The Sretensky Monastery in Moscow is inscribed in the pages of the history of Russia, the first of which relates to the reign of Vasily I (the son of Dmitry Donskoy, who died in 1382). For 36 years of his wise reign, the Principality of Moscow strengthened and expanded, and Moscow itself was never conquered by anyone.
History of the name of the monastery
Translated from Greek, “meeting” means meeting.
Kuchkovo Field took its name from the surname of boyar S.I. Kuchka, a hereditary Vyatich who did not obey Yu. Dolgoruky. The semi-mythical boyar Stepan Kuchka was executed, and Moscow was built on the lands he owned. It was here, on the Kuchkovo field, that in 1395 a meeting between the Muscovites of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, sent by the procession from Vladimir-on-Klyazma, took place. The road that went to the center of the capital, and on which this event took place, was called Sretenka, and the monastery, erected here in memory of the legendary event, Sretensky. Legendary because the next day, for no apparent reason, Timur-Tamerlan, who had ravaged Yelets before this, turned his troops from the walls of the defenseless capital. Vasily I immortalized this event by building in 1397 at the meeting point of the procession of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow.
Priceless Shrine
On the account of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God there are two more legendary deliverances from the invaders. One thing happened in 1451, when the Horde Tsarevich Mazovsha, the great-grandson of Khan Tokhtamysh, burned all Moscow posadans, and on the eve of a decisive assault he ran away from the walls of the capital after a night outing of the townspeople with the icon. The second refers to the year 1480 (deliverance from Akhmat, standing on the Ugra river). The Vladimir icon of the Mother of God is painted, according to legend, by the Evangelist and the Apostle Luke himself during the life of Mary on the table board, at which the Holy Family was eating.
The Patriarch of Constantinople, Luca Hrisoverg, whose reign at the beginning of the 12th century was marked by extensive church and legislative activity, sent a list from this icon to Yuri Dolgoruky. After the Sretensky Monastery was founded, in Moscow annually on August 26 with a religious procession from the Assumption Cathedral they deliver the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, the savior of the capital from the conquest of Tamerlane by the troops.
Monastic buildings that survived to this day
The originally erected monastery buildings were not preserved. Of the old buildings that survived all the wars and upheavals, the five-domed cathedral, built in 1679 with the money of Tsar Fedor Alekseevich, half-brother of Peter the Great, survived to our days. Fedor III, together with his wife Agafya Semenovna Grushetskaya, especially took care of Sretensky Monastery in Moscow. After the death of both in 1706, a southern aisle was built - the Nativity of John the Baptist. In the iconostasis of the Cathedral of Sretensky Monastery in 1680, the tsar’s matrimonial couple were placed images of their patrons - saints Fyodor Stratilat and the martyr Agafya. Icons are located at an equal distance from the royal gate.
Role in domestic history
In general, this monastery played an important role in the fate of the Romanov dynasty - it actively contributed to the coming to power of Mikhail Fedorovich, the first Russian Tsar, the bearer of this family name. All the prayers of the upper strata of Russian society began, as a rule, in this monastery. And in the 19th century, there was, although temporarily, the main hierarchy. And the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, relating to the shrines of the monastery, saved Moscow from enemy capture and destruction three times.
Frescoes of the monastery
Despite its significance, the Cathedral of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God until 1707 was unwritten. This year, thanks to donations from S.F. Griboedov, a streltsky colonel, frescoes appeared in the church, well preserved to this day and representing one of the last masterpieces of ancient Russian art in the capital. It is not known who painted the walls of the cathedral, since in the fire of 1737 in the monastery all the documentation related to the work of talented masters burned, the original thematic construction of the frescoes and the perfection of execution testify to their professionalism.
Black pages of history
The tragic events for the monastery came in the 20s of the XX century. The only movement recognized throughout Soviet Russia from 1922 to 1926 was a church movement called “Renovationism,” which, in essence, was an adaptation to the new government for survival. It actively fought with Patriarch Tikhon. As soon as the Sretensky Monastery in 1923 passed from Renovationism to the patriarchal jurisdiction, problems began, and in 1925 the monastery was closed. Until the 30th year, many of the monastery's buildings were ruthlessly demolished. The motivation is the expansion of the street, one of the central ones, because the Sretensky Monastery, whose address in Moscow is Bolshaya Lubyanka Street , 19, was in the heart of the capital. Among the destroyed buildings were the church of St. Mary of Egypt and the Church of St. Nicholas.
