Optina Deserts. Compound in St. Petersburg: address, photo

A beautiful church on Vasilievsky Island attracts attention with its majesty and beauty. Monastery backyards have been located here for a long time, and today there is the Optina Pustyn, a farmstead in St. Petersburg. Here come pilgrims, clergymen, tourists to touch the shrines and feel the powerful atmosphere of conciliarism and faith.

Optina Monastery of the Deserts

As early as the 15th century, near the town of Kozelsk, a monastery was formed - Optina Pustyn. It is known that the beginning of the monastery was laid by a certain group of hermits, but the first years of the monastery's history were poorly studied. This territory for a long time was controversial and passed from hand to hand. Only from the end of the 18th century the present formation of the monastery begins. The monastery becomes a real spiritual center, many books and icons were born here, pilgrims traveled here to receive help in the faith and impulse to a virtuous life. The monastery has always been known for its care for the poor and the sick. In the 19 century to the elder Ambrose came such prominent thinkers as FM Dostoyevsky, Vl. Soloviev, K. Leontiev, three times here visited LN Tolstoy. Many priests, including Pavel Florensky, found their vocation here . In 1987, the monastery experienced its second birth after decades of oblivion in the Soviet era. The monastery restores its former importance and expands, in connection with which the idea arose to open a new place - the metochion in St. Petersburg.

The idea of opening the Compound

Compound is a branch of the monastery, which is located far from the main monastery. Usually, deserts were created to accommodate pilgrims and priests, as well as to solve various administrative and economic tasks. Optina Pustyn (a farmstead in St. Petersburg) was needed so that priests and elders from the monastery could stay in the city during their trips on various issues. Even before the revolution, the monastic authorities considered the issue of opening a desert in the capital, St. Petersburg, but the coup prevented these plans from being realized. In 1999, Archimandrite Evlogiy, the governor of the monastery, appealed to the St. Petersburg administration with a request to designate a temple for the monastery metochion. It was a time of active return of the cathedrals under the administration of the church, and the idea was greeted quite favorably. So it was announced that there will be Optina deserts - a farmstead (St. Petersburg).

History of the discovery

The authorities of St. Petersburg offered the governor several options for consideration, and his gaze settled on an old, nameless place on the Vasilievsky Island, where once housed the Kiev-Pechersk courtyard. When the representatives of the monastery walked around the territory of the former farmstead, they were dejected - the condition of the buildings was horrifying. Here in Soviet times there was a public ice rink on which the famous Leningrad school of figure skating was born and passed the stages of formation and take-off. From the constant dampness of the building quickly deteriorated and required urgent repairs. Monks were not accustomed to struggle with difficulties, and they actively began to restore the metochion, attracting parishioners and donors. Today the question is: "Optina Pustyn, a Compound in St. Petersburg - How to get there?" Has ceased to cause bewilderment, and every resident of the city knows that a beautiful temple over the Neva is the courtyard of the famous monastery.

Compound today

Optina Pustyn (Compound in St. Petersburg), photo of which can be seen in many guidebooks because of its beauty and the historical significance of the place, today is a well-functioning enterprise. On the territory of the monastery restored the majestic temple of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who experienced a very difficult and long restoration. Today, daily services are held here. Often, the services are conducted by the leading clergymen of the country. Some of the buildings have also been partially rebuilt and partially rebuilt. At the courtyard, there is a Sunday school, a gymnasium, an Orthodox Institute of Religious Studies and Church arts, and a goldsmith's workshop, Ubrus. There is a male choir, a pilgrim center with a hotel and a cafe. A lot of different events are held in the courtyard: meetings, discussions, concerts. This is a real spiritual and educational center. Pilgrim center "Optina" conducts excursions through the territory of the monastery, the church of the Assumption of the Virgin, St. Petersburg and the suburbs, organizes trips to holy places. In 1999, when the desert was opened and country residence in the village of Sosnovy Bor, Vyborg district.

Temple in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Optina deserts (metochion in St. Petersburg) was built around the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. The church was built by the forces of the Kiev-Pechersk courtyard in the late 19th century. On this site there used to be another temple that was moved to the Fontanka embankment. The church is made in pseudo-Russian style, its walls are faced with a stone - granite and sandstone on the outside, and inside they are painted by Moscow artists Snegirev, Yakovlev and Strunnikov. Outside, the temple is also decorated with a mosaic from the studio of VA Frolov. In the church there are a number of valuable icons with particles of the relics of the Optina elders and healers. The beauty of divine services in the cathedral is emphasized and strengthened by the singing of the male chorus of the monastery.

Country manor of the farmstead

In 1999, the Optina Pustyn (a farmstead in St. Petersburg), whose address is the embankment of Lieutenant Schmidt, 27/2 - is now well known to everyone, received a site of 40 hectares near the village of Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad region. These lands were intended for the creation of a monastery and the maintenance of subsidiary farming. Monks cleared the territory, created a large cattle-breeding complex, in which, in addition to cows, pigs and goats, even raccoons and ostriches live. On the territory of the country estate a pond is broken, in which novices breed Japanese carp. In 2006, a temple was built in honor of the holy Monk Ambrose of Optina, it was consecrated in 2016. Also, the monks restored the Temple in honor of the holy and blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, who was not far from the village of Sosnovy Bor and, from Soviet times, was not used for its intended purpose. Now it hosts regular worship services.