Vydubitskaya monastery is one of the oldest monasteries located in Kyiv. It is also called Kiev-Vydubitsky according to its location. The monastery was founded by Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich in the 70s of the 11th century. As a family monastery, it belonged to Vladimir Monomakh and his heirs.
Monastery name
According to the legend, the place where the Vydubychi monastery was founded - Vydubychi - owes its name to the ancient gods of pagan Russia. The fact is that when Prince Vladimir decided to accept Christianity as the state religion, he ordered that all idols be thrown into the waters of the Dnieper. Not all the population of the then Kyiv accepted this idea with enthusiasm. Faithful to the faith of their fathers, the people of Kiev fled along the shore, calling on their gods to "dub", that is, to swim out of the water to the shore. The place where they finally landed on the shore, and later became known as Vydubychi.
There is, however, another version of the origin of this name, associated with the crossing that existed across the Dnieper in a place nearbyfrom the future monastery. The Kievans crossed it in boats, called "oaks" due to the fact that they were hollowed out from oak trunks. This was the reason to name the area as it is currently called.
However, the name Vydubychi could have been given to this place by both ordinary residents and inhabitants of the cave Zverinets monastery, which existed there even before the baptism of Russia by Prince Vladimir and which later turned into Vydubitsky, as if floating out of the ground.
The original role of the monastery
Immediately after its foundation, the Vydubitsky Monastery began to play a big role not only in spiritual life, but also in political processes. It was in this monastery that many diplomatic negotiations were held, troops were formed. The monastery traditionally had a reputation as a cloister where many learned monks live and work. Near the church territory, a residence was quickly built for the wife of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, the so-called Red Court. Cave rooms gradually lost their significance, until they completely disappeared from sight and turned into a legend.
Cave complex
By the end of the 19th century, no one believed that the caves once actually existed near the Vydubitskaya monastery. By chance, they were discovered only in 1888 as a result of the collapse of a section of the hill. During the inspection of the tunnels, about three dozen corpses were found. According to the most likely hypothesis, these were monks who hid in caves during the siege and hoped to wait out the assault on the monastery in undergroundpremises. But the enemy troops discovered them and walled them up, as a result of which they died of thirst and suffocation, and over time they forgot about the caves.
The life of the monastery until the XVIII century
In the 13th century, the Vydubitsky Monastery loses its political weight. As one of the Kyiv monasteries, it existed until the 17th century, when its active development began with generous sponsorship. At one time, the Vydubitsky Monastery came under the control of the Greek Catholics. Of course, the Orthodox tend to accuse the Uniate administration of desecrating shrines, but, nevertheless, it is thanks to them that we generally know about how the monastery lived at that time. The Greek Catholic abbots put the affairs of the monastery in order, streamlined archival documentation. It turns out that before Catherine the Great signed a decree on secularization and seizure of church property in favor of the state, the monastery had a very good profit from a brick factory, two villages, a pig farm, several fields, gardens and ponds. In those days, the Vydubitsky monastery was considered rich, and this attracted many novices to it, who were looking not for an ascetic feat of faith, but for an easy, satisfying life. The brethren of the monastery, formed in this way, quickly fled when all the possessions were taken from them. Life in the monastery practically ceased. For some time after secularization, it played the role of a boarding house and an elite cemetery.
Buildings of the monastery complex
As for the architecture of the monastery, it has, of course, changed over the course of a thousand years. Initialwooden buildings erected in the ΧΙ century, of course, have not been preserved. One of the oldest churches of the monastery is the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsky Cathedral of the Vydubitsky Monastery. This temple was built under Prince Vsevolod. Over time, the Dnieper began to erode the base of the hill on which the church stood, and then it was decided to build a retaining wall to protect the temple. The project was completed and carried out in the XII century by Miloneg, the court architect. The retaining wall did its job well for several centuries, but eventually fell into disrepair. Since the restoration work was delayed, in the 16th century the cathedral was nevertheless damaged: the dome and the altar part collapsed into the waters of the Dnieper. The temple stood in this form for a long time, until, finally, it was restored in the second half of the 18th century.
In the 17th century, the monastery complex, as already mentioned, begins to be enriched with new buildings. Among others, a five-domed church in honor of George the Victorious, the Church of the Savior and a new stone refectory were erected. In the 18th century, a bell tower was added to the monastery. According to the original project, the belfry should have become a gate belfry, but due to errors in the project during construction, the bell tower cracked and squinted. To save the building, the lower tier had to be bricked up and the gate made nearby. In the 80s of the XX century, most of the buildings of the monastery complex were reconstructed. However, work in this direction is still being carried out to this day, at the expense of the monastery itself.
Monastic Necropolis
Since ancient times onOn the territory of the monastery there was a necropolis, in which significant, noble and prominent personalities were buried. Today, the necropolis exists and contains the remains of many honored public figures, as well as scientists and artists.
The monastery today
Today the monastery complex is located on the territory of the Grishko Botanical Garden, although earlier the entire territory occupied by the garden belonged to the monastery. The monastery is active, belonging to the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate. On its territory there are several workshops (pottery and weaving from grapevines) and two art salons. In addition, there is a Vydubitsky monastery clinic for drug addicts. The rector of the monastery is Metropolitan Epiphanius (Dumenko).
He althcare
The hospital of the monastery should be mentioned separately, as it has a long history. The monastery hospital was built back in the pre-revolutionary years by imperial command. And the recovery center that operates on this site today is its successor. First of all, within the walls of this institution they provide assistance to people with alcohol and drug addiction. In addition, the scope of services of the hospital includes specialized assistance to those suffering from schizophrenia, depression, anorexia, bulimia, as well as to anyone who needs qualified psychological and narcological assistance and specialist advice. Among the staff of the center there are child psychologists, so the children alsomay be patients of the institution. The main form of work of the institution is to provide outpatient care. But emergency assistance is also possible in case of drug or psychiatric problems. The center also has its own small-format hospital.
Vydubitsky Monastery - how to get there
When visiting Kyiv, many people want to visit this place with an ancient history, to which the founders of Russia themselves as a Christian East Slavic state had a hand. A logical question that arises among those who decide to come on an excursion to the Vydubitsky Monastery is: "How to get to it?" If you are heading to the monastery from the right bank of the capital of Ukraine, you must first get to the metro station "Friendship of Peoples". After that, you need to take bus 55 or trolleybus 43 and get to the Patona Bridge stop. Then it will be necessary to walk on foot towards the Naddnepryansky highway, before which turn right onto Vydubitskaya street. At the end of the street is the monastery. If you follow from the left bank of Kyiv, then you need to get on the same bus or the same trolleybus to the stop "Square of Heroes of the Great Patriotic War", and then walk to the monastery on foot.
