Epiphany Monastery (Polotsk)

In the 1650s, the abbot of the Epiphany Monastery was the famous spiritual writer Ignatius (Ievlevich) . In the same years, Simeon of Polotsk was tonsured to the monastery. There was a fraternal school at the monastery, in which in 1656-1659 Simeon of Polotsk taught before moving to Moscow .

The monastery was founded in 1582 on the right bank of the Western Dvina . For a long time, the monastery was the main center of Orthodoxy in Polotsk (since the more ancient monastery of the city - Spaso-Evfrosinievsky - did not belong to the Russian Orthodox Church until the 19th century).

In 1761-1779 a stone Epiphany Cathedral was built. In 1780-1788, with the funds allocated by Empress Catherine II , the monastery was significantly expanded according to the project of J. Quarenghi . To the west of the church, on the site of the wooden building of the fraternal school, a stone two-story building was erected, which housed the cells of the monks, the abbot's chambers and two warm churches - St. Euphrosyne and St. Catherine.

In 1784-1791 and 1812-1900, a public school was located in the residential building of the monastery, and an almshouse in 1792-1812 ^[1] .

The monastery was abolished in the XX century.

In the 1970s, the monastery's residential building was used as a residential building. Currently, the building of the residential building of the former monastery houses the museum-library of Simeon Polotsky and the Museum of Belarusian Printing .

The Epiphany Cathedral , which served as an art gallery after the restoration of 1981, was again handed over to believers in 1991 and is the cathedral of the Polotsk and Glubokoe diocese .

• Ignatius (1655-1660)
• Filaret (1840-1849)
• Paul (1849-1851)