The monastery in the village of Morozovka celebrated its patronal feast day

Monastery in the name of St. Paisius (Velichkovsky) in the village.
Morozovka of Sevastopol , stauropegy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church within the boundaries of the Simferopol diocese

• Address: Russia, 299044, Sevastopol, village. Morozovka, per. Klyuchey, 6
• Tel., 067-650-23-35
• Official site:
• On the map: Yandex.Map, Google map

The history of the monastery began in 2000 when, on the day of the Nativity of Christ, the future monastery was donated land, on which the construction of the temple and monastery buildings began.
The monastery was formed in 2001 under the authority of the schismatic “Kyiv Patriarchate”. During foot reconnaissance expeditions carried out by the brethren along the slopes of the Monastic Balka, caves of ancient ascetics and foundations with a cemetery of a convent, with the graves of nuns plundered and desecrated by black archaeologists, were discovered. The remains of the unknown ascetics were reverently collected by the brethren and buried on the territory of the monastery under a large wooden cross. No later than the spring of 2011 [1] the brethren of the monastery, led by the rector, Archimandrite Gabriel (Anisimov). passed into the fold of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The monastery received stauropegial status. On August 16 of that year, its new abbot, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine, visited the monastery and consecrated the cathedral church in the name of St. Paisius (Velichkovsky), as well as the consecration of the place for the monastery church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity.

By the summer of 2011, particles of the relics of more than a hundred saints were exhibited in the monastery’s church for the worship of believers. At the beginning of 2012, after several months in the monastery, one novice stole gold jewelry from the monastery, which was donated by parishioners who had been cured of infertility, in the amount of over 40 thousand hryvnia, but was caught in a timely manner [2]. However, after this, in the middle of that year, the court of the Balaklava district of the Sevastopol City Council acquitted the criminal at a meeting without the presence of the plaintiffs and the injured party, after which the monastery filed an appeal [3]. By the end of 2012, in addition to the cathedral church, a chapel in the name of St. Nektarios of Aegina was built in the monastery, and a monastery courtyard was built in the nearby village of Goncharny in the city of Sevastopol.

On June 13, 2013, the monastery consecrated the foundation stone for the fraternal building, which was being built on the initiative of Vadim Novinsky, a candidate for people's deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine from the Balaklava and Gagarinsky districts of Sevastopol [4]. On December 23, 2014, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church adopted a new edition of the charter of the Sevastopol Paisievsky Monastery [5].

Statistics

• OK. 2014 - 12 brethren; three members of the brethren carried out obedience in the farmstead in the village of Goncharny [6]

Before the face of the Most Pure One

But, of course, the dominant feature among this splendor is the spacious church in the name of St. Paisius the Great and St. Paisiy Velichkovsky. It is large and bright, with a beautiful carved iconostasis and rich paintings. A true treasure is the icon of the Mother of God of Arizona (the same as in the monastery of St. Anthony the Great).

Icon of the Mother of God of Arizona

Before the face of the Most Pure One, you experience an involuntary trembling: your whole life suddenly flashes before your eyes, bitter and joyful, full of gains and losses, beautiful because the Lord does not reject us, who are stubborn in sin, but through the prayers of His Most Pure Mother grants repentance...

Oasis in the desert

The heavenly patrons of the monastery are the deeply revered saints here. Paisius the Great and St. Paisiy Velichkovsky, saints who belonged to different eras, but were close in spirit: they were united by hesychia - sacred silence. And also the Jesus Prayer, of which they were both practitioners. Apparently, the Lord loved these ascetics so much that he generously endowed them with this special Gift.

Heavenly patrons of the monastery

The sisters deeply revere Father Ephraim (Moraitis), who died a year ago. who was their confessor (for more details about this monastery and Elder Ephraim, see the corresponding article)

Archimandrite Ephraim (Moraitis)

During the day, the territory is quite hot, but in the evening it begins to cool down, and various sounds, sometimes frightening, begin to be heard from different directions: first from a distance, then the specific howling of coyotes is heard closer and closer, the barking of a monastery dog ​​is heard, then the sounds become less and less distinguishable and gradually subside.

A night in a monastery is a special time. The huge sky extends its cover, the outlines of the mountains are visible and above them are bright large stars. The silence does not last long: at 5 o'clock in the morning the bell rings, inviting everyone to the Midnight Office. The heart is filled with a special feeling when, in the silence of the night in the early morning darkness, sisters in monastic vestments begin to flock to the church, silently gliding through the darkness.

