The Sretensky Monastery in Moscow is inscribed in the pages of Russian history, the initial of which refers to the reign of Vasily I (son of Dmitry Donskoy, who died in 1382). For 36 years of his wise reign, the Moscow principality was strengthened and expanded, and Moscow itself was never conquered by anyone.
History of the name of the monastery
In translation from the Greek language, "candlemas" means a meeting. Kuchkovo field took its name from the name of the boyar S. I. Kuchka, a hereditary Vyatich who did not obey Yu. Dolgoruky. The semi-mythical boyar Stepan Kuchka was executed, and Moscow was built on the lands he owned. It was here, on the Kuchkovo field, that in 1395 Muscovites met the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, sent in procession from Vladimir-on-Klyazma. The road that went to the center of the capital, and on which this event took place, began to be called Sretenka, and the monastery erected here in memory oflegendary event, Sretensky. Legendary because the next day, for no apparent reason, Timur-Tamerlane, who had ruined Yelets before that, turned his troops away from the walls of the defenseless capital. Vasily I immortalized this event by building the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow in 1397 on the site of the meeting of the procession.
Priceless Shrine
On account of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God there are two more legendary deliverance from the invaders. One happened in 1451, when the Horde prince Mazovsha, the great-grandson of Khan Tokhtamysh, burned down all the Moscow suburbs, and on the eve of a decisive assault, he ran away from the walls of the capital after a night outing of the townspeople with an icon. The second refers to 1480 (getting rid of Akhmat, standing on the Ugra River). The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was painted, according to legend, by the evangelist and apostle Luke during Mary's lifetime on the board of the table at which the Holy Family ate.
Patriarch Luke Chrysoverg of Constantinople, whose reign at the beginning of the 12th century was marked by extensive church legislative activity, sent a copy of this icon to Yuri Dolgoruky. After the Sretensky Monastery was founded, in Moscow, on August 26, the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, the savior of the capital from its conquest by Tamerlane's troops, is delivered to it annually on August 26 by a procession from the Assumption Cathedral.
Monastic buildings that have survived to this day
The original buildings of the monastery have not been preserved. Of the ancient buildings that survived all the wars and upheavals, the five-domed cathedral has survived to this day,built in 1679 with the money of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, the half-brother of Peter I. Fyodor III, together with his wife Agafya Semyonovna Grushetskaya, took special care of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow. Already after the death of both in 1706, the southern chapel was built - the Nativity of John the Baptist. In the iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Sretensky Monastery in 1680, the royal couple placed the images of their patrons - Saints Theodore Stratilates and the martyr Agafya. The icons are located at an equal distance from the royal doors.
Role in national history
In general, this monastery played an important role in the fate of the Romanov dynasty - it actively contributed to the coming to power of Mikhail Fedorovich, the first Russian tsar, the bearer of this surname. All pilgrimages of the upper strata of Russian society began, as a rule, in this monastery. And in the 19th century, there was also, albeit temporarily, the primatial pulpit. And the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, which belongs to the shrines of the monastery, saved Moscow three times from enemy capture and destruction.
Monastery frescoes
Despite its significance, the Cathedral of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God until 1707 stood undecorated. This year, thanks to donations from S. F. Griboedov, a Streltsy colonel, frescoes appeared in the temple, which are well preserved to this day and represent one of the last masterpieces of ancient Russian art in the capital. It is not known who painted the walls of the cathedral, since in the fire of 1737 all the documentation related to the work of talented artists burned down in the monastery.masters, whose professionalism is evidenced by the original thematic construction of frescoes and the perfection of execution.
Black pages of history
Tragic events for the monastery came in the 20s of the XX century. The only one recognized throughout Soviet Russia from 1922 to 1926 was a church movement called "renovationism", which, in essence, was an adaptation to the new government in order to survive. It actively fought with Patriarch Tikhon. As soon as Sretensky Monastery moved from renovationism to patriarchal jurisdiction in 1923, problems began, and in 1925 the monastery was closed. Until the 30th year, many buildings of the monastery were ruthlessly demolished. The motivation was the expansion of the street, one of the central ones, since the Sretensky Monastery, whose address in Moscow is Bolshaya Lubyanka Street, 19, was located in the very heart of the capital. Among the destroyed buildings were the Church of St. Mary of Egypt and the Church of St. Nicholas.
