Nikolo-Terebensky Monastery in the Tver region: description, history, address

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

This monument of national architecture and history has long enjoyed well-deserved popularity and recognition. It is known that the Orthodox female Nikolo-Terebensky monastery (Tver region), founded in the 16th century, was originally a male monastery. Today, childless couples come here to beg for children.

They say that before the revolution, the Nikolo-Terebensky monastery was a cave monastery - here you can see the preserved vaults of the underground church of Alexander Svirsky. The rest of the passages are not yet available to visitors - they were laid due to the possibility of soil failure. On holidays and weekends, divine services are held in the Church of the Annunciation. According to eyewitnesses, in the Nikolsky Cathedral of the Nikolo-Terebensky Monastery in the Tver Region, where regular services are not yet held, frescoes began to appear by themselves. Believers call them "living", as the pictures from the life of Jesus Christ appearing on the walls of the cathedral are living swaying images. Special impression on visitorsproduces a fresco on which the characters of The Last Supper clearly show through.

The place where the Nikolo-Terebensky convent is located, according to reviews, is truly amazing. Everyone who comes here gets a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the local peace and quiet. Many admire the surrounding luxurious, truly Levitan landscapes - the picturesque bend of the Mologa River with its sandy banks and the boundless, boundless Russian expanses.

Nikolo-Terebensky convent (Maxatikha): acquaintance

This monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church was founded in the 2nd half of the 19th century as a male monastery in the name of Nicholas the Wonderworker. The Nikolo-Terebensky Monastery (the photo is presented in the article) is located in the village of Truzhenik (formerly called Terebeni) in the Maksatikha district of the Tver region. In the 30s of the twentieth century, the monastery was closed, but since the mid-90s, it began to revive as a convent.

Legend

According to one of the legends, back in 1492, the Russian landowner Mikhail Obudkov decided to build a temple in the name of St. Nicholas in one of his villages called Terebeni. They chose a place suitable for construction, where they placed the image of the saint. But several times the icon miraculously ended up not far from the Mologa River and a nearby lake, on the banks of which several birch trees grew and there was a well.

The landowner saw a miraculous sign in this amazing movement of the icon and regarded it asthe will of the Wonderworker, which he did not consider it possible to resist. On the site, which, as Obudkov understood, was indicated by the saint himself, a small wooden church was built. Over time, the village of Tereben was given by the landowner to church servants for eternal remembrance of him and his family.

History: a wonderful find

At first it was a parish church, but soon a monastery was built near it. In troubled times, the monastery was devastated by the Poles. In 1611, the monk Onufry settled here, but soon he could not bear the emptiness of these places and left them. The desolation continued for about thirty more years, until the very beginning of the construction of the chapel by two monks, Artemy and Abraham (1641). During construction work, they discovered the miraculous icon of the Saint, which had been preserved intact for forty years.

Delighted monks built a small wooden church instead of a chapel. Thus, the Terebenskaya monastery was revived in its ancient place. The fame of the miraculous appearance of the image spread very quickly, the pilgrims arrived and did not skimp on sacrifices. Thanks to this, the monastery gradually became rich, flourishing and comfortable.

On the intercession of holy icons

In addition to the image of St. Nicholas, the monastery also keeps the legendary Terebensk Icon of the Mother of God. In the summer of 1654, a terrible epidemic of pestilence began in the capital, the surrounding towns and villages of the Bezhetsk region. The people of Bezhe turned to God and His Most Pure Mother with prayers for the forgiveness of sins and mercy.

Believing in the indestructible power of prayersand the intercession of St. Nicholas and the Virgin Mary before the Lord, a huge number of refugees arrived at the Terebensky monastery, where they were given the miraculous icons of the Hierarch and the Terebensky Mother of God. On the same day, when with great hope and reverence the holy icons were exhibited in the premises of the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (Bezhetsky Verkh), the pestilence in the city itself and in the whole region began to wane.

On the Great Bezhetsk Procession

In gratitude to the Lord, the Theotokos and St. Nicholas, the Orthodox for three days served before the marvelous images of prayer, after which the holy icons were placed with great honors in the Terebensky monastery. In memory of how miraculously the Bezhetsk region was freed from pestilence, it was decided to make an annual procession with the icons of the Terebensk monastery to the Bezhetsky Top. The icon of the Mother of God of Terebenskaya has since been revered as miraculous.

The Big Bezhetsky procession was resumed only in 1990. Since that time, every year the monastery celebrates the day of July 6 as a great holiday. The icons are carried in their arms to the village of Pyatnitskoye, where a water-blessed prayer service is served at the source of St. martyr Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, after which they are taken to Maksatikha (the regional center) and to Bezhetsk.

