Transfiguration Monastery (Murom)

Local tradition, recorded in several lists of the 16th century monument “Tales of the Placement of Christianity in Murom” ^[1] , connects the foundation of the monastery with Prince of Murom Gleb Vladimirovich (no later than 1015).

Having received the inheritance of Murom, the holy prince could not settle in the city among the pagans and founded the prince’s court higher up on the Oka, on a steep bank covered with forests ... ^[2]

The appearance of the monastery at the turn of the X-XI centuries was firmly established in Russian historiography ^{[3] [4]} , although there are other points of view on the time the monastery appeared. The monastery is mentioned by annalistic sources before all other monasteries in Russia and appears in the "Tale of Bygone Years" under 1096 in connection with the death of Prince Izyaslav Vladimirovich under the walls of Murom.

In the summer of 6604 ... Izyaslav, on the other hand, made a show of hail. Oleg, on the other hand, go to the regiment to him, and the wallpaper intervenes, and swear at the lyut. And you killed Izyaslav, the son of Volodymyr, the grandson of Vsevolozh, on the seventh day of the month of September ... Oleg, however, was down in the city and in the ale and the townspeople. Izyaslav, after all, having put in the monasteries of the Holy Savior ... ^[5]

By the time of the death of prince Yury Vladimirovich of Murom - January 19, 1175 - the second mention of the Spassky monastery as the burial place of the prince dates back: “Prince of Murom Yury ceased on the 19th of January, and the speed was laid at Holy Savior in Murom” ^[6] . Moreover, according to the Ipatievsky list , the church in which the prince was buried is characterized as built by his efforts: “In the same summer, the Durdy prince of Murom died on the 19th of January and put the speed of Christ’s church in Murom, he created it later” ^[7] .

At the end of the 15th century, the Spassky Monastery was once again indirectly mentioned on the pages of the annals of the Archives in connection with the death of one of the Novgorod boyars, Fyodor Boretsky, who took monastic tonsure at the Spassky Monastery before death, the only male monastery in Murom at that time: “The same spring (9 May 1476) the son of Fedor died in the city of Murom Marfin, and he was tonsured for 9 months. ” ^[8]

In the middle of the 16th century, after the successful campaign of Ivan the Terrible to Kazan in Murom, several stone churches were erected by order of the tsar, including the main cathedral of the Transfiguration Monastery ^[9] .

Despite numerous restructuring, the cathedral basically retained its former appearance. The living tradition of the five-domed cathedrals, coming from the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, is felt with greater force in it. ... Modest ornamentation, strict proportions, monolithicity of the building give it the appearance of severe simplicity, corresponding to the solemn monastery church ^[10]

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The beginning of the economic heyday of the Spassky Monastery is also connected with the name of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Having endowed the cloister with vast estates , the king also established a "dormitory" in it. In the inventories of Murom in 1624 and 1636-1637, the monastery is listed as “the building of the sovereign”, which confirms the active participation in the life of the monastery of representatives of the reigning house ^[11] .

In 1616, Murom was invaded by an armed Lithuanian detachment under the command of Pan Alexander Lisovsky , during which the Spassky Monastery also suffered ^[12] .

During the period of church reforms, Patriarch Nikon Moore refused innovations for a considerable time, and the Spassky Monastery was one of the strongholds of the Old Believers . The abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Anthony (1658–1662), wrote several appeals about the abdication , and also sent a petition to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with indications of infidelity in correcting books under Patriarch Nikon , adding that those who are unable to denounce infidelity refer to the tsar, “ like the king sings tacos. ” In 1662, Archimandrite Anthony, by order of the Archbishop of Ryazan and Murom, Hilarion, was removed from the management of the monastery, and in February 1666 he was summoned to the Cathedral in Moscow ^[13] . Despite the repentance brought, Archimandrite Anthony was exiled to the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery ^[14] .

In the 1680s, large donations were made to the monastery from Metropolitan Barsanuphius (Chertkov) of Metropolitan Sarsky and Podonsky , who came from the dynasty of the Murom merchants. At his expense, a two-story abbot building was built in the monastery and reconstruction of the dilapidated Pokrovsky refectory church began.

In the 1720s, the monastery was assigned to the Ryazan Bishop's House, and the first educational institution in the city was opened on its territory - a school for teaching priestly children ^[15]

On January 26, 1765, the decree of the bishop of Vladimir and Murom, Pavel (Grebnevsky) , was sent to Murom’s spiritual government, in which, with reference to the decision of the Holy Synod, the bishop informed the members of the board about the abolition of the Borisoglebsky monastery and the transfer of the brethren to the Transfiguration Monastery ^[16] .

The Monk Seraphim of Sarov visited the elder Anthony Groshevnik in this monastery ^[17] .

From 1866 to 1868, the monastery was run by Archimandrite Gabriel (Voskresensky) - formerly a professor at Kazan University, first in the department of church law, and later in the department of philosophy, the first Russian historian of philosophy.