The splendor of the temple

Silence reigns in the temple, multi-colored lamps flicker, candles are lit, of which there are very few. This tunes the soul into an elevated mood and it soars towards God. The animals have not yet awakened, the clear-voiced birds have not yet filled the surroundings with prayerful singing, the bustling world is still sweetly slumbering in the pre-dawn oblivion, and in the heart of the desert in a cozy temple a quiet angelic singing is heard. People in the neighboring town are sleeping and, perhaps, do not know that prayers for them and for all of us are being raised to the Lord. The nuns pray for all believers and those who have fallen away from the holy Orthodox faith, for people. in existing prisons and on sick beds, for those for whom there is no one to pray, and through their prayers the surrounding world, mired in sins, is saved... The words of the sacred English language sound amazing, but everything is completely clear... From time to time familiar Church Slavonic prayers are heard, and my soul becomes especially warm. And the point is not only that the soul is touched by the sounds of the native language, but mainly because the heart feels special respect and love for us, unworthy, praying in this distant land...

Paradise

I can’t help but remember how once in Idaho we entered a half-empty Greek temple and the priest, coming out of the altar and asking where we were from, proclaimed the ecintia in Church Slavonic, and although he had an incredible accent. but my heart trembled in a special way... When the early monastic service ended, we were given the opportunity to rest a little. and it was simply wonderful, because a fabulous dawn rose over the desert, shining with a variety of incredibly bright colors... Then the Divine Liturgy began. after which, towards noon, the sisters went in procession to a meal, where they invited us too.

After the end of the liturgy

The food was so varied and tasty that we wanted to try everything and in the end we overdid it.

Pilgrims and pilgrims

After lunch we went on a tour of the monastery. The sisters spoke in detail about the shrines of the temple and about the incredible efforts it took to build it. To their surprise, they discovered that in the monastery, in addition to the usual monastic life of hardworking nuns, there was another. Teenage children study here, so on the territory you can see cute models of deer and other living creatures, and desert insects live in a glass jar to console the children. This touches to the core.

The jar contains a representative of the local fauna: a huge tarantula

It seems that staying here is especially useful for pilgrims with children. Everywhere on the territory there are toy animals: deer, bunnies, birds...

Staying here for pilgrims with children is especially useful

They showed us the monastery cemetery with special reverence. It was felt that the deceased sisters were still dear to the nuns of the monastery, and they continued to pray for them.

Monastery Cemetery

We were especially shocked by the lonely children's grave with a modest Orthodox cross - standing at the grave of Katya Polishchuk, we, moved to tears, listened to the story about this amazing 9-year-old girl, to whom the Lord gave a very short life, full of suffering and joy. The girl was terminally ill and was slowly dying in distant Oregon. No one heard the slightest murmur from her lips, no one saw the sorrow in her eyes. her soul was already here on earth, was in the heavenly abodes and was striving for them... One day, a mother, realizing that her daughter had very little time left to live, asked what she could do for her. And a nine year old girl. looking up at her with a meek gaze, she humbly replied that she would like to die as a nun.

Katya Polishchuk's grave

The ways of God's Providence are incomprehensible, but always immutable. The Lord did not allow her to live in a monastery, having tasted the sweetness of monasticism, perhaps because the path to Heaven through monasticism is the closest and most faithful, but she, having lived such a short but bright life, was already ripe for the Heavenly granary, having reached the measure of perfection required by God.

The example of her life and death brought not only her own family to God, but also many employees of the hospital where Katya spent the last time of her life. I would like to believe that the soul of this courageous girl has rested in the Kingdom of Heaven, and at the throne of the Lord she prays not only for the monastics, but for all of us.

Then we visited the first church of the monastery, small but very cozy.

The first monastery church

The first temple of the monastery

With its internal structure, it reminded me of the Trinity Church in California's Fort Ross and the Assumption Church in Calistoga, and my soul felt especially warm.

The interior of the temple is distinguished by asceticism

A warm impression was left by the monastery shop, where one could buy icons of saints revered in the monastery, rosaries woven or made from wood by nuns, bags for storing prosphora and much more. When it's time to part. it was very sad...

This unforgettable trip left an indelible mark on the souls of many pilgrims. Already many days after returning, one could notice how much many participants in the trip missed the small, modest monastery in the Arizona desert. God bless you, dear sisters! Your love, care and prayers have changed us for the better.

We have truly found and preserved in our hearts an imperishable treasure that warms the soul, which pleases only because you exist and our world is better for it, which serves as an example for us and helps us, amidst temptations, to act as worthy Christians.

The Lord deigned to visit here several more times, and we sincerely rejoiced at the changes taking place in it. The territory was improved, landscaped, new icons appeared in churches. And yet the first impression turned out to be the most vivid. God willing, we will return to this hospitable abode again. Forever yours Tatiana Lazarenko and Alexander Krivenko

To be continued

Author:

Tatiana
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