Vydubitsky monastery is one of the oldest monasteries located in Kiev. At the location it is also called Kiev-Vydubitsky. The monastery was founded by Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich in the 70s of the XI century. As a family monastery, it belonged to Vladimir Monomakh and his heirs.
The name of the monastery
According to legend, the place in which the Vydubychi monastery was founded - Vydubychi - owes its name to the ancient gods of pagan Russia. The fact is that when Prince Vladimir decided to adopt Christianity as the state religion, he ordered that all idols be dumped into the waters of the Dnieper. Not the entire population of Kiev at that time accepted this idea with enthusiasm. The faithful Kiev fathers fled along the coast, urging their gods to “blow out”, that is, to swim out of the water to the shore. The place where they finally landed on the beach, and later became known as Vydubychi.
There is, however, another version of the origin of this name related to the crossing that existed across the Dnieper in a place not far from the future monastery. Kievans crossed it on boats called "oaks" due to the fact that they were hollowed out of oak trunks. This was the reason to name the area as it is currently called.
However, the name Vydubychi could be given to this place by both ordinary residents and residents of the cave Zverinetsky monastery, which existed there even before the baptism of Rus by Prince Vladimir and which later turned into Vydubytsky, as if floating out of the ground.
The original role of the monastery
Immediately after its founding, the Vydubytsky Monastery began to play a large role not only in spiritual life, but also in political processes. It was in this monastery that many diplomatic negotiations were conducted, troops were formed. The monastery traditionally had a reputation as a monastery, in which many learned monks live and work. Next to the church territory, a residence was quickly built for the wife of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, the so-called Red Court. Cave rooms, however, gradually lost their significance until they completely disappeared from sight and became a legend.
Cave complex
By the end of the 19th century, no one even believed that caves once actually existed near the Vydubytsky monastery. They were accidentally discovered only in 1888 as a result of the collapse of a hill site. During the inspection of the tunnels, about three dozen corpses were discovered. According to the most probable hypothesis, these were monks who hid in caves during the siege and hoped to wait out the assault on the monastery in underground rooms. But the enemy troops found them and walled them up, as a result of which they died of thirst and suffocation, and forgot about the caves over time.
The life of the monastery until the XVIII century
In the 13th century, the Vydubychi Monastery lost its political weight. As one of the Kiev cloisters, it existed until the 17th century, when it began active development with generous sponsorship. At one time, the Vydubychi Monastery came under the control of the Greek Catholics. Of course, the Orthodox are inclined to accuse the Uniate administration of desecrating the shrines, but, nevertheless, it is thanks to them that we generally know what the monastery lived at that time. The Greek Catholic abbesses put the cloister’s affairs in order and streamlined the archival documentation. It turns out that before Catherine the Great signed a decree on secularization and seizure of church possessions in favor of the state, the monastery had very good profits from a brick factory, two villages, a pig farm, several fields, gardens and ponds. In those days, the Vydubychi Monastery was considered rich, and this attracted many novices into it, seeking not an ascetic feat of faith, but an easy, satisfying life. Thus formed the brethren of the monastery quickly fled when all possessions were taken from her. Life in the monastery has practically ceased. Some time after secularization, he played the role of a boarding house and an elite cemetery.
Buildings of the monastery complex
As for the architecture of the monastery, it has been changing over a thousand years, of course. The original wooden buildings erected in the ΧΙ century, of course, have not been preserved. One of the oldest churches of the monastery is the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Cathedral of the Vydubychi Monastery. This temple was built under Prince Vsevolod. Over time, the Dnieper began to erode the base of the hill on which the church stood, and then it was decided to build a retaining wall designed to protect the temple. The project was completed and carried out in the 12th century by Miloneg, a court architect. The retaining wall did its job perfectly for several centuries, but in the end it was dilapidated. Since the restoration work was delayed, in the 16th century the cathedral still suffered: the dome and the altar part collapsed into the waters of the Dnieper. In this form, the temple stood for a long time, until, finally, in the second half of the XVIII century it was restored.
In the XVII century, the monastery complex, as already mentioned, begins to be enriched with new buildings. Among others, a five-domed church was erected in honor of St. George the Victorious, the Church of the Savior and a new stone refectory. In the XVIII century, a bell tower was added to the monastery. According to the initial draft, the belfry should have become a gateway, but due to errors in the design during construction, the bell tower cracked and squinted. To save the building, it was necessary to lay the lower tier with a brick, and make a gate nearby. In the 80s of the XX century, most of the buildings of the monastery complex were reconstructed. However, work in this direction is still ongoing to this day, at the expense of the monastery itself.
Monastery Necropolis
From ancient times on the territory of the monastery there was a necropolis in which significant, noble and outstanding personalities were buried. Today, the necropolis exists and keeps in itself the remains of many distinguished public figures, as well as figures of science and art.
Monastery today
Today, the monastery complex is located on the territory of the Grishko Botanical Garden, although earlier the entire territory occupied by the garden belonged to the monastery. The cloister is active, belonging to the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate. On its territory there are several workshops (pottery and weaving from vines) and two art salons. In addition, there is a clinic in the Vydubychi Monastery for drug addicts. The abbot of the monastery is Metropolitan Epiphanius (Dumenko).
Hospital
It is worth saying separately about the monastery’s hospital, as it has a long history. A monastery hospital was established in the pre-revolutionary years by imperial command. And the rehabilitation center, functioning on this site today, is its successor. First of all, the walls of this institution provide assistance to people with alcohol and drug addiction. In addition, the hospital’s services include specialized care for people suffering from schizophrenia, depression, anorexia, bulimia, as well as anyone who needs qualified psychological and narcological assistance and specialist advice. Among the center's staff, there are child psychologists, so that children can also be patients of the institution. The main form of work of the institution is to provide outpatient care. But emergency assistance is also possible in case of narcotic or psychiatric problems. The center also has its own small format hospital.
Vydubychi Monastery - how to get there
When visiting Kiev, many people wish to visit this place with ancient history, to which the founders of Russia as a Christian East Slavic state had a hand . A logical question that arises for those who decided to come on an excursion to the Vydubychi Monastery: "How to get to it?" If you are heading to the monastery from the right bank of the Ukrainian capital, you must first get to the metro station "Friendship of Peoples". After that, you need to take the bus 55 or the 43 trolleybus and get to the Paton Bridge stop. Then it will be necessary to walk towards the Naddnipryansky highway, before which turn right onto Vydubitskaya street. At the end of the street is the cloister. If you follow from the left bank of Kiev, you need to get on the same bus or the same trolley to the stop "Square of World War II Heroes", and then walk to the monastery.