The Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery was founded by the Monk Savva at the end of the 14th century. A former disciple and confessor of Sergius of Radonezh, Savva lived most of his life in the Trinity Monastery, in Zagorsk. In 1398, the Monk Savva left the Trinity Monastery and, at the invitation of Prince Yuri of Zvenigorod and Galich, moved to Zvenigorod, where from 1390 a stone church was built on Gorodok. Shortly after his arrival, the Monk Savva built with the princely help a small wooden church of the Nativity Holy Mother of God. The church was built on the top of the watchman's hill.
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According to legend, the Monk Savva, having climbed the hill for the first time, stopped, struck by the beauty of the place and the view that opened up, and with tears fell to the ground in front of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos brought by him, asking the Heavenly Lady for blessings and intercession.
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On the border of the XIV and XV centuries, Prince Yuri Dmitrievich went to war in the middle Volga region against the Volga Bulgars. The Monk Savva gave his blessing for the battle to the prince and predicted victory in the campaign. Returning with a victory, the prince hurried to the monastery of the Monk Sava in order to raise thanksgiving prayers. In gratitude for the prayers for a successful campaign, for the prophecy of victory, the prince granted several villages and villages in the Ruza and Zvenigorod districts for the construction of the Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery, gave funds for the construction of cells, painting the church. Everyone who lived on the monastic lands was exempted from taxes and duties. In 1405, on the site of a wooden church, Prince Yuri erected a large white-stone cathedral. The stone building of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the few that have survived to this day from the time of the Mongol invasion. The cathedral was painted by the disciples of Andrei Rublev and consecrated by the Monk Savva in 1407 on the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. In the same year, in December, Saint Savva died. He was buried in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin on the right side, under the western window. Almost a century and a half later, in 1547, the Monk Savva Storozhevsky was canonized at the First Makarievsky Council, December 3 (the date of the death of the elder) is entered in the church calendar.
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Bird feeders.
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In 1430, the Monk Savva appeared in a dream to the hegumen of the monastery, Dionysius, and commanded him to paint his image. Elder Avvakum, one of the disciples of St. Savva, described the founder of the monastery exactly as he appeared to the hegumen. Abbot Dionysius painted the oldest icon depicting the Saint.
At the end of the 15th century, in 1492, the monastery passed to the Moscow principality, under the direct control of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III. This transition deprived the monastery of some benefits received earlier - duties and taxes returned to the treasury. At the same time, after this transition, the Savvino-Storozhevskaya monastery becomes a place of pilgrimage for the ruler and members royal family.
In the first half of the 16th century, an altar was added to the south side of the Nativity Cathedral in the form of a small one-domed church in the name of St. Savva Storozhevsky. At the same time, a stone gate church in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh and a refectory were built in the monastery. The economy of the monastery is replenished with a dam with a mill and a pond.
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Pay attention to the watch, it looks like a completely foreign object.
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With the beginning of the Time of Troubles, hard times began for the monastery. In 1606, the Polish detachment of False Dmitry I destroyed the monastery and the surrounding villages. The invaders took money, food and horses. The then abbot Isaiah and the monks of the monastery were killed. The rumor about the plight of the monastery reaches Tsar Vasily Shuisky, and in order to help with the restoration of the monastery, in 1607 the tsar freed the villages and villages of the monastery in the Zvenigorod district from the Yamsky tax for a period of one year. In 1608, Marina Mnishek came to the monastery to worship the monk. The monastery met the end of the Time of Troubles devastated. The restoration of the economy was difficult and long. In order to help the monastery, in 1613, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich freed the monastery from duties on running timber along the Moscow River.
