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» Earth from the groove of the Queen of Heaven how to use. A trip to Diveyevo, the history of the monastery and personal impressions. When they decorate the ditch in Diveevo

Earth from the groove of the Queen of Heaven how to use. A trip to Diveyevo, the history of the monastery and personal impressions. When they decorate the ditch in Diveevo

The Holy Groove of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the most famous shrine of the Diveyevo Monastery, a favorite place for pilgrimage. In fact, the ditch is not so small, it is a fairly deep ditch. People walk along it in religious processions, believers visit it, and many Orthodox miracles have been performed on the Holy Kanavka through prayers. There are even known cases of healing of their Holy Canal using clay. The Queen of Heaven herself appeared to St. Seraphim of Sarov with instructions to found the Mill Community and surround it with a ditch and a rampart. St. Seraphim said that the ditch contains traces of the Mother of God herself, who walked around the community along the ditch, marking it as Her abode.

Holy Groove: History

The holy ditch is surrounded by a two-meter-high rampart. It was created by the labor of a resident of the Diveyevo Monastery. Like the monastery itself, the ditch was built exactly as the Queen of Heaven herself asked for it. The Diveyevo monastery is unique in that the Mother of God appeared to its confessor, St. Seraphim of Sarov, more than once. Born into a merchant family, the Monk Seraphim gave and dedicated his entire life to the Church. The Monk Seraphim saw the Blessed Virgin Mary walking around the monastery along a certain path. It was here that he marked the location of the future groove with pebbles. In 1833, work on its creation was almost completed. But the story of Kanavka did not end there. It was destroyed and actually dug up again after difficult times for the Church.

The Holy Canal of the Most Holy Theotokos survived the times of atheism; even in the pre-revolutionary years it almost disappeared, and carriages were sent to the holy places, because after the death of St. Seraphim almost no one looked after the shrine, but even today the canal attracts thousands of pilgrims from all over the world. After difficult times, the Holy Canal was literally restored from scratch. Now the Holy Canal has a length of 777 meters and a depth of human height. Its slopes are lined with turf and gooseberries. The shaft of the Holy Canal is paved with paving stones and surrounded by a fence.

Every day after the evening service during Bright Week, a religious procession with the “Tenderness” icon takes place here. It is also customary on Sundays before Easter to walk along the Holy Canal with prayer. Religious processions are also performed here:

  • on the feast of the memory of St. Seraphim on January 2/15;
  • on the feast of the Icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness” on July 28/August 10;
  • for the burial of the Mother of God on August 16/30;
  • on the feast of the founding of the Mill Monastery on December 9/22;
  • January 1/14 at midnight on the feasts of the Circumcision of the Lord and St. Basil the Great with the singing of a prayer service for the New Year.

When they decorate the ditch in Diveevo

On the Feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the ditch is decorated, making it look like a beautiful blooming garden. First, it is filled with a carpet of fresh green grass, then flower patterns are laid out on it. Flowers are usually brought by pilgrims, who also participate in decorating the Holy Canal or simply donate roses, daisies, irises, and carnations to decorate it.

Who should come to the Holy Canal?

We can safely say that the Diveyevo Monastery is a unique monument of history and architecture, which is often visited by tourists, regardless of their religious beliefs. Should non-believers go to the Holy Kanavka? Yes, if you do not disturb those praying and show respect for the participants in the Procession. For Orthodox people there are only four portions of the Most Holy Theotokos:

  1. Iveria
  2. Diveevo

And yet, first of all, people come here to pray, to see with their own eyes the places where the Foot of the Mother of God walked, to look at the monastery, whose confessor was St. Seraphim of Sarov.

“Father Seraphim said a lot of wonderful things about this Kanavka. That this Groove is the piles of the Mother of God! Here the Queen of Heaven herself walked around her! This Canal is sky high! The Lady Most Pure Mother of God herself took this land as her inheritance! Here, father, I have Athos, Kyiv, and Jerusalem! And when the Antichrist comes, he will pass everywhere, but will not jump over this Ditch!”"(Father Vasily Sadovsky).

What prayer to read on the groove

The Holy Canal of the Mother of God is a special place, and even if you came just to visit it, but did not plan to pray for some reason, it is not customary to make loud noise there. You should behave with respect, quietly and modestly.

There are no strict rules for praying on the Holy Canal, but it is usually customary to read the prayer “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary” 150 times:

Virgin Mary, Rejoice, full of grace Mary, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, for you have given birth to the Savior of our souls.

