Monastery of John the Baptist in Moscow. Schedule of services, Hoop. Address, how to get there by metro, car

Convent of the Prophet John the Baptist in the city of Moscow
, stauropegy of the Russian Orthodox Church

• Address: Russia, 109028, Moscow, Maly Ivanovsky Lane, 2
• Tel.,
• Official site:
• On the map: Yandex.Map, Google map

The monastery is located in a part of Moscow called the White City;
it gave the name to the area itself - “Ivanovskaya Mountain”. The monastery was originally a monastery and existed since the beginning of the century on the other bank of the Moscow River - in Zamoskvorechye, in the area of ​​​​modern Pyatnitskaya Street. The first news about the Moscow Ivanovo Monastery is contained in chronicles under 1415 when describing the miracle that accompanied the birth of Grand Duke Vasily II the Dark.

In the 1530s, after the birth of Vasily III's long-awaited heir, the future Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the monastery was moved to Kulishki. Here, in a new location, while maintaining the old dedication, the monastery became a convent.

A monastery existed in Kulishki already at the beginning of the 16th century. The antiquity of the monastery is confirmed by the architecture of its cathedral church, which existed before its dismantling in 1859. It was a pillarless, single-domed temple, with three apses strongly extended to the east; its architecture included three porches, giving its plan a cruciform appearance. The Cathedral of the Ivanovo Monastery was built by one of the Italian masters who worked in Moscow in the 1510-30s.

In the second half of the 16th century, the cathedral of the Ivanovo Monastery was renovated, apparently at the expense of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The monastery did not have fiefs or estates and was maintained exclusively by the sovereign's money and bread. The Ivanovo Monastery was not only a local royal pilgrimage center. For many princely and service families of Moscow, it served as a family monastery, where representatives of these families made contributions, here they buried their deceased relatives. It is also known that representatives of these princely and noble families took monastic vows at the Ivanovo Monastery.

In the early 1640s, the monastery cathedral was significantly enlarged. From the west, a refectory with a chapel of St. was added to the temple in the first third of the 16th century. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Its construction was completed by 1642. At the same time, apparently, a stone bell tower was erected, on which a new bell, cast by order of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, was hung.

By the end of the 17th century, the monastery ensemble was finally formed. Its territory was surrounded by a stone fence, which replaced a wooden fence. At the end of the century, over the stone Holy Gates, the monastery's contributor Vasily Savich Narbekov built the gate church of the Origin of the Honest Trees of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. In the center of the monastery there was a cathedral, around which there was a necropolis; The contributors and sisters of the monastery were buried here.

The decree of Peter I in 1701 on the replacement of wooden cells in monasteries with stone ones entailed their construction in the Ivanovo Monastery at the expense of the treasury. During the first third of the 18th century, the social composition of the monastics began to gradually change. Abbesses from noble families are being replaced by abbesses descended from the clergy and merchants, starting with Mother Elena (Protopopova).

At the end of the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, there was a threat of closing the Ivanovo Monastery. On July 4, 1760, the empress issued a personal decree on the establishment in Moscow of a house of charity for “honored people with wives in widowhood, and daughters in orphanhood and poverty, without patronage and food.”

. The Ivanovo Monastery was chosen for the arrangement of the House of Charity. The death of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, which soon followed, stopped the enterprise that was fatal for the monastery.

Like other monasteries, persons who violated the moral laws by which Russian society of the 18th century lived were sent under supervision to the Ivanovo Monastery by imperial decree. It happened that real criminals were sent here for eternal detention. But not only criminals were sent to live in the monastery by decree. The monastery received people whose presence in the world was undesirable for those in power. Thus, during the reign of Catherine the Great, it is believed that in 1785, the nun Dosithea, who was the daughter of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna from a secret marriage with Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky, entered the monastery by imperial decree.

In 1811, there were 17 tonsured women in the monastery together with Abbess Elpidifora.

During the Patriotic War of 1812, the monastery was ravaged and burned. They managed to send part of the sacristy to Vologda. Only the cathedral church was not damaged by the fire. The abbess and her sisters remained in the monastery, and only when their lives began to be in direct danger did they retire to the Khotkovsky Intercession Monastery. After the expulsion of the French, the devastated Ivanovo Monastery was abolished, and the monastery cathedral was converted into a parish church.

On September 3, 1860, the ceremonial laying of the new cathedral with the hospital church of St. Elizabeth. By 1877 all work was completed.

On June 7, 1877, a military hospital was opened in the monastery buildings for participants in the Russian-Turkish war. All the wounded and sick officers who arrived in Moscow were located in the Ivanovo Monastery.

In 1879, the monastery was restored and opened with the blessing of Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov).

On October 4, 1879, Archimandrite Pimen (Myasnikov) consecrated the small hospital church of St. Elizabeth the Wonderworker. On October 19, 1879, the consecration of the main altar of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist took place by Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov).

By 1917, 44 nuns and 33 ryassophore novices lived in the Ivanovo Convent, the rest (there were more than two hundred of them) lived on probation. Almost all the nuns of the monastery, in addition to fulfilling their monastic obediences, sewed military uniforms for the Russian army since 1914, and since 1918 - for the Red Army.

The Ivanovsky Monastery was one of the first to be closed in Moscow. All his bank accounts were liquidated, rental premises that generated income were confiscated in favor of the state, the infirmary was closed, and the question of eviction of the nuns was raised. In 1918, a concentration camp was set up in the monastery.

On April 23, 1919, an agreement was concluded with the community of believers, consisting of sisters and parishioners of the monastery (560 people in total), on the transfer to them “for indefinite use” of two churches: the cathedral church of St. John the Baptist and the hospital Elizabeth Church. A month and a half later, the question of eviction arose again; The monastery was transferred to the disposal of the forced labor department of the NKVD.

In 1927, the monastery was finally closed.

In 1992, the monastery was transferred to the Orthodox Church and assigned to the Church of Vladimir Equal to the Apostles in Starye Sadekh, Moscow.

On May 5, 1999, a patriarchal courtyard was established at the former Ivanovo Monastery, in which Archpriest Sergius Romanov was appointed acting rector of the Cathedral of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist and the Elizabethan House Church.

On August 11, 2000, the monastery was reopened [1].

As of 2022, part of the buildings and territory of the monastery is occupied by the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

History of the monastery

At the end of the 15th century, a convent settled in the deserted and abandoned grand-ducal estates. Its emergence is mainly associated with the birth of the royal first-born and heir to the throne, when Grand Duchess Elena Glinskaya gave birth on August 25 to the future Tsar Ivan the Terrible, named in honor of the holy Forerunner of the Baptist of the Lord.

The Monastery of John the Baptist was built in honor of the birth of Ivan the Terrible

The proximity to the royal house left a certain imprint on the entire history of the monastery. Festive services and solemn religious processions with representatives of the ruling dynasty attracted generous alms from the state treasury and from famous boyar families, which made it possible to build new and rich churches.

The Monastery of John the Baptist in Moscow was on the verge of complete disappearance several times:

• At the beginning of the 17th century it was plundered by Polish invaders.
• In the second half of the 18th century there were two devastating fires.

