Vydubitsky monastery - how to get there. The Vydubitsky Monastery

Vydubitsky monastery is one of the oldest monasteries located in Kiev. By its location it is also called Kyiv-Vydubitsky. The monastery was founded by prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich in the seventies of the 11th century. As a family monastery he belonged to Vladimir Monomakh and his heirs.

The name of the monastery

According to the legend, the place where the Vydubitsky monastery was founded, Vydubychi, owes its name to the ancient gods of pagan Russia. The fact is that when Prince Vladimir decided to adopt Christianity as a state religion, he ordered all idols to be dumped into the waters of the Dnieper. Not all the population of the then Kiev took this idea with delight. Faithful to the faith of the fathers, the Kievites ran along the shore, urging their gods to "fake", that is, to swim out of the water to the shore. The place where they finally landed on the shore, and later became known as Vydubichi.

There is, however, yet another version of the origin of this name, associated with the crossing, which existed across the Dnieper in a place near the future monastery. The Kievans crossed it on boats called "oaks" because they were hollowed out of oak trunks. This served as an excuse to call the terrain as it is called at the present time.

However, the name Vydubychi could be given to this place by ordinary people and by the inhabitants of the cave Zverinetsky Monastery, which existed there before the baptism of Rus by Prince Vladimir and later turned into Vydubitsky, as if emerging from the ground.

The original role of the monastery

Right after its foundation Vydubitsky monastery began to play a big role not only in spiritual life, but also in political processes. It was in this monastery that many diplomatic negotiations were conducted, troops were formed. The monastery traditionally had a reputation as a monastery, in which many learned monks live and work. Near the church territory, a residence for the wife of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, the so-called Red Court, was quickly built. The cave premises gradually lost their importance, until they were completely lost sight of and turned into a legend.

Cave complex

By the end of the XIX century, no one believed that the caves once existed in fact near the Vydubitsky monastery. Accidentally they were discovered only in 1888 as a result of the collapse of a section of the hill. During the inspection of the tunnels, about three dozen corpses were found. According to the most probable hypothesis, these were monks, hiding in caves during the siege and hoping to wait for the storming of the monastery in the underground premises. But the enemy troops found them and immured them, as a result of which they died of thirst and choking, and about the caves eventually forgotten.

Life of the monastery until the 18th century

In the 13th century, the Vydubitsky Monastery lost its political weight. As one of the Kiev monasteries, it existed until the XVII century, when it began its active development with generous sponsorship. At one time Vydubitsky monastery was transferred to the management of Greek Catholics. Of course, the Orthodox tend to blame the Uniate administration for desecrating the shrines, but nevertheless, it is thanks to them that we generally know about what the monastery was living at that time. Greek-Catholic hegumens brought the monastery affairs to order, streamlined archival documentation. It turns out that before the decree about secularization and seizure of church possessions in favor of the state was signed by Catherine the Great, the monastery had a very good profit from a brick factory, two villages, a pig farm, several fields, gardens and ponds. In those days, the Vydubitsky monastery was considered rich, and this attracted many novices, seeking not the ascetic feat of faith, but an easy, satisfying life. The brethren of the monastery formed in this manner quickly fled when all possessions were taken from her. Life in the monastery practically ceased. For a while after secularization, he played the role of a boarding house and an elite cemetery.

Buildings of the monastery complex

As for the architecture of the monastery, it for a thousand years, of course, changed. The original wooden buildings erected in the ΧΙ century, of course, did not survive. One of the oldest churches of the monastery is the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Cathedral of the Vydubitsky Monastery. Built this temple under Prince Vsevolod. Over time, the Dnieper began to erode the base of the hill on which the church stood, and then it was decided to build a retaining wall, designed to protect the temple. The project was completed and implemented in the XII century by Miloone - the court architect. The retaining wall perfectly coped with its task for several centuries, but in the end it was dilapidated. Since the restoration work was delayed, in the 16th century the cathedral still suffered: the dome and altar part collapsed into the waters of the Dnieper. In this form, the church stood for a long time, until finally, in the second half of the 18th century it was not restored.

In the XVII century, the monastery complex, as already mentioned, begins to be enriched with new buildings. Among the others were built a five-domed church in honor of St. George the Victorious, the Church of the Savior and a new stone refectory. In the 18th century, a bell tower was added to the monastery. According to the original draft, the belfry would have to become gateway, but because of mistakes in the project during construction, the belfry cracked and sagged. To save the building, we had to lay the lower tier with a brick, and make the gates nearby. In the 80-ies of the XX century, most of the buildings of the monastery complex was reconstructed. However, work in this direction is still to this day, at the expense of the monastery itself.

Monastic Necropolis

From ancient times on the territory of the monastery was a necropolis, in which buried significant, noble and distinguished personalities. Today the necropolis exists and stores in itself the remains of many well-deserved public figures, as well as figures of science and art.

Monastery in our time

Today the monastic complex is located on the territory of the Botanical Garden named after Grishko, although earlier all the territory occupied by the garden belonged to the monastery. The monastery is active, belonging to the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate. On its territory there are several workshops (pottery and weaving from the vine grapes) and two art salons. In addition, there is a clinic Vydubitsky monastery for drug addicts. The abbot of the monastery is Metropolitan Epiphany (Dumenko).

Hospital

About the hospital of the monastery is worth mentioning separately, since it has a long history. The monastery hospital was built in the pre-revolutionary years by imperial order. And the rehabilitation center, functioning on this place today, is its successor. First of all, in the walls of this institution they provide assistance to people with alcohol and drug addiction. In addition, the service sector of the clinic includes specialized assistance for those suffering from schizophrenia, depression, anorexia, bulimia, as well as anyone who needs expert psychological and narcological care and specialist advice. Among other employees of the center there are children's psychologists, so that children can also be patients of the institution. The main form of the institution's work is to provide outpatient care. But emergency assistance is also possible in the case of narcotic or psychiatric problems. The center also has its own small format hospital.

Vydubitsky Monastery - how to get there

Many people, when visiting Kiev, want to visit this place with an ancient history, to which the founders of Rus as a Christian East Slavic state put their hand . A natural question that arises in those who decided to come on an excursion to Vydubitsky Monastery: "How to get there?" If you go to the monastery from the right bank of the capital of Ukraine, you must first reach the metro station "Friendship of Peoples". After that, you need to take the 55 bus or the 43 trolley bus and get to the "Paton Bridge" stop. Then it will be necessary to walk on foot to the Naddnipryanskoe highway, before which turn right to Vydubitskaya street. At the end of the street is the monastery. If you follow from the left bank of Kiev, you need to get on the same bus or the same trolleybus to the stop "Heroes' Square of the Second World War", then walk to the monastery on foot.