Antoniev Monastery (Novgorod)

The founder and first abbot of the monastery was the Monk Anthony of Rome . The circumstances of his appearance in Novgorod are described in a life compiled in the 16th century and are legendary. According to the life, Anthony came from Rome and came to Novgorod in a miraculous way. During a solitary prayer, the rock on which he stood broke away from the coast and sailed to the banks of Volkhov in the vicinity of Novgorod. According to the life, this happened in 1106 at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 8). Here Anthony founded his monastery.

Although the origin of the Monk Anthony remains unclear, quite a lot of documentary information has been preserved about him and his monastery. Chronicles with unusual attention to a private person recorded his deeds. Anthony was a stranger in Novgorod. Nevertheless, Bishop Nikita blessed him with the creation of a monastery, which, in particular, is mentioned in the spiritual letter of St. Anthony on the list of the 16th century (the text accurately repeats the original dating from 1100–1130). However, after the death of Bishop Nikita, the Monk Anthony for many years found himself in conflict with Prince Vsevolod and the new Bishop John Popian . Only in 1131, Archbishop Nifont , who ascended the department, placed Anthony in the abbess of his monastery.

There is a very plausible version of the appearance of Anthony in Novgorod, explaining, in particular, the reasons for the tough conflict between him and Bishop John. The Monk Anthony could be a native of the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery , which carried out extensive missionary activity. Perhaps this was part of the planned monastery development of the Novgorod land. Characteristically, Vladyka Nikita and Nifont, who supported Anthony, came from the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery. On the contrary, Bishop John was hostile to Kiev and probably even claimed the autocephaly of his department from the Metropolitan of Kiev. The already existing difficulties in relations between Kiev and Novgorod manifested themselves here, which more and more showed the desire for independence.

Despite all the difficulties, the Monk Anthony was able to build a stone cathedral in his monastery and paint it with frescoes . To do this, he undoubtedly needed strong support from Kiev. The first Novgorod Chronicle marks the laying of the cathedral in 1117, and in 1119 it speaks of the completion of construction. The painting of the cathedral was completed in 1125, and in 1127 a refectory church was built. The Monk Anthony died in 1147, bequeathing the superiority to his disciple Andrei, who later wrote the first not-preserved text of the life of St. Anthony ^[1] . Under him, the monastery deacon and domestic Kirik (Novgorod) studied music and mathematics.

In 1528, the Novgorod archbishop Makarii introduced a communal charter in the monastery. Soon, new construction work began. During the reign of Archimandrite Gerontius in 1533-1536, the Sretensky church and the church " beneath the bells " were built in honor of Anthony the Great. In the mid-sixteenth century, the abbot of the monastery of Benjamin found the stone of St. Anthony, lying on the banks of the Volkhov River, and "hoisted" it in the outer wall of the cathedral. Now the stone of Anthony of the Romans lies in the narthex to the right of the entrance door to the cathedral under the image of Bishop of Novgorod Nikita. In 1558, the “Commendable Word” was written to the Monk Anthony. Then his all-Russian veneration began to take shape, although officially the Monk Anthony of Rome was included in the list of all-Russian saints only in 1597. This delay was associated with the oprichnina rout of Novgorod in 1570, when all the brethren and hegumen of the monastery Gelasii were executed ^[2] .

In 1708-1723, before the department was transferred to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery , it was in the Anthony Monastery that the residence of the Novgorod vicar bishops was located. During this period, the bishops carried out large construction works in the monastery (for the construction of a hospital with the church of Alexander Nevsky, the Kelar Chamber, treasury and other cells, a brewery, a bathhouse, a new fence).

In 1740, through the efforts of Archbishop Ambrose (who bequeathed to bury himself on the porch of the monastery cathedral), Novgorod theological seminary was founded at the monastery. Among the pets of her first release (1754) was Tikhon Zadonsky . In the years 1788-1800 the status of the Novgorod seminary was reduced to the level of four-year. With few exceptions, since 1743 the rectors of the Anthony Monastery were also rectors of the seminary. In 1918, the seminary was closed, and in 1920 the St. Anthony Monastery ^[3] was abolished (inaccessible link from 08-02-2018 [595 days]) .

In 1117, St. Anthony laid the main temple of the monastery - the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin . Bishop John consecrated it two years later. The building was a three-nave single-domed church with a round staircase , in relation to the plan, the inheritance of the Annunciation Church on the Settlement (known from excavations). In order to eliminate the uneasy asymmetry of the biceps above the temple itself and the staircase, in ancient times the number of chapters was increased to three.

The cathedral church has survived to our time. Compared with the princely cathedrals of the early XII century, its architectural forms are simplified, the masonry is relatively careless, there are no two-tailed niches on the facades. The choirs are located only above the narthex, that is, in the side naves they are not extended to the east. The eastern pair of pillars is in the shape of T, and the middle one is hexagonal. In Soviet times, murals from the 1120s were discovered during the recording of the 19th century.

The refectory Sretensky church (1533-1536) is one of the first pillarless churches of the Novgorod land. The small-domed church, which has survived to our time, is covered by a "very shallow dome resting directly on the walls and on the system of blood clots" ^[9] above the corners of the quadrangle.

According to chronicles, it is known that in the middle of the 16th century the church of Anthony the Great was built in the monastery " like bells ." This church was demolished after the collapse in 1804. At the same time, the hospital church of Alexander Nevsky and the Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist over the southern gate, built in the 1670s, were dismantled. The foundations of the church of Anthony were discovered and explored only in the 1980s.

At the site of the Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist, a three-tier bell tower was erected - a characteristic monument of the era of classicism . In the 1930s, the two upper tiers of the bell tower were demolished and disassembled into bricks ^[10] .

Today, the monastery buildings are part of the Novgorod Museum-Reserve . On the territory of the monastery there are a number of faculties of Novgorod State University named after Yaroslav the Wise , formerly part of the Novgorod State Pedagogical Institute, which was part of NovSU) ^[3] .

• Gordienko E.A., Sarabyanov V.D., Secretary of L.A. Anthony of the Romans in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Monastery // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2001. - T. II. - S. 691-695. - 752 s. - 40,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-007-2 .

• Orlova M. About some decorative techniques in the mural painting of the Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady of the Anthony Monastery in Novgorod (1125). // Problems to the art. - 2010. - No. 1.
• Sarabyanov V. D. Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary of the Anthony Monastery in Novgorod. - M .: Northern Pilgrim, 2002.
• Soikin P.P. Anthony of the Romans monastery in Novgorod // Orthodox Russian cloisters : A full illustrated description of Orthodox Russian monasteries in the Russian Empire and Mount Athos. - SPb. : Resurrection, 1994 .-- S. 114 .-- 712 p. - 20,000 copies. - ISBN 5-88335-001-1 .
• Michell R., Forbes N., ed. The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016-1471 - New York: American Medieval Society Press, 1970. - P. 9-10, 12.

• Antoniev Monastery (Neopr.) . on the website sobory.ru .