But each time, through the diligence and generosity of pious parishioners and God-loving persons of the royal family, the monastery was restored. The wife of the founder of the Romanov dynasty, Queen Evdokia, who had many children, became famous for her special closeness and generous gifts, who treated the blessed schema-nun Martha with great reverence, often visiting and asking for her holy prayers.

It was often used as a prison for holding state criminals and imprisoning royal persons.

John the Baptist Convent in Moscow

On September 11 (August 29, O.S.), on the day of the Beheading of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John, one of the oldest Moscow monasteries - the recently revived St. John the Baptist Convent - celebrates its patronal feast day.
The monastery of St. John the Baptist spends this day not in magnificent celebrations, but in strict fasting, and with all the fullness of the Orthodox Church remembers in repentant prayer how the head of the Baptist of the Lord was served on a platter to people fed up with sin and food on the day of the birth of King Herod. The whole life of the greatest Prophet and “the greatest among those born of women,” and his death, as a feat of standing for the truth of God, shine on this day with heavenly beauty and unearthly greatness. On the day of the murder of the great Righteous One, we involuntarily recall other innocent sufferers who bore their cross under the protection of St. John the Baptist, within the walls of his monastery: the slaves of the royal family who were forcibly imprisoned here in the 16th–18th centuries, and the host of new martyrs who endured bonds and imprisonment for Christ. victims in the twentieth century, when the monastery, like many shrines of Russian Orthodoxy, was desecrated and turned into a concentration camp, the nuns of the monastery were expelled and sent into exile, and its priests were shot or died in camps. On August 11, 2000, at a meeting of the Holy Synod, held on the eve of the Anniversary Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, chaired by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', it was decided to open the St. John the Baptist Convent, located in the very heart of the capital. Proximity to the Kremlin and connections with the royal house have always determined the fate of the monastery from the moment of its foundation and throughout the centuries. Many mysterious and tragic pages are written in the history of the Ivanovo, as it was formerly called, the Maiden’s Convent. Together with all the people, the monastery suffered devastation from the interventionists and their “thieves and worthless people”; it often burned in Moscow fires, but each time it was restored by the generous hand of the Russian tsars and the prayers of its patron saints. Much in the history of the St. John the Baptist Convent echoes the fate of the destroyed Kremlin shrines: the Ascension Maiden and Chudov Monasteries. By the providence of God, the monastery of St. John the Baptist was saved from complete destruction for the spiritual renewal of the capital, the “voice of one crying in the wilderness” again sounds in the heart of Moscow, and the joy of the revival of the monastery at the end of the twentieth century was combined with the pan-church celebration of the glorification of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

The ancient St. John the Baptist Monastery is located on a high hill that goes around Solyanka - the ancient route to Vladimir and Ryazan. Since ancient times, this area belonged to the grand-ducal house; on this land there was a suburban princely courtyard and gardens, from which the name of the temples and monasteries founded here - “in the Old Gardens” - was fixed. The Ivanovo monastery was founded as a monastery. Built on the sovereign's land, it received the royal ruga - maintenance from the royal house that owned the land. Tradition connects the founding of a maiden monastery in the White City near Solyanka with the birth of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich IV the Terrible. The founding of the monastery is attributed to both the Terrible Autocrat himself and his mother, Grand Duchess Elena Glinskaya. The first Russian Tsar, who was crowned the Russian Tsar in 1547, was born on the eve of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist on August 25, 1530 and bore the name of the Baptist of the Lord. The Monastery of St. John the Baptist became a place of prayer for the repose of the Terrible Emperor, as its royal founder.

The founders of the Romanov dynasty - Tsars Mikhail Feodorovich and Alexei Mikhailovich - especially often visited and generously gifted the Ivanovo monastery in the 17th century. Mikhail Feodorovich's wife of many children, Tsarina Evdokia Lukyanovna, née Streshneva, often visited the blessed schema-nun Martha, the holy fool for Christ's sake, who lived here, and asked her prayers for a safe outcome during childbirth. The example of the pious queen was followed by her subjects. A centuries-old custom, sanctified by the prayers of the holy fool Martha, was established to serve a memorial service for the repose of her soul during pregnancy at the tomb of the blessed one in the Ivanovo Monastery, thereby asking for her prayerful help. Revered for her holiness during her lifetime, Blessed Martha was buried in the monastery Cathedral. Her memory was sacredly revered by the royal couple even after the blessed death that followed on the day of the Angel of Queen Eudokia on March 1, 1638. The quiet and invisible prayer of the humble schema-nice, who asked God's mercy for the young king, his wife and children, contributed to the consolidation of the throne of the new dynasty and the establishment The Russian state, which has recently experienced severe turmoil. The restoration of historical memory and prayer for the repose of the Russian sovereigns will undoubtedly attract the grace of God in strengthening the Russian state, in the reconstruction of Russian shrines, and will become a worthy fruit of the repentance of the Russian people.

At the beginning of the 17th century, during the Time of Troubles, the Ivanovo monastery was plundered by Polish invaders, but by the grace of God and the zeal of the pious Russian tsars it was soon restored. In the first half of the 18th century, the monastery was devastated by two Moscow fires: the Trinity fire of 1737 and the fire of 1748, but in 1761 the monastery was restored by the generosity of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, who intended it “for the care of widows and orphans of honored people.” The pious and religious empress, who bore the name of the mother of St. John the Baptist - righteous Elizabeth, had the intention in her declining years to become a monk according to the custom of her ancestors. For this purpose, she founded and created the Resurrection Smolny Novodevichy Convent in St. Petersburg, where she planned to retire. The Empress did not fulfill her intention, but the monastic path was prepared by the Lord for her own daughter in the Moscow Ivanovo monastery, which she herself appointed for the orphans of honored people.

In the Ivanovo Monastery, among the well-born nuns there were disgraced persons from the royal family; later women who persisted in heresy or committed serious crimes were sent to the monastery to repent. Thus, in the 16th century, in the monastery of St. John the Baptist, the wife of the eldest son of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Tsarevich Ivan, was tonsured into the monasticism of Paraskeva; at the beginning of the 17th century, during the Time of Troubles, the wife of Tsar Vasily Shuisky was imprisoned and tonsured in the monastery with the name Elena. Another mysterious recluse was kept in the monastery at the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries. This mysterious slave was, according to legend, the natural daughter of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna from a secret morganatic marriage with Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky - the famous princess Augusta Tarakanova. By order of Catherine II in 1785, the real daughter of Elizabeth Petrovna was brought from abroad, presented to the empress and “for the good of Russia” she was tonsured a monk with the name Dosithea in the Moscow Ivanovo Monastery. The royal nun was kept in strict seclusion for about 25 years. She turned her involuntary retreat into the salvation of her soul and the souls of those neighbors who came to her with faith for help, because... After the death of Catherine II, people began to be allowed to visit Elder Dosithea. Then the gifts of prayer and insight were revealed to the world, which the Lord generously endowed on the humble nun, who accepted her cross from the hand of God. She helped many on the path of salvation. In the middle of the 19th century, the rector of Optina Pustyn, Schema-Archimandrite Moses (Putilov), now glorified in the host of the Optina Elders, testified to her prayerful help. She showed him, as well as his brother, the future abbot of the Sarov Hermitage, Abbot Isaiah II (Putilov), the monastic path and supported them in their youth with prayer and good advice. The nun Dosifeya rested in the Lord on February 4, 1810 and was buried in the Novospassky Monastery, the family tomb of the Romanov boyars.

