The Holy Vvedenskaya Island Hermitage is an Orthodox convent near the town of Pokrov, Vladimir Region. The Svyato-Vvedenskaya island desert was founded at the beginning of the VIII century as a male monastery, since 1995 it has become a convent. On the eastern shore of the lake there is a village of the same name - Vvedensky, with which the Vvedenskaya Hermitage is connected by two bridges - wooden and concrete.
History of origin and development
At the end of the 16th century, two monks, Sergius and Timothy, settled on the island of the picturesque Lake Vvedensky (then Vyatka). And they built for themselves a wooden church and a cell. This is how the first small holy settlement of two people appeared on the island. But the monks were not alone for long. Rumors about their modest life spread around the neighborhood. And people reached out to them, asking to settle next to the monks. And they did not refuse those who came. So, the settlement grew larger, and the believers who lived here decided to build a temple, for which they began to ask for the blessings of the Orthodox Church. In 1708, Metropolitan Stefan blesses the construction of a new shrine.
The wooden temple was built by the monks a year later, and the first settler Sergius becomes the first mentor of the monastery, called the Vvedenskaya island desert. In 1713, Sergius dies, and the monk Nectarios becomes the new abbot. Although his mentorship was short-lived, during this time he manages to sell a new temple and a bell to neighboring villages. The price of the deals was ridiculous - 17 rubles for the temple and 11 rubles for the bell. And the poor monastery lost its independence and was assigned to the St. John the Theologian Monastery in the Moscow district. Only in 1729 independence was returned to the holy house of monks.
The sold bell was again transferred to the ownership of the monastery, and instead of the sold wooden church, a new solid stone church was rebuilt under the rector Lavrenty. The church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the church of Elijah were rebuilt, and a new stone chapel on the Vladimirsky tract was built to collect alms from caring people. New cells were built and the fence of the monastery was erected. So, through the efforts of Lawrence, the holy monastery was transformed.
One of the abbots of the monastery, who left his significant mark on the history of the monastery, was the elder Cleopas. The elder himself was strict with himself in terms of observing monastic principles, and demanded the same from the brothers. According to the communal charter established by him, the monks were required to have a particularly intense prayer feat. Elder Cleopas, after 18 years of mentoring, died on the day of the feast of the forty martyrs.
At the end of the 19th century, under the mentorship of Joseph, the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was rebuilt, buildings of cells and the rector's building were built, the fence was replaced with a new and solid brick, and houses for pilgrims were built and equipped on the shore.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the monastery prospered until the revolution came to Russia. And nothing good came for the monastery - in 1918 its buildings were transferred to the ownership of the state, and the monastery actually ceased to exist. The buildings of the monastery were transferred from year to year to various state organizations - a nursing home, an orphanage, a women's colony ... And in 1940, domes were even cut down from the Vvedensky Church, and a school for girls serving time in a colony was opened in mutilated buildings.
Only 73 years later, in 1991, the revival of the Holy Vvedensky island monastery began. Until 1993, the buildings of the island were gradually transferred to the holy monastery. And in 1995, the Island Hermitage received the status of a now nunnery and its first mentor, Abbess Fevronia.
Svyato-Vvedenskaya island desert in our time
After the return of the buildings, the monastery is still under restoration, although the restoration and construction work carried out is simply huge. The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker has acquired its former appearance, the Cathedral of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is still in the process of restoration, a new belfry has been built, and an orphanage-boarding house "Kovcheg" has been opened. There are equipped cell buildings, a chapel-bath, a refectory for nuns and a refectory for pilgrims. The territory of the monastery is well-groomed and beautiful. Beautiful flower beds with roses delight the eye, and you can relax on the established benches. The calm water of the lake is overgrown with romantic water lilies, and the seagulls, which live here in large numbers, hatch their chicks even in the flowerbeds of the monastery.
The monastery owns a small farmstead with livestock, where various dairy products are produced - milk, sour cream, butter, cottage cheese, ice cream. Various pastries and breads are baked. One of the most important industries is the gold embroidery workshop. All products, embroidery, knitting can be purchased.
Worship Schedule
Monday-Saturday:
- 5:00 - Morning prayers. Midnight Office.
- 5:45 — Divine Liturgy.
- 17:00 - All-night vigil.
Sunday:
- 7:30 - Divine Liturgy,
- 17:00 - All-night vigil.
On Saturdays, a baptismal ceremony is held (interview before baptism - at 10:00).
Children's shelter-boarding house "Ark"
In 2007, on the shores of Lake Vvedensky, with the blessing of Mother Superior Fevronia, an orphanage "Ark" was built for girls of different ages who are in a difficult life situation. These are girls left without parental care, from low-income families, homeless. Mothers live here with their children. The brick building of the shelter is designed for 50 people.
The girls in the orphanage study, sing and dance, help the nuns in the kitchen, the monastery cowshed, the garden, and also learn the art of gold embroidery.
How to get to the Svyato-Vvedenskaya island desert
From Moscow to the city of Pokrov (Pokrov station):
- by electric train from the Kursk railway station in Moscow,
- by bus from the Shchelkovsky bus station in Moscow.
From the city of Pokrov to the village, the distance is only 4 kilometers (from Mokskva - 100 km) and there are several ways to get to it:
- walk (about 50 minutes) - ,
- by local bus "Pokrov - settlement Vvedensky" to the stop "Settlement Vvedensky" -
Early June morning, fog over the lake. A small boat pushes away from the shore and slides easily on the water: a splash of oars, a creak of oarlocks. Somewhere in the distance a cuckoo is chirping, its monotonous song flies over the water, fading away in the violet distances. The sun is slowly rising over the forest...
In the boat, Sergius and Timofey are the monks of the Pokrovskaya St. Anthony Desert, they are steering the boat to the island of Vyatka Lake. These pious brothers fled from the bustle of a large monastery in search of solitude and quiet prayer. On an island in the middle of the forest, they set up a small wooden chapel and a cell. Years passed, amidst the silence of the lake, fervent prayer flew to God, and rumors about hermits rustled around. Other people began to appear on the island, asking hermits to take them under their shepherd. The humble monks did not refuse, the community multiplied.
