In the south-west of Russia there is a glorious place about which legends have long been circulated. This land is Diveevo, a monastery full of miracles and healing effects on those who seek help. These places have been known since pre-war times. Russian Orthodox believers go to Diveevo, the sources give that very life-giving force, and the glory of them diverges further and further. Even abroad they know about Diveevo and the miraculous sources located here. Tourists from Germany, Latvia, France, Israel, Orthodox believers from many parts of the planet come here.
The wonderful properties of holy water
To calm the soul, to heal ailments, to cleanse themselves from corruption, the afflicted resort to the help of holy water. The physical, chemical, and biological properties of the simplest and most unexplained compound of hydrogen and oxygen on earth are still not fully understood. Meanwhile, the experience of generations confidently speaks in favor of holy water, which in any circumstances of life will help in an incredible way.
An adult man entrusts his problems to water if he believes in its power. Even unbelievers unconsciously resort to the help of ordinary water, washing away the hardships of the day under the shower. Water relaxes and refreshes, and this is often the first way to relieve fatigue and drowsiness. Scientists have proved that holy water has a special structure of molecules, their action is aimed at well-being and health promotion, normalization of a person’s emotional and spiritual background, harmonization of the space around him. Perhaps, even before such discoveries, people knew the effect of holy water, but they did not require explanation.
Many add holy water to the bathtub for babies, so that the children sleep better and calmer, and the most “strong” water also helps young children from the evil eye. Holy water is known as a remedy for healing spiritual and bodily diseases, believers often drink a few sips from silver vats in which water is stored in temples. The rite of Baptism includes immersion in holy water or at least bathing it, not only symbolizing the cleansing of sins, but also performing the sacrament of improving energy.
And the most powerful healing effect people have long noticed at the water from the sources of saints. Orthodox believers turn to them when they feel the decline of life and physical forces, when doubts gnaw at the soul and spiritual forces at the end. But the glory of the sources that help overcome bodily infirmities speaks for itself.
And those who need it rush towards them with hopes and faith, entrusting their bodies and thoughts to water.
Holy sources in Diveevo
Orthodox people flock here at any time of the year. On the map of Russia, this village is designated as Diveevo. Sources located near it, in these places were known long before the war. And today, pilgrims from all over the world come here for help. Those who come to the Novgorod region know that each of the sources, of which there are more than twenty, has miraculous power. Some sources are very old, some relatively young, but the whole area, which is intended for pilgrimage, is literally strewn with springs, as if these placers fell like seeds into the soil with someone’s good hand.
Divine power condescends on everyone without exception: on adults and newborns, men and women. To fully immerse yourself in the healing energy of the sources, you need to come to any of them. After drinking pure sanctified water, or maybe plunging into it, you will feel a surge of vitality, bodily illnesses will go away, heartache will subside. The holy sources in Diveevo are famous for their appearances to the people of saints, signs and miracles of healing.
How to heal with holy water from a spring
They say that, having gathered in the source of holy water, people take it home, store it for years, and it remains as fresh and tasty as if it had just been picked up from a beating spring. And when preparing preservation for the winter, pickles, pickles, such water will provide long-term storage of products, avoiding mold or decay. Someone tried to explain these properties by the mineral composition of the water, but even minerals are subject to mustiness with improper capping, and Diveyevo holy water from the springs remains unchanged for years.
Having collected water with you in some container, metal or glass (the main thing is that it should not be plastic), you can take the liquid with you and drink it as needed. You can add such water in small quantities to the bathroom, to drinks and soups during cooking.
On the basis of this miraculous remedy, you can make any drink and give as needed to all households, you can give it to infants. A capricious child can be washed with holy water, so that he soon calms down.
If you come to Diveevo
The Nizhny Novgorod region is located almost in the center of the south-west of Russia. They say that healing with the help of sources will be quicker, if not just to plunge into the water of the font, but also to stay in Diveevo for the night. There is a widespread belief among the laity that God's Grace descends on those who spend the night here.
