The monastery was erected on the spot where in 1456 Muscovites escorted the miraculous “Hodegetria” to Smolensk. These lands were known under two names - Samson's Meadow and Maiden's Field. Moscow local historians often recall the legend according to which the Tatar Baskaks here selected slaves from rounded up Moscow girls, who were sent to the Horde to pay tribute. But there is a more prosaic explanation: the girls were chasing cows in this field. And the nunnery was named new in relation to the more ancient ones - the Conception (Starodevichy) and Ascension monastery in.
The founding of the monastery also coincided with the divorce proceedings Vasily III and Solomonia Saburova. For 20 years, the couple did not have an heir, and the prince decided to send his wife to a monastery to enter into a new marriage. Therefore, there is a version that he “remembered” his vow and built the Novodevichy Convent for Grand Duchess Solomonia Saburova. But she ended her earthly life in the Intercession Monastery in the city of Suzdal.
In 1571, the army of the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey invaded here, and in 1606, Prince Shuisky placed soldiers in the monastery, preparing for a decisive battle with the peasant army of Ivan Bolotnikov.
Representatives of noble families received tonsure at the Novodevichy Convent. And under Ivan IV, his closest relatives settled in Novodevichy: on April 30, 1564, Princess Juliania Paletskaya, the widow of Grand Duke Yuri Vasilyevich, the younger brother of Ivan IV, took monastic vows with the name Alexander. She lived in her own cells with a house church, maintained a staff of courtiers, had cellars, glaciers and cookhouses. And in 1582, Princess Elena Sheremeteva (sister of Leonid), the widow of the son of Ivan IV, settled in the Novodevichy Convent. She was in the monastery as a dowager “queen” and was not denied anything. Then the monastery acquired the status of a courtier.
In January 1598, on the ninth day after the death of Tsar Fyodor I Ioannovich, his widow, Tsarina Irina Godunova, moved from Novodevichy. At that time, she was the only heir to the throne, and her departure to the monastery was tantamount to abdication. Nevertheless, the monastery became the residence of the head of state for several months: the queen-nun continued to receive reports from the boyars and sign decrees.
Brother Boris Godunov hid with her behind the walls of the monastery. Three times the boyars and people came to the Devichye Field to ask Godunov for the kingdom. Finally, on February 22, 1598, in the Smolensk Cathedral, Boris accepted his election to the kingdom. He did not forget about the monastery and organized the construction of new powerful walls 900 meters long. They turned the monastery into a fortress, and even guardhouses with access to the curtains appeared on its territory.
During the troubles, the Novodevichy Convent was a refuge for royalty. Because of this, the monastery suffered many times. For example, in 1605, False Dmitry I “borrowed” 3,000 rubles from the monastery treasury. Of course, he did not return the money.
Only with the accession of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was Novodevichy restored and freed from taxes to the treasury. And the Moscow kings established a tradition every year on July 28, the day of the celebration of Our Lady of Smolensk, to come on pilgrimage to the monastery. They set up tents under the walls of the monastery and spent the night in them, awaiting the morning service. Afterwards, people were treated to food. This is where the custom of festivities on Devichye Pole originated, and after the construction of the Clinical Town, the festivities were moved to Presnya.
The faithful archers tried to free her and even made a tunnel, but in vain. To prevent this from happening again, Peter set up a department of the Preobrazhensky Prikaz at the Novodevichy Monastery - rebels were interrogated here, and the ready-made executioners were strung on the battlements of the monastery walls.
A total of 200 people were executed, and her most loyal supporters were hanged in front of the windows of Sophia’s cell in the Naprudnaya Tower. Now people call this tower the tower of wishes. They say that if you put your hand on the walls and turn to Sophia, your wish will come true. Some leave entire messages for the princess on the walls of the Naprudnaya Tower.
In general, all the towers of the Novodevichy Convent have names: Lopukhinskaya, Tsaritsynskaya, Iosafovskaya, Shvalnaya, Pokrovskaya, Predtechenskaya, Zatrapeznaya and the four corner ones - Naprudnaya, Nikolskaya, Chebotarskaya, Setunskaya.
Also, until 1868, church authorities used the Novodevichy Convent as a correctional facility for women convicted of unbelief.
And in 1724, a shelter for foundling girls for 250 people was opened in Novodevichy. They were taught how to weave Dutch lace. For this purpose, Peter I specially ordered craftswomen from Brabant.
In 1926 it was transformed into the Novodevichy Convent Historical and Household Museum. In 1930-1934, the “Museum of Women’s Emancipation” operated in the monastery, and in 1934 the monastery became a branch of the State Historical Museum.
Since 1994, the monastic community has been under the jurisdiction of Metropolitan of Krutitsky.
The center of the monastery is the five-domed (originally, probably nine-domed) Smolensk Cathedral. Its interiors preserve a 16th-century fresco painting by Simon Ushakov and the miraculous icon of the Smolensk Mother of God. According to legend, it was written by the Evangelist Luke. The Smolensk Cathedral in the Novodevichy Convent was built according to the model in the Kremlin. Perhaps Aleviz Fryazin also supervised the construction. The construction of the temple, about 42.5 m high, was completed in 1525.
IN late XVI In the 1st century, the Smolensk Cathedral became the center of the intersection of two main axes. The “north-south” axis is formed by two gate churches, and the “west-east” axis is formed by the bell tower and the refectory. The architect of this ensemble and most of the buildings of the Novodevichy Convent was Pyotr Potapov, the creator of the Church of the Assumption on Pokrovka.
The six-tier bell tower, 72 meters high, was built with the participation of Osip Startsev. At that time it became the tallest bell tower in Moscow after.
