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Location: Novgorod Oblast Map
Constructed: 1653 by patriarch Nikon
Valdaysky Iversky Monastery (Иверский Валдайский монастырь) is a Russian Orthodox convent located in Novgorod Oblast in Russia. It was found in 1653 by the orders of patriarch Nikon.
Ascending the patriarchal throne on
July 25, 1652, Nikon expressed his intention to found a monastery in
Russia in the image and likeness of the Iversky monastery on Mount
Athos. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich approved the patriarch's enterprise
and allocated funds from the treasury for the construction of the
monastery. According to the testimony of Pavel Aleppsky, the
monastery was supposed to be built in the "Athos architectural
traditions", even the monastic vestments had to correspond to the
Greek models.
The choice of the site for the monastery is
related to the vision that Nikon had during his trip to Solovki for
the relics of Metropolitan Philip. In the summer of 1653,
construction began, and by the fall two wooden churches were built
and were ready for consecration. The cathedral church was
consecrated in honor of the Iberian icon, and the warm one - in the
name of St. Philip of Moscow. The Patriarch appointed Archimandrite
Dionysius as the first abbot of the monastery.
When he first
visited the monastery under construction in February 1654, Nikon
renamed the Valdai settlement into the village of Bogoroditskoye,
and also named Valdai Lake Saints, having previously consecrated it
and lowered the Gospel and the cross to the bottom (as the local
legend says). A letter from the patriarch to the king has survived,
where he reports a vision over the island of a sign in the form of a
pillar of fire. The monastery itself, in addition to the previous
name, was named "Svyatoozersky".
In 1653, under the
supervision of the Patriarch, the stone construction of monastery
churches and buildings began. Nikon himself consecrated the newly
created monastery; by order of the Patriarch in February 1654, the
holy relics of the righteous Jacob of Borovichsky were transferred
to the monastery from the Borovichi monastery.
In May 1654, a
royal charter was awarded, which assigned to the monastery not only
Lake Valdai with islands, but also other estates: Borovichi,
Yazhelbitsy, Vyshny Volochek. Old Russian and some other monasteries
of the Novgorod land were assigned to the monastery.
In 1655,
more than 70 brethren of the Belarusian Orsha Kuteinsky monastery
moved to the monastery. Among the inhabitants at that time was the
future Patriarch Joachim, as well as Isaac of Polotsk, the brother
of Simeon of Polotsk. The monks brought with them all their property
and printing house to a new place. With the arrival of the Kutein
monks, printing and bookbinding began to develop.
In 1656,
the construction of the Assumption Cathedral was completed. On December
16 of the same year, he was consecrated. Metropolitans Macarius of
Novgorod and Pitirim of Sarsk, Archbishop Lavrenty of Tver and numerous
clergy from various dioceses of Russia attended the celebration together
with the Patriarch. The cathedral is distinguished by simplicity and
monumentality of architectural forms. In 2008, Patriarch Alexy II
renamed the Assumption Cathedral into a cathedral in honor of the
Iverskaya icon of the Mother of God.
By the beginning of the 18th century, the monastery fell
into decay. From 1712 to 1730 the monastery with all property and
land was assigned to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, which was under
construction. Even a large monastery bell was transported to the
monastery of the northern capital. In 1764 the Iversky Monastery was
placed in the first class.
In 1919, the monastery was
transformed into the Iberian labor artel, numbering 70 people, and
had 5 hectares of monastic land and 200 hectares of orchards,
vegetable gardens, plowing, pastures.
In 1927, the artel
examined the People's Commissariat for Land, in the report of which
it was noted that the labor community "is too closely connected with
the Iberian miraculous icon." The last remark was the reason for the
removal of the artel from registration; the monastic community was
liquidated, and the Iberian Icon in an expensive setting was taken
away in an unknown direction.
Subsequently, on the territory
of the monastery there were: a historical and archival museum, a
museum of local history, workshops, a home for the disabled for
participants in the Great Patriotic War, and a forest school for
children with tuberculosis. In the 1970s, a village was created on
the island, and a recreation center was opened on the territory of
the monastery.
In 1991,
the monastery, which was in disrepair, was returned to the Novgorod
diocese. The first abbot of the monastery after the transfer of its
diocese was hegumen Stephan (Popkov). In 1998, Archbishop Leo
(Tserpitsky) consecrated the Church of the Epiphany. Services were
resumed in the Assumption Cathedral. At the end of 2007, the complex
restoration of the monastery was completed.
On May 5, 1997,
by the decree of Archbishop Leo, Archimandrite Ephraim (Barbinyagra)
was appointed the abbot of the monastery. In June 2002, he was
replaced, and on November 25, 2007, by a decree of Patriarch Alexy
II, Ephraim was reinstated.
The shrine of the monastery was a
copy of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God, which in the
1950s-1980s was kept in the only functioning church of the Valdai
region - the Peter and Paul (cemetery) church in the city of Valdai.
Her new precious robe made by the masters of Zlatoust - A.A.
Lokhtachev, N.V. Lokhtacheva. and Lokhtachev D.A., was consecrated
on December 25, 2006.
On January 11, 2008, Patriarch Alexy II was
expected by his arrival at the monastery to consecrate the restored
Assumption (Iversky) Cathedral. On January 12, the Patriarch
celebrated Divine Liturgy in the cathedral church, before performing
the rite of minor consecration of the cathedral. After the liturgy,
the Patriarch served a prayer service, which was attended by Russian
President Vladimir Putin.
In April 2008, there were reports
of the decision to gild the five domes of the Iberian Cathedral for
the first time, which "will require about three thousand so-called
'golden books'". The current motley coloring of the facades and the
gilding of the domes have no precedents in the history of the
monastery.
On September 19, 2009, Cyril, Patriarch of Moscow
and All Russia, visited the Valdai Iversky Monastery. In January
2011, the restoration of the fresco painting of the Assumption
(Iversky Cathedral), in the altar and in the entire church to the
lower tier was completed. There is a small museum dedicated to
Patriarch Nikon and the history of the monastery.
By the
decision of the Holy Synod of December 27-28, 2011, Metropolitan Leo
was appointed (journal No. 173) the head of the Novgorod
metropolitanate and approved (journal No. 169) as the rector
(priest-archimandrite) of the Iberian Valdai Monastery. The nun
Irina (Frolova) was appointed the manager of the monastery.
Cathedral of the Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin Mary (1653-56)
Refectory Church of the Epiphany
(1657-58) with bread and brewery (1668-69)
Gate Church of Michael
the Archangel (1680s, the top was rebuilt at the end of the 18th
century)
Gate Church of Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow (1874)
Hospital Church of Jacob Borovichsky with hospital and refectory
chambers (1702, rebuilt in the 19th century)
Tent bell tower
(1679-89)
Governor's building (XVII century)
Treasury building
(1680s)
Fraternal corps (early XVIII century)
The buildings
are strange, living room, stable (XIX century)
Stone fence with
towers from the 18th century.
Nikolaev (Mikhailovskaya) Tower
(1680s)
Chapel with the burial vault of the Panayevs (1870)