Fedorovsky Monastery, Pereslavl-Zalessky: excursions and reviews

In 1304 near Pereslavl-Zalesskiy was laid the monastery, which became a monument to the event that occurred here on June 8 of the same year. On this day, on the meadows adjoining the city, the army of the Moscow prince Yuri Danilovich defeated the soldiers of the Tver prince Mikhail Yaroslavovich. By the price of great blood that day, the Russians defeated the Russians. Tears of widows and orphans filled their victorious goblets. However, in the history of Russia such examples were many.

Under the auspices of the Grand Dukes

Since on that fateful day the Orthodox Church celebrated the memory of the holy Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates, the monastery, based on a field soaked with brotherly blood, was named in his honor. Initially, he was a man, and according to legend, among its inhabitants there were participants of those events.

Despite the fact that the Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky) appeared at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the first handwritten certificate of it applies only to 1511, when Grand Prince Vasily III, the father of Ivan the Terrible, ruled in Moscow. From historical chronicles of those years it is known that the monastery at that time was very prosperous and had in its ownership not only extensive land with many peasant households, but also precious church utensils.

Such an enviable prosperity was explained by the fact that the Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky) invariably enjoyed the patronage of the princely house, from which he received generous donations. In addition, for the sake of the governor, the capital's boyars, wishing to show loyalty, did not stint, they sent money and valuables of various kinds to the monastery.

The gift of the terrible king

The tradition of his ancestors was continued by Tsar Ivan the Terrible. On the occasion of the birth on May 11, 1557, of his son and heir to the throne, the future sovereign, Fyodor Ioannovich, he granted the monastery funds for the construction of the cathedral of Fedorov, which has survived to the present day.

Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky), whose architecture as a whole is a bright monument of Russian church architecture, in its current form began precisely with this cathedral, which became his oldest building. Initially, according to the architect's plan, he expressed his whole appearance with strength and steadfastness. His massive, high-raised building above the building was crowned with five domes, mounted on powerful light drums cut through narrow vertical windows. In the following centuries, the cathedral was repeatedly rebuilt, and judging its original appearance we can only by the surviving descriptions.

The Lord's Grace

Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky) safely existed until 1667, until the city suffered a terrible disaster - an epidemic of pestilence. The account of the deceased went to hundreds, and soon they did not get enough places in the city cemeteries. To know, for the sins of the people, the cup of patience of the Lord overflowed, but at the same time His wrath was spilled more on men. They were more often victims of the disease.

As a result, when due to the prayers of the inhabitants of the city, the Almighty withdrew from the city and the epidemic stopped, a great number of widows and orphaned girls remained in Pereslavl, who had absolutely no place to go, except to the monastery. But this possibility was not given to the unfortunate by the absence of a women's monastery in the city.

Creation of a nunnery

Unexpectedly, help to the sufferers came from the capital city of Moscow. The pious Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich, descending to their sorrows, commanded the then-ruling Patriarch Joseph to provide widows and maidens with a refuge for their souls (well, and the body, of course). In this regard, it was decided to transfer to them the male Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky), transforming it into a female one.

The same former inhabitants, who were not more than a dozen alive after the epidemic, were sent to other monasteries. In addition, the tsar-father granted the newly formed women's cloister a lot of land, which saved nuns from taking care of daily bread.

Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky), a photo of which is presented in the article, in the beginning of the 18th century was added two more remarkable buildings, as well as its main cathedral, which have survived to the present day. It was built in 1710, the Vvedenskaya Church and another - a hospital, in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, built four years later. Each of them is of extraordinary interest from both the historical and the artistic side.

German Weaving in the Orthodox Convent

It is curious that the monastery reached the highest point of its well-being during the reign of Peter the Great, when many other monasteries experienced not the best times of their history. The fact is that, in everything pragmatic, the sovereign did not, with the example of his predecessors, limit himself to occasional donations, but taught nuns to earn money themselves. By his order, a weaving workshop was opened in the monastery, where the whole process was carried out using technologies borrowed in Germany.