After the destruction of Moscow by the French army led by Napoleon in 1812, the Ivanovo monastery was abolished for more than half a century. At the monastery church, four old women lived out their lives, who often saw a schema-montress praying with raised hands in the church at night. They believed that this was Blessed Martha of Ivanovskaya, and that through her prayers the monastery would certainly be restored.

In 1859, the beginning of the revival of the monastery was laid according to the will of the wealthy widow Elizaveta Alekseevna Makarova-Zubacheva. Together with her relative Maria Alexandrovna Mazurina, she turned to Moscow Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov). As a true archpastor, monk and patron of monasticism, St. Filaret was glad to have the opportunity to revive the monastery, for which he himself had drawn up the rules of the hostel. In the summer of 1859, Emperor Alexander II personally approved the project for the restoration of the monastery. In 1860, after the Divine Liturgy in the Church of St. equal to Prince Vladimir, located next to the monastery, and a religious procession from the Prince Vladimir Church to the monastery with the personal participation of St. Philaret laid the foundation for a new monastery Cathedral and the hospital church of St. Elizabeth the Wonderworker, the heavenly patroness of E.A. Makarova-Zubacheva. The monastery was rebuilt over the course of 20 years by the monastery builder M.A. Mazurina under the archpastoral care of St. Filaret according to a single project by academician Mikhail Bykovsky, who created an architectural masterpiece with elements of classicism, Romanesque and Gothic styles in the center of old Moscow. The cathedral is reminiscent of a masterpiece of Western European architecture - the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. Neither the builder of the monastery nor Metropolitan Philaret lived to see the opening of the monastery.

The solemn consecration of the St. John the Baptist Monastery took place in October 1879. The dean of the cenobitic monasteries, Reverend Pimen (Myasnikov), was entrusted with completing the construction work and finding an abbess for the new monastery. It was supposed to renew the Ivanovo Monastery as a dormitory, but in Moscow there were none, only full-time ones, so the monastery was entrusted to the care of the Archimandrite of the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery. The first abbess, Abbess Raphaila, and her sisters, Fr. Pimen found in the Anosina Boriso-Gleb Hermitage near Moscow, which at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries was popularly called “Women's Optina” because in it, as in the Optina Hermitage itself, eldership was developed. The Ivanovo monastery quickly filled with nuns and began to attract pilgrims from all over the Russian Empire.

In the 1890s. near the Mark station of the Savelovskaya railway, the Ivanovo monastery was provided with land for a farmstead, which received the name Chernetsovo. Under the abbess, Abbess Sergius (Smirnova), in 1893-95, a wooden church was built on the farm in honor of her heavenly patron, St. Sergius of Radonezh. The farm church of the monastery was well decorated, decorated with an oak iconostasis, and had particles of the holy relics of John the Baptist and Sergius of Radonezh.

By 1917, over three hundred nuns lived in the monastery. With the beginning of the 1st World War, all of them, in addition to the usual monastic obediences, sewed linen for the Russian army. Already in 1918, the Ivanovo monastery was closed and turned into a concentration camp - “Ivanovsky Ispravdom on Solyanka”, where in the 20s there were up to four hundred prisoners at a time. The Cathedral of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist and the Elizabethan Church continued to operate as parish churches; about a hundred nuns lived with them. During these years, Mother Superior and the nuns of the ruined monastery turned to Elder Father Alexy Mechev for prayerful help and spiritual advice on Maroseyka. In 1926 the churches were taken away. Monastery Cathedral of St. John the Baptist was chosen for its repository by the Provincial Archive Bureau, and the Elizabethan Church was placed at the disposal of the camp authorities.

Not only holy monasteries, temples of God, righteous people, but also the holy relics of God's saints endured desecration and persecution during godless hard times. For about three hundred years, the relics of the holy blessed schema-nun Martha, the holy fool for Christ's sake, the prayer book and patroness of the reigning Romanov dynasty, rested in the Ivanovo monastery. In the middle of the 19th century, with the blessing of St. Philaret of Moscow, the blessed relics were found during the reconstruction of the Cathedral and placed in a new marble tomb. Due to the closure of the Cathedral in 1926, the relics of St. Blessed Martha were opened and reburied; at present, their location remains unknown. Her memory is celebrated in the monastery on the day of her repose, March 1/14, and in the Cathedral of Moscow Saints on the Sunday before August 26/September 8.

After the final closure, the priests and the last sisters with the mother abbess were expelled from the monastery. The fate of Priest Alexy Skvortsov, who was formerly a deacon in the monastery, is known. Father Alexy was arrested twice. By the verdict of the troika at the USSR NKVD in the Moscow region on June 7, 1938, he was convicted and sentenced to capital punishment - execution "for counter-revolutionary agitation." He pleaded not guilty. Martyr's Crown of Fr. Alexy received him at the Butovo training ground on July 4, 1938. His documents are currently in the Canonization Commission. Another priest of the monastery, Archpriest Joseph Budilovich, who was a regimental priest until 1918, according to some sources, died in the camp.

The last abbess, Mother Epiphania (in the world - Elizaveta Dmitrievna Mityushina, a widow from the merchant class), who survived the destruction of the monastery, where she took monastic vows, moved with the remaining sisters to the farm. Here, to the temple of St. Sergius of Radonezh, was invited to serve Father Hilarion (Udodov), who became the confessor of the Ivanovo sisters. The name of this holy elder became widely known due to the fact that by the Providence of God he became the guardian of the head of St. Sergius of Radonezh during the Great Patriotic War. Father Hilarion began his monastic journey on Mount Athos at the St. Panteleimon Monastery on the special instructions of the Mother of God. In one of the investigative cases in connection with the arrest of his brother Peter, Fr. Hilarion is listed as “archimandrite of the Ivanovo monastery,” and so he remained an elder and caretaker of the Ivanovo exiles throughout all the years of persecution. In 1929, Father Hilarion buried Mother Epiphania on the farm. The Soviet government suppressed farm farming with taxes. In 1931, the sisters were arrested at the monastery farm and deported to Kazakhstan. Father Hilarion lived at the church of St. Sergius alone on the former farm for some time, then was invited as dean to serve in Vinogradovo, where he was rector of the Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God until the day of his death on March 15, 1951. Before the war, in the late 30s, Fr. Hilarion transferred the iconostasis and the shrines of the farm church of St. Sergius and built a chapel in honor of St. Sergius of Radonezh, thereby preparing a place for storing the great shrine. Father Hilarion was for some time the fraternal confessor of the newly opened Trinity-Sergius Lavra, but soon returned to Vinogradovo. Here to Fr. After exile, the “Ivanovo orphans” gathered for Hilarion; a small “monastery” was formed here: some sisters visited, others served at the church, some of them were buried here.

