Iversky Monastery, Samara: services, address, reviews

Biblical wisdom teaches that this city can not stand, in which there are not at least three righteous people. That is, the true strength is not in druzhinah and military strength, but in the help of God, sent down through the prayers of holy saints. Russian people understood this well, and therefore they did not spare the means and labor for erecting the holy monasteries, which became not only the stronghold of Orthodoxy, but also an inexhaustible source of spiritual purity and morality. One of these monasteries, built on the banks of the Volga, will be our story.

Fortress Samara town

Today Samara is one of the largest cities in the Middle Volga region. Its history dates back more than four centuries. In 1586, in the reign of Emperor Fyodor Ioannovich, the fortress - Samara town was founded on the Volga shore. The time was restless, and it took a watchtower, blocking the path to steppe nomads. There also arose a holy monastery, called the Savior-Transfiguration Women's Monastery. The warriors stood with arms in the line of the Russian land, and the monastic sisters offered prayers for fencing the foes.

This continued until 1764, when the monastery was abolished for the small number of nuns. The absence of a spiritual center so vital for life could not but affect. In the first half of the next - the XIX century, the society intensified tendencies aimed at the church schism. In addition, various sects were widely spread, the most active of which were representatives of the so-called Molokan heresy.

The need to create a monastery

To resist such phenomena, it was necessary to create a powerful stronghold of true Orthodoxy. To this end, the inhabitants of Samara appealed to the Holy Synod with the initiative to open a women's monastery in the city, designed for about a hundred residents. Supporting the idea of the Samarans, the leadership of the Synod, nevertheless, demanded concrete information about the funds to be built for the monastery.

This problem was solved in an old, proven way - they announced a collection of donations for the construction of the monastery among the city dwellers. Particularly respected and religiously minded citizens of the city formed a board of trustees who took over the organizational part of the enterprise, and a few richest representatives of the city society made large donations and, importantly, they wrote off land plots for the construction of the monastery.

Creating a female community

The date of the founding of the monastery is considered to be the year 1850, when the chapel was built, in which all-night vigils were performed. For their departure, the parable of two existing temples in the city - the Kazan Cathedral and the Trinity Church was involved. Over time, around the chapel, eight cells were built, in which those who wished to devote their lives to the service of God settled.

From these first inhabitants in 1852 a small community was formed, for the care of which a priest was appointed. The pious lady Maria Yanov became the abbess of her. This choice was very successful, since later she showed herself as an energetic and talented organizer. Thanks to her work, an intensive process of settling the community began.

Transformation of the female community into a monastery

Three years later, the first temple of the future monastery was built and consecrated, and soon another, consecrated in honor of the Jerusalem Mother of God, opened its doors to the parishioners. This happened in July 1857. However, this was only the beginning of extensive construction work. A year later, a large stone church in the name of the Presentation of the Lord was laid with the care of the trustee council of the diocesan authorities and the abbess of the community.

Of course, such zeal on the part of persons who devoted themselves to this pious cause, and such intensive rates of communal arrangement, could not but cause the most positive reaction of the leadership of the Holy Synod. A consequence of this was the transformation of the women's community into a monastery in 1860, which was called the Iver Monastery. Samara, thus, has received a much-needed stronghold of spirituality and religious enlightenment.

Organization of economic life of the new monastery

Shortly before this solemn event, the abbess of the community, Maria Janova, took monastic vows with the name of Maragarita and, thanks to her services, was elevated to the rank of abbot of the new monastery. Tonsures and other sisters were performed. From the surviving documents it is clear that in 1860 the Iberian convent in Samara inhabited twenty nuns and one hundred and ninety novices. For the newly opened monastery it is quite a lot. It is known that very many monasteries at their foundation numbered a much smaller number of inhabitants.

Since the first days of its existence, the Iberian monastery (Samara) had to independently ensure its existence. The fact is that he belonged to the category of non-residential monasteries and did not receive any subsidies for his maintenance. Of course, some of the necessary funds came from voluntary donors and in the form of payment for various religious items, such as long-term remembrance of the deceased, reading the Psalms in private homes and so on. But the main income of the sisters was the money earned by them in the numerous workshops opened at the monastery.

