Gremyachevo (Peremyshlsky district)

“Rattlesnake” - from rattling, noisy, used in the sense of those sounds that emit water flows (rivers, streams or keys) on stone rifts ^[2] . This is the name of the key in the village.

Located in the south of the Kaluga region, on the border with the Tula region. Nearby is a regional highway "29K-024 Golodskoye-Suvorov- Odoev " ^[3] . It stands on the right bank of the Oka River. Near the village of Zimnitsa (6.2 km) and Mehovo (8.8 km).

Judging by the findings of archaeologists, people have settled in the village since the Paleolithic ^[4] . The remains of several earthen ramparts near the village show that there was once a fortified place here to protect against enemy attacks ^[5] .

According to legend, the name of the village comes from a key located nearby ^[6] .

In 1782, the place was referred to as "the village of Gremyachevo and the village of Melekhovo with wastelands of the Economic Department, which used to be the Gremyachy Monastery", which had 67 yards and 518 inhabitants. Two stone churches on the site of the monastery, the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, are also described, with church land allocated in three places ^[7] . In 1859 - as a state-owned village on the Oka River, with 89 courtyards and the Orthodox Church ^[8] .

Before the revolution, the village of Gremyachevo was part of the Polyanskaya volost of Peremyshl district ^[9] .

Gremyachsky Monastery

In the village there is an ancient Holy Assumption Likhvinsky (Gremyachiy) Monastery, nicknamed the “Holy End”. It was founded between the 15th and 16th centuries. The first reliable mention of the monastery dates back to 1634, in the petition of the Likhvin town and district people to Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich , signed by the abbot, Father Superior Efimey ^[10] . The monastery was rather poor, even in its heyday there were only two villages in its possession ^[6] .

Two miles from the monastery ran a road from the city of Likhvin to Kaluga . Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich rode along it on a pilgrimage to Kiev and decided to stay in the monastery’s cloister. He liked the place and in 1673, at the insistence and at the expense of the king, the Assumption Cathedral was erected at the monastery. In 1701, the Church of St. George the Victorious was built, and later - the bell tower ^[11] . In 1701, the temple of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was also built nearby ^[9] .

The Assumption Church is built in a traditional style, with five deaf chapters, a three-part altar and decorative kokoshniks. At the same time, the western kokoshnik is wider than others, the portal is not on the same axis with the window, the blades under the kokoshniks are not everywhere. There are no lower windows, and the upper ones are rather high to provide natural light from above ^[6] . Dimensions of the Assumption Cathedral: length - 20 m, width - 11 m; the dimensions of the St. George Church: length - 26 m, width - 11 m. The bell tower is different in style from the temples ^[9] .

In 1764, the monastery was recognized as a non-state, then abolished, and its churches turned into parish .

In Soviet times, in 1935, churches were closed and looted. Fertilizers were stored in the Assumption Cathedral, and tractor workshops were located in the St. George Church. The necropolis of temples was destroyed. In May 2008, with the blessing of the Metropolitan of Kaluga and Borovsky Clement, the nuns from the St. Nicholas Monastery of St. Maloaroslavets arrived to the Holy Assumption (Gremyachev) monastery to restore the shrine. Currently Gremyachevsky monastery is a compound of St. Nicholas ^[12] . On May 30, 2019, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to reopen the female Uspensky Gremyachev monastery, appointing nun Michael (Osipov) as abbess of the monastery ^[13] .