From Vinogradovo, where the last Ivanovo nuns and their confessor and elder Fr. Hilarion, a new revival of the monastery began at the end of the twentieth century. In 1992, the St. John the Baptist Monastery was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', the monastery was assigned to the Church of St. equal to Prince Vladimir, headed by the rector, Rev. Sergius Romanov. The temple is located on Ivanovskaya Hill just above the monastery. It is providential that at the end of the 1980s Fr. Sergius Romanov served in the village of Vinogradovo in the Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, where the parish community of the Church of St. was born and formed from his spiritual children, including the future nuns of the monastery. Prince Vladimir.

From this time until the beginning of 2002, the community of the Church of St. equal to Prince Vladimir, with the participation of the Moscow Charitable Brotherhood of St. Vladimir, worked not only on the reconstruction of monastery churches, cells and walls, but also laid the foundation for the revival of monastic life in this ancient monastery. Since 1992 a community of sisters lived in the former hospital building; the monastery chapel of St. John the Baptist, where prayer services were served to St. To the Prophet. The former hospital building with the house church of St. Petersburg was completely restored. Elizabeth the Wonderworker. The consecration and first service in the Elizabethan Church took place in 1995 on Bright Week on the day of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Life-Giving Spring.” At this Easter time, as a manifestation of the prayerful covering of the Mother of God, the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Hodegetria”, located in the church of St. Elizabeth the Wonderworker. In the summer of 2001, on the occasion of the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Archives of the Moscow Region completely liberated the monastery Cathedral; since October 2001, prayer services to St. John the Baptist.

The nuns of the St. John the Baptist Monastery developed especially close relations with the Pukhtitsa Monastery in Estonia, which preserved the traditions of Russian Orthodox cenobitic monasticism. At the invitation of Mother Varvara, the Ivanovo sisters went to Pyukhtitsy to study and get a closer look at monastic life. By the providence of God, according to the Decree of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', in January 2002, the St. John the Baptist Convent was headed by the abbess, nun Afanasia (Grosheva), appointed specifically from the Holy Dormition Pyukhtitsa stauropegial convent. The appointment of Mother Afanasia was received by the sisters with great joy.

With the arrival of the abbess, the monastery was transformed both internally and externally. It was replenished with new nuns and found its own parishioners.

On September 8, 2002, the Kazan chapel of the monastery cathedral was solemnly consecrated, in which a unique painting was recreated. The crosses on the renovated dome and turrets of the cathedral began to shine, and the monastery belfry announced the beginning of the service every day. 76 years after the closure of the monastery cathedral, consecrated in honor of the Beheading of St. The Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John, in him prayer is again offered, the Liturgy is performed, and the Bloodless Sacrifice is offered.

The first tonsure of the sisters was a joyful event for the monastery. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', during Great Lent 2003, on the day when a particle of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Bishop Arseny, Archbishop of Istra, performed monastic tonsure for the sisters who stood at the origins of the revival of the monastery.

Immediately upon the arrival of Mother Athanasia on January 19, 2002, its main shrines were returned to the monastery - the icon of St. John the Baptist with a hoop, etc. Elizabeth the Wonderworker - holy abbess who lived in Constantinople in the 5th century. Icon of St. John the Baptist with a hoop is unique. The Russian tsars prayed in front of this image and followed it in a religious procession. During the Soviet period, the icon was kept in the Church of St. App. Peter and Paul on the Yauza. Nowadays it is located in the monastery chapel, open every day to pilgrims. To the icon case of St. The prophet on the right is attached to a metal chain with a copper hoop. On it is a half-erased but distinguishable inscription: “Holy Great Forerunner and Baptist of the Savior John, pray to God for us.” This hoop, worn with faith and prayer to St. John the Baptist on the head of pilgrims, known since the second half of the 19th century. Perhaps the hoop was made as evidence of a miraculous healing. Many miracles and healings were revealed by the grace of God at this image through the prayers of the Preacher of Repentance already in our time after the return of the shrine to the monastery. It is no coincidence that the flow of pilgrims suffering from mental and physical ailments to the monastery chapel does not dry up.

Such an ancient and again young monastery has many problems and sorrows. The main territory with cell buildings, where since 1918 there was a concentration camp of the Cheka-NKVD, then the NKVD Higher School, is still occupied by the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. Another problem is the lack of funds for the restoration and restoration of this architectural monument of the 18th–19th centuries. Of course, the monastery needs both generous benefactors and those who want to work for its revival. The monastery will welcome those who share family memories of the history of the monastery, documents, photographs and everything that comes under the protection of the Preacher of Repentance.

St. John the Pretechensky Monastery is located at: Moscow, st. m. Kitay-Gorod, Maly Ivanovsky Lane, 2, t. 924-0150.

On Mondays at 17.00 a prayer service to St. John the Baptist with an akathist and blessing of water, except on the eves of major holidays. The Chapel of John the Baptist and the Cathedral are open daily from 8.00 to 20.00.

19th century

In Moscow, during the French invasion of Napoleonic army and fire, the monastery of John the Baptist was burned and destroyed.

All buildings burned down except the cathedral church. The nuns managed to hide in advance and send part of the church treasures to Vologda. But still, the monastery suffered such irreparable damage that it was abolished for more than half a century and ceased to exist. Its main cathedral church has been given parish status.

In 1860, the restoration of the monastery began and the reconstruction of the main monastery cathedral, based on the design of Mikhail Bykovsky, in the image of the Italian basilica in Florence. Construction lasted more than 20 years with money from the will of Lieutenant Colonel Elizaveta Mazurina with the personal participation and guardianship of Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov).

1880

St. John the Baptist Convent was reopened at the end of the 19th century as the only monastery in Moscow, and Abbess Raphaila became its first abbess. The monastery was quickly settled by sisters, rebuilt and began to flourish, becoming a famous and attractive place for pilgrims from all over the country.

Feedback from pilgrims about healings

The abbess of the St. John the Baptist Monastery, Abbess Afanasia, also testifies to numerous healings of the sick from the hoop. First of all, according to mother, those who are ill in the head recover.

People are cured of meningitis, arachnoiditis, brain tumors, sinusitis, intracranial pressure and mental illness. The abbess says that the hoop helps even non-believers - it is enough to come to the shrine with faith and a pure soul, venerate it, read the canon or at least the troparion to St. John.

Numerous pilgrims themselves talk about the miracles that happened and leave rave reviews on the Internet.

Review by Nikolay

I brought my daughter Lidochka to the monastery; she has had problems with her head since birth. Doctors shrug their shoulders and cannot help. When I came to the monastery with my daughter, the nuns on duty said that she was possessed. As soon as Lidochka was brought to the hoop, she immediately fell to the floor, began spinning and swearing. Four men helped hold Lida down so they could put a hoop on her head. As soon as the shrine touched her head, she immediately became quiet and calmed down. Now Lidochka feels much better, her attacks have stopped, and she is gradually returning to normal life. Thank God for everything!

