Holy Archangel Michael Convent in Odessa - Shrines of Russia. Orthodox Odessa Holy Dormition Monastery
In the city of Odessa, a convent has been functioning for more than 150 years. In the last century, the institution was closed several times for a number of reasons. In 1992, the St. Michael's Monastery officially opened its doors to everyone in need of shelter and a kind word. The abbess of the temple is Abbess Seraphima (Shevchik).
Conditions
There is a “Mercy” department on the territory, accommodating about 80 people. The nuns look after the bedridden and help them cope with everyday problems.
They accompany people with disabilities on walks, feed them, provide assistance with hygiene procedures, and always listen and support their guests.
Nutrition
Not only those living in the Mercy House can receive quality food, but also all the poor and poor. The community meal sets the tables with hot food and is attended by about 50 people daily.
Leisure
Various workshops are open on site. Residents take an active part in sewing church vestments, make various utensils for church ceremonies, and restore icons.
Anyone can visit the theological schools that are open at the monastery. It contains many books, including works from pre-revolutionary times. The territory of the monastery is fully equipped with walking paths and benches where you can sit and breathe fresh air.
The photo shows a portrait of Abbess Seraphima. Odessa St. Michael's Convent.
https://azbyka.ru/palomnik/--()
Yandex video about the monastery
There are a lot of Orthodox monasteries of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine.
They remember Russia and pray for peace. And they don't live very richly. The crisis has affected everyone. But life goes on and the New Temple is being completed, the icon painting works
school. Regency Department. We should help the Orthodox in Russia, those who pray for peace, our sisters and brothers in Ukraine.
There are also two Orthodox women's monasteries in Abkhazia. My friends recently visited the Trinity Convent.
The service is conducted in Church Slavonic.
TO MOTHER SERAPHIM
Nun Nadezhda,
You showed us the way.
In that boundless ocean
Many roads, rare destinies.
In those nineties, at the beginning
Your inspirational story
Made many people think
The hour has struck for the pilgrims...
How inspired I stood
In the light of the spotlights
She said about Campostello.
The call of the Apostles is heard.
And beauty always
You asked the question:
How could you
Everything worldly
To derail your life?
Different directions
The Orthodox people chose
Longing for Jerusalem
The trip to Bari is glorious.
And the Holy Sepulcher for the first time
Having seen with you,
After decades
Having accepted your work with my soul,
We remember you
We remember
Health and prosperity...
Let him not leave the monastery
Best memory.
Your monastery
All blooming
Light of enlightenment, around the world
In books he goes to the people,
Your image is revered throughout the world,
Your baptismal name
He promises hope to everyone.
Solitude in Strasbourg
Slightly open lids,
The faces of those Maidens in dark bronze,
The relics of the Saints rest
And open arms
Mothers hug everyone...
Temple of St. Tryphon,
Humble, cemetery, tombstones.
And those trees of Odessa,
Which are slightly covered with bark...
Mother will not save them from death,
Saving my soul,
With Faith, Hope, Love
I rested quietly in the Abbey.
We got there and fell down
Quietly to the relics and excitedly
They told everyone about themselves
To those who helped us in trouble.
Camposello – a place of pilgrimage in Spain
There are the relics of Jacob Zavedeev the Apostle
Abbess Seraphim
No matter how the maidens dress themselves up,
Nothing beats beauty
Roses, daffodils, double tulips,
What shines in Odessa in the spring.
So are the souls of those maidens who are hidden
Under the plainness of dark clothes,
They will illuminate the homeless with love and warm them,
And scientists, ignoramuses.
And the young abbess,
What created such beauty,
He will accidentally give you a wondrous look,
I showered you with grace.
Among the aquamarine irises,
Under the sakura, with a thick shadow
Greet everyone, walk proudly
And it will disappear behind the simple door.
It's hard to part with that oasis,
And you can't get completely drunk,
Leaving - coming back again,
Leaving your hearts here.
MATUSYA
This meeting is an unexpected joy,
It's like I met my favorite flower,
All in bloom: smile, radiance
Clear eyes and hair curl.
Not available in the world and available,
You to anyone who is connected with you.
Is it really worthy to be around?
Am I a weak assistant with you?
Pray for us sinners, Matusya!
And our hearts beat stronger,
And there is so much you want to do.
You have shed oil on your heart!
Living nearby is both a blessing and a measure,
To see your work to the end,
After all, the pilgrim comes to you as an example
He will also bring his own father.
You will ask everyone, greet them, console them!
And pray quietly for us.
And we will hear the voice of the Archangels
During our evening prayer hour.
We are grateful to you, Matusya!
You are Hope, Love and Sunrise!
To the monastery in Orthodox Odessa
We will come next year.
INOCINE OF ANATOLIA
St. Michael's Convent
Sometimes lay people come here,
And you need to listen, greet, treat.
Today is Sunday.
I need to give my mom at least a few moments.
She came from Crimea for a short time
Look at your daughter, caress her, hug her.
Let's leave them alone
Why is it of no use to us?
Disturb their conversation -
Daughter and mother!
Here is Anatoly,
And good beyond measure.
Sings and embroiders.
Everything is with her.
The eyes sparkle with joy and faith.
You are the best of daughters!
NIKONOVSKY BUILDING
Through the door the light of the lamp is crimson,
Silence, complete peace in the cells,
At Pochaevskaya Tatyana is modest
Fans the evening fire.
