Transfiguration of the Savior Pronsky Monastery

Foundation of the Monastery

The history of the Pronsky Spasskaya desert goes back to the beginning of the 17th century. Sources of the 17th century provide a more complete picture of monasteries, estates and land tenure of the clergy as a whole. In the XVI century (towards the end of the century) many monasteries ceased to exist. Most likely, at the same time, the Spasskaya sociable desert was founded. It is not known who was the founder of the Pronsky Spassky Desert, and when it was founded. In the funds of the state archive of the Ryazan region, in the lists of the Pronsky Spassky Desert for different years it is reported: "when and by whom this desert was founded is unknown." However, in the scribe books of 1640 by Prince Borzetsov it is indicated that, in calculating the different lands belonging to the archers of the old settlement, it is said, incidentally, that they had a pasture against the Spassky Monastery common with the new archers.

The Pronskaya Spassky male desert was located “near the county town of Pronsk from Ryazan at 50 miles”, on the left elevated bank of the Prony River. “Here is the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity with the Transfiguration of the Lord” - wrote in 1852 a researcher of the ancient monasteries and churches of Ratshin ^[1] . Archpriest V. Garetovsky in 1866 writes: “There is not even a direct opportunity to explain ... why the deserts are called Spasskaya when the cathedral church is in it in the name of the Holy Trinity. Most likely, the Trinity Cathedral Church, existing to this day, is of a late origin. ” He also suggests that in the first days of the existence of this monastery, the main, and at the same time, its only temple was in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord, from which the Desert was called Spasskaya ^[2] . Pronsky, the monastery is called by its location near the ancient city, which has its own rich history.

XVIII — XIX centuries

The next mention of the Spasskaya Desert dates back to 1724, when there is news of the transfer of the brotherhood from the Transfiguration Desert to the Skopinsky Trinity Monastery and the abolition of the desert, albeit for a short time. ^[3] . This happened by the personal decree of Peter I of February 5, 1724, according to which it was prescribed to abolish monasteries with a small number of monks, and transfer the remaining monks to larger monasteries. Before the monastery was resumed in the middle of the 18th century, judging by the inventories of 1739 and 1749, there were two wooden churches in it. It is described as follows: “The Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the holy icons are local in it: the image of the Transfiguration of the Lord in a salary, the image of the Kazan Most Holy Mother of God without a salary, the Mother of God is altarpiece, a Czech crown is clad in it; on the throne, clothes are sumptuous, the gospel is on it, silver evangelists, crosses are upholstered in wood, silver vessels, diskos and a star, and other vessels are pewter and a pewter liar; there are two Kamchatka robes, one red, the other green, they have brocade mantles on gold, white Kamchatka robes, white Kamchatka elephant, and even with them there are three dilapidated robes, three rattle, one brocaded decrepit and 28 books. The Church of the Ascension of the Lord, in it are holy icons: the image of the All-Merciful Savior, the image of the Virgin of Kazan, the altarpiece of the Virgin; on the throne, clothes - a paper break, new tin vessels, shabby stone covers on them, a curtain of linen at the royal doors. This monastery has holy gates with a gate; above them is the image of the Savior with the apostles. The cell is building with a canopy, an iron shield and an ax are banned in it, 4 fraternal cells with walls. Amshenik elm - chopped into a paw, covered with dogtail and bast - decrepit, breech 6 hives with bees. The monastery is surrounded by a dilapidated fence. ”

In 1765, the stone church was ennobled by the efforts of the landowner Ivan Ivanovich Burtsev, whose ashes rest in the Spassky Desert. Apparently, the contribution and zeal of Ivan Ivanovich to the arrangement of the monastery was so great that later on in the descriptions of the desert he is referred to as the builder of the temple. The reorganization of cells for the priors and the brethren (before that time they were wooden and thatched) was already taken up by his son, Andrei Ivanovich Burtsev, who probably built a stone fence instead of a wattle fence.

In 1826, residents of the city of Pronsk and its environs expressed the desire for the establishment on August 6 of the annual procession from the Pronsky Cathedral and all the churches of the city of Pronsk to the Spasskaya Monastery, of which the Decree of the Ryazan Consistory was issued.