Local residents know a large number of stories from the lives of those who visited the holy sources of Diveevo: what helps visiting the fonts, how to prepare for the dipping, where to put candles to the saints, how to pray. Not far from the sources is the
Holy Diveevsky (Seraphim-Diveevsky) monastery, you can also visit the chapel. Collected on the occasion of history are published in books: sources of Diveevo, reviews of the laity about them will be useful to parishioners, because they have been collected for decades. It is difficult to even call it reviews - it is experience, hopes, revealed miracles of healing and thanks to the saints. This mission was started by one of the canonized saints today - mother Alexandra.
Healing springs
Visitors want to visit the sources in Diveevo, which are the most popular, rumors about which brought them to the Nizhny Novgorod region.
In these places they honor:
- the source of the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan and the source of Seraphim of Sarov in Tsyganovka,
- source of the holy healer Panteleimon,
- the source of the founder of the temples in Diveevo, mother Alexandra,
- An apparent source in Kremenki,
- Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helena in Khripunovo,
- source of the Descent of the Holy Spirit in Avtodeevo and Satis,
- source of the Holy Trinity in Canerg,
- source of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Khokhlovo.
There are other small sources that begin to break out of the ground suddenly in other places. The whole area seems to be riddled with keys that are beating out of the ground, and the more sufferers turn here, the richer the land for water, the endless stream of which is open to everyone.
Tales of Miracles
In the Annals of the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery, the lives and miracles of its founders are described in detail - the Monk Seraphim and Agafya Melgunova (schema nun Alexandra).
Agafya Melgunova was a nun when she received a sign from above from the Theotokos, who appeared to her with instructions to go to the Nizhny Novgorod region - her Fourth and Last Destiny on Earth. According to the lot cast by the apostles, the Most Holy Mother of God gathered in the land of Iverskaya (the First Lot), during a sea voyage to the resurrected by Jesus the Holy Lazarus, the ship fell on Mount Athos (second Lot of the Mother of God), the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is considered the third Lot. And finally, Agafiya Semenovna Melgunova appeared in these lands, guided by the hand of the Virgin.
The temple erected here was erected by the forces of the Monk Seraphim at the end of his life. The son of a merchant family, in his youth healed due to the miraculous icon of the Mother of God from illness, devoted himself to God and himself received miraculous power to help heal the needy.
Legends about how the local saints helped people during their lives were recorded by their followers and rectors of the monastery. In Diveevo, sources today continue the good work of those who are now elevated to the faces of saints.
The founder of the temple is mother Alexander
In the world, her name was Agafya Semenovna Melgunova. A native of a wealthy landowner family, the widow of Colonel Melgunov already lived as a monk when the Mother of God who appeared to her sent her to Diveevo. At her own expense, she restored the dilapidated chapels and the church since 1767. In the schema, having adopted the name of Alexander in 1789, she considered the restoration and construction of new chapels for people in Diveevo to be her life business: sources attracted more and more sufferers, and it became possible to accept everyone. A huge number of shrines in this wonderful place for centuries helps people live, be healed, hope, rethink their actions.
Having died in peace, mother Alexander rests near the altar of the Kazan monastery. They say that those who commemorate her on her grave hear a wonderful smell, the fragrance cannot be overlooked. Sometimes candles themselves light up, a bell ringing or murmur is heard, therefore rumor is circulating among the people, as if its source originates here.
Her support and follower was Seraphim of Sarov. The source of Mother Alexandra is famous for numerous stories of parishioners, whose miraculous healing also inspired the Monk Seraphim. A chapel and a swimming pool are nearby. Believers very often come here, because the source is one of the closest to the monastery. He helps those who come to regain strength, weary and desperate. Those women who want to conceive also turn to mother Alexandra: there are many cases when a couple could not conceive for many years, and after visiting the family, even triplets were born, it was rumored among the laity.