Oil was added overnight.
And the maidens
Those who lit the oil on time
Can sleep
And in a dream to see the sky.
Well, who didn’t light it,
Those are gone...
TO THE NUNES OF THE ST. MIKHAIL CONVENTIONAL MONASTERY
Summer is in full swing, evening, monastery,
And the sun casts its departing ray.
Crosses behind the House of Mercy
In the last reflections they shine, as if in frost.
And the young month has already hung,
In the light he bowed to the chapel.
Boris and Gleb,
You are honored and remembered here.
To the fragrant sacrifice
Let us bow down to the Lord.
The garden is luxurious, well-kept, full of flowers.
Everything is wonderful here, as if in heaven,
And nuns of vision, dark birds
Silhouettes flash by, walking slowly.
Here is the Nikonovsky building in front,
Like a fairytale palace, it turns white at sunset.
And the granite staircase leads
To Pochaevskaya, who all shines in gold.
The day is over, it's full
Prayers, and obediences, and sorrows.
Archangel Michael -
He remembers about you
Dawn will give to everyone.
Pages of new days!
I lived in the Nikonovsky building, it was beautifully restored. The granite staircase curves pretentiously. There are white columns around. And at the top is the image of the Pochaev Mother of God. She is in red clothes, with a Baby in her arms. There are always fresh flowers nearby. The lamp is burning. There is a beautiful piano in the dining room. And the carpet above it with the image of Archangel Michael. The girls from the regency department are learning new chants there. You often wake up or fall asleep and hear their magical voices.
NON EKATERINA, ICON Painter
Your bright look
I was attracted
You are in the dark
Like wearing a crown.
And a flutter of eyelashes
Says a lot
Eyebrow spread:
- She should be on the throne!
King John would have preferred you
Of many maidens
And he could call her a queen.
But you chose a different path in life:
To be an artist
Christ's bird.
You should study
To become Catherine.
And knowledge would brighten your path.
And in a series of years
Beloved Sergius
Helps differentiate
The essence of God is in the icons.
A gentle smile
You warm everyone's soul.
In the monastery -
Crystal water!
You're still a girl
But the step is young
On fragile ice
Already hard.
SIMILARITY
Nun Ksenia, icon painter.
"Countess Ksenia", "Balcony",
And a look that pierced through centuries.
Light handkerchief and bow
Before leaving in my front room.
And this meeting that sometimes
It brings us closer together for many years.
And the artist’s gift is in everything,
Like a halo, it surrounds.
And those sad eyes
And bangs are fashionable in Paris.
They belong to someone else
But the nun is closer, closer.
Here is a curl and a white flair,
A beautiful fan, in a languid pose
Brunette looking surprised
He looks around his balcony.
How I was in the museum,
I didn’t think or wonder
Why is there only one artist?
All eyes were riveted by the thought.
And if Berthe Morisot,
Like Goya's maha, perfect,
Then Ksenia, praying in tears,
He looks at the faces detachedly.
And your resemblance to Manet
In the thoughtfulness of dark eyes,
In the bend of white swans
And in the incompleteness of phrases.
Berthe Morisot is an artist, the future wife of E. Manet’s brother, who posed for him while painting, their resemblance to Xenia is striking. Both are artists! Musee D.Orsay in Paris
HOLY HOUSE
The tulips are half open,
And the apple trees turn pink,
And maidens in dark cassocks
The ensemble "Beryozka" goes dark.
Trees in airy attire,
The chestnut is all fluffy with color.
Beauty, grace is here in April.
What will you see here in the summer?
Now is the eve of Easter,
And a festive mood.
Shrub with a lilac branch,
Our jam is ripening in the fall.
There are landings everywhere, everything is clean.
Oak trees with young leaves.
And the sky, the huge sky
Under the dome, everything is blue.
Golden crosses sparkle
The little animals chirp discordantly:
After all, our monastery was visited
With Moscow greetings toys.
Cow with a bow on her tail,
He talks about his milk.
And there the strawberry cooed:
“How I love you!” It's easy for everyone.
There is a smile in the eyes of the nuns,
Like morning, the threshold of happiness.
Abbess deftly and quickly,
For everyone, a word of participation.
Let's bow to her for her care,
For heaven, a piece of earth.
Such a monastery is a pilgrim
In his homeland he will remember with longing.
PECHERSKIE CAVES
Candle in hand
There is conciliarity in the soul.
We are going to the shrines with you.
Caves, light to the touch,
And the dark ones are sick at heart.
We are a mortal body before them
We carry sadly into the depths of the Earth,
And faces, eternal, silent
The sad days are counting.
I'm in awe of them,
Your soul is completely visible.
There is a lump in my throat, tears are choking me,
One more step, one more step I'll go through.
Will I get to this ancient church?
Will I see the Golden Altar?
Here the monks prayed.
That's right, I've been around here
Prince and Tsar.
And this bed, Theodosius,
It went downhill
My burning conscience
Earthly pleasures are a big request.
You can't keep up with the crowd
Prayerfully fall to the relics.
Understand the insignificance of the world
And fall in repentance.
Stop for a moment
Among the bustle of worldly worries
And get some rest
And life is the right outcome.
We will soon emerge from hiding.
Let's rise to God's light,
Let's see how it blooms in the icon
Bouquet of dried twigs.
And Anotony sent us a Miracle,
A bow from those distant years.
