Located in the heart of old Moscow, the Mother of God-Nativity Monastery is one of the oldest convents in Russia. Founded at the end of the 14th century and being an integral part of the capital for more than six centuries, the monastery gave its name to two streets at the intersection of which it is located - Rozhdestvensky Boulevard and Rozhdestvenka.
The address of the monastery: Moscow, Rozhdestvenka street, 20.
Having passed in the 20th century, together with the entire Russian Orthodox Church, through the crucible of severe trials, revived during the years of perestroika, today it is one of the leading spiritual centers of the country.
Vow given by Princess Mary
Regarding where the Nativity Monastery was originally founded in Moscow, researchers do not have a common opinion, but they all agree that this important event in the history of the capital is associated with the name of Princess Maria Konstantinovna, the mother of the hero of the Kulikovo battlePrince Vladimir the Brave. She made a vow (in case her son returned alive from the battlefield) to found a monastery in honor of the Queen of Heaven. Having fulfilled her promise and built the monastery, the princess, according to legend, took monastic vows in it with the name Marfa.
Disputes in the academic world
In general, this version of events does not meet with objections, while disputes are ongoing over where exactly the monastery was founded. According to one version, it was originally located within the Kremlin and was moved to its current place a century later - already during the reign of Grand Duke Ivan III.
However, many historians adhere to the version according to which the Nativity Monastery (Moscow) was founded exactly where it is today. Their opinion is based on the fact that at the end of the 14th century these lands belonged to the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo himself, Prince Vladimir the Brave, and his mother, the founder of the monastery, lived here in her wooden palace. In addition, the graves of two daughters-in-law of Prince Dmitry Donskoy, Elena and Maria, are located in the monastery cathedral. This also suggests that the monastery was located here long before the beginning of the reign of Ivan III.
The Nativity Monastery, still operating in Moscow, is a kind of monument to the victory of the Russians in the Battle of Kulikovo, and there are several reasons for this. In addition to the fact that it was founded by the mother of one of the main characters of this event, the widows of the battle participants became its first inhabitants. It also created a shelter for everyone who lost their breadwinners in the battle with Mamai -husbands, sons and brothers.
Monastery of the Strict Rule
According to the surviving data, among the three convents that operated then in Moscow, the Nativity Monastery was distinguished by the special strictness of the cenobitic charter adopted in it and complete independence from the actions taken by the abbots of male monasteries. The status of the women's monastery by no means forbade male monks to visit within its walls. So, it is known that in the 90s of the XIV century it became for a short time the refuge of the Monk Cyril of Belozersky.
Princess Maria Konstantinovna, who died a few years after she founded the Nativity Convent in Moscow, took monastic vows there shortly before her death and was buried under the altar of the main church. Her daughter-in-law, the wife of Prince Vladimir the Brave, Elena Olgerdovna, bequeathed to the monastery her lands near Moscow, which included the famous Holy Lake, with which, according to legend, the founding of Moscow is connected.
According to the chronicle, in 1500 Moscow was engulfed by a terrible fire, which often happened in an era when almost all of its buildings were wooden. The fire also destroyed the Nativity Monastery. It was restored on the personal instructions of the Grand Duke Ivan III, who ordered the construction of a new stone cathedral in it. Its consecration, completed in 1505, was, as it were, the result of the life of the prince, who died shortly after.
Sin of Grand Duke Vasily III
Bogoroditsky Nativity Monastery (Moscow) has become the scene of many events,included in national history. So, in the autumn of 1525, the barren wife of Vasily III, Solomonia Saburova, was forcibly tonsured as a nun. This blatant violation of the church charter saved Russia from civil strife, which could be caused by his brothers in the absence of an heir.
But all the people had to pay for the princely sin - the second wife, Elena Glinskaya, gave birth to Ivan the Terrible - an insane tyrant who flooded the country with the blood of innocent victims. By the way, six months later, after his wedding to the kingdom, the monastery burned down a second time. This time the cause was the largest fire in the history of Moscow in 1547.
The next two centuries in the life of the monastery
Despite its beginning, full of dramatic events, the 17th century turned out to be very favorable for the Mother of God-Nativity Convent. In Moscow, it became prestigious to settle on Rozhdestvenka, and many representatives of the highest nobility moved to this street, which passed by the walls of the monastery. Having become permanent parishioners of churches, they made generous contributions to the monastery treasury, which made it possible to carry out a large range of construction work and significantly increased the standard of living of the sisters themselves.
The 18th century that followed brought significant changes to the economic situation of the monastery. As a result of the secularization of the monastery lands carried out by Catherine II, that is, their rejection and transfer to state ownership, the sisters lost all the vast lands donated to them by generous contributors. But at thatAt the same time, they began to receive state subsidies, which made it possible to compensate losses to a certain extent.
Napoleonic invasion
The most striking events of the 19th century for the monastery are connected with the Napoleonic invasion. Despite the fact that the French plundered everything that caught their eye, the bulk of the valuables were safely hidden and preserved. The so-called Rostopchin posters were regularly hung on the walls of the monastery - handwritten reports of hostilities, given out as programs of theatrical performances. They helped to protect the population from all sorts of panic rumors and strengthen their faith in the imminent expulsion of the invaders.
At the beginning of the 20th century, large-scale construction work was launched on the territory of the monastery, led by the famous architect F. O. Shekhtel, but after the Bolsheviks seized power, their results were completely crossed out.
Resident turned prison
In 1922 the monastery was closed. All valuables were confiscated, and the nuns were evicted without pensions, as an unearned element. Since then, the walls of the ancient monastery housed such institutions as a police station, a club and, finally, a prison, through which, according to the authorities, the path to a brighter future lay. Since the Bolsheviks did not bother to take care of the preservation of the monastery buildings, their walls deteriorated and fell into disrepair.
Restored shrine
Only in 1993, in the wake of perestroika, the Nativity Monastery was returned to the Church, and after a complex of repair and restoration workspiritual life was renewed in him. Today, three of its churches, consecrated in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and John Chrysostom, have been restored and revived to life. It has become a tradition that every year on the patronal feast, celebrated on September 21, a patriarchal service is performed in the main church of the monastery.
There are catechesis courses at the monastery, as well as a three-year women's singing school. Little parishioners are not forgotten either. They are taught the basics of Orthodoxy on Sundays. But the main attention is paid to the liturgical life, in which, along with the nuns, numerous parishioners of the Theotokos-Nativity Monastery (Moscow) take part.
The schedule of services held in it hardly differs from the schedules established in most domestic churches. On weekdays they start at 7:00 and on Sundays at 9:00. Evening prayers, regardless of the day of the week, are held from 17:00.
