Constructed: 1377
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Upper Monastery of Saint Peters or Vysokopetrovsky monastery is
an Orthodox monastery in the White city of Moscow on a hill where
Petrovka street leads to the Kremlin. The monastery is believed to
have been founded in the 1320s by Saint Peter of Moscow, the first
Russian Metropolitan to move to Moscow. High kopylovsky monasterical
the name of the next street Petrovsky, one of the streets running
from the red square.
At the end of the 17th century, the
Naryshkin boyars, relatives of Peter the Great (on their mother's
side), turned the monastery into their family burial ground. They
renovated it in the Naryshkin Baroque style. In the middle of the
18th century, several auxiliary buildings were added, possibly
designed by Dmitry Ukhtomsky or Ivan Fyodorovich Michurin.
The Catholicon, dedicated to Saint Peter, has long been considered a
typical monument of the Naryshkin style and dates back to 1692. In
the 1970s, detailed studies of the sources and excavations of the
site showed that the Catholicon was actually built in 1514-1517 by
Alois the New.
In 1926, the Vysokopetrovsky monastery was
closed by the new Soviet authorities. In 1992, several buildings of
the monastery were returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Since
2005, the building of the Vysokopetrovsky monastery has been shared
by the Russian Orthodox Church and the Moscow Museum of literature.
History of the Vysoko-Petrovsky monastery
The
ktitors of the Vysoko-Petrovsky monastery at various times were:
princes Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan Kalita, Vasily III, Tsar Alexey
Mikhailovich Romanov, and Emperor Peter I.
Footing
The
first mention is in the Rogozhsky chronicle of the XV century, which
States that in 1379, Archimandrite John of the Vysoko-Petrovsky
monastery accompanied Archimandrite mityai to Constantinople for
confirmation as Metropolitan of all Russia.
There are two
main versions of the monastery's Foundation.
According to the
first, the monastery was founded by Metropolitan Peter of Kiev and
all Russia, who built a wooden Church in the name of the apostles
Peter and Paul on the high wooded Bank of the Neglinnaya river near
the Kremlin. This happened either in 1315-1317, when Metropolitan
Peter became close to Ivan Kalita, or in 1326, when Metropolitan
Peter moved the Metropolitan see from Vladimir to Moscow. And only
at the beginning of the XVI century, the Church was re-consecrated
in honor of St. Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow. From the original,
ancient dedication of the monastery to the Holy apostles Peter and
Paul, perhaps only the name of its gate Peter and Paul Church, built
in the XVIII century, remains.
Another, more well-known
version says that the Petrovsky monastery was founded by Ivan
Kalita, and that its first, oldest Church was consecrated in the
name of the Holy apostles Peter and Paul. According to the legend
set forth in the Step book, Ivan Kalita had a vision in 1326,
shortly before the death of Saint Peter. Hunting near the place
where the Vysoko-Petrovsky monastery is now located, the Grand Duke
saw a high mountain covered with snow. Before his eyes, the snow
melted, and then the mountain itself disappeared. After telling
Metropolitan Peter about this, he received the following
interpretation: "The high mountain is you, Prince, and the snow is
me, the humble one. I must pass away from this life before you do."
In memory of the miraculous vision, according to supporters of this
version, Ivan Kalita built the Peter and Paul Church in its place,
around which a monastery soon grew.
However, there is a third
version that attributes the Foundation of the monastery to Dmitry
Donskoy. According to this version, Dmitry Donskoy founded the
monastery on the site of the Kalita Church or resumed the existing
monastery in 1380 after his return from the battle of Kulikovo, in
memory of the victory of the Russian army.
According to other
sources, the wooden buildings of the monastery, destroyed by the
Tatars in 1382 during the ruinous RAID of Khan Tokhtamysh, were
rebuilt under the care of Prince Dmitry Donskoy. By special order of
the Grand Duke, a temple was erected in the monastery in honor of
the Bogolyubsky icon Of the mother of God, which was revered among
the Moscow Rurikovich.
XV-XVII century
In the middle ages
in the history of Moscow, there were a large number of enemy
invasions and fires that devastated the wooden city. Especially
strong was the fire of 1493, when half of Moscow burned down,
including the wooden buildings of the monastery. About two hundred
people were killed in the fire — including some residents of the
Petrovsky monastery.
