Holy Cross Monastery Domodedovo. Exaltation of the Cross Convent

Date of publication or update 12/15/2017

Address of the Exaltation of the Cross Monastery: 142031, Moscow region, Domodedovsky district, pos. Luchino
How to get to Holy Cross Monastery by public transport: from Paveletsky railway station by electric train to Domodedovo station, fixed-route taxi No. 871 to the monastery; from the metro station "Domodedovskaya" by bus to the airport to the stop "Sanatorium", then 15 minutes on foot.
A detailed story about a trip to Vidnoye, including Lukino to the Exaltation of the Cross Jerusalem Convent.
Exaltation of the Cross Jerusalem Monastery website: http://krest-mon.ru
View on Yandex map:
Exaltation of the Cross Jerusalem convent in Lukino.

History of the Exaltation of the Cross Monastery.

The foundation of the current Holy Cross Exaltation Jerusalem stauropegial nunnery was laid in 1837 in the village of Stary Yam, Podolsky district, on the Kashirskoye highway. There, at the Church of the Holy Martyrs Flora and Laurus in the village of Yam, an almshouse was set up for women. The exact number of those who lived in it is unknown, but it can be assumed that there were from 10 to 15 people. This almshouse, built on church land, did not differ in any way from similar houses of charity for the poor and indigent, and was maintained "by the labors of those living in it and by well-meaning givers."

In this form, it lasted about 20 years. Since 1855, the peasant Ivan Stepanovich, a native of the village of Syanovo, began to actively help the almshouse. This was an unusual person. At the age of 34, Ivan Stepanovich left his job (and he was a Moscow cab driver) and took upon himself the feat of foolishness. It happened like this. Ivan fell ill and went to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra to venerate the holy relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh and ask for healing. During his pilgrimage, he met the fool for Christ for the sake of Philip, who, with the blessing of Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov), lived in the famous Gethsemane skete of the Lavra, and then, for greater solitude, settled in a dilapidated uninhabited gatehouse, located behind the skete in a dense forest thicket.

The feat of the foolishness of Christ for the sake of and the whole way of life of Philip inspired Ivan to move away from worldly fuss and fully devote himself to serving God. In one shirt, barefoot, he walked around Moscow in winter and summer, wore chains, endured all sorts of hardships. He traveled a lot to the holy places and monasteries of Russia. Imitating the holy ascetics, he led an ascetic life.

Ivan Stepanovich was known to the Moscow Metropolitan Filaret, who had a special disposition for him and talked for a long time with the holy fool.

Moscow merchants also knew Ivan Stepanovich, but he was especially loved by the pious Savatyugin family of merchants. After the death of the head of the family, Nikolai Kirillovich Savatyugin, the blessed one came to his widow, Paraskeva Rodionovna, and asked her for money to read the Psalter for the deceased. With similar requests, he turned to other persons, and few refused him. Ivan Stepanovich decided to arrange a reading of the Indestructible Psalter in the almshouse, which became the foundation on which the monastery subsequently arose.

Soon, on the advice of Ivan Stepanovich, Paraskeva Rodionovna Savatyugina (the first donor) joined the ranks of the sisters of the almshouse, deciding to devote her life to serving God and neighbor.

With the money donated by her, a two-story stone house was built for the almshouse. On the day of the consecration of this house, Vladyka Philaret sent the Jerusalem icon of the Mother of God in Greek writing as a blessing to the almshouse, which became the main shrine of the monastery.

Vladyka Filaret did not cease to patronize the almshouse in subsequent years, helping her in every possible way. Having visited the village of Stary Yam in 1860, having examined the almshouse, he said this: "This is not an almshouse, but a monastery!" These words turned out to be prophetic.

After 5 years, in 1865, thanks to his petition, the almshouse was renamed the Floro-Lavra women's community. Paraskeva Rodionovna Savatyugina becomes her first boss, and Ivan Stepanovich is the spiritual leader of the sisters.

Ivan Stepanovich died on January 7, 1865, at the age of 50. This holy man was the first and main founder of the current monastery.

