Holy Spirit Convent (Jekabpils)

In the middle of the 17th century, on the left bank of the Daugava against the Krustpils castle, founded by German knights-crusaders in the 13th century , Russian Golmgofskaya Sloboda appeared, which was inhabited by pilots-raftsmen who rafted along the River Daugava on rafts through the rapids to Riga. from Russia and Belarus, as well as shipped goods that came land from Lithuania and Poland . Sloboda had a favorable trading position on the territory of the then Latvian lands - it was the junction of the borders of three different states: Vidzeme belonged to Sweden (together with Estonia ), Latgale was under Polish rule, and the entire left bank of the Daugava served as the natural border of the Duchy of France , which was then at the top of its development.

Under the able management of the Duke Jacob Kettler (1610-1682; reigned since 1642), who created his fleet and network of manufactories. Seeing the benefits in the development of the “settlement”, the Duke Jacob in 1670 bestowed on her the city rights and named Jacobstadt in his honor.

At the same time, he gave the right to “accept to himself (to live on) reliable people of Russian origin only.” And further - “We pity and allow the entire assembly of tokmo from the Russian nation only, and not from the German and other nations, to send God's service on the religion of the Greek-Russian (that is Orthodox), with which they should have and contain in eternal times, and for that as their priests and school attendants with the building and the church, according to their law, they set up and pay for satisfaction, ”he said. Thus, the full development and existence of Orthodox churches and schools in Yakobstadt was legally established.

And even then, in the second half of the 17th century, there were two Orthodox churches in the city — Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker and Saint Great Martyr George the Victorious, which arose, of course, together with the “settlement” as early as the middle of the 17th century, in the 1650–1660s.

An ancient tradition, recorded in 1840 by priest Nikolai Vasilyev († 1881), tells the following: “When the Swedes and Saxons combined forces were swimming along the Dvina river, the Russian army was already returning to its bank, one Saxon named Yakov Gudynsky, a Catholic, noticing a small plate floating down along the Dvina, thrust his spear into it and, thus taking it out of the water, carried it to the spear through Dvina. Reaching the coast, this Saxon saw blood on his hand holding a spear and believed at first that such flows from the wound he received in battle with the enemy. Carefully examining the same hand and not finding the wound, he paid attention to the spear, and he saw that blood was flowing through the spear from the plate on it, which turned out to be an icon of the Mother of God. This extraordinary circumstance struck Gudynsky and he, noticing Orthodox painting on the icon, gave it to the St. George's Church then in Yakobshtadt, while he himself accepted Orthodoxy and remained forever in Yakobstadt.

So miraculously was found the Icon of the Mother of God of Jakobstad, glorified by miracles. The very moment of the emergence of the Orthodox monastic monastery, called the Holy Spirit, is connected with one of these miracles. Another legend tells about it this way: “One merchant, a certain Ratkevich, who accompanied his goods on barges to Riga and stayed in Yakobstadt, came to the Church of St. George to Matins. At the end of the Liturgy, a demoniacous, terribly disfigured Latvian was brought by his relatives for prayer in front of the miraculous image of the Mother of God for recovery. When the abbot of the monastery, having finished the moleben, began to read the incantation prayer over the possessed, then an unclean spirit began to emerge from the latter in the form of a whitish couple and rushed out of the church with speed, so that the pretended door dissolved with force and threw down the two boys at the door. All those present in the church, including the merchant Ratkevich, were seized with strong fear. The merchant, in reverent sense to the miraculous icon, immediately expressed the abbot's desire to build a new, more magnificent temple for the holy icon, which he performed with the assistance of the abbot, who had lost free forest leave from the Duke Jacob. The new temple was named in the name of the Holy Spirit, and in honor of the Virgin and the Apostles, it was arranged in the chapel. ”

Based on the historical events described in the first tradition, the phenomenon of the Yakobshtadsky Icon refers to the period of the Russo-Polish-Swedish War (1654-1667).

The foundation by Ratkevich of the temple of the Holy Spirit, associated with the miracle of the Jacob-Shtai icon, all sources relating to the history of the temple, refer unanimously to the years 1670-1675. Consequently, the monastic cloister in Jacobstadt, named after the Holy Spirit by its new temple, built by Ratkevich, and having a wonderfully manifested and miraculous icon of the Mother of God as its main shrine, belongs to the second half of the 17th century, or to its last quarter.

