Behind each ancient monastery is its own unique story, no less interesting than the events associated with the cities where they were built. One of these was the third-class Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery of Severodvinsk, which was once called the sea gates of the Russian State.
Plunging into the domestic chronicles, you can find out that once upon a time to the place where the monastery was founded, or rather to its pier, in 1653, an expeditionary sea ship headed by the Englishman Richard Chancellor arrived. This foreign official, thanks to the hospitable patronage of Tsar Ivan the Terrible himself, received the right to duty-free trade with the Russian state and was looking for a trade route to India. So, in a completely unexpected way, the way to Western Europe through the White Sea was opened for Russia.
A little more than thirty years later, a new point was formed on this pier, which the British for a long time called the port of St. Nicholas. This mouth of the river is now, as then, called Nikolsky.
Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery (Severodvinsk). History
All attempts that could shed light on the formation of the monastery turned out to be futile, because in 1420, due to a fire, all the monastery archives were destroyed. Then came the period of desolation.
The first mention of the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery in the Dvina chronicle of 1419, which describes the invasion from the sea of enemy hordes of Murmans in the amount of 500 people in shnyaks and beads, who burned the church of the monastery of St. Nicholas, and flogged Christians with blacks. Such brief information gives the right to assert that this monastery was founded either at the end of the 14th or at the beginning of the 15th century.
First inhabitants
The monk Euthymius of Karelsky became the first in this place to labor as a hermit. And the emergence of the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery is not in vain associated with his name. The holy relics of the monk were discovered in 1647.
The emergence of Christian communities in the North suggests that the basis for this life was the ordinary zealous search for a person's solitude, being alone and silence. For this, remote wilderness places were needed.
Monk Efimy also performed such glorious deeds of hermitage, which attracted other monks to him, and then a whole monastic community was created in which he became a confessor. So, the life of the Nikolo-Korelsky monastery was gradually improved. And for this, a lot of time had to pass.
Even after the fire, this monastery was able to quickly recover and enrich itself with contributions andfiefdoms.
March of Novgorod Martha
From those distant centuries, we see the image of the rich and influential ruler Martha Boretskaya, a posadnitsa who wanted Tsar John III himself to reckon with her.
The history of the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery is closely connected with the sons of Martha - Anthony and Felix, who became locally venerated saints, and their memory is celebrated on April 16.
According to legend, it was she who sent them to inspect the seaside estates. They fulfilled this instruction of their mother: having examined the lands of the Korelsky coast near the Northern Dvina, they went further, to the Severodvinsk mouth. At that moment, a strong storm and storm began, the helmsman lost control, and the ship with people sank, and with them the sons of Martha. After 12 days, the bodies of the dead were brought by water to the shore of the monastery, where they were buried.
Such a sad end to her children forever tied the sovereign to this monastery. She generously helped the monastery and gave his possession of s alt pans, meadows and fisheries.
A monastic charter is still preserved, in which it was written that the servant of God Martha built the church of St. Nicholas in Karelsky.
Struggle for power
At that time, Martha was the ruler of all Novgorod lands, until Prince Ivan Vasilyevich (the Terrible) came and defeated them in 1478.
Becoming the head of the anti-Moscow group, Marfa Boretskaya was arrested and tonsured under the name of Mary in the same year.
In one of the reports dated May 9, 1816, the DeanMonastery of Archimandrite Kirill, it was written that during a lightning strike on May 26, 1798, the Novgorod spiritual monastery of the posadnik Martha burned down with all the written records, and that he knew this for sure, since he was at that time the abbot of the monastery.
Today, a huge portrait of Martha Boretskaya hangs in the rector's cells. It is not clear a little whether he has a resemblance to the real Martha, but the severity and authority in the portrait is obvious.
From the letter of Marfa Posadnitsa, you can learn that the Church of St. Nicholas was one of the oldest after the burning and the Norwegian confrontation in 1419.
Two monastery churches
During the time of Boris Godunov, in the inventory of the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery dated 1601, it was written that there were two churches in it - St. Nicholas and the Assumption of the Mother of God.
In the granary books of Miron Velyaminov of 1622, it is indicated that on the Korelsky coast, in the Poduzhma mouth, in the monastery there are two churches: one wooden - in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and the second (also wooden) - in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos with a meal, the date of the foundation of which is very problematic to determine, again due to not preserved data.
Inventory of church decoration. Holy Images
From the inventory of 1601 it is known that above the royal golden gates there was an image of the “Deesis” of nine spans (an old Russian measure of length). Then the icon of Nicholas the Wonderworker of nine spans is described, in whose name the temple is named, with gilded and silver hryvnias number eight. Near the gates - the image of the Blessed Virgin MaryHodegetria.