We saw the church!
He lifted the ban!
In November 2006, after a twenty-year break, I finally, with God’s help, ended up in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Mother Seraphima dedicated the whole day to me, and we were in the Caves together. Everyone recognized her. They asked for blessings. But we were not allowed into the Caves of St. Anthony. Mother Seraphim did not ask. And she just turned and walked away...
Suddenly the monk called out to us and led us by other means to the Monk Anthony. Mother later said: “What is this – a Miracle! No one can violate the order of His Beatitude Vladimir, rector of the Lavra.”
Apparently, our desire to visit there was great. And through the prayers of my mother, we were privileged to venerate the relics of St. Anthony.
NEW FRIENDS
With the Pochaev Icon
It's easier for all of you
On the stairs -
As if by fate,
In the works
Prayers,
Stay together.
archangel Michael
Will help you in the fight!
Young maidens, as before,
In the cells of the monastery they sing.
New Generation,
The voice sounds cherubic.
Reminds me of birds
With your sweet chirping.
A soulful song flows,
A reminder to the Lord.
- I believe, I believe, -
Somewhere next to me they are singing.
God, thank you
What I created
This spiritual haven.
You have tied your destinies
With the Monastery of Michael.
The one in Odessa
Everybody knows.
In,
Where in the abbess
Force
And the spirit remains!
Everything here is exquisite and new.
girl generation,
The stairway to heaven is ready!
Chords are heard in the garden,
And the smell of roses reigned.
Dear God's brides,
Someone prayed for you.
It's clean and tidy here,
The whole family lives together.
And whoever sees you nearby,
He will say: “The Earth shines!”
EMBROIDEROIDER
To Mother Anatolia
Lamp, moonlight,
"split" and "smooth"
And the sound of rare chants from Valaam.
“Hooks”, not the notes, sing for you here.
The needle moves towards the morning one stubbornly.
Embroiderer in silence.
The day has passed, it is difficult.
How many things have you done?
The monastery is almost deserted.
Silence. The window is open.
Image of the Virgin on canvas.
The nun drives deftly
Golden thread in hand.
Midnight, timelessness
And a prayer on my lips...
And by morning the creation burns,
The halo is covered in pearls.
Filigree with enamel is inferior
This embroidery is Holy.
A halo of gold shines
Unearthly beauty.
You forget all your worries
Just don't take your eyes off
Anatolia with a bow
Give the icon to the Temple...
At the monastery I met a wonderful young girl - nun Anatolia, baptized Tatyana. We became friends...and together we are going on a pilgrimage to Crimea, to the Toplevsky Convent, which is located in the mountains, and near St. Petersburg. Where did she live before... She is an excellent housewife. Very musical. Has a wonderful voice. Regents and embroiders wonderfully. Mother Seraphim blessed to embroider two icons of St. Macarius of Nevsky.
One as a gift. Georgy Kreidun in Barnaul. To the newly built Temple, to its consecration, which he is completing with God’s help. The temple was consecrated in honor of John the Theologian.
And the second icon in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where the relics of St. Macarius of Nevsky, the last Metropolitan of Moscow, Bishop of Altai, canonized in 2000, are located.
Odessa Holy Archangel Michael Convent has a glorious 160-year history. It was created by famous figures of Odessa: Prince M. Vorontsov and his wife E. Vorontsova, Pushkin’s friend Countess R. Edling, philanthropist and writer A. Strudza and others. In 1835, Governor General Count Mikhail Vorontsov built it on a vacant lot by the sea, on on the outskirts of the city, a church in honor of its heavenly patron, Archangel Michael. In 1840, the Holy Synod decided to establish a female cenobitic monastery at this temple. This place really turned out to be great, for so many good undertakings took place here, it brought so much benefit to the city and people that its good trace turned out to be extremely deep. A lot of charitable work was carried out at the monastery: there was a refectory for the poor, a hospital, and a school for orphan girls. Through the tireless work of the abbess, the monastery flourished. Abbesses such as Tabitha, Susanna, Miropia, Archelaus and Raphael led the construction of the spiritual house of the holy family of monastics.
In 1923, the monastery was closed “as counter-revolutionary” for its support of Patriarch Tikhon and refusal to follow the renovationist schism. In 1931, the Archangel Michael's Cathedral and bell tower were blown up.
Holy Archangel Michael Convent
But faith did not perish in the hearts of people. She just hid, went into the recesses of her soul. During the occupation of Odessa in 1941, when obstacles collapsed, this manifested itself with particular force. All churches in the city opened. On April 27, 1942, an act of transferring the monastery premises to the sisters of the monastery was drawn up. On September 3, 1944, the abbess, nun Anatolia, was elevated to the rank of abbot. More than 70 sisters lived in the monastery at that time. The sisters worked tirelessly in the monastery hospital, mill, vegetable garden, in the barnyard, baking prosphora, in workshops, in the church. The nuns had the good fortune to communicate with the holy ascetic Elder John (in the world Ivan Petrovich Zhukovsky), a fool for Christ's sake, who lived within the walls of the monastery in the post-war years.