XX century

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Desert was a rather magnificent monastery, in which there were three temples. The third stone church with one throne in the name of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, cold, was arranged in a residential building on the third floor. This church was built at the expense of the landowner Varvara Alekseevna Lyubavskaya, and after her death it was completed with charity funds and consecrated in 1903. In 1913, according to the state in the monastery, were placed: the abbot, two hieromonks, two hierodeacon and two novices, and lived: the abbot, shiigumen, ten hieromonks, six hierodeacon, six monks and fifteen novices.

In 1918-1919, it was closed, and the property was transferred to the jurisdiction of Watsobesov and land departments. The year 1919 came, and with it the continuation of the wave of closure of monasteries, the repression of the clergy. The monastery was ruined, and the monks were expelled.

In the forties, an orphanage was placed in the monastery buildings, then the Pronsky specialized (correctional) boarding school, which existed from the time of the end of World War II . The placement of orphans left without parental care helped keep the monastery buildings from complete destruction, although not in its original form - two monastery churches were not preserved: a house was built on the site of Troitsky, and Svyato-Dukhovsky on the third floor of the fraternal building was demolished; Trehsvyatsky temple "beheaded", carrying a drum and a dome, and converted into a residential building.

Monastery Restoration

In February 2011, with the blessing of the ruling bishop of the Ryazan diocese , the revival of the Pronsky shrine began. As soon as the monastery’s life began to gradually revive, the monastery acquired the status of a bishop’s compound . At that time, the property of the monastery was not transferred to him, the buildings remained on the state balance sheet, but all the transfer documents were collected and presented to the governor of the Ryazan region . On the territory it was allowed to carry out landscaping works. The brotherly team began to mow the grass and sort the fallen trees, wash the premises. On the day of the Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles, in the summer house the first inhabitants of the newly established bishop’s farmstead settled in two rooms.

On October 2, 2013, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, in connection with the petition of Metropolitan Pavel Ryazansky and Mikhailovsky (Ponomaryov), decided to open the Transfiguration Pronsky Monastery, and hegumen Luka (Stepanov) was appointed its rector ^[4] .

Updated water supply and sanitation; the Three Hierarchical Cathedral of the monastery was restored and painted; one of the most revered shrines of the monastery returned to the monastery - the icon of the Mother of God “Satisfy My Sorrows”. For the monastery on the Holy Mount Athos , the icon "The Sorceress of Sinners" was written, instead of the one lost in revolutionary hard times - this image was greeted with solemn procession by the inhabitants of the Pronsky land and clergy. This image is reverently kept in the temple of the monastery as a receiver of the grace of the lost shrine. There is a hotel where pilgrims can stop, work begins on the restoration of the Holy Trinity Church.

At different times, the builders or abbots of the monastery are mentioned: ^[5]

• Black novice Paphnutius (mentioned in 1665)
• Prokhor (pack 1734)
• Theodorite (pack 1749)
• Joseph (p. 1751 - p. 1756)
• Jonah (up. 1763)
• Sergius (up. 1771)
• Epiphanius (up. 1781)
• John (up. 1786 - up. 1790)
• Irinarh (up. 1796)
• Alexy (up. 1796 - up. 1802)
• Lavrenti (up. 1799)
• Simon (up. In 1801)
• Tikhon, unitary enterprise. in 1802 to 1804
• Dionysius, up. in 1804 to 1805
• Alexy in 1806
• Palladium, pack. in 1807
• Anastasiy, up. in 1808
• Ambrose, unitary enterprise. in 1817 to 1820
• Appolinaria, unitary enterprise in 1821
• Theodosius (up. 1837)

• I. Dobrolyubov. Historical and statistical description of the churches and monasteries of the Ryazan diocese, now existing and abolished with lists of their rectors for the XVII, XVIII and XIX centuries .. - R., 1885. - T. 2. - P. 19-20.

• The official website of the monastery
• Ryazan diocese. Transfiguration Pronsky Monastery
• State archive of the Ryazan region