And not far from the bell tower there were hospital wards, where restorer Pyotr Baranovsky lived in 1939-1984.
The first burials appeared on the territory of the Novodevichy Convent in the 16th century. Nuns, nobles, and later representatives of other classes were buried there.
By the beginning of the 20th century free space There are practically none left on the territory of the necropolis. In 1898, 2 hectares of land behind the southern wall of the monastery were allocated to expand the cemetery. This part of the cemetery was officially opened in 1904, but burials began to take place earlier. Nowadays the area behind the southern wall of the monastery is usually called the “old Novodevichy cemetery”. In 1949, the cemetery was expanded again, and in the late 1970s the territory of the “newest Novodevichy Cemetery” was added.
Now the Novodevichy cemetery includes 4 territories where about 26,000 people are buried. Denis Davydov, General Brusilov, Mikhail Bulgakov, Boris Yeltsin rest at the Novodevichy necropolis.
They say that......at first the Novodevichy Convent was founded on a place from which a strong spring flowed. Construction had to be moved, and the well and stream were named Babylon. A slab was laid on this source, and later a chapel was founded. At the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) transferred it to the Kremlin Chudov Monastery. One of the elder nuns explained the origin of the name this way: “It was called Babylonian because, just as the Tower of Babel was not completed, so it is here: they began to build a monastery and the key got in the way.”
...the bell tower of the Novodevichy Convent was supposed to be seven-tiered - but it was not completed due to the overthrow of Princess Sophia in 1689. The bell tower is decorated with a clock that chimes every minute: this is how Peter wanted to remind Sophia of her crime.
...after the Streltsy riot on the ice of Novodevichy Pond, Peter personally cut off the heads of the rebel Streltsy. This pond is notorious because the souls of tortured archers wander around the area in search of their tormentors.
...Napoleon declared that he would not leave Moscow until he saw the destruction of the Novodevichy Convent. He ordered the monastery to be set on fire. But the French failed to carry out Napoleon’s order: the nuns extinguished the smoldering wicks in time. To save the monastery, a Muscovite living nearby set his house on fire. It was this glow that Napoleon, waiting on the Sparrow Hills, saw. The Emperor decided that Novodevichy was burning and left Moscow.
Address: Novodevichy Ave., 1
Cathedral of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God- the oldest temple of the Novodevichy Convent. It was built in 1524-1525. and is similar in architecture to the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, although it differs from it in a number of features. The Smolensk Cathedral is attributed to the work of either Aleviz the New (d. about 1531) or the architect Nestor (who died during the construction of the cathedral).
The cathedral is placed on a high white-stone basement and made of large bricks; its facades, divided by blades into four sections in length and three in width, are practically devoid of decoration.
Only the three-part apse is decorated with a thin arcature belt. The vaults rest on cross-shaped pillars (an innovation introduced into Russian architecture by the Italians). The temple is surrounded by galleries with arched openings (some of which are now blocked) and small chapels on the southern and northern sides. The steps of the high porches lead to the entrance to the cathedral. The five chapters of the cathedral are placed asymmetrically - they are shifted to the eastern part, so that one section of the long side of the building is not under the domes, but, as it were, moved forward. Tall and wide drums under the domes are illuminated, with narrow slit-like windows. The central drum is especially interesting in this regard. It has two tiers of windows: high at the bottom and narrow and small at the top, almost under the very head. These tiers seem to repeat the arrangement of two-light windows in the quadrangle itself. The windows of the upper tier, narrow and high, are located almost in the corners, reaching the line of the end of the blades. The lower windows are wider, although not much, and are surrounded by very modest and simple platbands. The paintings preserved in the cathedral date back to 1526-1530. During the time of Boris Godunov, the frescoes were renewed, but not rewritten. They were painted over later, and only during restoration in Soviet times, when the cathedral was given to a museum, were the walls of the cathedral returned original appearance . The paintings are arranged in several tiers on the walls and pillars and are mainly devoted to the theme of holy warriors and Russian princes 
, the miracles of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God; The paintings show the idea of Moscow as the third Rome. This is fully explained by the time of their creation - the period of formation of the Russian state. The paintings of the vaults, judging by the style, were still done under Boris Godunov. The five-tiered main iconostasis of the cathedral was made by order of Princess Sophia in 1683-1686.
masters of the Armory Chamber. The iconostasis, made by the master from Shilov Klim Mikhailov “and his comrades,” carved and gilded, invariably attracts the attention of museum visitors.
After the closure of the monastery, the cathedral was occupied by a museum, which remains under the jurisdiction to this day.
Date of publication or update 12/15/2017
Monastery address: 119435, Moscow, Novodevichy proezd, 1 (Sportivnaya metro station).
Photo album of the Novodevichy Convent.
A story about a trip to the Novodevichy Convent.
Plan of the Novodevichy Convent.
The Grand Duke did not forget his pious vow. Ten years after the capture of Smolensk, on May 13/26, 1524, he founded the Great Monastery of the Most Pure Mother of God Hodegetria, the New Maiden Monastery with a cathedral church in the name of the Smolensk Icon. The location for the monastery was not chosen by chance: in a picturesque bend of the Moscow River, three miles from the Kremlin, on the Devichye Pole, where in 1456 Muscovites said goodbye to the Smolensk Icon.
By order of the sovereign, on July 28 / August 10, 1525, the Smolensk Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was transferred from the Kremlin to the “House of the Most Pure Hodegetria New Maiden Monastery”. On that day, Vasily III himself and Metropolitan Daniel walked at the head of the procession. In memory of the transfer of the miraculous image, an annual celebration of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God was established with procession of the cross from the Kremlin to the Novodevichy Convent.