In 1961, the monastery was closed by Soviet and party authorities, and its territory was transferred to the city tuberculosis hospital. The revival of the monastery began in 1992. The monastery at that time was a pitiful and wretched sight: the choir building lay in ruins, the buildings were dilapidated, trees and grass grew through gaping holes in the rotten roof. Traces of many years of neglect were visible everywhere. The monastery rose from the ruins under the care of the archpastor of Odessa, His Eminence Metropolitan Agafangel. He donated the miraculous icon of the Gerbovetsky Mother of God to the monastery. Knowing how important it is to revive liturgical life, the bishop also donated a Eucharistic set for the repose of his parents, the nun Macarius and the warrior Michael, a gilded vestment for the Holy Altar, various utensils, several cars, building materials, etc.
Having such strong spiritual support, the monastery is trying to revive those glorious traditions of the past, with which it earned itself a good name with God and people. Workshops have been opened for sewing vestments, making utensils, restoring icons, and embroidering with gold and beads. At the monastery there is a charitable refectory for feeding the poor and disadvantaged, who are received by about 500 people a day, lovingly providing all possible assistance. On the territory of the monastery there is a House of Mercy, in which 80 disadvantaged people found shelter. The monastery devotes a lot of effort to working with children, helping preschool and school institutions, a city boarding school for disabled children, etc. Schools of spiritual education have been opened at the monastery: for the disabled, at a children's sanatorium, at a women's prison, and a Sunday school for parishioners. In addition to Sunday schools, educational activities are carried out through a library, which contains a large number of both pre-revolutionary publications and books published in the modern period.
Exhibitions and other cultural events are regularly held in the exhibition hall of the House of Mercy. At the monastery there are the Regency and Goldembroidery departments of the Odessa Theological Seminary, where students from all over Ukraine study. The monastery has two monasteries: the Holy Nativity of the Mother of God in the village. Baranovo and Svyato-Voznesensky in Odessa.
Iconography with cars, treatment with cartoons and obedience to live to 100 years
Holy Archangel Michael Monastery in Odessa: “Even Khrushchev’s wife studied at our monastery” Anastasia Belousova https://cdn..jpg https://cdn..jpg 2014-10-29T08:00:00+02:00 Monasteries of Ukraine Iconography with cars, treatment with cartoons and obedience to live to 100 years
The Holy Archangel Michael Monastery is the only women’s monastery on the territory of the port of Odessa. It’s as if it’s hidden in the depths of a garage-yard jungle, and not even all the locals know what’s here, but when they see it, they exclaim: “Wow, a monastery!” The gate is slightly open, the guard in the booth nods his head, allowing him to enter. Archangel Michael looks at you from the walls of the temple. Coming towards... cats - well-fed, with shiny fur, as if they had just been washed with shampoo. “Our mother loves cats, and nuns too,” explains our guide, assistant and driver of the abbess, nun Inna.
Lions and lambs.
TO THE SOURCES. The office of the abbess, Mother Seraphima, looks like an architect's workshop - a long row of tables is filled with drawings for the construction of the Refectory Church. Next to the drawings are ancient Orthodox books and icons, which Mother carefully studies before sending them to the restoration workshop or to the Christian monastery museum. “I think it is very important to study history, to revive what was lost,” says Mother Seraphima. “When we came here in 1991, the monastery was practically destroyed, trees were growing from the walls and roofs. In Soviet times, there was a tuberculosis hospital with in a special department for prisoners. In addition, they tried to treat drug addiction and alcoholism here. My mothers and I lived in a building adjacent to the morgue - cells with a rotten floor and ceiling, where the dead were brought and simply left for more than 5 years. tuberculosis patients, how painfully they die. We tried with all our might to help them. Once I remember, during a severe attack, I gave my cross - the most precious thing I had at that time. The attack passed, and the patient was already gone. the next day he managed to go to the city and exchange my cross for a bottle of vodka. Soon he died. And there were plenty of similar cases and deaths here.”
The abbess's office. On the one hand there is a huge library, on the other there are many icons.
KHRUSHCHEV'S WIFE.“I wonder what Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, on whose orders the Holy Archangel Michael’s Monastery was closed, would say to this. Or his wife, who in 1915 studied here at the monastery in the diocesan school, which was considered unique,” says the abbess. “Girls They studied here not so much secular sciences, but spiritual ones. They were taught to be a wife - a housewife, a mother of a family! They took our monastery by storm, climbed over the fences to meet such wonderful students, who were taught to be exemplary in everything. At the insistence of the abbess, the monastery was even surrounded by a high fence, but this only fueled interest, and " the assaults continued. It was this school profile of the monastery that we decided to restore.”
RETURNERS. First of all, Mother tried to bring back the nuns who were here before 1961: “About 30 mothers returned to us. Some even came from other cities and even countries! We built new buildings of the House of Mercy and Seminary. How? All of Odessa helped us! This The monastery was built literally on pennies. Mothers went with donation boxes to markets, shops, even on the seventh kilometer. There were no big sponsors, people just showed up and helped in whatever way they could. So we built it, and we are still building it.
In Soviet times, a copy of the 17th century Fedorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God disappeared from the monastery. Once a man came to us and said: “Take the icon as a gift.” He said that he tried to sell it, but could not. We opened the package and saw the lost Fedorov icon in a silver robe! The man told, but in a dream the Mother of God appeared to him and asked him to return the icon back to our monastery. We sent it for restoration and cleared away the primary layer of the 17th century. Now this is a decoration of our monastery, like the Gerbovetsky Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos - a gift from our bishop, Metropolitan Agafangel. We don’t record miracles, but we know for sure that through this icon the Mother of God saved many lives.”
