Not talking about Dickens again! - exclaims A.’s mother, tripping over a kitten named Dickens, and everyone who is working in the kitchen at this time understands that this is a game with a quote from Kharms. It seems that reading here, in the Mother of God-Nativity maiden hermitage in the village of Baryatin, Kaluga region, is one of the most important obediences, and cats are the same equal nuns as the sisters.
In April 1993, five sisters of the Maloyaroslavets convent arrived in the village of Baryatino; Initially it was planned to form a monastery with an agricultural direction. However, circumstances favored the independence of the new community, and on December 26, 1995, the Holy Synod blessed the establishment convent and approved nun Theophila (Lepeshinskaya), who was subsequently elevated to the rank of abbess, as abbess. A photo report by Ekaterina STEPANOVA tells us what life is like in the monastery today:
Morning in Baryatino begins very early - at dawn in the summer and long before it in the winter
Nuns and pilgrims rush to pray at the Church of the Nativity Holy Mother of God
The priest comes to the monastery only on Sundays and holidays to serve the liturgy, the rest of the time the sisters read the service themselves
At each service, the nuns spend a long time reading notes and memorials.
Miraculous icon Mother of God Lomovskaya - shrine of the monastery
After the service - breakfast and obedience. The obediences in the monastery are very different, but basically the sisters are self-sufficient - they prepare food, work in the garden, and clean the church. Mother Theophila selects obedience for everyone according to their strength: “We do not have the goal of leading a monk through all the obediences. It would be good if it were so, but now city people come to the monastery, often already sick. There are sisters who can do everything, but there are also those who cannot do many obediences. Probably, I would like to let everyone through the kitchen, because the kitchen is a simple task, a woman’s task, everyone should be able to do it. But this doesn’t always work out. Modern man little can. And there is obedience in the monastery for everyone. The Psalter, for example, can be read by even the sickest. We have reading 24 hours a day"
It's mushroom time - that means dinner will be potatoes with mushrooms and sour cream! The sisters know mushroom spots in the neighboring forest and enjoy visiting their “mushroom garden.”
Pilgrims and sisters work together, many pilgrims come to the monastery precisely for this - to communicate and work together with the nuns, talk to them, see how they live. “In monasteries it often happens like this: nuns walk along their own paths and do not communicate with anyone. We do not intentionally separate pilgrims from sisters. We do not have a separate refectory or separate products. Monks live not to save themselves, but to give light to the world. We ourselves do not go out into the world, but if the world comes to us, it must receive something from us,” says Father Feofila
The monastery has its own garden
Mother Theophila (Lepeshinskaya) - abbess of the monastery: “For some reason it is believed that the boss should humble the monks, that it is useful for a person to be oppressed, trampled, humiliated. It's not really helpful to anyone. A person is designed in such a way that if he is broken, he will dodge, and this is the worst thing for a monastic soul. It should be simple, truthful." (Full interview with M. Feofania can be read on the website Orthodoxy and Peace)
Obedience in the garden
But not everyone can do hard physical work. One of the sisters knits donkeys, which are then given to pilgrims. The donkeys are knitted in memory of the donkey Camilla, who lived in the monastery for many years. She was brought to the monastery as a consolation for the sisters: “We so wanted a donkey, just like the one on which the Lord rode into Jerusalem!” says one nun
The sisters compare all their actions with books and write them down in notebooks. Apiary is a new obedience, everyone has to learn
Pumping honey
Before putting the honeycombs into a centrifuge, with which it is pumped out of them, you need to remove the wax plugs with which the bees close the honeycombs
Centrifuge - the honeycomb is spun at high speed and honey flows down the walls to the bottom, then it is drained through the tap at the bottom of the centrifuge.
Pilgrims are sometimes allowed to drink tea. In general, obediences last about 4 hours
Another new obedience is the icon painting workshop. An icon painter comes to the sisters, conducts lessons and gives them homework.