To be abbess at the Monastery of the Most Pure Hodegetria Grand Duke Vasily called from Suzdal the Venerable Elena (Girl's memory on November 18), “the reverent and dean schema-nun” of the Intercession Monastery. The Emperor revered the Venerable One for the holiness of her life and believed in the power of her prayers for the grand ducal family. Together with her, 18 Suzdal oxbow lakes arrived in the capital.
Through the prayers of St. Helena and her associates, through tears and labors within the walls of the monastery of the Most Pure Hodegetria, the beginning of monastic work was laid. All of them unanimously subordinated their lives to the laws of the ancient communal charter: common prayer, common labor, common meals and property. The Monk Elena became famous as “an excellent teacher of the virgin rite and a well-known leader for salvation.” She ruled the Novodevichy Convent until her death in 1547 and was buried at the northern apse of the altar of the Smolensk Cathedral. In her Spiritual Letter, the Reverend Mother bequeathed to future abbess and all sisters to strictly maintain the monastic order, the communal rules and to pray fervently for the royal family. The veneration of St. Helena as a Moscow saint was established under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
There is one mysterious circumstance in the history of the Novodevichy Convent: the concerns of Vasily III in establishing a new monastery coincide in time with his divorce case. Probably, the monastery was intended for Grand Duchess Solomonia Saburova, whose 20-year marriage did not produce heirs. In 1523, Vasily Ioannovich obtained permission for a second marriage, and in November 1525 Grand Duchess tonsured at the Nativity Monastery with the name Sofia. But she never had to settle in the monastery of the Most Pure Hodegetria - she ended her earthly days in the remote Intercession Monastery in the city of Suzdal. For her righteous life, the princess-nun was canonized and is now revered by the Church as St. Sophia of Suzdal. The southern limit of the Smolensk Cathedral of the Novodevichy Convent, dedicated to the holy martyr Sophia, the so-called princess-nun, recalls the family drama of Prince Vasily III, which served as a kind of prologue to future fate monastery on Devichye Pole.
Upon the accession of Godunov, the Novodevichy Convent received great favors: the Smolensk Cathedral was completely renewed, a new iconostasis was erected, and the paintings were renewed. For the dowager queen-nun, who settled in the monastery with a large court retinue and all services, extensive cells were built, called the Irininsky Chambers, with a refectory and a house church in the name of John the Baptist (at the end of the 18th century it was renamed in honor of St. Ambrose of Milan). After Godunova’s death, almost all of its property was transferred to the monastery. At the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries, there were 122 old women in the monastery, of which 20 were “princesses and boyars” of noble families: Meshcherskys, Pronskys, Sheremetevs, Velyaminovs, Rostovskys, Pleshcheevs, Okhlebinins, Beklemishevs. All nuns were paid salary from the royal treasury. The elders in the monastery were the abbess, the cellarer, the old women from the boyars and the “great kryloshanki” (choristers). The second rank consisted of “lesser kryloshanki” and ordinary old women. In addition, the Palace and the Grand Order paid the monastery expenses for firewood, prosphora, wax, barrel fish and salt. Monastic villages were located in Dmitrovsky, Ruzsky, Klinsky, Bezhetsky, Kashinsky, Rostovsky, Vladimirsky, Vereisky, Zvenigorodsky, Vyazemsky, Uglichesky, Moscow, Volotsky and Obolensky districts.
At the turn of the 16th-17th centuries, the Novodevichy Convent was a powerful outpost fortress on the western approaches to Moscow. He was raided more than once Crimean Tatars: in 1571 it was burned by Khan Devlet-Girey; in 1591, the army of Kazy-Girey was stopped on the approaches to it. Wanting to ensure the safety of the suburban monastery, Godunov erected powerful stone walls with towers, which, in accordance with the requirements of medieval fortification, were equipped with cannon, musket and plantar loopholes, sights and siege drains. A garrison of archers was assigned to perform guard duty at the monastery. Located at the crossroads of the land Smolensk road and the waterway through the fords of the Moscow River, the monastery had a convenient strategic position and occupied an important place in the defensive line of other Moscow monasteries - “watchmen”, such as the Donskoy Monastery, Danilov Monastery, Novo-Spassky Monastery, Simonov Monastery .
During the Great Troubles, Novodevichy found himself at the center of military action and political intrigue. Already in 1606, Smolensk warriors, called by Tsar Vasily Shuisky, defended the monastery from the advancing troops of Bolotnikov. In 1610, on the Maiden Field, the boyars conducted secret negotiations with the Poles about the calling of Prince Vladislav to the kingdom. During the Moscow siege of 1610-1612, the monastery, passing from hand to hand, saw archers, Poles, Germans and dashing people on its fortress walls. On August 21, 1612, under the walls of the Novodevichy Convent, the decisive battle of the Russian militia led by Prince Pozharsky for the liberation of Moscow took place. From here the Russian squads moved to the Kremlin.
During the Great Troubles, the Novodevichy Convent experienced difficult days. Disasters began in 1605 when, by order of False Dmitry, the monastery treasury was confiscated. In those years, the court monastery became a refuge for royalty who became victims of the struggle for the Russian throne. In 1606, Tsar Vasily Shuisky settled within its walls Princess Ksenia Borisovna Godunova (monastically Olga), tonsured at the Novgorod Goritsky Monastery. With her in the monastery lived the Livonian queen Maria (monastically Martha), the daughter of Vladimir Andreevich Staritsky, cousin of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, who was considered the closest heir to the Moscow throne. In conditions of a state of siege and almost continuous hostilities, the position of the royal nuns was desperate.