In a dream, the Mother of God asked the atheist not to sell the Fedorov icon, but to return it back to the monastery.
FOR THE EXAM WITH BUGS AND CARS. There are four women's departments of the Odessa Theological Seminary at the monastery: the regency department, the sewing department, and also the only ones in Ukraine - icon painting and gold embroidery. The pupils get up at 7 am, go to school, have breakfast and study until lunch. After lunch there is practice and worship. Each of the 100 seminarians tries to study as well as possible. And not for the sake of a “honorable diploma,” but out of fear of angering God. Everyone here knows: “Cursed is everyone who does God’s work carelessly.” They are taught and even wrote textbooks by their mothers - professional seamstresses, sculptors and artists who graduated from Moscow and St. Petersburg universities. “In general, for all of us this is obedience,” says the head teacher, Mother Taisiya, with a smile. “Mother Seraphima once called us to her and said: “So, in so many days we are opening the icon painting department of the Odessa Theological Seminary.” Mother’s word for us, this is obedience. After all, many disciplines, such as icon painting and gold embroidery, are not taught in Ukraine. There are workshops in monasteries, but for an educational institution to study ancient techniques, this has never happened before. People come to us mainly with artistic interests. education, even after higher education. For example, our Tanyusha brought a notebook with drawings of insects to the entrance exam to the seminary. She is an excellent student!”
Iconography class. The nuns returned to the school type of their monastery.
We caught Tanya at recess, in the gesso room - the office where they learn to prime “tablets” - tablets on which icons will later be painted. “I started going to church at the age of 14, and I realized that monks are the coolest people!” third-year student Tatyana said cheerfully. “Already at the age of 16, I wanted to go to a monastery, but I decided to finish school and university first to please my parents. How I received my diploma - I went to the monastery that same year. In general, I was from the Kherson monastery, and I came here with the blessing of the abbess. That is, icon painting was not my dream or desire. I remember when I came here, everyone was standing with pictures, and I was standing with a notebook. entomology and I think: “What am I doing here?” The mother teachers smiled for a long time, looking at my art, but they took it. And before the start of classes they said: “Let’s ask the priest to bless Tatyana, she’s picking up a brush for the first time!” It’s effective that I’m now the first to hand in all the work. And during the breaks I take care of the local garden, after all, it’s not for nothing that I graduated from the agricultural university! By the way, the next year Misha came, who brought leaves with drawn cars as drawings for admission. He is also a very good student."
Tatiana. She was a gardener.
From the conservatory to becoming a nun. Obedience here is the highest virtue. And if you don’t deny it, but carry it out with diligence, real miracles happen. For example, one day mother called the choir director, nun Daria, known for her rigor and professionalism, and said that now she would also work in the gold-embroidery workshop. “I agreed, and I’m going to my cell and I can’t remember the last time I picked up a needle,” the 34-year-old nun tells us. “But I liked it so much! In general, I graduated from the Kiev Conservatory with a degree in conducting, and then with the blessing of the bishop Vvedensky Monastery took monastic vows and renounced the world. For embroidery, I chose an image close to me - the icon of the Mother of God “Look at Humility.” The mothers said that before, no one had embroidered an icon of such a height - almost one and a half meters. “This is the second icon for two years now. The previous one went to Ossetia as a gift, and this one will go to the Vladikavkaz diocese. Self-education makes you more organized through work.
The biggest icon. Embroidered with beads in one year.
“We teach our students not only techniques, but we prepare them for the fact that work in the workshop requires special patience and intense prayers,” says teacher Mother Taisiya. “Icon painters and gold seamstresses have special temptations, and you need to be prepared for them. You need to be strong in spirit , such a revolutionary of faith as our oldest Mother Kirill."
THE OLDEREST NUN. On the door of every cell there is a prayer: “Through the prayers of the saints, our father, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us!” - instead of calling. Until you read it, you cannot enter. In the cell of 97-year-old Mother Kirilla there is nothing superfluous - a table, a chair, a bed, icons and a list of ordeals that the soul will undergo after death. Mother Kirilla knows them by heart, also embroiders them on a typewriter and does not miss a single service. “She is a revolutionary of the Orthodox faith,” says the local priest, Father Andrei, about her. “She does not relent on anything, either to herself or to others. Such jealousy, severity and loyalty are a special gift.” Mother loves guests very much, and if you sit close to her right ear, she will be happy to talk.
Elder. 97-year-old Mother Kirill: “The Third World War is coming, baby! Repent!”
“I wasn’t going to the monastery, it was my granddaughter, the nun Virineya, who dragged me, said that she was going to the monastery and would take me with her,” jokes the revolutionary. “When I was young, I lived in Georgia. My parents were deeply religious. My father and the evening lined us up for prayer. Our parents taught us how to behave in church, why we should go there. As an adult, I worked in the city council, but I always hosted Orthodox pilgrims, despite the Soviet times, and when they scared me, I answered: “ Strangers are God's people and must be accepted without fear. You only need to fear God, and not people." I did not allow my twins to be dedicated even in October, for which they called me and my children at school "Nicholas" (those who grew up under Tsar Nicholas II). Only I was not offended, I answered: “And you be from Nikolaev.” Yes, at that time, without the pioneers and the Komsomol, my children could not reach high positions. But I didn’t need to, I wanted my children to be just... My twins helped the priests in churches from childhood. , it was difficult for them at school, they were called “priests.” But nothing, this only strengthens their faith. Vitya was killed under the Soviet regime because he did not sign the documents they wanted. I saw these murderers myself, and I told them to my face. : “You killed my Vitenka, so he will go straight to the Kingdom of Heaven, and where will you go after that? I’m not afraid of you or of death, only of God.” I wasn’t afraid of them, maybe that’s why they didn’t touch me, out of surprise. After Vitya, my son was only two years old then, so we raised him, now he’s also a priest. God knows best , everyone has their own path. Our father recently asked me: “How many years?” I answer: “Seventeen!” I was born in 1917!" He laughed and gave me obedience - to live to be 100 years old! So I’m doing it. And I wish the same for you all."
