The Kytaiv Hermitage. The Kyiv Athos

The Kyiv Athos — this is the reverent name for the secluded monastery in the south-east of Ukraine's capital.

Kyiv. The Holy Trinity Kytaiv Hermitage

The rapid construction of the metropolis has fortunately not brought radical changes to the preserved historic locality of Kyiv.

The Holy Trinity Kytaiv Hermitage

The multi-level underground galleries lie 200 to 300 metres from the railway line and the Stolychne Highway, and they appeared as far back as pre-Christian times on the site of an ancient hillfort.

The grounds of the Holosiivskyi Nature Park by the Kytaiv Monastery

According to tradition, the first settlements of hermit-monks in the man-made cave labyrinths arose in the 13th century, after Batu Khan's devastating invasion of the Kyiv-Pechersk monastery. The name of the settlement, "Kytai", means "fortress". The remains of the ancient ramparts, four rows of which surrounded the fort, together with the ravines and forests, served as an obstacle to the enemy.

The grounds of the Holosiivskyi Nature Park by the Kytaiv Monastery

Now they protect the monastery from the bustle and noise of the city.

Kytaiv. The forest and ponds

In the 16th and 17th centuries the caves became a refuge for the monks who did not accept the Union. Here elderly monks and pilgrims who sought solitude found their last shelter. Kytaiv became a centre of pilgrimage.

Kytaiv. The Holy Trinity Monastery. The entrance gate

In the 1760s the master of Ukrainian Baroque Stepan Kovnir, a serf and architect of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, built the Holy Trinity Church.

Kytaiv. The Holy Trinity Church

The five-domed shrine was erected without a single nail.

Kytaiv. The Holy Trinity Church

After being closed and ruined in Bolshevik times, the parish church was restored in 1992.

Kytaiv. The Holy Trinity Church

The Holy Trinity Kytaiv Hermitage had its own farm, vegetable gardens, orchards and an apiary. A candle factory operated there.

Kytaiv. The Holy Trinity Monastery. The refectory

The ponds surrounding the monastery to the south and east yielded fish; the forest — mushrooms and berries.

The Upper Kytaiv Pond

The Upper Kytaiv Pond

Part of the produce was sent to the Lavra, to which the monastery was administratively subordinate.

Kytaiv. The monastery courtyard

On the Day of the Holy Trinity fairs were traditionally held, to which townsfolk and visitors flocked. At the beginning of the 19th century the monastery courtyard had a hexagonal shape and was extended with the buildings of a 45-metre bell tower, a refectory, the brethren's and cell blocks, the abbot's house, and a house for elderly clergymen.

Kytaiv. The Holy Trinity Monastery. The cells

The Church of the Holy Twelve Apostles, built in the 19th century, at first served as a warm refectory. The particular feature of this church is that it holds the relics of the 12 Apostles, the relics of the holy righteous Joachim and Anna, of the righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth, and the relics of other venerated saints.

Kytaiv. The Holy Trinity Monastery. The Church of the Holy Twelve Apostles

In 1904 the Church of St Seraphim of Sarov was added onto the almshouse.

Kytaiv. The Holy Trinity Monastery. The Church of St Seraphim of Sarov

With the establishment of Soviet rule, a colony for juveniles was housed in the cells.

Kytaiv. The Holy Trinity Monastery. The Church of St Seraphim of Sarov

In the 1930s the bell tower was demolished, and the monastery premises were taken over by the All-Union Research Institute of Fruit and Berry Cultivation.

Kytaiv. The Holy Trinity Monastery. The Church of St Seraphim of Sarov

During the war the buildings were damaged, and until their restoration in the 1990s they housed a training-and-production centre for beekeeping and a research institute for plant protection.

Kytaiv. The Holy Trinity Monastery

Archaeological research made it possible to partly restore the cave complex and to open the underground church of St Dosytheus, consecrated in honour of the monastery's most famous elder. In the 17th century a sixteen-year-old noblewoman, Daryna Tiapkina, renounced marriage and worldly pleasures, wishing to serve God. The runaway cut off her hair, dressed in men's clothing and hid for three years in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra under the name Dosytheus.

Venerable Dosytheia of Kyiv

When they came to the monastery, her parents recognised their daughter, but she disappeared from them again at Kytaiv. Dosytheus dug out a cave with his own hands and disfigured his face in order to remain unrecognised. In time he became a monk and led a hermit's life, similar to the life of St Anthony of the Caves. Possessing the gift of a seer, Dosytheus blessed the youth Prokhor, the future Seraphim of Sarov, to help people in the Sarov wilderness. The Empress Elizabeth Petrovna turned to the wise hermit for advice. The monetary reward the spiritual father gave towards the building of a church in the village of Pyrohiv. Only after the monk's death did it become clear who he really was. On the funerary portrait Daria's sister recognised her, and the secret of Dosytheus was revealed.

Kytaiv. The Holy Trinity Monastery. The brethren's block

Many of the monastery's residents became renowned for the gift of prophecy. Thousands of people turned for advice to the clairvoyant elder Schema-Archimandrite Tikhon (1920-2014).

Schema-Archimandrite Tikhon

Schema-Archimandrite Feofil (1929-1996) was the vicar of the Holy Trinity Kytaiv Hermitage. Knowing the sins of the penitent, he would point out the sins a person was aware of and absolve them without a lecture.

Schema-Archimandrite Feofil

The burial places of Venerable Dosytheia of Kyiv, Father Tikhon and the skete-head Feofil are located beside the Holy Trinity church.

The graves of Venerable Dosytheia, Schema-Archimandrite Tikhon, Schema-Archimandrite Feofil

For four centuries the clergy were buried in the monastery cemetery.

Kytaiv. The Holy Trinity Monastery. The cemetery

After visiting the monastery, one can take a walk in Holosiivskyi Park.

The Holosiivskyi National Nature Park

If you head north-west, the paths between the wild forest and the tracts will lead you to the Holosiiv Hermitage.

The Holosiivskyi National Nature Park

Two kilometres to the south-west of the monastery lies the "Pyrohove" Museum of Folk Architecture and Life.

The Holosiivskyi National Nature Park. The ravines between Kytaiv and Pyrohove

Address: Kyiv, Kytaivska St., 15.
Coordinates: 50°22'3''N 30°32'31''E
Getting there: bus No. 52 from the "Lybidska" metro station to the "Shkola" stop.