Source of Rev. Seraphim
Even during his lifetime, St. Seraphim helped people if doctors and medicines were powerless. Among the frequent stories about whom the source helped are cases of people with diseases of the nervous system, memory disorders, and epileptic seizures.
There is a legend or a story about how in this place, located in forbidden territories in the sixties, when they passed the border guards around Sarov, they had a vision. In the pre-war years, the source existed, but it was repeatedly tried to cement or bury it. In 1947, a military facility assigned this area closed status, and the wasteland was deserted. Therefore, the military were surprised to notice the figure of an old man in a white hoodie with a staff, and, hailing him, saw the old man bang the ground with his staff three times and disappeared. At this point, from three points began to beat the key. In the sixties the source gained fame, water from it was transported to all parts of Russia. People came here to swim in it. In the early nineties, the military decided to fall asleep. However, during the preparatory work for the excavator, the Monk Seraphim appeared, asking him not to do this, and in the end he said that this would not happen anyway. Indeed, the soil did not succumb to the excavator bucket, and the source was preserved.
Subsequently, the order was canceled, then the Diveevsky monastery was restored, and today the source of Seraphim of Sarov is listed in his jurisdiction, and a log chapel was built near it.
They say that even during reconstruction work to strengthen the streamline for the safety of the afflicted, there was one worker who injured his back. The appearance of Seraphim of Sarov healed him. Today people rush here to heal physical ailments. Bathing in the spring or at least bathing must certainly be accompanied by a certain mood, prayer from the heart.
Kazan source
Diveevo is famous for several healing springs, the names of which will say a lot to any Orthodox person. One of them is today named after the icon, which was found frozen in ice in 1939. The icon was very old, most likely, it fell into the water due to the destruction of the well, which stood in the form of a log house over the source. Locals consider the icon of Our Lady of Kazan to be very strong, they brought here even newborn children, whom doctors did not give a chance to survive, and miraculous power helped. The chapel was rebuilt and destroyed again, but the icon was preserved. One nun kept her and witnessed her incredible renewal, as well as many miracles that the power coming from the icon did.
The Kazan Church today is located on the outskirts of the village of Diveevo, nearby is the source itself, the oldest of all. Water from it has a beneficial effect on health. It is to him that believers come with a procession of the Cross to bless the water, baptize children, and the sick are healed.
Panteleimon the healer and his miracles at the source in Diveevo
Saint Panteleimon has been known as a healer since the 4th century. Gratuitous medical assistance to the poor, mercy to all, without exception, made him an outstanding personality of his time and one of the most revered saints today. Pilgrimages to the source today occur at any time of the year. The source of Panteleimon in Diveevo is located near Kazan. Previously, people could not swim here, but in 2004 the source was equipped with a bathhouse. In addition, water from it flows into two different log cabins, in which baths for women and men are equipped separately. The source of Panteleimon the healer is one of the most beautiful, its entire territory is very well-groomed, and parishioners say that the water in the baths of this place is warmer than in others.
They address to Panteleimon the healer with such a prayer: “May God bless us with all your holy prayers, health and well-being of souls and bodies, rejoicing in faith and piety, and all that is needed for a temporary life and for salvation ...”
How to find Diveevo
The Nizhny Novgorod region for visitors from neighboring countries is quite confusing, so if the region is not familiar to you, then the landmarks are as follows: Diveevo is located 180 km from Nizhny Novgorod, 65 km from Arzamas and 345 km from Cheboksary. If you plan a trip on your own car, it will be nice to use the navigator.
Along the M-7 highway there will be several regional centers where you can specify in which direction Diveevo, how to get to the village. But be prepared for the fact that not the most even roads will allow you to move at a speed of no more than 120-140 km / h. In the monastery parking is well equipped, for visitors it is free. There are many hotels in the area, so staying in Diveevo and counting on an overnight stay is easy.