Weekdays. The women's team in all its glory.
“Sometimes people are thrown under the gate like kittens”
The Odessa monastery has one more feature - the House of Mercy has been open here for 15 years, as it was before the revolution. By the way, there are no more than five of them in Ukraine. The building was rebuilt. The first two floors house 120 elderly men and women, and the top floor houses the Church of All Saints of the Caves.
“At first it was difficult, we washed by hand, then they gave us a small round machine,” recalls Mother Khionia at home. “We cooked food on a two-burner electric stove. True, there were not many people then - 17. Now we have large industrial machines, a dryer, yes and more people!"
House of Mercy. The two lower floors are for elderly residents, and at the top is the Church of All Saints of the Pechersk.
WHAT DO THEY LIVE ON? There was a knock on the door and they said the cable had arrived. The nun beamed: “Well, people donated - they bought 80 meters of five-core, three-phase cable. In the drying heater, this is exactly the cable that is needed!” Seeing my bewilderment about “three-phase” and “five-core,” the nun smiled: “Yes, in addition to the canons and rules, we have to understand electrics, types of tiles and even types of cement.”
If in pre-revolutionary times it was even prestigious to maintain an almshouse, now this type of social assistance has been practically forgotten. “This is very responsible and troublesome,” the mothers explain. “Having taken a person, we are fully responsible for him before God and people. It happens that grandma gets worse, she needs to go to the hospital, we call relatives, and they say: “Sorry, we don’t have money.” we are not there, we won’t treat." But we can’t do that. We go to Mother Superior, take the sick old woman and treat with our own strength and the donations of parishioners. Five years ago God sent us a unique family, they have a construction business. So they for their own and with Our workers made repairs on the entire lower floor for bedridden and especially critically ill patients. The windows were replaced, water was installed, new bathrooms were installed, tiles were installed, and wallpaper was installed. Another servant of God, Alexander, bought a generator for 180 thousand hryvnia. Such people are very rare today. ". In general, the House of Mercy lives on donations from parishioners.
Ward. For seriously ill patients.
HOW THEY LIVE. Both nuns and parishioners work here. There are two doctors - a therapist and a psychiatrist, four nurses are on duty every other day, one nurse is in the rooms of seriously ill bedridden patients. Some suffer from sclerosis and can go out, forgetting the way back. There is a cinema room in the corridor. Old people enjoy watching detective stories. “We don’t show the news, and we warn relatives not to talk about the situation in the country to the sick,” the nurses told me. “They are vulnerable here, like children. They love to watch cartoons on the children’s channel, they watch and laugh so cheerfully, like kids. For example , Larisochka can stumble, fall and cry, kick her legs like a child. We calm her down, like mothers calm children - she stops crying and starts smiling. Tasenka loves to sing, and we love to listen to her. He’s always in a hurry or waiting for a stop to be announced. This is not just work, it’s also a service to them. We are like a family, they are our children.”
Cinema hall. They love detective stories, romance series and cartoons.
Many here come to faith, regularly confess to the priest, and go up to the top floor of the church for services. “How many times has it happened that after resuscitation, patients are told: “They will live for several weeks,” but they live with us for a month or a year,” says nurse Yulia. “They brought us a man and a woman from the Jewish community, not relatives, with a letter “We baptized them here, married them, and after about two months they left, one after another, as we say, newly baptized babies.”
Newbie. Asked to "see the ladies."
AWESOME SERAPHIM: “It’s time to stop confrontation and talk more about what unites us”
Despite the current wartime, renovations are underway at the monastery, and the central church is being reconstructed. “So we want to show that we need to build our future now, no matter what,” Abbess Seraphima is sure. “Through tears and through grief we will get rid of the unnecessary, leaving only the most important things. We are building a temple-refectory for sisters and students according to the model The refectory church of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. After all, the army - even the church one - begins with the kitchen. The main icon of the temple will be a copy of the Jerusalem icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. We are very grateful to His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir for donating pieces of the relics to our monastery. It is not surprising that the temple that we built was named in honor of All the Saints of the Pechersk. Our artists consider the Saints Gregory and Alypius to be their spiritual patrons. Even in the Kyiv Lavra they built a similar temple later than we did. and their feat, the struggle with their own sins, is very important for us. We consider ourselves a part of the holy monastery. Vladyka Paul also constantly helps us both spiritually and financially, despite the difficult and difficult times. We hold a religious procession every day with prayer for Ukraine, observe fasting and deep prayer, as in all monasteries of the Odessa diocese, with the blessing of Metropolitan Agafangel. Peacekeeping service, spiritual and patriotic, is very important to us. But I think the most important thing now is for everyone to stop even thinking about confrontations with any confession. We communicate with people and help them, regardless of nationality or religious affiliation. When we open exhibitions of children's works, collect help for refugees, ATO participants, we get help from everywhere. Now is not the time to talk about disputes at all. We need to talk about what unites us."