During the life of Ivan Stepanovich, the almshouse almost did not need anything, since Moscow merchants who knew him personally willingly donated money to it, and with the death of the blessed one, the community began to feel the need ... But the ways of God's Providence are inscrutable. In 1869, a very important event took place in the life of the community.

Seven versts from the village of Stary Yam was the village of Lukino, which belonged to Alexandra Petrovna Golovina, a very pious woman. Having buried her husband and her only daughter, she decided to donate the village and the estate with all the land (212 acres of land) to the Floro-Lavra women's community. Alexandra Petrovna turned to Vladyka Filaret, who in every possible way contributed to the fulfillment of her desire, and a deed of gift was drawn up for the Lukin estate. The sisters of the community were to move to the Golovins' estate.

It took a lot of effort to set up in a new place. Therefore, Paraskeva Rodionovna Savatyugina asked the diocesan authorities to appoint her nephew, the Moscow merchant Yegor Fedorovich Savatyugin, as a trustee of the community. With his help, the former comfortable house was transferred from the village of Stary Yam to the village of Lukino for housing for the sisters, and other works were carried out to equip the new place.

It was entrusted to transfer the community to Lukino to the Dean of cenobitic monasteries, Archimandrite of the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery Pimen (Myasnikov) (in 2004 he was canonized as the locally venerated Saint Pimen of Ugreshsky).

Arriving at a new place, the sisters began to settle down.

On the territory of the estate there was a small stone church in the name of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Krestovozdvizhenskaya), built in 1846. So from now on the community became known as the Exaltation of the Cross.

But over time, this old Exaltation Church became cramped for the sisters, so in 1871 they began to build a new one in honor of the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God, which was attached to the refectory building. Now it was here, day and night, that the sisters read the Indestructible Psalter. Here they also placed the main shrine of the community - the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God, a gift from Vladyka Philaret. On October 13, 1873, the new temple was consecrated, and at the end of the month, the construction of the bell tower and stone fence began.

In 1873, the first tonsure was performed in the Jerusalem temple - the abbess of the community, Paraskeva Rodionovna Savatyugina, became a monk with the name Pavla, and most of the sisters were blessed to wear monastic clothes.

During the time of the abbot of the nun Pavla in the period from 1871 to 1886. a two-story private building, a house for the clergy, a rector's building, a small hotel, a bell tower, horse and cattle yards were built, the construction of a stone fence began, an orchard and a vegetable garden were planted.

Gradually, interest in the community from those around increased, the number of people wishing to pray in the temple increased every year, so there was a need to build a new spacious church for pilgrims. With his own money earned by hard and righteous labors, a simple peasant Sergei Tikhonovich Sorokin is building a vast refectory for the Exaltation of the Cross Church. The masonry of the extension was brought almost to the windows when Sergei Tikhonovich died. The construction was suspended for three years, until a new donor was found - the Moscow merchant Dmitry Mikhailovich Shaposhnikov, who completed the refectory.

Nun Pavel at that time was already about 90 years old, and she filed a petition for her retirement.

In 1886, Evgeniya (Vinogradova), a nun from the Moscow Passionate Monastery, was appointed to manage the community. She had 30 years of experience as a monastic under her belt and zealously set about transforming the community into a monastery.

With the assistance of Princess Maria Yakovlevna Meshcherina, a parochial school with an orphanage for six orphan girls and a five-bed hospital were set up. The community had its own pharmacy garden, its own pharmacy. The sisters themselves made medicines not only for themselves, but also for the surrounding residents. They went around the villages and villages, washed the sick, delivered medicines and food to the sick. An almshouse was opened for the infirm old women from among the sisters.

The life of the community became more and more like a monastery, there were already about 100 sisters in it. In February 1887, by the decision of the Holy Synod, the community was transformed into the Exaltation of the Cross Jerusalem cenobitic second class monastery. The official opening and solemn consecration of the monastery took place on June 28 (July 11, New Style), 1887.

Under Abbess Eugenia, the grandiose construction of a cathedral church in honor of the Ascension of the Lord began.