The sisters choose who will paint what icon next time
The monastery in Baryatino is also famous for its cats; they are thrown into the monastery by summer residents. Today there are already 64 cats in Baryatino. All cats have names - even small children who come to the monastery on vacation have learned them
All cats are sterilized and their number increases only due to new foundlings. The photo shows a building - a cat's house, it is in front of the entrance to the cell building. But all the cats can’t fit in it for a long time. There are so many cats that if one gets sick, an epidemic begins. That's why we have to vaccinate
Mother Theophila (Lepeshinskaya) - sprinkles the food in the refectory with holy water - blesses. Lunch at the monastery is a statutory meal. No one talks during meals, the lives of saints or other soul-helping books are read
The library is the monastery’s pride and the special obedience of the sister-librarian and those who help her.
Ig. Theophilus: “St. Basil the Great wrote in a wonderful article “On the benefits of pagan works for youth” that reading expands the soul, this, of course, is not for the spirit, but it is necessary for the soul. The soul must be juicy, it must be saturated with the juices of culture, we must understand that everything is from God. Our library has a lot fiction- let them read. I even bought Joyce; to be honest, I don’t think they will read it, but let them know that they can. Our sisters also read the Iliad. Even some kind of postmodernism is a longing for Bose, a longing for godlessness, and this is also interesting.”
In the photo there are chairs where you can relax after obediences and read. And "by Sundays— we all study, from September to Easter, according to the seminar program. We gather in the evening, distribute topics for reports, prepare abstracts, and give a speech. Sometimes we invite lecturers. Thus we have already gone through the liturgy, moral theology, Bible story, Greek, Christian psychology. This year we will begin to study the patristics - the holy fathers. I also have a plan to organize a course of lectures for the sisters on world literature, Russian literature, the history of painting and the history of music. Literature is an opportunity to see in living examples what we read in the catechism,” says the abbess
In the evening - back to the temple, service.
After service, go to the barn to milk the cows
Two cows and two goats - that's the whole barn, but the sisters have enough milk and work!
“For us, this obedience has been carried out by the same sister from the first day, although she is from the city, but she had a desire to do this. I've tried many times to replace her, but she doesn't want to. Besides the fact that she loves this work, there is another reason - no one bothers her, she lives “according to her own rules” and this has great advantages,” - Abbess Theophila
Meanwhile, other sisters go around the monastery in a procession of the cross - this is such a monastic tradition
Dinner is not standard. This means that everyone comes to eat as they are freed from obedience, everyone serves themselves whatever they want, you can talk at the table
Cell. Every monastic cell has desk and a chair for reading. Very cozy.
View of the temple from the window of the cell
After sunset - lights out. Sisters get up early. Ig. Theophilus: “I think a good monastery is where people smile, where they rejoice. The Lord found us all in the trash heap, washed us, cleaned us and put us in His bosom. We live in Christ's bosom. We have everything. Even a lot of unnecessary stuff. So we burned down and even this turned out to be for the better - a new cell building was built. How can we not rejoice?!”
How to get to the monastery
The monastery is located 4 km from the Medyn-Kaluga highway, near the regional center of Kondrovo. Travel from Moscow (from the Kievsky railway station) to the Maloyaroslavets or Kaluga railway station, then by bus to the city of Kondrova or by Moscow-Kondrovo bus from the Yugo-Zapadnaya or "Yugo-Zapadnaya" metro station Teply Stan" You can get from Kondrov to Baryatino by taxi.
was in the village. Baryatin Dankovsky U. Ryazan province. (now Dankovsky district Lipetsk region).
It was founded as a community in the spring of 1900 by the widow of the actual state councilor Sofia Petrovna Muromtseva (nee Princess Golitsyna) on her estate. Muromtseva donated bud. monastery 1357 dec. 378 soot. land and capital of 100 thousand rubles. The first sisters began to come to the community in August. 1900 By 1903, the number of nuns reached 130 people. 16 Nov 1902 Muromtseva appealed to the Holy Synod and the Ryazan diocesan administration with a petition to establish a monastic community. On Dec. the same year. Bishop visited Baryatino. Mikhailovsky, Vic. Ryazan diocese Vladimir (Blagorazumov). By resolution of the Holy Synod of March 18-26, 1903, the community was officially approved. Muromtseva became the abbess, and took monastic vows with the name Sofia. Inner life was organized according to the monastery charter, the sisters were cared for by a priest: from December 15. 1902 - Andrei Kunitsyn, then - Uspensky (name unknown, probably a priest of a rural church), in 1917 - priests Mikhail Vyazemsky and Grigory Panfilov. In 1907, the community was transformed into the Sofia non-staff dormitory monastery, and the monastery. Sofia 24 Oct. 1907 elevated to the rank of abbess. According to the staff of 1911, there were 100 sisters in the D. m., in 1914 - over 300 sisters, by 1919 there lived an abbess, a treasurer, 25 nuns, 230 designated novices, 5 laborers.
