely controlled the relationship between the monasteries themselves. The emergence of the archimandrite, 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 were administratively independent, in participation in city life. The first such monastery arose in Kyiv in the second half of the 12th century. In North-Eastern Rus', including Moscow, archimandrite arose later - in the 13th - first half of the 14th century. 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 proprietors, closely connected with the political life of the city and state, but were also centers of ideological life. Within the walls of the monasteries, manuscripts were created and copied, and then distributed among the faithful. At the monasteries there were schools in which they studied literacy and theology.

Over time, monasteries acquired exceptionally great importance, located both far from cities, and in their centers, and among settlements, and on the near and far approaches to cities, where they sometimes became "watchmen" - advanced outposts, speaking the language of another era.

The walls of the 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 Baron Herberstein, for example, who visited Muscovy in the first half of the 16th century, directly wrote about. Turning into large feudal owners, the monasteries became, in a certain sense, competitors of the cities, in some cases they found themselves in the position of a city-forming core, that is, they began to play the role of a citadel or the Kremlin of a new city, the settlements of which were formed from monastic settlements. So the city of Trinity-Sergiev Posad arose. And in Yaroslavl, for example, the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, which adjoined directly to the ramparts of the Earthen City - the main township territory - assumed the significance of the Kremlin, while the ancient fortress core - the citadel, called here the "Chopped City", in the 16th - 17th centuries. lost its original meaning. Well-fortified with stone walls, the monastery became the actual citadel of the entire city, which the townspeople themselves called the Kremlin.

Monastic ensembles developed according to their own laws. In their formation, an essential 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 the real dangers that life was so generous - and a foreign enemy, and princely strife, and a thief in the night. Therefore, the monasteries from the very first steps acquired a courageous, fortified appearance. And the place for their device was chosen accordingly. And besides, the monastic hermits also needed protection from life's temptations (the Hermit - moved away from external life, that is, protected from it). So, compared to fortresses, monasteries still 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 to be something like a small city."

However, it was so from the very beginning of the monastery construction. Already Abbot Daniel in the XII century wrote about Russian monasteries that "they are made by the city."

And the process of their formation is a chain reaction model. From large, authoritative monasteries, new ones spun off. So only from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, 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 temples were replaced by stone ones, the territories expanded, contoured with stone instead of wooden fortress walls. And now a speculative restoration of the appearance of wooden monasteries is possible according to ancient images, plans, descriptions and imagination.

The principles of order, as 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. With its altar part, 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 from the western side there should be a baptismal, as a symbol of coming to Christianity, gaining faith. The altar symbolizes the Bethlehem cave in which Christ was born. Colors and gestures in images had symbolic meanings. The invisible was hidden in the visible and comprehended through the visible. Everything was mysterious and magical. And the composition of the ensemble followed the symbolic reproduction of the "Heavenly City - Jerusalem". Its essence was the 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 his spiritual hierarchy, the semantic, value hierarchy of buildings was characterized by proximity to the main temple. The ordered form should be "quadruple". Such is the "mountain city of Jerusalem." As it is said about him in the Apocalypse: "The city is located in a quadrangle, and its length is the same as its breadth."

At the same time, ideas about the symbolic world order were not the only regulating principle. The form was determined both by the relief, and by the landscape, and by the need to increase the territories over time. Therefore, in real monastic ensembles, there is always a compromise between the ideal scheme and the circumstance of place and time. "One of the most precious properties of Russian architecture has developed and matured at the construction sites of Kremlins and monasteries - the peculiar picturesqueness of the ensemble. The combination of horizontal massifs of walls with unevenly high verticals of towers and belfries, with rounded domes and slender tented endings - all this gives the old monasteries a free variety of silhouette, makes them related with the Russian landscape, with its free, soft outlines, with its special community of smooth fields and copses scattered over them.

Features of the construction of the Kiev Caves 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; the priest of the nearby village of Berestov, Hilarion, retired here for prayer, who dug a cave for himself here. In 1051, Hilarion was appointed Metropolitan of Kyiv and his cave was empty. Around that time, the 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 the cave of Hilarion. 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 appointed Varlaam as abbot, and he retired to a neighboring mountain, where he dug out a new cave for himself. This cave served as the beginning of the "near" caves, so named in contrast to the former, "far". With the increase in the number of monks, when it became crowded in the caves, they built the Church of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos and cells over the cave. The number of people coming to the monastery increased, and Anthony asked the 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 monastery that arose was called Pechersky. At the same time, Theodosius was appointed abbot. He introduced a cenobitic studio charter into the cloisters, 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 was badly damaged by the Polovtsy, but was soon rebuilt again. Over time, new churches were built. The whole monastery was fenced with a palisade. At the monastery there was a hospitable house, arranged by Theodosius for the shelter of the poor, the blind, the lame; 1/10 of the monastic income was allocated to him. Every Saturday the monastery sent a cartload of bread for the prisoners. With the relocation of the brethren to a large monastery, the caves were turned into a tomb for the monks, whose bodies were laid on both sides of the cave corridor, in the recesses of the walls. The monastery belonged to c. Foresters; Theodosius dug out a cave for himself there, in which he lived during Lent. In the XI and XII centuries. up to 20 bishops left the monastery, all of them retained great respect for their native monastery.

In 1240, during the invasion of Batu, the monastery was destroyed. The monks of the Kiev Caves Monastery were partly killed, partly fled. It is not known how long the desolation of the monastery lasted; in the 14th century it was already renewed, and the great church became the tomb of many princely and noble families. In 1470 the prince of Kyiv Simeon Olelkovich restored and decorated the great church. In 1483, the Crimean army of Mengli I Girey burned down and robbed the monastery, but generous donations enabled him to recover soon. In 1593, he owned two cities - Radomysl and Vasilkov, up to 50 villages and about 15 villages and villages in different parts of Western Rus', with fishing, transportation, mills, honey and penny tributes and beaver ruts. From the 15th century the monastery received the right to send to Moscow to collect donations. In 1555-56. the great church was again renewed and embellished.

Features of the construction of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra

The Trinity-Sergius Monastery has played an outstanding role in the national culture and history. The highest spiritual and personal authority of its founder put it forward 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 Serb. Epiphanius lived for a long time in a monastery under Sergius of Radonezh and began to make his notes in 1393 or 1394 ("by summer, one or two" after the death of Sergius). Pachomius Serb wrote the "Life" in 1438-1449, but had the opportunity to "torture and question the ancient elders" who lived in the monastery under Sergius.

Apparently, the foundation of the monastery can be attributed 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 placed a "small church" next to it, dedicating it to the Life-Giving Trinity. Gradually new monks joined him. Each cut a cell for himself. As early as 1355, the monastery was surrounded by "not a very spacious fence", a "goalkeeper" was planted at the gates, and a charter of communal life was adopted in the monastery. The charter provided for the general management of the economy. Everyone took part in the work, including the abbot. All shared services needed to be built as well. Refectory, Kitchen, Bakery, Porto, etc. At the same time, the monastery was rebuilt according to a single plan of Sergius. Epiphanius spoke of this as follows: “When the most prudent shepherd and wise in virtues, having spread a larger monastery, commanded to create a cell in four ways, in the midst of them the church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity is visible from everywhere, like a mirror - a meal and an eliko for the needs of the brethren.” Thus, the monastery received a shape close to a regular rectangle. On its sides there were cells with windows facing the square, where the church and all public buildings stood. Vegetable gardens and outbuildings were located behind the cells. Epiphanius reports that Sergius adorned the church with "every such beauty." The entire monastery was probably surrounded by a tyn - vertically placed oak logs 4-6 meters high with a pointed top. The logs were placed on the earthen "scree" formed during the digging of the ditch. Apparently, towers were cut down in the wall. It is known that after a visit to the monastery by Dmitry Donskoy before the Battle of Kulikovo, a gate church was established over the eastern entrance of the monastery in the name of his spiritual patron - Dmitry Solunsky.

The monastery was burnt down in 1408 by Khan Edigei. The successor of Sergius, hegumen Nikon, rebuilds the monastery again, basically retaining 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, a stone church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit was erected in place of the wooden one.

Features of the construction of the Transfiguration Monastery in Yaroslavl

The oldest male monastery in Yaroslavl - Spassky - was first mentioned in the annals under 1186. According to other sources, it was founded in the 13th century, but most likely, this is not the date of 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 placed on the left bank of 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: the first spiritual school in the north-eastern part of Rus', the Grigorievsky narthex, was opened here at his expense, a magnificent, very rich library was kept in the monastery, in which there were many Greek and Russian handwritten books. The monastery became not only a religious but also a cultural center of the region. It was here, in the Spassky Monastery of Yaroslavl, that in the early 90s of the 18th century, the famous lover and collector of Russian antiquities, Alexei Ivanovich Musin-Pushkin, discovered a copy of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, one of the masterpieces of ancient Russian literature.