Review from Natalia from Moscow

I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and was told to prepare for surgery. The doctors were very afraid that after the operation I might lose my vision, because the tumor was in the occipital region. Before the operation, I went to the monastery to kiss the hoop. The next day I went for an examination, but the MRI did not find any tumor.

Soviet time

In 1917, more than three hundred nuns lived in the Ivanovo Convent, who dressed the Russian army soldiers during the First World War, and after the revolution, the Red Army soldiers with uniforms.

But this does not last long: the monastery was among the very first to be closed, and by the middle of 1918 it was turned into the “Ivanovo Correctional House on Solyanka”, and the sisters were replaced by concentration camp prisoners, the number of whom in the 20s reached four hundred. Most of the buildings and territory are placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Many ministers and nuns were arrested and exiled.

The main churches continued to operate as parish churches until 1927, after which they were taken away. These buildings housed the state archive and the camp red corner.

Mystery of history

The Ivanovo Monastery in Moscow is one of the oldest churches not only in the capital, but also in Orthodox Rus'. Not a single document has survived that even hints at the time of its construction. The monastery inventory from 1763 reports: “And when this monastery was built, under which sovereign, and according to what state charter, and in what year, there is no exact news about that in the said monastery.” Modern architects and historians believe that the farmstead arose in the 15th century, as evidenced by the preserved ancient foundation.

The legend about the construction of the monastery says that John's monastery was built at the behest of Elena Glinskaya, the Grand Duchess, who decided to erect a temple in honor of the birth of her eldest son, John. The story has a continuation - supposedly the birth of the future king was accompanied by an unprecedented thunderstorm with a storm, which is why his disposition was appropriate - spontaneous, and the nickname of the monarch was the Dark One.

St. John the Baptist Monastery was mentioned in the will of Vasily I in 1423. At the end of the 15th century, the estate fell into disrepair, and a convent was built not far from the Vladimir Church.

According to another assumption, the Ivanovo Monastery in Moscow appeared at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries and served defensive functions. Being built on a hill (Ivanovo Hill), it occupied the best position, ensuring the safety of the Great Posad and the Ion-Zlatoustinsky Monastery (destroyed in 1930). You can give several more reasoned hypotheses about the time of the appearance of the monastery, but only a miracle or further searches by archaeologists will help to reliably find out the exact date.

Renewal of the monastery

The Monastery of John the Baptist has been revived since 1990, when churches and some buildings in Moscow began to be returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. From that time on, active restoration of the main buildings of the monastery complex and the interior decoration of churches began and has not yet stopped.

In 2002, the first abbess was appointed to the convent after a long break, and the renewed monastery was given stauropegic status.

The monastery during the years of Soviet power

After the revolution, the measured life of Moscow monasteries changed dramatically. In 1919, one of the twelve city concentration camps was organized at the St. John the Baptist Monastery, where criminals and anyone suspected of disloyalty to the authorities were taken.

View of the monastery from Zabelina Street

Later, a special purpose camp was created in the monastery. Since 1923, it turned into a forced labor camp, and after another 4 years - into a department of a state institute where crime and criminals were studied. In the early 1930s, the monastery camp became part of a factory labor colony.

After the monastery was closed, the nuns and novices were evicted from the city, and they began to live in the Chernetsovo farmstead near Moscow. In 1929, the entire monastic economy was nationalized, a large tax was levied on the nuns, and they had to sell off all their property.

For two years, the nuns survived through odd jobs and alms. In 1931, an active anti-religious campaign began in the country. It was decided to isolate the nuns as members of an anti-Soviet group. The women were convicted, placed in Butyrka prison, and then sent into exile in Kazakhstan.

In the early 1990s, when the monastery churches began to be handed over to believers, they were in disrepair. Then the church buildings were restored and consecrated, and in 2002 a convent was restored on the territory. Large-scale restoration work in the monastery was led by the architect-restorer Olga Andreevna Danilina.

View of the monastery from Khokhlovsky Lane

Monastery today

A larger number of historical buildings and church structures do not belong to the monastery, and are still under the jurisdiction of the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Some of them gradually collapse without proper care.

St. John the Baptist Monastery is actively developing. Restoration and restoration work continues.

The monastery has an icon-painting workshop and small sewing factories. Widespread spiritual educational activities are carried out.

Hermitage in Nikolo-Komarovka[edit]

In 2005, a monastery skete was founded near the village. Komarovka, Kamyzyak district, Astrakhan region, where the bulk of the monastery’s economy is conducted. The hermitage is currently in its infancy, construction and economic work is being carried out there - courtyard buildings are being erected, a large vineyard is being planted, a workshop is being built, in which half will be involved in processing grapes and cultivating wine, and the other half of the workshop will be allocated for processing dairy products. The monastery has its own barnyard, divided into paddocks and enclosures - rabbits, cows, bulls, goats, poultry, as well as three horses: two young mares and a stallion. There is a garden, vegetable garden and much more. Most of the products are sold, the income is directed to the statutory needs of the monastery.

Not far from the monastery there is a worship cross. The fate of this cross is surprising - it was previously erected on the Prechistenskaya bell tower of the Assumption Cathedral. But after a new cross, which is currently located there, was installed with the help of helicopters, then, on the instructions of Vladyka Jonah, Archbishop of Astrakhan, the removed cross was installed on a hill in the village. Komarovka. This cross was not installed by chance; a sad story is connected with this place about the death of the temple during the period of persecution of the church in the Soviet period of Russian history. Almost near the current position of the Cross, there was previously the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, but it was closed in 1936, and in 1952 it was completely dismantled - right down to the foundation - as evidenced by the deep foundation pit, which to this day is reminiscent of the place of outrage of militant atheists.

Monastery architecture

The Monastery of John the Baptist in Moscow and beyond is famous for its magnificent main cathedral of the Beheading of John the Baptist (1879), the prototype of which was the famous Cathedral of Florence.

The impressive size of the faceted dome and the severity of the lines of the cathedral erected by Bykovsky attract the attention of townspeople and tourists. Here the best elements of the Renaissance are organically intertwined with Russian classicism, antiquity with ancient Russian architecture.

On the western side of the facade there are two symmetrical hipped bell towers with a monumental portal of the Holy Gate built in 1860. Paired towers with crenellated decoration mark the entrance.

To the east of the central church there are cells and a hospital building with the house church of the Venerable Wonderworker Elizabeth, built in 1879, restoration completed in 1995.

The construction of the western buildings of the cells extended over a longer period from 1760 to 1830. In the northwestern part there is a refectory building.

Adjacent to the ancient monastery fence is a low, one-story building from the late 19th century with an elegant portal; restoration work was completed in 1992. It now houses the Chapel of St. John the Baptist.

Rudnensky Icon of the Mother of God from the main iconostasis of the temple. Con. XVII century.

It is difficult to say what and when happened to others. It is only clear that their disappearance is connected with the events of the Soviet period. Large icons from the closed surrounding churches appeared in the church at different times: the righteous Philaret the Merciful from the Ermakov almshouse behind the Trekhgornaya Outpost, the Kizichesk martyrs from the Devyatinskaya Church, the Great Martyr George from the St. George Church in Gruziny, paired icons of Saints Nicholas and Demetrius of Rostov from the St. Nicholas Church in Novy Vagankovo , Intercession of the Mother of God from the Church of the Intercession in Kudrin. After the return of the Church of St. martyr Kizicheskikh and St. Vmch. George in Georgians, their temple icons were returned to the parishes of these churches.