The secluded monastery began to be called the Vvedensky island desert,
the same name stuck to the lake
Foundation of the monastery
In December 1708, Sergius and Timothy and the brethren filed a petition “To the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich of All Great and Small and White Autocrats of Russia”, in which they asked the Sovereign for permission to build a church on Lake Vyatka in honor of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos. By decree of the tsar, His Grace Stephan Metropolitan of Ryazan and Murom blessed the monks, they cut down the forest in the middle of the island and erected a wooden temple: “Osmerik, and on top of six, the roof is boarded, the head and neck are upholstered with wooden scales, on the head the wooden cross is covered with tin.” In December 1710, the temple was consecrated, the founder of the desert, Sergius, was ordained a hieromonk and appointed rector of the monastery.
The secluded monastery began to be called the Vvedenskaya island desert, and a new name was assigned to the lake - Vvedenskoye. The princes Golitsyn, who owned the lake and the surrounding lands, donated the lake and the island to the monastery. However, funds for the maintenance of the brethren were not enough.
Sold the temple
The tutorship of abbot Sergius did not last long, in 1713 he died, and the monk Nectarius was sent from Moscow to take his place. The monastery at that time was in poverty, coped poorly with deductions to the treasury, and by 1724 lost its independence - the monastery was assigned to the John the Theologian Hermitage of the palace volost of the Kunyevskaya district of the Moscow district. Nektarios with five monks moved to Bogoslovovo, having previously sold a church in the village of Pokrovskoye to priest Grigory Fadeev for 17 rubles and a monastery bell to the priest of the village of Voskresenskoye Alexei Ambrosiev for 11 rubles.
Most of the monks of Nectarios did not support, 14 hermits remained in their old place. Although they endured extreme need, they trusted in God's help. In 1729 they filed a complaint with the Holy Synod. He decided: Vvedenskaya hermitage should be freed from registration to Bogoslovskaya, the church and all property should be returned. The monastery began to revive. Its new rector, Hieromonk Lawrence, managed to attract generous benefactors. By the middle of the 18th century, the poor monastery was transformed: two stone churches were built on the island - in honor of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the temple and in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, as well as one wooden gate church - in the name of the holy prophet Elijah; new cells for the brethren were also built, the island was surrounded by a wooden fence. From the shore it seemed that the monastery, like a ship, was drifting in the quiet lake waters.
Wonderful paintings were once barbarously smeared
The Vvedenskaya Hermitage reached its true spiritual flourishing in the second half of the 18th century, when Hieromonk Cleopas became its rector. His memory is honored in the monastery today. He received the basis of monastic education in the Zograf monastery on Mount Athos. Perhaps Cleopas was one of the students of the founder of the monastery of St. Elijah on Athos, the great elder, Archimandrite Paisius Velichkovsky.
Hieromonk Cleopas arrived at the Vvedenskaya Hermitage in 1758 and two years later became its rector. A man of high piety and moral purity, Cleopas introduced a strict charter into the desert, divine services under him became long and earnest . Concerns about material well-being, as well as the improvement of the desert, the abbot limited only the most necessary, often rejecting the proposals of wealthy donors and investors. Once Governor-General Vorontsov sent to ask Cleopas what he needed - land or fishing.
“Bow to the governor-general,” answered Cleopas, “thank you for your diligence, tell him that I need three arshins of land, and we have so much; and we also buy fish from the peasants.” Obviously, he believed that any possessions distract monks from direct prayer and liturgical duties, bring a certain share of worldly concerns into their lives, and this is not useful for monks. Cleopas strove for the brethren of his desert to be imbued with a prayerful mood, so that thoughts would be cleansed of sinful thoughts, and hearts would be brought up in the spirit of Christian love, forgiveness and condescension. He was a true ascetic, a simple hearted man, for which he gained universal respect.
Many people came to talk with the elder, including wealthy benefactors from Moscow, high-ranking spiritual and secular people. Aspired to the monastery and those who were looking for monastic deeds, the brethren grew. Over the years, many inhabitants of the desert became abbots of other monasteries.
Elder Cleopas died on March 9, 1778 and was buried near the southern wall of the altar. Three years ago, during repair work in the Vvedensky Church, the relics of the elder were found, at present they are in the ark in the St. Nicholas Church of the monastery.
Update
At the beginning of the 19th century, under new abbots, the temples of the Vvedensky Monastery were renovated. Later, the warm St. Nicholas Church was rebuilt, and in 1891, on the site of the dilapidated Vvedensky Church, construction began on a new one. Three years later, His Eminence Sergius, Archbishop of Vladimir and Suzdal, consecrated it.
The new, majestic in its architecture, five-domed temple, built in the Byzantine style, was distinguished by a beautiful gilded iconostasis and magnificent murals made by the monks of Optina Hermitage under the guidance of Hieromonk Daniel (Bolotov). A locally venerated icon of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, decorated with a gilded silver riza with precious stones, painted at the beginning of the 18th century, was kept in a special icon case. She began to be especially revered when, in 1848, through prayer in front of this shrine in the city of Intercession, the raging cholera subsided. At that time, hundreds of pilgrims visited the Vvedenskaya Hermitage.
From darkness to light
In 1918 the monastery was closed, but divine services continued until 1924. Replacing each other, the island housed either a nursing home and the disabled, or an orphanage, and since 1932, a colony of teenage girls, later called a “special vocational school”. Domes were thrown off churches, buildings were rebuilt: a school was set up in Vvedensky, and a club and a cinema hall in Nikolsky.
In 1993, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', the revival of the Holy Vvedensky Island Monastery began. The former male monastery turned into a female one, Abbess Fevronia, formerly nun Khristina of the Holy Trinity Novodevichy Monastery of Murom, was appointed its abbess. The nuns who arrived from the same monastery recalled: “The first time we came here was in August. The whole island was strewn with golden foliage, above it - the bottomless sky. There was such silence and peace all around, and the lake and the island made an amazing impression ... The Lord called us. It was impossible to pass by the destroyed temple. We thought: “Is it within our power to restore such a monastery?” We prayed, worked, hoped for the help of the Lord. And He didn't leave us."
In those days, the Vvedensky church was covered with an ugly leaking roof, its wonderful murals were barbarously smeared with oil paint, St. Nicholas Church, without a dome and a cross, with blocked windows, also looked a little like God's house. Almost nothing reminded that once there was a prosperous monastery here. Only the spirit of the monastery island was still permeated with joy and grace. A revival of monastic life began.