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In 1649 (according to some sources, in 1650), during a hunt, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich had a vision of St. Savva. Faced with a bear during a hunt, the king prayed to him that a handsome old man appeared. According to the chronicles, with the appearance of the old man, the bear ran away. After this miracle, the tsar issued a decree on the restructuring of the Savvina monastery, including the painting of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, the creation of a grandiose five-tiered iconostasis for it. Iconographers from the Armory were involved in the creation of the iconostasis. In 1651, the first bell appeared in the monastery. In memory of the miracle that saved his life, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1652-1656 put a lot of effort into the arrangement and development of the Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery. At the end of the construction, the territory of the monastery almost doubled, there is a division into front and utility yards. In the center of the front courtyard there is an ancient shrine of the monastery - the Nativity Cathedral, which is viewed by the facades of the Palace of the Tsar and the Tsarina's Chambers, Belfry, Fraternal buildings built at that time. The entire composition is dominated by a four-tier belfry. A special feature of the entire ensemble is the main entrance, arranged in an original way, "in the Byzantine way." The territory of the monastery was surrounded by a high wall with seven towers. In the same period - the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich - the monastery becomes a Lavra, and its abbots - archimandrites. The monastery becomes a personal royal pilgrimage, and the Secret Order, the personal royal office, is directly in charge of its management. In 1668, the Big Annunciation Bell appeared in the monastery - the largest monastery bell weighing 2125 pounds. The bell was cast by the sovereign's bell-maker directly on the territory of the monastery, near the Belfry. According to legend, the melodic ringing of the bell was heard even in Moscow. Later, another tower appears on the Belfry. It houses an hour bell brought from Smolensk by the tsar and donated to the monastery.
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From the walls of the monastery begins the road that leads to the foot of the hill on which the monastery stands. down there is a holy spring.
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During the offensive of the French army, Zvenigorod and its environs were in the path of Napoleon's troops. Regiments of the French stopped, for example, in the estate of Bolshie Vyazemy. The legend says that when in 1812 in the palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, in the Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery, Napoleon's stepson Eugene Beauharnais stopped, the Monk Savva appeared to him in a dream on the very first night and promised to save his life, provided that Beauharnais would save him from destruction and desecration monastery. In addition, the prince was predicted that his children would live in Russia. Beauharnais complied with the request of the monk, and later, the only one of Napoleon's military leaders remained alive and was not even wounded. A quarter of a century later, in 1839, the prince's son Duke Maximilian of Leuchtenberg arrived at the monastery, visiting the monastery together with Emperor Nicholas I and his daughter Maria Nikolaevna. In the same year, the duke converted to Orthodoxy and married Maria Nikolaevna, linking his life and the life of his descendants with Russia. So the second prediction of the Monk Savva Storozhevsky was also fulfilled.
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With the beginning of the “new world”, Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery, like many holy monasteries in Russia, came to hard times. In 1918, the new government opened the shrine with the relics of St. Savva. The relics of St. Savva Storozhevsky were the first to be desecrated by the new government. This event stirred up local residents and led to the "Zvenigorod" rebellion, during which Konstantin Makarov, the head of the surplus appraisal and commandant of the monastery, was killed. The rebellion was brutally suppressed, and the monastery economy was completely requisitioned. Left without land, without a farmstead, the monks were forced to live on the alms of the parishioners. For half a year, the number of brethren decreased four times - from 50 to 12 people.
In the spring of 1919, the shrine with the holy relics of Savva Storozhevsky was opened again and the relics of the monk were transported to Moscow. In 1922, the monastery received the status of an architectural monument of the XV-XVII centuries and came under the protection of the People's Commissariat of Education. The Museum of Church Antiquities becomes the "Museum of Church Antiquities and Landowners' Life" and exhibits from the expositions of museums from the estates of Vvedenskoye and Ershovo come to its collection. The museum occupies almost all the monastery buildings. The Museum of Church Antiquities and Landlord Life is open until 1927. After its closure, a colony for homeless children is organized on the territory of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. The monastery is deprived of many icons - they are taken to Moscow for restoration, but after the restoration the icons are not returned to the monastery and their fate is unknown.
The homeless colony was closed in 1928. In the liberated buildings, and in the buildings outside the walls of the monastery, rest houses are organized. The museum reopens in the Nativity Cathedral, Trinity Church and several other buildings of the monastery. A branch of the museum opens in the Assumption Cathedral on Gorodok.
