In the city of Serafimovich, Volgograd region, there is a monastery, which in ancient years was the spiritual center of the Don Cossacks. Over the course of its long history, it has experienced many troubles, but thanks to God's protection and deep religiosity of the inhabitants of the region, each time it found strength for rebirth. Today, he fully returned to his greatness, trampled over many decades of atheistic obscurantism.
The cloister on the banks of the Don
Ust-Medveditsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky Convent was originally a man’s. Its foundation dates back to 1638. A place for the future monastery was chosen near the Don on a low steppe site adjacent to the shore. Looking ahead, it should be noted that such a location of the monastery turned out to be fraught with serious troubles. In some places, the river bed narrows, and spring ice often blocks its course, which leads to spills that are disastrous for all who choose its banks for their residence.
The main population of those lands was the Cossacks, formed from the fugitive peasants who had settled here at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, fleeing the oppression that prevailed in the central regions of Russia. They settled on vast tracts stretching along the banks of the Yaik, Ural, Lower Volga and Don rivers. In 1570, Ivan the Terrible gave them official status, entrusting the protection of the state’s borders from its aggressive neighbors.
The Ust-Medveditsky Transfiguration Monastery, founded at the request of the Cossacks, sent to Emperor Mikhail Fedorovich in 1636, was intended for their brothers who had retired due to old age or due to wounds. Having received the proper permission, the Military District allocated a significant land plot for the construction of the monastery, located on the left bank of the Don, near the mouth of the Medveditsa River, whose name was forever included in the name of the monastery.
Fortress monastery
The time when the Transfiguration Ust-Medveditsky Monastery was founded was extremely turbulent, and the Cossack villages were often subjected to raids by the Tatars. As a result of one of them, the newly built fraternal cells burned in a fire, and in 1652 it was decided to move the monastery to the right bank of the Don, inaccessible to nomads, and therefore safer. For this purpose, they chose a spacious and flat area, bounded by a high steep bank.
Contradictory information has been preserved about the time the construction of the new monastery began. Meanwhile, it was precisely established that this happened on the orders of Patriarch Nikon, who had released considerable funds for the work, and that in 1565 a wooden Transfiguration Church had already been erected on the high bank of the Don.
From historical documents that have come down to us, it follows that the Ust-Medveditsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery built on a new site was built according to all the rules of fortification. A powerful earthen rampart and a moat dug in front of him protected him from raids of nomads from all sides. Inside, besides the church and the rector’s cell, the refectory and twelve fraternal cells were located. In total, at that time the inhabitants of the monastery were fourteen people.
The formation of the monastery and the strengthening of its economy
The Transfiguration Ust-Medveditsky monastery, whose history is inextricably linked with the Don Cossacks, since its founding has been under the tutelage of the Military District, whose command made every effort to ensure that veterans of past battles escaped in it did not need anything. At the same time, during the war years, the monastery was of purely practical importance - on its territory, under the protection of earthen fortifications, a hospital was arranged for the wounded. But the main thing was that on the far frontier of Russia, the monastery served as a stronghold of Orthodoxy and was its spiritual center.
At the end of the 17th and first half of the 18th centuries, the Transfiguration Ust-Medveditsky Monastery comprehensively strengthened its economic position. Significantly increased the size of his land plots. From the documents of 1705 it is known that the monastery owned more than sixty five and a half thousand acres of land. In addition to arable land, they included forest land and fishing.
Since the material life of the monastery became stable and steady, its brethren began to replenish not only at the expense of the elderly Cossacks, but also everyone who wanted to take tonsure. Accordingly, the number of inhabitants for this period has increased significantly.
When, in 1707, an uprising broke out led by Ataman Bulavin, caused by the policy of Peter I, aimed at infringing on the rights of the Don Cossacks, then in the walls of the monastery found shelter for orphans of Cossacks who died in battles with government forces. Many of them, having reached the proper age, also took monastic tonsure.