Shortly after this conversation, the Moscow tradesman Vasily Fedorovich Zholobov visited the monastery. He was struck by the fact that during the holidays the Holy Cross Church cannot accommodate all the worshipers. Vasily Fedorovich offered Abbess Evgenia 10,000 rubles to start building the cathedral church. In 1889, the project was prepared by the diocesan architect S. V. Krygin, and in the spring of 1890, the laying of the cathedral took place. V. F. Zholobov annually allocated a certain amount from his income, and subsequently took over the entire organization of work on the construction of the temple, while he himself purchased materials, hired workers and made settlements with them.

Mainly thanks to his efforts, by the summer of 1893 the temple from the outside was almost ready. The height of the cathedral from the ground to the cross was 38 meters. The next summer, we started the interior decoration. The nun Afanasia, a resident of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Monastery, allocated a large sum for the construction of the iconostasis, who, having entered the monastery, brought her entire fortune. The painting of the walls and the writing of icons were entrusted to the icon painter Yerzunov. Icons for iconostases were painted on a gold chased background and decorated with enamel along the edges. About 150 biblical scenes were depicted on the walls of the cathedral. Benefactors also helped to purchase church utensils.

The construction of the cathedral was completed under another abbess - Mother Superior Nina (Evstafieva). (After 7 years of vigilant labor, nun Evgenia was transferred as abbess to the Moscow Ascension Convent in the Kremlin.)

On July 15, 1896, two thrones were consecrated in the cathedral: the main, Ascension, and the northern, Assumption. The southern chapel in the name of Metropolitan Philip of Moscow (according to legend, the village of Lukino was the birthplace of this saint) was consecrated on September 15 of the same year.

Under Abbess Nina, Vasily Zholobov built another nursing building, which has survived to our time and is called "Vasilyevsky".

After Abbess Nina, who died in 1900, the nun Alexandra (Egorova) became the abbess of the monastery. Having renovated the Exaltation of the Cross Church, she retired, and in 1906 the staff of the abbess passed to nun Margarita (Petrushenkova). Nun Margarita was transferred from the Ascension Convent in the Kremlin, where she carried the obedience of a cell-attendant to Abbess Evgenia (Vinogradova).

Under Abbess Margarita, the construction of the fence was completed. Now the whole complex of monastic buildings was a single ensemble.

In addition to the temples and buildings of the monastery listed and described above, there were many other buildings on its territory.

Near the western gate of the monastery there was a bell tower built in 1874 (destroyed in Soviet times). She was not tall - 37 arshins, but surprisingly beautiful. The holy gates in it were skillfully painted "in grateful memory of the persons who contributed to the improvement of the monastery." The bell tower housed 10 bells. They made a good sonorous, clear ringing, which was well audible far away.

The largest of them weighed 308 pounds.

There were separate buildings to accommodate the sisters and various monastic needs.

The refectory building, as already mentioned, was transferred to Lukino from the village of Stary Yam during the transition of the community.

In the building, located behind the Jerusalem temple and also two-story, there was at one time a prosphora, bread, shoe, hospital for five beds, a small pharmacy room and about 10 cells.

At the entrance to the monastery, on the right side, next to the bell tower, in 1909 a wooden two-story house was built to receive commanding officials when they visited the monastery.

The house of the abbess of the monastery was originally wooden, one-story. In May 1910, under Abbess Margarita, a new stone two-story house was laid. On the first floor, two large rooms housed a needlework and seamstress workshop, while the rest were intended for the sisters' housing. The upper floor was occupied by the abbot's cells.

In the western part of the monastery, not far from the new home of the abbess, there was a wooden two-story monastic parish school, where about forty girls studied. On the second floor there was an orphanage for six orphans who lived on full monastic support. (The school building was built in 1889 under Abbess Evgenia.)

In addition to the listed buildings, within the monastery fence there were seven more separate houses built at the expense of the sisters who lived in them. At the southern wall of the monastery fence, on the slope of the mountain, there was an apiary. In the southwestern corner of the monastery, at the beginning of the 20th century, a vast stone cellar was built to store household supplies, and above it, at the entrance gate, there was a stone bathhouse and laundry.

