Odessa is a traditionally multiconfessional city. People who profess different religious beliefs have always lived together in it. But most of the inhabitants of South Palmyra are Orthodox. Many temples adorn the city praised by Leonid Utesov. The Orthodox, who inhabit the Tairov housing estate, often, and especially on church holidays, visit the Iversky Monastery. Odessa, as the famous song says, is very great. People come here from Moldova, and from Peresyp, and from the center, and from Slobodka, and from the village of Kotovsky. The atmosphere in the monastery is special, blessed, and even the long road does not become an obstacle for believers seeking to join it.
The history of the monastery
In the fall of 1998, the Metropolitan of Odessa and Izmail Agafangel consecrated the throne of the future monastery. Not far from the runways of the airport and the School airfield, the Holy Iversky Monastery was founded . Odessa has been waiting for this day for a long time: the fact is that the place for construction was chosen with special meaning. Once, soon after the founding of the city, in the 18th century, there was already the Mikhailovsky Monastery here, next to which a trickle flowed into the sea at the 10th station of the Big Fountain. Towards the end of the 1800s, the monastery became desolate, a small church remained from it, which provided spiritual nourishment to the residents of the nearest farm settlements. This temple gained new life after the opening of the Odessa Aero Club, one of the first in the Russian Empire. Pilots of the new century, due to their proximity to the sky and the special danger of their craft, decided to keep the church, located near the airfield, called School. The decision to establish an air squad and assign it a site was made by Emperor Nicholas II, who later visited the Mikhailovsky Church on several occasions. One of the initiators of the preservation of the temple was the famous pilot S.I. Utochkin. This is where Iver Monastery was founded almost a century later. Odessa cherishes its history and remembers the heroes who glorified the city.
Icon of the Mother of God
The church, which stood near the airfield, unfortunately, did not survive, it was destroyed during the years of the atheism. In the holy place, the Holy Synod of the UOC in the spring of 1998 decided to build a monastery, the name of which was given by the miraculous icon of the Iveron Mother of God, or rather its exact list, 350 years ago delivered to Moscow. At the end of October, the first dome was erected; under it, Metropolitan Agafangel served the liturgy. In less than a year, a source of healing water clogged near the temple. In 2000, especially for the growing by leaps and bounds, the cloisters on Athos created an accurate list of the miraculous icon that adorned the Iversky Monastery. Odessa found another shrine. Today it is located in a small wooden chapel surrounded by a beautiful garden.
Worldly affairs
The monastery is strong with God's grace, but its earthly prosperity, in addition to prayerful zeal, requires quite worldly joys. Through the efforts of her brotherhood and the governor Archimandrite Diodorus, economic activity successfully accompanies the spiritual nourishment of a large flock. On the territory of the monastery there are many necessary and charitable institutions that contribute to its heyday and further development. These include a comfortable hotel designed for pilgrims, an apiary, candle manufacturing, a carpentry workshop, a sewing workshop. There is even a bird house of its own, providing food to the brethren and guests of the monastery on days when eating fast food is allowed. Skilled craftsmen paint icons, which, along with other utensils, are sold in the church shop. Using non-yeast technology, special bread is also baked.
In the prosperity of the monastery, donations received by the Holy Iveron Monastery are of considerable importance. Odessa in the face of entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens willingly donates funds for the prosperity of the Christian Faith. The construction of the Temple of Seraphim of Sarov through the efforts of builders and donors will soon be completed.
Monastery - for children
Much attention is paid to the upbringing of the younger generation of Orthodox citizens. Children can attend Sunday school, hospitably opening their doors for everyone immediately after the liturgy, at noon. Teachers teach a lot: in addition to the important Orthodox knowledge acquired in the lessons of the Law of God, singing, liturgics and Church history, children join the world of beauty. Classes are diverse, they include courses in drawing, needlework, modeling. There is also a speech therapy room. Children can get basic technical knowledge in an aircraft modeling club. The traditions of the first Russian aviators are also kept by the heirs of the Mikhailovsky Pilot Church, on the site of which stands the Iversky Monastery. Odessa is a city that cares about its future and remembers the past.