7 MAIN Orthodox Christian sites in Russia(PHOTOS)
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OCT 02 2023ALEXANDRA GUZEVA
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Seventy years of atheism couldn’t destroy Russian Orthodox Christianity. From the end of the 1980s, people began to rapidly restore destroyed monasteries and churches across the country; and, today, hundreds of thousands of people visit them annually.
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Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius
The Trinity Monastery 70 kilometers away from Moscow was founded by Saint Sergius of Radonezh, one of the most revered Russian saints. He created a fundamentally new type of monasticism; his abode became practically the spiritual center of Ancient Russia. (Read morehere). One of the main Russian sacred objects – the ‘Trinity’ icon by Andrei Rublev – was made specifically for this monastery.
Today, the Lavra is Russia’s largest monastery; interestingly, it didn’t close down during Soviet times; authorities left it as a “shopfront” of Russian Orthodox Christianity for foreigners. In 1993, the architectural ensemble of the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Aside from that, the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius is one of the most visited attractions in Russia (after the Red Square, Peterhof and the Kazan Kremlin). About 2 million people visit it every year!
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Diveyevo Convent
At the end of the 18th century, in the village of Diveyevo (currently the Nizhny Novgorod Region), the Virgin Mary appeared before nun Alexandra and ordered her to found a monastery there. As such, the Diveyevo female monastic community appeared and Seraphim of Sarov became its patron, who, in the future, would become one of the most revered Russian saints. After his death, the monastery was named Saint Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery.
In Soviet times, the monastery was closed down, but the nuns continued their monastic way of life and would arrange secret sacred services. In 1988, the revival of the monastery began; relics of Seraphim of Sarov were transferred here, which were stored for a long while in the museum of atheism.
Annually, about 400,000 people visit the monastery to venerate the relics of Seraphim of Sarov.
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Kizhi Pogost
The small Kizhi Island on Lake Onega is world-famous for its complex of 18th- and 19th-century wooden buildings. The most famous building on Kizhi Island is the Transfiguration Church, built at the end of the 17th- beginning of the 18th century. Its multi-tiered roof is crowned by 22 domes. According to legend, carpenter Nestor built this church without a single nail; when he finished it, he threw his ax in the lake, so no one would repeat his creation (Today, however, you can find nails in the walls of the church from later restorations). Recently, a carved four-tiered iconostasis was restored inside.
There are legends about miracles that were performed there in the 16th century by the future abbot of the Solovetsky Monastery and Metropolitan Philip, even before his monastic tonsure. He was a hired worker of a local peasant and even caught sturgeons in Lake Onega, despite them not living in it. There are a multitude of other legends about how future saints traveled to Solovki and stopped at Kizhi on the way. Even Soviet authorities wouldn’t touch Kizhi, having immediately evaluated the cultural and historical importance of the pogost; in 1920, it was put under government protection as a memorial of architecture. In 1990, the Kizhi Pogost was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list. Kizhi also made it on the list of especially precious objects of cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation.
In 2022, it was visited by more than 360,000 people; every year, the number of tourists and pilgrims on the island only grows, despite the fact that it’s hard to reach (in summer, one has to travel by ferry, in winter – by hovercraft!).
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Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery
At the end of the 14th century, monk Kirill Belozersky, a student of Sergius of Radonezh, reached these northern lands by foot and founded a monastery on the bank of Lake Siverskoye, which was later named in his honor. According to legend, the place for the founding of the monastery was shown to Kirill by the Virgin Mary herself and higher powers saved him from death several times. He was sanctified with the title of ‘Venerable’ for his asceticism and his monastic feats. His relics are one of the most important sacred objects of the monastery.
The Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, with its formidable wall, is one of the largest monasteries in Russia and in the whole of Europe. Churches of the end of the 15th century – start of the 16th century have survived and it’s one of the most important attractions in Vologda Region….
https://www.rbth.com/travel/336666-russia-orthodox-holy-places