Ipatiev Monastery

Image of Ipatiev Monastery

 

Location: Kostroma Oblast  Map

Found: 1330 by Tatar Christian prince Chet

 

Ipatiev Monastery is located in Kostroma Oblast of Russia. It is of a most important Russian Orthodox Monasteries that played an important role in Russian history.

 

History of Ipatiev Monastery

 Image of Ipatiev Monastery

Ipatiev Monastery (Ипатьевский монастырь) was originally found in 1330 by Tatar Christian prince Chet. According to historians he deserted Golden Horde and defected to the Russian prince Ivan Kalita of Moscow. Tatar prince converted to Christianity started a family that became known as Godunovs. It was quickly fortified by oak timbers against invasions from the Golden Horde. In the second part of the 16th century more durable stone walls were erected to defend monks and pilgrims who lived here. Aristocratic family of Godunov greatly helped Ipatiev Monastery by providing money and working hands during its construction. Boris Godunov later became Russian tsar. His death coincided with Polish invasion that was headed by man who claimed to be son of Ivan the Terrible- Dmitry. Some sources claim that he was a former monk Grishka Otrepev. Regardless of his true identity his arrival to Russia with the help of Polish army resulted in the death of Boris' son Fedor and several years of chaos and anarchy that came to be known as the Troubled times.

 

Location and view

The monastery was first mentioned in chronicles in 1432, but it was probably founded much earlier. Information about the original appearance of the monastery has not been preserved. Most likely, it contained wooden monastic cells, a church, various outbuildings, and fortress walls for protection.

Its territory consists of two parts: the Old and the New City. Both sites are surrounded by high stone walls. The old city has the shape of an irregular pentagon. The compositional center of the monastery is the monumental five-domed Trinity Cathedral; there is a belfry nearby.

In the post-war period, monuments of wooden architecture were brought to the walls of the monastery from all over the Kostroma region and an open-air museum was created. Behind him lies the Ipatievskaya Sloboda, which in the old days belonged to the monastery; the five-domed church of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian (XVII century) has been preserved there.

 

History

Foundation of the monastery
According to legend, the monastery was founded around 1330 by the ancestor of the Godunov and Saburov family, Tatar Murza Chet, who fled from the Golden Horde to Ivan Kalita and was baptized in Moscow under the name Zakharia. In this place he had a vision of the Mother of God with the forthcoming Apostle Philip and Hieromartyr Hypatius of Gangra. The result of the vision was his healing from the disease. In gratitude for the healing, a monastery was founded on this place. Modern researchers consider Murza Chet a mythical figure, and the "Legend of Prince Chet" a genealogical legend, designed to give princely status to the Godunov family.

Stepan Veselovsky attributed the foundation of the monastery to the end of the 13th century. Initially, the Church of the Holy Trinity was built, then the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, several cells and a powerful oak wall. Surrounded by residential and commercial buildings. All buildings were wooden.

According to one version, the monastery was founded by Prince Vasily Yaroslavich, brother of Alexander Nevsky, who had already become the Grand Duke of Vladimir, but preferred to live in Kostroma. The deeds of Vasily Yaroslavich are also attributed to the legendary prince of the 13th century, Vasily, nicknamed Kvashnya. According to another version, the monastery was founded by Novgorodians, since St. Hypatius was revered in Novgorod as the patron saint of posadniks, and the Kostroma River has long served as one of the ways for Novgorodians to advance to the Volga.

After the death of Prince Vasily and the abolition of the Kostroma Principality, the monastery came under the patronage of the Godunov family, who rose to prominence in the middle of the 16th century, and since that time information about the monastery has become more complete. The Godunovs, like some other noble boyar families (Zakharyins, Velyaminovs, Saburovs, Sheins), considered Zakharia (Cheta) their ancestor. Its representatives became patrons of the Ipatiev Monastery. On the territory of the monastery there is a tomb of this ancient and famous boyar family, including the graves of the father and mother of Boris Godunov.

During this period there is a rapid development of the monastery. Only from 1586 to 1591 the monastery received 1000 rubles and several villages from the Godunovs. As a result, the monastery's land fund quadrupled, and by 1600 the monastery became the fourth among all Russian landowning monasteries, owning more than 400 villages.

At the expense of Dmitry Godunov, the uncle of the future Tsar Boris Godunov, stone walls with six towers were erected around the monastery and the Trinity Cathedral was laid with side chapels in the name of the Apostle Philip and the Hieromartyr Hypatius of Gangra. In 1564, the construction of the winter church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos with a chapel of St. John Chrysostom was completed. Over the Holy Gates in 1595-1597, a temple was erected dedicated to the Hieromartyrs Theodore Stratilates and Irina - the heavenly patrons of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich and his wife Tsaritsa Irina Feodorovna, sister of Boris Godunov; stone belfry, cells of the abbot and the monastery steward. In addition, the Godunovs donated many church books and utensils. A painting workshop and a large library of books and manuscripts were created in the monastery.

