Holy Mount Athos and Palestine have always been the ultimate dream of Russian pilgrims. Pilgrimage in pre-revolutionary Russia was equated with a feat, because planes did not fly, the railway was a luxury, and not everyone had horses. Therefore, the Orthodox, wishing to go on a journey to Mount Athos or to the Holy Sepulcher, were preparing for long walks to the seashore in order to board a ship in the port to their destination.
The whole family often went to bow to shrines, having previously sold livestock and other property. The path was long and difficult, it was possible not to return from the pilgrimage. But people still aspired to distant ideals of Christian purity.
Russians on the Holy Mountain
Athos monasteries, where Russian monks lived, were financed and existed, includingincluding at the expense of the Russian Empire. In port cities, ships were loaded with provisions and delivered to the island by sea.
Often notes with names were handed along with food, and the inhabitants of monasteries and cells on Athos prayed for those who supported the monks. At the end of the nineteenth century, a transit point for pilgrims and pilgrims appeared in Odessa - St. Ilyinsky Odessa Monastery. The travelers did not think about how to get to the monastery, the monks met them at the port and escorted them to the place.
Metochion of the Russian Skete
The now venerated Odessa Saint Saint Gabriel of Athos became the organizer of the pilgrimage center in 1884. In addition to prayer and church services, the inhabitants of the St. Ilyinsky Odessa Monastery helped the pilgrims to correctly draw up documents for entry into Greece and Palestine, gave shelter, where people gained strength after a long transition, picked up places on the ship.
St. Ilyinsky Skete, located on Athos, was interested in attracting pilgrims, so in 1884 it was decided to purchase a house in Odessa. For about six years, travelers lived in it, who were helped in every possible way by the monks, who came in turn from Athos.
But the monks needed a temple, but there was no place to build it. In 1890, the Holy Synod allowed the monastery to acquire the required piece of land, on which the Monk Gabriel and the monks built a temple and buildings for the brethren and pilgrims.
The St. Ilyinsky Odessa Monastery was located at the address: Pushkinskaya Street, 79. Soon, novices and monks began to appear in the monastery, the need for watchkeeping by Athos residents disappeared. And only the founder continued to instruct the brethren and solve the current tasks of the farmstead.
St. Gabriel of Athos
The biography of the ascetic and founder of the St. Ilyinsky Odessa Monastery describes the thorny path of a simple Russian man from a poor peasant family. The monk received the first sprouts of the Orthodox faith from his parents in early childhood. Being a boy, at the age of twelve he remained an orphan. The educators and teachers of the local school were engaged in further education and training of the boy. The future abbot showed a keen interest in church and liturgical books, studied the lives of the saints and the Gospel.
By the end of the training, the young man became seriously ill. Feeling that his he alth leaves much to be desired, he made a vow to God - in case of recovery, go on a pilgrimage to Kyiv.
The Lord healed his child, and Gabriel hastened to fulfill this vow. In the capital, the young man was so struck by the beauty of temples and monasteries that he firmly decided to devote his whole life to God. The first pilgrimage never ended for the founder of St. Ilyinsky Odessa Monastery. From Kyiv, the young man went to Athos, where the diligent young man was tonsured a monk.
The entire life of the abbot was filled with sorrows and difficulties. He provided the monastery with provisions, medicines, was the captain of a steamer sailing to Russia, visited the courtyard in Constantinople, developed the Athos skete and built churches.
Reverend Gabriel, the founder of the St. Ilyinsky Odessa Monastery (pictured), reposed in the Lord in October 1901. In 1994, the honest relics of the elder were found.
Monastery shrines
Archimandrite Gabriel brought from Athos the miraculous icon of the Mother of God "Mamming", part of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, the left foot from the relics of the Apostle Andrew.
The Mother of God-nurse, as this holy image is often called, helps in childbirth, in the subsequent feeding of babies. Orthodox women turn in prayers to the Queen of Heaven when children are sick.
A lot of books have been written about helping believers with a particle of the wood of the Cross of the Lord. Anyone who turns to God with a pure heart will get what he wants if it benefits him.
Schedule
In 1995 the monastery was returned to believers. Gradually, the number of monks and novices grew, and two years after the opening, the Odessa Diocesan Administration moved to the monastery. Today, services are held daily in the temples of the monastery.
On weekends and holidays - Divine Liturgy at six o'clock in the morning. On weekdays, at the same time, the monastic rule is read. At seven o'clock Matins, prayers and akathists are held. Evening services and polyeles start at 17.00.