Temples restored by embroidery
At first, the fraternal buildings and temples belonged to the colony, morning services were held simultaneously with the wake-up and charging of the colonists. But with God's help, the buildings were handed over to the monastery one by one. The first divine services in the newly found monastery were distinguished by special awe and sincerity. Archimandrite Maxim (Moskaleonov) and Father Andrey Aydarov were priests here during these difficult years.
The sisters learned the art of gold embroidery from their abbess and eventually succeeded - the embroidered icons were distinguished by amazing beauty and spiritual fullness. Customers appeared, embroidering, the nuns began to receive funds for the arrangement and restoration of temples. Donors and builders of the new desert were attracted by many labors and prayers. The roof was repaired on the Vvedensky Church, drums were laid out, domes and golden crosses were installed. A belfry was built in the center of the island. Now the bell ringing, reflected from the lake surface, flies to villages and settlements on distant shores, calling for service. The church of St. Nicholas was also restored. Before the next whitewashing of the walls, they decided to wash away the old, poorly held plaster to the ground and discovered ancient paintings of amazing beauty. The lost plots on the walls were soon restored, following the old patterns.
Ark for children
Four years ago, 300 years have passed since the founding of the monastery. More than a thousand believers solemnly celebrated this event, having passed the procession from the Intercession to the Svyato-Vvedenskaya island desert.
In 2009, a two-story building was built on the shore of the lake at the expense of philanthropists for the residence and education of 50 children. It housed classrooms, a library, a gym, a dining room, comfortable bedrooms. The Orthodox boarding house "Kovcheg" was opened here for children left without parental care, low-income, homeless children and refugees. Three years ago, on September 1, the first school year for twelve girls began in this building. The children are taught by teachers under the program of the elementary general education school, as well as a choirmaster, choreographer, piano teacher. The sisters of the monastery teach pupils to embroider. Children participate in divine services, elders sing in the monastery choir.
From year to year the monastery is restored. There is still a lot of work ahead, the sisters and abbess Fevronia work hard and pray tirelessly, hoping that the All-Merciful Lord will not leave them, as before.
In the pilgrim's notebook:
Svyato-Vvedenskaya island desert
Address: 601120, Vladimir region, Petushinsky district, city of Pokrov, p/o Vvedenskoye
Directions: from Moscow by electric train from the Kursk railway station or by bus from the Shchelkovsky bus station to the Pokrov station. Then by local bus "Pokrov - Vvedensky village" to the stop "Vvedensky village". Further on foot.
Svetlana Mirnova,
Vyatskoye lake
Vyatskoe (Vvedenskoe) lake is located in a straight line 4 km. from the city of Pokrov, Petushinsky district of the Vladimir region.“Lake Vyatskoe is located at a distance from the provincial city of Vladimir in 82 versts, and from the city of Pokrov in 4 ver. Under this island of land, as can be seen from the plan drawn in 1776 on June 18, 1560 square sazhens, under the lake 35 acres 684 square meters. sazhen, and only 35 acres and 2244 square meters. fathoms. Previously, it was inside the dacha of the district volost of Vyatka, the department of the Pereslavsky district of the Zalessky Borisoglebsky camp, from which it received the name - Lake Vyatka.
Svyato-Vvedenskaya Island Hermitage
Holy Vvedensky Island Monastery
Pokrovskaya Svyato-Vvedenskaya Island Women's Hermitage (Holy Vvedensky Island Monastery) - in 1708-1918. male monastery, since 1993 - female monastery.
Compound of the Vladimir and Suzdal diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The monastery is located on an island in the middle of the Vyatka (Vvedenskoye) lake.
The monastery was founded in the con. 17th century the monks of the Anthony Hermitage Sergius and Timothy, who retired to the island of Vyatka Lake and set up a wooden chapel and a wooden cell there. The solitude, according to legend, did not last long - a rumor spread around the district about the "elders" and those who wanted to become inhabitants of the new desert began to come. The monks accepted everyone. By the beginning of the new, XVIII century, the island brethren had multiplied so much that it was decided to ask for a blessing to build their own island temple. Which is what was done.
Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
“Elders Sergius and Timothy, competing with their pious zeal, decided to ask the Sovereign-Tsar for permission to build them a church on Vyatka Island in the name of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed One. Mother of God". To which, in December 1708, a letter was received from the Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan of Ryazan and Murom Stefan (Yavorsky), with the following content: The Lesser and White Russian Autocrats were beaten with a forehead, and the Most Reverend Stephen Metropolitan of Ryazan and Murom, between the Patriarchate, the Pereslavl district of the Zaleska Borisoglebsk camp, the Patriarchal house of the Pokrovsky village, that there was St. : in Pereslavl de district, Zalessky on Lake Vyatka, on the island, they promised to build again a wooden church in the name of introducing the Most Holy Theotokos into the temple and, the Great Sovereign would grant them, ordered them to give a decree about that structure, and by decree of the Great Sovereign, the Tsar and the Great Prince Peter Alekseevich of All Great and Small and White Russia, Autocrat, His Grace Stefan Metropolitan of Ryazan and Murom blessed the above monks, ordered them in the Pereslavl district of Zalessky on Lake Vyatka, on the island, to build a church again in the name of introducing the Most Holy Theotokos into the temple, and the top on that to make churches against other wooden churches, and not tents, and the altar is round, and in the church in the altar wall the royal doors were used in the middle, and on their right side - the south; at the beginning, put the image of the All-Merciful Savior, and after the Savior image, put the image of that holy temple, and on the left side of the Royal doors between the northern ones. At the beginning, put the image of the Most Holy Theotokos and other images according to the order; but how that church was built and made for consecration will be, about the consecration of that church and about the antimension and who to hallow, beat with a forehead in the future. And for the antimension to be a priest in Moscow, or a deacon, and not a commoner.
Elders Sergius and Timothy, having received the letter, immediately set to work with the brethren. The temple was built from a felled forest in the center of the island, in a place cleared of the forest, "decorating it with a befitting temple of God's splendor."
On January 14, 1710, the temple was consecrated by Hieromonk Ioannikius, who arrived from Moscow, according to the blessed letter of the same Metropolitan of Ryazan Stefan, given as a result of the second request of monk Sergius.