Thanks to the efforts of the Godunovs, by the end of the 16th century, the monastery gained special significance in the political and spiritual life of medieval Rus'. Contemporaries often called the monastery "The Preeminent Lavra", and in 1599 the abbot of the monastery, hegumen Jacob, was granted the rank of archimandrite, which emphasized the special church and state significance of the monastery.

Church of Birth of Mother of God (1910). The Church was destroyed in 1934 by the Commies. The color is not a modern enhancement. This is an original color picture by Sergey Prokudin- Gorsky.

 

Time of Troubles

During the Time of Troubles, the monastery experienced a period of decline: after Tsar Vasily Shuisky applied for financial assistance for the war with Ivan Bolotnikov and the Tushino thief, the monastery's archimandrite Theodosius and Abbot of the neighboring Kostroma Epiphany Monastery Arseniy went to Tushino in October 1608, where they took the oath to False Dmitry II. Since that time, the monastery was in the hands of supporters of False Dmitry II and Patriarch Filaret.

At the end of February 1609, the inhabitants of Kostroma revolted, killed the Tushino garrison and laid siege to the Ipatiev Monastery. However, it was not possible to take it right away - it was a strong fortress surrounded by powerful stone walls, on which 27 guns were installed. At the end of April, the army of Vasily Shuisky, led by the Mangazeya governor Davyd Zherebtsov, approached the monastery and began siege work. In May of that year, Alexander Lisovsky, having removed part of the troops from under the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, tried to unblock the Ipatiev Monastery, but failed. Nevertheless, the Kostroma citadel was captured by Zherebtsov only in September 1609.

In the cells of the monastery, built in 1583, from the autumn of 1612, young Mikhail Romanov lived with his mother, nun Marfa. On March 13, 1613, an embassy from the Zemsky Sobor, which elected 16-year-old Mikhail as Tsar, arrived at the monastery, headed by the Archbishop of Ryazan Theodoret, the cellar of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Abraham Palitsyn and the boyar Fyodor Sheremetev. On March 14, in the Trinity Cathedral of the monastery, a solemn ceremony of calling Mikhail Romanov to the kingdom was performed, which put an end to the Time of Troubles.

Cradle of the Romanov dynasty
The royal dynasty of the Romanovs began with the rite of calling to the kingdom in the Ipatiev Monastery and ended with the execution of the royal family in the Ipatiev House (in Yekaterinburg).

Under the Romanovs, the monastery as the “cradle of the dynasty” occupied a privileged position, the history of the Godunov family monastery was closely intertwined with the history of the reigning house of the Romanovs, who became generous patrons of the Ipatiev monastery. Members of the royal family revered the Ipatiev Monastery as their family shrine. Upon accession to the throne, each of the kings considered it his duty to visit the monastery and make generous contributions.

By decree of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, the New City was built along the western wall. It was surrounded by high walls with two gates and three towers: two on the corner and one above the gate, the middle one between them. The latter (also known as "Green" - the color of the tiled roof) with an octagonal stone tent was laid in the place where on March 19, 1613, the procession stopped, accompanying Mikhail Fedorovich to Moscow after his election to the kingdom.

However, the explosion of the powder magazine, which destroyed the Trinity Cathedral in 1649, left little of the inlaid icons of the previous time. The newly built cathedral was much larger than the lost church. In 1685, it was painted by an artel of art masters led by Gury Nikitin. The frescoes of the cathedral are one of the remarkable works of fresco painting of the second half of the 17th century, unique in their execution, composition and variety of subjects.

In 1767, for the arrival of Empress Catherine II in Kostroma, the Catherine Gates were built in the northern section of the fortress wall, which became the main entrance to the monastery. Elegant and bright in form, the building in the Baroque style is decorated with triumphal arches. On the outer façade, at the base of the high attic, there is a molded cartouche with the monogram of Catherine II. From the side of the Old City, the gates are decorated with a pediment with a relief image of the “all-seeing eye”.

In 1839, in the center of the Old City on the monastery square, a memorial column was erected in memory of famous events and persons who left their mark on the history of the Ipatiev Monastery.

In 1837-1863, under the leadership of the architect Konstantin Ton, a large-scale reconstruction of the monastery was carried out. Along the walls along the low bank of the Kostroma River, the so-called. "stub" - a dam structure that protected monastic buildings and fortifications from flooding during spring floods. Ton redesigned the façade of the monastery, designed the tent church of the Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria over the Holy Gates (from the side of the Kostroma River) and the five-domed Byzantine-Russian-style Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos connected to the Trinity Cathedral (destroyed in 1934). At the same time, under the guise of restoration, the Romanov Chambers were built on and the “royal staircase” was erected with a wide march to the second floor. The walls of the second floor are painted "checkered" on the outside. The interior of the building was decorated with tiled stoves designed by Fyodor Richter. In 1867, Fyodor Verkhovtsev made a new riza with a salary for the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God.