By 1902, the community had built a two-story wooden cell building on a stone foundation with a room for rehearsals, a tea room, 17 rooms for nuns and a house church, consecrated in the name of the monastery. Sofia 2 Sep. 1901 rector of the Vladimir Church. Ryazan DS prot. Jonah Solntsev. By 1904, a wooden priest's house with 8 rooms, a refectory with a bakery and a basement, a hospice house with a hotel, a courtyard for visitors, a wood shed, a brick icehouse, a laundry, and a 2-story brick building were also built. Afterwards 2 brick 2-story houses were built, as well as a brick house of the abbess. The last one, with reminiscences of the Middle Ages. Northern European architecture, was distinguished by its original composition: 3 high 8-sided towers topped with tents were attached to the main rectangular building. The monastic buildings were surrounded by a high brick wall and, according to eyewitnesses, occupied an area of approx. 10 hectares For water supply, an artesian well with a depth of 246 arshins was built. A monastery was organized at the monastery, Mont-Rue owned a steam thresher, and there was a parish school for 40 orphan girls.
In 1903-1904 with the blessing of bishop. Ryazansky and Zaraisky Demetrius (Sperovsky) in the D. m. a 2-story brick cathedral was erected in the name of the mts. Sofia (with a capacity of 600 people), as well as a bell tower with 8 bells (the largest weighed 242 pounds). 17 Sep. 1904 bishop Ryazan and Zaraisky Arkady (Karpinsky) consecrated high altar on the top floor. 25 Apr 1906, rector of the Skopinsky monastery in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles of the Ryazan diocese, archim. Joseph consecrated the lower church in honor of the Akhtyrka Icon of the Mother of God. The design of the cathedral, compiled by the architect, is known. A. Shesternikov, according to whom it was supposed to resemble the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir (Wagner, Chugunov). The cathedral was built with Byzantine elements. and Russian styles. The main volume of the cathedral, cruciform in plan, was crowned with a high dome, the refectory and the vestibule with the bell tower were located on the same axis. Apparently, the temple was one of the versions of the unrealized project of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ on the Blood in St. Petersburg by I. S. Bogomolov (1882). The bell tower also had an obelisk-like finish, and the facades were decorated with tall 3-part windows. However, the composition of the original source, which tends to be centric, acquired elongated proportions here.
June 15, 1914 in the presence of Bishop. Demetrius (Sperovsky) laid the foundation stone for a 3-altar church in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord with chapels in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God and in the name of Martyr. Tryphon. The temple, designed for 2 thousand people, was not completed.
On Dec. In 1917, the plunder of D. m. by the Ryazan food detachment began, a requisition of bread was carried out: 30 pounds of flour and 4.5 pounds of millet per month were allocated for the sister, 2 pounds of oats for the horse, “in addition, they gave firewood, and the clergyman did not refuse , since the peasants were dragging everything they could from the monastery” (GARO. F. R-1033. Op. 4. Table 3. D. 8. St. 3. L. 12-19). In Jan. 1918 D. m. was plundered: property, including church utensils, icons, books, inventory, cash, livestock, was taken to the village. Baryatino and divided among the participants in the robbery, almost all the land was taken away (out of 1300 dessiatines, 25 dessiatines remained under crops). Some of the buildings were demolished and the monastery farm was destroyed. At the same time, according to the abbess, “the peasants went into a frenzy, like the Tatar horde, they beat the sisters half to death” (GARO. F. R-1033. Op. 4. D. 8. St. 3. L. 1-1 vol. , 14).