Behind the monastery fence there were clergy houses and outbuildings. Opposite the Exaltation Church and the eastern gate of the monastery is a room for a priest and a deacon. The second monastery priest, who was appointed in 1904, lived in a house next to the bell tower.

The house was located between two orchards. Opposite is a pine grove planted by Mother Superior Eugenia. V.F. / Kolobov, mentioned above, built a two-story hotel with 15 rooms in a grove. And in 1911, in the backyard, closer to the forest, a steam mill was built and equipped.

There was a pond in the center of the monastery territory. Previously, a large manor house with a mezzanine, owned by the Golovins, stood on this site. On the night of February 18, 1893, this house burned down, and a pond was dug in its place, to which on holidays religious processions were made to bless the water.

In the southwestern side of the monastery, among the monastery gardens and arable land, there was a small chapel with a well. Here, according to legend, there was once a church with a revered icon of the holy martyr Anisiy, and therefore the well later became known as Anisievsky. The water of this well is amazingly clean and tasty. In 1901, a small bath was built below the chapel.

The monastic life continued in solitude, prayer and work until October 1917. After the revolution, the well-developed and well-established economy of the monastery was nationalized, valuable utensils were confiscated, and the library was burned.

Homeless children were placed within the walls of the monastery. The nuns themselves were identified as workers, first of the Agricultural Commune, and then of the Lukino state farm. After some time, the land of the state farm was transferred to the pharmaceutical plant "Ferein". The exemplary monastic economy gradually fell into decay ...

In the early 1920s, Rest House No. 10 of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions was organized in the monastery. At that time, an orchard, a maple park and an apiary were still preserved. But the domes and crosses of the Ascension Cathedral, which so interfered with the new owners, had already been removed ...

On April 27, 1924, at 10 pm, a meeting was held at which it was decided to close the temple. Inside, floors were made for the second floor and a club was opened.

The only consolation for believers in those years was the Holy Cross Church, where the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God was transferred. Liturgical life continued there.

In 1937, Kozma Korotkikh, a priest of the Exaltation of the Cross Church, was shot at the Butovo training ground. The last candle of the monastery prayer went out. A warehouse for storing coal and peat was arranged in the church, and the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God was laid on the floor like a flooring...

The terrible time of the Great Patriotic War... A military hospital is urgently located in the buildings and premises of the former monastery. The believing women miraculously manage to save the Jerusalem icon of the Mother of God and transport it to the church in the village of Myachkovo, where the icon will remain for 50 years.

After the war, the sanatorium "Leninskiye Gorki" was opened in the monastery. An orchard and a maple alley were cut down for the Olympics.

In 1980, the All-Union Center for the Rehabilitation of Children was located on the territory of the monastery. The Center's administration was located in the Exaltation of the Cross Church. The temple was divided by a ceiling into two floors and divided into many small rooms. A hydropathic facility was set up in the Jerusalem temple. In the altar there were baths in which the sick took water procedures.

Perhaps, through the prayers of the founder of the monastery, Blessed Ivan Stepanovich, and the abbesses and nuns of the monastery who received the Grace of God in eternity, the holy Jerusalem monastery was saved by the Lord from greater defilement, similar to that which many other temples and monasteries were subjected to.

At a time when prisons, garages, warehouses for fertilizers and chemicals, factories producing weapons of mass destruction, and other institutions incompatible with church service were set up in other monasteries and churches, the Holy Cross Monastery has always remained a place where the suffering received relief from their ailments - an almshouse , a shelter for homeless children, a rest home, a hospital, a sanatorium, a children's rehabilitation center. (A new modern building was built for the rehabilitation center on the monastery territory in the 1980s. The foundation of the destroyed steam mill also came in handy: one of the buildings of the Center was also erected on it. Children from all over Russia still come here for treatment.)

But now the times and dates have come true, the period of spiritual devastation has ended, and the time has come to "gather stones."