An icon with the words of prayer can be purchased at the monastery.

Many people read the prayer rule of St. Seraphim of Sarov before visiting the Holy Kanavka.

“Having risen from sleep, every Christian, standing before the holy icons, let him read

Lord's prayer Our Father three times, in honor of the Holy Trinity,

then a hymn to the Mother of God Virgin Mary, rejoice also three times

and finally the Creed once.

- Having completed this rule, let him go about his business to which he has been assigned or called.

While working at home or on the road somewhere, let him read quietly. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner or a sinner, and if others surround him, then, while doing business, let him speak only with his mind Lord have mercy and continues until lunch.

- Just before lunch, let him perform the above morning rule. After lunch, while doing his job, he reads quietly Most Holy Theotokos, save me, a sinner, or Lord Jesus Christ, Mother of God, have mercy on me, a sinner or a sinner, and let this continue until sleep.

- When going to bed, let every Christian read the above morning rule again; after that, let him fall asleep, protecting himself with the sign of the cross.”

“By adhering to this rule,” says Father Seraphim, “one can achieve a measure of Christian perfection, for the above three prayers are the foundation of Christianity: the first, as a prayer given by the Lord Himself, is a model of all prayers; the second was brought from heaven by the Archangel in greeting to the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Lord; The symbol briefly contains the saving dogmas of the Christian faith.”

Every person interested in the history of Russia has read about the village of Diveevo, which is located near the Sarov Desert. There is one unique monastery with a ditch. What made this monastery and its ditch famous?

Holy places in Diveevo

In this small village with an interesting name Diveevo, There is an unusual convent, around which a ditch has been dug, where the feet of the Most Holy Theotokos herself passed. It is believed that it is a barrier from evil dark forces, and those who walk along it, reading a prayer to the Mother of God, will be cured of various mental and physical ailments...

Digging a little from the topic, I’ll say about myself: I walked along it, putting aside my crutches - with a cane - it hurt, it started to rain, then snow, I prayed and walked, made a wish and it came true...
Therefore, it is true Holy places... There are so many saints in Rus' about whom we know nothing at all or very little...

Background

Agafya's visions are a story dedicated to Agafya Semenovna Belokopytova. After her husband died, she and her small child left the village, giving herself and her earthly life to God. Her path was directed to Kyiv, where there were already many monasteries at that time. She decided to complete her journey in one place, until one day the Mother of God appeared to her. She told Agafya that she was ordered to go to those lands that would be shown to her and establish a women’s monastery there, which would be her earthly inheritance.

After communicating with the elders, she nevertheless decides to take a new path. Agafya walked around Holy Rus' for a long time, until 1760, when the Mother of God appeared to her again. In a dream, she said that she had found the future holy lands, and it was here that there would be a monastery, which previously had no equal on earth. An event occurred in Diveevo. After sleep, she went to a village nearby, where she and her daughter found shelter. But, unfortunately, the daughter soon died. The woman was no longer held back, and after the sale of the property in 1767, construction of the great cathedral began.
When Agafya was 55 years old, her strength suddenly left her. Realizing that her death is near, she asks three monks to accept her confession. On that day, one of them was Seraphim. It was to him that she handed over this divine mission over Diveevo.

Seraphim of Sarov. Groove of the Virgin Mary

Construction of the monastery was continued only in 1825. Seraphim of Sarov stopped his hermitage. Having accepted a responsible spiritual mission, the Mother of God also began to appear to him. She “walked around” the monastery in a circle and ordered to dig a ditch along the outer circle to enclose the monastery. From now on Our Lady's groove will protect the monastery and its novices. After all, it was she who was supposed to become a protective line not only for the village, but for all of Russia.

The names of three servants were also named, who were obliged to dig a ditch and plant the slopes with gooseberries. The Mother of God also indicated the exact dimensions of the groove. They dug it for about three years, despite the weather and time of year, and, at the insistence of the Mother of God, ONLY WOMEN nuns.
But no matter how hard the sisters tried to build the miracle structure, it could not become a ring around the monastery. 125 meters are missing, and the temple should have been erected in their place.