It is known that icons were painted here and minted for them, they sewed church vestments and decorated them with skillful gold embroidery, weaved carpets and sewed elegant clothes for the inhabitants of the city. Even such masculine handicrafts, such as shoemaking and binding work, turned out to be under the power of women's hands. It was thanks to the diligence of its inhabitants and the generosity of the donors that the Iver Monastery (Samara) lived and developed.

Mother Superior Antonina and her works

Since 1874, the abbot of the monastery, instead of retiring after 25 years of service to Margarita's mother, becomes the abbot of Antoninus. In former times she served as a monastery treasurer. Like her predecessor, Mother Antonina made an invaluable contribution to the organization of the life of the monastery. Due to her efforts in 1882, the construction of a stone warm church in the name of the Tver Icon of the Mother of God began. Six years later the church was solemnly consecrated, regular worship services began to be performed in it.

But one of the main innovations, initiated by the abbot Antonina, was the construction of a spacious two-story hospital at the monastery. This project was realized thanks to the generous donations of Samara merchant P. Shikhobalova, who transferred to Iversky monastery (Samara) all the necessary means. Two years later, in 1889, the parish priest opened a church and parish school in the monastery, in which about a hundred girls from the families of the petty bourgeoisie and peasants were permanently educated, and an orphanage for orphans was created.

The last years before the revolution

Mother Superior Antonina departed to the Lord in 1892 and was buried in the temple of the Tver Icon of the Mother of God, to the construction of which she applied so much spiritual and physical strength. Her place was taken in the same way as she, the nun Feofania, who had performed the obedience of the treasurer before, but six years later she was dismissed from this post and gave way to the priestly widow of AV Milovidova, who adopted the name of Seraphim in monasticism. During the following years she led the monastery, skillfully combining spiritual and economic activities. Under her supervision, the Iberian monastery (Samara) met the dramatic events of 1917.

It should be noted that by this time the monastery has achieved a great deal in its development. On its territory were four churches. Services in the Iberian monastery (Samara) visited, both the residents of the monastery themselves, and the inhabitants of the city. In addition, the monastery was famous for its well-organized charitable institutions, among which were: a hospital, a parochial school, a shelter for orphans and a hospice. The total number of inhabitants of the monastery in 1917 exceeded four hundred people.

The period of religious persecution

In the years that followed the October coup, the monastery shared the fate of many Russian monasteries. In 1919, she was deprived of her status as a religious institution. Of the ten residential premises, most were given for communal apartments for employees of local enterprises.

Separate temple buildings, originally provided for worship services to the local Orthodox community, were redeveloped for household needs, and the central monastery church - the Assumption Cathedral - and its 65-meter bell tower were blown up. For many years the Iberian monastery (Samara) interrupted its activity. The schedule of the services of those years indicated only the continuation of the prayer service within the religious community, while the monastery itself was abolished.

Revival of the Holy Monastery

The revival of the holy monastery began in the nineties, when everything that had been illegally taken from her during the hard times returned to the church throughout the country. In 1991, the women's community was again organized, at the disposal of which the premises of the refectory church were transferred. Since that time, active restoration work has begun . A lot had to be built anew, recreating the image of the surviving photographs and memories of the city's old residents.

In the former beauty is now over the Volga Iversky monastery (Samara). The reviews of pilgrims who visited it and tourists simply testify that the works of builders, restorers, and just volunteers, who wished to participate in its revival, were not in vain. In 1994 the women's community, formed on its territory, received the official status of the monastery. From this time until today, he is headed by Father Superior John (Captainsev).

Nowadays

The Iberian monastery (Samara) was full of spiritual life. The schedule of services performed daily in it indicates full compliance of services with the annual cycle established by the Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church. The flow of pilgrims who come to pray in its walls grows day by day. A diagram is attached to the article, which clearly shows where the Iversky Monastery (Samara) is located. The address of the monastery: Samara, Volzhsky prospect, 1.