The current Transfiguration Cathedral - the oldest building in 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 the city fire in 1501 and had to be dismantled.

Features of the construction of the Ascension Caves Monastery in the Nizhny Novgorod province

Voznesensky Caves Monastery, Nizhny Novgorod province, male 1st class, in Nizhny Novgorod, on the upland side of the Volga; is under the control of the Archimandrite. This monastery was originally founded by St. V.K. Yuri II (George) Vsevolodovich, around 1219, but she gained great fame already in the XIV century, when, after the Tatar devastation, St. Dionisy, who later was Archbishop in Suzdal: he dug caves here with his own hands, following the example of Kyiv, and until 1364, that is, before consecration to the rank of Bishop, he stayed in them, laboring 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 associates of monasticism here, and the renewal of the monastery gave rise to some historians to attribute even its foundation to this saint of God. In this position, the Voznesensky Monastery, bearing the name of 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 with other monastery buildings were destroyed; fortunately, the monks, noticing the vibration of the mountain, managed to escape in advance, with all the 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 place, and first consisted of wooden buildings, and then, by the diligence of Patriarch Filaret Nikitich, its 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 of Tsars, princes and private 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) Assumption of the Virgin, warm;

3) Macarius Zheltovodsky, sick leave;

4) Euthymius of Suzdal, over the western gates.

In the former monastery, from which only one chapel has survived to this day, they were tonsured monastics in the 14th century: a student of St. Dionysius of St. Euthymius Archimandrite of Suzdal and St. Macarius Zheltovodsky 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 former monastery; when he fell, the coffin of this hermit, placed in that very shutter, was crushed and covered up, and was found already in 1795.

Features of the construction of the Valaam Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery

In church history there has never been and there is no unequivocal answer to the question about the time of the emergence of the Valaam Monastery. The most important source of dating is missing - the ancient life of St. Sergius and Herman. Archival research of the XIX-XX centuries. relied on indirect data, references to certain events from the life of the monastery in various monuments of Russian literature.

A number of modern publications (guidebooks, encyclopedias, etc.) often contain conflicting information about the time when the Valaam Monastery was founded. The emergence of the monastery is attributed either to the XIV century, or to the first centuries of the spread of Christianity in Rus' - X - XI. More than once during enemy invasions (XII, XVII centuries) the monastery was devastated, monastic service here was interrupted for many decades. During the invasions, church monuments, monastic shrines were destroyed, the richest monastic library and manuscript depository were burned and plundered, and the lives of St. Sergius and Herman of Valaam were also lost.

Let's consider the two main concepts of the emergence of the monastery that exist today.

The first of them relates the foundation of the monastery to the XII-XIV centuries. This dating was supported in their studies by church historians of the 19th century: ep. Ambrose (Ornatsky), bishop. Filaret (Gumilevsky), E. E. Golubinsky. At present, 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 Legend of the Valaam Monastery" (published by N. A. Okhotina-Lind). Other modern scholars (H. Kirkinen, S. N. Azbelev), noting this manuscript as "a new research material among other primary sources relating to 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 trustingly from the point of view of critical research. In a fit of their passion ... they did not make a thorough source analysis of the original source. " It should be noted that no other sources have yet been found that would confirm the data of the "Tale of the Valaam Monastery", in particular, the assertion 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 the Monk Ephraim of Perekomsky.

The second concept relates the foundation of the monastery to the X-XI centuries. It relies on one of the editions of the life of St. Abraham of Rostov, containing a mention of the stay of the monk 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 record 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 at the Institute of the History of Material Cultures. There are a total of eight entries. Of greatest interest, as the most informative, is the entry from Likhachev's collection (f.238, op. 1, no. 243): "On the Holy Bishops and Archbishops of Veliky Novgorod, and the Reverend Wonderworkers" of the 18th century. The manuscript commemorates St. Sergius and Herman, the modern (XVII century) ruin of the monastery is indicated, a link is given to the ancient cathedral Chronicler, which indicates the dates of finding (1163) and return (1182) of the relics to Valaam.

Church and monastic traditions adhere to the latter concept, which states that the foundation of the monastery took place in the era of the Baptism of Rus'.

It seems possible to combine two views on the time of the emergence of the monastery: the ancient monastic life on Valaam after the 11th century could stop, and then resume at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries. Perhaps in the future, scientists will discover new historical sources that more fully illuminate the ancient history of the Valaam monastery.

The 11th century was the century of the first severe 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 cloisters.

Ancient Novgorod chronicles report the acquisition of the relics of St. Sergius and Herman and their transfer to Novgorod during the invasion of the Swedes in 1163-1164. "In the summer of 1163. About Archbishop John. Having appointed Archbishop John the First to Veliky Novgorod, and there were bishops before. That same summer, the relics of our venerable fathers Sergius and Herman of Valaam, the miracle-workers of Novgorod, under Archbishop John of Novgorod..." It was then that the local glorification took place founders of the Valaam Monastery and the beginning of church veneration of St. 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 cut a grave deep in the rock and hid the holy relics of the saints in it, where they still remain "under a bushel." 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 the saints was entered into the monastery chronicles until the closing of the monastery

Before the first devastation, Valaam was called the monastery of the Most Holy Trinity, as evidenced by the life of St. Avraamy of Rostov. In all likelihood, the wooden Trinity Valaam Monastery was destroyed by the enemies to the ground. When the danger passed, its main temple was rebuilt from stone and consecrated in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Large contributions were made to the construction of the monastery. The "great and very beautiful and lofty" stone church in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord had side chapels in honor of the Nativity of Christ and St. Nicholas. From the life of St. Alexander Svirsky, who labored in the monastery in the 15th century, we can conclude that the monastic cells were built quite conveniently, each had a premonition, but for those who came to the monastery there was a hotel outside the monastery fence.



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 associates, St. Theodoret of Kola and Varlaam Keretsky, St. 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 by the great blood of Russian pioneers , monks of northern monasteries. The heyday of the monastery begins after the monk visits Moscow in order to ask Ivan the Terrible for a letter of granting the monastery land and fishing grounds. After reading the petition, the tsar listened to Tryphon’s detailed story about the northern country, about the “wild lopi” living there, about deer herds and countless flocks 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 claims to them Norwegians and Danes. The letter given by the Terrible Tryphon, in fact, declared the Pechenga Monastery a new stronghold of the Russian state in the North. “We granted Guriy (abbot) and other monks of the monastery the sea bays of Mototskaya (Motovsky Bay on modern maps), Ilitskaya and Urskaya, Pechenga and Pazrenskaya, and Navdenskaya bays in the sea, all kinds of fishing and sea baiting.” The charter prescribed “to extend the possessions of the monastery to discarded whales and walruses, to seashores, islands, rivers and small streams, upper reaches of rivers, toni (fishing areas), mountains and reapers (hayfields), forests, forest lakes, animal catching”, and all the Lapps with their lands were declared in it from now on subordinate to the monastery. By a special royal decree, the monastery was resolutely protected from the greedy encroachments of "all kinds of German people", who were "ordered to refuse that that land of Lena and from time immemorial the eternal patrimony of our Great Sovereign, and not the Kingdom of Denmark." All this marked the final annexation of the “midnight country” to Novgorod. The diploma was of great importance 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 the control of the state, began to grow rapidly, launched a broad economic activity, started extensive trade in handicraft products with both the central Russian lands and 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, therefore 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 of the noble princes Boris and Gleb, the church served the Lapps who lived in these places for a long time and was considered the center of western Lapland. The temple in the name of Saints Boris and Gleb has survived to this day and is located on the border with Norway. Saint Tryphon continued to work as the last novice. The humility of the saint was so great that, asking the tsar for a charter granted, he did not want his name to be mentioned in it as the founder and organizer of the Pechenga Holy Trinity Monastery. At 18 versts from the monastery on the banks of the Manna River (at its confluence with the Pechenga River), where the Monk Tryphon originally lived and where he often retired to silently serve God, he founded a small hermitage (skete) and built a church in honor and memory of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos . Here, according to legend, they point to a cave at the foot of a high stone mountain, in which the Monk took refuge from the wrath of the pagan Lapps. In memory of this, the mountain is called Salvation. 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 flourished, enlightening the entire desert northern region with faith and piety. By the 80s of the 16th century, the Pechenga Monastery created the largest economy in the Far North, which had extensive maritime industries, shipyards, salt pans, beaver traps, salmon fences, stockyards, a dairy farm, etc. The monastery of St. Tryphon became a real stronghold Orthodoxy in the Far North, a border settlement of Russians, by the very fact of its existence, approved the final right of Russia's jurisdiction over all lands east of the Paz River.