After Sarovsky's death, dark days came for the village. Ivan Tolstosheev called himself his follower, in fact this was not so, and in 1861 he was exposed. Despite the fact that the truth about the liar was revealed, he managed to cause a lot of trouble. Change the charter of the monastery, demolish a couple of buildings and even build bridges and roads across the Holy Kanavka. Thank God, he did not have time to fall asleep, as he wished. In 1862, a new abbess came and everything took the path of revival.

Holy destiny of the Mother of God on earth

This holy place experienced many difficulties, atheism, and one day the time came when all the inhabitants of the monastery were ordered to leave the temple within 7 days. They did not leave the village and remained to live next to the holy temple. In the 70s, a transformer substation and a boarding school were installed on the ditch. Soon it continued here and...

The gooseberries bloomed again, the ditch was put in order, all the depressions were leveled, since the sisters who laid it were not always able to adhere to the proportions that the Mother of God spoke about. As for the icon from which the monastery originates, today it is located in the Fatima Monastery. In Diveevo, they are confident that the times will come when healing, miraculous icons will once again be seen in their native land.

Sleeping Sayan and Hanging Stone

A special place located in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Curious tourists studying the history of Russian lands and numerous pilgrims from Christian countries who humbly ask for the intercession of the Mother of God come here.

Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevo Convent

History of the monastery

The Diveevo Convent was founded in the second half of the 18th century by Mother Alexandra (Melgunova). At the behest of the Mother of God, she went from Kyiv to the north of Russian lands. In the village of Diveevo, the Virgin Mary appeared again to the nun and ordered her to stay in this area.

In 1780, the first stone temple (Kazan Church), erected at the expense of Mother Alexandra, was consecrated. Eight years later, on the lands adjacent to the Kazan Church, a house was built in which Alexandra and four novices settled.

In 1789, monk Seraphim from the Sarov Monastery took custody of the community. In 1796, Ksenia Mikhailovna Kocheulova, whom Seraphim of Sarov spoke of with great respect, was chosen as the head of the monastic community.

The soil of the Grooves and the flowers and herbs growing in it have healing properties. You can take the soil from the Queen of Heaven’s Canal with you in a specially equipped place.

It has many wonderful properties:

  1. Land from the Holy Kanavka in Diveevo is used for protection from evil spirits and unkind thoughts. To do this, part of the miraculous earth is mixed with ordinary soil or sand and placed at the front door or buried under the threshold of a private house.
  2. A handful of earth wrapped in cloth is applied to sick or injured parts of the body to speed up the healing process.
  3. Strengthening physical health is promoted by daily consumption of holy water, in which a small amount of earth is diluted.
Advice! It will take more than one day to see all the shrines and relics of the monastery. Therefore, you should allocate 2-3 days for your trip to Diveevo. At this time, you can live in a hotel for pilgrims, or rent housing from village residents. Many advertisements of this nature are posted on thematic pages on social networks.

The main shrine of the Diveyevo monastery is a shrine with the holy relics of St. Seraphim

How to get to Diveevo

The Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery is located in the village of Diveevo, Diveevsky district, Nizhny Novgorod region. The closest city from which you can get to the Holy Monastery is Arzamas. Nizhny Novgorod is located 180 kilometers away.

Travel by public transport

People traveling by public transport should choose the method of arrival in Arzamas or Nizhny Novgorod depending on their region of residence. Moscow residents should take the train departing from Kursky or Yaroslavsky railway stations.

Having reached the Arzamas-2 station, you should change to a bus to Diveevo. Buses depart at intervals of one hour.

Tourists and pilgrims coming to Nizhny Novgorod should get to the bus station on the street. Gagarin and take bus No. 1645 to Diveevo. As an alternative route, you can consider a trip in the Nizhny Novgorod - Sarov minibus, which makes a stop in Diveevo. This bus leaves from the bus station on the street. Lyadova.

Traveling by car

Based on reviews from people who have repeatedly visited the monastery, a trip to the Diveyevo monastery by personal vehicle is the most economical and convenient way to travel to the holy place. To get to the place from the regions of Central Russia it will take on average 7-8 hours.

Transfiguration Cathedral in Diveyevo Monastery

Motorists from Moscow need to move along Gorkovskoye Highway in the direction of Vladimir. At the junction in front of the city you need to turn towards Murom. Then the path continues through Murom, Ardatov and Mayevka. After about 270 km, travelers will arrive in Diveevo.

Advice! To get to the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery, without thinking about travel arrangements and accommodation problems, you can contact a travel agency. Many of them organize tourist and pilgrimage trips to the monastery.