In March 1919, by resolution of the Ryazan Provincial Executive Committee, a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients was organized in the D.M., the sisters lived in 2 buildings. By May 1920, the D.M. was closed. In 1925, the Baryatinskaya commune was located in the buildings of the monastery. To the beginning 30s XX century in the commune it was ok. 100 hectares of arable land, up to 300 pigs, up to 50 cows, more than 500 sheep, 50 horses; there were 2 Fordson tractors with a set of plows and seeders. In 1930-1931 most of the buildings and fences were broken, 200 thousand pieces. bricks were taken to Voronezh. 77-year-old abbot. Sofia was subjected to repression and was forced to leave for Moscow. In 1933, the commune was disbanded, the Baryatinsky state farm was soon abolished, and the territory of the monastery was desolate. In 2005, the bell tower collapsed. As of 2007, the rector's building with 2 towers, a brick one-story house, 2 wooden cell buildings on stone foundations, 2 brick barns have been preserved; restoration of D. m. was not planned.
Arch.: GA Lipetsk region. F. R-1569. Op. 1. D. 4; D. 21; GARO. F. 5. Op. 2. D. 2398; F. 1033. Op. 1. D. 657a; Op. 4. Table 3. D. 8.
The monastery was founded at the temple in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1995. The temple itself was built in 1796 with the money of the widowed Major General Anna Vasilyevna Pozdnyakova. Its architecture is an example of the Empire style. The temple has two altars, the main chapel is consecrated in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the second in honor of the holy unmercenaries and wonderworkers Cosmas and Damian of Rome.
After the revolution of 1917, the temple remained active until 1938, when its rector, Archimandrite Euphrosinus (Fomin), and the chairman of the church council, Andrei Anokhin, were arrested and shot on a fabricated case, and the elder Elena Kondratyeva was sentenced to 10 years in the camps. With the closure of the temple, all its property was confiscated, and the nearby orchard was cut down. During the period of fascist occupation, the Germans kept livestock in the church building.
In the 50s XX century the temple was opened. It was restored by priest Andrei Pavlikov, a retired colonel, participant in the Great Patriotic War, winner of many awards. Father Andrey served in the church for 17 years. He had special care for the monastics who settled in the nearest villages from closed monasteries. Initially, services were held in a small chapel in honor of the unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian, and then the main chapel was restored.
On February 28, 1972, Hieromonk Arkady (Afonin), a monk of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, was appointed rector of the temple, who served there with a break from April 1, 1974 to September 1, 1975 until March 25, 1991, when the Holy Synod was appointed Bishop of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
With the blessing of Bishop Donat (Shchegolev) of Kaluga and Borovsk, Father Arkady began to create a female monastic community. He built a house at the temple in which the sisters’ cells were located. He invited experienced nuns who had taken monastic vows in the old monasteries to the created monastic community. The following settled in the community: nun Anastasia (Kuzmina), schema-nun Martha, monastic monk of Optina Meletia (Barmina), schema-nun Tikhona, nun Dorothea, nun Nikodima, nun Agnia, nun Ksenia, blind nun Julia, who was in the camps for several years, and others. Young sisters also came to the community, 3 of whom took monastic vows, and 4 took monastic vows.
With the opening of new monasteries and due to the advanced age of the sisters in the community, by the beginning of the 90s. only 4 nuns remained, and on April 4, 1993, with the blessing of Archbishop Clement, several nuns of the St. Nicholas Chernoostrovsky Monastery were sent to strengthen the monastic community in Baryatino. The nun Theophila (Lepeshinskaya) was appointed as the elder sister. The community began to develop: new buildings were built, the number of nuns increased. December 26, 1995 by decision Holy Synod Russian Orthodox Church monastic community was transformed into a convent - the Nativity of the Virgin Mary Hermitage, and the nun Theophila was appointed abbess.
It’s like another world, completely different from ours, a very unusual monastery. The nuns there draw beautifully, write icons, poetry and prose, learn languages. Bright faces, clear smiles... It seems that, unlike many of us, worldly people, they know why they live on this earth, they do not rush around in search of themselves , the meaning of life...
The decision to travel came completely unexpectedly - everything in life was so intertwined that I really wanted to rush somewhere to the ends of the world away from problems, but not just like that, but to find their solution.