After many labors and deeds, having lived in Lapland for more than 60 years, the Monk Tryphon fell ill. Abbot Guriy and the brethren of the monastery began to mourn over 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 the good path of my course. Put all your hope in God. Jesus Christ, my God, did not leave me alone, in all the misfortunes that happened to me, much less will he leave you gathered in His name. But I command you: love Him, glorified in the Trinity, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your thought. My child! Love each other too. Keep monasticism honestly and temperately. Avoid leadership; you see: for many years, not only my own, but also your needs, my hands served, and I was a novice to everyone, but I did not seek power. And I beg you - do not mourn my death. Death is peace for the husband. In every person, the soul stays in the body as 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 his heavenly fatherland. My beloved, strive to where there is no death, no darkness, but eternal light. There one day is better than a thousand earthly days. Do not love the world and what is in the world. After all, know how cursed this world is. Like the sea, he is unfaithful, rebellious. It is as if the tricks of evil spirits are abyss in it, as if it is agitated by destructive lies, and bitter with the devil's slander, and as if foaming with sins and winds of malice rages. The enemy only thinks of plunging the peace-loving people, spreading his destruction everywhere, crying everywhere. Finally, death to everything ... " The monk commanded to bury his body in the desert near the Church of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, where he spent much time in solitude and silence.

Having communed the Mysteries of Christ and already exhausted, the Monk Tryphon shed a tear. The brethren turned to the Reverend: “Reverend Father, you forbid us to mourn for you, for with joy you go to your sweet Jesus, tell us, why did you shed tears?” The monk’s answer was prophetic: “There will be a grievous temptation in this monastery, and many will receive torment from the edge of the sword; But do not weaken, brethren, by trusting in God, He will not leave the rod of sinners in His lot, for He is strong and ever again to renew His abode. After that, the Monk sank down on the rogozin, his face lit up, the dying man smiled, as it were, and thus surrendered his soul to the Lord.

So on December 15 (28), 1583, the Monk Tryphon ended his difficult life, remaining in a clear mind and excellent memory. Before his death, he left the brethren a formidable prophecy about the coming terrible misfortune, about the ruin of the monastery, and that many of them would accept a "fierce death from the edge of the sword." The orphaned brethren with honor 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 Most Holy Theotokos.

After the death of Saint Tryphon, the monastery flourished for a short time. And then the prophecy of the Reverend about the destruction of the monastery and the martyrdom of his brethren came true. This is 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 continue to stand. The blood of the "116" holy martyrs who were killed for their faith is a guarantee of the inviolability of the Orthodox possessions of Tryphon.

The prophetic prediction of the Reverend 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" - led by Peka Vesaisen, a native of the town of Ii in Finland, approached the monastery desert on the Manne River and burned the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary , where the relics of the Monk Tryphon rested under a bushel. At the temple were Hieromonk Jonah, who, after the death of the Monk Tryphon, for seven years daily celebrated the Divine Liturgy, commemorating his mentor, and the cassock monk Herman, sexton and clerk of the temple. Having tortured them, the Finns went to the monastery itself. According to legend, for a whole week they did not dare to approach the monastery, as it seemed to them that there were many armed soldiers on the monastery fence.

Already on the feast of the Nativity of Christ, the robbers broke into the monastery and with bestial cruelty began to kill the monks and novices who were in the Holy Trinity Church. Some were cut in half, others cut off their arms and legs. Hegumen Guriy and other monks were especially tortured: they were stabbed with weapons, burned on fire, trying to get information about the location of the brotherhood of the monastery. Christ's sufferers in the midst of grievous torments did not answer the tormentors and only looked at the sky. The enraged Finns cut them to pieces as well.

Having robbed everything they could, the robbers set fire to the temple, along with the bodies of the martyrs, and all the buildings of the monastery. All buildings were burned, most of the property, the barnyard, the mill. They also burned a village called Vikid, where there was a monastery harbor and a camp of Lapps, all karbas and boats, and cut the remaining ships 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 completes 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 brought to the monastery by their home-grown Judas. It was a nomadic Lapp, the owner of a deer herd, his name was Ivan and he was baptized by the Monk Tryphon himself. Only Ivan was baptized out of greed, expecting gifts from God. But, not having received 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 cold covered the snow, the reindeer died every day from starvation, and the herd was melting before our eyes. Lapp Ivan was completely angry. Therefore, he himself proposed to bring to the Pechenga monastery a robber detachment, which passed through those places. The robbers were delighted, because they did not know the way to the monastery, and gave the traitor 20 Swedish silver 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, laborers and pilgrims in the refectory at the tables. But before blessing the meal, abbot Guriy, as usual, took the holy book and had just opened it to read the sermon where he had a bookmark, when he turned pale, staggered and fell to the floor. The brethren thought that he was weak from abstinence; one ran up to pick up the abbot and wanted to read instead of him, when he screamed, hiding his face from fear. Everyone got up and saw with horror that where the abbot's bookmark lay, a commemoration of the newly deceased murdered appeared in bloody letters and a list of their names followed, starting with the abbot's name. Weeping and confusion arose, but the rector firmly ordered everyone to go to church, and there, together with the brethren, he fell before the icons. At this time, the robbers attacked the monastery and began to break through the doors of the sacred temple. Among the monks and laborers there were many young and strong, who, seeing through the windows that there were no more than 50 attackers, began to ask the father rector to bless them to defend the monastery, since they had axes and crowbars. But the rector said: “No, this is the will of God, before his death, without mentioning the hour, the Monk Tryphon predicted, and therefore you cannot resist it and you must unquestioningly prepare to accept the crown of martyrdom.” Hearing these words, the brethren humbled themselves and fell silent. With fervent prayer, the monks fell prostrate before the altar. At this time, the robbers broke in, but not one of the monks moved, did not answer the question about the monastery money and junk. The robbers went berserk and everyone who was in the temple accepted martyrdom without raising their heads and with a prayer on their lips. Having killed everyone, the robbers began to rob the monastery. Everything that was of any value to them, they took with them, the rest was ruthlessly burned. Meanwhile, the fire engulfed the entire monastery, and the robbers, afraid of burning themselves, climbed onto a nearby rock and began to divide the loot. At the same time, Lapp Ivan got a chalice - a Chalice from which the faithful are communed 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 spilled into the sky into a golden circle, lit up brighter than a 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, rise up and merge with the golden circle, which flared up and expanded so that it hurt the eyes. A total of 116 swans flew out. “It seems that we have committed a great sin by shedding righteous blood,” the leader of the robbers shouted, and everyone, together with the guide, rushed in confusion to the reindeer teams. For a long time they rushed in great fear, leaving the Pechenga land. Judas-Ivan raced ahead of the robbers. Already on the Paz River, he approached a clearing, languishing with thirst and wanting to get drunk, 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 Chalice into the water, but she did not sink, she stood on the water and shines like fire, and inside her blood burns like a ruby. The Christ-seller's hair stood up, his eyes climbed onto his forehead; wants to cross himself - the hand does not move, hangs like a whip. But then a water column rose and carefully carried the Chalice to the sky. As the sun burned in the air, the Holy Chalice became bright all around, as on a summer day. The Lord Himself stretched out His right hand and accepted the Chalice into His holy bosom. Then everything went dark again, and at once a dark night came. With a roar, a water column that rose to the sky fell down, enveloped the half-dead Ivan, spinning and pulling him into the underground abyss ... And the robbers got lost and died of hunger: only some of them escaped to be unfortunate heralds of flagrant lawlessness.

In December 1589, during an attack by a detachment of Swedish Finns, the absolute majority of the brethren showed true obedience, going even to death, to their hegumen, who forbade massacres in the church. As a result, on their knees, they all accepted a terrible death and inherited heavenly abodes.

The huge monastery-fortress of the 16th century was completely destroyed, everything was burned to the ground along with the monks-martyrs. The few surviving inhabitants moved to the Kola jail, where the history of the monastery continued until it was abolished in the middle of the 18th century.

In the autumn of 2003, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow and All Rus', "the brethren of the Pechenga monastery, who were killed together with Abbot Guriy," was glorified as a martyr.

The lower monastery on the site of the ancient (XVI century) Holy Trinity Monastery. In the center is the chapel of the Nativity of Christ (built for the 300th anniversary of the destruction of the monastery over the grave of the monks who died in 1589/90). Subsequently, a church building was attached to it, and the chapel became its altar part. On the left is a hotel (built in 1891–1894). Sør-Varanger Museum

Monasteries- these are communal settlements of believers who live together, leaving the world, while observing a certain charter. The oldest are Buddhist monasteries that arose on the territory of India in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. In the Middle Ages, Christian monasteries in Europe were already built as fortresses or castles. Russian Orthodox monasteries, however, from time immemorial have been characterized by a freer pictorial layout.

