The Church of St. John Chrysostom in the small village of Godenovo has become a popular place of Orthodox pilgrimage in recent years. People come to Godenovo not only from all over Russia, but also from all over the world. The reason for this is simple - it is in a small church in Godenovo that one of the main shrines of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, is kept. It miraculously appeared in 1423, during the most difficult time for Rus', and for almost six centuries Orthodox people have been going to this shrine in prayer.
How many tears have been shed before the Life-Giving Cross, how many fervent prayers have been said! And what is most amazing is that the Lord hears prayers said in front of this shrine in a special way. How many miracles and healings happen in Godenovo! People with cancer, whom doctors have already abandoned, are healed, infertile couples are given the opportunity to give birth to healthy children, drug addicts, who are completely immersed in this destructive passion, return to normal life, the blind receive insight, mentally ill and possessed people are healed. Many receive what they ask for in the most difficult life circumstances, when there is simply no one to expect help from. and everyone who receives what they ask for shares their miracle with their loved ones, and people come here in an endless stream - some to ask for a miracle, some to thank the Lord. Hundreds of gold jewelry fill the icon case, to which the Life-Giving Cross is located. These are offerings from grateful pilgrims, visible evidence of miracles granted by God through prayer before the Cross.
The history of the appearance of the Life-Giving Cross.
The Holy Cross was revealed not in Godenovo itself, but eight kilometers away. Now at the site of the apparition there is a monastery of the Life-Giving Cross. In 1423, according to legend, shepherds grazing cattle near the Sahota swamps once saw a bright pillar of light falling from heaven to earth. Coming closer, they saw in the bright rays of light the Cross, “descending from the sky from the Greek side.” Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker prayed next to the Cross. And the shepherds heard a voice from the Cross, commanding them to build a temple on this site, to erect a Cross, so that many who came to this great shrine could receive what they asked from God. With the blessing of the ruling bishop, Bishop Dionysius of Rostov, a wooden church was erected, consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The news of the miracle quickly spread throughout Orthodox Rus', and pilgrims went in an endless stream through forests and swamps to bow to the Heavenly Revealed Cross. Time passed, generations changed, but people revered this shrine, and the flow of pilgrims increased every year. Before the revolution, from 4 to 5 thousand people gathered for the feast of the descent of the Life-Giving Cross, and the vestments that adorned the Cross were hung with tens of kilograms of gold and silver offerings.
Soviet times came, the temple at the site of the appearance of the Life-Giving Cross was desecrated and closed, but pious believers saved the shrine from desecration and destruction - the Cross was hidden in the Church of St. John Chrysostom in the village of Godenovo. The God-fighters came here too, but the Lord preserved His Shrine - they could neither close the temple nor destroy the Cross. But the people's memory of the Life-Giving Cross slowly faded away. As it turned out, only for a while.
History of the creation of the church
According to ancient legend, the appearance of the Lord's Cross to believers took place in the place where the Sakhota swamp had previously been. The miracle happened on May 29 (June 11) in 1423, near the Nikolskoye cemetery. The cross appeared before the shepherds walking across the field, it hovered in the air, surrounded by divine light, and in front stood the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in his hands with the Gospel. Eyewitness accounts of the divine miracle were preserved in publications dating back to 1874.
Monastery in Godenovo.
The church in Godenovo, which had always been a parish church, since 1997 became the courtyard of the St. Nicholas Convent of Pereslavl - and life in the village of Godenovo, which was dying out in the difficult 90s, received a new breath. The sisters of the monastery came here, the tradition of daily worship and reading of the akathist before the Life-Giving Cross was revived. A road was built to the village, the temple was visited by the famous professor Vladimir Mikhailovich Kurylev, who wrote a long article about the Goden Cross. People again reached out to the shrine, and again popular rumors spread about miracles of healing and God’s obvious help through prayer at the Life-Giving Cross. and in recent years, whenever you come to Godenovo, you can always see a lot of people - these are pilgrimage groups coming here on large buses from different cities of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and monks who got here from distant countries - Bulgaria , Greece, Serbia. Here you can meet Orthodox people from America, Germany, England, Malta - everyone comes to venerate the great shrine. And everyone finds at the Cross what they were looking for.
Miracles and healings at the Life-Giving Cross in Godenovo.
The author of these lines often travels with pilgrims to Godenovo, and over the course of several years he learned from them many cases of healings occurring at the Godenovo Cross. We'll tell you about them here.
One pilgrim signed up for a trip to Godenovo and went to the Life-Giving Cross in the spring of 2022. Several months have passed, and she signs up for a trip again, saying “I need to go, thank God.” And on the way back from Godenovo he tells his story. Before her first trip, doctors diagnosed her with laryngeal cancer. There were no prospects for a cure, the pain intensified, the tongue began to become stiff. And this woman decides to ask for help not from doctors, but from God, and goes to Godenovo. She shed many tears at the Cross and returned home in the evening. And the next morning I woke up and immediately realized that I was completely healthy! Not even traces of the terrible disease remained. The doctors just shrugged their shoulders - she no longer had any signs of cancer.
Another case was told by pilgrims from Yekaterinburg. One woman in their parish became completely blind, and the doctors could not do anything. But one of the parishioners who visited Godenovo brought her oil from the lamp burning at the Cross and water from the prayer service. The blind woman washed herself daily with this water for some time, and her vision began to return. Now she has fully received her sight, and every time someone from this parish goes to Godenovo, she is sure to bring both oil from the Cross and holy water from Godenovo to Yekaterinburg.