In 1930, the Savvino-Storozhevskaya monastery was deprived of almost all of its bells. 11 small bells and 5 large bells were removed and sent for remelting. There are only 2 bells left on the belfry - Big Blagovestny and sentry. Big Blagovestny was taken out of the monastery in 1941. By official version, while trying to remove the bell from the belfry, he fell to the ground and broke. However, there is another version, according to which the bell was blown up directly on the belfry. Be that as it may, fragments of the bell were scattered around the territory of the monastery and remained on it - several fragments and part of the tongue of the bell were found.
As during the First World War, from 1941 to 1944 a hospital was located on the territory of the monastery. In the winter of 1941, during the battle for Moscow, the front line passed only three kilometers from the walls of the monastery. During the entire war, not a single bomb exploded on the territory of the monastery, not a single shell fell, not a single stray bullet flew. To prepare for the defense, trenches were dug in the Skete of St. Savva, traces of which have partially survived to our time.
In 1944, the Zvenigorod Museum of Local Lore opens again - already in the Assumption Cathedral on Gorodok, where it operates until 1946. In 1946, the Assumption Cathedral was returned to believers. Meanwhile, several objects of the Ministry of the Armed Forces are located on the territory of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery at once: a rest house, the Higher Officer School of the Air Force and a scientific unit that conducts military developments. In the same 1946, the entire ensemble of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery was included in the "List of architectural monuments of the Moscow region subject to state protection." Over the next three years, all the buildings of the monastery were transferred to the museum, and a security plaque was installed on the building of the Nativity Cathedral
On the eve of Easter, in 1998, the monastery receives new bells, cast for charitable funds at Russian factories. In the same year, the iconostasis of the 17th century was returned to the Nativity Cathedral and the reliquary for the honest relics of St. Savva, which were returned to the monastery in August 1998, was restored. By decree of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, August 23 is entered into the Orthodox calendar as "the day of the second acquisition of the relics of St. Savva of Storozhevsky, the Wonderworker of Zvenigorod, and their transfer to the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery."
Date of creation: 1398 Description:History
The monastery was founded in 1398 by the Monk Savva, the wonderworker of Zvenigorod, one of the first disciples of the Monk Sergius of Radonezh, at the request of Prince Yuri Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod.
There were two main construction periods in the history of the monastery: the first - from the end of the 14th century. until the beginning of the 17th century, the second - from the middle of the 17th century. until the 19th century
Initially, a small wooden church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos and its cells were built. The area of the monastery was small, but over time the number of monks grew, and the territory of the monastery increased significantly. New cells were built, the monastery was surrounded by a wooden fence with a gate on the north side.
Around 1405, a white-stone Cathedral of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos was built.
At the beginning of the XVII century. the monastery suffered during the Polish-Lithuanian intervention.
The monastery began to revive under the first sovereign of the Romanov dynasty - Mikhail Fedorovich.
In 1650, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich issued a decree on the construction of a new monastic ensemble on Mount Storozhe, which marked the beginning of the second building period in monastic history. In 1650-1656. the main buildings and fortress walls were built (length 760 m, height 8-9 m, thickness - about 3 m) with 7 towers, of which six have survived to this day. Temples were built in the monastery fence: the gate in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh (1651-1652), later reconsecrated in honor of Life-Giving Trinity; Preobrazhensky (second half of the 17th century), as well as the belfry and the Refectory (1650s), the Tsar's Palace and the Tsaritsyna Chambers (1650s), the Fraternal and Cell buildings and other buildings.
Within the walls of the monastery was the so-called. a hospital monastery with hospital cells and the Church of John of the Ladder, the foundation of which has been preserved. Under the mountain and on the north side of the monastery there were a living room and utility yards, fish ponds, mills and other outbuildings.