In 1992, the monastery was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church, and its second life began. New nuns came to the monastery, lampadas were lit in front of the holy images, monastic prayer flowed like a bright stream, divine services were resumed in the Exaltation of the Cross Church of the monastery. The first years of the revival of the monastery were difficult; Only sincere faith in the immutable promises of God and the Heavenly Protection of the Mother of God, whose miraculous Jerusalem image, miraculously saved from destruction, returned to the walls of the monastery, gave strength to the nuns to endure all the physical and spiritual hardships of the period of formation.

A new period of restoration of monastic life and the restoration of the monastery began in 2001 with the arrival of nun Ekaterina (Chainikova), who had gone through the theological school of the elders of the Pskov-Caves monastery, gained monastic experience in the Pyukhtitsky Holy Dormition Convent and in obedience in the Moscow Patriarchate. Under her leadership, with the direct paternal care of the monastery of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, the monastery began to improve, to conduct active social work.

During this period of spiritual "gathering of stones" numerous events took place that qualitatively changed the life of the monastery.

The temple of the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God was restored with the sister building adjacent to it. The Holy Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God was placed in its historical place.

The Exaltation of the Cross Church was completely restored, painted with frescoes, decorated with a majestic iconostasis and many holy icons. Some of the icons that are now in the temple were in it before closing.

At the monastery, under the direct patronage of the abbess, a small, but active and cheerful Sunday school began its life, in which the children of the parishioners found the opportunity to communicate with their believing peers. Pupils of the school sing at divine services, arrange performances and concerts both for the nuns and parishioners of the monastery, and "on tour" - either in a nearby rehabilitation center, or in various Moscow parishes, or with congratulations from His Holiness Patriarch Alexy. But not only the holidays held by the monastery for sick children connect the monastery with the rehabilitation center.

The priests of the monastery provide the necessary pastoral assistance to the children and their parents in this center, both in the monastery itself and on the territory of the center's buildings. A special page in the life of the monastery is occupied by friendship with the Orthodox Orphanage from the village of Uspenskoye, Noginsk district, Moscow region. For several years now, children from this institution have been coming to the monastery for vacations: to relax, to make a feasible contribution to the revival of the monastery, to communicate with the monastery animals.

The almshouse continues its quiet life, from which the history of the Exaltation of the Cross Monastery once began. Several weak souls in need of help found shelter, care and consolation here.

Reviving the traditions of the Russian monastic economy, the monastery acquired a new barnyard, which provides the inhabitants with dairy products. The monastery products, famous for their quality, are bought with pleasure by the surrounding residents, and the proceeds from the sale are used to restore the monastery.

Vegetable gardens have always been an integral part of the life of monastics, eating from the fruits of their labor and consuming mainly food of plant origin. There are also in the Exaltation of the Cross Monastery. There is a deep spiritual meaning in this painstaking agricultural work. Cultivating the fruitful land and removing weeds from it, the monk prayerfully cultivates "the land of his heart", removing sinful passions from it, planting and growing Christian virtues in the soul.

And yet the main "work" of a monk is prayer. It is this difficult spiritual feat that is the basis of the life of the monastery, the main tool for the Christian improvement of the soul. Every day, the sisters of the monastery read the entire Psalter in full, commemorate synodists with many names of living and deceased Orthodox Christians.

Every day, monastic prayer rules are performed in the temple, prayers with akathists and funeral litia are served. Frequently performed Divine Liturgies provide powerful, grace-filled support in the difficult monastic life of the nuns. The secret deeds of the sisters are known only by the Lord who knows the heart...

An important role in enriching the souls of monastics is played by pilgrimage trips to the great Russian shrines: to the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, to the Serafimo-Diveevo monastery, the Serpukhov Vladychny monastery and the Vysotsky monastery and to other holy monasteries, where the abbess organizes trips of the sisters, sometimes together with the pupils of the Resurrection schools and parishioners. The experience gained on such trips contributes to the further development of spiritual life in one's own monastery.

In 2006, a courtyard appeared near the monastery in Moscow - the temple of the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God behind the Intercession Gate (Talalikhina St., 24). This temple was built in 1912 by the architect S.F. Voznesensky in the style of Russian tent churches of the 16th century. It could accommodate up to 2,000 pilgrims and was one of the best in Moscow in decoration. Now there is no trace of its former splendor ...