The trouble descending on Easter night
By the middle of the 18th century, the wooden church, which was one of the first monastic buildings, was dilapidated, and the question of erecting a new stone church arose clearly. But these good intentions were not destined to materialize due to the misfortune caused by the natural disaster that hit the monastery.
As mentioned above, narrow sections of the Don channel often lock up in the spring ice drift, as a result of which it spills, causing many troubles to local residents. The most severe consequences of this natural phenomenon were in 1752. Two rivers at once left the banks - the Don and the Medveditsa. The meltwater washed the high and steep shore to such an extent, on which the Transfiguration Ust-Medveditsky Monastery was located, that the soil became unstable and landslides formed in many places.
Every day the situation worsened. Cracks appeared and quickly increased on the walls of the buildings, and they themselves began to slowly sink into the ground, which suddenly shifted towards the river and assumed the likeness of a loose and unstable mass. The tragedy took place in full on Easter night, when the slope of the mountain on which the monastery was located, with all the buildings erected on it, budged and crashed into a spilled Don.
Since the events of recent days have prepared the inhabitants of the monastery for such a development of events, none of them was hurt. Moreover, everything that was most valuable, including icons of ancient writing, books and church utensils, was managed to be transferred to a safe place in advance. But on this cold April night, the water swept through the logs everything that was built over the years by the hard work of several generations, and which formed the basis of the life of the monastery.
Arrangement in a new place
Of course, to restore the monastery in its former place did not make sense, since such a disaster could recur. Therefore, a new site was selected for the monastery, which was half a mile away from the former upstream. There, on a hill inaccessible to spring waters, in 1754 the Transfiguration Ust-Medveditsky monastery was founded, which has survived to this day.
Over the next few years, a stone temple was erected on its territory, consecrated in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord, as well as the abbot corps, fraternal cells and a number of outbuildings. The monks constantly prayed to the Lord for the forgiveness of sins, according to which he allowed them to survive such a terrible misfortune.
Converting a male monastery to a female
A new page in the life of the monastery opened when, a decade later, by order of the Holy Synod, it was transformed into a female monastery. This event took place in June 1785. It is believed that what inspired the synodal officials to such a decision was a petition sent to St. Petersburg by army foreman A.I. Ilovaysky, who had considerable contacts there.
Whether it was true or not is not known for certain, but only soon in the cells left by the former inhabitants, forty girls from the nearby Sirotinsky village, who made up the female Orthodox community, were accommodated there. All of them wished to abandon the lifestyle that befits their gender, and shut themselves off from the world forever within the walls of the monastery. Their first abbess was the sister of the army foreman Maria Karpova, and the confessor was the seventy-year-old deacon Father Vasily (Mikhailov).
Temporary abolition of the monastery
However, before the bride of Christ had time to settle down well in a new place, a disaster struck that no one could have foreseen before, and which turned out to be more destructive for the monastery in the spring flood of rivers. She came from the capital, where Empress Catherine II ruled in those years, who left the memory of her reign with a harsh policy towards the church. By the will of the empress, the years of her reign in Russia became a period of secularization (seizure) of church lands in favor of the state, as well as the closure of many monasteries.
In 1788, she issued a decree abolishing a number of monasteries of the Voronezh diocese, including the Ust-Medveditsky Transfiguration Monastery. It was already impossible to save him. The temple located on the territory of the monastery received the status of a parish church, the natives were disbanded on all four sides, and the property was sold. In the house, where the abbot's rooms were previously located, a public institution was located.
Years after the restoration of the monastery
Ten years later, when the son of Catherine II, Emperor Paul I, ascended the Russian throne, he canceled his mother’s order, and the Serafimovich Ust-Medveditsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery was again restored. It was supposed to be masculine, as before, so that the Cossacks wounded in battles could survive in it, but then they abandoned this thought, and the monastery was returned to the nuns. Even the abbess remained the same - still the same Maria Karpova. Later, for the work put on the arrangement of monastic life in the monastery, she was awarded the abbot's baton, which is a very honorable award.