Shortly thereafter, the founder of this hermitage, Sergius, was consecrated Hieromonk and named its rector.
From the papers available in the Church Archive it can be seen: “The Church of God is wooden, with a meal, checkered, the altar is round, an osmerik is cut down on the church, and on top of the six covered with a band, the head and neck are sheathed with wooden scales, on the head a wooden cross is covered with tin.”
Bathhouse
The former island chapel, erected during the initial settlement of Sergius and Timothy, was transferred to the Vladimirsky tract and was later used "to collect money from well-meaning donors for the maintenance of the monastery." The chapel stood near the road until the 1740s, brought in little income, was repeatedly plundered and, in the end, was dismantled by the patron priest Grigory Fadeev. Some time later, it was resumed, but already made of stone, and in the 1880s, when the Vladimir road shifted, the chapel was moved after the tract. A one-story brick house for novice monks was built near it. Every year, until 1918, on Ilyin's day, a procession was made from the desert to the chapel.
Sergius' mentorship did not last long - in 1713 he "rested in Bose" and the monk Nectarius was sent from Moscow to take his place.
Vyatka Lake, as well as the lands around, were the patrimony of the Golitsyn princes. With the emergence of the desert, the Golitsins gave the lake and the island itself into the ownership of the monastery. The transfer was free of charge. In 1711, even under Sergius, the monastic brethren, the fishing industries that previously belonged to the Antoniev Hermitage departed: “Summer 17 June 11, 11 days, by decree of the Great Sovereign ... given by category ... fishing of the Anthony Desert ... Lake Vyatskoe ... and the large Lake Belenskoye ... from it a channel into Lake Shitskoye ... Lake Lankovskoye ... so that the former workers refused, and again no one was found, and the quitrent to pay him the builder and the brethren of the stationery sent three rubles sixteen altyn four money.
Holy Vvedensky Cathedral 
Holy Vvedensky Cathedral (left), Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (right)
In other words, there was no one to pay the tax on fishing in these lakes, and the fishery was given - with the obligation to pay this tax - to the newly founded monastery. The monastery, on the other hand, did not cope well with deductions to the treasury, was in poverty - collecting money in the cities and on the Vladimir highway did not save - and in 1722 or 1724 it lost its independence. He was assigned to the Ioanno-Bogoslovskaya hermitage of the palace Kunyevskaya volost of the Moscow district (now the village of Bogoslovo on the M7 highway). The "builder" Nectarius with 5 monks moved to the Theological Hermitage, having previously sold for 17 rubles. temple in the brownie Synodal village of Pokrovskoye to the priest Grigory Fadeev, and the monastery bell of 1 pood and 22 pounds was sold for 11 rubles. - to the priest of the village of Voskresensky Alexei Abrosiev. The chapel was appropriated by the priest of the village of Pokrovsky Grigory Fadeev. Nectarios took with him utensils, books, bread, cattle and monastic supplies from the Vvedenskaya desert. There are 14 monks left in the desert. So the Vvedenskaya hermitage, arranged by the zeal of the elders Sergius and Timothy, was brought to complete destruction by Hieromonk Nectarius.
The brethren who remained in the Vvedenskaya Hermitage suffered terrible shortcomings and famine “Finally, the monks Lavrenty and Timothy resorted to the justice of the Holy Governing Synod: in the complaint filed therein, in 1729, they explained all the injustices of their former Builder Nectarius, who destroyed the desert, established by order of the Sovereign Emperor Peter I-th and convincingly asked to bring the desert to its primitive state, to return the church, church utensils and other things, as well as to appoint Hieromonk Alexander as the Builder, who was the Builder of the Vladimir district in the Synodal Lyubetsky Monastery.
Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
The synod, upon demanding a response from the Moscow Spiritual Decasteria to this complaint, determined by its resolution: foundation, and the taken church and church utensils and books and bread and cattle, etc., all according to the previous inventory from this Theological desert, and the church from the village of Pokrovsky should be returned to that Ostrovets desert immediately, and Hieromonk Alexander, required by their petition, to be in this Ostrovets desert “Builder "". This decree remained without any execution, only Hieromonk Alexander from the Antoniev-Lyubetsky Monastery came to the place of Nektarios.
In 1735, upon entering the place of the rectorate position of monk Lavrenty, the brethren authorized him to petition for the return of the hermitage belonging to the decision of the Synod. Here begins a long process, the result of which was the return of all the losses of the desert (including the return of the bell) and the purchase of the church for 25 rubles. at the priest S. Pokrovsky.
Lavrenty remained the abbot of the monastery until 1758 - until his death - with a short break in 1752-1754. In 1752, hegumen Joseph was appointed rector. In 1758, as can be seen from the archive papers, Hieromonk Alimpiy ruled the desert, and Hieromonk Cleopas, who arrived from the monastery of Mount Athos in 1760, took his place.
From 1760 to 1778 the monastery was managed by the elder Cleopas, a disciple of the Monk Paisius Velichkovsky.
Elder Cleopas Pokrovsky - an ascetic of piety of the 18th century
Elder Cleopas Pokrovsky, born (presumably) in 1714, belonged to a galaxy of disciples and associates of St. Paisius Velichkovsky, thanks to whose activities the well-known flourishing of monasticism in Russia in the 19th century took place. Primary sources telling about the life of St. Cleopas are not numerous, which is connected both with historical reasons and with the spiritual appearance of the elder himself - his humble desire to avoid human glory. This is a short biography of him, written by Rev. Macarius of Optina, in the preface to the life of St. Paisius Velichkovsky and the oral story about Elder Cleopas, one of his closest students, Archim. Theophan Kirilo-Novoezersky, recorded by the sisters of the Resurrection Goritsky Monastery (In the text of the Life of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov we read that Archimandrite Theophan was "known for his holy life").
Monasticism Rev. Elder Cleopas began in Moldo-Wallachia. However, he spent a significant part of his monastic life in the monasteries of Athos. Here, according to Rev. Macarius of Optina, he enters into "close spiritual communion" with St. Paisiy Velichkovsky and becomes one of his close students and associates.
Subsequently, Rev. the elder Cleopas moved to the territory of the Russian Empire and in 1760 became the rector of the Vvedenskaya Ostrovskaya desert, being elected by the brethren themselves. The reason for this is the high spiritual life of this ascetic.