What have I not heard when the question: “Where are you going?” answered: “To the monastery,” - from the malicious one: “To the men’s, I suppose?” to incredulous: “Are you drunk?” This is how my acquaintances who are far from the Church reacted in an “original” way. Actually, I am not a supporter of “Orthodox tourism” and the race to holy places. But just then a friend told me about her fateful trip to the monastery, and I decided to go.
Which one was not a question for me - to the Mother of God Nativity maiden hermitage in the village of Baryatino, Kaluga region. It was about him that I heard so many good things from my friend. This is a small but very unusual monastery. The nuns there draw beautifully, write icons, poetry and prose, and learn languages. From them, again through a friend, I asked for prayers in absentia when my son and I were having a hard time. She prayed for them herself with her family. I also heard a lot about the miraculous icon kept in the monastery church. And here is the road. It’s scary - how, for the first time in the monastery (I’ve only visited our Pokrovsky convent several times), how will I be received, what will I do there? But what about the harsh regulations? After all, you can’t go to someone else’s monastery with your own. Poor nuns, praying and working all day long... I can’t do that, can I?
A bus from bustling Moscow took us to the unknown Kondrov, then a taxi to Baryatino. In the car I pull my skirt over my trousers and tie a scarf on my head. Oh, how can I be in a skirt all the time? It’s unusual, I always wear trousers (this habit played a cruel joke on me after a couple of days). I get out of the taxi. Shivering from the unknown, I think: why am I here?
I immediately get to evening service. An amazing feeling - it seems that the temple is full of people. I look around - no, just a few villagers and nuns. “Why be surprised,” they explain to me, “for more than two hundred years prayers have been heard here, the temple is warmed by them, breathes, lives.” It’s easy for me, the service flies by in a flash, leaving a warm feeling of joy and peace, and I understand that I have arrived where I need to go. The abbess and sisters greeted me like family and settled me in a small guest house. The places around are indescribably beautiful.
Was here big house, where there were cozy cells, a refectory, icon painting and sewing workshops, and a wonderful library. On May 4, 2007, a fire destroyed it in two hours. We didn't manage to save anything. Fortunately, no people were injured. Thousands of people close and far from the Church responded to help the sisters in need. Every benefactor is still prayed for here. Today, the whole world is building a new building here, and the sisters are still living in houses that are poorly suited for living and eating in the Ministry of Emergency Situations tent. Friends console us: the new building will be stronger and more reliable, but you can’t order your heart - it’s still hard for the sisters to remember this.
Approaching the monastery, I expected to see pious old women spending their time in stern silence, work and prayer. There was no limit to surprise - many turned out to be very young! By the way, they can joke and laugh. But there really is a lot of work, especially now, after the fire. Nobody sits idle. Now there are about twenty sisters in the monastery - nuns, nuns, novices. I followed on their heels and asked why they went to the monastery? Unhappy love? No. Family troubles? No. Any personal problems? No. For what? At the call of my heart... I accidentally overheard a conversation outside the monastery fence: “Do you know that if a girl lives in a monastery for a year, her mind will be blown away? Poor..." I think: which of us should still be pitied - them, who have found God and live for Him and all people, or us, worldly ones, always seeking earthly goods for ourselves, which are never enough. Everything here is unusual. And the “professions” (obediences) - treasurer, dean, housekeeper, regent, sacristan, cellarer...
And the monastery itself is like another world, completely different from ours. Bright faces, clear smiles... It seems that, unlike many of us, worldly people, they know why they live on this earth, they do not rush around in search of themselves, the meaning of life, they do not dream of new jewelry, a car, furniture, a trip -love. It’s so good - the temple is right next to it, I often pop in between services just to stand near it miraculous icon, pray. And there is almost no temptation to postpone the evening rule “until tomorrow” or skip the service - life in the monastery is very disciplined. Here Confession and Communion are experienced completely differently.