The courtyard immediately attracted to itself those Moscow parishioners who feel the special spirit and taste of monastic prayer, and strive to partake, at least in part, of the life of "earthly angels - heavenly people" - monks. A community of believers has formed around the temple, the temple has become for them the House where their souls have found grace and peace from the many sorrows and worries of modern life.

Both the courtyard and the monastery itself live an intense life of a single spiritual organism, serving God and the Orthodox people. "Stones are being gathered" - those "stones" of faith and monastic deeds, on the foundation of which the great Russian Orthodox Church has stood unshakably for a thousand years, and will stand until the end of the Age.

Shrines of the Exaltation of the Cross Monastery.

With the use of materials from the book "Time to collect stones ... Exaltation of the Cross Jerusalem stauropegial convent."

The monastery at the village of Lukin was founded in 1837 under the guise of a women's almshouse at the Floro-Lavra Church with. Stary Yam, which in 1856 was renamed a prayer almshouse, converted in 1865 through the efforts of the holy fool Ivan Stepanovich Savatyugin and with the help of Praskovy Rodionovna Savatyugin, Nikolai Gavrilovich Ryumin and his sister, the senator's wife, Lyubov Gavrilovna Moroz, into a women's community with the name of its Floro-Lavra. In 1870, the community was transferred to the estate of Alexandra Petrovna Golovina, the village of Lukino, and on June 28, 1887, it was renamed into a monastery.

Temples: Holy Cross (1848); in honor of the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God (1873); in honor of the Ascension of the Lord with aisles; in honor of the Assumption of the Mother of God and in the name of St. Philip, Mr. Moscow (consecrated in 1896).

The monastery housed the locally venerated Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God. The monastery was destroyed in 1919. All icons, library and church utensils were taken out or burned. The nuns were driven out and exiled to different places. The temples were rebuilt into dormitories, crosses were removed from all domes and thrown down. A tobacco factory was opened on the territory, and a hospital was equipped during the war years. In 1970, a Children's Rehabilitation Center for disabled children was opened on the territory of the monastery.

In March 1992 the monastery was given to the Russian Orthodox Church for works of mercy and charity. A revival began in it - first of all, the reading of the Vigilant Psalter and the restoration of the monastery itself from the ruins. Monastic life is gradually being revived under the care of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy P. of Moscow and All Russia. The deeds of mercy and charity are being revived. On patronal feasts, processions are held in the monastery, and the sisters serve a festive meal for all pilgrims in the open air. The monastery has a subsidiary farm, the fruits of which are distributed to all those in need, as well as to large families. The miraculous Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God was returned to the monastery, every Sunday a prayer service is read before it and the sisters sing an akathist in a singsong voice.

Holidays: 14/27 sept. - Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord; Oct 12/25 -Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God; 15/28 Aug. - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Jan 9/22, Jul 3/16, Oct 5/18 - St. Philip, Mr. Moscow († 1569)

Story

In 1837, in the village of Stary Yam, Podolsky district, an almshouse for women was set up at the church of the Holy Martyrs Flora and Laurus. It lasted for about 20 years. Paraskeva Rodionovna Savatyugina became the first benefactor of the almshouse. With her money, a two-story stone house was built. On the day of the consecration of this house in 1855, Metropolitan Filaret (Drozdov) sent the Jerusalem icon of the Mother of God in Greek writing as a blessing to the almshouse, which later became the main shrine of the monastery.

In 1865, with the blessing of Metropolitan Philaret, the almshouse was renamed the Florolavr women's community. P.R. becomes her first boss. Savatyugin.

Soon the community moved to the estate of the princes Golovins in the village of Lukino, donated to it. From the village of Stary Yam, the former well-appointed house was moved to housing for the sisters, and other works were carried out to equip the new location.

On the territory of the estate there was a small stone church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Krestovozdvizhenskaya), built in 1846. From now on, the community became known as Krestovozdvizhenskaya.

In 1871, the construction of the Temple of the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God began. October 13, 1873 the new church was consecrated.

