Passion Monastery is a famous women's monastery, which was founded in the Russian capital in 1654. She appeared near the gates of the White City in the so-called Earth City in the area of the current Garden Ring. After the revolution, in which the Bolsheviks won, the nuns were evicted from here, and since 1919 all kinds of organizations were located on the territory of the monastery. Among them was even the anti-religious museum of the Union of Atheists of the USSR. All buildings were finally demolished in 1937. Currently, a monument to Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin is erected on the site of the destroyed monastery.
Miraculous icon
The name of the Holy Monastery is directly related to the Holy Icon of the Mother of God. According to legend, it was thanks to this image that a woman from Nizhny Novgorod was able to recover from a serious illness. Since then, the fame of the miraculous icon has spread throughout all Orthodox lands.
When Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov became aware of healing, in 1641 he ordered the icon to be delivered to the capital. She was brought to Moscow from the Nizhny Novgorod estate of Prince Boris Mikhailovich Lykov-Obolensky, who was a governor and a noble Russian boyar, his father-in-law was Patriarch Filaret. It is well known as one of the participants in the Seven Boyars. All this time the icon was in his ancestral village Palitsy.
At the Tver Gate at the entrance to the White City, the shrine was solemnly greeted.
Monastery construction
The history of the Holy Monastery began with the construction of the temple at the meeting place, which appeared five years later. It turned out to be five-headed with gilded iron crosses. A miraculous icon was placed in it. The construction of the church began under Mikhail Fedorovich, and completed already under Alexei Mikhailovich.
In 1654, it was decided to arrange a women's monastery at the temple. This is the story of the origin of the name of the Holy Monastery. Around it a fence with towers was erected, and that Passion Icon of the Mother of God became the main shrine.
Soon, the nearby church of the Nativity of the Virgin, which appeared in Putinki, was added to the architectural ensemble of the monastery. She appeared in 1652. Toward the end of the 17th century, a gate bell tower was installed on the territory of the Holy Monastery. In 1701, there were 54 wooden cells in which the nuns lived.
The monastery was significantly damaged in 1778, when several cells were burned during the fire, as well as the cathedral church. The priceless icon of the Mother of God was saved by a miracle. The clergy also brought out the icon from the fire in honor of the holy martyr John the Warrior, as well as the Bogolyubsky icon of the Mother of God.
Help in the restoration of the temple was provided by Empress Catherine II. She made a substantial donation to which the Holy Monastery in Moscow was recreated from scratch. Soon he was consecrated again, this was done by Archbishop Plato.
During World War II
During World War II, terrible events unfolded near the walls of the Moscow Holy Monastery. It is known that right under the walls of the monastery at least ten people were shot.
The churches themselves were ruined by the French. Partially, the property was preserved only in the sacristy, everything else was plundered. While Moscow was in the hands of the French, executions and demonstrations were regularly organized on the territory of the Holy Monastery. The suspects were regularly interrogated.
The temple itself was converted into a store, and Napoleon’s guards were placed in cells. The famous scientist Rozanov specified that the mentor of the Holy Virgin’s Monastery was not initially allowed to stay within its walls, only after some time she was allowed to return to her cell. The church itself was not locked up, but no one was allowed into it. After some time, brocade robes and everything necessary for the conduct of services appeared. They were made by a monastery priest, whose name was Andrey Gerasimov.
The monastery bell tower announced the departure of the French Emperor Napoleon from Moscow. Almost immediately after that, a prayer service was held in the monastery to Christ the Savior.
Monastery in the 19th century
The history of the Holy Monastery in Moscow after that became of many interest. In 1817, Maria Fyodorovna, the wife of Paul I, the mother of Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I, came here on an official visit. She donated a valuable turquoise, which was studded with diamonds, and a large pearl that adorned the robe. She was placed in the cathedral in honor of the Holy Icon.
In 1841, the relics of Anastasia the Solomon were brought to the monastery. They were kept in a silver tomb, which was donated by Princess Tsitsianova. Directly above the tomb was a small lamp, which was brought by the Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, the son of Nicholas I and Alexandra Fedorovna.
In the middle of the century the monastery was restored, the work was carried out by the famous architect Mikhail Bykovsky at that time. He became famous as the author of the cathedral on the territory of the Spaso-Borodinsky monastery, Ivanovo monastery, many other architectural monuments of the century before last. Bykovsky built a new monastery bell tower instead of the old one, decorating it with a clock and a tent. In the bell tower itself, it was decided to arrange a church and a chapel of the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The letter of Count Alexei Tolstoy is known, which he addressed to Emperor Nicholas II. In it, he described that he saw with his own eyes how the bell tower of an ancient monastery was demolished six years ago. Moreover, the writer specified that she collapsed onto the pavement intact, not a single brick fell out of it, the masonry was so strong and durable. Now, as Tolstoy wrote, a pseudo-Russian bell tower was erected at this place, which he was not entirely satisfied with.
At the same time, the bell tower now visually connected the monastery with one of the central streets of Moscow - Tverskaya. Formed a kind of complex of fencing, gates, side buildings with turrets. For example, it was the large bell of this monastery that first spoke on Easter night for the gospel, which began with the bell tower of Ivan the Great. This was the signal to start the solemn ringing at all Moscow belfries without exception.
The icons for the constructed cathedral were painted by Vasily Pukirev, and the painter Chernov painted the walls of the church and the altar. Inside the temple there were cornices and gilded capitals, carved choirs.