Alexei Mikhailovich chose the monastery as his residence. The monastic tradition explains the special care of the monastery by the miraculous intercession of the miracle worker of Zvenigorod - the rescue of the king on a hunt from a dire bear.
Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the monastery became a Lavra and was subordinated to the personal office of the tsar, the order of the Secret Affairs. According to the charter, it was equated with the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. 19 monasteries were assigned to the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery.
During the synodal period, the monastery gradually lost its position, privileges and a significant part of its land holdings.
Under Catherine II, Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) carried out a project to place a spiritual educational institution- the seminary, which was located in the royal palace.
In 1764, all the land holdings of the monastery were secularized. It was ranked among the monasteries of the first class with a staff of 33 monks.
During the Patriotic War of 1812, a battle was given to the enemy under the monastery, which delayed the advance of the French troops to Moscow for 6 hours. From August 31 to October 15, 1812 the monastery was occupied by the French. Thanks to the miraculous intercession of the Monk Sava - the appearance of the saint of Zvenigorod to the commander of the 4th Corps of the French army, Viceroy of Italy Eugene Beauharnais - the holy relics remained untouched, although the monastery was seriously damaged.
After the war, the monastery was revived, including on generous royal donations.
Establishment in honor of St. Savva Storozhevsky's new holiday in memory of the transfer of his relics under a new canopy is associated with the name of the outstanding church hierarch, Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov). This event took place on July 17, 1847.
A special mark in the life of the monastery was left by its rector, Bishop Leonid (Krasnopevkov), and a significant part repair work in the monastery was made at the expense of the famous Zvenigorod philanthropist, the owner of a cloth factory in the village. Ivanovskoe Zvenigorod district P.G. Tsurikov.
In the 19th century a major work on the history of the monastery was published, written by one of the most prominent representatives of the Moscow church history school - the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy S.K. Smirnov.
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the Moscow Governor-General, and his wife, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, who is now canonized, provided special patronage to the monastery.
In 1898, the 500th anniversary of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery was solemnly celebrated.
In 1918, part of the property of the monastery was requisitioned. In 1919 the relics of St. Savvas, the monastery was closed. IN Soviet time the monastery housed various institutions: military units, a sanatorium, a museum.
Part of the relics of St. Savva was kept in the Uspensky family. In 1985, the shrine was transferred to Moscow.
In 1995, the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery was revived.
During the celebration of the 600th anniversary of the monastery in 1998, he solemnly transferred the relics of St. Savva from the Danilov Monastery to it.
On August 22, 2007, Patriarch Alexy II consecrated the monument to the Zvenigorod miracle worker at north gate monastery.
At present, an orphanage has been set up at the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery, there are two-year theological courses for adults, a library with a reading room has been opened, the funds of which amount to 6.5 thousand volumes.
Compound of the monastery
- Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God on Gorodok (Zvenigorod, Moscow Region);
- Church of the Life-Giving Trinity (village Ershovo, Odintsovo district, Moscow region);
- Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God at the Nikolskaya Hospital (village Nikolskoye, Odintsovo District, Moscow Region);
- church of st. Nicholas of Mirlikiysky (village Savvinskaya Sloboda, Odintsovo district, Moscow region);
- Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "The Conqueror of Bread" (settlement Yamkinskoye, Noginsk District, Moscow Region);
- Savvinsky Bishops' Compound (Moscow).
The Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery in Zvenigorod is one of the most beautiful and significant monasteries in Moscow and the Moscow region. Local historians claim that Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich gave him the status of the first lavra in Russia (in terms of significance and number), and only then did the Kiev-Pechersk and Trinity-Sergius cloisters receive the same status. This monastery is a must for tourists to visit.
It has only one small drawback - it’s the devil knows where to cut to it, and it’s not on the track, but on the concrete between Novaya Riga and Mozhaika. The monastery is located not in the city itself, but not far from it. Having turned off the concrete road, you need to drive the whole city along Moskovskaya Street, and at the very end of it turn right, and there along the Moskva River for another two kilometers, until you see such a sign on the left.