Before your first trip to Diveevo, you should study the history of this place, its shrines and unique relics. Without this information, the activities taking place in the monastery may be incomprehensible to tourists.

For female tourists and pilgrims, regardless of age, it is mandatory to wear a long skirt and headdress on the territory of the monastery. Those who violate this rule will be asked to leave by the monks.

When preparing for your trip, it would be useful to learn the prayer recited on the Holy Kanavka. It contains only a few lines. A blessing for photography can be purchased at the church store, but many tourists take photographs without it. The main thing is not to behave defiantly and respect the people around you.

The Diveyevo Monastery and its main shrine are a unique spiritual and architectural monument of Orthodox culture.

On its territory, even non-believers feel peace, reverence for divine power and respect for the people who founded and revived the Holy Monastery.

Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery

Here, the priest said, I have Athos, Kyiv, and Jerusalem. And when the Antichrist comes, he will pass everywhere, but will not jump over this groove. The sisters dug this ditch until the very death of the priest, towards the end of his life, on his orders, and in winter and summer without ceasing, fire splashed from the ground when they chopped it with an ax, but did not order it to stop." Elder Anna Alekseevna, one of the first sisters, says: “For six years I lived in a mill, where Father Seraphim chose the seven of us, where he placed us to live. Here I witnessed the next miracle. One day one of us, the next one, came out of our cells and saw: Father Seraphim in a white robe himself began to dig a ditch. In fear and joy, without remembering herself, she runs into the cell and tells us all. All of us, in indescribable joy, whoever was in what, rushed to that place and, seeing Father Seraphim, threw ourselves at his feet, but, getting up, did not find him, only a shovel and a hoe lay in front of us on the dug up ground." Evdokia Efremovna (nun Eupraxia) also confirms this story. Elena Vasilyevna Manturova, despite the fact that she was considered the head of the mill monastery, worked along with the others and dug a ditch. In the post of 1829, an order came to sacrifice three acres of land at the request of Father Seraphim. was in such admiration and joy that it was impossible to say, and there was a great celebration, everyone stocked up stones and began to put them between the driven pegs. In the spring, Father Seraphim ordered to plow this land with a plow three times, and Mikhail Vasilyevich [Manturov] had to be present. ], Fr. Vasily and the elder sisters plowed the earth using stones placed in advance. Father sent flower seeds to plant in the ditch. Later, beautiful trees were planted inside the ditch on the territory of the kinovia, and in 1922 they were already powerful and beautiful and bent over the ditch. When the ditch was already clearly visible, the great lady of Diveyevo, Schema-nun Martha, died on August 21, 1829. Her memory falls on the day of Equal. Mary Magdalene on July 22, on the 4th day of memory of Father Seraphim. Schema-nun Marfa and Elena Vasilievna lived in Diveyevo at the same time. What a blessed feeling it was to walk along the canal with a rosary in your hands, reading the prayer “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary!” 150 times. Especially in the evening, when all the worries of the day subside and there is complete silence. The sky somehow becomes closer to the earth, worshipers slowly walk along the groove, as if this is not our hectic age, but ancient Holy Rus', God knows which way came here from the depths of centuries.

Rus' created the legend of Kitezh-grad, and it was her eternal dream - to escape from the sinful world, but here was not a dream, but true reality, here was true communion with God between the inhabitants of heaven and people. Here true visions of Father Seraphim and other saints and righteous people took place, here everyone lived a spiritual life and spiritual joys. Here the sky met the earth. Here “there was a battle with the spirits of evil in heaven,” who in every possible way frightened the ascetics and those who wanted to follow their path. Even pilgrims were frightened in the dark by demonic phenomena, but everyone was protected by the grace of God, through the prayers of Father Seraphim and Mother Alexandra. Our dear brother once met a figure two stories tall on a canal and was horrified, but immediately the horror was replaced by complete peace of mind - Father Seraphim did not give offense to anyone. Pilgrims walked along the ditch, repeating the path of the Mother of God, nuns, priests and bishops walked, peaceful, having gained spiritual strength for the difficult path of life at that terrible time. We walked away with unforgettable impressions that will last a lifetime. Many people took a handful of earth from the ditch, and sometimes it protected them from enemy attacks. The groove was made into a quadrangle and at the corners we made, according to ancient custom, beautiful carved turrets on the pillars with icons of the Mother of God inserted into them, walking along this groove - the turrets were removable and were removed by the sisters at night. Approaching them, the pilgrims crossed themselves - this was a visible reminder to them that the Queen of Heaven had passed along this path. How wonderful it all was!

