Passion Monastery in Moscow - overview, history and interesting facts

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

The Passion Monastery is a famous convent that was founded in the Russian capital in 1654. She appeared not far from the gates of the White City in the so-called Earthen City in the area of \u200b\u200bthe current Garden Ring. After the revolution, in which the Bolsheviks won, the nuns were evicted from here, and since 1919 all kinds of organizations have been located on the territory of the monastery. Among them was even the anti-religious museum of the Union of Atheists of the USSR. All buildings were finally demolished in 1937. At present, a monument to Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin has been erected on the site of the destroyed monastery.

Miraculous icon

The name of the Holy Monastery is directly related to the Holy Icon of the Mother of God. According to legend, it was thanks to this image that a woman from Nizhny Novgorod was able to heal from a serious illness. Since then, the fame of the miraculous iconspread throughout all Orthodox lands.

When Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov became aware of the healing, he ordered in 1641 to deliver the icon to the capital. She was brought to Moscow from the Nizhny Novgorod estate of Prince Boris Mikhailovich Lykov-Obolensky, who was a governor and a noble Russian boyar, his father-in-law, Patriarch Filaret. Well known as one of the participants of the Seven Boyars. All this time, the icon was in his ancestral village of Palitsy.

At the Tver Gates at the entrance to the White City, the shrine was solemnly welcomed.

Construction of the monastery

The history of the Holy Monastery began with the construction of a temple at the meeting place, which appeared five years later. It turned out to be five-domed with gilded iron crosses. It housed the miraculous icon. The construction of the church began under Mikhail Fedorovich, and was completed under Alexei Mikhailovich.

In 1654, it was decided to build a nunnery at the temple. This is the history of the origin of the name of the Strastnoy Monastery. A fence with towers was erected around it, and the same Passionate Icon of the Mother of God became the main shrine.

Soon, the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin built nearby, which appeared in Putinki, was added to the architectural ensemble of the monastery. She appeared in 1652. By the end of the 17th century, a gate bell tower was installed on the territory of the Strastnoy Monastery. In 1701, there were 54 wooden cells in which the nuns lived.

The monastery was significantly damaged in 1778, whenseveral cells, as well as a cathedral church. The priceless icon of the Mother of God was saved almost by a miracle. The clergy also took out of the fire an icon in honor of the holy martyr John the Warrior, as well as the Bogolyubskaya icon of the Mother of God.

Help in the restoration of the temple was provided by Empress Catherine II. She made a significant donation, for which the Strastnoy Monastery in Moscow was recreated almost from scratch. Soon it was re-consecrated by Archbishop Platon.

During the Patriotic War

During the Patriotic War, terrible events unfolded near the walls of the Moscow Passion Monastery. It is known that at least ten people were shot right under the walls of the monastery.

The French themselves ruined the churches. Part of the property was preserved only in the sacristy, everything else was looted. While Moscow was in the hands of the French, executions and demonstration executions were regularly held on the territory of the Strastnoy Monastery. Suspects were regularly interrogated.

The temple itself was converted into a shop, and Napoleonic guardsmen were placed in the cells. The famous scientist Rozanov specified that the teacher of the Passionate maiden monastery was not initially allowed to stay within its walls, only after some time she was allowed to return to her cell. The church itself was not locked, but no one was allowed inside. After some time, brocade vestments and everything necessary for holding services appeared. They were performed by the monastery priest, whose name was Andrey Gerasimov.

On the departure of the FrenchEmperor Napoleon from Moscow was notified by the monastery bell tower. Almost immediately after that, a prayer service to Christ the Savior was held in the monastery.

Monastery in the 19th century

The history of the Passion Monastery in Moscow after that became of interest to many. In 1817, Maria Fedorovna, wife of Paul I, mother of Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I, came here on an official visit. She donated valuable turquoise, which was studded with diamonds, and a large pearl, which was decorated with a riza, to the monastery. She was placed in the Cathedral in honor of the Passion Icon.

In 1841, the relics of Anastasia the Desolder were brought to the monastery. They were kept in a silver tomb, which was donated by Princess Tsitsianova. Directly above the tomb was a small lamp, which was brought by Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, son of Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna.

In the middle of the century the monastery was restored, the work was carried out by the then famous architect Mikhail Bykovsky. He became famous as the author of the cathedral on the territory of the Spaso-Borodino Monastery, the Ivanovo Monastery, and many other architectural monuments of the century before last. Bykovsky built a new monastery bell tower instead of the old one, decorating it with a clock and a tent. In the bell tower itself, it was decided to build a church and a chapel of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.

We know the letter of Count Alexei Tolstoy, which he addressed to Emperor Nicholas II. In it, he described that he saw with his own eyes how the bell tower of the ancient monastery was demolished six years ago. And the writerspecified that it collapsed onto the pavement safe and sound, not a single brick fell out of it, the masonry turned out to be so strong and durable. Now, as Tolstoy wrote, a pseudo-Russian bell tower was erected on this site, which he was not entirely satisfied with.

At the same time, the bell tower now visually connected the monastery with one of the central streets of Moscow - Tverskaya. A peculiar complex was formed of a fence, gates, side buildings with turrets. For example, it was the big bell of this monastery that was the first to respond on Easter night to the evangelism, which began with the bell tower of Ivan the Great. So the signal was given for the start of the solemn ringing on all Moscow bell towers without exception.

The icons for the built cathedral were painted by Vasily Pukirev, and the painting of the walls of the church and the altar was done by the painter Chernov. Inside the temple there were cornices and gilded capitals, carved choirs.