On the eve of the feast of the Council of John the Baptist in 2008, a particle of the relics of St. John the Baptist was transferred to the rector of the church, Bishop Ambrose of Bronnitsky. During the days of Great Lent in 2008, another piece of the relics of St. John the Baptist was transferred to Bishop Ambrose from Jerusalem. Previously, the shrine belonged to the late Metropolitan Daniel of Tabor (Jerusalem Patriarchate), whose elderly relative decided to transfer the relics to the Russian clergyman. This particle is also placed in the ark.

The relics of the holy glorious prophet John the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord are now the main shrine of the temple. The ark with particles of relics is located on the throne of the central altar and is worn for worship and prayerful veneration at the end of the late liturgy on Sundays and holidays.

In 2008, particles of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov and St. Mitrophan of Voronezh were transferred to the temple. These relics are placed in reliquaries and inserted into the icons of St. Seraphim and St. Mitrophan, located on the right on the wall under the mosaic arch. In the same year, the temple acquired a particle of the relics of the holy martyr Tatiana. A piece of her holy relics is placed in her icon, located on the northwestern pillar in the refectory part of the temple.

Icon of the Holy Martyr John the Warrior. Con. XVII century.

The most ancient and revered shrines of the temple remain the icons of the main iconostasis: the Savior and the Mother of God of Rudny on the sides of the Royal Doors, the work of royal isographers of the late 17th century, the temple image of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, the work of icon painter Efim Ivanov, 1686, as well as the icon of the martyr John the Warrior (late 17th century) century), Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” (first third of the 18th century), Mother of God “Burning Bush” (18th century), Mother of God “Thy Womb Was the Holy Meal” (late 17th century). At the beginning of the twenty-first century, a relic was built in which particles of the relics of the saints were placed: St. Seraphim of Sarov, St. Demetrius of Rostov, Great Martyr Panteleimon, St. Ambrose of Milan, Martyr Archdeacon Stephen, St. Theophan the Recluse, St. Luke of Voino-Yasenetsky, St. Theodore of Sanaksar, St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk, St. Nicholas of Myra, St. Ferapont of Mozhaisk, St. Amphilochius of Pochaev, St. Athanasius of Vysotsky, St. David of the Ascension, St. Alexandra, Martha, Elena of Diveevsky, St. Kuksha of Odessa, part of the stone of the thousand-day prayer of St. Seraphim of Sarov. The ark with the relics is located at the northern chapel of the martyr John the Warrior. In the temple there is an icon of the martyr John the Warrior with a reliquary cross, containing parts of the relics of the martyr John the Warrior, the great martyr Nikita, the great martyr Catherine, the great martyr Barbara, the martyr Tryphon, and the great martyr George the Victorious.

Icon of the Savior from the main iconostasis of the temple. Con. 17th century

The inventory of the temple from 1861 reports on the shrines kept in the sacristy: Gospels and Apostles, altar crosses, vessels, tabernacles, censers, crowns, vestments of thrones, altars, vestments of clergy, Shrouds. A large holiday Gospel has been preserved, number one in the inventory, written by the deacon of the city of Dmitrov, Vvedenskaya Church, Alexei Vasiliev in 1811. An arshin long, it is lined with gilded copper chased boards with relief images of the Savior, the Mother of God, four evangelists, cherubs and inscriptions on the enamel. Unfortunately, time has greatly disfigured this shrine. In Soviet times, would-be restorers fastened the parts with metalwork bolts and nuts, and the rhinestones were attached to plasticine. Through the care of the rector of the church, Bishop Ambrose, in 2006 the Gospel was seriously restored and gilded, and the lost parts were restored. Splendor was also given to the altar cross, donated in 1885 “in memory of the deceased of the Safonov family.”

Currently, parishioners especially reverence the image of “The Entombment of Christ the Savior” above the tomb with the Shroud, and the icon of St. Nicholas at the southern chapel. In front of the hagiographic image of St. John the Baptist on the southwestern pillar of the refectory part of the church, an akathist to the prophet is read on Monday evenings.

Icon "Old Testament Trinity". The end of the 17th century - the beginning of the 18th century

The cross was restored and gilded the same year. Most of the items from the ancient sacristy have not survived to this day. The only exceptions are the dark green and red velvet vestments of priests, sewn in 1913 for the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov. On the red shoulders there is an image of a cross framed by oak and palm branches and the inscription: “This is victory” in gold thread. With the blessing of His Grace Bishop Ambrose, the sacristy has now been completely renovated: vestments for priests and deacons of all liturgical colors have been purchased, new covers for the holy gifts have been embroidered. With donations from parishioners, a carved tomb for the Holy Shroud was made, and a skillfully embroidered Shroud of the Mother of God was purchased. The altars and altars of the chapels are dressed in expensive indium made of Greek brocade, and metal vestments were made for the central temple.

External cladding

Of course, the appearance of the ancient monastery has undergone significant changes since its foundation. Now the walls are plastered and painted. But the carefully restored appearance of the cathedral and interiors gives some idea of ​​its original appearance in tsarist times.

Serious scientific restoration work is being carried out to recreate the temple paintings of the best masters of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts of the late 19th century. The entire architectural complex is surrounded by an ancient stone fence.

What does the monastery look like from the inside?

The layout of the monastery's courtyard is unique: the cathedral, all buildings and buildings are connected to each other by four one-story galleries (aracadas) located around the perimeter.

This originality dissects the internal territory into small cozy courtyards of rectangular and trapezoidal shapes.

Near the entrance to the small chapel in the monastery wall there is a refectory for parishioners, where you can eat delicious freshly baked pies or the monastery Lenten lunch.

Famous prisoners

In the 16th century, the monastery housed the nun Paraskeva, who in the world was the childless wife of the son of Tsar Ivan the Terrible.

Since 1768, the landowner “Saltychikha,” known to everyone for her unprecedented cruelty, served her sentence for more than thirty years.

And from the end of the 18th century, the forcibly tonsured natural daughter of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, better known as Princess Tarakanova, remained in monasticism for a quarter of a century. Later she accepted her fate and eventually became the great ascetic and elder Dosithea.

Famous prisoners and centuries-old secrets of the monastery

Often the Predtechensky Monastery was used as a prison to imprison criminals or representatives of the royal authorities. Thus, in the 16th century, Ivan the Terrible’s daughter-in-law Paraskeva was held there.

For more than thirty years, the monastery was the place of imprisonment of the cruel landowner “Saltychikha”, who was arrested in 1768. The women's monastery is also known for the forced monasticism of Elizabeth Petrovna's daughter, Princess Tarakanova.

Later, the nun accepted her fate and became a famous ascetic.

Activities of the parish

The modern life of the parish of the convent of John the Baptist is very diverse and is developing in the following directions:

1. In 2008, a monastery museum was opened with unique historical exhibits, the collection of which from the population continues today.