I sleep in the cell, eat in the refectory, perform simple obedience tasks - peeling potatoes, washing dishes, working in the garden. One of the nuns of the monastery always accompanies, advises, and helps. I live with everyone according to the rules: at six in the morning - morning worship with the canons of the monastic rule; at five in the evening - vespers and matins, at 21.00 prayers for the future and the memorial are read. Meals are also at a strictly designated time, but it depends on whether there is a Liturgy today. The charter - the rules of life in the monastery - turned out to be not so terrible. One day I decided not to go to the morning nursing service and sleep longer. I got some sleep and quickly read it morning rule, ran to take pictures of the monastery and... slipped on a piece of wet tile and fell to the ground, quite noticeably injuring my knee. I didn’t realize that I was wearing a skirt and not trousers and didn’t have time to react.
Mother laughs: “Now we will forever remember you as Lena the lame.” Meal. Mother rings the bell and says a prayer. One of the nuns reads the lives of the saints aloud. Sometimes, having listened to everything, I forget to eat, and then the bell rings again, we drink tea, the bell rings - the meal ends. I used to often hear how delicious the food is in monasteries. I was personally convinced that yes, a simple monastic meal prepared with prayer cannot be compared to a lunch in a chic restaurant. I always have difficulty remembering names. I thought about how I would distinguish the nuns, since they were all in black robes, with the same apostolic icons on their heads. Literally within a day I can easily find out who is who, because the names suit the girls surprisingly.
I find out that before the tonsure, mother herself chooses the name of the future nun. Royal mother Anastasia, fighting mother Alexander, cellarer mother Nektarios... They turn to the nuns - Mother Lyubov, Mother Claudia, Mother Euphrosyne, and only to the abbess - Mother Theophila. And she really is a mother - she takes care of her children, takes care of them like a mother and at the same time is strict, like the head of a large family! A separate article – monastery cats. There are about sixty of them here! Some are thrown into the monastery by “well-wishers” from the locals, others, for some reasons unknown to me, are brought to the monastery by the would-be owners... to die! As a result, both the first and second lead a very active life here - they climb onto the roofs using the fire escape, rush around the area, sort things out. Each cat has its own name. For example, the street cat Zvenya Savelich received his nickname because he loved to ring the bell - he jumped up, clung to the rope, and the ringing was heard. The main guardian of the cat kingdom is mother Anastasia. As far as possible, she arranges housing for each foundling: some live in cells - almost every sister has a cat, others - in the yard (it is also impossible to leave 23 cats in a cell). He feeds them: every day he cooks a bucket of stew for them, takes milk and cottage cheese from the cellarer, washes bowls and pots, and cleans the cat house. And it cures: viral infections in such a large cat community are, unfortunately, inevitable. In a word, he does everything to keep them fed, healthy, and loved. He even writes about them in the newspaper, trying to place his pets: “If someone wanted to take a cat or kitten from the monastery, I would put the names of these people in a separate memorial and put prostrations, even if it seems stupid to someone..."
In the meantime, more cats are dropped off at the monastery than taken away. In addition to cats, the monastery is home to chickens, a rooster, three cows, a goat, two dogs and a local landmark - the donkey Camilla. I ask: “Why is she here, what benefits does she bring?” - “No, she’s too spoiled, but it’s a joy for the soul...”1 Little knitted donkeys - sisterly handicraft - the nuns give to their friends, take them to fairs, where they are in constant demand. I remember how joyfully my friend here in Yakutsk showed me such a donkey - a monastery gift. Later, I saw the same toy in the cell of the Sretensky Monastery, where I came (what a miracle!) precisely to take a blessing for a trip to Baryatino. And now knitted Camilla lives in my son’s bedroom. Tomorrow - on the road. Like every evening, religious procession around the monastery. The nuns sing very beautiful prayers. I listen specially - it seems like nothing special, they sing here in the Transfiguration Cathedral, maybe even better. But here it’s completely different. It's as if the angels are heard.
Evening rule in the night temple. Silence, darkness, lamps are burning, candle lights are swaying. It seems that as soon as I leave, I will lose something very important, that almost thought-out thought will disappear, the thread will be lost... It seems that I have always lived here, I just left for a short time, everything is so familiar and close. And those problems that were so annoying at home go somewhere far away, and the answers to the tormenting questions appear on their own.
Elena BONDAR, Baryatino - Yakutsk.
Lion