After her death, which followed in 1827, the monastery was headed by a new abbess - Augusta. Her mother Superior lasted eight years and was marked by an extremely important innovation. Under her, local Cossacks were allowed to send their young daughters to be brought up in a monastery. Over the years spent in its walls, girls not only learned church singing and God's law, but, living in the same cells as nuns, learned the rules of spiritual purity and morality.
Returning after this to worldly life, they were examples of true virtue. This had a very beneficial effect on the spiritual climate of the whole region and exalted in the eyes of its inhabitants the very source of piety - the Transfiguration Ust-Medveditsky monastery. In Russia in those years, a similar upbringing practice was still new. Abbess Augusta completed her earthly path in 1835, and after her death the monastery suffered unexpected disasters.
Intercession of Archbishop Ignatius
The fact is that in that year the Holy Synod revised the provision on the monastery, published by him in 1798, and the new edition did not include clauses giving him the right to receive state benefits. This was a real blow for the sisters. From now on, they not only lost the opportunity to engage in charity work (including raising the Cossack daughters), but they were doomed to a hungry existence.
The nuns were rescued by the head of the diocese in those years, Archbishop Ignatius. He personally filed a petition with the highest name, and thanks to the order issued by the sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich, the nuns of the monastery were restored in their rights and could henceforth not be afraid for the future.
Mother Superior - enlightener of the Donetsk region
Since the mid-sixties of the XVIII century, the life of the monastery was marked by the reign of her most abbess - Arseny, who in 1864 headed the Ust-Medveditsky Transfiguration Monastery. A photo of her of those years is presented in the article. A noblewoman, the daughter of the famous military leader of those years, General M.V.Sebryakov, she, being one of the most educated women of her time, did her best to spread literacy among the natives of the monastery, many of whom could not read or write, and devoted a lot of time concern for the education of residents of the entire region.
Through the efforts of Mother Superior Arsenia, an initial four-year school was opened in the monastery, in which children from families of the most diverse social classes, including the nobility and bureaucracy, studied. In it, in addition to the Law of God and the Slavic language, mathematics, Russian, geography and history were also taught. An art studio was opened there, in which the abbess herself taught, having natural talent in this field of art. Classes at the school continued until 1918.
The second closure of the monastery
For ten years after the October coup, the sisters still somehow tried to save the Savior-Transfiguration Ust-Medveditsky monastery, doomed to inevitable closure. A description of their life in those years can be found among the memories left by an eyewitness of the events - local teacher T.V. Polyakova. She talks about how the nuns formed an agricultural commune and instead of the premises taken from them, they acquired a small house in which they all lived together and prayed to God.
She recalls how in March 1927 a decree was issued on the closure of the monastery, and how many of its natives were arrested and perished forever in the prison cars that took them to camps. Those who managed to avoid this fate were sent to the Rostov Region during the war years, from where some of them then returned to their native lands. Immediately after the monastery was closed, a children's colony was placed within its walls, which was then replaced by a number of economic institutions located there.
In 1933, the Ust-Medveditskaya village was transformed into a city and renamed in honor of the famous Soviet writer Alexander Serafimovich, as a result of which the monastery located on its territory after its revival, which followed during the years of perestroika, began to be referred to as the Ust-Medveditsky Transfiguration Monastery (r Serafimovich).
However, before the time of spiritual revival came in the country, she was destined to survive many troubles and misfortunes, among which the main one was war. It so happened that the former monastery was in the midst of battles, and as a result of this, almost all of its buildings were destroyed. Miraculously only the building of the temple of the Kazan Mother of God survived, which has survived to this day in a very deplorable state.