We climb a steep hill and see the gates of the monastery, which cannot be reached by car. There is no parking here.
But if you climb even higher to these green church buildings, you will find a very convenient parking nearby. From there it is two steps to the monastery.
The monastery was founded by Reverend Savva Storozhevsky, Zvenigorod miracle worker, one of the first disciples of Sergius of Radonezh. Before that, for about 6 years, Savva was hegumen of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.
The shrine is located on Mount Storozhi at the confluence of the Storozhka River and the Moscow River, two kilometers west of the city of Zvenigorod.
The monastery was founded by Savva in 1398 at the request and with the support of the Zvenigorod prince Yuri Dimitrievich, son of Dmitry Donskoy. From the very foundation of the Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery, the prince took care of it, trying to turn it into his court monastery.
The monastery prepares the legendary kvass, infused with raisins (giving additional "wine" fermentation). Before pouring it, the saleswoman asks - "Are you not driving?" Kvass instantly inserts, like a good mash.
Immediately upon entering, we see the first such exposition of the monastery.
And we, of course, go straight to the church shop to feast on what God has sent, and there is plenty of everything. For example, the monastery sbiten.
But I don’t really want to drink hot sbiten in the heat, and I immediately became interested in this drink. Being a greedy person, I immediately bought all types of mead, except for one, blue, "To the best of sober", which remained in one copy in the window.
We’ll go to the Provision Tower, but we won’t take rolls until we get there, they will have time to cool and dry. By the way, this mustachioed bespectacled man, who flashes for the second time, has nothing to do with me, and looks like me, like horseradish on sausage.
The pastries are excellent and their smells hang in the air.
We go up the tower stairs, and see just such a couple who have been sitting and drinking tea with bagels for many months in a row.
From the Provisional Tower there is a secret exit to the monastery wall. The door is unlocked and we go upstairs.
It is impossible to go around the monastery along the perimeter of the wall, there are locked doors everywhere, but you can look at the courtyard from above.
And so we rested, but somehow we need to go down. From this staircase it is very easy to screw up, especially after the monastery kvass.
We walk past the Refectory to the main square. On the right, this chapel-arbor, built on the foundation of the church of St. John of the Ladder, remains.
The Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery occupies the third place in Russia in terms of attendance, second only to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and Diveevo. Although in terms of importance, I personally would put it now in sixth place in Russia. There are many pilgrims here, and benches are set up everywhere for them.
We are in the heart of the monastery. The main temple of the monastery is the white-stone Nativity Cathedral, built at the beginning of the 15th century. Abbot Savva was buried there in 1407. A shrine with his relics is installed in the cathedral, which pilgrims from all over Russia come to bow to.
The monastery began with a small wooden church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, in which the cell of St. Savva. But on this place a long time ago stood the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh. That's all that's left of her.
These windows were once the first floor of the temple. Oh, what antiquity of them pulls. Ivan the Terrible himself walked on these bricks.
In the middle of the 17th century, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich chose this monastery as his residence near Moscow, and ordered it to be rebuilt.
At the same time, the main buildings and fortress walls were installed, the length of which is about 800 m. Master Ivan Sharutin supervised the work. The fortress had seven towers, of which five survived.
The towers of the monastery have names: Red (above the Holy Gates), Zhitnaya, Vodovzvodnaya, Usovaya, Bolnichnaya (almost not preserved).
Red gate. The crumbling frescoes depict Sergius of Radonezh and Savva of Zvenigorod. Between them, two angels hold the Savior Not Made by Hands in their arms.
The Red Gate during the time of Alexei Mikhailovich was the main gate of the monastery. Now they are open only on major holidays.
They were arranged cunningly enough so that the person entering would not see the palaces of Alexei Mikhailovich and the queen, but only see the main temple and nothing more.
As we can see, there is nothing like it anywhere else in Russian architecture.
The palace of Alexei Mikhailovich himself was simply huge for its time and had four buildings with separate entrances.
