Holy Dormition Sviyazhsky Monastery

In the middle of the 16th century, Russia struggled with its aggressive neighbor, the Kazan Khanate, with particular acuteness. To conduct military operations, a reliable support base was required, and for this purpose in 1551, just before the capture of Ivan the Terrible by Kazan, the city-fortress Sviyazhsk was founded. A place for him was chosen at the mouth of the Sviyaga River. Soon the city grew and became a county center, and in 1555 it founded a monastery, which later became known as the Assumption Sviazhsky Monastery.

Foundation of the Kazan diocese and monastery

The year of the foundation of the monastery is marked by another important event in the life of the region - the establishment of the Kazan diocese. This became possible thanks to the glorious victories of the Russian arms, which put an end to the rule of the Tatar khans on the Volga banks. In this regard, the monastery founded here was to become the center of spiritual enlightenment and missionary activity. His envoys carried the light of Orthodoxy throughout the Middle Volga for two centuries.

The founder of the monastery and its first abbot was Archimandrite Herman (Sadirev-Polev). Under his rule the monastery grew and gained strength. The times then were very hectic. The Tatars defeated near Kazan dispersed around the area and, uniting themselves in gangs, raided the surrounding villages. Not once had the inhabitants of the monastery, interrupting prayer, take up arms.

The great ascetic, Archimandrite Herman

The way of the pastoral ministry passed by Archimandrite Herman is very noteworthy. Leaving Sviyazhsky monastery founded in time, he headed the entire Kazan diocese, becoming its second archbishop. In 1566, at the behest of Ivan the Terrible, he arrived in Moscow, where he was invited to climb the Moscow metropolitan pulpit instead of Metropolitan Philip, who had fallen into the tsar's disfavor.

However, from such a high honor, he refused and, taking the side of the disgraced bishop, began to expose the lawlessness done by the tsarist oprichniki. Removed soon from the palace, the archimandrite completed his earthly journey in 1567. The circumstances of his death have not yet been clarified. According to one version, he was killed, and on the other - he died during the plague epidemic.

After his death, the first abbot of the monastery was glorified in the face of the saints, and from 1592 his relics became the main shrine of the monastery. In the books of the Assumption Cathedral, where they rested, you could read many records that testified of the miracles they had shown through the prayers of the parishioners and the monks themselves.

Years of the heyday of the monastery

The heyday of the monastery should be considered the XVI-XVIII century. During these two centuries the Sviyazhsky monastery was the richest in the entire Middle Volga region and even among the twenty most prosperous in Russia. No wonder his archimandrite was considered the seventh most important in the state. On the lands belonging to the monastery by the middle of the XVIII century, 7,200 male farmers lived and worked. The same number belonged to all the other monasteries of the Kazan diocese taken together.

Such a detail is also curious: Sviyazhsky Monastery had a printing house, in which they started printing liturgical books earlier than the first printer Ivan Fyodorov did in Moscow. Their products varied widely throughout the country. When in 1764 the monastery reform was carried out in the Russian Empire, the Sviyazhskiy Bogoroditsa-Uspensky Monastery was ranked among the first class, which was considered the highest. This honor was awarded to him alone, one of all the monasteries of the Kazan diocese. Only forty-two years later the Bogoroditsky Monastery in Kazan deserved this distinction.

The Epoch of Secularization of Church Lands

With the reform mentioned above, conducted by Catherine II, the decline of a previously rich and flourishing abode began. In many respects, the economic decline of the city of Sviyazhsk itself, as well as the impoverishment of the population, played a role. However, the main reason was the secularization of the monastic lands carried out by the government.

In the era of her rule, Catherine II pursued a policy aimed at depriving the church of the opportunity to influence state affairs. One way to achieve this goal was to reduce the economic standard of living of churches and monasteries. To this end, on February 24, 1764, a manifesto was issued, according to which all ecclesiastical lands passed into state ownership.

Years of the decline of the monastery and the beginning of the revolution

Deprived of the main income item in this way, the Sviyazhsky Uspensky Monastery gradually began to surrender. Suffice it to say that the number of its inhabitants, once exceeding one hundred monks and novices, declined to twenty-five by the beginning of the 20th century, and the level of incomes was lower than in other monasteries of the Kazan diocese.

The years that followed the revolution brought with them many misfortunes throughout the Russian Orthodox Church. The Sviyazhsky Monastery was no exception. His last abbot, Bishop Ambrose (Gudko), fell victim to the outrageous crowd of soldiers. Many years later, when the country finally recovered from atheistic insanity, he was ranked among the saints, and the world recognized him as the new disciple of Ambrose.

Period of atheistic binge

During the reign of the godless government, the town of Sviyazhsk became a continuous camp area. The monastic corps and the adjacent temples were looted, and the relics of the relic Herman were uncovered and defiled. In the monastery for many years, there were located a colony for juvenile offenders, or a psychiatric hospital. To top it off, after the construction of the Kuibyshev Reservoir, a large area adjacent to the city was flooded, and Sviyazhsk turned into an island.

Revival of the monastery

Only with the onset of the present time, when churches began to return illegally taken property from her, all the buildings that included the Sviyazhsky Monastery were returned to the believers. The only exception was their small part, which was included in the museum-reserve. This served as fertile soil and for the revival of the city itself. In the restored churches, once interrupted church services were resumed, and again the sound of the monastery bells floated over the Sviyaga River.

Monument Attractions

The Holy Dormition Sviyazhsky Monastery is famous for its main attraction - the ancient St. Nicholas Church. It is the same age as the monastery itself, and its construction dates back to 1756. The artel of the Pskov masters headed by Ivan Shiryaem rebuilt it from limestone limestone. A year later a bell-tower 43 meters in height was attached to it. In the church building there is a cell, in which once lived the first abbot of the monastery - the Reverend Herman. From the memories of the former inhabitants of the monastery it is known that even before the revolution itself, his things were kept in it.

The nearby Assumption Cathedral was erected only five years later of the St. Nicholas Church. Above him worked the same masters from Pskov. Some changes were introduced in the middle of the next century. To it were added the refectory part and the cylinder of the octagonal drum. The previously dome-shaped dome was replaced by a more elegant, in the style of the Ukrainian baroque. A hundred years later, a porch was added to the building.

However, the main feature of the temple is the frescoes of the times of Ivan the Terrible preserved in it. Such a rarity is available only in one place - in the cathedral on the territory of the Transfiguration Monastery in Yaroslavl. Art historians note that the wall paintings of this period are very rare.

There are earlier samples, there are written a century later, but the 16th century left us a very poor heritage in this respect. In addition to its historical and artistic value, the frescoes of the cathedral also have one characteristic feature peculiar to them: on the western wall, where it is customary to depict hell with all its attributes, scenes of paradise are written in the Assumption Cathedral, which in itself creates a positive mood for the viewer.

Female Compound of the Sviyazhsky Monastery

In the city, except for the monastery, which was discussed, was located one more - the female Sviyazhsky Ioanno-Predtechensky monastery. It was also founded in the late 16th century. He was in the heart of Sviyazhsk near Cathedral Square. However, he soon had to survive a series of violent fires, and the villagers were transferred to another place, providing them with premises that belonged to the previously abolished Trinity-Sergius Monastery.

Nowadays the nunnery has not been revived in its former form, but represents only the women's Ioanno-Predtechenskoe farmstead of the male Sviyazhsky monastery. However, all church services are conducted in it in the volume prescribed by the Church Charter. In addition, the restoration of the living quarters and the temple continues. Life has returned to the ancient abode, and its hospitable walls await all who wish to come and immerse themselves in the fascinating world of Orthodox antiquity.