One of our pilgrims, upon arrival in Godenovo, took out a small paper bag with gold rings and crosses, and handed them over to decorate the Cross. She also wrote down her story in the journal of miracles performed at the Cross. For many years she was treated for infertility, but the doctors were relentless: “You will never be able to give birth to a child.” With fervent prayer, she and her husband came to the Life-Giving Cross, and a month and a half later she found out that she was pregnant. She gave birth to a beautiful girl, and when she was three years old, she collected gold jewelry and went to Godenovo. Thank God.
How to get to Godenovo.
Many pilgrims ask the question: “how to get to Godenovo on your own?” They go to the official website of Godenovo, created by the St. Nicholas Monastery.
We will briefly talk about the opportunity to visit Godenovo.
You can get to Godenovo by car in the following way: along the Yaroslavskoe highway you need to move to the city of Petrovsk (formerly the village of Petrovskoye), where opposite the traffic police department you need to turn right, following the sign “Godenovo Life-Giving Cross.” Having crossed the bridge over the railway, turn right, and then move about 15 km, following the signs (they are at every fork and intersection, it will be difficult to make a mistake. The last kilometers before Godenovo have very poor asphalt coverage, so be extremely careful. The total road from Moscow to Godenovo is about 180 kilometers, and takes , depending on the traffic situation, about three to three and a half hours.
If you decide to get to Godenovo by bus or train, you will need to first get to the city of Petrovsk, and then use the services of local taxi drivers, since there is no direct bus Moscow - Godenovo, but a local bus from Petrovsk to the village of Zakharovo (next to Godenovo) only walks a couple of times a day. Trains from the Yaroslavl direction go to Petrovsk with a transfer, the total travel time is from a little over three to five hours. Buses go to Petrovsk either from the Shchelkovskaya metro station or from the Severnye Vorota Bus Station. Travel time is from 5 to 7 hours. Departure times and routes can be found in the popular Yandex. Schedules"
But still, most often pilgrims get to Godenovo with pilgrimage services. Some services go to Godenovo on weekends two or three times a month, some every Sunday. The Makovets pilgrimage service makes trips to Godenovo from Moscow every Saturday and Sunday, on the Feasts of the Cross, during the entire Cross-Worship week of Great Lent, as well as on weekdays, when a group of 12 people or more is recruited. You can see the schedule of pilgrimage trips to Godenovo:
How to get there by car, public transport
It is best to do this in your own car. Along the M-8 highway to the town of Petrovskoye. It is about 195 km. In the city you need to turn right, and there are already signs to the village. The road to the village is well paved and driving a car is not difficult.
It is more difficult to reach by public transport, but you can:
- From Moscow you need to take the intercity bus “Moscow-Yaroslavl” to the city of Petrovsk, and then take a local bus that goes towards the village. Priozerny to the village;
- From Yaroslavsky station by train to the station. Petrovsk, then on the same bus.
Driving your own car can be a great experience. On the way you can visit the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky, where the St. Nicholas Convent is located. This ancient town is famous for its monasteries, churches (the first stone church of the 12th century is located here), and museums. There are two healing springs here, the wonderful Blue Stone and the Botik of Peter I.
By car you can also get to the village. Antushkovo, where the Monastery of the Descent of the Cross is located. It was built on the spot where, according to legend, the Life-Giving Cross appeared before the shepherds.
A very convenient way to visit a holy place is to buy a sightseeing tour. Then you won’t have to think about accommodation, food, or travel. In addition, excursions around the Yaroslavl land are very interesting and eventful.
There is another way to see the temple. This is to join the pilgrims' journey. Advertisements for such trips can be seen on the Internet or at the doors of temples. Such trips usually also include visits to several holy places.
Go to Godenovo to the Life-Giving Cross with the Makovets service.
Contact us by phone: +7 (from 8:00 to 21:00 Moscow time)
or request a call back and we will call you back,
or use the order on the website,
or send us an email to [email protected]
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Documentary film about the Life-Giving Cross in Godenovo.
Watch a film about the Life-Giving Cross, made by one of our regular pilgrims, film director Alexander Matrosov:
Fate in the Soviet years
The treasure survived during Soviet times, during the period of persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church.
At this time, ancient church buildings, ancient icons were mercilessly and mercilessly destroyed, and priests were shot. According to eyewitnesses, local activists also tried to remove the shrine from the temple. But no attempts to move the light wooden crucifix were successful. He became too heavy to lift, as if filled with lead.
Then the saw was used, but it had no effect on him either. The desecrators, beside themselves with anger, doused the shrine with hydrochloric acid. Only dark spots remained on the Savior’s face and body.
This is interesting: eyewitnesses of those events said that the most ardent activist began to chop the Crucifixion with an ax and broke off a small fragment from the little finger of Christ. This fragment wounded the vandal's toe. His fate was unenviable: soon the wound rotted and turned into gangrene. According to the villagers, a few years later this man died from blood poisoning that began from this wound.
The holy relic was saved from destruction by local residents who hid it in a church in Godenovo.
Second miraculous phenomenon
During the Soviet era, the memory of miracles was practically destroyed among the people.
The “House of God” in Godenovo was in a dilapidated state and required restoration.
In the late nineties, the temple came under the patronage of the sisters of the St. Nicholas Monastery.
Important to know: in the early 2000s. Its restoration begins, but the relic is not removed from the temple. Restoration work was carried out by specialists of the highest category from the State Russian Museum of St. Petersburg, and the shrine was completely restored.
The inconspicuous path to the shrine has turned into a wide road along which, as many years ago, crowds of suffering pilgrims walk in an inexhaustible stream. After many years of oblivion, the Symbol of Orthodoxy is revered by parishioners on a par with the Venerable Matrona of Moscow and Seraphim of Sarov. The Russian people found their shrine for the second time, and now people’s prayers for it do not stop.