The main principle of the spiritual life of St. Paisius Velichkovsky and his associates were steadfast in following the teachings of the Holy Fathers. This was the reason for the spiritual height of the elder Cleopas, which he had reached by that time. “He who is guided by the writings of the Holy Fathers has, without any doubt, the guidance of the Holy Spirit,” wrote St. Ignatius Brenchaninov. How was the patristic tradition carried out in the life of Art. Cleopas and in his leadership the brethren of the monastery?
Art. Cleopas introduces into the life of the Vedenskaya Hermitage a charter, developed by him on the basis of the charters of the monasteries of Athos. According to the principles of the Athos statutes, the entire household, economic and liturgical life of the monastery was organized. A complete hostel was established; according to the models of the Athos monasteries, “the charter of the church, refectory, cell and official” was introduced. The monks spent most of their time in temple prayer during long services (the all-night vigil, for example, lasted about 7 hours and was performed at night), the requirement and an extensive general rule, which included 350 prostrations in the morning and evening. (The liturgical charter, introduced by Father Cleopa, is given in the appendix to the book by V. Dobronravov). With such a daily routine, the monks practically did not have time to perform any significant household chores. Prayer, according to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, is the main activity of a monk. Giving his brethren strict ascetic and prayer rules, the elder himself unswervingly complied with all the statutory requirements, setting a personal example for the brethren.
According to Archimandrite Theophan, Fr. Cleopas led a "cruel" life. Attaching great importance to ascetic deeds: fasting, vigil, prostrations, prayerful standing, he, like other Holy Fathers, did not consider them an end in themselves. The most important thing for him was the observance of the gospel commandments both in external and internal life. The acquisition of humility, meekness, sobriety, love - all the gospel virtues - that was at the forefront of his ascetic system.
The following wonderful saying of the elder Cleopas has come down to us: “Putting a stone on your head, fasting, sleeping on bare ground is empty. Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart (Matt. 11:29), the Lord said, and did not promise any miracles and phenomena ... ". Such is the patristic teaching. “Unfortunately, there are few ascetics in this century who would treat wanderers with love, go after the sick with love, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit prisoners. Nowhere is it directly stated in Holy Scripture that in order to save the soul, it is necessary to starve oneself, make numerous prostrations, wear chains and undertake similar feats, meanwhile the Gospel clearly says that it is precisely for dislike of one's neighbor that sinners, and the righteous, will be condemned at the Last Judgment for the fulfillment of it they will be justified” (St. Ambrose of Optina). “Let us give all due value to bodily exploits as tools necessary for acquiring virtues, and beware of recognizing these tools as virtues, so as not to fall into self-deception and lose spiritual prosperity due to a false concept of Christian activity” (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov).
In the few information about Fr. Cleopas, who have come down to us, we see how the Holy Gospel was embodied in his life. We see his amazing meekness and gentleness towards enemies. Once, beaten by a soldier on the way to his hermitage, he persuaded the officer not to punish his subordinate, considering not the soldier to be guilty, but himself, who had previously “concealed himself”, and therefore was punished by God. So this ascetic saw in the sorrows that happened to him, the all-good Providence of God and was gentle towards those who brought him these sorrows. At the base of love for enemies, Fr. Cleopas lay deep faith. Remarkable in its wisdom and brevity, the statement of Fr. Cleopas about what should be the attitude of a person towards the people around him, including those through whom, according to the Providence of God, sorrows come to us. In the instructions of Archimandrite Feofan we find the following: “O. Cleopas used to say: “One must have one thought, that I am the only one on earth and God, I can’t imagine anyone else. There is no one to quarrel with when I am alone on earth. There were those who did it.”
The mercy of the ascetic poured out on every person. Despite all the uncertainty of the financial situation of the monastery, every pilgrim who visited the Vvedenskaya hermitage, according to the introduction of Fr. Cleopas, according to the charter, had the opportunity to live and eat free of charge in the monastery for three days. The spirit of non-possession, assimilated by him in the brotherhood of Athos, Fr. Cleopas also showed in the management of the Vvedensky desert. More than once, benefactors offered him new lands, and plans for new monastic buildings, and money for this. But the wise ascetic refused to implement "grand plans", realizing that their implementation, inseparably associated with a lot of trouble and "entertainment", could adversely affect the brotherhood. He understood that the main occupation of a monk should be prayer. Information has come down to us only about his efforts for the internal improvement of the monastery, about the magnificent temple dispensation, but even in this the rector "limited himself to the necessary."
The elder was characterized by deep humility. Like a fierce infection, he feared the passion of vanity and, like many holy ascetics, he strove in every possible way to flee from human glory. Archimandrite Feofan told how he refused to ride in the luxurious carriage of Prince Potemkin, hid from everyone, being invited to the court of the Empress. The elder sincerely considered himself a sinner. This is evidenced by the texts of the elder's letters to the brethren and to Vladyka Gennady and his tearful, sincere prayer for his sins. Considering his spiritual guidance to the brethren insufficient, he humbly blessed them to go to Moldavia and Athos, to learn monastic virtues from more skilful fathers. How heavy the yoke was perceived by Fr. Cleopas imposed on him the abbot's duties.
From Mount Athos and from the monasteries of Moldova, Fr. Cleopas brought into the life of his monastery something new that constitutes the essence, the heart of monastic deeds. That, without which, according to the teaching of the Holy Fathers, its main goal is not achievable - the acquisition of grace-filled dispassion - the intelligent Jesus prayer. This great art, assimilated by the Monk Paisius Velichkovsky from patristic tradition, and revived by him in practice, became the property of Fr. Cleopas during the years of his stay on Athos, and later of his students in the Vvedenskaya Hermitage. According to Archimandrite Feofan, hegumen of Kirillo-Novoezersky, Fr. Cleopas did unceasing prayer (“he was always in prayer”). As a "spiritual worker and guardian of intellectual sobriety" he was described by St. Macarius Optinsky. Internal work - sobriety and unceasing prayer was taught by Fr. Cleopas and his students.
Had Art. Cleopas and a special grace-filled gift of tearful prayer, grace-filled weeping for one's sins. According to Archimandrite Theophan, Fr. Cleopas "always wept." According to St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, the incessant crying about his sins, according to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, "is recognized as a sure sign of a holy soul that has moved into eternity with its thoughts even during its stay on earth."