Monasteries in Rus' began to appear at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century. One of the first - Kievo-Pechersky- was founded by St. Theodosius in 1051 on the banks of the Dnieper in artificial caves. In 1598 he received the status of a Lavra. The Monk Theodosius laid down a strict monastic charter 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 the son of Dmitry Donskoy - Prince Yuri Zvenigorodsky "in praise" of Sergius of Radonezh. His remains were moved here. So the cathedral became one of the first memorial monuments of Muscovite Rus'.
Sergius tried to spread the veneration of the Holy Trinity as a symbol of the unity of all Rus'. To create the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral, icon painters Andrey Rublev and Daniil Cherny were invited.

At the end of the 17th century, instead of the ancient chambers, a refectory was erected - an elegant building surrounded by a gallery, decorated with columns, ornaments and carved architraves.

Trinity Monastery(XIV century) founded by the brothers Bartholomew and Stefan on the northern approaches to Moscow. When he was tonsured, Bartholomew received the name Sergius, who began to be called Radonezhsky.

“Reverend Sergius, with his life, with the very possibility of such a life, made the grieving people feel that not everything good had died out and died away in him ... The Russian people of the XIV century recognized this action as a miracle,” wrote historian Vasily Klyuchevsky. During his life, Sergius founded several more monasteries, and his students - up to 40 more monasteries on the lands of Rus'.

Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery was founded in 1397. The legend says that the Archimandrite of the Simonov Monastery Kirill, during a prayer, was ordered by the voice of the Virgin to go to the shore of the White Lake and found a monastery there. The monastery actively developed and soon became one of the largest. From the first half of the 16th century, the Grand Dukes went here on a pilgrimage. Ivan the Terrible was tonsured in this monastery.

Rizpolozhensky Monastery was founded in 1207. This monastery is the only one that brought to us the names of its builders - "stone builders" - Suzdal Ivan Mamin, Ivan Gryaznov and Andrey Shmakov. The Rizpolozhensky Monastery played a major role in preserving the topography of ancient Suzdal: the oldest Suzdal road passed through the monastery gates, going from the Kremlin through the settlement along the left bank of the Kamenka River. The two-tented Holy Gates of the monastery, built in 1688, have been preserved.

Church of the Assumption of the 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 with a complex decor.

On March 14, 1613, representatives of the Zemsky Sobor announced to Mikhail Fedorovich, who was in the Ipatiev Monastery, that he had been elected to the kingdom. It was the first king of the Romanov dynasty. His name is associated with the feat of the peasant Ivan Susanin, who led Polish soldiers into the forest who were looking for a way to the monastery in order to capture the young king. Susanin saved the young monarch at the cost of his life. In 1858, at the request of Emperor Alexander II, the monastery cells of the 16th-17th centuries were rebuilt. The emperor ordered to create a family nest of the reigning dynasty here. The reconstruction was carried out in a manner stylized as the 16th century.

Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma it 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 XIV century. The monastery was repeatedly attacked by the Swedes. After the end of the Northern War, according to the Nystadt Peace Treaty of 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. In 1821 a skete arose at the monastery. This event predetermined his future fate and fame. In the second quarter of the 19th century, such a phenomenon as "eldership" arose here. Among the elders there were many educated people who were engaged in religious and philosophical problems. Startsev was 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 look, interesting architectural structures and agricultural buildings, dozens of chapels, crosses. In clear weather, the outlines of the archipelago can be seen from afar.
The architects of Valaam were able 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 reformer of the Orthodox Church of the 17th century. Voskresenskoye was bought by Nikon in 1656. In addition to the serfs of the patriarch himself, craftsmen from all over the country were involved in the construction. 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 Voloka Lamsky, known since 1135. The city was founded by Novgorodians on the site of an ancient portage (dragging over land) of ships from the Lama River to Voloshna.

Spaso-Borodino Monastery- one of the best monuments of the war of 1812. The architect M. Bykovsky organically added a fence, a bell tower and the tomb of General Tuchkov to the monastery.

Literature

• Russian large children's encyclopedia, Modern writer, Minsk, 2008

INTRODUCTION

Russian culture is a huge variety of possibilities, coming from many origins-teachers. Among the latter are the pre-Christian culture of the Eastern Slavs, a beneficial lack of unity (Russian culture at birth is a combination of the cultures of many centers of the Kievan land), freedom (primarily internal, perceived as both 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 would develop evenly - in the XIV - early XV centuries. painting comes first, in the XV - XVI centuries. architecture prevails, in the 17th century. leading positions belong to literature. At the same time, Russian culture in every century and for several centuries is a unity, where each of its spheres enriches the others, suggests them new moves and opportunities, learns from them itself.

Slavic peoples for the first time joined the heights of culture through Christianity. The revelation for them was not the "corporality", which they constantly encountered, but the spirituality of human existence. This spirituality came to them primarily through art, which was easily and peculiarly perceived by the Eastern Slavs, who were prepared for this by their attitude to the surrounding world and nature.

Monasteries played an important 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 by Prince Vladimir of Kyiv and his subjects. And after 1.5-2 centuries they already played an 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 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 monasteries, and nowhere did he like it." This means that there were some monastic cloisters on the Kievan land even before Anthony. But there is no information about them, and therefore the Pechersky Monastery (later the Kiev-Pechora Lavra) is considered the first Russian Orthodox monastery, 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 in his monastery, which numbered two dozen monks, the charter of the Constantinople Studian monastery, which strictly regulated the whole life of monastics. Subsequently, this charter was introduced in other large monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, which were predominantly cenobitic.

At the beginning of the XII 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 life did not at all correspond to Christian precepts, founded monasteries, trying to atone for sins in them. At the same time, wealthy investors not only received “specialist services” - monks, but could themselves spend the rest of their lives in the usual conditions of material well-being. The increased population in the cities ensured the growth in the number of monks.

The predominance of urban monasteries was noted. Apparently, the spread of Christianity played a role here, first among rich and wealthy people who were close to the princes and lived with them in the cities. Wealthy merchants and artisans also lived in them. Of course, ordinary townspeople accepted Christianity sooner than peasants.

Along with the 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 run a common household, and depositors, wishing to leave the monastery, could demand their contribution back.

From the middle of the XIV century. the emergence of a new type of monasteries begins, which were founded by people who did not have land holdings, but possessed energy and enterprise. They sought grants of lands from the Grand Duke, accepted donations from feudal neighbors “for the memory of their souls”, enslaved the surrounding peasants, bought and bartered lands, ran their own economy, traded, engaged in usury and turned monasteries into feudal estates.

Following Kyiv, Novgorod, Vladimir, Smolensk, Galich and other ancient Russian cities acquired their own monasteries. In the pre-Mongolian period, the total number of monasteries and the number of monks in them were insignificant. According to chronicles, in the XI-XIII centuries in Rus' there were no more than 70 monasteries, including 17 each in Kyiv and Novgorod.

The number of monasteries noticeably increased 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 male, 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 the centers of the most intense religious life, the guardians of church traditions, but also as the economic stronghold of the church, as well as centers for the training of church personnel. The 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 a vow of complete and unconditional obedience, which they gave during their tonsure, the monks were an obedient tool in the hands of the church leadership.

As a rule, in the Russian lands of the XI-XIII centuries. monasteries were founded by princes or local boyar aristocracy.

monasteries in Rus'

The first monasteries arose in the vicinity of large cities, or directly in them. Monasteries were a form of social organization of people who abandoned the norms of life accepted in secular society. These collectives solved different tasks: from preparing their members for the afterlife to creating model farms. The 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 clergymen of all ranks. The episcopate was elected from the monastic environment, and the hierarchal rank was received mainly by monks of noble origin. In the XI-XII centuries, fifteen bishops came out of one Kiev-Pechora monastery. Bishops from the "simple" numbered a few.

THE ROLE OF MONASTERIES IN THE CULTURAL LIFE OF Rus'

Orthodox monasteries have played a huge role in the cultural, political and economic history of Rus', Russia. In our country - as, indeed, in other countries of the Christian world - the cloisters of monks have always been not only places of prayerful service to God, but also centers of culture and enlightenment; in many periods of national history, monasteries had a noticeable impact on the political development of the country, on the economic life of people.

One of these periods was the time of consolidation of Russian lands around Moscow, the time of the heyday of Orthodox art and the rethinking of the cultural tradition that connected Kievan Rus with the Moscow kingdom, the time of colonization of new lands and the introduction of new peoples to Orthodoxy.

During 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 along 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. Saints Sergius and Herman founded the Valaam Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior on the islands in Lake Ladoga and preached among the Karelian tribes. Saints Savvaty and Zosima laid the foundation for the Solovetsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, the largest in the North of Europe. St. Cyril created a monastery in the Beloozero region. Saint Theodoret Kola baptized the Finnish tribe of topars and created an alphabet for them. His mission in the middle of the XVI 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. Great educational work was going on in them, books were being copied, original schools of icon painting and fresco painting were developing.