The revival of the monastery
In 1991, when, in the wake of perestroika, believers were returned much of what they had been illegally robbed of during the years of numerous anti-religious campaigns, began their rebirth and the monastery in the former Cossack village, now known as the city of Serafimovich. The Ust-Medveditsky Transfiguration of the Savior Monastery was originally supposed to be made a man’s monastery, and even before the start of restoration work, four monks and several novices settled on its territory.
They were destined to spend only ten years in the monastery, since in the future the Holy Synod decided to restore it to the status of a convent. However, even during this time the monks managed to carry out the most urgent chores, overwhelming female hands. In particular, they dismantled the remains of a power station located there in recent years, rebuilt the roof of the church, equipped a house church and built rooms for fraternal cells.
In addition, they had plowed one hundred and ninety hectares of land leased to the monastery. All this greatly facilitated the life of a large female community who moved to the Ust-Medveditsky Transfiguration Monastery (Serafimovich city) in 2001 by personal order of Patriarch Alexy II from Ukraine. Forty-three natives continued the restoration work begun by their predecessors.
Proceedings of the new inhabitants of the monastery
The sisters, led by the nun George (Borovik), launched a wide economic activity.In the premises remaining from the formerly pioneer camp located here, they created a sewing workshop, a fish workshop and a prosphora. In addition, with the help of the city authorities, it was possible to commission a bath and laundry plant and build a workshop for the production of concrete structures, where residents of the city of Serafimovich work for hire. Thanks to these measures, the Transfiguration Ust-Medveditsky Nunnery secured a reliable material base.
Much work was carried out by the sisters to restore the once blooming appearance of the monastery. Flower beds, flower beds and garden paths were laid out. The greatest attention is paid to the objects that the Transfiguration Ust-Medveditsky Monastery was famous for from ancient times. The sights included in its complex, and the shrines stored in temples, today, like many years ago, attract thousands of pilgrims.
Shrines and sights of the monastery
Talking about them, you should start with the famous caves dug during the reign of Mother Superior Arsenia. They are arranged in such a way that everyone who descends into them becomes as if a witness to the last days of Christ's earthly ministry. Before him appears His Way of the Cross, as well as the road along which the Mother of God went to Calvary. In the same place, in the caves, you can see the miraculous stone on which Mother Superior Arseny prayed. During one of these prayers, she was able to contemplate the Queen of Heaven. They say that on the stone there are still imprints of the feet and hands of the pious abbess.
Of obvious interest is the belfry, standing on the spot where in the XVIII century the temple was built, blown up in 1934 by order of the authorities. From it there was only an arch, preserved to this day. In her doorway, by order of Mother Superior George, bells were installed. There are also other attractions that are rightfully proud not only of the residents of Serafimovich, but the whole Volgograd region.
After a long period of restoration and construction work, the Ust-Medveditsky Transfiguration Monastery opened the doors of two of its churches: one in honor of the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan, consecrated in 2012, and the other - dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Lord. Thirty-three domes crown its roof.
The pilgrimage cloister
Ust-Medveditsky Transfiguration Monastery, whose address is Volgograd Region, mountains. Serafimovich, st. Preobrazhenskaya, 7, today, as in previous years, attracts a large number of pilgrims. They come here to bow to his shrines, the main of which is considered a miraculous stone, which was discussed above. Despite the fact that the monastery is located away from major cities and federal highways, it is always full of visitors.
Below is information for those who wish to visit the Ust-Medveditsky Transfiguration Monastery. How to get to Serafimovich and see this revived monument of Russian Orthodox antiquity is described in detail in the guide to the Volgograd region. In short, we can inform you that owners of personal vehicles are advised to get to it along the Rostov highway. Passing Kalach-on-Don, you should cross the Don and, having reached Surovikino, turn right in accordance with the road sign indicating the way to Serafimovich.
In addition, you can use the services of numerous travel agencies of Volgograd, organizing trips to the Transfiguration Ust-Medveditsky monastery. Interesting facts and historical information about his past and today's life will be reported to professional travel guides by the participants, whose story will pleasantly complement the general impression of the tour.