With the accession of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the Moscow throne, the devastated monastery was cleansed, restored and strengthened. The last echo of the Great Troubles was the settlement in Novodevichy in 1615 of Tsarina Maria Petrovna Buinosova-Rostovskaya (in the monastic life of Elena, died in 1625), the widow of Tsar Vasily Shuisky, who was dethroned in 1610.
Kings Michael, Alexy and Theodore were zealous for the House of the Most Holy Theotokos Hodegetria: they freed the monastery from taxes to the treasury, endowed it with estates, and enriched it with deposits. By the 50s of the 17th century, through the diligence of the tsar and patriarch, the monastery of the Most Pure Hodegetria was completely renovated and beautified.
The victory of the Russian army in 1612 and the liberation of Moscow from the Poles did not eliminate the confrontation on the western borders. The dispute continued over Smolensk, Belarus, and left-bank Ukraine. In this political as well as religious context, the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos Hodegetria began to be perceived as the guardian of the western borders of Great Russia. In those years, Moscow sovereigns went “to the Most Pure One” not only on pilgrimage. Troop reviews were held under the walls of the monastery on Devichye Pole, from here the royal squads set off to the west along the old Smolensk road. In 1654, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, personally leading the troops, began a war with Poland. Having defeated the Poles near Vyazma, Russian troops on September 23, 1654 took Smolensk, which had been under the rule of Sigismund for almost half a century, and on October 2 of the same year, by royal decree, the city was finally annexed to the Russian Empire. Imitating Grand Duke Vasily III, in gratitude for the victory granted, Alexey Mikhailovich made rich contributions to the Novodevichy Convent and erected another one in the cathedral church of the monastery great shrine- the miraculous icon of the Iveron Mother of God, brought from Athos in 1648, which was in the Russian army during the campaign against Smolensk.
The time of real prosperity for the Novodevichy Convent was the years of the reign of Princess Sofia Alekseevna (1682-1689). After the death of Emperor Theodore Alekseevich, she took the place of regent (ruler) under her young brothers, Tsars John and Peter. Knowing the fragility of her reign, won by the rebellious archers, Sofya Alekseevna began building and decorating the monastery on the Devichye Pole, which she chose for herself as a country residence. Perhaps, the 25-year-old princess-ruler, “escaping from the mansion to freedom,” considered the Novodevichy Convent as a place of her future solitude. But, most likely, by erecting luxurious temples and palaces in it, Sophia was driven by political ambitions: she sought to show her strength, wealth and enlightenment. Smart, brave, well-educated, she consistently fought for the Moscow throne. Sofya Alekseevna often came to the monastery with Patriarch Joachim and her younger brother, Tsar Ivan, to consecrate churches. Here she rewarded faithful archers with royal generosity and met with people devoted to her.
Under the princess-ruler Sofya Alekseevna, a unique architectural ensemble monastery, striking with its truly royal splendor. Smolensk Cathedral with its laconic forms late Middle Ages, like gem in an exquisite frame, surrounded by richly decorated churches and buildings of the late 17th century in the Moscow Baroque style. The main temples of the monastery form in plan a regular cross facing the east, in the center of which is the Smolensk Cathedral, the top is crowned by the candle of the bell tower, the main vertical is formed by the refectory chamber with the Assumption Church, and the transverse one from the north and south is closed by the Transfiguration and Intercession gate churches. The main theme of the architectural decoration of the monastery is the contrast of the white stone patterned frames, arches, galleries, balustrades with the crimson-red facades of the temples, crowned with elegant gilded domes, and all this is framed by snow-white walls with towers decorated with fancy “crowns”.
The walls and towers of the monastery, built by Godunov, were strengthened and expanded under Sophia. Currently, their total length is 870 meters, height from 7 to 11 meters, thickness - up to 5 meters. Forming an irregular pentagon, they surround the territory with total area 5 hectares. Along the perimeter of the walls there are 12 towers with richly decorated tops. Of these, 4 are round corner: Naprudnaya, Nikolskaya, Chebotarnaya, Setunskaya, with rifle guards attached to them, and the remaining 8 are quadrangular: Lopukhinskaya, Tsaritsynskaya, Ioasafovskaya, Shvalnaya, Pokrovskaya, Predtechenskaya, Zatrapeznaya and Savvinskaya.
Smolensky Cathedral (1524-1525) - the oldest stone building of the Novodevichy Convent, is a six-pillar temple on a high basement, surrounded on three sides by a wide gallery, on which four chapel churches were originally located. Of these, two have survived to this day: in honor of the holy apostles Prokhor and Nikanor, whose memory coincides with the celebration of the Smolensk Icon, and the holy martyr Sophia.
Church of St. Ambrose of Milan with the refectory and chambers of Queen Irina Godunova - after the Smolensk Cathedral, the most ancient architectural complex of the monastery. In the second half of the 16th century, it was a separately enclosed estate, which belonged first to Princess Ulyana Udelnaya (Paletskaya, Alexandra in monasticism), and then to Tsarina Irina Feodorovna Godunova (also Alexandra in monasticism). The building was heavily damaged during the fire of 1796 and lost its original appearance.
The refectory chamber with the Assumption Church (1685-1687) is a unique structure for those times - a vast pillarless chamber with an area of 323 square meters. meters, standing on a high basement. On the eastern side, the refectory is adjacent to the high quadrangle of the Assumption Church, on the second floor of which there is a chapel in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, in which an ancient iconostasis has been preserved. Initially, the temple was decorated with an elegant five-domed structure, damaged by fire in 1796, and surrounded by an open white stone gallery, dismantled due to its disrepair. early XIX century. After restoration work carried out according to the design of the architect Kazakov, the church acquired its current appearance.