2. Since 2012, theological courses of additional education for sisters began operating within the educational system of the Russian Orthodox Church.
3. For everyone who wishes, weekly classes are held at Sunday school, where the basics of the Law of God are studied.
4. On Sundays after the Divine Liturgy, catechetical conversations with parishioners are held in the home environment of the library.
5. Conferences, seminars and lectures are regularly held.
6. The village of Ostrov near Moscow became the site of the creation of an Almshouse or, as the sisters themselves call it, a “House of Consolation” for elderly women.

Modern history of the monastery[edit]

In 1992, the restoration of the monastery began. In 1995, the monastery was finally transferred to the Church. On February 22, 1995, by decree of Patriarch Alexy II, the monastery received official status. On April 24, 1995, Hieromonk Joseph (in the world Alexander Stanislavovich Maryan, b. 1967) was appointed the first viceroy.

The first inhabitants of the reconstructed monastery were Hieromonk Nil (Bednyakov) and Hieromonk Nestor (Nebesnov), sent from the Assumption Cathedral. Father Neil recalled: “At first we huddled in a former prosphora, where the water froze in winter and there were no amenities. We survived thanks to the old women who fed us. We went to a nearby bathhouse to wash. It was unsafe to go out into the yard at night: the area was overgrown with weeds and had no fence.”

Due to Father Joseph's serious illness, the obedience of the viceroy was transferred to Hieromonk Philip (Treshchev) on October 10, 1996.

In 1996, monastic tonsure was performed in the monastery for the first time after its revival.

With the appointment of Hieromonk Peter (Barbashov) as abbot of the monastery on December 28, 2000, the process of revival of the monastery became more intense. By surrounding the territory of the monastery with a metal fence, the brethren were able to get rid of the drunkards who had taken a liking to the surroundings of the temple.

In 2001, construction began on a bathhouse and a fraternal building in the eastern part of the monastery. The new fraternal building is two-story; on the ground floor there is a refectory, a lecture hall, a carpentry workshop and a garage, and on the second floor there are cells.

In 2002, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II visited the monastery. At the same time, the abbot's two-story building was returned.

In 2003, the reconstruction and overhaul of the abbot's building was completed and it housed Sunday school classes, a choir class, a vestry and a library.

In 2004, a monastery-monastery was founded in the village of Nikolo-Komarovka, Kamyzyaksky district, and a house church was consecrated in it in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Inexhaustible Chalice”.

In 2005, the domes of the monastery church were renewed. The brethren of the monastery took care of the church in honor of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos near the St. John the Baptist Monastery on Gruzinskaya Street. In this temple, services on holidays and Sundays were resumed.

In 2006, restoration of the facade of the monastery church and the paintings in it began. The foundation of an extension to the temple was laid to remove candle boxes and increase the area of ​​the church.

In 2007, a transformer substation (TS) was built and moved outside the monastery territory in agreement with the city authorities, and the previous building of the TS and power transmission towers were demolished.

In 2008, all the windows of the monastery church were replaced, the old brick was replaced with a new one, the walls were cleaned, the church was painted in two colors and, finally, the scaffolding was removed. Restoration of forests around the abbot's building for the restoration of the building's facade. For the first time in decades, a wedding took place in the Church of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In September 2009, the Bogolep Center for Additional Education of Children and Youth was created at the monastery.

On October 20, 2009, Archbishop Jonah (Karpukhin) of Astrakhan and Enotaevsk consecrated the monastery church with a great ceremony in the name of the Beheading of the venerable head of John the Baptist.

In the summer of 2010, the first tonsure into the great schema took place in the monastery church. Schemamonk Mitrofan became the first and at that time the only schemamonk in the territory of the Astrakhan and Enotaevsk diocese.

In 2013, after a decade and a half of negotiations with the regional and city authorities about the resettlement of residents from two buildings - former fraternal cells - these buildings were returned to the monastery, which made it possible to recreate the historical integrity of the monastery in its completed form.

Divine service in the monastery

Every day morning and evening services are held in the churches of the monastery, during the day there is reading of the Psalter and obligatory commemoration of the living and the dead.

Every week on Mondays, in addition to Compline before major holidays, from 5 p.m. a prayer service to the holy Baptist of the Lord is performed with the reading of the akathist and the blessing of water.

Schedule of services[edit]

Divine service in the monastery church:

All-night vigil

— 17:00;

Divine Liturgy

(late) - 7:30.

On holidays

- at 8.30.

Confession starts at 7.30. After the Liturgy, services are served.

Early Liturgy

(starts at 6:30) takes place in the Vvedensky Church on Sundays and twelve holidays. On the eve of the Feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary, during the all-night vigil, a procession of the cross takes place from the walls of the monastery to the Entrance Church.

On Monday at 17:30 Akathist to John the Baptist, Baptist of the Lord

.

On Friday at 18:30 - Akathist to the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God

(except for the days of Great Lent and the days after Easter until Trinity).

Shrines and patronal feasts

Many revered shrines in the Orthodox world are carefully preserved behind the ancient walls and are available to pilgrims and tourists of the Ivanovo Convent:

• The main shrine of all Orthodox Christians - a particle from the tree of the Holy Cross - is kept in the altar room.
• In the main church of the monastery there is the oldest miraculous icon of the Baptist John the Baptist, painted during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, with particles of relics.
• In addition, all day long in the chapel a copy of the image of John the Baptist with a metal hoop, the measure of the head of the great martyr, is available for veneration.
• Parts of the coffin of the Great Martyr Princess Elizabeth are known for their miraculous help.
• Tombstone of the holy schema-nun Martha, blessed old woman and famous ascetic of the monastery.
• Many revered miraculous icons and rare relics of the greatest Orthodox Saints.

Russian Orthodox ChurchFinancial and economic management

Abbess: Abbess

Afanasia, (Grosheva Raisa Petrovna)

Address:

109028, Moscow, Maly Ivanovsky Lane, 2

Telephone:

(495) 624-01-50, 624-54-91 (building), 624-75-21 (chapel), 624-92-09 (office)

Fax machine:

(495) 624-92-09 (office)

Official site:

www.ioannpredtecha.ru

Email:

[email protected]

The TU of the Federal Property Management Agency in Moscow issued an order dated April 21, 2016 No. 361 on the transfer of the building as part of a cultural heritage site of federal significance “Ensemble of the Ivanovo Monastery, XVII-XIX centuries, 1860-1879, architect. Bykovsky M.D., located at the address: Moscow, Maly Ivanovsky lane, 2/4, building 4 (abbot building), in the ownership of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Some of the former monastery buildings still belong to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. One of the buildings of the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia is located there. In the village of Ostrov near Moscow, in a former noble estate, an almshouse is being built - a courtyard of the St. John the Baptist Monastery.

***

Story

At the beginning of the 15th century, on the area north of modern Solyanka, a grand-ducal estate with the Vladimir Church was built (the corner of modern Khokhlovsky, Starosadsky and Maly Ivanovsky lanes). In the will of Vasily I (1423) this place was called “a new courtyard outside the city near St. Vladimir." By the end of the 15th century, the estate was empty, and the Ivanovo convent was established immediately south of the Vladimir Church.