Throughout the waterway along the Daugava from Belorussia to Riga itself in the middle of the 17th century, only in Yakobstadt were Orthodox churches, and Orthodox worship was performed. The Belarusian monks, on their way to Riga, could not avoid Jacobstadt in order not to hire good pilots (there were dangerous rapids ahead) and, during the stop, not to serve in local churches as a consolation to the local Orthodox population living in Lutheran and Catholic surroundings.

Already from the need to have here a small transshipment base for rest and prayers on the long journey to Riga, it can be concluded that the monks of Polotsk and Vitebsk were credited with founding a small monastic monastery in Yakobstadt, which was nourished spiritually and financially thanks to the annual visits of Belarusian merchants and Orthodox monks here. It was at the monastery that it was convenient to maintain a school, engage in charity, and satisfy their spiritual needs for the local Russian Orthodox population.

There is an important historical fact indirectly supporting the period of dating of the foundation of the monastery. Kiev Metropolitan Peter Mogila (1632–1647) at one time granted two Orthodox male monasteries in Belarus, the fraternal Epiphany in Polotsk and the Trinity Markov in Vitebsk (both on the bank of the Western Dvina - Daugava) - the exclusive right every year, in turn, to send their monks, with the opening of navigation on Dvina, to Riga for the performance of Orthodox worship, the administration of the necessary demands and the collection of alms to maintain their cloisters. The right was confirmed by his diplomas: 1. Bishop Feodosy of Mstislavsky (Vasilevich) (1669-1678) - in 1675; 2. The Vicar of the Belorussian Diocese of Mogilev - Archimandrite Sylvester Walchansky - July 8, 1686 (with inter-hierarchy); 3. Metropolitan Gideon of Kiev Svyatopolk-Chetvertinsky - February 17, 1687; 4. Kiev Metropolitan Varlaam Yasinsky - March 2, 1690; 5. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Adrian (1690-1700) - February 2, 1697; 6. Bishop of Mogilev Serapion (Polkhovsky) (1697-1704) - in 1699; 7. Patriarchal Locum tenens, “All Russia” Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky (1700-1722) - October 7, 1715; 8. The Holy Synod - July 30, 1723.

The monks usually came in the spring with a canvas canvas church, which they placed in Riga on the banks of the Daugava River near the Karlovy Gates, and went home in the fall, so that for the winter the Orthodox people of Riga remained without priests, worship and church.

By the decree of the Holy Synod of July 17, 1756, the monks were allowed to bring a wooden church instead of a linen one, which was demolished in 1780-1781 and the Holy Trinity Church, new and permanent (Trinity - Zadvinskaya), was built instead of Dvina. which visiting monks of the same cloisters committed until 1812.

The ceremonial opening of the monastery was held on August 11, 1996. Currently, it is the only male monastery in the Latvian Orthodox Church. The cloister is located in the central part of the city of Jekabpils, on the bank of the Western Dvina (Daugava). The monastery complex is surrounded by a stone wall with the Holy Gates, above which a bell tower is erected and includes the Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit (1885-1888), the winter St. Nicholas Church (1774), the chapel of the Holy Mother of God. George (1887) and several other buildings, including a two-story large building of the former Vladimir-Mariinsky School.

In 2008, a new list of the Yakobstadt Icon of the Mother of God was written to replace the lost icon in Moscow. On July 15, 2008, during the consecration of the image in the Rizopolozhensky church of the Moscow Kremlin, the icon began to flow to the world , in connection with which the Metropolitan of Riga and All Latvia, Alexander (Kudryashov), said:

On July 19, 2008, the icon was delivered to Riga , and on July 25, the holy image was met in the Jekabpils St. Spirit Monastery, where the icon again took its place.

• Feofan (Pozhidaev), hegumen (1996-1997)
• Raphael, hieromonk (April 18 - July 18, 1997)
• Alexy (Riskin), hegumen (August 1997 - April 2008)
• Alexy (Kamaltdinov), hegumen (April 2008 - May 2013)
• Macarius (Kirillov), hegumen (since 2013)

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• Restoration of the ancient Orthodox brotherhood in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Jacobshadt. 1891
• Orthodox churches in Latgale. Historical and statistical description of S. P. Sakharov. 1939 Riga.
• Historical and statistical description of the churches and parishes of the Riga diocese. Release 1. 1893 Riga.
• According to Latgale. L. L. Taiwan 1988
• Baltic Russians: history in cultural monuments . Riga: Institute for European Studies, 2010. Ed. A.V. Gaponenko, 736 p. ISBN 978-9934-8113-2-6 - pp. 132-135