Friday, 20 April 2018

The Samara St Nicholas Hermitage Monastery

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery, with its centuries-long history, is called the Hermitage Monastery because in olden times it belonged administratively to no settlement and was the only monastery in the forests of the Lower Dnieper region.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. Novomoskovsk, Dnipropetrovsk region.

The history of this architectural monument of national significance is a set of pages of the state's history over the last 500 years, seen through the example of a holy monastery near the town of Novomoskovsk in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery

According to legend, two hermit monks settled on the site of the future monastery, in an oak forest. One day local robbers discovered the elders. These knights of the highroad, though they were robbers, believed in God and hoped that He would forgive their misdeeds. They came to the ascetics, brought them food, and built them a cell. Later a church appeared.

In 1576 the Polish king Stefan Batory gave the Zaporozhian Cossacks a fortress with a church of St Nicholas, at which an almshouse was opened for Cossacks maimed in battle.

At the beginning of the 17th century the Cossack fort with its church and hospital became the Samara St Nicholas Monastery and was subordinated to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery

After the ruinous war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Zaporozhian Sich accepted Russian subjecthood, and the church was rebuilt once more. The military actions between the Russian and Ottoman empires brought the monastery prosperity and a rise. The Cossacks quartered in the district gave generously to the monastery. The military used the monastery grounds for their own needs, placing on them a store, a hospital and premises for holding prisoners of war.

The walls of the monastery, which became a fort during the repelling of enemy attacks, were fortified.

The novices worked at the apiary and the vegetable gardens, in the candle workshops and at the mills. The Zaporozhians called the monastery the Zaporozhian Palestine, the New Jerusalem, the Samara Palestine.

In the 17th-18th centuries troubles and trials followed one after another. Devastating invasions of locust swarms destroyed the plantings and the harvest. In 1688 the monks supported the Cossacks who spoke out against the unwanted building of the Novobohorodytska fortress on the bank of the Samara. For this, by decree of Prince Golitsyn, they were subjected to terrible tortures, and the monastery was plundered.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The St Nicholas Church

During a plague epidemic the monks and the residents of the sloboda perished. For the sake of disinfection, soldiers of the Old Samara garrison burned the monastery's property and archive.

In 1782-1787, on the initiative of the "wild priest" Kyrylo Tarlovsky, who became famous for helping the Zaporozhians settle new lands and build settlements and churches, the stone St Nicholas Cathedral was erected.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The memorial plaque in honour of Kyrylo Tarlovsky

The church was built in the baroque style and has a cruciform shape. In atheist times the dome was demolished.

In 1815 the Transfiguration refectory church was raised, and in the years 1828-1830 the church of St George the Victorious. In 1825-1828 a bishop's house and a bell tower were added to the St Nicholas Cathedral.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The bishop's house

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The Transfiguration Church

From 1791 the monastery became the residence of the Katerynoslav bishops. There was a school and a church choir at the monastery. Cossacks spent the last years of their lives in the monastery.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery

The ascetics of the Samara monastery possessed the gift of clairvoyance and of healing, were renowned for their preaching, and not infrequently turned even people of other faiths to Orthodoxy. During the Russo-Turkish war, a captured Turk and a Tatar lived in the monastery. After conversations with the hieromonk Herman, the infidels accepted baptism and the tonsure.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The bishop's house

In 1808 the miraculous icon of the Samara Mother of God, known since 1736, was transferred to the monastery from Katerynoslav. Sadly, after the October coup and the nationalisation, the fate of the holy image is unknown.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The holy image of the Samara Mother of God

In 1930 the Samara St Nicholas Hermitage Monastery was abolished, and it suffered devastation and rebuilding.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. A ruined building

On its grounds were housed a home for invalids of the Civil War, a home for elderly metalworkers, and then a boarding school for children with mental developmental disabilities. When the last institution was being closed, its management stripped and carried off everything they possibly could.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. A ruined building

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. A ruined gate

In 1993 a church community was formed, and in 1994, at first, a convent.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The St Nicholas Church

Only in 1998 was the Samara St Nicholas Hermitage men's monastery revived.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery

An old image of the Okhtyrka Mother of God, named the Samara one, was placed in the monastery. The day of veneration of this shrine is on the feast of the Myrrh-bearing Women.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The holy image of the Samara Mother of God

The bishop's house, laid down in 1828, has the shape of the letter "H" and in Soviet times underwent partial reconstruction.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery

In the central part of the building, on the site of a destroyed church, the Transfiguration Church was consecrated in 2011. In its basement is the underground church of Saints Cyricus and Julitta.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The Transfiguration Church

In the renovated wing of the building are the monks' cells.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The cells

Pilgrims may also stay there.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The cells

During the fast, services are held in the church of Saints Theodosius and Anthony of the Caves, consecrated in 2004.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The church of Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves

The bishop's house is joined to the St Nicholas Church by an icon shop.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The church shop

Yet another wing of the building was left in a dilapidated state by the previous owners.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. A derelict building

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. A neglected building

Repairs are planned, and the first steps towards them are noticeable.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The neglected part of the bishop's house

In 2018 the construction of the bell tower, built on the site of the ruined one, was completed.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The bell tower

It is an exact copy of the bell tower built in 1885. If you climb the almost vertical stairs, then from a bird's-eye view you can see that the monastery grounds have the shape of a pentagon.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The bell tower

The monastery has a subsidiary farm, an orchard and vegetable gardens.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The orchard

In the refectory food is cooked on a stove. The premises are heated by means of a heat exchanger.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The refectory

In the monastery cemetery rest the ruling bishops of the Katerynoslav diocese.

The Samara St Nicholas Monastery. The cemetery

On the western side of the monastery, behind a brick fence, a memorial sign has been erected to the civilians and liberating soldiers who perished during the Nazi occupation.