They have not been restored. The shrines of the monastery were disbanded into museums. It was only by chance that the old icon of the Ex altation of the Cross, which ended up in the Anti-Religious Museum, was preserved and is now in the Tretyakov Gallery. The remaining buildings housed dormitories for NKVD officers. The fact that people were killed on the holy land of the monastery is evidenced by the worship cross erected in 1995 in memory of the martyred victims.
Return to the bosom of the church
Until 1990, the building of the cathedral housed the All-Union Artistic Research and Restoration Center. Grabar. In 1991The monastery was returned to the Orthodox Church, after which its revival began - ancient buildings were restored, new buildings and a bell tower were built. A large publishing house operates on the monastery territory. 400 people study at catechetical courses. 40 monks and novices live within the walls of the monastery. It should be noted that on December 4, 1925, just before the complete closure, the future Patriarch Pimen (in the world Sergei Izvekov), who died in 1990, was tonsured in the Sretensky Monastery with the name Platon.
Strict beauty of the monastery
All the buildings located in the center of the capital, which has been amazingly transformed in recent years, correspond to its new look, including the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow. The photo below speaks eloquently of his current austere beauty. Naturally, one of the oldest monasteries that played a significant role in the fate of Russia, located in the center of the capital, is given much attention by the leadership of the Orthodox Church. In addition, since the monastery is stavropegic, the Patriarch of Moscow is its ruling bishop and mentor. The term "stauropegial" means the non-subordination of the monastery to the local diocesan authorities. Such monasteries and laurels are under the jurisdiction of the patriarch. Until 1918, the monastery, located in the very center of the capital, on Bolshaya Lubyanka Street (formerly Sretenka), had the status of a provincial monastery that existed without state support. Today, the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow is stauropegial.
A reason to be especially proud
Everything in the monastery corresponds to her high rank. The Sretensky Monastery in Moscow can be proud of many things. The monastery's choir (not the choristers, but the choir itself) is of the same age, and is known not only to parishioners and lovers of sacred music. Already in the 17th century, the Sretensky choir and its singers gained recognition, as they accompanied solemn citywide religious processions. Having gone through hard times, the collective, revived together with the monastery, began to acquire new features corresponding to the time, and was finally formed by 2005. It is headed by a graduate of the Russian Academy of Music Nikon Stepanovich Zhila.
He was a chorister of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra since childhood. Along with the services, the soloists of the choir conduct concert activities and record albums. Each of the 30 soloists has an excellent musical education - either Gnesinka, or the Moscow Theological or Sretinskaya Seminaries. There are students from the Moscow Academy of Choral Art and the Moscow Conservatory. According to the testimony of fans and experts, a talented leader "turns the consonance of voices into a living organ." The choir has world-famous soloists - Dmitry Beloselsky and some others.
Honored icons and relics of the righteous
The shrines of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow are represented primarily by the relics of Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), a bishop and theologian of the Russian Orthodox Church, an icon with a particle of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov. In addition, the remains of St. Mary of Egypt, Saints JohnChrysostom, Basil the Great and Nicholas the Wonderworker. The shrines include the negative (the face on the Shroud) and the positive (pictured) of a life-size exact copy of the Shroud of Turin, which is located in the crypt of the cathedral. It was consecrated by Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow as the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands. The revered list of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God completes the list of shrines of the Sretensky Monastery.
Unselfishness for the glory of God
People who selflessly and voluntarily work for the glory of God are at Orthodox monasteries, but are not novices - these are the so-called laborers. The Sretensky Monastery in Moscow, like other church institutions, needs their help. Workers are different from both pilgrims and novices. Basically, these are people who are just preparing to devote themselves to the church completely. There is a provision on employees, in which certain requirements are imposed on them, and it is not recommended to violate them. Usually workers come to the monasteries for a certain time, and they, of course, need a place to live. The hotel of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow under the name "Podushkin" was intended for this. But, unfortunately, in 2012, in the fall, she found herself at the center of a scandal due to the fact that the list of services provided, according to law enforcement agencies, included intimate ones. The abbot of the Sretensky Monastery called the information slander.