History of the Nikolo-Terebensky Monastery in Maksatikha (male)

Before the October Revolution, the Nikolo-Terebensky Monastery owned 1,350 hectares of land. After secularization, the land continued to belong to the monastery, with only about forty monks who worked tirelessly. The monastery contained a spiritualseminary in Tver, helped orphans. In the 1920s the monastery ceased to exist. The pious inhabitants were able to preserve its shrines. In the mid-90s, after eighty years of godlessness and total desecration of faith, the restoration of the ancient Terebenskaya hermitage began.

Today

In 2004, the Nikolo-Terebensky Monastery (Tver Region) was given the status of a convent. Nun Olga (Nazmutdinova) was appointed abbess. There is a center for training and medical rehabilitation of orphans at the monastery. The monastery owns 640 hectares of land. It is planned to create an agricultural enterprise here, on the basis of which students could have an internship.

Directly on the territory of the monastery, objects requiring serious reconstruction have been preserved: the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Nikolsky Cathedral; underground church of St. Alexander Svirsky; residential buildings; monastery walls. The outbuildings of the Nikolo-Terebensky Monastery (Tver Region) were completely destroyed. The Sretenskaya Church was also destroyed to the ground.

Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This temple was founded in 1882. Initially, it was built along with cells and utility rooms, but soon the building was dismantled and a new one was laid down. Now it housed the library of the monastery, numbering hundreds of volumes of various artistic and theological books. It is known that the famous Chaliapin once sang in the choir here. Under Soviet rule, chickens were sold in the church building. Today the church has been restored and hostsservices.

St. Nicholas Cathedral

It is known that the wooden church of St. Nicholas, built in the eighteenth century, was repeatedly rebuilt. The construction of the cathedral was finally completed in 1833. Its roofs were covered with white iron. The building had five domes, a two-tiered bell tower, decorated with a spire and a cross, the height of which reached seventeen fathoms (about 36 m), a cast-iron floor, carved gilded gates, and a gilded iconostasis. The temple was consecrated in 1838.

There are two aisles at the temple. After the monastery was closed, the cathedral was preserved. This is explained by the fact that the workers of the state farm first used its building to store fertilizers, and then a gym was opened here.

Belfry

According to archival information, the stone bell tower was erected in 1835 and consisted of 3 tiers: the first one was quadrangular; the second is octagonal with eight semi-columns; the third is quadrangular with eight columns. The bell tower had twelve copper bells, was covered with iron, painted with verdigris, and decorated with an iron cross gilded on gulfarba. The height of the bell tower reached 16 fathoms (about 34 meters). With a cross, its height was 17 fathoms (about 36 meters). Under the bell tower there was a chamber for storing the monastery treasury. In 1996, the restoration of the bell tower began. Under Soviet rule, not a single bell remained on it, all were lost. The issue began to be resolved in 1999. In 2000, they were cast and installednew bells.

Living Murals

According to eyewitnesses, after the first divine liturgy was served in Nikolsky Cathedral, frescoes began to appear on its walls, which had not been touched by a human hand for many years.

First, fragmentary fragments of plots appear: parts of the face, flowers, clothes, then - various pieces of connected compositions. Under each of the frescoes you can read the inscription - excerpts from the Holy Scriptures. Mother Olga (priest of the monastery) is sure that the restoration of ancient frescoes on the walls and vaults of the cathedral is a divine sign. Experts can not give any clear explanations yet. Presumably, the authors of the painting on the walls of the cathedral are Kalyazin painters Nikifor Krylov and Alexei Tyranov, who later became students of the famous artist A. G. Venetsianov, who repeatedly visited the monastery.

About the underground church of St. Alexander Svirsky

As historians testify, in addition to the vast monastery, spread out on the surface of the earth, there was also an underground one. In the 18th century, the church of St. Alexander Svirsky was built with earth. According to legend, the saint began his feat of worship in this monastery. It was to him, the only one of all Russian ascetics, that the vision of the Holy Trinity appeared.

It is known that in one of the underground rooms there was a temple, and the other was used as housing by hermit monks,not out in the open. Under the entire territory of the monastery (about seven hectares), underground passages were dug. Currently, all of them are laid due to landslides. Descent underground is possible only in one room - where the image of the "Blessed Womb" is located. This icon is considered another miracle of the Nikolo-Terebensky convent. It is believed that childless couples should definitely contact this monastery and pray in front of its icons. Thanks to prayers before the miraculous icon of the Blessed Womb, many couples managed to have children. Childlessness, according to the nuns, is sent to people as a test in order for them to turn to God.

How to get here?

How to get to the Nikolo-Terebensky Monastery in the Tver region? This question is often asked by tourists and pilgrims. Residence address: st. Sadovaya 24, Truzhenik village, Maksatikhinsky district, Tver region.

It is best to use your own transport. For convenience, experts recommend using GPS coordinates: 58.0090583983039, 35.6585080549121. For the information of visitors: there is a hotel for pilgrims at the monastery.