Having such strong spiritual support and the saint’s blessing, the monastery is trying to revive all those glorious traditions of the past, with which it earned itself a good name from God and people. The monastery devotes a lot of energy to working with children, helping preschool and school institutions, orphanages, city children's medical and educational institutions, etc. The monastery operates a Sunday school for parishioners - children and adults; A Sunday school was also created at the women's correctional labor colony. On holidays, mothers visit medical institutions with sermons and conversations, where they bring a word of hope to suffering people, try to ease their pain, and make the world brighter for them.
The monastery, under the leadership and with the active participation of Abbess Seraphima, became a center for book publishing. Under her, he strives to establish his own printing business. On the eve of the Nativity of Christ 1995, in the Golden Hall of the Odessa State Literary Museum, a presentation of the first edition of the Holy Archangel Michael Convent - the book “Odessa Transfiguration Cathedral: Life, Death, Resurrection” took place. This book opened the series “200 years of Orthodoxy in Odessa.” The second stage of this series was the book “Kasper’s miraculous image of the Mother of God,” which included pre-revolutionary publications about the Odessa shrine, the icon of the Patroness of the entire southern region, the Savior of Odessa from troubles and misfortunes, the Abbess of our Christian community.
The third book in the series is called “The Canonization of Odessa Saints.” It contains the biographies of the first canonized locally revered saints of God in the history of the diocese - Archimandrite Gabriel and Schema-Abbot Kuksha, with akathists and prayers in their honor. The canonization celebrations, held for the first time in Odessa, were marked by the arrival of His Beatitude the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine. Vladyka Vladimir honored our humble monastery with his high presence, performing an all-night vigil here with a host of hierarchs and blessing the sisters for their feat of pleasing God and prayer.
For the Feast of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the book “The Royal Nun” was published, telling about the fate and deeds of “Mother Grand Duchess” - nun Anastasia, in the world of Her Highness Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna, Princess of Oldenburg, wife of the brother of Emperor Alexander II. Nun Anastasia is the only representative of the Romanov royal dynasty who devoted herself to monasticism in its strictly Orthodox, patristic incarnation. Published in 1986, the book “Prayer lamps. The History of Odessa Monasteries" contains a detailed narrative about the Holy Dormition and Holy Archangel Michael monasteries and continues the series "200 years of Orthodoxy in Odessa." In total, more than 15 books have been published.
In the year of the city’s 200th anniversary, the Odessa Historical and Local Lore Museum provided halls for the monastery exhibition, which was dedicated to the history of God-saved Odessa.
For the sake of truth, it must be admitted that there are many obstacles on the way of the monastery. Temptations can be very great. If it weren’t for the advice and prayers of the Metropolitan and the wise elders from the monastery, it would have been even more difficult. Therefore, the bishop blessed Father Jonah from the Holy Dormition Monastery to be the confessor of the monastery, experienced and skilled in the fight against the enemy. Through the narrow paths of self-denial, humility, curbing one’s own will, and unceasing prayer, Elder Jonah led his spiritual children to salvation. Strictness and zeal in the fulfillment of monastic vows were combined in him with extraordinary meekness and love. In addition to Father Jonah, spiritual assistance to the mothers was provided by the godly elders Alexy, Evfimy, Arseny and others, many of whom sent their spiritual children to obedience to the St. Michael’s Monastery. The sisters are highly respected by the rector of the monastery church, resident of the Holy Dormition Monastery, seminary teacher Archimandrite Philip, who helps the sisters not only with advice, but also with a personal example of monastic modesty, composure, prayerful concentration and obedience.
In the village Baranovo, Ivanovo district, a monastery monastery was opened at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Previously, the church was dilapidated. It once housed a film club. The narthex was converted into a cinema installation, and a screen hung in the altar. After the nuns, together with the village residents and with the support of local authorities, began to repair the temple, the archpastor visited it. The singing of prayers to the Blessed Virgin flowed like a mighty wave under the freshly plastered arches of the recreated house of the Mother of God. All those gathered - priests, subdeacons, and the Bishop himself could not contain the excitement that gripped them. And another Orthodox shrine rose from the ashes! Now the monastery has been converted into a monastery
On May 15, 2004, on the day of the transfer of the relics of the blessed princes Boris and Gleb, His Eminence Agafangel, Metropolitan of Odessa and Izmail consecrated the Boris-Gleb Chapel in the Holy Archangel Michael Convent. The chapel was built for the prayerful memory of the murdered servant of God Boris (Vikhrov) at the expense of his mother and other Odessa residents. They came to the Divine Liturgy dedicated to the opening of the chapel and the memory of the murdered man. Boris Vikhrov was killed by a killer when he was the chairman of the Odessa Arbitration Court; His driver Igor was also killed. On this spring-like warm and sunny day, His Eminence Agafangel, Metropolitan of Odessa and Izmail performed the Divine Liturgy and consecration of the chapel.
Deputy Governor of the Odessa Region A. Kisse and Chairman of the Odessa Regional Arbitration Court V. Balukh took part in the service and consecration. The ruling bishop presented blessed Certificates to the builders and decorators of the chapel, and Boris Vikhrov’s mother, in memory of her son, distributed spiritual literature.
