Shamordinsky monastery

Foundation and early years

The Kazan women's community (not a monastery) in the village of Shamordino, in the estate of the deceased widow of the court counselor Klyucharyova, was established by the definition of the Most Holy Synod of June 13–20, 1884 No. 1216 ^[1] .

On August 22 ( September 3 ), 1884, Sofia Bolotova filed a petition in the name of Bishop Vladimir and Borovsky Vladimir (Nikolsky) with a request to join the community ^[2] .

For his part, the abbot of Optina Desert, St. Isaac I, and the confessor of Sofia, Rev. Ambrose Optinsky, sent to Bishop Kaluga and Borovsky Vladimir a submission to the statement of mother Sophia as abbess of the community under construction, attaching a letter of recommendation:

Your Grace wants to know our opinion about Sofya Mikhailovna Astafieva, whether she is capable of being the Rector of the new Kazan community. Although Sofya Mikhailovna has not yet passed a monastic life, she understands quite well the monasticism and the economic part, and the sisters of the new community are very disposed to her, so that now they are unquestioningly obeying her orders ^[2] .

The last formal obstacle was removed when on September 4 ( 16 ), 1884, Sophia was tonsured a nun by Ambrose Optinsky, and later he tonsured her into the mantle with the name Sofia preserved.

Through the efforts of the old man, the first church of the monastery was soon created, and on September 25 ( October 7 ), 1884, Father Superior Isaac and mother Sophia sent a report addressed to Bishop Vladimir and Borovsky of Vladimir about the end of the internal structure of the wooden church and its readiness for consecration ^[2] . It was consecrated on October 1 (14), 1884 , this day is considered the day of the creation of the monastery. Nun Sofia became the first abbess of the monastery ^[3] .

At first, the situation in the monastery was not easy:

The wealthy property went to the first abbess of mother Sofia: - a wooden house with a house church, and several wooden huts for sisters to live in. That's all! No money, no property, no stocks, but, meanwhile, the population of the community increased every day. - The old man sent a lot of healthy and strong girls, capable of work, to the monastery, but no less (if not more), - sick, crippled, incapable of any work. <...> the population of Chamordin was increasing, and livelihoods were decreasing ^[3]

In addition, the acquisition of land for the normal existence of the monastery was urgent, for which there was always a lack of funds ^[2] .

Despite the difficulties of managing, the abbess Sofia did not forget about the spiritual life of the community. Under the guidance of the elder Ambrose, she arranged the spiritual life of the monastery, setting an example of obedience, humility and love ^[3] .

Understanding that prayer is the main monastic work, mother Sofia set the main goal for herself to build a large stone Kazan Cathedral. She led the process of breaking down the cathedral and supervised the design; a brick factory was specially built for it to produce bricks . She not only spent all her personal funds on the monastery, but also bequeathed her entire fortune to the monastery ^[3] .

Everything necessary for the existence of the monastery was created: two wooden chapels were built - in the name of St. Ambrose the Mediolan and Rev. Tikhon Kaluga . The economic life of the monastery was established: a water pumping station, many farm buildings and sister cells were built . Under Sofia, hermitages were arranged, an almshouse , as well as a gold-sewing workshop were opened, and the icon-painting workshop was begun ^[3] .

At the monastery, in the spirit of ancient monastic traditions, about which the Church Fathers Vasily the Great and John Chrysostom spoke, a day nursery was opened and a shelter was later opened. With him there was an elementary school in which children received initial knowledge: sisters were engaged in reading, writing and the Law of God with them ^[3] .

At sunset, mother Sophia was tonsured into a great schema . The abbess died on January 24, 1888, that year there were 250 sisters in the community ^[3] .

The heyday of the monastery at the beginning of the 20th century.

At the death of the first abbess, the command was taken by another spiritual daughter of the elder - the nun Euphrosyne (Rozova), who ruled the monastery until April 14, 1904 ^[4] .

The schema nun Sofia was glorified in the Cathedral of Tula Saints in 1987 ^[3] .

On July 8, 1901, the community was elevated to the degree of a monastery and renamed the Kazan Amvrosievsky Deserts .

The nurse of the Shamordinsky monastery was the sister of Count Leo Tolstoy excommunicated from the church in 1901, Maria Tolstaya ^[5] . In the monastery, she died, having taken monastic tonsure three days before her death.

On October 24, 1902, the Bishop of Kaluga, Veniamin (Muratovsky), consecrated the Kazan Cathedral, which began construction in 1889, and was built with funds from the monastery’s accomplisher, the famous tea merchant in Russia Sergei Perlov ^[6] . The author of the cathedral project is architect Sergey Sherwood . The cathedral holds up to 5,000 worshipers. The refectory was built at the turn of the 19th — 20th centuries according to the project of the architect Roman Klein .

By 1918, more than 800 sisters had worked here. There was an almshouse , a hospital, an orphanage for girls, several hermitages.

In March 1923, the monastery was finally closed and liquidated, all the lands and lands of the monastery became the property of the collective farm .

Rebirth and Restoration

In March 1990, monastic life was resumed in the monastery. On May 3, 1990, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Pimen signed a decree on the renewal of the monastery in Chamordin ^[7] . For 20 days, the temple in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Satisfy My Sorrows” was prepared for the consecration , which was performed on May 27, 1990. On the same day, the nun of the Riga Holy Trinity-Sergius Monastery Nikon (Peretyagin) was elevated to the rank of abbess ^[7] .

In the surviving house, erected over the cell of St. Ambrose, the first church in Russia was built in honor of the Monk Ambrose of Optina. The temple was consecrated by Patriarch Alexy II on July 28, 1996 ^[8] .

On January 16, 2019, 22 buildings of the Shamorda Monastery were transferred to the ownership of the Russian Orthodox Church ^[8] .

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  Church of the Holy Trinity

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  Kazan Cathedral

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  Temple in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Satisfy My Sorrows"

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  Monastic refectory

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  Monastery building

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  Monastery Hospital

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  House of Merchant Perlov

• Sofia (Bolotova) , schema-nun (1884-1888 ^[3] )
• , abbess (1888-1904)
• Catherine (Sambikina) , Abbess (1904-1911)
• Valentina (Rozantseva) , Mother Superior (1911-1919)
• Nikona (Peretyagina) , Mother Superior (1990-2012)
• Sergius (Shcherbakova) , Mother Superior (since May 30, 2014 ^[9] )

• The official website of the monastery
• Kazan Amvrosieva Shamordinsky female deserts.
• Kazan Ambrose Desert in Shamordino