Icons were painted in monasteries, which, along with frescoes and mosaics, constituted that genre of pictorial art that was allowed by the church and encouraged by it in every possible way.

Outstanding painters of antiquity reflected in the icon both religious plots and their vision of the surrounding world, captured in paints not only Christian dogmas, but also their own attitude to the pressing problems of our time. Therefore, ancient Russian pictorial art went beyond the narrow framework of church vulgarity 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 - beginning of the XV centuries. - This is the heyday of iconography. It was in it that Russian artists managed to fully express the character of the country and people, to 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 critics, but also to social psychologists, has become an integral part of the life of the Russian people.

Providence rarely manages in such a way that for 150 years, one after another, great cultural figures live and create. Russia XIV-XV centuries. in this respect she was lucky - she had F. Grek, A. Rublev, Dionysius. The first link in this chain was Feofan, a philosopher, scribe, illustrator, icon painter, who came to Rus' as an already established master, but not frozen in the themes and methods of writing. Working in Novgorod and Moscow, with the same sophistication, he managed to create frescoes and icons that were completely different from each other. The Greek did not disdain adapting to circumstances: frantic, striking with irrepressible imagination in Novgorod, he bears little resemblance to a 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, Andrey 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 worship endowed with magical powers, but also an object 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.

The most famous icon of Rublev - "Trinity" - during the life of the author caused controversy and doubt. The dogmatic concept of the Trinity - the unity of a 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 the doctrine of the Trinity gave rise to a huge number of heresies in the history of Christianity. Yes, and in Rus' XI-XIII centuries. preferred to dedicate temples to more real images: the Savior, the Mother of God, Nicholas.

Rublev in the symbol of the Trinity distinguished not only an abstract dogmatic idea, but also the idea of ​​the political and moral unity of the Russian land, which was vital for that time. In picturesque images, he conveyed a religious paraphrase of the completely earthly idea of ​​​​unity, “unity of equals”. Rublev's approach to the essence and meaning of the icon was so new, and the 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 sanctity of his life. Then Rublev's icons were updated by later authors and disappeared until our century (let's not forget that 80-100 years after the creation, the icons darkened from the drying oil that covered them, and the painting became indistinguishable.

We also know little about the third coryphaeus of icon painting. Dionysius, apparently, was the favorite artist of Ivan III and remained a worldly painter without taking the tonsure. In fact, humility and obedience are clearly not inherent in him, which was reflected in his frescoes. And the era was completely different than the times of Grek and Rublev. Moscow triumphed over the Horde and art was ordered to sing the greatness and glory of the Muscovite state. The frescoes of Dionysius do not perhaps reach the high aspiration and deep expressiveness of the Rublev icons. They are not created for reflection, but for joyful admiration. They are part of the holiday, not an object of thoughtful contemplation. Dionysius did not become a prophetic soothsayer, but he is an unsurpassed master and master of color, unusually light and pure tones. With his work, ceremonial, solemn art became the leading one. Of course, they tried to imitate him, but the followers lacked some smallness: measure, harmony, purity - what distinguishes a true master from a diligent artisan.

We know only a few monks by name - icon painters, carvers, writers, architects. The then culture was to a certain extent anonymous, which is generally characteristic of the Middle Ages. Humble monks did not always sign their works, nor did the lay masters care too much about lifetime or posthumous earthly glory.

It was the era of conciliar creativity. Metropolitan Pitirim of Volokolamsk and Yuryev, our contemporary, wrote about this era in his work “The Experience of the Folk Spirit” as follows: “The spirit of conciliar work touched all areas of creativity. Following the political gathering of Rus', along with the growth of economic ties between various parts of the state, cultural gathering began. It was then that the works of hagiographic literature multiplied, generalizing chronicles were created, and the achievements of the largest provincial schools in the field of fine arts, architecture, musical singing, decorative and applied arts began to merge into one in the all-Russian culture.

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Monasteries- these are communal settlements of believers who live together, leaving the world, while observing a certain charter. The oldest are Buddhist monasteries that arose on the territory of India in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. In the Middle Ages, Christian monasteries in Europe were already built as fortresses or castles. Russian Orthodox monasteries, however, from time immemorial have been characterized by a freer pictorial layout.

Monasteries in Rus' began to appear at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century. One of the first - Kievo-Pechersky- was founded by St. Theodosius in 1051 on the banks of the Dnieper in artificial caves. In 1598 he received the status of a Lavra. The Monk Theodosius laid down a strict monastic charter 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 the son of Dmitry Donskoy - Prince Yuri Zvenigorodsky "in praise" of Sergius of Radonezh. His remains were moved here. So the cathedral became one of the first memorial monuments of Muscovite Rus'.
Sergius tried to spread the veneration of the Holy Trinity as a symbol of the unity of all Rus'. To create the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral, icon painters Andrey Rublev and Daniil Cherny were invited.

At the end of the 17th century, instead of the ancient chambers, a refectory was erected - an elegant building surrounded by a gallery, decorated with columns, ornaments and carved architraves.

Trinity Monastery(XIV century) founded by the brothers Bartholomew and Stefan on the northern approaches to Moscow. When he was tonsured, Bartholomew received the name Sergius, who began to be called Radonezhsky.

“Reverend Sergius, by his life, by the very possibility of such a life, made the grieving people feel that not everything good had died out and died away in him ... The Russian people of the XIV century recognized this action as a miracle,” wrote historian Vasily Klyuchevsky. During his life, Sergius founded several more monasteries, and his students - up to 40 more monasteries on the lands of Rus'.

Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery was founded in 1397. The legend says that the Archimandrite of the Simonov Monastery Kirill, during a prayer, was ordered by the voice of the Virgin to go to the shore of the White Lake and found a monastery there. The monastery actively developed and soon became one of the largest. From the first half of the 16th century, the Grand Dukes went here on a pilgrimage. Ivan the Terrible was tonsured in this monastery.

The Ferapont 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, 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 XIV century on the site of the watchtower of Zvenigorod (hence the name - Storozhevsky). During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, the monastery was used by him as a country residence.

Dionysius the Wise- so called the contemporaries of this famous old Russian master icon painter. At the end of his life (in 1550) Dionysius was invited to paint a stone Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God Ferapontov Monastery. Of all the picturesque 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 to build stone. At the end of the 17th century, Solovki became an outpost of Russia.
In the Solovetsky Monastery, the water-filled dock, dams, and cages for fishing amaze the imagination. The panorama of the monastery is deployed along the sea. At the entrance to the Spassky Gates, we see Assumption Church.

Solovetsky Islands - nature reserve in the White Sea. Remoteness from the mainland, the severity of the climate did not prevent the settlement and transformation of this region. Among the many small islands, six stand out - Big Solovetsky Island, Anzersky, Big and Small Muksulma and Big and Small Zayatsky. The glory of the archipelago was brought by a monastery founded in the first half of the 15th century by settler monks.

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, went down in history as an aristocratic one. Starting from the 16th century, noble women were exiled here: the daughter of Ivan III - nun Alexandra; the wife of Vasily III - Solomonia Saburova; daughter of Boris Godunov - Xenia; 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 Evfimy, an associate of Sergius of Radonezh. After the canonization of Euthymius, the monastery received the name Spaso-Evfimiev. Under the Poles, there was a military camp here.

AT Transfiguration Cathedral The monastery was the family tomb of the princes Pozharsky. Next to the altar apses, a crypt was built, where representatives of this ancient family were buried. 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 brought to us the names of its builders - "stone builders" - Suzdal Ivan Mamin, Ivan Gryaznov and Andrey Shmakov. The Rizpolozhensky Monastery played a major role in preserving the topography of ancient Suzdal: the oldest Suzdal road passed through the monastery gates, going from the Kremlin through the settlement along the left bank of the Kamenka River. The two-tented Holy Gates of the monastery, built in 1688, have been preserved.

Church of the Assumption of the 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 with a complex decor.

On March 14, 1613, representatives of the Zemsky Sobor announced to Mikhail Fedorovich, who was in the Ipatiev Monastery, that he had been elected to the kingdom. It was the first king of the Romanov dynasty. His name is associated with the feat of the peasant Ivan Susanin, who led Polish soldiers into the forest who were looking for a way to the monastery in order to capture the young king. Susanin saved the young monarch at the cost of his life. In 1858, at the request of Emperor Alexander II, the monastery cells of the 16th-17th centuries were rebuilt. The emperor ordered to create a family nest of the reigning dynasty here. The reconstruction was carried out in a manner stylized as the 16th century.

Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma it 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 XIV century. The monastery was repeatedly attacked by the Swedes. After the end of the Northern War, according to the Nystadt Peace Treaty of 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? Ancient monastery

In 1821 a skete arose at the monastery. This event predetermined his future fate and fame. In the second quarter of the 19th century, such a phenomenon as "eldership" arose here. Among the elders there were many educated people who were engaged in religious and philosophical problems. Startsev was 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 look, interesting architectural structures and agricultural buildings, dozens of chapels, crosses. In clear weather, the outlines of the archipelago can be seen from afar.
The architects of Valaam were able 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 reformer of the Orthodox Church of the 17th century. Voskresenskoye was bought by Nikon in 1656. In addition to the serfs of the patriarch himself, craftsmen from all over the country were involved in the construction. 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 Voloka Lamsky, known since 1135. The city was founded by Novgorodians on the site of an ancient portage (dragging over land) of ships from the Lama River to Voloshna.

Spaso-Borodino Monastery- one of the best monuments of the war of 1812. The architect M. Bykovsky organically added a fence, a bell tower and the tomb of General Tuchkov to the monastery.

Literature

• Russian large children's encyclopedia, Modern writer, Minsk, 2008

The appearance of the first monasteries in Kievan Rus

In the oldest Russian sources, the first mention of monks and monasteries in Rus' refers 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, from 1051 the Metropolitan of Kyiv, in his "Sermon on Law and Grace," said that already in the time of Vladimir, monasteries appeared in Kyiv and Chernorizians appeared. It is likely that the monasteries that Hilarion mentions were not monasteries in the proper sense, but simply Christians lived in separate huts near the church in strict asceticism, gathered together for worship, but did not yet have a monastic charter, did not give monastic vows and did not receive the correct tonsure, or, another possibility - the compilers of the chronicle, which includes the Code of 1039, which has a very strong Grecophile coloring, were inclined to underestimate the success in spreading Christianity in Kievan Rus before the arrival of Metropolitan Theopemptus (1037), probably the first in Kyiv hierarch of Greek position and Greek origin.
Under the same year 1037, the ancient Russian chronicler reports that Yaroslav founded two monasteries: St. George (Georgievsky) and St. Irina (Irininsky convent) - the first regular monasteries in Kyiv. But these were the so-called ktitor, or, better, princely monasteries, for their ktitor was the prince. Almost all the monasteries founded in the pre-Mongol era, that is, until the middle of the 13th century, were precisely princely, or ktitor, monasteries.
A completely different beginning was at the famous Kyiv cave monastery - the Pechersky Monastery. It arose from the purely ascetic aspirations of individuals from the common people and became famous not for the nobility of ktitors and not for its riches, but for the love that it earned from contemporaries thanks to the ascetic exploits of its inhabitants, whose whole life, as the chronicler writes, passed "in abstinence, and in great fasting, and in prayers with tears.
Simultaneously with the flourishing of the Pechersk Monastery, new monasteries appeared in Kyiv and other cities. From what was placed in the Patericon, we learn that in Kyiv already at that time there was a monastery of St. Mines.
Demetrius Monastery was founded in Kyiv in 1061/62 by Prince Izyaslav. To manage it, Izyaslav invited the abbot of the Caves Monastery. Izyaslav's rival in the struggle for Kyiv, Prince Vsevolod, in turn, also founded a monastery - Mikhailovsky Vydubitsky, and in 1070 ordered to build a stone church in it. Two more monasteries appeared in Kyiv two years later.
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 counts up to 17 monasteries in Kyiv alone.
In the XI century. monasteries are also being built outside Kyiv. Monasteries also appear in Pereyaslavl (1072–1074), in Chernigov (1074), and in Suzdal (1096). Especially many monasteries were built in Novgorod, where in the XII-XIII centuries. There were also up to 17 monasteries. Just until the middle of the XIII century. in Rus', you can count up to 70 monasteries located in cities or their environs.

INTRODUCTION
Russian culture is a huge variety of possibilities, coming from many origins-teachers. Among the latter are the pre-Christian culture of the Eastern Slavs, a beneficial lack of unity (Russian culture at birth is a combination of the cultures of many centers of the Kievan land), freedom (primarily internal, perceived as both 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 would develop evenly - in the XIV - early XV centuries. painting comes first, in the XV - XVI centuries. architecture prevails, in the 17th century. leading positions belong to literature. At the same time, Russian culture in every century and for several centuries is a unity, where each of its spheres enriches the others, suggests them new moves and opportunities, learns from them itself.

Slavic peoples for the first time joined the heights of culture through Christianity. The revelation for them was not the "corporality", which they constantly encountered, but the spirituality of human existence. This spirituality came to them primarily through art, which was easily and peculiarly perceived by the Eastern Slavs, who were prepared for this by their attitude to the surrounding world and nature.

Monasteries played an important role in the formation of spirituality and in the cultural development of the Russian people.

HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF MONASTERIES

IN Rus'

Monasteries appeared in Ancient Rus' in the 11th century, several decades after the adoption of Christianity by Prince Vladimir of Kyiv and his subjects. And after 1.5-2 centuries they already played an 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 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 monasteries, and nowhere did he like it." This means that there were some monastic cloisters on the Kievan land even before Anthony. But there is no information about them, and therefore the Pechersky Monastery (later the Kiev-Pechora Lavra) is considered the first Russian Orthodox monastery, 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 in his monastery, which numbered two dozen monks, the charter of the Constantinople Studian monastery, which strictly regulated the whole life of monastics. Subsequently, this charter was introduced in other large monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, which were predominantly cenobitic.

At the beginning of the XII 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 life did not at all correspond to Christian precepts, founded monasteries, trying to atone for sins in them. At the same time, wealthy investors not only received “specialist services” - monks, but could themselves spend the rest of their lives in the usual conditions of material well-being. The increased population in the cities ensured the growth in the number of monks.

The predominance of urban monasteries was noted. Apparently, the spread of Christianity played a role here, first among rich and wealthy people who were close to the princes and lived with them in the cities. Wealthy merchants and artisans also lived in them. Of course, ordinary townspeople accepted Christianity sooner than peasants.

Along with the 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 run a common household, and depositors, wishing to leave the monastery, could demand their contribution back.

From the middle of the XIV century. the emergence of a new type of monasteries begins, which were founded by people who did not have land holdings, but possessed energy and enterprise. They sought grants of lands from the Grand Duke, accepted donations from feudal neighbors “for the memory of their souls”, enslaved the surrounding peasants, bought and bartered lands, ran their own economy, traded, engaged in usury and turned monasteries into feudal estates.

Following Kyiv, Novgorod, Vladimir, Smolensk, Galich and other ancient Russian cities acquired their own monasteries. In the pre-Mongolian period, the total number of monasteries and the number of monks in them were insignificant. According to chronicles, in the XI-XIII centuries in Rus' there were no more than 70 monasteries, including 17 each in Kyiv and Novgorod.

The number of monasteries noticeably increased 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 male, 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 the centers of the most intense religious life, the guardians of church traditions, but also as the economic stronghold of the church, as well as centers for the training of church personnel. The 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 a vow of complete and unconditional obedience, which they gave during their tonsure, the monks were an obedient tool in the hands of the church leadership.

As a rule, in the Russian lands of the XI-XIII centuries. monasteries were founded by princes or local boyar aristocracy. The first monasteries arose in the vicinity of large cities, or directly in them. Monasteries were a form of social organization of people who abandoned the norms of life accepted in secular society. These collectives solved different tasks: from preparing their members for the afterlife to creating model farms. The 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 clergymen of all ranks. The episcopate was elected from the monastic environment, and the hierarchal rank was received mainly by monks of noble origin. In the XI-XII centuries, fifteen bishops came out of one Kiev-Pechora monastery. Bishops from the "simple" numbered a few.

THE ROLE OF MONASTERIES IN THE CULTURAL LIFE OF Rus'

Orthodox monasteries have played a huge role in the cultural, political and economic history of Rus', Russia. In our country - as, indeed, in other countries of the Christian world - the cloisters of monks have always been not only places of prayerful service to God, but also centers of culture and enlightenment; in many periods of national history, monasteries had a noticeable impact on the political development of the country, on the economic life of people.

One of these periods was the time of consolidation of Russian lands around Moscow, the time of the heyday of Orthodox art and the rethinking of the cultural tradition that connected Kievan Rus with the Moscow kingdom, the time of colonization of new lands and the introduction of new peoples to Orthodoxy.

During 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 along 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. Saints Sergius and Herman founded the Valaam Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior on the islands in Lake Ladoga and preached among the Karelian tribes. Saints Savvaty and Zosima laid the foundation for the Solovetsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, the largest in the North of Europe. St. Cyril created a monastery in the Beloozero region. Saint Theodoret Kola baptized the Finnish tribe of topars and created an alphabet for them. His mission in the middle of the XVI 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. Great educational work was going on in them, books were being copied, original schools of icon painting and fresco painting were developing.

Icons were painted in monasteries, which, along with frescoes and mosaics, constituted that genre of pictorial art that was allowed by the church and encouraged by it in every possible way.

