Location: Belozersk, Vologda Oblast Map
Established: 1397
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Kirillo- Belozersky Monastery is located in a small town of
Belozersk (literally "white lake"), 130 km from Vologda, Vologda
Oblast in Russia. It was found in 1397 by two monks from Moscow's
Simonov Monastery, Cyril (also Kirill) and Ferapont following the
advice of their spiritual father and teacher Saint Sergius of
Radonezh. Originally it consisted of a single cave dug on the shores
of Siverskoye lake and a wooden cross erected by the two men. Later
they added a wooden Uspensky (Assumption) chapel here. It was later
replaced by a stone structure by the master from Rostov in 1497. A
the time it was the largest church in Medieval Russia.
Kirillo- Belozersky Monastery was defended by thick walls and
towers. It protected a large community of monks and peasants that
lived near by. Monasteries in Russia played an important role in
keeping knowledge and documents. It contained a huge library.
Additionally many artisans, both monks and lay men, worked here.
Moscow princes helped the abbey with donations and tax breaks. Ivan
the Terrible came here many times leaving large donations. This
helped Kirillo- Belozersky monastery grew and expanded. The complex
consists of two monasteries: Uspensky (Assumption) and Ioanovsky
(John's). Eleven churches stood inside. The whole complex was
defended by eight towers and walls that were expanded in the late
17th century.
Empress Catherine the Great stripped the
monastery of its lands in 1764. Parts of the monastery were turned
into prison. The things really got worse in 1924 then atheist
government of Bolsheviks closed the monastery down. Monks were
either executed or arrested and later died in Gulags. Unlike most of
other monasteries in the Russian North, Kirillo- Belozersky
Monastery wasn't turned into a concentration camp for political
prisoners. It was kept as a museum.
Today the community of
the Kirillo- Belozersky Monastery is being revived. Several churches
and buildings on its ground was returned to the Russian Orthodox
Church.
1.
Kazan Tower with main entrance gate
2. Vologda Tower
3.
Kuznechnaya aka Blacksmith Tower
4. Gluchaya Tower aka Blind End
Tower
5. Svitochnaya Tower
6. Vodyanaya Tower aka Water Tower
with Church of Transfiguration
7. Chlebnaya Tower aka Bread Tower
8. Povarennaya Tower aka Cook Tower
9. Malaya Merezhennaya Tower
10. Belozerskaya Tower
11. Kosaya Tower
12. Feropont Tower
13. Holy Gate with a church of Saint John Lestvichnik and Treasury
14. Monks quarters- Northern Wing
15. Monks quarters- South Wing
16. Church of Saint Euphimia and a hospital
17. Bell Church of
Archangel Gabriel
18. Dining Hall and a kitchen
19. Uspensky
Cathedral and a Church of Saint Vladimir, Cyril and Epiphany
20.
Church of Rizopolozheniya
21. Church of Saint Sergius of Radonezh
with dining hall
22. Church of John the Baptist
23. Small
Hospital quarters
24. Igumen (head of the monastery) quarters
A. Ivanovsky Monastery
B. Uspensky Monastery
C. New City
The monastery was founded in 1397 on the bank of
Lake Siverskoye, to the south of the town of Beloozero, in the
present-day Vologda Oblast. Its founder, St. Cyril or Kirill of
Beloozero, following the advice of his teacher, St. Sergius of
Radonezh, first dug a cave here, then built a wooden Dormition
chapel and a loghouse for other monks. Shortly before the creation
of the monastery, the area fell under the control of the Grand Duchy
of Moscow.
Being a member of the influential Velyaminov clan
of boyars, Kirill relinquished the office of father superior of the
greatest cloister in medieval Moscow, the Simonov monastery. His
close ties with the ruling elite can be convincingly demonstrated by
his letters to sons of Dmitri Donskoi. It seems that the Muscovite
rulers regarded Kirill's monastery as an important strategic point,
both for Northern trade and in their struggle with the Novgorod
Republic. By 1427, when Kirill died, the prince of
Belozersk-Mozhaisk (subject to the Grand Prince of Moscow) was the
monastery's patron, and the monastery was administratively
subordinate to the Archbishop of Rostov. Under Hegumen Trifon
(1434/5–1447/8), social and administrative reforms were undertaken,
including the adoption of an Athonite cenobitic rule. A
Byzantine-style secondary school was established at which
translations of textbooks on grammar, semantics, geography, and
history were used. A lasting legacy of the school were
bibliographical studies, exemplified by the elder Yefrosin, and
text-critical studies, exemplified by Nil Sorsky (1433–1508). Nil
also founded a skete on the Sora River near the monastery.
In
the 16th century, the monastery was the second richest landowner in
Russia, after its model, the Trinity Monastery near Moscow. Ivan the
Terrible not only had his own cell in the cloister, but also planned
to take monastic vows here. The cloister was also important as a
political prison. Among the Muscovite politicians exiled to Kirillov
were Vassian Patrikeyev, Tsar Simeon Bekbulatovich, Patriarch Nikon,
and the prime minister Boris Morozov. In December 1612, the
monastery was besieged by Polish-Lithuanian vagabonds, the
Lisowczycy, who failed to capture it.