Rebuilt by the decree of Grand Duke
Vasily III, the monastery acquired the first stone Church-in the
name of St. Peter the Metropolitan, which was built by the Italian
architect Aleviz Fryazin in 1514-17 and consecrated on August 23,
1517. At the same time, a wooden Church was built in honor of the
Intercession of the most Holy Theotokos. It was at this time that
the monastery officially became known as Vysoko-Petrovsky, although
the name "Peter and Paul" was used until the XVIII century.
Once again, the High Peter monastery was devastated in 1611 by
Polish-Lithuanian invaders. In 1612, after the expulsion of the
poles, the monastery was restored and surrounded by a stone wall. At
this time, it had the status of a stavropegic and was ruled by
archimandrites.
By the middle of the XVII century, the
monastery was located in the Northern part of the modern territory
and owned by 1682 — 519, and in 1700 — 612 peasant households. The
monastery at that time had: Archimandrite, 4 priests, 2 deacons,
deacon, Sexton and 6 elders.
Peter the great (XVII—XVIII
century)
In 1671, on the birth of Peter I, his grandfather,
Kirill Poluektovich Naryshkin, gave his son-in-law, Alexey
Mikhailovich, his estate, located side by side with the
Vysoko-Petrovskaya monastery. Alexey Mikhailovich, in turn, gave the
estate as a gift to the monastery, and its territory, thus,
increased almost twice.
During the Streltsy riot of 1682,
Ivan and Afanasy Naryshkin were killed, and the elderly Kirill
Poluektovich Naryshkin was forced to take the veil as a monk and go
to the Kirillo-Belozersk monastery. The bodies of his tortured sons
were given to the tsarina, Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina, only a few
days later, and she buried them in the Vysoko-Petrovsky monastery.
Subsequently, Kirill Poluektovich Naryshkin and his wife Anna
Leontievna were buried here.
After the Streltsy revolt of 1689, when Peter I
became a full-fledged sovereign, he undertook extensive
construction:
in 1690, the construction of the Bogolyubsky
temple, which became the Naryshkin family tomb, was completed;
In
1690-93, a refectory Church was built in the name of St. Sergei of
Radonezh (in gratitude for saving the young Tsar in the Sergius
monastery);
In 1690-1694, the monastery received the Holy gate
with the intercession Church and a 2-tier bell tower, as well as a
long fraternal building that occupied the South-Western part of the
monastery courtyard.
The layout of the monastery in the 80-90
years of the XVII century included the Northern (front) courtyard
and the southern (economic) courtyard. In the center of the Northern
courtyard was the Cathedral of St. Peter, on the North side of it is
symmetrically located Bogolyubsky temple, and on the South — St.
Sergius Church.
In 1735, 71 inhabitants lived in the
monastery, and the monastery was owned by about 6000 peasants. In
the 90 - ies of the XVII century, the monastery was granted land by
the Royal family in Moscow, Zvenigorod, Borovsky, Nizhny Novgorod,
Oryol and other counties. The monastery was assigned to: Saratov
monastery in honor of the Kazan icon of the mother of God, Saransk
Bogoroditsky monastery, lgovskaya Pustyn, Raeva nikandrova Pustyn.
At the beginning of the XVIII century, the Vysoko-Petrovsky
monastery ranked fifth among Moscow monasteries in terms of the
number of courtyards.
In 1743-1745, the monastery was under
the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Joseph of Moscow (Volchansky), and
in 1745-1764 — under the jurisdiction of the Holy Synod.
Since 1764, after the secularization of monastic lands, it has been
assigned to the second class and is a stavropegic, and since 1775 it
has been part of the Moscow diocese with the right to serve as an
Archimandrite with tablets.
XIX century
Serious damage was
caused to the Vysoko-Petrovsky monastery in 1812. After the capture
of Moscow by Napoleon's troops, it housed "a thousand French
cavalrymen". Everything that remained in the monastery was destroyed
and destroyed (including the richly decorated tombstones of the
Naryshkin boyars), and the temples were desecrated. Archimandrite
Ioannikiy managed to take the sacristy and relics to Yaroslavl. In
the Bogolyubskaya Church, the French hung cattle carcasses on hooks
driven directly into the iconostasis. Here, Marshal Mortier handed
down death sentences to Muscovites on suspicion of arson. The
accused were shot on the Boulevard, near the walls of the monastery,
and buried near the bell tower.
