Alexander-Svirsky Monastery

Image of Alexander-Svirsky Monastery

 

Location: 20 km (12.5 mi) East of Lake Ladoga, Leningrad Oblast   Map

Found: 1487 by monk Alexander

 

History of Alexander- Svirsky Monastery

Alexander-Svirsky Monastery (Александро-Свирский монастырь) is a Russian Orthodox monastery situated 20 km (12.5 mi) East of Lake Ladoga in Leningrad Oblast in Northwest Russia. It was found in 1487 by monk Alexander. Alexander-Svirsky Monastery was founded in 1487 by a monk named Alexander Svirsky who came here from Valaam Monastery. He chose this site as a missionary outpost as it was inhabited by pagan tribes like karels, veps, tschudi and many others. Legend claims that here he had a vision of Holy Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Ghost) who ordered him to construct two chapels. One was dedicated to the Holy Trinity and other one was dedicated to the Savior's Transfiguration. It is considered to be the beginning of Alexander-Svirsky Monastery named after his founder. Two cloisters began to grow as new monks began to flock to the area to join holy father in his prayers. These were two separate formations that were united by a road along the monastery lake. Alexander Svirsky died on August 1533 and was buried by his disciples in the cloister of Transfiguration where generations of subsequent brethren were laid to rest.

 

History

The monastery was founded by St. Alexander Svirsky at the end of the 15th century in the sparsely populated forest Olonets region among the settlements of pagan peoples - Karelians, Vepsians, Chuds. Soon Alexander Svirsky had students. Even during the life of the founder, the monastery developed as two interconnected, but independently located complexes (branches): Trinity with fraternal cells and Preobrazhensky - next to the cemetery. They are connected by a road that runs along the lake.

The small stone Intercession Church with a refectory in the Trinity part is the most ancient structure of the monastery. It was built with the participation of Alexander Svirsky himself in 1533 with donations from Tsar Vasily III.

From the middle of the 17th century, the Vvedeno-Oyatsky Monastery was attached to the monastery.

In 1764-1786, the Trinity branch of the monastery served as the residence of the bishops of Olonets and Kargopol, vicars of the Novgorod diocese.

In 1802, at the request of the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Joseph, with the highest permission of Metropolitan Ambrose of Novgorod and St. Petersburg, a two-class Svir (Olonets) theological school was established at the monastery to teach children of clergy. The school was located in the monastery building. Full monastic content was provided for teachers and students who were simultaneously among the novices of the monastery. In 1856, the number of students was 48 people. In July 1870, by the Decree of the Holy Synod, the theological school was closed and merged with the Petrozavodsk theological school.

Since 1873, the abbotship of the Svir Monastery was given to the Bishops of Olonets and Petrozavodsk, and a governorship was established in the monastery. Since 1890, the monastery was again made independent and cenobitic with a special rector-archimandrite.

In 1900, a chapel was built in the monastery in memory of the miraculous deliverance from the death of the emperor and his family during the collapse of the imperial train.

In the autumn of 1918, the monastery was captured and plundered by the Chekists, and its rector, Archimandrite Yevgeny (Trofimov), was shot in the town of Olonets. In 1919, the monastery was captured by the White Finns, but it was liberated as a result of the Vidlitsa operation.

During the years of Soviet power, the cloisters were used as children's and disabled homes. For some time, a technical school was located in the monastery, and from 1953 to 2009, the Svir Psychiatric Hospital was located in the Trinity Complex.

The restoration of the monastery began in 1997. In August 2020, the production company Stavros from St. Petersburg made carvings for decorating icon cases for the monastery. Elegant semi-columns in the form of bunches and leaves of grapes, crowned with baroque capitals - models taken from the Stavros catalog. Other decorative details were designed and made "to order" according to the provided project.

The masters of the Stavros factory did the turnkey work: they made all the elements from solid beech and finished with 22.5 carat gold leaf with a polished metal effect. The installation was carried out at night so as not to interrupt the daytime services.

In 2012, with the blessing of Bishop Mstislav of Tikhvin and Lodeynopol, the Festive Episcopal Choir was created. It consists of graduates of higher musical institutions of the CIS countries. Among the compositions performed: ancient Byzantine chants and znamenny chants, liturgical music of the 19th-20th centuries, Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian folk songs.

The courtyard of the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery, as of 2015, is located in the Veseloy Settlement of the Nevsky District of St. Petersburg.