Nikolo-Cherneevsky monastery

The monastery in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was founded in 1573 by Hieromonk Matthew (Don Cossack Matvey) in a dense dark forest, hence the name - Nikolo-Cherneev. In ancient acts, it was also called the "Matthew Desert." The monastery was also called Cossack, because the Don Cossacks took part in the construction: “they have long since been the Cherneyev Monastery with the whole Don army and are still building it and make many contributions,” wrote ataman Osip Petrov . By the end of the 17th century, the Matthew Desert already owned more than 600 peasant households, arable land, extensive forest land, hayfields, and fishing. The monastery grew rich mainly thanks to the contributions of the Don Cossacks: on their return from the campaign, the Cossacks asked the Don Forces to go on a pilgrimage in a circle, "promising to pray to Moscow miracle workers and the great miracle worker Nikolai in the Cherneevsky monastery."

Initially, the monastery entered into relations with the Moscow state through the Cherkasy Cossack Circle. Since 1686, the monastery was transferred to the Tambov diocese . From now on, Cossacks were forbidden to interfere in the affairs of the monastery and receive any of its inhabitants in their Don, but they were allowed to make contributions to the Cherneevsky monastery, to visit it, and, with proper behavior, to tonsure monasticism there.

Its abbots have long been awarded the title archimandrites . In 1725-1764, the Vyshensky Assumption Monastery was assigned to the monastery . In 1764 he was left behind the state, and in 1819 he again became a regular.

He was listed, according to the schedule, in the 3rd grade, and had brotherhoods of up to 30 people.

The monastery has been female since 1912. The abbess of the monastery was abbess Margarita. The number of sisters of the monastery reached 40 people.

In 1926, the monastery was closed, the stay of the sisters in it was forbidden, however, the monastery church continued to operate until 1936.

After the closure of the temple, the monastery was transferred to the local state farm for use in domestic purposes; a granary was placed inside the cathedral of St. Nicholas, and a mill in the annex to the church; in the temple of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God there was a store and a warehouse, and a water tank was installed on the upper tier of the bell tower. Simple workers lived in fraternal buildings, and in one of the buildings there was a board of a state farm.

In 1970, the monastery was transferred to the balance of the Zhelannovsky Museum of Local Lore, whose director - Nikolai Illarionovich Panin - began to carry out feasible restoration of the monastery buildings.

In 1991, the monastery was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church to resume monastic life and worship. The abbot (again of the man’s monastery), in 1991-1993, was Father Superior Theodosius (Agapov) ; then - Abbot Pimen (Bakhanov) ; since September 1998 - Feofan (Danchenkov) . Since December 14, 2018 - Archimandrite Theodosius (Ivanov).

The architectural complex of the monastery took shape during the XVII-XIX centuries. Initially, the buildings were wooden, then stone construction began.

• St. Nicholas Cathedral

  After the wooden church was burned down in 1738 in the name of St. Nicholas and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a new cathedral, one-pillar (modeled on the Moscow Faceted Chamber ) was built, and a stone one was built by St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (1738-1751, consecrated in 1756), since two altars - in honor of St. Nicholas and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (resumed after a fire in 1860). It was famous for its architecture and rich wooden, carved iconostasis, which occupied the entire eastern wall. The cathedral has excellent acoustics, which is facilitated by clay pipes and pots walled up in the walls.

• Kazan church

  In 1838, under the abbess Joseph, a warm two-story church was built: below - the temple of All Saints, above - the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Restored after the fire of 1860, the lower floor was consecrated in the name of Archangel Michael.

• Bell tower

  In 1812, in the center of the western wall, a forty-five-meter three-tier bell tower was erected in the lower tier of which a passage gate was arranged. In the middle tier of the bell tower, a temple of the supreme apostles Peter and Paul was built (consecrated in 1813).

• Stone walls with towers in the corners - mid-18th century.

• Theodosius (Agapov) (1991-1993)
• Pimen (Bakhanov) (1993-1997)
• Filaret (Kuleshov) (1997-1998)
• Theophanes (Danchenkov) (September 9, 1998—2017)
• Theodosius (Ivanov) (December 14, 2018 to the present

• Potapov A.N. Cossack monastery // Moscow Journal. - 2010. - No. 3 . - S. 81-89 . - ISSN 0868-7110 .
• Cherneev Nikolaev monastery. - Kharkov, 1849

• Nikolo-Cherneevsky monastery (From the series “Sights of the Ryazan Territory”)