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| Serhiivka, Donetsk region. The Holy Sergius Convent |
The village was founded in 1855, and at first the village church was consecrated in honour of St Basil. The stone single-altar church was erected with the funds of the landowner Kateryna Shabelska. The parish numbered about 3,000 parishioners. In the God-fighting 1930s the place of prayer, like many other churches in Ukraine, was destroyed by the Bolshevik henchmen. The new parish church was consecrated in honour of Sergius of Radonezh on 18 July 2000, the day of the saint's commemoration, and in 2002 it was turned into the Sergius Convent.
The first residents were the nuns Serafyma and Feodosiia. In 2004 Feodosiia was raised to the rank of abbess, and now mother superior heads the community. The solemn consecration of the Sergius Convent took place on 8 November 2005, the day of the commemoration of the holy great martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki.
In the lower church it was planned to open a Sunday school, which was later housed in the building of the general school. On the lower floor, in 2011, the fitting out of the Church of St Victor began; it was consecrated in September 2015, on the feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God. The lower church was painted by the Kramatorsk artist Viktor Pavlov. Services in the church of the holy martyr Victor are held on weekdays.
The community has a summer church, consecrated in 2011 in honour of the holy martyrs Faith, Hope and Love and their mother Sophia.
The church has an unusual design, with an arched gallery ending in the altar space under a dome.
Much effort has gone into the arrangement of the convent yard.
Cell blocks, a refectory and outbuildings have been built, and a fence put up.
The abandoned park has been cleared of old trees, avenues and flower beds have been laid out, and birches, roses, thujas and fruit trees planted.
Two war memorials on the convent grounds have been restored and supplemented with memorial plaques bearing the names of the fallen. In the common grave rest 260 soldiers of the Red Army who died in 1943 during the liberation of Serhiivka.
The sisters and novices work in a workshop where they sew vestments and monastic clothing. Beadwork embroidery and the weaving of prayer ropes are the traditional kinds of handicraft in the convent.
Lay people come to the convent from all over the region to venerate the holy things of the Holy Sergius community. The church has two reliquaries; the especially revered holy images are the icon of St Sergius of Radonezh, the icon of the Mother of God "Quick to Hear" and the icon of the Mother of God "The Impassable Gate".
The feasts of the convent
18 July and 8 October — the patronal feasts in honour of the heavenly patron of the community, St Sergius of Radonezh.
13 February — the patronal feast in honour of the martyr Victor.
30 September — the commemoration of the holy martyrs Faith, Hope and Love and their mother Sophia.
25 April — the day of commemoration of Bishop Basil of Parium.
22 November — the day of the celebration of the icon of the Mother of God "Quick to Hear".
The convent has a hostel where pilgrims can stay.
Near the convent the village infrastructure has been put in order, the club has been repaired and sports and play equipment installed. Beside the club a monument has been unveiled to Saints Peter and Fevronia, the patrons of family, love, fidelity and marriage.
Serhiivka can also be reached by the Kramatorsk-Dobropillia bus.
Address: Soborna St., 1. Serhiivka, Sloviansk district, Donetsk region.
Coordinates: 48°40'19"N 37° 22'33"E
This story is also available in Ukrainian: Сергіївка. Свято-Сергіївська обитель. Історія заснування монастиря. Храми, святині, свята
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