Already under Princess Sophia, a second floor was built on with a suite of rooms along the entire length of the building. Instead of internal staircases, external stone porches were built to the second floor.
But not everywhere. There are doors on the second floor without stairs. Probably, the tsar jumped down just like that without a parachute, each time thinking: "We must, damn it, still attach a ladder."
The Tsarina's chambers, located opposite the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich, were intended for visits by his first wife, Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya.
Now there is a museum here, which hosts quite interesting excursions, which explain, for example, why the queen should not lose weight.
It turns out that in the time of Alexei Mikhailovich, women were primarily valued for "corpority and abundance", and a thin "worm" with dimensions of 90-60-90 would have caused the autocrat one disgust.
The main cathedral of the monastery is simply a marvel of art. This style is called "early Moscow architecture", and there are only four such cathedrals in the entire Moscow region. Inside it has frescoes painted by the masters of Andrei Rublev's circle.
The monastery makes the strongest impression during the flowering of peonies, the aromas of which simply make you dizzy.
An additional ladder leads to the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, along which it seems to be forbidden to climb.
On it you can get to the ancient monastery cemetery, where no one is buried for a long time.
Some burials here are from the 16th century, half a millennium ago.
Perhaps the monks know who is buried here, but we will never know.
Somewhere here, in the monastery cellars, Peter the Great personally tortured the archers captured after the rebellion.
Adjacent to the Red Gate is the Trinity Gate Church, the last temple of its kind in Russia, because immediately after that the construction of tented churches was forbidden by the church.
And the yellow refectory church adjoins the Trinity Church. Above it on the left is the Church of the Transfiguration, which was built at the end of the 17th century with donations from Princess Sophia in memory of her stay in the monastery during the Streltsy rebellion.
The dominant feature of the monastery is a four-tiered bell tower built in the middle of the 17th century. She was famous for her crimson ringing throughout Russia. According to legend, Fyodor Chaliapin specially came to Zvenigorod to listen to the main bell and said: "It helps me to sing."
On the bell tower was the main evangelistic bell weighing 35 tons, cast here in the monastery by master Alexander Grigoriev. They say that his ringing was heard even in Moscow. Here we see its receiver - a new 37-ton bell.
The old bell was broken in the days of the Great patriotic war when the Nazis began to remove it. All that was left of him was a tongue weighing 700 kg.
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich gave the Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery the status of the first lavra in Russia (in terms of significance and number), and only then did the Kiev-Pechersk and Trinity-Sergius cloisters receive the same status.
From Mount Storozhi, on which the monastery stands, a majestic view of the surroundings opens up.
Map for those who need a map.
Fais se que dois adviegne que peut.
Bogoroditse-Rozhdestvensky Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery
The Theotokos-Rozhdestvensky Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery, located in Zvenigorod near Moscow, was once called the Lavra, and this can say a lot about the degree of its popularity among the people. It was founded by the Monk Savva, a disciple of Sergius of Radonezh and one of the brightest spiritual figures of the era of national revival.
The Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery is named after Mount Storozhi, on which it was founded (the mountain itself was named so because of the military guards who watched the surroundings from it), and the name of its founder, one of the first disciples of St. Sergius of Radonezh (the first is more likely not the time of coming to the Trinity Abbot - his name is not in the list of the first dozen - but out of piety). It is known that even during the life of St. Sergius Savva was the confessor of the Trinity monastery (and, by the way, of the Radonezh wonderworker himself), and after the death of the Trinity first builder, when his successor Nikon went into seclusion, it was Savva who, for all six years of Nikon's silence, carried the burden of abbess in the monastery of St. Sergius.
The widow of Dmitry Donskoy, Evdokia (who shortly before her death took monastic vows with the name Euphrosyne), and his third (and by right of succession the second, for the first died in infancy) son Yuri (at the same time the godson of St. Sergius himself), who became according to the will of his father, Prince Zvenigorodsky. It is believed that he once begged the Monk Savva to go with him to Zvenigorod to consecrate the prince's house.
