The ancient monastery is located in the historical center of Moscow. However, the bustle of the metropolis does not penetrate the walls of the monastery, here there is peace and quiet, inherent in the old green garden and flowering alleys, as well as ancient burials. The Donskoy Monastery is a place of attraction for tourists from all over the world, because the most famous Russians in the history of the country were buried here.
Khan Kazy-Girey
It was this Tatar-Mongol khan who provoked the founding of the ancient monastery. So, in 1591, the troops of Kazy-Girey were stationed near Moscow. The troops were ready to defend themselves, but the locals feared heavy losses. To defend themselves and receive a blessing, Tsar of Russia Fyodor Ioanovich ordered the clergy to go around with the icon of the Don Mother of God along the entire line of defense. Which they did.
According to legend, it was this icon that preserved the life and fighting spirit of Dmitry Donskoy when he and his troops participated in the historic Battle of Kulikovo.
After the icon consecrated the border of defense at dawn, the Moscow troops did not believe their eyes - the horde disappeared from the walls of the capital of Russia and abandoned the battle. The decisive battle never happened. People believed in the miraculous protection of the icon and the Almighty.
Two years later, in honor of the Donskoy Mother of God and the joyful event, a stone church was erected on the site of the future monastery. Today it is called the Small Cathedral of the Don Icon of the Mother of God. This marked the beginning of the construction of a vast monastery in the center of Moscow.
By the way, the site where construction began was the very "walk-field" where the mobile army of Russian troops was located, ready to meet the horde.
History of the monastery
The erected stone cathedral was called "refectory". And only later, when the Big Monastery Cathedral was built, the refectory church was renamed Small. Presumably, the tsar could commission the famous and revered architect Fyodor Kon to design the first monastery cathedral.
The Donskoy monastery became for Moscow a protective structure from the south; it also closed the central Kaluga road. Together with the rest of the monasteries, the Donskoy monastery was included in the fortification ring created to strengthen the city's defenses.
However, this did not save the monastery from ruin during the Troubled period of history. The Poles plundered the monastery, the invasion was then commanded by Hetman Chodkevich. It took years to restore the ruined buildings, for this, for a while, the monastery was transferred to the subordination of the Andronikov monastery in Moscow.
Russian tsars Mikhail Fedorovich, and then his son Alexei Mikhailovich, made a lot of efforts to revive the lost monastery. During the period of their patronage, the monastery as a "pious place" became interesting to pilgrims who performed religious processions, and also became popular among the nobility and Russian sovereigns.
18-19 centuries
In 1705, Emperor Peter I handed over the leadership of the monastery to Archimandrite Lawrence. Since he was of Georgian origin (by the name of Gabashvishi), the Donskoy Monastery turned into a cultural center of different peoples and a link between Georgia and Russia. Moreover, in the cemetery at the monastery they began to bury the descendants of princes and royal especially Georgian blood.
In the 70s. In the 18th century, during a large-scale plague epidemic in the capital, the authorities decided not to make more burial within the city limits in order to avoid similar outbreaks in the future. And since the monastery was not a feature of the city, its necropolis began to expand greatly.
As a result of Napoleon's attacks, the Don monastery fell into decay. And yet, severe fires did not destroy a single monastery building, so they were quickly rebuilt after the war.
The monastery eventually took up educational work. So, in 1834, a theological school began to work here, after training in which it was possible to enter a theological seminary. Even then, children from families whose parents were not able to pay for education attended the school for free.
20th century
The Don monastery was inscribed in history by the fact that Patriarch Tikhon lived there for a long time, and then rested. He spoke out sharply publicly during the 1917 revolution, calling everything that was happening atrocity. For which he was persecuted for a long time, and then isolated from the flock. So the patriarch settled in the monastery.
In 1925, the disgraced churchman was buried in the Small monastery church. A few months later, the monastery was closed. The authorities turned it into an anti-religious museum. Later, the buildings of the monastery were used as a boarding school, and then as a factory, and even as a dairy farm.
In 1935 a museum of architecture was opened in the monastery. Pieces of the walls of the destroyed old buildings were brought here from all over the city. There were also high reliefs of the demolished Cathedral of the Savior, as well as ancient artistic gravestones, artistic frames that previously adorned the Sukharev Tower.
Many years later (after the end of the Great Patriotic War), the Small Cathedral was returned, while the monastery was not subject to restoration.
And only in 1982 they started talking again about the revival of the monastery as a full-fledged religious structure. After 8 years, the buildings that were previously a cloister were transferred to the ownership of the church. This was the beginning of a global restoration work.
Miracle in the monastery
One of the last miracles in the history of the monastery is the unexpected and very important for Christianity find of the holy relics of the Patriarch of All Russia Tikhon himself. The fact is that at his funeral, which took place on March 25, 1925, only elected bishops were allowed into the grave. Then the monastery was closed by the Soviet authorities, which also spread a rumor that they had handed over the body of the saint to be burned in the crematorium. According to other rumors, the relics of the patriarch were sent for burial at the German cemetery.
The work of the monastery in the usual way was resumed only in 1991. During the restoration, a search was also carried out for the relics possibly preserved in the monastery walls. Only on February 19, 1992, archaeologists discovered the hidden and sealed crypt of the Patriarch himself. The reason became obvious that during the funeral procedure only a few men were allowed into the cathedral - it was important to keep the secret of the burial and hide the grave of the saint from possible ruin.
Today, a shrine with the relics of the Patriarch of All Russia is installed in the Bolshoi Monastery Cathedral. Every day, many pilgrims come to worship her.
Necropolis
The necropolis at the monastery was formed at the end of the 17th century.
The last resting place in the monastery cemetery, under which a large territory of the monastery is allocated, was found by most of the famous Russian nobles - the Trubetskoy, and Golitsyns, and Dolgorukovs, and Vyazemsky are buried here. In the necropolis you can find the names of famous Russian historians and writers: Klyuchevsky, Solzhenitsyn, Ivan Shmelev. Here lie the philosophers Ilyin, Chaadaev and Odoevsky.
Here you can see the graves of the closest relatives of the poet Alexander Pushkin.
Tourists listen with pleasure to the life stories of prominent personalities at the graves of the Russian mechanic N. E. Zhukovsky, the cruel landowner Saltychikha, Russian white generals V. O. Kappel and A. I. Denikin.
Believers come to the Donskoy monastery to bow to the grave of Yakov Polozov, who served as a cell attendant under the Moscow Patriarch Tikhon.
How to get there
Today the Donskoy Monastery is a functioning religious institution. Divine services are held every day in all churches and cathedrals.
There are also workshops in the following areas:
- restoration work
- gold embroidery
- icon painting.
There is also a Sunday school for children. For older children - senior pupils and students - there is a youth club.
Address and telephone:
- Donskaya square, houses 1-3.
- Art. m. "Shabolovskaya". After exiting to the right until the intersection with the First Donskoy passage, then right to the main gate.
- Inquiries by numbers: +7 (495) 952-14-81, +7 (495) 954-40-24.
You can enter the territory of the complex from 7-00 to 19-00 hours.
