St. Andrew’s Monastery.

05.08.2014 17:09 Просмотров: 417 Печать | E-mail

St. Andrew’s Monastery was built in 1648 in the place of the monastery burned-out in 1547 (as the legend has it, the first convent was built here in the 13th century). The monastery was built on the right bank of the Moskva River near the present-day Vorobyovy Hills by the close adviser of the tsar Alexey Mikhailovich, the statesman F.M. Rtishchev who made a great contribution into the development of the culture.

Having invited the learned monks from Kiev – Epiphanius (Slavinetsky), Arsenius (Satanovsky), Damascene (Ptitsky) and Theodosius (Safanovitch) – he founded the first school in Moscow (the so-called Rtishchev’s brotherhood) that preceded the Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy. The monks of the learned brotherhood translated books in the foreign language into Russian. Initially, the monastery was called Preobrazhenskaya Pustyn’ (Hermitage of Transfiguration). In 1675 a stone, quadrangular single-domed over-the-gates church of Saint Martyr Andrew Stratelates was built (in the place of the wooden church having the same name and built in 1591 on the occasion of liberation of Moscow from the invasion of the Crimean khan Kazy-Girey on the fete of St. Andrew Stratelates). The monastery was given a name of St. Andrew’s monastery. In 1689—1701 Rtyshchev built a cathedral of Resurrection in Plennitsy in the style of Moscow baroque.

In the 19th century it was rebuilt. The frieze made from large tiles by S. Polubes (end of the 18th century) survives to this day. In 1748 a three-level bell tower in classic style and a church of Michael the Archangel under it were built on S.B. Sheremetev’s money. In 1848 on the money of M. Sotkin this bell tower was rebuilt. In 1725 the monastery was closed and functioned as an orphan’s home till 1730. In 1730 the monastery resumed its work. In 1765 it was finally abolished, the churches became parish. In 1775 a female workhouse was established in the monastery.

In 1918 the alms-house was closed and handed over for apartments. In the same year the over-the-gates church of Saint Martyr Andrew Stratelates, in 1924 the cathedral of Resurrection and in 1940 the church of St. John the Evangelist were closed. Since the 1960-ies the monastery was the place of location of the research institute.

In the 1960 – 70-ies the buildings of the monastery were restored. In August 1991 the Patriarchal Metochion was established and a decision was taken to place the Synodal library of the Moscow Patriarch in the cloister.

In March 1992 divine services were resumed in the cathedral of Resurrection. In 1997 the belfry in the bell tower over the church of St. John the Evangelist was restored (10 bells, total weight is 6 tons made at the plant of Rudolf Perner in Passau, Germany).