This is one of the most amazing spiritual places in the Russian North. The Solovetsky Islands fascinate and attract not only with their beauty and vastness of space, but also with their original history.
These walls remember a lot of grief, but no less joys. Arriving here, you will plunge into a fairy tale with miracles and get acquainted with the very essence of the Russian soul.
Pearl of Orthodoxy
The cell founded by three hermits after many centuries has become a world heritage. Millions of pilgrims annually come to see the amazing land. During its existence, this temple managed to visit a military fortress, a prison and a camp where experiments were performed on people.
However, nothing could break the spirit of the monks. Today, after many years, restoration work is underway in the monastery, various goods for worship and pilgrims are being produced, services are being held and the word of God is carried to the laity.
Geographic location
The Solovetsky Monastery is located on four islands of the archipelago in the White Sea. Various buildings, rooms and sketes are located on large and small patches of land.
The harsh beauty of the landscape automatically sets a person to thoughts about the spiritual. No wonder, according to legend, all the buildings in this monastery stand on the ground where miracles happened and revelations happened.
So, on the Big Solovetsky Island there are Voznesensky and Savvatievsky skete, as well as Filippovskaya, Makarievskaya and Isaakovskaya deserts.
Sergius Skete is located on Bolshaya Muksalma. A temple was erected here in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh. There is also a monastery farm and buildings for workers. These two islands are connected by a dam called "Stone Bridge".
Eleazar's hermitage, Trinity and Golgotha-Crucifixion skete are located on Anzer. Big Hare Island gave shelter to St. Andrew's hermitage.
The bulk of the buildings date back to the 17th-18th centuries, but they were erected under the guidance of monks on the site of old dilapidated buildings.
Also, the Solovetsky Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior, based on historical documents, owned fourteen farmsteads. They were located mainly in the northern volosts of the Russian Empire.
Metochion is like a branch of a monastery. A community that broke away from a monopoly and lives outside of canonical territory. But they honor the charter of the main monastery.
Today, only four farmsteads are functioning - in Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Kemi and Faustov (a village located not far from Moscow).
It is important for pilgrims to know that permission is required to travel to the Solovetsky Monastery. How to get to it?Paperwork and other concerns are usually taken over by agencies. Therefore, two options are possible: pay an experienced tour operator, as a result of which all the work will be done for you, or go, trying to achieve everything yourself. The first way is more expensive and faster, the second way is cheaper and longer.
History of the Solovetsky Monastery
The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Monastery is rooted in the 15th century. It was in 1429 that three monks founded and built the first cell. After some time, one of them, the Monk Savvaty, reposed, and the other two - Herman and Zosima - returned to the Big Solovetsky Island.
Shortly after that, he had a vision of a magnificent church on the eastern edge of the island. A wooden temple was built, and in the sixties of the same century, Zosima was awarded a diploma from the Novgorod Archbishop Jonah. According to the document, now the islands, nearby lands and future monasteries were given into the timeless possession of the monastery.
During the following years, Saints Zosima and Herman peacefully passed away. The monks of the Solovetsky Monastery transferred their relics to a specially constructed monastery, as well as the remains of the Monk Savvaty, who reposed in 1435 in the village of Soroka, not far from the coast.
At the end of the fifteenth century, gifts from those in power are already beginning to flock here and the eyes of biographers are turning. So, the oral legend of St. Herman became the basis for Dositheus's notes about the foundation of the monastery. On the basis of this document, in 1503, a start was made on compiling the life of the Solovetsky originals. In 1478, the monastery received a gift"trophy German casting bell", which is today one of the oldest known military trophies in Russia.
And in 1479, Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible personally confirms the authenticity of the certificate of possession and assures its timelessness with his salary.
What happened under the Russian tsars
Such a structure in the White Sea has become a trump card in the hands of the Moscow rulers. Firstly, with the help of associates, the Solovetsky Monastery puts the economic life of the region in order. The development of Pomorye without the help of the monastery would not have been so fast and of high quality.
Proceeding from this, all kinds of assistance is provided to the monastery. Its highest status can be seen on the maps of that time. Sufficiently large cities were not marked on all of them, but the Solovetsky Monastery was invariably depicted on the map.