On January 1, 1992, for the first time after a long break, the tradition of daily walking along the Holy Kanavka was resumed, when the sisters, together with the abbess, led by the icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness,” walked around the entire monastery.

Only six years later, work began on the site closest to the territory transferred to the monastery - from the beginning to the first turn. After a solemn prayer service on August 25, 1997, the first work began.

Since the Ditch was almost covered with debris in many places and was poorly distinguishable, its location was clarified by several cross-sections. The sections clearly showed the profile of the original Kanavka, the layers that filled it as a result of melting of the edges in the first hundred years of the Kanavka’s existence, and the layer of backfill during Soviet times. In one of the cuts we managed to find the beginning of the Holy Canal. It is remarkable that at a depth of three arshins (2.15 m) a layer of sand begins, into which the water went, thanks to which the Kanavka remained dry after the rains.

Three days before the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the glorification of St. Seraphim, the Kanavka was dug almost completely and landscaped. The last section of Kanavka was transferred to the monastery in 2006, and its restoration was completed on July 31.

On April 27, 1995, the tradition was resumed after the late liturgy during Easter week to walk along the Holy Canal in a procession of the cross every day and on Sundays until Easter. Processions along it are also held on the feast of the memory of St. Seraphim on January 2/15; on the feast of the Icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness” on July 28/August 10; for the burial of the Mother of God on August 16/30; on the feast of the founding of the Mill Monastery on December 9/22; January 1/14 at midnight on the feasts of the Circumcision of the Lord and St. Basil the Great with the singing of a prayer service for the New Year.

For almost two centuries now, people have been walking and walking in a continuous stream along the Holy Canal, following the behest of the Reverend, following the Queen of Heaven, in Her footsteps.

Publishing group
Holy Trinity-Seraphim-Diveevsky
convent.



Holy Groove
Among the many shrines of Diveevo, the Holy Kanavka occupies a special place. St. Seraphim said that the Queen of Heaven Herself measured it with Her belt and walks along the Kanavka every day, going around Her Lot and blessing everyone. That is why you definitely need to stay in Diveevo for a day, be sure to spend the night, in order to be worthy of this blessing from the Mother of God, who passes along the Kanavka at night. Hieromartyr Seraphim, Bishop of Dmitrov (Zvezdinsky), who lived at one time in the Diveyevo monastery, was honored on February 2, 1927 with a vision of the Mother of God walking along the Kanavka. His cell attendant Anna testifies that Vladyka was in his cell after the evening service and suddenly rushed to the window with incessant prayerful exclamations, then to another window: “The Most Pure Mother of God is walking along the Kanavka! I can’t behold Her wonderful beauty!” - said Lord Seraphim with tears.

This groove is high to Heaven. The monk said: “Whoever walks through the Kanavka with prayer and reads up to one and a half hundred Mother of Gods, everything is here: Athos, Jerusalem, and Kyiv!”, “Visitors will come to us, take clay from you for healing and it will be instead of gold! Every day all the sisters walk along the Kanavka in the evening, after the evening meal, carrying in front the icon of the Mother of God of Tenderness. St. Seraphim said that the Antichrist will not cross the Kanavka. Many understand this spiritually (in particular, Vladyka Seraphim (Zvezdinsky) believed so) - whoever reads the Theotokos’ Rule with reverence, the Antichrist will not overcome that soul.

After the closure of the Diveyevo Monastery, the Holy Kanavka suffered great damage. In many places it was filled up, the shaft was leveled, and in some places various communications were cut off. Its restoration began in 1997.

The Holy Kanavka was built by order of the Queen of Heaven Herself, like everything else in Diveyevo. The ditch with the shaft was supposed to surround the Mill Community and was supposed to be dug by the hands of the sisters themselves. The ditch had to be dug three arshins deep and three arshins wide, the earth had to be thrown inside the monastery to form a shaft also three arshins high. To strengthen the rampart, the Reverend ordered to plant gooseberries. First, the Reverend ordered all the sisters to walk around the earth and then eat honey and soft bread. The sisters were slow to start digging because the work was too hard. And so, one day another sister came out of her cell at night and saw that Father Erathim in a white robe had himself begun to dig the Ditch. In fear and joy, she runs into her cell and tells all the sisters this. Everyone ran out to this place, and, seeing Father, bowed at his feet, but when they got up, they no longer found him. Only a shovel and a hoe lay on the ground. The ditch had already been dug out, about a yard long. The other sister had visited Father the day before in Sarov and spent the night in his hermitage. And in the morning he sends her: “Come on, mother, tell the girls to start digging a ditch today, I was there and started it myself.” She walked and wondered how Father went to Diveevo? She comes to the monastery, and there the sisters vying with each other tell her how they saw Father. And she told them her story. The sisters, amazed by such a miracle, began work without delay. They dug for three years and finished by the feast of the Nativity of Christ, and soon, on January 2 (15), the Monk Seraphim departed to the Lord.


