In Russia there are only a few holy places where every believer wants to go, and one of them is, of course, Diveevo.
Two hundred years ago, a small village in the Nizhny Novgorod region was unknown to anyone. Around that time, a small female monastic community was founded in this village. The sisters lived according to the strict charter of the Sarov Monastery for men, and their society was rather small. But then the great saint Seraphim of Sarov took care of the sisters. Even then, in Pushkin’s times, he predicted that these holy places would become famous. Diveevo will be of particular importance to Russia. And so it happened.
Gradually, the Diveevsky monastery became large, even the royal family visited these holy places. Diveevo became famous even before the revolution. But the most amazing thing is that everything that was predicted by the Monk Seraphim came true: his relics are now resting in Diveevo. It seemed completely unbelievable: why would the monk’s relics be transferred to a convent?
But after the ruin of both cloisters, after the re-acquisition of the relics, they were placed here, because the former Sarov is now a closed, secret city.
Today, many believers seek to visit these holy places. For many years, Diveevo has been a kind of spiritual center where pilgrims flock from all over Russia. The huge temples, which were desecrated and neglected, are now restored, well-groomed. A beautiful choir of sisters sings at the services, thousands of believers from all over the country pray.
Diveevo: holy places, springs and groove
But the semantic center of the entire Diveevo monastery is the groove of the Mother of God. It is for her that pilgrims come here.
The groove of the Mother of God is a small moat dug around the monastery according to the covenant of Seraphim of Sarov. Initially, it was simply the border of the monastery site, but the father promised that the Mother of God herself would walk through it every day. In the Soviet years, it was just a small path along which daily believers walked with prayer. All the sisters of the Diveyevo Monastery walk along the prayer groove every day. Pilgrims do the same. Now the groove is very well equipped: it is surrounded by gooseberry bushes (according to the covenant of Father Seraphim) and a beautiful fence.
There are few places on earth that are directly connected with the Mother of God. For example, Athos She visited only once, and memories of this are still preserved. And the groove runs daily! Therefore, these holy places are considered special. Diveevo is so popular among believers because everyone can go with prayer along the Mother of God groove.
Another place, a spiritual source, to which all who come to the monastery resort, are the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov. During his lifetime, the reverend was a very modest and unpretentious person. All his life he passed in vestments of the simplest material, and now his relics rest in chic cancer in the main cathedral in Diveevo.
There are holy sources. Not everyone is sure that these are the streams where the hut of St. Seraphim was, but still they are clearly blessed. All pilgrims can plunge into these waters; here baths and places for changing clothes are arranged, there are convenient descents to the water.
If spiritual questions have accumulated, everything in life has gone wrong, it is worth visiting Diveevo, holy places. You can easily figure out how to get there by car: the signs for Diveevo hang from Murom in the Vladimir Region itself. They want buses from the nearest train station, so you can get in different ways.