The Church of the Transfiguration (1687-1688) was built above the holy (northern) gates and is, as it were, a “calling card” of the monastery. An elegant, light temple, decorated with white stone decoration, seems to hover above the monastery. Its high quadrangle with three rows of windows is completed with a belt of large white stone shells and five faceted drums with figured heads. Adjacent to the Church of the Transfiguration from the west are the so-called Lopukhin Chambers, originally built for Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna, and in 1727-1731 they became the home of the nun Tsarina Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina, the first wife of Peter I.
The original carved iconostasis by Karp Zolotarev has been preserved in the Church of the Transfiguration. The icons of the local series are distinguished by their particular subtlety and perfection of writing. Their selection reflected the sovereign idea that occupied Princess Sophia. On one of the icons, the Holy Martyr Sophia is depicted standing before the Mother of God, together with the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Queen Elena, Princess Olga and Martyr Paraskeva, the patroness of the wife of Tsar Ivan Alekseevich.
The Church of the Intercession (1683-1688) was erected above the southern gate of the monastery. It is not as majestic as Preobrazhenskaya, but no less original. Its creators used a rare technique characteristic of Ukrainian architecture: three light, tiered domes of this temple were placed in one row above the vestibule, refectory and altar, with bell towers located in the side domes. Adjacent to it from the east are the Mariinsky Chambers, in which Tsarevna Maria Alekseevna lived.
The bell tower (1b87-1b89) was built in Last year reign of Princess Sophia. It has a height of 72 meters and consists of six tiers of octagons, surrounded by galleries with white stone balustrades. The third and fifth tiers are occupied by bell towers. In the lower one there was a church in the name of the Venerable Varlaam and Joasaph, Prince of India, which was connected to the chambers of another princess of Miloslavskaya, Evdokia Alekseevna, located at the foot of the bell tower. In the second tier there was a church in honor of the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian, the throne of which was moved to the refectory of the Assumption Church after 1812.
The Streltsy revolt of 1689 put an end to the regency of Princess Sophia. Having become a prisoner from a ktitor, the deposed ruler did not leave power-hungry plans within the walls of the monastery: in 1698 another one was raised Streltsy riot, cruelly suppressed by Peter. This rebellion brought three more princess sisters to the monastery on Devichye Pole: Evdokia, Catherine and Maria. And Sophia herself, on the 20th of October 1689, under Abbess Pamphilia (Potemkina) in the Smolensk Cathedral, was tonsured with the name of Susanna and placed “for strong maintenance” in the Streltsy guard at the Naprudnaya Tower. She received money and food allowance from the palace, but was strictly limited in communication, being under the protection of Preobrazhensky soldiers.
Princess nun Susanna (1657-1704) reposed in 1704 on July 3/16, having been tonsured into the schema the year before, with the former name Sophia. Despite her disgrace, the sisters revered her as a great mistress and “the builder of a holy house from long ago.” And the Streltsy guardhouse, where she was imprisoned, was called “the palace of the blessed memory of the schema-nun Princess Sofia Alekseevna.” She was buried in the southwestern corner of the Smolensk Cathedral, and her two princess sisters were later buried next to her: Evdokia (1650-1712) and Catherine (1658-1718) of Miloslavsky. Above all the tombstones, iconostases were built from their personal and inset icons.
After the death of schema-nun Princess Sophia, the Novodevichy Convent remained closed for more than ten years.
In 1721, the monastery came under the jurisdiction of the Holy Synod, but its disgrace continued. In 1724-1725, by imperial order, an “orphan building” with 252 places was built in the monastery to accommodate foundlings and street children of the female sex. They were raised in the monastery until adulthood, learning how to spin Dutch threads, sewing and weaving lace under the guidance of mentors drawn from the Brabant monasteries. At the same time, in addition to its own almshouse for 20 people, the monastery opened a shelter and a hospital for old, honored soldiers. Since 1727, a city cemetery was built within the walls of the monastery.
According to the imperial manifesto of 1764 on the secularization of church real estate, the Novodevichy Convent, by the end of the 18th century, lost all types of land ownership, receiving in return a cash and grain salary. In the list of first-class established monasteries, the monastery was in second place, there were 70 monks in it, the hostel was abolished. In 1770, at the Irininsky (hospital) wards, through the efforts of the Archbishop of Moscow Ambrose (Zertis-Kamensky, 1768 - died September 14, 1771), the temple was restored and consecrated in honor of St. Ambrose of Milan. A year later, a disastrous plague epidemic that spread in Moscow claimed most of the sisters - only 7 people survived. Among them, on October 17, 1771, Abbess Innocent (Kelpinskaya) reposed, with whose death the successive reign of the Kutein elders ended in the monastery. On May 14, 1796, a severe fire occurred in the monastery - the Assumption and St. Ambrose churches, cells and some outbuildings. By order of Empress Catherine II, restoration work was headed by the famous architect M.F. Cossacks, and by the end of the same year the monastery was restored to its previous appearance, but the refectory and hospital churches lost their original appearance.
In August 1812, the Mother See again met the miraculous icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria, taken from Smolensk. Again, the western borders of Russia were in the hands of the enemy, again the enemy was approaching Moscow. On August 26, on the very day of the Battle of Borodino, Archbishop of Moscow Augustine (Vinogradsky) made a religious procession across Moscow with the miraculous icons of the Mother of God of Smolensk, Vladimir and Iveron. At the request of Abbess Methodia (Yakushkina), the icon was surrounded around the Novodevichy Convent. After three and a half centuries, on the Maiden Field, in front of a huge crowd of people, prayer singing to the Most Holy Theotokos was again performed, accompanied by general crying and sobbing, after which on August 31 the Smolensk Icon was transported to Yaroslavl. At the same time, the Smolensk Icon from the Novodevichy Convent also left for Vologda - it, along with other valuables from the church sacristy, was taken away by Abbess Methodius.