The purpose of this guide article to Diveevo is to answer the questions of those who are just planning to go to the Diveevo Monastery: What is Diveevo? What to do here? How to behave? What is Holy Groove? And the most important question is why do they come to Diveevo at all?
You will also find out what important places and attractions there are in Diveevo and its surroundings, where you can stay overnight for those who come here for the night.
My first trip to Diveevo took place on May 11, 2013. The trip was short and quite chaotic. Even taking into account the considerable experience of traveling to very high-level monasteries (Optina Pustyn, Valaam Monastery, Trinity-Sergius and Pskov-Pechora Lavra), the Diveyevo Monastery seemed completely different to me. And I turned out to be completely unprepared for it.

In the article:


Diveevo is a place of mass pilgrimage. First of all, people come here to pray and ask the Lord for the most essential things for themselves at the moment. I think different people come - both deeply religious people for the purpose of pilgrimage, and tourists, travelers for educational purposes - to become familiar with Russian history.
It’s easier for pilgrims - they travel consciously and know why they came, where to go, what to do here. They also know all the special places of the Diveyevo Monastery, such as the Holy Kanavka.


It's more difficult for tourists. Now I am convinced that you need to prepare for your arrival in Diveevo in order to better understand what place you are in and what you see in front of you. Otherwise, everything makes no sense.


I thought for a long time about how to write about. A photo report, a chronological account of what we saw here? Why not. But that's not what will happen first.
I am making the first post about Diveevo for comrades like me - those who want to go here, but don’t know anything about the monastery. I'm correcting my late mistake.

A special place - the history of the Diveyevo Monastery and the Holy Kanavka

So, I’ll tell you briefly about the history of the Diveyevo monastery and its main shrine - Kanavka.
In search of the peculiarity of the Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery over others, I came across information that this monastery is the fourth inheritance of the Holy Mother of God (the first three are Iveria, Athos and Kyiv), i.e. one of four places on Earth (and the only one in Russia!) that are under its special protection. I think this is where the special appeal of this place lies. Some come here to pray, spiritually cleanse themselves, to be healed, others, considering Diveevo a place of power, come to fulfill their desires, which they say come true here. The main thing is that everyone finds what they are looking for.


On November 25, 1823, the Mother of God appeared to Father Seraphim. The Mother of God showed him the place in Diveevo where he needed to build a monastery, and ordered him to surround it with a ditch and a rampart. It was thanks to this event that the Diveyevo Monastery was created.
It began with the construction of the Mill. By the beginning of 1833, a few days before the death of St. Seraphim, the Kanavka was built. Groove "is a heptagon with a length of 777 meters along the perimeter. During the life of Father Seraphim, six sides were excavated, and on the seventh side, according to the prophecy of the monk, a large cathedral in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness” should be located.*

“Father Seraphim said many wonderful things about this Canal. That this Canal is the piles of the Mother of God! Here the Queen of Heaven Herself walked around it! This Canal is high to the skies! The Lady Most Pure Mother of God herself took this land as her inheritance! Here, father, I have Athos, and Kyiv, and Jerusalem! And when the Antichrist comes, he will pass everywhere, but he will not jump over this Canal!”"(Father Vasily Sadovsky).*

After the death of Seraphim of Sarov, hard times came for the Diveyevo monastery. Maintenance of the ditch was abandoned, the mill was moved, some of the buildings were broken down, and people began to walk through the ditch without properly respecting it. They even traveled along it in carriages. The construction of new buildings of the monastery began to be carried out outside Kanavka.