Outstanding painters of antiquity reflected in the icon both religious plots and their vision of the surrounding world, captured in paints not only Christian dogmas, but also their own attitude to the pressing problems of our time. Therefore, ancient Russian pictorial art went beyond the narrow framework of church vulgarity 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 - beginning of the XV centuries. - This is the heyday of iconography. It was in it that Russian artists managed to fully express the character of the country and people, to 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 critics, but also to social psychologists, has become an integral part of the life of the Russian people.

Providence rarely manages in such a way that for 150 years, one after another, great cultural figures live and create. Russia XIV-XV centuries. in this respect she was lucky - she had F. Grek, A. Rublev, Dionysius. The first link in this chain was Feofan, a philosopher, scribe, illustrator, icon painter, who came to Rus' as an already established master, but not frozen in the themes and methods of writing. Working in Novgorod and Moscow, with the same sophistication, he managed to create frescoes and icons that were completely different from each other. The Greek did not disdain adapting to circumstances: frantic, striking with irrepressible imagination in Novgorod, he bears little resemblance to a 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, Andrey 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 worship endowed with magical powers, but also an object 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.

The most famous icon of Rublev - "Trinity" - during the life of the author caused controversy and doubt. The dogmatic concept of the Trinity - the unity of a 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 the doctrine of the Trinity gave rise to a huge number of heresies in the history of Christianity. Yes, and in Rus' XI-XIII centuries. preferred to dedicate temples to more real images: the Savior, the Mother of God, Nicholas.

Rublev in the symbol of the Trinity distinguished not only an abstract dogmatic idea, but also the idea of ​​the political and moral unity of the Russian land, which was vital for that time. In picturesque images, he conveyed a religious paraphrase of the completely earthly idea of ​​​​unity, “unity of equals”. Rublev's approach to the essence and meaning of the icon was so new, and the 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 sanctity of his life. Then Rublev's icons were updated by later authors and disappeared until our century (let's not forget that 80-100 years after the creation, the icons darkened from the drying oil that covered them, and the painting became indistinguishable.

We also know little about the third coryphaeus of icon painting. Dionysius, apparently, was the favorite artist of Ivan III and remained a worldly painter without taking the tonsure. In fact, humility and obedience are clearly not inherent in him, which was reflected in his frescoes. And the era was completely different than the times of Grek and Rublev. Moscow triumphed over the Horde and art was ordered to sing the greatness and glory of the Muscovite state. The frescoes of Dionysius do not perhaps reach the high aspiration and deep expressiveness of the Rublev icons. They are not created for reflection, but for joyful admiration. They are part of the holiday, not an object of thoughtful contemplation. Dionysius did not become a prophetic soothsayer, but he is an unsurpassed master and master of color, unusually light and pure tones. With his work, ceremonial, solemn art became the leading one. Of course, they tried to imitate him, but the followers lacked some smallness: measure, harmony, purity - what distinguishes a true master from a diligent artisan.

We know only a few monks by name - icon painters, carvers, writers, architects. The then culture was to a certain extent anonymous, which is generally characteristic of the Middle Ages. Humble monks did not always sign their works, nor did the lay masters care too much about lifetime or posthumous earthly glory.

It was the era of conciliar creativity. Metropolitan Pitirim of Volokolamsk and Yuryev, our contemporary, wrote about this era in his work “The Experience of the Folk Spirit” as follows: “The spirit of conciliar work touched all areas of creativity. Following the political gathering of Rus', along with the growth of economic ties between various parts of the state, cultural gathering began. It was then that the works of hagiographic literature multiplied, generalizing chronicles were created, and the achievements of the largest provincial schools in the field of fine arts, architecture, musical singing, decorative and applied arts began to merge into one in the all-Russian culture.

Before the advent of printing, it was in the monastic cells that books for liturgical purposes were copied, literature of a religious and church content was composed, in particular the “lives of the saints”, glorifying the “pleasers of God” (mainly monastics) and those cloisters where they carried monastic obedience.

At the same time, the monasteries fulfilled the social order of the princely authorities: they created and re-edited chronicles and legislative documents. Judging by the content of the chronicles and the style of their presentation, they were written by people who only formally "left the world", as required by the ritual of initiation into monasticism, but in fact were in the thick of political events, full of "marine" worries and unrest.

The creation of culture is always closely connected with its conservation and preservation. This dual task in the XV-XVI centuries. monasteries, which from time immemorial were not only spiritual centers, but also a kind of museums, where unique works of national art were kept, as well as libraries with amazingly valuable collections of manuscripts and rare books, were the ones who decided.

One of the main sources of replenishment of the monastic collections were deposits. Family heirlooms were brought here by the impoverished descendants of the specific princes, who could not stand the unequal struggle with the strengthened grand ducal power. Contributions also came from Moscow princes and tsars, who often used influential monasteries for political purposes. The reasons for the contribution to the treasury of the monastery could be the victory over the enemy, and the prayer for the birth of an heir, and the solemn accession to the throne. Often they made contributions and just for the sake of the soul. On the territory of monasteries, near their cathedrals and churches, noble people were sometimes buried, while at the burial, the monastery was not only paid money for the grave, but also left the personal belongings of the deceased, the icon taken from the coffin, and even the cart with horses on which he was brought. Among the contributors of Russian monasteries were princes and boyars, representatives of the higher clergy, nobles, merchants and servants of different cities, "people of the sovereign's court of various ranks", city clerks, monastic servants and servants, artisans and peasants.

The monasteries were looked upon as reliable repositories of national treasures. Works of art were brought here to save them. It is no coincidence that many of them were inscribed: "And do not give it to anyone." The most common contributions were family icons, decorated with precious salaries.

Monastic meetings in Moscow and Sergiev Posad, in Rostov the Great and Suzdal, Tver and Yaroslavl were famous; in these cities, unique collections of Russian icon painting of the 15th-16th centuries were compiled.

TRINITY-SERGIEV MONASTERY

Let us trace the formation of a unique monastic collection on the example of one of the most revered monasteries of Rus' - the Trinity-Sergius.

The collections of the monastery formed the basis of the museum collections of the Zagorsk Museum. Among the contributions to the monastery are many rich church vessels, silver frames for books and icons. The silver chalice with a crystal bowl, the golden chalice with rudose-yellow marble of 1449 (the work of Ivan Fomin), the censer of Abbot Nikon of 1405, the ark-reliquary of the Radonezh princes of the first quarter of the 15th century attract attention. In the XVI century. the most significant contributions were made to the monastery treasury. In the Moscow workshops under Ivan the Terrible, Fyodor Ioannovich, Boris Godunov, the best Russian master jewelers, painters, and casters worked.

Ivan IV ordered to decorate with jewelry (mostly created by Moscow masters) the most revered icon of the Trinity in the monastery. A pearl veil was hung under the icon, embroidered in the workshop of the first wife of the Tsar, Anastasia Romanova; the icon was set on a golden frame with crowns decorated with enamels and precious stones. Under Ivan IV, a monumental chased silver reliquary for the remains of Sergius of Radonezh was also made.

During the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, a chased gold setting was made for the tomb icon of Sergius, decorated with engraved gold fragments and niello, precious stones, cameos, and pearls. It is known that for this work the masters of the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin received great awards from the tsar.

Boris Godunov, after being crowned king, presented the monastery with a new precious salary for the icon of the Trinity.

The monastic assemblies were replenished not only with gifts; many works of art were created directly within the monastery walls. In the XV century. Epiphany the Wise worked in the Trinity Monastery, who created the Life of the founder of the monastery, Sergius of Radonezh, and Andrei Rublev wrote there, whose worldview was formed due to the constant influence of the ideas of Sergius and his followers, thanks to the habit learned in the monastery to resist "the strife of this world." For the iconostasis of the monastery cathedral, St. Andrew painted the famous Trinity. Andrei Rublev, Daniil Cherny and other painters in a short time, on behalf of Abbot Nikon, decorated with frescoes and icons the newly built Trinity Cathedral at the expense of Prince Yuri of Galitsky and Zvenigorodsky.

In the XV-XVI centuries. The Trinity Monastery became a place for the creation of magnificent icons and works of applied art, as well as a kind of training center where masters - iconographers and jewelers were trained. Trinity icons were sent to other monasteries and churches, presented as a gift to foreign guests.
NOVODEVICH MONASTERY

The Novodevichy Convent was also a major cultural center. (now located in the city of Moscow).

But his original task was different - the defense of Moscow. He took his place among the same guardian monasteries - Androniev, Novospassky, Simonov, Danilov, Donskoy, together with which he created a powerful defensive half-ring. Novodevichy Convent is located in the bend of the river; from its walls it was possible to control three crossings at once: at the Crimean Ford (now the Crimean Bridge is in its place; and then, during the era of construction, it was there that the Crimean Khan Mahmet-Girey liked to cross the Moscow River during his raids on the capital), at Sparrow Hills and near Dorogomilov, where the road to Mozhaisk passed. The monastery became a cultural center later.