The French appeared at the walls of the Novodevichy Convent on October 2, but the monastery, as if remembering its former military purpose, was in no hurry to accept uninvited guests. On the feast of the icon of the Mother of God "Burning Bush", September 4, to the ancient walls in order of battle Napoleonic army of two thousand approached. The French rolled up two cannons to the holy gates, climbed up the wall, and, having entered the monastery, forced the gates to be opened. Soon one of the regiments was stationed here, warehouses for provisions and fodder were set up, and the abbot's chambers were occupied by a French general. But the Most Pure Hodegetria kept Her house and her verbal flock. The Smolensk Cathedral, which contained the rest of the monastery sacristy and utensils from all the churches, was not plundered. From September 23, within its walls, with the permission of the French authorities, the Liturgy was celebrated, for which previously selected wine and fine flour were given out. On September 25, Napoleon visited the monastery. By his order, the northern (Saints) and southern gates were boarded up and filled with earth, a battery was built opposite the main entrance and a ditch was dug. Cannons were placed above the gates and in the broken walls.
The French stayed in the Novodevichy Convent for about a month. Before retreating, they prepared the monastery for an explosion: they dug under the bell tower, cathedral and other churches and brought in a lot of gunpowder. Having barely waited for the enemy to leave, on the night of October 9 (memory of the Apostle James Alfeev), the treasurer and two nuns rushed to inspect the churches, cells, and basements and discovered a fire already in progress. Lighted candles were scattered on the floor, on straw, everywhere, and in churches they were stuck to the iconostasis. Under the cathedral, fuses flared on uncorked boxes and barrels of gunpowder. Calling on the rest of the sisters and workers, Nun Sarah ordered the flames to be doused with water. Through the intercession of the Most Pure Virgin and the zeal of the sisters, Her monastery remained unburnt. In memory of the monastery's deliverance from an explosion and fire, a chapel was built in the Assumption Church in honor of the Apostle James Alfeev. The service to the saint on this day was combined with the service to the Smolensk icon, and after the Liturgy and thanksgiving prayer a procession of the cross was held around the monastery walls. The memory of Abbess Methodia and nun Sarah was especially revered in the monastery. Through the prayers and devotion of these glorious ascetics, it was saved from explosion and destruction, cleansed, renewed and completely restored.
At the end of the 19th century, the Novodevichy Convent was one of the best monasteries in the capital, the number of monastics in it reached 300 people. The sisters worked in various obediences: in the church, prosphora, bread, refectory, cellars, cemetery, painting and handicraft workshops.
As in ancient times, the feast of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God attracted many pilgrims to the monastery. He was accompanied by a religious procession from the Kremlin to the Novodevichy Convent and folk festival on the Maiden's Field.
The Novodevichy Convent has always been one of the favorite suburban places of Muscovites. Standing on a low-lying bank in a picturesque bend of the Moscow River, surrounded by meadows, it was clearly visible from a long distance and amazed with its royal splendor. During the spring flood, when the water rose to the very walls, the monastery seemed to be standing on a cape in the middle of a flooded river. Inside the walls the monastery was blooming garden, cultivated by the prayers and labors of its nuns.
The measured life of the ancient monastery was interrupted by the First World War and the revolution that followed it. Since 1914, the Novodevichy Convent participated in the construction and maintenance of the infirmary in the Intercession community, 20 nuns became sisters of mercy, others were engaged in sewing soldiers' linen and collecting parcels for the front. The news of the abdication of the passion-bearing emperor Nicholas II was received with great sorrow in the monastery.
And very soon, on one of the days of the Moscow uprising of 1917, the monastery saw within its walls representatives of the new government. This was a detachment of armed people who rudely demanded to see the monastery reserves.
The most difficult years for the Novodevichy Convent were 1918-919, when decrees Soviet power The Filatievsky School, an orphanage and a parish school were closed, bank savings and land were confiscated. Due to the lack of food and bread, the common meal was abolished. There was only one almshouse left, which existed at the expense of private benefactors. 8 elderly nuns lived out their lives in it. The mortality rate in the monastery increased - 19 people died in two years. Fleeing from hunger, many novices from the peasants left for the village. Soon representatives of various departments began to take an interest in the monastery regarding empty premises, and in the spring of 1918 the first residents appeared. These were 200 cadets of the People's Commissariat of Education, the vanguard of the “cultural revolution”.
Young people, most of them party members, they behaved deliberately cheekily, disrupting order and disregarding the nuns, during church services had noisy fun. The gates of the monastery now stood open - she entered them imperiously new life. The Igumensky (Lopukhinsky) building was taken over as a nursery, and general education was established in the refectory. A year later, the cadets were replaced by 300 workers from the Expedition for the Procurement of State Papers that moved from Petrograd.
In 1922, the monastery was finally closed. By decision of the Soviet government, the “Museum of the era of the reign of Princess Sophia and the Streltsy riots” was located on its territory, later renamed the “Museum of the Emancipation of Women”. In 1926, the State Museum Fund moved into the walls of the monastery.
The remainder of the monastic community held on to the Assumption Church. The nuns of the ruined monastery, of whom there were fewer and fewer, did not leave their nest. Some got jobs at the museum as restorers and curators, others worked at the church as cleaners, janitors, and watchmen. But soon, thrown out onto the street, they “dissolved” in the boundless sea of Moscow communal apartments, where they were covered by a wave of persecution of the Church.
In 1922, Abbess Vera and four clergy were arrested in connection with the seizure of church valuables. Matushka was sentenced to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property, priests Nikolai Kozlov and Sergiy Lebedev were imprisoned for a year and a half. The following year, the cassation board commuted the sentence, reducing the sentence by a third. In 1931, Archpriest Sergius Lebedev, who continued to serve in the Assumption Church after his release, was again arrested and exiled. On March 9/22, 1938, he suffered martyrdom at the Butovo training ground near Moscow.