After the end of the war, the
Pakhomiev and Pokrov churches were abolished.
In the
following decades, the monastery was gradually restored and began to
play one of the most important roles in the spiritual life of
Moscow. For him, a special, enlightening obedience was strengthened.
Most of Peter's abbots at this time were somehow connected with
education. In 1822, a religious school was transferred from the
Zaikonospassky Moscow monastery to the Vysoko-Petrovsky monastery.
The monastery was the meeting place of the Moscow diocesan library,
and since 1863 it has been the meeting place of the" society of
lovers of spiritual enlightenment", the Foundation of which was
blessed by Archbishop Filaret (Drozdov).
XX century
At the
beginning of the XX century, the future Saint-Martyr Makarii
(Gnevushev) managed the Vysoko-Petrovsky monastery. There were 15
permanent residents of the monastery. In 1901, on the site of two
wooden almshouses received by the monastery at the end of the XVII
century, a three-story apartment building was built by the architect
I. I. Boni, requisitioned in 1918 and not returned later.
In
1910, the monastery received a subsidy from the Treasury of 1,249
rubles a year, and in 1916, the total capital of the monastery was
116,194 rubles.
After the 1917 revolution
After the
October revolution, the monastery was formally closed in 1918. All
residential buildings were requisitioned and transferred to the
housing Fund. Temples continued to operate.
In the autumn of
1923, one of the largest underground monastic communities in the
USSR emerged here, headed by Bishop Bartholomew (Remov), who invited
some of the brethren of the Smolensk-Zosimov desert, which was
closed at the beginning of the same year, to serve in monastic
churches. The former monastery remained the center of the community
until June 1929, when the last — Bogolyubsky — Church of the
monastery was closed.
The" underground period " of the
monastery is associated with the names of nine monks and
parishioners of the monastery, canonized Russian saints who died as
martyrs for Christ or were persecuted after the October revolution
of 1917.
Hieromartyr. Makariy (Gnevushev) - executed on
September 4, 1918;
prmch. Ignatius (Lebedev) - died on September
11, 1938 in prison;
prmch. Herman (Polyansky) - shot in 1937;
prmch. Fyodor (Bogoyavlensky) - died on July 19, 1943 in exile;
prmch. Varlaam (Nikolsky) - shot on November 19, 1937;
prmch.
Makariy (morzhov) - shot on June 10, 1931;
prmch. Kosma (Magda) -
shot in 1937;
M. Nikolai Varzhansky, organizer of the Barnabas
temperance society-shot on November 19, 1918;
M. Ioann Popov,
theologian, Church historian, Professor of the Moscow theological
Academy — shot in 1937.
In 1929, the last active Church on
the territory of the monastery was closed-in honor of the
Bogolyubsky icon of the mother of God. The stone tombstones of the
Naryshkin boyars were destroyed,and a factory for repairing
agricultural machinery was set up in the temple. The St. Sergius
Church housed a library, and then a gym. In the Church of St. Peter
— foundry. The other buildings — the Tolga Church, the Church of the
Kazan icon Of the mother of God, the Abbot's building, the building
of fraternal cells with Naryshkin chambers, and the Naryshkin tomb —
had communal apartments. A kindergarten was organized on the site of
the monastery garden. Domes with crosses were cut down from the
Sergiev and Bogolyubsky churches. By 1950, the ensemble of the
monastery was almost completely lost.
According to some
sources, Moscow's urban development plan called for the demolition
of the monastery to widen the road.
In 1959, the monastery
was transferred to the Ministry of culture and received the status
of an architectural monument. Communal apartments and factories were
evicted from the monastery. A rehearsal area was opened in St.
Sergius Church, a branch of the State literary Museum was located in
the fraternal building, the rest of the buildings were occupied by
Rosizopropaganda, the society for the protection of monuments and
theater workshops.