In 1873, the first vows were performed in the Jerusalem temple - the abbess of the community, Paraskeva Savatyugina, took monastic vows with the name of Pavel, and most of the sisters were blessed to wear monastic clothes.

Between 1871 and 1886 a two-story cell building, a clergy house, a rector's building, a small hotel, and a bell tower were built. Subsequently, with the assistance of Princess Maria Yakovlevna Meshcherina, a parochial school with an orphanage and a hospital were established. The life of the community became more and more like a monastery, there were already about 100 sisters in it.

In February 1887, by the decision of the Holy Synod, the community was transformed into the Exaltation of the Cross Jerusalem cenobitic second-class monastery. The official opening and solemn consecration of the monastery took place on June 28 (July 11, new style), 1887.

In the spring of 1890, the construction of the cathedral church began according to the project of the architect S.V. Krygin. On July 15, 1896, two thrones were consecrated in the cathedral: the main, Ascension, and the northern, Assumption. The southern chapel in the name of Metropolitan Philip of Moscow was consecrated on September 15 of the same year.

After the revolution, the economy of the monastery was nationalized, valuable utensils were confiscated, and the library was burned. The believers managed to save the Jerusalem icon of the Mother of God and transport it to the church in the village of Myachkovo, where the icon remained for 50 years.

Homeless children were placed within the walls of the monastery. In the early 20s. a rest home was set up here. During the Great Patriotic War, a military hospital was located in the buildings and premises of the former monastery. After the war, the Leninskiye Gorki sanatorium was opened in the monastery. In 1980, the All-Union Center for the Rehabilitation of Children was located on the territory of the monastery.

In 1992 the monastery was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. The miraculous Jerusalem icon of the Mother of God was returned to the monastery.

In 2006, a courtyard appeared near the monastery in Moscow - the temple of the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God behind the Pokrovskaya outpost.

shrines

• Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God;
• particles of relics: vmch. George the Victorious; St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov; St. Nifont, Bishop of Novgorod; St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow; Rev. Pimen Postnik; Rev. Lawrence the Recluse, Bishop of Turov; Rev. Macarius; ssmch. Kukshi; Rev. Anatolia; Rev. Sylvester; Rev. Abraham the Hardworking; Rev. Isaiah the Wonderworker; Rev. Ilya Muromets; Rev. Alypy the Icon Painter; Rev. Basil the Martyr; Reverend Fathers of the Kiev Caves; St. Nicholas of Myra; cshmch. Clement, Pope of Rome; vmts. Catherine.

The Exaltation of the Cross Jerusalem Monastery is a functioning stauropegial nunnery in the village of Lukino, Domodedovo City District, Moscow Region. I visited it for the first time only this year, and it immediately became one of my favorite monasteries in Moscow and the Moscow region.

How to get there. By car: from Old Kashirskoye Highway at the junction immediately after the Moscow Ring Road to the highway to Domodedovo Airport, at the junction after 9 km, turn left at the sign "Children's Rehabilitation Center", then 1 km to the village. Lukino. By bus: m. Domodedovskaya, then bus. 404, 510 to stop. "Children's sanatorium"

In the middle of the 19th century, the famous landowner Alexandra Golovina, having become a widow and having lost her only 15-year-old daughter, donated her entire estate in the village of Lukino, which is more than 500 hectares of land, to the female Orthodox community, so that they could pray for the repose of her souls here. husband and daughter.

The women's community with an almshouse was transformed into a nunnery by decree of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow in 1887. Immediately after the revolution, the monastery was devastated, and since 1921, instead of an orphanage for girls, a shady park and an orchard, an apiary and an icon-painting workshop, a tobacco factory, a hostel, and a cinema arose.

Ascension temple of the monastery - the largest and youngest. It began to be restored in 1979 before the Olympics. But not in order to return the church, just the artists found a reason for the restoration. The domes of this cathedral were a landmark for Lenin, who was returning from hunting, who lived here nearby in Gorki.

And then a cinema and a dining room were located in the cathedral, local workers invited girls here to dance or watch movies, they deducted two rubles from their salary for this. At that time, good money, it was normal to celebrate with it, and people came to the temple in droves.