From the memoirs of a 20th century pilgrim: “Silent figures of nuns slowly moved along the Kanavka, fingering rosaries and quietly whispering prayers. The path ran along a well-compacted embankment, lined with trees. The slopes of the embankment were overgrown with grass and wildflowers, which were protected as a shrine.” At the same time, they read “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary” one and a half hundred times, and at every ten times they read “Our Father” and commemorated the living and the dead.”*


Flowers, grass and soil from the Kanavka were considered medicinal. By the beginning of the 20th century, all of Russia knew about the Queen of Heaven’s Canal. Thousands of people came here, having heard about healings both on Kanavka, and at the Tenderness Icon, and in the Church of the Transfiguration. It’s interesting, but even now, in the 21st century, on Kanavka you will see the same thing that was a hundred or two years ago - a path on a hill, in the shape of a broken, open ring. Believers slowly wander along it, silently or very quietly reading a prayer. A fascinating sight for those who do not pray. People seem to be in a slight or not so much trance.
What do those praying read? “O Mother of God, Virgin, rejoice. Gracious Mary, the Lord is with You. Blessed are You among women and blessed is the Fruit of Your womb, for You have given birth to the Savior of our souls.”


In September 1927, the Diveyevo Monastery was closed, the sisters were sent to camps and settlements. Apartments were built in the monastery buildings and institutions were located.
During the years of Soviet power, the Holy Kanavka suffered greatly, and was even partially destroyed. But even during the years of persecution of the church, believers came to pray at Kanavka.
The revival of the monastery began in the late 80s of the 20th century, when the church was allowed to solemnly celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'. In 1989, the Holy Trinity Church was returned to the church. And in the summer of 1991, the relics of Seraphim of Sarov were transferred to the monastery. Then for many years, almost until the end of the 2000s, Kanavka was restored.



And in conclusion, I want to voice the words of the Diveyevo priest, Priest Pavel Pavlikov: “It is known that in childhood a person feels and perceives the world around him in a special way. Over the years, the worldview changes and the unforgettable pictures of childhood leave you forever. What was so pleasing and comforting then, now no longer pleases or consoles. But when you go along the Canal of the Most Holy Theotokos, then childhood impressions return to your heart - not memories, but impressions. It’s as if you are becoming a child again - everything is perceived in a childish way. , thin. And I want this feeling to last longer, so that the soul comes to life and is comforted."*


For myself, I answered why people go and go to Diveevo. A person always expects a miracle - happiness, love, protection, healing, prosperity, mental peace and tranquility. If you believe those who come here every year for many years in a row (and there are a lot of such people!), then people find it here.

What to visit in Diveevo? Sights of Diveevo and the surrounding area:

  1. Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery:
  • Holy Canal of the Queen of Heaven
  • Trinity Cathedral
  • Kazan Church
  • Transfiguration Cathedral
  • Blagoveshchensky cathedral
  • Bell tower
  • Chapel in honor of St. Seraphim of Sarov
  • Mechanical water pump with a chapel
  • Refectory Church in the name of St. Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky
  • House of Galaktionovs
  • Dolgintseva's house
  1. Larch of Tsarevich Alexei
  • Source in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God Tenderness
  • Source of St. Panteleimon
  • Kazan source
  • Source of St. Alexandra Diveevskaya
  • Source in honor of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God
  1. Source of Seraphim of Sarov
    1. For believers: I have already written above about the prayer that is read on Kanavka 150 times (an icon with this prayer can be bought at the monastery).
    2. For motorists, free parking is available on the territory of the monastery. Feel free to drive up to the barrier. They will let you through.
    3. For those who take pictures: photography is possible with a blessing, but we also took pictures without it. The main thing when taking photographs is to be invisible, behave modestly and not provocatively, and you will not be noticed. Many people take pictures from the monastery, I saw it myself.
    4. Girls and women: take scarves and skirts with you, regardless of age. Without them, you can simply be rudely escorted out of the temple, even if you are a 2-year-old girl.
    5. There are several churches, shrines and holy springs in Diveevo. If you want to visit and see everything, then plan a trip for more than one day. For a quick acquaintance with the monastery, 4 hours is enough.
    6. Venerate the relics of Seraphim of Sarov in the Trinity Cathedral. How to venerate relics correctly? Two bows, kissed, another bow.
    7. Don’t forget to stop by the spring of Seraphim of Sarov (14 km from Diveevo), get some holy water, and take a swim. Women need a nightgown for swimming. If you don’t have it with you, you can buy it inexpensively on the spot.
    8. For those looking for cheap private accommodation: look in the group