Archimandrite Anthony (Ilyenov), who came to the post of rector in 1877, found her in a deplorable state - the temples were destroyed, other buildings became worthless, there was no money for repairs. After a trip in 1878, Archimandrite Anthony to Mount Athos , an exact copy of the Icon of the Mother of God “The Haughty” was brought to the monastery, the original of which is from the 10th century in the Dohiar monastery. During the 1880s, the monastery was restored, put in order, it became a place of pilgrimage ^[18] .

In 1891, a stone three-story fraternal building was erected on the territory of the monastery, in which the Murom vicar bishops were placed as rector: Evgeny (Mertsalov) , and later Mitrofan (Zagorsky) . In 1907, a house church was consecrated in the cell building in honor of the Holy Martyrs of Chersonesos .

After the 1917 revolution, the reason for the closure of the Transfiguration Monastery was the accusation of his rector, Bishop of Murom, Mitrofan (Zagorsky), of complicity in the uprising that took place in Murom on July 8–9, 1918 and was led by Colonel Nikolai Pavlovich Sakharov ^[19] .

In 1918-1919, the Transfiguration Cathedral of the monastery continued to operate as a parish church, and civilians were buried at the monastery cemetery ^[20] .

In the 1920s, the temples and premises of the monastery were inspected by representatives of the Murom Museum , but already in January 1929 the military and partially the NKVD department occupied the monastery. At the same time, the destruction of the monastery necropolis began , and access to its territory for civilians was suspended.

In April 1990, the public of the city of Murom sent an open letter to the Vladimir Diocesan Administration, as well as the chairman of the Murom City Executive Committee Zhukov with an open letter in support of the transfer of the Murom Spassky Monastery to the Russian Orthodox Church . Academician Dmitry Likhachev , who appealed on October 8, 1990 with a letter to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy, spoke in support of the revival of the monastery.

In the spring of 1995, military unit No. 22165 left the premises of the Spassky Monastery. Hieromonk Kirill (Epifanov) was appointed viceroy of the reviving monastery. He later recalled: “A depressing picture appeared before my eyes. The domes collapsed, the roof was demolished, the barracks were piles of bricks. At first, I could not even imagine how to restore all this ... ”But a little later, the icon of the Mother of God“ The Naughty ”returned to the monastery, little brothers gathered, philanthropists and knowledgeable helpers appeared, the monastery quickly rose from the ruins.

In 2000-2009, the monastery was thoroughly restored with the support of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation . The curator of the Accounts Chamber - the chairman of the board of trustees for restoration was the auditor Sergey Ryabukhin .

On June 22, 2005, on the territory of the monastery, the chapel of St. George the Victorious was consecrated “in prayer for the repose of the souls of the most memorable leaders and soldiers for faith and patronymic on the battlefield, having laid down your life from the wounds and gladness of those innocently martyred and slain who died in captivity and bitter work, in the blockade of the deceased and all for the Victory of those who worked. Their names are You Lord of weight. "

Rectors

• Archimandrite Anthony (1658–1662)
• Archimandrite Jerome (Malitsky) (1829-1856)
• Archimandrite Innocent (Florinsky) (1857-1859)
• Archimandrite Gabriel (Resurrection) (June 13, 1866 - May 10, 1868)
• Archimandrite Anthony (Ilyenov) (1877 -?)
• Bishop Eugene (Mertsalov) (December 16, 1907 - June 14, 1912)
• Bishop Mitrofan (Zagorsky) (July 15, 1912 - January 1919)
• Archbishop Eulogius (Smirnov) (1995—2013)
• Bishop Neil (Sychev) (since October 2, 2013 ^[21] )

Governors

• Archimandrite Kirill (Epifanov) (July 4, 1995 - March 15, 2011)
• Hegumen Kronid (Kozlov) (March - December 2011) interim. about.
• Archimandrite Varlaam (Ponomarev) (December 2011 - January 2013)
• Father Superior Athanasius (Selichev) (from February ^[22] to July 2013)

In the "List of architectural monuments to be protected as monuments of national importance", the ensemble of the Transfiguration Monastery contains five objects ^[23] :

• Transfiguration Cathedral in 1552 - a small, almost square in plan, four-pillar, five-domed, three-apical ^[24] ;
• The refectory building with the Transfiguration Church in 1691 is a two-story building;
• Abbot building 1687;
• Gate Church of Cyril Belozersky 1807-10;
• Brotherhood Corps 1890

• Miller A.G. Cathedral of the Murom Spassky Monastery // Messages of the Rostov Museum. - Rostov, 1994. - Vol. 6. - S. 164-185.

• Site of the Murom Spaso-Preorazhensky monastery
• History, modern appearance, facts and photos of the restoration of the Spaso-Preorazhensky monastery
• 10 facts about the Murom Transfiguration Monastery .