In 1571 the monastery was destroyed and burned by the Krymchaks of Khan Devlet Giray. After that, new towers and walls were erected. And when in 1591 the Crimean horde under the leadership of Kazy-Girey again stormed the monastery, the artillery managed to adequately meet the attackers and the assault was repulsed.

But the monastery is known not only in connection with military events. It is closely connected with the dynastic history of Russian sovereigns. The young daughter of Ivan the Terrible, Anna, was buried there, the wife of Ivan IV's brother, Princess Ulyana, the widow of Ivan the Terrible's eldest son, Elena, and the widow of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, Irina Godunova, ended their days there. In some sources there is a mention that it was in the Novodevichy Convent that Boris Godunov was elected to the kingdom. This is not entirely accurate: in the monastery, Boris only agreed to be elected.

In just two years (1603-1604), Boris Godunov donated many icons to the monastery, a lot of precious utensils, and 3,000 rubles more - a considerable amount at that time. Alas, most of those gifts have not been preserved. Ironically, they were captured by the destroyer of Godunov False Dmitry in 1605.

And yet, much of what was collected in the Novodevichy Convent has survived to this day. The works of Russian painters and jewelers, which made up a unique collection, and many contributions of Russian sovereigns have also been preserved. The magnificent creations of Russian goldsmiths, embroiderers, silversmiths, wood and stone carvers, painters, collected in the Smolensk Cathedral, were almost never exhibited in full; many works were transferred to other repositories in different years.

A remarkable value of Russian culture is the Smolensk Cathedral itself - the only architectural monument of the early 16th century that has survived on the territory of the monastery.

All compositions of the murals of the Smolensk Cathedral are subordinated to the exaltation of Moscow and its sovereigns.

But the cathedral can also tell about the time of Boris Godunov. By his decree, the temple was repaired, the smoky frescoes were renewed, and something was rewritten. This is how the images of Saints Boris and Fedor, the image of Saint Irina appeared.

The monastery keeps in its collection extremely valuable works of ancient Russian small plastic art: panagias, reliquary crosses, breast icons. Mostly these works of ancient Russian masters belong to the XV-XVI centuries. The decoration of the collection of the Novodevichy Convent is a silver bowl of 1581 - the contribution of Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich the Elder, son of Ivan the Terrible, made by him shortly before his death.

The ancient stones of Novodevichy saw Vasily III, Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov; rulers came here to celebrate success, victory, or wait for their fate to be decided. And often each such visit ended with the construction of a new church, new chambers, new fortifications, a new gift to the monastery.

SOLOVETSKY MONASTERY

The Solovetsky Monastery entered the history of Russian culture with stone buildings of the 16th century. - a unique complex of engineering and architectural structures, and the famous collection of manuscripts, and priceless icons, and a unique library; it was not only a cultural but also a political center.

In the 15th century, the Russian North was no longer perceived by its inhabitants as part of the Novgorod land. The once powerful medieval republic was on the decline, and the Novgorodians were forced to declare their loyalty to the Moscow princes, which means to some extent to give up power over the once conquered and only partially developed territories.

The Solovetsky Monastery actually became the real center of power in the North. He extended his influence in the west to the border with Sweden, in the north - to Pechenga itself. The monastery maintained international relations (with Athos, Constantinople, Serbia), kept military garrisons in Karelia, and defended the White Sea from invasions of foreign ships.

After the Novgorod campaigns of Ivan III, the Solovetsky Monastery ended up in Moscow possessions. The monastery on the islands arose in the 30s of the 15th century. Saints Savvaty, Zosima and Herman stood at its source.

The history of the monastery is the history of the asceticism of people who voluntarily chose life in very harsh conditions. The first inhabitants of Solovki dug gardens, chopped firewood, boiled salt from sea water, which they exchanged for bread.

Philip Kolychev played a special role in the history of Solovki and all of Rus'. Coming from a boyar family, this hegumen of the Solovetsky Monastery not only skillfully directed its diverse activities, but also invested his personal funds in the development of the monastery economy. The complex of buildings erected under the direction of the future Metropolitan of Moscow is not only a unique architectural monument, but also an outstanding achievement of Russian technical thought in the middle of the 16th century. In 1552 the construction of the stone Church of the Assumption began, in 1558 the construction of the Transfiguration Cathedral began. These two buildings created the monumental center of the monastery; they were subsequently linked by galleries and other buildings.

Both under Philip and under other abbots, the Solovetsky Monastery was one of the most important centers of rational housekeeping in the North.

Many thousands of peasants passed through the monastery economy - fishing and bakeries, port washing and carpentry workshops, dryers and smokehouses, who, having made a pilgrimage to the monastery, remained in it to work. Arkhangelsk and Vologda, Kostroma and Novgorod, Karelian and Perm people received the best working skills here, which then spread everywhere. And until now, in chests and caskets stored in the villages and towns of the Russian North, one can find grandfather's and great-grandfather's evidence that such and such a person completed a full course of crafts in the Solovetsky monastery.

A brick factory was set up on the islands, which made bricks of very high quality. The construction equipment used in the construction of monastic buildings was also very perfect. The improvement of the islands has always been considered the most important task of the Solovetsky abbots.

Abbot Philip connected the Holy Lake with 52 other lakes at his own expense; on his instructions, the inhabitants of the monastery and workers dug canals, arranged water supply and water mills. A whole network of convenient roads was laid, wooden and stone warehouses and cells were built. There was a barnyard and a forge on the islands, where not only the necessary tools were forged, but also artistic forging developed, where, for example, lattices and locks were made.

The stone ship pier built by Philip is the oldest of such structures of this kind in Russia that have survived to this day. Various technical innovations were used at the brick factory: brick and lime were lifted by special blocks (the gate was set in motion by horses). Various improvements were made in the flour-grinding and drying business, in the winnowing of grain and in the bottling of the famous Solovetsky kvass. Kvass, for example, under Philip began to be fed into the cellar through pipes and poured into barrels through pipes. One elder and five servants did this work, in which all the brethren and “many servants” had previously participated.

Stone dams fenced cages for breeding fish. Elegant and durable clothes were sewn from animal skins in the monastery.

Many pages of Russian military history are connected with the Solovetsky Monastery. The monastery-sovereign, as it was called, was in charge of the defense of the Russian North, made sure that the Karelian and other tribes “live behind the sovereign invariably,” and therefore exceptional privileges were given to the monastery. The secular authorities, especially during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, not only supplied Solovki with gunpowder, squeakers and cannonballs, but also donated money, church valuables, icons and books to the monastery.

The icon collection of the monastery began to take shape in the 15th century. The first icons, according to legend, were brought to the islands by Savvaty. During the 15th-16th centuries, the monastery received many icons donated by princes, tsars and metropolitans.

Information has been preserved that Philip invited masters from Novgorod, who painted many icons for the Transfiguration Cathedral, the Church of Zosima and Savvaty and other churches. Invited, as experts suggest, and Moscow masters. The masters worked on Solovki for a long time, teaching the monks their skills; thus gradually established its own icon-painting school in the monastery. The future Patriarch Nikon also began as a simple icon painter in this chamber.

The Solovetsky icon-painting school largely preserved the traditions of Novgorod and Moscow. In the spirit of these traditions, which were peculiarly intertwined in Solovetsky art, many icons were created. For example, two faces painted by the masters of the 16th century have gained wide popularity: “Our Lady of Tikhvin” and “Our Lady of the Stone of the Unhandled Mountain”.

In the North, the founders of the monastery, the monks Zosima and Savvaty, were especially revered. Their faces were captured on many icons.

Another significant cultural undertaking of the Solovetsky monks was associated with the collection of books. The monk (later abbot) Dosifey collected a library, wrote the lives of Zosima and Savvaty, and involved the most erudite writers of that time in the creation and editing of manuscripts. While in Novgorod, Dositheus ordered the rewriting of books and sent them to Solovki. Among the books of the library collected by Dositheus are the works of the Fathers of the Church of different eras, from Basil the Great and John Chrysostom to John of Damascus. Russian literature was also well represented in the collection, starting with the "Sermon on Law and Grace".

Dositheus for the first time in Rus' began to mark the books of the monastery collection with a special sign - an ex-libris. He also contributed to the development of book miniatures. The creation of the library became a matter of life for the abbot, who made a significant contribution to the development of the national book culture.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. 
   G.E. Mironov"History of the Russian State", Moscow, Ed. "Book Chamber", 1998
2. 
   N.S. Gordienko"Baptism of Rus': facts against legends and myths", Lenizdat, 1986

3. Gorimov M.M., Lyashenko L.M."Russian history. From Ancient Rus' to Imperial Russia, Knowledge Society, 1994