In the same year, five former nuns of the Novodevichy Convent suffered for their faith: nuns Matrona (Alekseeva, died March 19/April 1) and Maria (Tseitlin, died December 2/15), nun Natalya (Baklanova, died March 18/31), novices Irina (Khvostova, died February 13/26) and Natalya (Ulyanova, died March 9/22). Now all of them are glorified as the holy new martyrs of Russia. Abbess Vera, having served her term of exile, lived in Moscow until her death in 1949 and was buried in the Danilovsky cemetery.
Despite all the hardships, the Novodevichy Convent remained for Muscovites a corner dear to the hearts of old Moscow.
Soviet reality inexorably and cruelly attacked the ancient monastery. By 1929, bell ringing was banned and a monstrous “clearing” of the cemetery was carried out, accompanied by the destruction of most of the tombstones.
During the Great Patriotic War The Novodevichy Convent again saw within its walls the servants of the Altar of the Lord. On June 14, 1944, the Orthodox Theological Institute and Pastoral Theological Courses were opened within its walls. Institute lectures were held in the Lopukhin Chambers, and training sessions for students were held in the Assumption Church. The Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate was also located there. In the premises of the church basement there was a dormitory for students of theological schools. Subsequently, production workshops of the Moscow Patriarchate were established there. In 1944, services were resumed in the gateway Church of the Transfiguration. At the beginning of 1945, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy I performed the rite of consecration of the Assumption Church, in which regular services began. Celebrations on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Russian autocephaly were held here in 1948. Orthodox Church. March 18-31, 1988 - Pre-Conciliar Bishops' Conference before the Anniversary Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'.
Since 1964, the Assumption Church has become cathedral Krutitsky and Kolomna metropolitans, and the Lopukhinsky chambers are their residence. Here Metropolitan Nikolai (Yarushevich, 1944-1960) and Metropolitan Pimen (Izvekov, 1963-1971), the future Patriarch of Moscow, performed their archpastoral service. From 1977 to the present, Metropolitan Yuvenaly (Poyarkov), administrator of the Moscow diocese, has been at the department. In 1982, the restored and consecrated Church of the Transfiguration received the status of a metropolitan cross church. At the same time, a unique iconostasis from the Church of the Assumption on Pokrovka, which was blown up in the 30s, was installed in the Assumption Church.
By the 80s of the 20th century, the Novodevichy Convent was returned to its historical appearance, and since then it has become a popular tourist attraction. Five centuries have left here many priceless monuments of architecture, icon painting, and applied art, which attract lovers of antiquity to the monastery. However, the main thing, the spiritual treasure of the monastery of the Most Pure Hodegetria, remained hidden for a long time.
Monastic life within the walls of the Novodevichy Convent resumed in the fall of 1994. After a seventy-year break, on November 27, during the Divine Liturgy in the Assumption Church of the monastery, Metropolitan Yuvenaly elevated nun Seraphima (in the world Varvara Vasilyevna Chernaya) to the rank of abbess. Having accepted the abbot's baton at the age of 80, Abbess Seraphima seemed to combine in her person the past and present of our Fatherland. A hereditary noblewoman, a representative of the famous Chichagov family, she received the beginnings of the Christian faith from her pious mother, a nun, and her grandfather, the Hieromartyr Seraphim (December 11), an elder bishop who was shot in Butovo in 1937.
The burdens of the first years of restoration of monastic life in the Novodevichy Convent fell on the shoulders of Abbess Seraphima (Chernaya). The monastery had neither living quarters nor any well-thought-out life support system for the first nuns. Everything had to be started “from scratch” - and mother worked tirelessly in this field.
On December 16, 1999, Abbess Seraphima (Black) departed to the Lord. Her funeral service was performed by Metropolitan Yuvenaly with a council of clergy in front of a large crowd of people. Mother was buried to the left of the porch of the Assumption Church. Soon, in one of the premises of this temple, a memorial room was built in Bose for the deceased Abbess Seraphima (Chernaya).
Currently, the Novodevichy Convent, while remaining a visited tourist site, attracts more and more pilgrims. The main monastery holiday remains the day of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God.
The patronal feasts are the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 28) and the feast day of St. Ambrose of Milan (December 7). On August 10, 1999, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, the Act of canonization of the founder of the Novodevichy Convent, schema-abbess Elena (Devochkina), took place among the locally revered saints of the Moscow Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Venerable One is commemorated on the day of her repose, December 1st. On Saturday of the second week of Easter the Council of the New Martyrs of the Novodevichy Monastery is celebrated. On December 16, the annual commemoration of the deceased Abbess Seraphima (Chernaya) is held in Bose.
Currently, forty nuns are working in the monastery. Every day in the Assumption Church the Divine Liturgy and the entire daily cycle of services are celebrated; after the Midnight Office, the sisters sing an akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos Hodegetria before Her revered image.
As in ancient times, the main shrine of the monastery is the image of Our Lady of Smolensk. Also in the monastery, the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God and the ancient image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker with a particle of his relics are especially revered. There are reliquaries with particles of holy relics. In December 2003, a copy of the miraculous icon “Inexhaustible Chalice” from the Serpukhov Vysotsky Monastery was installed in the Assumption Church. On August 1, 2006, a mosaic image of the Mother of God Hodegetria was installed above the Holy Gate of the monastery, in front of which an unquenchable lamp was lit. All these are external signs of spiritual rebirth. But the monastery is not only returned shrines and restored churches, but, above all, human souls. Under the roof of the Most Pure Hodegetria, as in many other Russian monasteries, spiritual construction is underway. And from the updated fresco “Thou Art the Wall of the Virgins...”, the Most Holy Theotokos looks mercifully at the daughters of obedience who come to Her.
