Trinity Boldin Monastery

Medieval Period

The monastery was founded in 1530 by the Rev. Gerasim Boldinsky ^[1] , whose relics were buried in the monastery under the cover ^[2] . In the XVI century, the monastery repeatedly received gifts: land from the king, large contributions from the boyars and wealthy people; The cloister was also engaged in its own trading and fishing activities. By the end of the XVI century, the monastery owned more than 80 villages and villages in Dorogobuzh district, about 20 monastery villages in other districts, mills, hunting and side lands, cattle yards, fishing. Monastery courtyards and trading shops existed in Dorogobuzh , Vyazma , Smolensk , Moscow . The monastery owned mills, hunting and side lands, stockyards, fishing.

At the construction site of the future monastery, the recluse Arkady Dorogobuzhsky , glorified in the image of the saints by the Russian Church, labored and was buried ^[2] .

Stone construction in the monastery unfolded in the 1590s . Then the five-domed Trinity Cathedral was built (blown up, now almost restored), the bell tower (preserved), the refectory with the Church of the Entry into the Church of the Virgin (preserved) and the walls (rebuilt). According to the hypothesis of P. D. Baranovsky , the sovereign architect Fedor Kon took part in the construction.

From 1617 to 1654, the Dorogobuzh Territory was part of the Commonwealth . The monastery was empty; later, its structures were transferred to the Smolensk Jesuit College. The monastery was revived in 1654 , when the Smolensk lands again became part of the Russian kingdom . The monastery could not preserve its former wealth: by the end of the 17th century, it owned about 20 villages.

XVIII - beginning of XX century

At the beginning of the 18th century, St. John (Maksimovich) opened a printing house in the monastery. It published liturgical books , study guides, works of spiritual and moral content, including the works of John himself, translations from Latin.

In 1764 , according to the manifesto signed by Catherine II (1764), all lands were taken from the monastery. Great help to the monastery was provided by a philanthropist - Prince Andrei Dolgorukov. Nevertheless, the monastery was assigned to the III class of full-time monasteries and began to receive state funding ^[2] .

In the 1870-1880s, a new heyday of the monastery. Hieromonk (later Archimandrite) Andrei (Vasiliev) was appointed rector. During his 24-year-old management of the monastery, all existing buildings and churches of the monastery were repaired and rebuilt, new Holy Gates, a chapel on the site of the cell of St. Gerasim Boldinsogo , wooden cells, utility buildings, a hotel for pilgrims, a rector’s house, prosphora, a mill on the lake, a garden (700 roots) was planted. He, on the basis of two ancient texts, wrote and published a new “Life of the Monk Gerasim”.

In 1919-1927, restoration work was carried out in the monastery under the direction of P.D. Baranovsky . In the former monastery buildings, a historical and art museum was organized, the exposition of which, among other exhibits, includes fragments of tiled stoves of the 17th - 18th centuries , a wooden sculpture assembled by M. I. Pogodin. A wooden church from the village of Usvyatye was transported to the territory of the monastery.

Abolition and rebirth of the monastery

In November 1929 the monastery was officially closed. In the Trinity Cathedral housed a granary, in the Vvedensky church - a collective farm cheese factory, in the chapel - a separator for milk processing.

During World War II, the Boldinsky monastery was the base of partisan detachments; in the buildings of the former monastery repair shops were located. In March 1943, during the retreat, the Germans mined and blew up the ancient buildings - Trinity Cathedral, Vvedensky Church and the bell tower.

In 1964, the restoration of the monastery began according to the preserved measurements and photographs under the direction of P.D. Baranovsky . They continue to this day (the leader is Baranovsky’s student A. M. Ponomarev).

In 1991, the Boldinsky monastery was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church .

Currently, a stone wall with four towers, a bell tower, a refectory chamber with the Vvedensky church have been restored. Other buildings include the abbot's wooden house, the gatehouse at the Holy Gates, the stone cell building, the stone treasury building on the basement, and the wooden chapel at the monastery cemetery. The stone chapel was rebuilt into a church in the name of St. Tikhon of Kaluga. Trinity Cathedral was consecrated by Patriarch Cyril in June 2010.

The monastery necropolis has been revived. Among the surviving burials is the grave of the Vistitsky family ^[3] , with a metal fence and two granite columns: Stefan Vistitsky and his sons - Mikhail Stepanovich (major general, in 1812 he was appointed quartermaster general of the Russian army), Semyon Stepanovich (major general , who headed the Smolensk militia in 1813 after General N.P. Lebedev ; author of one of the first textbooks on tactics), Vasily Stepanovich (brigadier), Andrey Stepanovich (major general) and Dmitry Stepanovich (colonel).

The monastery has a courtyard (wooden temple) in Dorogobuzh ; patronizes the opening of the Dmitrovsky convent in Dorogobuzh .

The current abbot of the monastery is Archimandrite Anthony (Mezentsov).

• Holy Trinity Gerasimo-Boldinsky Monastery on the site www.pravoslavie.ru
• Holy Trinity Gerasimo-Boldinsky monastery on the site of the Smolensk and Kaliningrad diocese ( Ibid - the monastery brothers )
• Holy Trinity Gerasimo-Boldinsky Monastery on the website www.patriarchia.ru
• Holy Trinity Gerasimo-Boldinsky Monastery and the life of Gerasim Boldinsky on the site of Dorogobuzh

• Boldin-Trinity Monastery // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.