Seeking a solitary monastic life, he twice, in 1765 and in 1770, suddenly left the monastery, but each time, at the request of the monks, upon his return he was restored to the rank of rector. After the disappearance and return of 1770, for some time - until 1773 - he stayed in the monastery as an ordinary monk, then again became its builder.
Under Cleopas, in 1768, Academician P.S. Pallas with his expedition, undertaken by the Highest Decree of Catherine II the Great. There is an entry about this event in his diary: Not far from Pokrov ... the flowing river Volya makes a bay or a lake with an island on which the Vvedenskaya desert is located, which has the most favorable position in the world.
Father Cleopas led a life according to the rules of the Holy Fathers, that is, he led the way of life which, according to patristic tradition, is necessarily crowned for a monk with the acquisition of grace. According to Archimandrite Theophan, Fr. Cleopa. was "filled with the grace of God." His exploits were crowned with gifts of grace - the gift of clairvoyance and the gift of healing, which appeared after his death. Once, secluded in an impenetrable forest thicket with two of his students, Fr. Cleopas spent his time in fasting and prayer. Food supplies were running out, the students asked for his blessing to leave solitude and go to the nearest villages for alms. Understanding the importance for the monks of solitary undistracted prayer, and foreseeing the future, Fr. Cleopas suggested that the disciples, who were already beginning to weaken in the feat, endure a little more, promising that help would come. A few days later, a wagon pulled by a pair of horses drove up to their cell, on which an unknown man, to their joy, brought everything they needed ... But only then the brothers realized that it was impossible to drive wagons through the thicket in which they secluded themselves for prayer.
It is known that about Cleopas predicted to his bishop - Bishop Sylvester Pereyaslavsky his further life path. predicted about. Cleopas long before his death and the day of his death, and to his student Fr. Ignatius, who lived at that time in the Florishcheva Hermitage, that he would become his successor after him in the presidency of the Vvedensky Monastery and the archimandrite. These prophecies have been accurately fulfilled. According to Professor MDA N.I. Subbotin, who got acquainted with the unpublished records of the conversations of Archimandrite Feofan with the Goritsky sisters, they contain "many examples of his (St. Cleopas) clairvoyance." The grace of the elder was connected, according to Archimandrite Theophan, with the fact that the elder from a young age kept his chastity uncorrupted.
It is impossible not to pay attention to what a strong impression Fr. Cleopas on those around. Very remarkable is the opinion of Vladyka Sylvester, Bishop of Pereyaslavsky, expressed in a conversation with the famous Prince G.A. Potemkin Tauride. When the Most Serene Prince remarked in a conversation with Vladyka Sylvester that in Russia there were no such elders and ascetics as in Moldavia (meaning St. Paisius Velichkovsky and his brethren), Vladyka objected, pointing to Fr. Cleopas. After talking with Fr. Cleopas, the Most Serene Prince agreed with the opinion of the Bishop and immediately decided to present the elder to the Empress, but the humble Fr. Cleopas, having learned about this, avoiding the glory of man, suddenly disappeared from sight. Archimandrite Feofan Novoezersky set Fr. Cleopas in a row with St. Paisius Velichkovsky and called him together with St. Tikhon Zadonsky and Rev. Theodore of Sanaksarsky, "great elders" and "wonderworkers", said that Fr. Cleopas "was truly a holy life" (Under the guidance of St. Theodore, Father Theophan lived for about three years, the same amount - under the guidance of Father Cleopas, St. Tikhon of Zadonsk knew personally.).
We know very little concretely about the beneficial influence of the elder on the laity of that time. The elder was known in Moscow (the desert was located 80 miles from it). Many Muscovites saw in him a true monk and a true Christian, and the hermitage existed at that time mainly due to the contributions of Muscovites. It is not without interest that at that time the family of the princes Prozorovsky was constantly connected with the life of the Vvedenskaya Ostrovskaya desert, to which a special road was laid from their estate. 14 years after the death of the elder A.A. Prozorovsky, known as a man of strictly traditional Orthodoxy, uncovered and defeated the Masonic conspiracy headed by Nikolai Novikov, which is very significant for the history of Russia.
Very characterizes the appearance of Fr. Cleopas the spiritual image of his disciples. Father Ignatius moved to the Vvedenskaya Hermitage, already in the rank of hierodeacon, from Rev. Theodora (Ushakov) from the Sanaksar monastery, famous throughout Russia for the severity of the charter, and here, in the person of Fr. Cleopas found a true mentor. In 1781, Fr. Ignatius was appointed builder of the Peshnoshsky Monastery, then - Archimandrite of the Tikhvin Monastery; in both cloisters, he introduced a charter on the model of the charter of the Vvedenskaya Ostrovskaya desert; later he becomes archimandrite of the Moscow Simonov Monastery. According to St. Macarius of Optina, “everywhere he was an example of a virtuous life for the brethren, and above all of humility, poverty and lack of possessions, he did not wear silk robes from entering monasticism, he was merciful to the poor, compassionate to the unfortunate, full of love and beneficent to the brethren.”
Theodore Sokolov, the above-mentioned Archimandrite Theophanes of Kirillo-Novoezersky, goes to the Sanaksar hermitage to the Monk Theodore of Sanaksar, where the conditions are even more difficult, and the prayers are longer than in Sarov. From there, after the departure of the Monk Theodore of Sanaksar to Solovki, he comes to Fr. Cleopa on an island in the Vvedensky desert, becomes his student. Then in Moldova he takes tonsure, and then the monasteries of the St. Petersburg and Novgorod dioceses follow. Father Theophan, like his other associates in the Vvedenskaya Hermitage, keeps the traditions of Art. Cleopas, Rev. Paisia, Mount Athos. Being hegumen of the Kirillo-Novoezersky monastery, he introduces the Athos Rule in it. Archimandrite Theophan is also known to us as a connoisseur of the art of the noetic Jesus Prayer, and that is why he was invited to participate in editing and publishing the Philokalia. About him, as a “righteous man,” wrote St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. From o. Theophan had the good fortune to communicate with the young hierarch Ignatius (then still a novice Demetrius).