Shelter and parochial school

During the time of Mother Superior Eugenia, the monastery continued to develop. In particular, a shelter was created on its basis for Bulgarian and Serbian girls who were taken from the front during the Russian-Turkish war. They were brought up in the monastery until they came of age, and after that they were sent home at the expense of the monastery.

In 1885, a new bell was solemnly installed on the bell tower, cast on donations from we althy Moscow merchants Klyuzhin, Orlov and Nikolaev. It was made at the Samghin factory. The weight of the bell was more than eleven and a half tons. It was decorated with the image of the Passionateicons of the Mother of God, the Savior and St. Nicholas.

At the end of the 19th century, the merchant Orlov gave money for a stone building that housed the parochial school at the monastery. They called her Ksenievskaya. On a permanent basis, up to fifty students studied there. Over time, a refectory building appeared, in which the church of Theodosius and Anthony of the Caves was formed.

In 1897, about three hundred sisters lived in monastic cells. By that time, a two-story building appeared in the northern wall area, which housed a prosphora production shop.

In the 20th century

By the beginning of the 20th century, the monastery owned impressive lands, which brought a good income to it. The monastery had almost two hundred acres of land in circulation, moreover, it received more than three hundred rubles a year for maintenance from the state treasury.

In total, 55 nuns lived in the monastery, half the number of novices and abbess. In 1913, the architect Leonid Stezhensky built the monastery hotel of the Strastnoy Monastery. It was located in its northeastern part. This is the only building from the entire complex that has survived to this day. It is located in Moscow at Maly Putinkovsky lane, 1/2.

Shortly before the October Revolution, there were three churches in the monastery - in honor of Alexy, the man of God, the Cathedral of the Passion Icon of the Mother of God and the Church of Theodosius and Anthony Pecherkikh.

After the revolution

Almost immediatelyafter the revolution, the monastery was abolished and virtually liquidated. This happened in 1919.

At the same time, until 1924, about 240 nuns remained on its territory. The Soviet government set up various institutions in the cells. For example, initially a military commissariat was located in them, after that students of the University of the Workers of the East settled in the monastery. This is an educational institution that existed from 1921 to 1938.

In 1928, Moskommunkhoz planned the demolition of the walls and the building of the monastery itself. However, instead of that, then all the premises were transferred to the archive. At the same time, an anti-religious museum was placed on the basis of the monastery, which modern Orthodox consider especially blasphemous.

At the same time, the bell tower was actively used instead of a poster stand. All sorts of portraits, slogans and posters were placed on it. For example, on Press Day, it was almost entirely covered up with a slogan calling on the press to become an instrument of socialist construction.

In 1931, Strastnaya Square, where the monastery had been located all this time, was renamed Pushkin Square, and it was also expanded to its modern limits. In 1937, a large-scale reconstruction of the square itself and Gorky Street adjacent to it began in Moscow. As a result, the Strastnoy Monastery on Pushkin Square was demolished. The work was carried out by the municipal enterprise "Mosrazbor".

After the demolition, it was almost a miracle that the famous Passion Icon of the Mother of God was saved. It is currently housed in the Church of the Resurrection, located in Sokolniki. In place of the Passionatemonastery on Pushkin Square, directly instead of its bell tower, a monument to Alexander Pushkin is now installed. It was moved here from Tverskoy Boulevard in 1950.

In fact, the monument to Pushkin and the Holy Monastery are in the same place.

In recent years

Already in the history of modern Russia, it became known about the large-scale reconstruction of Pushkin Square, which the city authorities decided to arrange. Initially, on the site of the monastery demolished by Soviet leaders, it was planned to build an underground parking for about a thousand cars, but the project was canceled as a result.

Since 2006, the public organization "Borodino-2012" has put forward an initiative to restore the monastery. In particular, at a meeting of the expert community under the chief architect of the capital, the project of "Old Moscow" was announced. It is supposed to return the monument to Pushkin to its original place on Tverskoy Boulevard. It is also planned to recreate the bell tower here, and in the depths of the square - the Passion Cathedral itself. The proposal was considered by the committee on monumental art, which exists under the Moscow City Duma. It was rejected. Although, according to experts, their reviews, the history of the Strastnoy Monastery is one of the main pages in the development of Orthodoxy in the city.

Memorial sign

So far, the case has been limited to the fact that in 2012, on the centenary of the war with Napoleon, a memorial sign was erected on Pushkin Square, which was dedicated to the monastery. Two years later, the community gathered for the sake ofsupport of the Strast Monastery, provided more than ninety thousand votes in support of its re-creation, but the proposal was again rejected.

In 2016, teachers, students and graduate students of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University joined the work. Under the guidance of Professor Borodkin, they managed to create a three-dimensional copy of the monastery. This project was funded by the Russian Science Foundation, which issued a grant to the researchers. Art historians, invited architects, archaeologists, restorers, archive specialists, and programmers also took part in it. The model took part in an exhibition dedicated to the lost Moscow. The participants of this project sought to recreate the buildings destroyed at different times on the territory of Kitay-Gorod in 3D models.

Archaeological excavations

In the same year, archaeologists carried out large-scale excavations in these places as part of the My Street program. They managed to find about five thousand artifacts that have something to do with the monastery. One of the most important finds is its fence.

She was conserved in the ground. The most valuable exhibits were presented at the exhibition, which opened in the Museum of Moscow under the name "Tverskaya and beyond".

By 2020, it is planned to arrange a museum at the underground level in the Kremlin area. It will house discovered archaeological artifacts related to the XII-XVIII centuries.