Also, the founders of the monastery at the Moscow Cathedral were recognized as saints, and the royal court increased the frequency of offerings. All this had a downside, unfortunately. Starting from the 16th century, a difficult task fell on the shoulders of the inhabitants of these lands. In addition to the affairs related to the normal work of the monastery, I had to deal with the construction of the fortress. The first stone structures date back to the middle of this century. Abbot Philip was in charge of all construction, it is his hermitage that is located on the Big Solovetsky Island.
In 1560-1570 the monastery was proclaimed a "great state fortress", elder Tryphon (in the world Kologriv), one of the most gifted architects and military engineers of that time, was sent here. It was he who supervised the creation of most of the buildings and fortifications on the island, dating back to the sixteenth century.
Being the northern outpost of Orthodoxy and the border zone with European states, the Solovetsky Islands were besieged by the enemy fleet more than once. At first, the English ships approached, a few years later the Swedish armada tried their luck. They were all discarded.
In addition, the secular authorities sought to use the strong walls of the monastery to the fullest. Therefore, from the end of the sixteenth century, objectionable figures began to be exiled here. Thus, the islands partially take over the functions of the prison.
The courtyard of the Solovetsky Monastery contained more than one thousand armed archers. Such power needed maintenance, therefore, by royal decree, labor service and dues were removed from the monastery. Everything was focused only on maximum battery life. That is, this fortress was supposed to function for a long time in a siege mode, until help comes. And help to go far!
However, the kings did not expect that they would create a problem for themselves. It all started with church reforms and schism. Most of the monks refused to accept the new rules, turning the Solovetsky Monastery into a stronghold of the old faith. Later, the remnants of the defeated detachments of Stenka Razin joined their ranks.
With the great efforts of the tsarist troops in January 1676, the prison was nevertheless taken. All those responsible for leading the uprising were executed, the vaults were looted, and their status was taken away. Since that time - for about twenty - thirty years - the monastery fell into disgrace.
Return to the pastposition began only during the reign of Peter the Great. The construction of the Calvary-Crucifixion Skete belongs to the same period.
Synodal Period
However, the Solovetsky Monastery never received its former greatness and military power. During the reform of 1764, most of the lands, villages and possessions were seized. In addition, the population of the archipelago was strictly regulated. The royal authorities no longer wanted to face a hard-to-reach fortress in which disgraced monks would settle.
In 1765 he became a stavropegic and became subordinate to the synod, but the abbots were still archimandrites.
In 1814, the compound of the Solovetsky Monastery was liberated from guns, the quantitative composition of the garrison was cut, and the monastery itself was excluded from the list of active fortresses.
However, the walls built in the modern era withstood the Anglo-French siege during the Crimean War. This was the last attack by external enemies on the walls of the monastery.
After the middle of the nineteenth century, the monastery begins to turn into the main attraction of the region for pilgrims. The tsar himself comes here personally with his retinue, artists and diplomats. The Holy Trinity Cathedral is under construction. In 1886, the last soldier from the garrison came out of the monastery. From that time on, the status of any fortress was out of the question. The monastery became in the fullest sense the spiritual center of the Russian North.
The 20th century began very successfully for Solovki. They owned more than ten temples, thirty chapels, twoschools, the choir of the Solovetsky Monastery, the botanical garden. In addition, there were six factories, a mill, more than fifteen different craft workshops behind the monastery.
More than one thousand workers and several hundred hired craftsmen worked on its territory. During the year, the monastery hosted more than fifteen thousand believers, and women were not allowed inside. They lived in the suburbs. On top of that, the monastery had 4 steamships.
Years of Soviet power
It seems that everything foreshadowed only a joyful and happy life for the monks. Money - do not count, the bins are bursting with food and goods. Satisfied, comfortable, carefree.
However, the October Revolution of 1917 put an end to such a paradise life. The newly arrived authorities openly declared war on the church and its ministers. In 1920, a commission of Red Army soldiers, headed by Kedrov, abolished the Solovetsky Monastery, but proclaimed a state farm and a camp for forced labor "Solovki" here.
Since 1923, many buildings began to function SLON - "Solovki Special Purpose Camp". All politically objectionable people were locked up here. There were more bishops per square meter of this prison than in all of Russia at large.
The horrors of imprisonment were supplemented by frequent executions and murders. Bullying and torment did not stop day or night. And the camp hospital in the Golgotha-Crucifixion Skete fully corresponded to the name.
At first, worship services were allowed in one church for the companions who remained of their own free will, who worked at the state farm, but in 1932 the last monk wasexiled to the mainland.
During the mid-thirties, an unthinkable number of people died here, most of them innocent.
