In 1304, a monastery was laid near Pereslavl-Zalessky, which became a monument to the event that happened here on June 8 of the same year. On this day, in the meadows adjacent to the city, the army of Moscow Prince Yuri Danilovich defeated the warriors of the Tver Prince Mikhail Yaroslavovich. At the cost of great blood that day, the Russians defeated the Russians. Tears of widows and orphans filled their victorious cups. However, in the history of Russia there were many similar examples.
Under the auspices of the Grand Dukes
Since the Orthodox Church celebrated the memory of the holy great martyr Theodore Stratilates on that fateful day , a monastery founded on a field saturated with fraternal blood was named in his honor. Initially, he was male, and as legend has it, among his inhabitants were participants in those events.
Despite the fact that the Fedorov Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky) appeared at the beginning of the XIV century, the first handwritten testimony of it dates back only to 1511, when the Grand Duke Vasily III, the father of Ivan the Terrible, ruled in Moscow. From the historical chronicles of those years, it is known that the monastery at that time was very prosperous and owned not only vast land with many peasant households, but also precious church utensils.
Such enviable prosperity was explained by the fact that the Fedorov Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky) invariably enjoyed the patronage of the princely house, from which generous donations came. In addition, to please the ruler and the capital's boyars, wanting to show loyalty, not stinting, they sent money and various values to the monastery.
Gift of the formidable king
Tsar Ivan the Terrible continued the tradition of his ancestors. On the occasion of the birth of his son and heir to the throne, the future sovereign Fyodor Ioannovich, on May 11, 1557, he granted the monastery funds for the construction of the Fedorovsky Cathedral, which has survived to this day.
Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky), the architecture of which as a whole is a vivid monument of Russian church architecture, in its present form began precisely from this cathedral, which became its oldest building. Initially, as conceived by the architects, with all his appearance he expressed strength and unwaveringness. Its massive building, high above the ground, was crowned with five domes mounted on powerful light drums cut through narrow vertical windows. In the following centuries, the cathedral was rebuilt several times, and we can judge its original appearance only by surviving descriptions.
God's punishment
The Fedorov Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky) successfully existed until 1667, when the city suffered a terrible disaster - an epidemic of pestilence. The accounts of the dead went to hundreds, and soon they did not have enough places in the city cemeteries. To know that the cup of patience of the Lord was overflowed with human sins, but at the same time His anger was shed to a greater extent on men. It was they who more often became victims of the disease.
As a result, when, through the prayers of the inhabitants, the Almighty turned away from the city and the epidemic stopped, a great many widows and orphaned girls remained in Pereslavl, who had decidedly nowhere to go but to the monastery. But even the unfortunate did not have such an opportunity due to the absence of a female monastery in the city.
Establishment of a convent
Unexpectedly, help to the sufferers came from the capital city of Moscow. The pious sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich, having descended to their sorrows, ordered the then-reigning patriarch Joseph to certainly provide widows and damsels with refuge for their souls (well, and teles, of course). In this regard, it was decided to give them the Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky), transforming it into a female monastery.
The former inhabitants, who after the epidemic survived no more than a dozen, were sent to other monasteries. In addition, the king-priest granted the newly formed women's monastery a fair amount of land, which saved the nuns from worrying about their daily bread.
The Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky), the photos of which are presented in the article, at the beginning of the XVIII century was replenished with two more remarkable buildings, as well as its main cathedral, which have survived to this day. This is the Vvedensky church erected in 1710 and one more - a hospital, in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, built four years later. Each of them is of unusual interest both from the historical and from the artistic side.
German weaving in the Orthodox monastery
It is curious that the monastery reached the highest point of its prosperity during the reign of Peter I, when many other monasteries experienced not the best times of their history. The fact is that, in everything pragmatic, the sovereign did not, following the example of his predecessors, confine himself to episodic donations, but taught the nuns themselves how to make money. On his orders, a weaving workshop was opened in the monastery, where the whole process was carried out using technologies borrowed in Germany.