They are not restored. The shrines of the monastery disbanded in museums. Only by chance, the ancient icon "Exaltation of the Cross", which appeared in the Anti-Religious Museum, has been preserved and is located in the Tretyakov Gallery. The remaining buildings housed the dormitories of the NKVD officers. The fact that people were killed on the holy land of the monastery is evidenced by the worship cross, erected in 1995 in memory of the martyred victims.
Return to the bosom of the church
Until the 90th year in the building of the cathedral was the All-Union Art Scientific and Restoration Center. Grabar. In 1991, the monastery was returned to the Orthodox Church, after which its revival began - old buildings were restored, new buildings and a bell tower were built. A large publishing house operates in the monastery territory. 400 people study at catechesis courses. 40 monks and novices reside within the walls of the monastery. It should be noted that on December 4, 1925, literally before its complete closure, the future patriarch Pimen (in the world Sergey Izvekov), who died in 1990, received tonsure in a ryasophore in the Sretensky monastery.
The strict beauty of the monastery
All buildings located in the center of the capital, which in recent years has surprisingly changed, correspond to its new appearance, including the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow. The photo below eloquently speaks of its current austere beauty. Naturally, one of the oldest monasteries that played a significant role in the fate of Russia, located in the center of the capital, pays much attention to the leadership of the Orthodox Church. In addition, since the monastery is stauropegic, the Patriarch of Moscow is his ruling bishop and mentor. The term "stauropegial" means the disobedience of the monastery to the local diocesan authorities. Such monasteries and laurels are administered by the patriarch. Until 1918, the monastery, located in the very center of the capital, on Bolshaya Lubyanka Street (formerly Sretenka), had the status of a provincial monastery, which exists without state support. Nowadays, the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow is stavropegic.
Reason for special pride
Everything in the monastery corresponds to its high rank. Sretensky monastery in Moscow can be proud of many. The monastery’s choir (not singers, but the choir itself) is its peer, and is known not only to parishioners and lovers of sacred music. Already in the XVII century, the Sretensky choir and its singers received recognition, as they accompanied the solemn city processions. Having survived difficult times, the collective, revived along with the monastery, began to acquire new features that correspond to time, and was finally formed by 2005. It is headed by a graduate of the Russian Academy of Music, Nikon Stepanovich Zhila.
From childhood, he was a singer of the
Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Along with the services, the choir soloists conduct concert activities and record albums. Each of the 30 soloists has an excellent musical education - either Gnesinka, or the Moscow Theological or Sretinsky Seminary. There are students from the Moscow Academy of Choral Art and the Moscow Conservatory. According to fans and connoisseurs, a talented leader "turns the consonance of voices into a living organ." There are world-famous soloists in the choir - Dmitry Beloselsky and some others.
Revered icons and relics of the righteous
The shrines of the Sretensky monastery in Moscow are represented primarily by the relics of the holy martyr Hilarion (Trinity) - the bishop and theologian of the Russian Orthodox Church, an icon with a particle of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov. In addition, the remains of St. Mary of Egypt, St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker are stored here. The shrines include negative (face on the Shroud) and positive (pictured) exact replica of the Shroud of Turin, made in full size, which is located in the crypt of the cathedral. It was consecrated by the Patriarch of Moscow Alexei II as the miraculous image of the Savior. An honorable list of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God completes the list of shrines of the Sretensky Monastery.
Selflessness for the Glory of God
People who selflessly and voluntarily work for the glory of God are at Orthodox monasteries, but are not novices - these are the so-called workers. Sretensky monastery in Moscow, like other church institutions, needs their help. Workers differ from both pilgrims and novices. These are mainly people who are just preparing to devote themselves to the church completely. There is a provision on workers in which certain requirements are imposed on them, and it is not recommended to violate them. Usually, workers come to monasteries for a certain time, and of course they need a place to live. The hotel of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow under the name "Podushkin" was intended for this. But, unfortunately, in 2012, in the fall, she was at the center of the scandal due to the fact that the list of services provided, according to law enforcement agencies, included intimate ones. The governor of the Sretensky monastery called the information slander.