Father Macarius (novice Matthew Bryushkov) came with Feodor Sokolov to the Vvedenskaya hermitage from the Sanaksar monastery, later he became the rector of the Peshnoshsky monastery. “Indefatigable and well-versed in economic affairs, he was even more indefatigable in the exploits of the spiritual life. His appearance seemed strict, but his soul was full of fatherly love: he had no property, but shared everything with the brethren; received everyone with kindness; and his simplicity of heart, coupled with spiritual wisdom, involuntarily attracted general respect for him. Metropolitan Platon of Moscow often presented him as an example to the Rectors of other monasteries...” – this is how St. Macarius, Art. Optinsky. In the image of the Peshnoshsky monastery, many Russian monasteries and deserts were arranged and replenished with Peshnoshsky monks: Kirillo-Novoezerskaya, Davidova, Berlyukovskaya, Ekaterininskaya, Medvedev, Krivoezerskaya, Golutvinsky monastery, Sretensky monastery in Moscow and, finally, Optina hermitage. Companion and novice Fr. Macarius was Fr. Abramius, later abbot of this famous monastery. With the blessing and guidance of Fr. Macarius was at the beginning of the nineteenth century. restored and improved. Avraamiy Optina Pustyn, which became the heart of the eldership of the 19th century.
The obedient probation under the guidance of the elder Cleopas also passed the famous Venerable. Basilisk Siberian, from him he received a blessing to go into the desert. Thus stretched the mysterious spiritual connecting threads from the Monk Paisius Velichkovsky through Fr. Cleopas to his disciples, and from them to the monks of the 19th century. - to the Optina Elders and St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), to St. Basilisk of Siberia and his disciple - Rev. Zosima Verkhovsky.
He rested in Bose, in full agreement with his prediction, on March 9, 1778, on his favorite holiday - the Day of Remembrance of the Forty Martyrs who suffered in Lake Sebaste.
After the death of the elder in 1778, the place of his burial began to be especially revered by the inhabitants of the monastery and pious pilgrims. “According to the stories, healings from various diseases were often performed at the grave of Cleopas,” wrote Abbot Sergius of the Vvedenskaya Ostrovskaya Hermitage. According to N.S. Stromilov, a famous church writer and local historian, "they say that after the death of Cleopas, special signs appeared, healing through prayer before the Lord of this ascetic."
For many years, the grave of the elder was sacredly revered by the inhabitants of the city of Pokrov and the surrounding villages. In pre-revolutionary years, an unquenchable lamp burned near the burial place, in the Soviet years, pilgrims tried to get to the island on which the desert was located, breaking through the cardons (at that time a juvenile colony was set up there). The clergyman Afanasy Sakharov, Bishop of Kovrov (vicar of Vladimir and Suzdal), a well-known liturgist, included the name of the elder Cleopas in the list of locally revered Vladimir saints, to whom he addressed in his prayers offered by him in his portable Temple. In the tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church, locally venerated saints were canonized by means of an episcopal blessing.
The grace-filled help of the elder is felt to this day after the panikhidas are performed at his remains, which are now in the active convent (Vvedenskaya Ostrovskaya Hermitage) and prayers addressed to him.
Cleopas gathered the poor brethren who wandered around the world, built wooden cells for them and, with the help of well-meaning donors, built three stone churches.
First Collegiate Stone Church in the name of the Entry into the Church of St. Mother of God, “for 9 sazhens. in length and 7 in width, one-story, built by the dependency of the merchant Sitnikov and consecrated by His Grace Theophylact, Bishop of Pereslavl and Dmitrovsky. In 1785, this church was decorated inside with murals.
Second church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. It was consecrated in 1781 by His Grace Theophylact.
Third Church of St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel attached to the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. It was consecrated by His Grace Anthony of Pereslavsky and Dmitrovsky.
“In these churches there are many icons of Greek writing, richly decorated with silver, gilded chased rizas and crowns strewn with various precious stones; cypress board with 70 parts of St. relics and a beautifully carved tomb for the shroud, gilded in polyment with pure gold, arranged by the care of the later abbot Spiridon. On the shroud, the Savior is depicted on white satin, the crown is embroidered on velvet with gold and lined with large pearls. The sacristy is generally very rich; one robe of golden brocade with flowers is especially distinguished from others by its preciousness, on it is embroidered on the shoulders on silver ground, in gold, Christ the Savior, who cast out the demon from his wife’s daughter, in the words: and the psy under the meal eat from grains of children; on the left frame is also Christ the Savior with the Samaritan. The mantle and hem are overlaid with a silver braid.
The shrine of the monastery was icon of the Presentation of the Mother of God, through whose intercession in 1863 the inhabitants of the city of Pokrov miraculously got rid of cholera.
The stone bell tower is quite high, it has 9 bells, of which the largest one is 212 pounds. Prior cells were attached to the bell tower and opposite the windows on the eastern side there was a small garden. The communal meal for monastics is made of stone, above it are wooden treasury cells, from which there is a wonderful view of the lake, surrounded on all sides by dense forest. Stone cells of monks adjoined this building in the north.
Since ancient times, the nobles living in the neighborhood loved this hermitage and often visited it to worship the image of St. Mother of God, and many of them even wished to be buried in this monastery. The body of Princess Anna Borisovna Prozorovskaya, daughter of Prince Boris Alekseevich Golitsyn, who died in 1772, was buried in the refectory of the Cathedral Church; Opposite the altar are buried the bodies of Princes Ivan and Peter Prozorovsky, Princess Varvara Ivanovna Nesvitskaya, Artillery Major Prince Alexander Nikolayevich Nesvitsky, who died in 1802, Major-General Pyotr Sergeevich Telegin, who died in 1805; and on the “midday side” of the altar there is a plaque, which means that the ashes of the venerable Builder of the Desert Cleopas, who died in 1778, rest against this place.
Behind the lake, in the east, on the very shore, a spacious house with a mezzanine and a yard with stables and a barn for visiting pilgrims were built, where two novices lived permanently. Where, according to the custom introduced by Cleopas, pilgrims could spend three days free of charge - but no more - and also stay in the monastery free of charge.
“First, before the construction of a wooden bridge across the lake to the monastery, when visitors arrive and announce that they intend to be in the monastery, and if it is in the summer, the novice strikes several times the bell hanging on the mezzanine, and a boat is immediately sent from the island for crossings." Three versts from this hotel ran the Moscow High Road, where stood a stone chapel built by the Builder Cleopas instead of the one broken by the priest Fadeev. Near it is a cell in which the monk lived, to receive alms from passing well-meaning givers.