The main shrine of the monastery, the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God, is today in the Jerusalem Temple. This icon was donated to the monastery by Metropolitan Filaret of Moscow, and after the closing and looting of the monastery, it became a coal tray. Then they decided to burn it down.

When the icon was carried to the fire, one woman named Anastasia spread her arms and shouted: "And then I, along with the icon, into the fire!" And something happened, the execution was canceled, and the icon, which was carried by 10-12 people during the processions, was put on a sledge by this woman and two children and taken to the village of Myachkovo, where it was kept for 50 years until it returned to the monastery.

Thousands and thousands of believers always came to this icon. In 1866, she stopped the cholera epidemic. In October 2002, in the restored monastery, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia prayed before her for the release of the hostages at Dubrovka.

In the photo below we see the Holy Cross Church. It is located at the very end of the monastery, but you definitely need to walk to it. The temple has a very strange, unusual purple color, but it looks great. Immediately behind it begins the slope of the hill.

There are pilgrims here. This one is my personal one. She somehow managed to put on a skirt exactly the color of the walls of the temple, apparently, she had a voice from above.

From the top of the hill on which the monastery stands, a magnificent view opens up. In the distance we see the Church of the Resurrection of the Word in the village of Kolychevo, we also drove there, but this is a topic for a separate post.

Yes, by the way, before visiting the monastery, as always, I quickly looked through information about it on the Internet. And he was horrified. They say that it is not only strictly forbidden to take pictures here, but people with cameras must give a written statement that they will not take pictures. What they would do with them in case of violation, I was even afraid to think.

Therefore, I encrypted myself as Stirlitz. He kept the device in a bag, and took pictures from behind the trees and bushes, merged with the grass, pretended to be a nun, when meeting people he began to sing "The Heart of a Beauty", but no one even paid attention. Already at the exit, I was surprised not to find even a hint of such a ban among the ads. Why did I partisan?

Such stacks of firewood (what are they called correctly?) reminded me of the Baltic states that I loved so much, and especially the Pyukhtitsky monastery, where I saw exactly the same ones.

This building is called "Staroigumensky case".

Below we see the temple of the Mother of God of Jerusalem, in which the main shrine of the monastery is kept.

And this is the Bishop's house. It somehow does not fit in with the rest of the buildings of the monastery and looks like a cottage of a wealthy peasant. Of course, you can't enter it.

Small wooden belfry. I don't know its name. Around it are solid benches and children play.

In addition to the small belfry, there is also a large bell tower. It is "large" only by local standards, its height is about 26 meters. Compared to the huge 93-meter bell tower of the Nikolo-Unreshsky Monastery, which is located nearby, it is simply tiny, but we admired it.

The monastery has two walls, one is brick, inside the other is white. The historical monastery itself is fenced with a brick wall, and between it and the white one there is a hotel, a refectory, alleys and all sorts of sports facilities. Close to the monastery adjoins the Rehabilitation Center "Childhood", which is impossible to get into.

The economy in the monastery is carried out very competently, it is immediately evident. Goat and ordinary cheese, honey, all kinds of sour cream are sold in the refectory, and for some reason bacon is sold at the entrance to the monastery. Here we see local inhabitants. The goat happily and very friendly poses for me.

But the huge, pony-sized goat simply brazenly ignored us, and no matter how much I teased him, he didn’t even turn his head. But at least thank you for not jumping into a fight. Goats, they are.

And here is the refectory for pilgrims. Very tasty, very cheap, cooked by a refugee from Ukraine. Who recently told me that in Orthodox monasteries they don't give meat in the refectories? Give! We ate meat and fish cutlets, sighed, and took another one each. Homemade cutlets - delicious. And they also give fragrant meat cabbage soup, as the hostess says, "shchi".

The Exaltation of the Cross Jerusalem Monastery is a place where the soul rests and gains strength. There is no fuss in it, there is no great-power malice in it, there is nothing superfluous. This is the right monastery, here they are preparing not for war with the whole world, but for eternal life.

Fais se que dois adviegne que peut.

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Photo: Holy Cross Monastery in Jerusalem