Shelter and parish school
During the time of Mother Superior Eugenia, the monastery continued to develop. In particular, a shelter was created on its base for Bulgarian and Serbian girls who were taken out of the front during the Russo-Turkish war. In the monastery they were brought up until coming of age, and after that they were sent home at the expense of the monastery.
In 1885, a new bell was solemnly installed on the bell tower, cast on the donations of wealthy Moscow merchants Klyuzhin, Orlov and Nikolaev. It was made at the Samghin factory. The weight of the bell was more than eleven and a half tons. He was decorated with the image of the Holy Icon of the Mother of God, the Savior and St. Nicholas.
At the end of the XIX century, the merchant Orlov gave money for a stone building, which housed the parish school at the monastery. She was called Ksenievskaya. On an ongoing basis, up to fifty students studied in it. Over time, the refectory building appeared, during which the church of Theodosius and Anthony of the Caves was formed.
In 1897, about three hundred sisters lived in the monastery cells. By that time, a two-story building appeared in the area of the northern wall, in which the prosfor factory was located.
In the 20th century
By the beginning of the XX century, the monastery owned impressive lands, which brought good income to it. The monastery had almost two hundred acres of land in circulation, and moreover, it received more than three hundred rubles a year for maintenance from the state treasury.
In total, 55 nuns lived in the monastery, half the number of novices and abbess. In 1913, the architect Leonid Stezhensky built the monastery hotel of the Holy Monastery. It was located in its northeastern part. This is the only building of the entire complex that has survived to the present. It is located in Moscow at 1/2 Maly Putinkovsky Lane.
Shortly before the October Revolution, there were three churches in the monastery - in honor of Alexy, the man of God, the Cathedral of the Holy Icon of the Mother of God and the church of Theodosius and Anthony Pecherkikh.
After the revolution
Almost immediately after the revolution, the monastery was abolished and actually liquidated. This happened in 1919.
At the same time, until 1924, about 240 nuns remained on its territory. In cells, the Soviet government arranged various institutions. For example, initially the military commissariat was located in them, after which students of the university of working people of the east settled in the monastery. This is an educational institution that lasted from 1921 to 1938.
In 1928, the Moskommunkhoz planned to demolish the walls and the building of the monastery itself. However, instead, then all the premises were transferred to the archive. Then, on the basis of the monastery, an anti-religious museum was placed, which modern Orthodox consider particularly blasphemous.
At the same time, the bell tower was actively used instead of a billboard. All kinds of portraits, slogans and posters were placed on it. For example, on Press Day it was almost completely closed with a slogan that called on the press to become an instrument of socialist construction.
In 1931, the Strastnaya Square, on which the monastery was located all this time, was renamed Pushkinskaya, and it was also expanded to modern limits. In 1937, Moscow began to carry out large-scale reconstruction of the square itself and Gorky Street adjacent to it. As a result, the Passion Monastery on Pushkin Square was demolished. The work was carried out by the municipal enterprise "Mosrazbor".
After the demolition, almost miraculously managed to save the famous Passion Icon of the Mother of God. She is currently housed in the Church of the Resurrection, located in Sokolniki. At the place of the Holy Monastery on Pushkin Square, directly instead of its bell tower, a monument to Alexander Pushkin is now installed. He was transferred here from Tversky Boulevard in 1950.
In fact, the monument to Pushkin and the Holy Monastery are in the same place.
In recent years
Already in the history of modern Russia, it became known about the large-scale reconstruction of Pushkin Square, which the city authorities decided to arrange. Initially, at the site of the monastery demolished by Soviet leaders, it was planned to build an underground parking lot for about a thousand cars, but the project was canceled as a result.
Since 2006, the public organization Borodino-2012 has been putting forward an initiative to restore the monastery. In particular, at a meeting of the expert community under the chief architect of the capital, the project "Old Moscow" was announced. It assumes the return of the monument to Pushkin in its former place on Tverskaya Boulevard. It is also planned to recreate the bell tower, and in the depths of the square - the Holy Cathedral itself. The proposal was considered by the committee on monumental art, which exists under the Moscow City Duma. It was rejected. Although, according to experts, their reviews, the history of the Holy Monastery is one of the main pages in the development of Orthodoxy in the city.
Commemorative sign
So far, the matter has been limited to the fact that in 2012, on the centennial of the war with Napoleon, a memorial sign was erected on Pushkin Square, which was dedicated to the monastery. Two years later, the community, gathered to support the Holy Monastery, provided over ninety thousand votes in support of its reconstruction, but the proposal was again rejected.
In 2016, teachers, students and graduate students of the History Department of Moscow State University joined the work. Under the direction of Professor Borodkin, they managed to create a three-dimensional copy of the monastery. This project was funded by the Russian Science Foundation, which issued a corresponding grant to researchers. Art historians, guest architects, archaeologists, restorers, archival specialists, and programmers also took part in it. The model took part in the exhibition dedicated to the lost Moscow. The participants in this project sought to recreate the buildings destroyed at different times on the territory of Kitai Gorod in 3D models.
Archaeological excavations
In the same year, archaeologists conducted large-scale excavations in these places as part of the implementation of the My Street program. They managed to discover about five thousand artifacts that have one way or another related to the monastery. One of the most important finds is his fence.
She was canned in the ground. The most valuable exhibits were presented at the exhibition, which opened in the museum of Moscow under the name "Tverskaya and not only".
By 2020, it is planned to build a museum at the underground level in the Kremlin. It will house discovered archaeological artifacts that are related to the XII-XVIII centuries.