From the main large icons of the temple, the Resurrection of Christ, the Assumption of the Ever-Virgin, the Great Martyr George, the Apostle John the Theologian are described. From small icons - images of the Virgin "Rejoices in You", "Sophia, the Wisdom of God" with the image of the Solovetsky monastery and others.
Mentioned in the inventory and three erection crosses. One of them is with a carved image of the Crucifixion of the Lord, overlaid with copper (a gift from Ephraim Ugreshsky).
Candles in front of the icons amaze with their size and massiveness. Before Nicholas the Wonderworker - 5 pounds, before the Mother of God - 3 pounds, the Resurrection of Christ - 2 pounds.
Today, in the Church of St. Nicholas, the situation is mostly modest, the stole with embroidered images of Saints Gregory the Theologian, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Cyril (Jerusalem), Athanasius the Great, St. Nicholas the Pleasant deserves special attention.
Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God
In ancient writings it is indicated that the image of the Assumption of the Mother of God was made with paints and a gilded hryvnia. Other icons are also listed - “Deisus the image of ten spans”, “The Life-Giving Trinity”, “The Resurrection of Christ”, “The Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos”, Saints Zosima and Savvatius, St. Cosmas and Damian, John Chrysostom, St. great. Barbarians, and two images of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
The refectory and Kelarskaya were located in the same church. In 1664, a decision was made to build a new stone Assumption Church with a refectory and cellars below. Three years later it was built and consecrated by Macarius of Novgorod.
Stone Church of St. Nicholas was laid in 1670, and in 1673 under Joachim, Metropolitan of Novgorod, it was consecrated. An interesting fact is that it was in the carriage of this monastery that the future scientist Mikhail Lomonosov (1731) went to study in Moscow.
Then these two churches (in 1684) were connected by stone passages, which had two porches. Such a structure of the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery indicated a powerful material base.
Renewal and fire
By 1700, a stone bell tower consisting of three floors was built near the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin, on which 10 bells and a bell clock were hoisted.
Then other small churches appeared on the territory of the Nikolaevsky Monastery. But due to decay, they were closed. And then there was a fire in 1798, which caused irreparable damage to the monastery. Then everything was rebuilt.
In 1816, the octagonal chapel of the Presentation of the Lord was built on the burial site of the sons of Martha.
Currently, the monastery belongs to the territory of the huge defense "Sevmashpredpriyatie", located in the city of Severodvinsk, 35 km away from it, on the banks of the Nikolsky mouth of the Northern Dvina. The enterprise occupies more than 300 hectares of land and includes more than 100 divisions.
Prisoners of the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery
In 1620, the monastery was turned into a prison, which contained political and religious opponents of the authorities. Among them was Ivan Neronov, a member of the royalmug.
Gerasim, a monk of the Solovetsky monastery, and Elder Jonah, the ideologist of the future Solovetsky uprising, got into these monastery casemates in 1653 by decree of Patriarch Nikon. In 1670, 12 more rebel monks from Solovki were imprisoned.
In 1725 Archbishop Theodosius (Yanovsky), who died a year later, was imprisoned here as a simple monk.
From 1763 to 1767, Metropolitan of Rostov Arseniy (Matseevich), who opposed the secular measures of Catherine the Second, was kept here.
In 1917, 6 monks and 1 novice lived in the monastery.
In 1920 the monastery was closed. Then they organized a colony for juvenile delinquents. In the 1930s, the corps of Sevmashpredpriyatie was formed, specializing in the production of nuclear submarines.
Conclusion
Once the monastery had its own small brick factory. From 1691 to 1692 this monastery was surrounded by seven wooden towers. Today, only one remains - the travel tower of the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery. She, as a valuable museum exhibit, is located on the territory of the Kolomenskoye Museum in Moscow.
All buildings of the monastery are not only located on the territory of the giant plant, but are also involved in its structures. Even despite the fact that in the 90s the monastery buildings were transferred to the Orthodox Church, all the same, believers cannot freely visit this monastery, since this is a restricted enterprise.
In 2005, the first to begin to restore the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. On the feast of the Annunciation, the first Divine Liturgy was served.
In August 2009, Patriarch Kirill served an all-night vigil in this holy monastery. In the same year, 5 domes with crosses were built at the Nikolsky Cathedral. Restoration and restoration work is still ongoing, even a special fund has been opened through which financial assistance is received to the monastery.
Address of the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery: 164520, Russia, Arkhangelsk region, Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk highway, 38.