From 1937 to 1939 STON was located here - a special purpose prison that fully justified its name. And during the Great Patriotic War, the training corps of the navy of the Soviet Union was located here.
Recovery
Restoration of the monastery complex began in the sixties of the twentieth century. In 1974, historical and natural reserves were founded here.
A very interesting and unusual attraction grew up on Anzer Island. As if by divine providence, a similar miracle appears in a place where the authorities were forbidden to put up crosses. Look carefully at the photo, the Solovetsky Monastery is the only one that can boast of such a birch.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the monastic population of the monastery is also being revived. On October 25, 1990, the restoration of the Zosima-Savvatievsky Solovetsky stauropegial monastery was officially proclaimed. At the first monastic vows, names were given according to lot. Now it has become an integral tradition.
In 1992, the historical and architectural monument was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Restoration work continues and memorial crosses are erected at the sites of the greatest tragedies. Many martyrs of the early Soviet era werecanonized.
In 2001, Patriarch of All Russia Alexy II personally consecrated the Solovetsky Monastery. Many pilgrims are now concerned about how to get to it, because the prayerful and so hard-won place has incredible energy.
For reference: you can get to the islands either by water or by air. There are two main routes used by residents, pilgrims, tourists - through Arkhangelsk and through Kem (the latter only during the navigation period).
Foundation of a courtyard in Moscow
The second name of this monastery is the Church of the Great Martyr George the Victorious in Endov. It is located behind the Moscow River. This area is called Nizhniye Sadovniki. The first wooden church here was founded in the time of Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible. But at the request of the Archbishop of Elasson, who arrived with the embassy to the court in 1588, a stone church was erected in its place.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, as in many churches, a prison for "troublemakers" was created in this one.
The temple grew over time. Over a century, from the middle of the 17th century, two chapels were added here - in the name of the Virgin and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
However, due to the course of groundwater under the bell tower, it collapsed at the end of the eighteenth century, and fell on the refectory. For about half a century, the monks managed without these two structures, until one of the parishioners set out to build a bell tower.
It was erected on a solid site, so the courtyard of the Solovetsky Monastery in Moscow was a little further from the turret.
The porch, which today operates in the monastery, was built in 1836. In 1908, the church again experienced a catastrophe. Due to the flood of the river, the foundation was flooded, cracks formed on the walls.
The murals, which began to crumble, were restored only two years later.
Besides, the church was in charge of an infirmary, a school and an almshouse for former military men. The church operated until 1935, and during the years of the Soviet Union, an art department was located here.
Realities of our days
The Solovetsky Monastery in Moscow has been revived today as part of the courtyard of the main monastery on the White Sea. Restoration took place in 1992.
Mainly his activities are connected with the support and provision of the monastery on the islands. In the early 1990s, there was preparation for service in connection with the transfer of the relics of the saints to Solovki. Further, the premises were restored and put in order.
For ten years after its opening, all the premises were consecrated, a Pontifical Cross was erected, ten meters high.
In 2003 there was a great celebration of the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which provided the basis for the subsequent development of the temple.
And on Easter 2006, a newly made iconostasis in five tiers was presented to the public.
The main shrine is the icon of the Solovetsky wonderworkers with relics. Each divine service is crowned with an appeal to them, and the parishioners venerate the image.other festive printed matter for Christmas and other significant church holidays. Calendars containing photos, the Solovetsky Monastery produces very beautiful and original.
Parish life
The basis of the activities of the Moscow Compound is the education and training of younger parishioners. On the territory there is a Sunday school, where children from 6 to 13 years old study together. The calendar plan of classes is drawn up in accordance with Christian canons and is timed to coincide with all church holidays. Parents themselves arrange a meal for students.
There is also a photo circle, cooperation with the Moscow film school. Besides, since 2011 walking and bus tours of Moscow sights have been arranged. One of the topics of the excursions, for example, is John the Terrible and St. Philip.
Departures take place in the neighboring courtyard, in Faustovo, as well as in Kolomenskoye. All trips are connected exclusively with the history and functioning of the monastery. Also, once every few months, the Companions take pilgrims to the Solovetsky Islands.
The purpose of such excursions is not only educational, but also spiritual. After the tour, everyone can stay and ask the minister all their questions. He will either answer them or invite them to the appropriate event.
Services are held daily, and the Liturgy - several times a week. And in Great Lent, on Thursdays, unction takes place.