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The Novodevichy Convent in Moscow is an ancient picturesque temple complex located in a historical place near Luzhniki. This monastery is one of the ancient Orthodox ensembles Christian religion, located on the territory of the state and revered for centuries. According to existing belief, during the period of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, it was in this area that the selection of Russian beauties for the Golden Horde was carried out.
For several centuries since its existence, the community was used to imprison female royals. The architecture of the church complex, which developed during the 16-17th centuries, subsequently did not undergo any significant changes. The monastery is an exceptionally well-preserved model of the Moscow Baroque, for which it was declared a world heritage and accepted under the protection of UNESCO.
The current community is in the common possession of the State Museum of History and the Russian christian church. Also, since 2010, the Orthodox Museum of the Moscow Diocese was opened on the territory of the sacred place.
Near the main entrance to the community there is the Navratny Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, which is decorated with the miraculous face of Smolensk Mother of God. In the Assumption Cathedral, erected by decree the king's daughter Sophia, one of the ancient sacred images of the Novodevichy Convent is in storage, that is, the face of the Iveron Heavenly Queen.
The Orthodox complex itself includes a considerable number of artistic and architectural monuments of historical significance, in which many revered ancient shrines are preserved to this day.
A recent important event in the community was the discovery of an ancient relic of the Vatopedi Church of St. Mount Athos - the divine face of the Virgin Mary “Consolation and Consolation”. And this list with the sacred image of the monastery was handed over by Elder Svyatogorets back in 1854.
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After the closure of this holy place during the terrible atheistic period, the shrine was considered lost, but by a happy coincidence of circumstances at the present time, it was able to be found again in the Vyshensky Church. Moreover, it should be noted that on the back of the miraculous image there is an inscription, which is precisely proof that this image belongs to this Moscow monastery. And what about the newly acquired Orthodox relic, and the cathedral held a church service dedicated to the discovery of the ancient image.
The schedule of church services in the Holy Monastery is updated several times a month:
Address of the Novodevichy Convent: 119435, Novodevichy proezd, 1 (Sportivnaya metro station, Moscow).
Take the red line to the Sportivnaya station and walk from there along the street. 10th anniversary of October about 5-7 minutes (approximately 800 m) or by public transport:
Opening hours for visitors of the sacred place are open for its visitors from 9:00 to 17:00 daily. Museums begin their work at 10:00 am, but they are closed on the first Monday of the month and on Tuesdays.
The entrance to the church complex itself is free, but in museums prices may vary, i.e. the price of a standard ticket for an adult is 150 rubles, for children school age, students and pensioners – 60 rub.
Naturally, you can explore the historical temple buildings on your own, but it is best to turn to the services of professional guides. At the same time, a variety of informative and exciting excursions are held on the territory of the community itself, which will be useful not only for adults, but also for children, because this place is truly amazing, beautiful and mysterious.
May the Lord protect you!
You will also be interested in taking a video tour of the holy monastery:
Novodevichy convent was founded in the 16th century on the Maiden Field (otherwise called Samsonov Meadow) by decree of the Moscow Prince Vasily III, who vowed to found a monastery at the crossroads of the Smolensk road and the Moscow River in honor of the return of Smolensk to Rus' from Polish-Lithuanian rule.
The field received the name Maiden's from the fact that, according to legend, during the invasion of Batu Khan's troops, Russian girls were selected here, who were later to go into captivity in the Golden Horde.
The stone walls and towers of the monastery were erected at the end of the 16th century during the reign of Boris Godunov. The Novodevichy Convent was called “the Kremlin in miniature”. High walls, crenellated towers, loopholes - a real outpost, surrounded on three sides by the Moscow River. They guarded the approaches to Moscow from the west, being one of the four powerful monasteries around the capital, along with the Don, Danilov and Simonov monasteries. But they were unable to protect the monastery from ruin during the Time of Troubles.
A new flourishing of the Novodevichy Convent begins with the coming to power of the Romanov dynasty. After Mikhail Fedorovich ascended the throne, the monastery was restored and became operational, and under Alexei Mikhailovich and Fedor Alekseevich it turned into a royal pilgrimage site.
Under Princess Sofya Alekseevna, grandiose construction began here. Almost the entire ensemble of the monastery was made in the Moscow Baroque style, new for that time. For very a short time tall, gate churches appeared on the northern and southern gates, a refectory with the Assumption Church, as well as two residential buildings for Sophia’s sisters - princesses Maria and Catherine. Princess Sophia herself, after Peter I came to power, was imprisoned and tonsured in the Novodevichy Convent under the name of Susanna.
After the capture of the monastery in 1812, Napoleon placed his battery here, and before leaving he ordered the monastery to be burned. Fortunately, Novodevichy was not burned - after the French left, the nuns managed to extinguish the wicks of the powder barrels and put out the fire that had not flared up.
The necropolis of the Novodevichy Convent is very remarkable. Near the apses of the Smolensk Cathedral, the grave of the first local abbess, Elena, is preserved; women of the royal family are buried in the cathedral itself.
Novodevichy, the only monastery in Moscow that reports not directly to the Patriarch, but to Metropolitan Krutitsky and Kolomna, became operational again in 1994.
Novodevichy, one of the oldest and the most beautiful monasteries Russia, has preserved the unique ensemble of buildings that formed at the end of the 17th century. The monastery has never been rebuilt or reconstructed, thanks to which it has carried through the centuries the amazing beauty of its architecture.