“The surroundings of this monastery are beautiful. The lake is bordered on all sides by a green frame of forests, in the distance you can see the line of the Moscow highway and on the very horizon, to the east, the city of Pokrov is drawn with a huge church built by the dependents of the Sarachev merchants. The island itself involuntarily stops the attention of visitors by the fact that it has a height of no more than two feet from the water and is surrounded by a wooden fence so close to the water that there is not even a quarter of land behind the wall - from which from a distance the monastery seems to be floating on the water.
According to the states that took place in 1764, deserts were left in the 3rd class.
In the 19th century the monastery grew in property and grew rich. Pavel I granted the desert hay mowing and a mill on the Melezh River near the village of Novaya (now the village of Glazuny in the Fryanovsky urban settlement). The mill was leased by the monks and brought in 200 rubles. in year. In 1831, Princess Tatyana Mikhailovna Prozorovskaya, who owned the village of Ivanovsky, 7 km from the monastery, transferred to the monastery 20 acres of land on the nearest shore of the lake: ... the swamp land located on the shore of Lake Vyatka was donated to the monastery's eternal possession.
In 1856, these 20 acres became the subject of a dispute between the monastery and the captain, Prince K.F. Golitsyn, who by that time had become the owner of Ivanovsky and wished to take the land "arbitrarily appropriated in favor of the Desert" for himself. The lawsuit lasted 5 years and ended on October 28, 1861 with the verdict of the Civil Court, according to which the disputed land was transferred "to the full and inalienable possession of the Vvedenskaya island desert without the right of appeal from Prince Golitsyn."
In 1843, the Builder Hieromonk Spiridon died of extreme old age, and Hieromonk Damian took his place.
In 1876-1878, under the rector Joseph, the winter church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was rebuilt and expanded. Industrialists Morozovs are among the donors for the reconstruction.
In 1891-1894. the former Vvedensky temple was replaced by a new one - made of red brick - also five-domed. The iconostasis was silver-plated and gilded, and the cathedral walls were painted with images of "Greek writing". This temple got to survive in the next XX century ruin, reconstruction and new consecration. A bell tower was placed at the temple (it has not been preserved), brick buildings of cells, the rector's building and a brick fence were erected around the perimeter of the island.
To the beginning 10s the monastery looked quite prosperous: its reserve capital in 1910 was estimated at 65 thousand rubles, arable land in 1911 was 15 acres 128 sazhens, haymaking - 23 dessiatins. 230 sazhens, forest - 227 dess. 936 sazhens, swamps and badlands - 52 dess. 1152 sazhens. Of this number, 34 dess. 1124 sazhens, processed on their own 8 dess. 1512 sazhens. There were 30 brethren, pilgrims were drawn to the monastery - in the same 1911 the monastery gave 1500 free meals, - a school worked at the monastery (in 1911 there were 12 boys and 11 girls).
In 1918 the Holy Vvedensky Monastery was closed - the property was nationalized. Divine services in the former monastic churches took place until 1924, the choir was led by the Pokrovsky nuns Ekaterina and Yevprakiya. The remaining island buildings and the territory of the island itself were used first as a nursing home and then as an orphanage. In 1932, a women's juvenile colony settled in the former monastery, since 1935 it was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and, in connection with this, changed its name to a “labor educational colony”. In 1940, all the remaining monastery property was moved to Pokrov and the buildings began to be rebuilt. The domes and domed drums were cut down, a school for imprisoned girls was set up in the Vvedensky Church, and a club and a cinema hall were set up in the St. Nicholas Church.
On September 16, 1991, the executive committee of the Vladimir Regional Council of People's Deputies adopted a decision "On the transfer of buildings of churches and monasteries located in the region to the jurisdiction of the Vladimir Diocese." On the basis of this decision, the island churches were returned to the Church, although not immediately - the 2nd floor of the Holy Vvedensky Cathedral and St. Nicholas Church went to the monastery only 3 years later, in 1994. Both were in a "miserable" state: with leaking roofs, without any or repair and without domes - the crosses had to be installed directly on the roofs. By this time, the museum was located in the Vedeno Cathedral on the 2nd floor, and on the first floor there was a gym, workshops and a furniture warehouse. Nikolskaya Church remained a club.
On October 6, 1993, by decree of the Archbishop of Vladimir and Suzdal, Evlogy, the parish community of the island churches was closed, and a monastic community was formed in its place - as a courtyard of the Murom Holy Trinity Novodevichy Monastery. Back in August 1993, the first nuns arrived on the island from the aforementioned monastery, the eldest of whom was nun Khristina.
On June 6, 1995, by decision of the Holy Synod, the courtyard was given the status of a “nunnery”, and Sister Khristina, who by that time had become a nun Fevronya, was appointed abbess of the revived monastery.
Monastery belfry 
Monastery belfry and cell building 
Cell building 
In 2001, instead of the destroyed bell tower, a brick belfry was erected, which was equipped with newly cast bells. Some of them were made in the workshop of the Shuvalov brothers in Romanov-Borisoglebsk (now: Tutaev), and some - at the plant. M.V. Khrunichev.
According to eyewitnesses, the transfer of the St. Nicholas Church to the revived monastery was not quite usual. In May 1994, Abbess Fevronya (then future) turned to the director of the colony V.S. Karpenko with a request for permission to serve in the church, which was still found in this colony, a prayer service for St. Nicholas of the Spring. To which the director, in turn, replied that he was transferring the St. Nicholas Church to the monastery, because in a dream “some gray-haired old man” came to him and said that the temple should be given away. The first service in St. Nicholas Church was held on Christmas Day 1995.
Refectory 
monastery garden 
Monastery fence and towers 
South Gate of the Monastery 
Orphanage "Ark"
At the revived monastery there is an Orthodox boarding house "Kovcheg" for low-income minors left without care, the homeless and refugees - for all those who need social protection. On September 1, 2009, the first school year for twelve girls began in this building. The children are taught by teachers under the program of the elementary general education school, as well as a choirmaster, choreographer, piano teacher. The sisters of the monastery teach the pupils embroidery, a craft that the monastery has been famous for since the first days of its foundation. Children participate in divine services, elders sing in the monastery choir.
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