The chapel is decorated with beautiful paintings, as well as large icons of saints, made in the ancient Russian style. The icon of the holy brothers, the noble princes Boris and Gleb, constantly resides on the analogue. Later, an icon of Saints Boris, Gleb and Igor was installed and consecrated in niches outside the sauna.
The “Christian Odessa” museum in the Odessa St. Archangel Michael Convent has become unique and unparalleled for Ukraine. It was no coincidence that the remarkable event of the opening of this local history museum in Odessa coincided with the anniversary of the 210th anniversary of our city.
The center of Orthodox culture and piety became the glorious convent under the leadership of the abbess of the monastery, Mother Seraphim, who created this museum. Many Odessa residents came to the opening celebration of the “Christian Odessa” museum, located in a three-story building specially built for it under a blue dome and a golden cross. The celebration was led by His Beatitude Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine and His Eminence Agathangel, Metropolitan of Odessa and Izmail, who consecrated the dome cross for the museum. The city clergy and guests from Moldova and Israel were present.
The temple in honor of the Council of the Reverend Kiev-Pechersk Fathers in the Holy Archangel Michael Convent is located in the building of the House of Mercy. Compelled by the duty of Christian love, the nuns set about building a House of Mercy for sick and elderly parishioners. The foundation stone of the monastery almshouse was carried out by Metropolitan Agafangel on November 8 (21), 1995, on the day of the patronal feast of the monastery.
In 2000, the regency department at the Odessa Theological Seminary with a temple was located on the second floor of the House of Mercy. In 2007, Bishop Agathangel, Metropolitan of Odessa and Izmail, consecrated the throne in the church in the name of the Council of the Kiev-Pechersk Reverend Fathers in the Holy Archangel Michael Convent . The paintings of this small temple are admirable, as is the style of the building itself, made in the ancient, canonical style. Divine services in this temple are filled with special beauty.
In recent years, the monastery has been greatly embellished. Images of many saints have appeared on the walls inside the temple, and the iconostasis is being updated. On the temple building, on the bell tower, on the refectory, domes with crosses sparkled in gold, and mosaic images of saints appeared on the walls. Opposite it there is a chapel of the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary “The Inexhaustible Chalice”. The fruit trees gained strength, turning into a garden; Beautiful flowers also decorate the area. Beautiful carved pavilions appeared for the suffering in front of the House of Mercy and for the nuns of the monastery.
A new 4-story building with a church shop on the ground floor and many mosaic icons on the facade was put into operation. There are also departments of the Odessa Theological Seminary - regency, icon painting, gold embroidery. The traditions of the women's diocesan school are continued by the Department of Church artistic embroidery of the Odessa Theological Seminary, opened with the blessing of Bishop Agafangel in the 2002/2003 academic year through the labors of the abbess of the monastery - Abbess Seraphim. Many vestments for the highest hierarchs of the Church were created here - including sakkos for His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir, and His Eminence Bishop Agafangel. Now the classes of this department are held in the new building of the monastery.
The monastery, which was in need of the basic necessities, had neither funds nor building materials. There was only hope for a miracle from God. She has more than once justified the sisters’ faith in the Lord’s mercy. Indeed, at the very birth of the monastery, it was forever imprinted in the decree of the Holy Synod, which indicated the source of funds in “strong trust in the Highest mercy” and the patronage of the Archangel of the Heavenly powers, Michael. The main thing is that the blessing of God, the grace of the Most Holy Theotokos and the intercession of the Heavenly angelic forces always remain with the monastery of the holy Archangel Michael of God.
In the city, Governor General Count Mikhail Vorontsov built a church in honor of his heavenly patron, Archangel Michael, on a vacant lot by the sea, on the outskirts of the city. In the city, the Holy Synod decided to establish a female cenobitic monastery at this temple. A lot of charitable work was carried out at the monastery: there was a refectory for the poor, a hospital, and a school for orphan girls. Through the tireless work of the abbess, the monastery flourished.
In the year the monastery was closed “as counter-revolutionary” for its support of Patriarch Tikhon and refusal to follow the renovationist schism. In the year the Archangel Michael's Cathedral and the bell tower were blown up.
In the post-war years, Blessed John (Ivan Petrovich Zhukovsky), a fool for Christ's sake, lived within the walls of the monastery.
In the city, the monastery was closed by Soviet and party authorities, and its territory was transferred to the city tuberculosis hospital.
Since then, the monastery has been actively restored. Workshops have been opened for sewing vestments, making utensils, restoring icons, and embroidering with gold and beads. At the monastery there is a charitable refectory for feeding the poor and disadvantaged, who are received by about 500 people a day, lovingly providing all possible assistance. On the territory of the monastery there is a House of Mercy, in which 80 disadvantaged people found shelter.
The monastery devotes a lot of energy to working with children, helping preschool and school institutions, a city boarding school for disabled children, etc. Schools of spiritual education have been opened at the monastery: for the disabled, at a children's sanatorium, at a women's prison, and a Sunday school for parishioners. In addition to Sunday schools, educational activities are carried out through a library, which contains a large number of both pre-revolutionary publications and books published in the modern period. Exhibitions and other cultural events are regularly held in the exhibition hall of the House of Mercy. At the monastery there are the Regency and Goldembroidery departments of the Odessa Theological Seminary, where students from all over Ukraine study.