In May 1913, the monastery became the center of the celebration of the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty. During the celebration of the anniversary, the emperor visited several iconic cities, including Kostroma. Here Nicholas II visited the monastery and lived in a wooden house specially built for him, erected outside the walls of the monastery.

 

Abbots

Soviet period

After the October Revolution, in 1919, the monastery was abolished, and its material values were nationalized. Most of the monastery vestry was taken to Moscow by the commissions of the Gokhran, the rest was deposited in the Kostroma Museum of Local Lore.

The monastery buildings were adapted for the workers of the Kostroma textile enterprises, an orphanage and military barracks were located right there, a stadium and a dance floor were arranged. During the mass destruction of Kostroma churches in 1934, the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos was destroyed.

In the mid-1950s, the dormitories in the monastery buildings were settled, and in 1958 the Kostroma State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve was created in the Ipatiev Monastery. The work carried out by the Kostroma restoration workshop made it possible to free the ancient buildings from later distortions.

In the mid-1950s, when the Kostroma lowland was flooded, the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior from the village of Spas-Vezhi and four baths (the village of Vederki) were transported to the New City of the monastery, which became the first exhibits of the new museum of wooden architecture. In the late 1960s, the museum complex expanded significantly in the area to the south of the monastery, on the cape formed by the confluence of the Kostroma River into the Volga. Built along the left bank of the Igumenka River, churches, residential buildings and all kinds of outbuildings form the compositional core of the museum complex.

In the 1980s, filming took place around the monastery more than once. The architectural ensemble can be seen in films such as "Cruel Romance" by Eldar Ryazanov and "Black Eyes" by Nikita Mikhalkov. In 1986, an auto-pedestrian bridge across the Kostroma River connected the territory of Ipatievskaya Sloboda with the central part of the city.

 

Modern life of the monastery

On November 23, 1989, the first divine service after the closure of the monastery took place; in 1991, the Holy Trinity Hypatiev Monastic Community was registered. In 1993, despite protests from the museum-reserve and the public, the territory of the New Town was transferred to the use of the monastic community.

In September 2002, as a result of the negligence of the inhabitants, the main exhibit of the museum of wooden architecture inside the New City burned down - the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior built in 1628, brought from the village of Spas-Vezhi.

On December 30, 2004, the Federal Agency for the Management of Federal Property of the Russian Federation, in accordance with the instruction of Russian President Vladimir Putin dated December 20, 2003, signed Decree No. 1555-r on the transfer of buildings and structures of the Holy Trinity Ipatiev Monastery in the city of Kostroma to the Kostroma diocese. On December 31, the Kostroma diocese and the territorial branch of the Federal Agency for Federal Property Management of the Russian Federation signed an agreement for gratuitous use and acceptance certificates for the entire complex of buildings of the Holy Trinity Ipatiev Monastery. In 2005, the Kostroma diocese became the legal user of the ensemble of the Ipatiev Monastery in the city of Kostroma. This decision aroused indignation among journalists, since the museum-reserve actually ended up on the street.

The archimandrite of the monastery is Bishop Ferapont (Kashin) of Kostroma and Galich, and Hieromonk Peter (Eryshalov) is his viceroy.

The monastery was visited by all the presidents of the Russian Federation during the period of their powers:
On June 19, 1998, President Boris Yeltsin visited the monastery.
On March 24, 2005, President Vladimir Putin visited the monastery.
On May 15, 2008, President Dmitry Medvedev visited the monastery;
The new city is a fraternal territory closed to outsiders. The old city with the Trinity Cathedral is the territory of the Church Historical and Archaeological Museum. Entrance to it is paid. Parishioners dressed appropriately can enter churches free of charge during services.

 

The architectural ensemble of the Ipatiev Monastery

Trinity Cathedral Church (1650-1652).
Belfry (1603-1605)
Bishop's Corps (XVIII century) with the Holy Gates and the Gate Church of the Great Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria (mid-XIX century)
Chambers of the Romanov boyars (XVI century, reconstructed in the middle of the XIX century)
Governor's Corps (XVI century, reconstructed in the middle of the XIX century)
Fraternal Corps (XVIII century)
Cells above the cellars (XVI-XVIII centuries)
Refectory building (XVI-XVII centuries)
Candle case (XIX century)
Walls and towers of the Old Town (Blacksmith, Powder, Water, Wax, Kvasnaya) (XVI-XVII centuries)
Walls and towers of the New City (XVII century)
In 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, during a visit to the monastery, gave the order to restore the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in its original form. By the beginning of 2015, the main construction work was completed. On July 19, 2015, Patriarch Kirill performed the rite of great consecration of the restored church.

 

Holy relics

Miraculous Tikhvin Ipatiev Icon of the Mother of God (revered locally);
Reliquary with a particle of the Lord's Robe;
Icon with a particle of the relics of Hieromartyr Hypatius, Bishop of Gangra;
part of the head of blessed Simon, Christ for the sake of the holy fool, Yurievets;
a stone from the execution room of the Ipatiev House (the site of the murder of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers in 1918)