Spaso-Evfrosinevsky Polotsk Convent: history, description

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

In the XII century, which was the heyday of monasticism in the ancient Polotsk land, the future saint, the Monk Euphrosyne, shone in it. The monastery created by her, having passed through long centuries of a difficult and sometimes dramatic history, has survived to this day, becoming a monument to this saint of God, now praying for all of us before the Throne of the Most High.

God-loving princess

The Monk Euphrosyne, who founded the Polotsk Monastery, came from an ancient princely family, originating from the Baptist of Russia, Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and his pious wife Rogneda. In holy baptism, she was named Predslava. Having learned to read and write at an early age, the young princess, avoiding the games and amusements characteristic of all children, spent time reading the Holy Scriptures and talking with her spiritual mentor, the rector of the parish church, who often visited her father's house.

Such zeal aroused the respect of loved ones, but no one could foresee that young Predslava would choose for herself the difficult and thorny path of monasticism, giving it preference over all the temptations of worldly life. And that's exactly what happened.

The beginning of the monasticministry

When the girl was twelve years old, which at that time was considered the age of majority, many very enviable suitors began to woo her as a famous, rich and beautiful bride. But they all received a decisive refusal. In response to her father's threat to forcibly marry her, the girl secretly fled from home and took monastic vows in one of the nearest monasteries, receiving a new name - Euphrosyne.

The life of the saint tells that she spent the beginning of her monastic journey in her writings, rewriting ancient folios kept in the library of the Polotsk St. Sophia Cathedral. Typography had not yet been invented, and the Holy Scriptures, patericons and other spiritual literature had to be replicated only in this way.

Mandate of the Messenger of God

But soon the Lord called her to a different path. A heavenly angel was sent to Euphrosyne, indicating to her the place where the Polotsk monastery would later be founded. From that time on, the saint settled near the Church of the Savior in a place called Selets, which was two miles away from the city. Together with her, another blueberry came there, whose name history has not preserved. It happened in 1125.

Filled with humility, nun Euphrosyne wanted to serve God in solitude, shutting herself off from the whole world, but the Lord did not want such a bright lamp of faith to remain under a bushel. Very soon, other maidens, who had gone astray to Christ, began to gather and settle around her.

Building a temple and creating a newcloisters

Over time, the community created in this way, from which the Polotsk monastery was subsequently formed, became quite numerous. In this regard, the venerable abbess wished to build a new stone church on the site of the wooden church, which by that time had become dilapidated.

Local people contributed to such a charitable cause. There were voluntary donors in Polotsk itself. Their labors raised the necessary funds. The management of all the work was taken over by a local architect named John. Through the prayers of Abbess Euphrosyne, the Lord sent down His grace on the builders of the new church, and already seven months later the walls topped with domes rose to the sky, and the best craftsmen painted them with wondrous frescoes.

Over time, the Polotsk nunnery grew, got stronger and, after the name of the temple erected in it, became known as the Spasskaya Convent. In 1155, the venerable abbess founded another monastery nearby, this time for men, first building the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos. These two monasteries became true centers of enlightenment in the Polotsk region. Under them, schools, libraries and scriptoria were opened - workshops for copying handwritten books.

Death in the Holy Land

In 1173, foreseeing her imminent death, the Monk Euphrosyne wished to give the Lord her last duty - to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and bow to the places associated with his earthly life. Together with her sister Evpraksia and brother David, she left Polotsk in January and after four monthsexhausting foot journey reached Jerusalem, where she was honored to bow to the Holy Sepulcher. And Saint Euphrosyne was then nearly seventy years old.

The arduous journey to the Holy Land was not in vain for the old woman. Soon she fell ill, fell ill, and on May 23 she gave her soul to the Lord, whom she had served all her life. Abbess Euphrosyne was buried, who founded the Polotsk Monastery in her homeland, in Jerusalem, in the monastery of St. Theodosius the Great. Fourteen years later, her imperishable relics were transported and, as the greatest shrine, they were placed in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

Later life of the monastery

After the repose of the holy abbess, the monasteries founded by her continued to develop and prosper, but ahead of them were hard trials that befell the Russian land in the 16th and 18th centuries. The male monastery was destroyed and has not survived to this day, but the Polotsk Spaso-Evfrosinievskiy monastery, having survived years of decline and poverty, managed to revive in the 19th century.

In 1833, work began on the overhaul of the Church of the Savior, which was very dilapidated by that time and had been in desolation in recent years. Other monastic buildings were also repaired, and a little aside, on the banks of the Polota River, a new sister cell building was erected.

In the second half of the 19th century, two more churches appeared on the territory of the monastery - in honor of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk and the Holy Cross Cathedral. At the same time, the monastery of Euphrosyne of Polotsk was ranked among the first-class monasteries and work began under it.a women's religious school that reached its peak at the beginning of the 20th century.

Shortly before the October coup, the relics of the founder of the monastery were solemnly transferred from the caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to Polotsk. So, after seven hundred years, Saint Euphrosyne returned to her offspring. The Polotsk Monastery greeted her with the solemn ringing of the bells of all its churches.

The years of hard times and our days

During the reign of the God-fighting authorities, the monastery shared the fate of most of the holy monasteries of our country. It was repeatedly closed, valuables were seized from it, including the holy relics of its founder, and the premises were used for household needs. But it is not for nothing that the Scripture says that he who endures to the end will be saved. The Polotsk Monastery was also revived.

At the beginning of perestroika, he was returned to believers and soon, brought into proper form by the labors of numerous parishioners, he regained his life. Today, seventy sisters are the inhabitants of the monastery. Morning and evening services are held daily in the temple. They are performed in the Ex altation of the Cross, Euphrosyne and Transfiguration churches.

The liturgical schedule of the Polotsk monastery differs from the schedule that is set in ordinary parish churches. On weekdays, morning services begin at 5:45 am, Divine Liturgy is celebrated at 7:15 am, and evening services at 4:45 pm. On Sundays and holidays, a late liturgy is added at 9:30.