19th century

In 1812, during the Patriotic War, the monastery was at the center of a fire and burned to the ground. After the fire it was abolished and was not restored for a long time; An ancient cathedral and a body of cells were erected along the western border of the site.

With the blessing of St. Philaret (Drozdov), it was rebuilt in 1860-1879 (using the basements of old buildings) in the neo-Renaissance style according to the design of the Moscow architect Mikhail Dorimedontovich Bykovsky (1801-1885) and became the pinnacle of the architect’s creativity.

A large capital of 600 thousand rubles for the revival of the Ivanovo Monastery in Moscow was bequeathed by Lieutenant Colonel Elizaveta Alekseevna Mazurina, by her husband Makarov-Zubachev (daughter of Alexei Alekseevich Mazurin, Moscow mayor in 1828-1831). On March 31, 1858, Elizaveta Alekseevna died and was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery. The burial ceremony was performed by Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna Saint Philaret (Drozdov) (1783-1867), and the executor and organizer of the monastery was the daughter-in-law, the wife of her late brother Nikolai Alekseevich - Maria Alexandrovna Mazurina (d. October 21, 1878). Thanks to her work, Moscow received a unique architectural ensemble: walls, towers, a majestic cathedral, reminiscent of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence.

The internal layout of the monastery is distinguished by the fact that the cathedral standing in the center is connected to the buildings along the perimeter of the site by four galleries (arcades), which dissect the internal space into small courtyards.

Soviet time

In 1918 the monastery was closed; Since August 1919, on its territory there was located the Ivanovo concentration camp, one of 12 Moscow city concentration camps, later transformed into a special-purpose camp. Since 1923 it was called a forced labor camp; since 1927 - “an experimental penitentiary department of the state institute for the study of crime and the criminal.” In 1930, the Ivanovo camp became part of the 1st department of the 7th factory labor colony of Moscow at the State Medical University.

43 nuns and novices moved to a farm near Moscow, but in 1929 the farm was nationalized, and the community was imposed an unaffordable tax, to pay which it was necessary to sell off the property. For the next two years, the community lived on odd jobs and alms, and in 1931 the authorities decided to “isolate the nuns from society as members of an anti-Soviet group.” At the beginning of May, they, among 31 people, were deprived of voting rights, and on May 20 they were imprisoned in Butyrka prison. By resolution of the troika at the Plenipotentiary Representation of the OGPU for the Moscow Region, all of them were sent along a stage to Kazakhstan.

Renewal of the monastery

In 2002, the monastery was reopened as a stauropegic monastery.

In 2012, the monastery opened additional education courses for nuns of convents, included in the educational system of the Russian Orthodox Church under the patronage of the Center for Education of the Moscow Clergy at the Novospassky Stavropegic Monastery. The first two years of study were mainly devoted to the study of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments; at the same time, the sisters studied in some detail the catechism, the history of the Church, worship and church art. The third year of study provided an opportunity to delve deeper into the study of the works of the Holy Fathers of the Church and become acquainted with the monastic life of the East and West. The fourth year is reserved for lectures on Eastern and Latin hagiography, where the lives of saints are studied according to ancient texts, as well as for classes in patrolology and the history of the development of monasticism in the East.

Author's programs are compiled specifically for these courses. All teachers are leading experts in Church history, biblical studies, liturgics, and church art; employees of MDA, PSTGU, Moscow universities.

***

Temples

The main cathedral in honor of the Beheading of John the Baptist with the side chapels of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (1879, architect M.D. Bykovsky) was restored in 2010.

The home church of St. Elizabeth the Wonderworker, Abbess of Constantinople (1879) was restored on April 28, 1995.

The Chapel of John the Baptist (1879) opened in 1991.

Shrines

A particle of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord (in the altar), a miraculous icon of the holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John with a particle of relics (mid-16th century), a revered copy of the image of the holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John with a particle of relics and a miraculous hoop (in the monastery chapel ), the revered image of the Venerable Elizabeth the Wonderworker, Abbess of Constantinople (c. 19th century), the revered myrrh-streaming icon of the Mother of God “Smolensk” (in the Elisabeth Church).

Particles of relics: St. ap. and the Evangelist Matthew (in the altar), St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop. World of Lycia, St. Basil the Great, St. Philareta (Drozdova), Metropolitan. Moskovsky, sschmch. Hilarion (Troitsky), Archbishop. Vereisky, St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Archbishop. Simferopol, confessor (in the Elisabeth Church), martyr. and healer Panteleimon, vmts. Anastasia the Pattern Maker, St. Sergius, abbot of Radonezh, St. Seraphim of Sarov, St. Pimen of Ugreshsky, St. Amphilochia of Pochaev (in the altar), St. Kuksha of Odessa (in the altar), St. Alexy, man of God, Venerable. Ambrose, Isaac, Moses, Anatoly, Nektarios, the Elders of Optina, St. wives of Diveyevo: Alexandra, Martha, Elena (in the altar), blessed Paraskeva, Pelagia, Mary, Christ for the sake of holy fools, Diveyevo.

Coffin particles: prpmts. led Princess Elizabeth (in the altar), Blessed. Matrona of Moscow.

Tomb (previously the relics of saints rested) of Blessed. Schema nun Martha of Moscow, holy fool for Christ's sake, ascetic of the St. John the Baptist Convent.

Revered icon of the holy martyr Alexy Skvortsov, presbyter of the St. John the Baptist Monastery (canonized as a saint in December 2004).

***

Schedule of services, wedding ceremonies

Divine services are held every day: evening and all-night vigils begin at 17:00 daily, the liturgy is served on weekdays from 7:30, on Sundays and holidays it is celebrated an hour later from 8:30. You can confess on Sundays before the service from 7-30.

Every week on Mondays a water-blessing prayer is served with the reading of an akathist to St. John the Baptist at 17:00, on Thursdays in the Chapel from 16:00 - a prayer service can be performed to any saint at will.

At the Monastery of John the Baptist you can order any request: long-term commemoration of health or repose, magpie, submit a note for sisterhood, as well as conduct an individual unforgettable wedding ceremony or baptism of a baby in one of the most beautiful places in Moscow.

Article design: Vladimir the Great

Mother Dosithea about the hoop of John the Baptist

And now in the monastery many healings occur from the amazing hoop, which are recorded by the nuns of the monastery. Nun Dosithea was appointed keeper of the certificates and senior sister in the chapel. This mother has been working in the monastery since the first days of its opening in 2000. Thick books are kept in a special locker under lock and key - in them Mother Dosithea records the miracles and stories of pilgrims who received healing from the hoop.

Also, when mother is free from other duties, she gives a tour of the monastery. And he talks about the revered icon and hoop. According to mother, the hoop appeared in the monastery much later than the icon. The life-size image of John the Baptist was given to the monastery in the 16th century, and the hoop itself appeared 3 centuries later. That’s when he was chained with a silver chain to the frame of the icon.