In addition, the sovereign ordered (and try not to fulfill!), So that every nun who has mastered the craft, certainly taught this young nun or novice. It is difficult to say how this affected the spiritual growth of the sisters, but the material result was obvious. Due to its high quality, the products of the monastic weavers had the widest sale, and the sonorous coin flowed into the treasury of the monastery.

End of material prosperity

By the end of the XIX century, when Russia was experiencing a rapid growth of capitalist production, the sisters could not successfully compete with the large weaving factories that appeared in the country and filled the market with their cheaper products. As a result, the Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky), whose history at that time numbered nearly six centuries, became poor and fell into the background, giving way to other, better-off Russian cloisters. But the sisters did not lose heart.

Having lost its former material prosperity, the monastery was by no means emptied. At the beginning of the XX century, it was inhabited by about five hundred inhabitants. During this period, the monastic life was led by one of the most active abbesses - the abbot Evgeny. Her labors built a common meal, so that each of the sisters had the opportunity, without worrying about food, to do the work assigned to her. At the same time, four schools operated in the monastery, in which children of poor inhabitants of Pereslavl-Zalesskiy were free of charge.

Under the power of the God-fighters

So it continued until 1917, until the new government for the sake of "universal happiness" did not consider it necessary to abolish the monastery, close schools, nuns disperse, and their rather energetic abbess sent for years to the camps. Returning back to the decrepit old woman, she spent the last years of her life in a cramped monastery's lodge.

After the Fedorovsky nunnery (Pereslavl-Zalessky) was closed, its inhabitants created a small community, trying at least in this way to adapt to the new circumstances, but in 1923 it was liquidated. Monastic constructions, enclosed by a strong wall, were used by the new authorities both as warehouses and as industrial premises. At one time there was even a colony for juvenile offenders. In the postwar years, the territory was placed at the disposal of one of the military units, and later there was located a research institute.

Restoring a desecrated shrine

The return of the holy monastery to the ownership of the Orthodox Church was followed in 1998, when, as a result of the change in state policy towards religion, much of what was illegally seized returned to its former owners.

Literally from the very first days, restoration work has begun, which has not been completed to this day. However, even what we managed to do, has allowed to restore in full the monastic life in the monastery. In all three temples, worship services are performed and rites are performed. The total number of women is still very small, but their number is growing every year, and they are doing everything in their power to restore the monastery its former grandeur. But there are a lot of difficulties.

Waiting for a miracle

As is usually the case in such cases, there is not enough money to cover not only the temples but the entire Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky) with restoration work. Excursions, organized by both tourist organizations and the monastery administration, bring a certain income, but it is obviously not enough to realize all the plans.

Sisters in this regard say that they are waiting for a miracle to be revealed through some pious donor, as it often happened in the past. Well, for seven centuries of the history of the monastery, the Lord has so often cheated him with His mercy that the hopes of the nuns are understandable and cause sympathy.

Pilgrimage and excursion

Today, a great help in this difficult business is that most of Pereslavl's guests among other attractions visit the Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky). Reviews of those who visited it, along with impressions from the meeting with this monument of Russian Orthodoxy, contain mentions about the prayers ordered in its churches, about participation in divine services and religious processions. All this, except for the enormous spiritual benefit to the pilgrims themselves, also brings income to the monastery, that is, it gives them the very means, the lack of which does not allow to fully implement the entire cycle of restoration works.

Reading the pilgrims' notes left in the guest book of the monastery and on the corresponding sites, one involuntarily draws attention to the fact that most of them, as the main impression made from the walls of the monastery, are the feeling of extraordinary pampering of its walls. This feeling, understood by every believer, is a red thread in the records of many people who visited the Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky).

Reviews of tourists who have not yet found their place in religion are also interesting. In them the main leitmotif sounds excitement from contact with the living history of our Motherland. This is not accidental, because the ancient city was once the second most important center of the Moscow principality, and its holy monasteries - the most important spiritual centers of Ancient Rus.