In addition, the sovereign ordered (and try not to do it!) That every nun who mastered the craft would certainly teach this young nun or novice. It is difficult to say how this affected the spiritual growth of the sisters, but materially the result was obvious. Due to its high quality, the products of the monastery weavers were the most widely sold, and the voiced coin flowed into the monastery’s treasury.
The end of material prosperity
By the end of the 19th century, when Russia was experiencing a rapid growth of capitalist production, the sisters could not successfully compete with the large weaving factories that appeared in the country and filled the market with their cheaper products. As a result, the Fedorovsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky), whose history by that time totaled nearly six centuries, became impoverished and faded into the background, giving way to other, more affluent Russian monasteries. But the sisters did not lose heart.
Having lost their former material well-being, the monastery was by no means empty. At the beginning of the 20th century, about five hundred natives lived in it. During this period, monastic life was led by one of the most active abbesses - Mother Superior Eugene. With her works, a common meal was built, so that each of the sisters got the opportunity, without worrying about food, to do the work entrusted to her. Then at the monastery there were four schools in which children of poor residents of Pereslavl-Zalessky studied for free.
Under the rule of the godless
This continued until 1917, until the new government, for the sake of "universal happiness," decided to abolish the monastery, close the schools, disperse the nuns, and send them the excessively energetic abbess to send them to camps for many years. Returning already a decrepit old woman, she spent the last years of her life in a cramped monastery guardhouse.
After the Fedorovsky nunnery (Pereslavl-Zalessky) was closed, its natives created a small community, trying to at least adapt to new circumstances, but in 1923 it was liquidated. The monastery buildings, surrounded by a strong wall, were used by the new government both as warehouses and as industrial premises. At one time there was even a colony for juvenile delinquents. In the postwar years, the territory was put at the disposal of one of the military units, and later a research institute was located there.
Restoration of the wounded shrine
The return of the holy monastery to the ownership of the Orthodox Church followed in 1998, when as a result of a change in state policy regarding religion, much of what was illegally removed was returned to its former owners.
Literally from the very first days, restoration work began, which has not been fully completed to this day. However, even what was done was allowed to restore the monastic life in the monastery in full. In all three churches, services are held and trebes are performed. The total number of inhabitants is still very small, but their number is growing every year, and they are doing everything in their power to restore the monastery to its former grandeur. But there are a lot of difficulties.
Waiting for a miracle
As is usually the case in such cases, there is not enough money to cover not only the churches, but also the entire Fedorov Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky) with restoration work. Excursions organized by both tourist organizations and the monastery’s leadership bring a certain income, but it is clearly not enough for the implementation of all plans.
The sisters on this occasion say they are waiting for a miracle to be revealed through some pious donor, as has happened more than once in past years. Well, for seven centuries of the monastery’s history, the Lord has so many times guarded it with His mercy that the hopes of nuns are understandable and cause sympathy.
Pilgrimages and excursions
Today, a great help in this difficult task is that most of the guests of Pereslavl, among its other attractions, visit the Fedorov Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky). The reviews of those who visited it, along with the impressions of a meeting with this monument of Russian Orthodoxy, contain references to prayers ordered in its churches, about participation in divine services and religious processions. All this, besides the great spiritual benefits to the pilgrims themselves, also brings income to the monastery, that is, it gives them the very means, the lack of which does not allow the full implementation of the entire cycle of restoration work.
Reading the notes of the pilgrims left in the guestbook of the monastery and on the corresponding sites, one involuntarily draws attention to the fact that most of them call the sensation of the unusual prayer of its walls as the main impression taken out of the walls of the monastery. This feeling, understandable to every believer, is a red thread in the records of many people who visited the Fedorov Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky).
Reviews of tourists who have not yet found their place in religion are also interesting. The main leitmotif in them is the excitement of contact with the living history of our country. This is no accident, because the ancient city was once the second most important center of the Moscow principality, and its holy cloisters were the most important spiritual centers of Ancient Russia.