However, there is another version, according to which the Monk Savva and Yuri (George) of Zvenigorod (at that time a young man by today's standards) already then conceived the creation of a kind of Russian Palestine in the patrimony of Prince Yuri - two and a half centuries later, they will try to arrange something similar completely near Patriarch Nikon. Be that as it may, the Monk Savva left his father's monastery and went to the Zvenigorod inheritance, taking with him the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. And when he looked for a suitable place at the confluence of the Razvarni River with Moscow, “like a heavenly paradise, planted with fragrant flowers,” he fell with tears in front of her and offered up a prayer, asking for blessings. Here, in 1398, a wooden church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was laid, from which the monastery on Watchmen began. The rumor about the asceticism and pious life of the Monk Savva very soon attracted many, and when enough brethren had gathered for that, blessed Savva started a hostel.
Prince Yuri helped the monastery, and even during the life of the Monk Savva, the stone Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin (1405) was already erected, which later became a model for the stone Trinity Cathedral of the Sergius Monastery (built, by the way, all the same Yuri Zvenigorodsky). Judging by the fact that the Vvedensky Church, located not far from the city, also dates back to the time of Prince Yuri, it is obvious that the young prince, led by the elder Savva, intended to cover Zvenigorod with the “belt of the Virgin”. Now nothing is known about the temples that made up this “Zvenigorod Belt”, but it is likely that they were wooden and simply have not survived to this day: too much destruction fell to the lot.
The Monk Savva reached a ripe old age without changing the statutory rule. Having exhausted his flesh with hard deeds and fell ill, he reposed in the Lord on December 3, 1407, before his death, instructing the brethren to observe bodily purity, brotherly love and humility, to strive in fasting and prayer, after which he taught everyone peace and kissing. Almost all Zvenigorod residents, princes and boyars gathered for his burial. Cancer with the relics of the blessed one was placed in the Nativity Cathedral built by him.
The prince, having lost his confessor and mentor, continued to visit the monastery and help her in every possible way. The role of the Zvenigorod prince in Russian history is much greater than is commonly thought: suffice it to say that it was he who first began to print the image of his namesake Saint George the Victorious on his coins. He died in 1434, having managed before his mysterious death to take (after the death of his elder brother and according to his father's will) the throne of the grand duke (which, most likely, was the reason for his unexpected death after a three-month reign).
Each new owner of the Zvenigorod region tried to confirm the letters of commendation given to the monastery by Prince Yuri, and to show respect on his own behalf. Andrei Vasilyevich gave him letters and resolved disputes of the monastery regarding the ownership of fatherlands. The prince's wives did not lag behind: the widow of Vasily the Dark, Maria Yaroslavovna, in 1462 presented her husband Vasily and son Yuri with the village of Shulgino with villages and lands “for the remembrance of the soul”.
The monastery gradually improved, receiving more and more funds. The zeal of the princes and boyars towards the monastery especially increased after the news of the miracle-working of St. Savva.
In the middle of the 15th century, the Monk Abbot of Storozhevsky Dionysius first appeared: in a dream, the Monk Savva appeared to him, commanding him to write his face on the icon. Hegumen Dionysius himself was a painter, and having painted the image of Savva, he placed it in the church. Since then, many healings began to take place at the tomb of the saint. Probably, then they began to honor the memory of the first builder Storozhevsky, calling him in prayers.
In the 16th century, the fame of the monastery grew, autocrats came here on pilgrimage, and the princes enriched it with contributions. At this time, there were already numerous brethren in the monastery (under Ivan the Terrible - more than seventy monks).
The 17th century was the century of glory for the Storozhevsky Monastery, especially after the acquisition of the incorruptible relics of St. Savva. However, at the beginning of this century, during the Time of Troubles, the monastery suffered greatly from the violence and predation of foreigners who surrounded False Dmitry I. In 1606, when False Dmitry was in the village of Vyazemy, a detachment of Poles entered the monastery, ruining and burning the monastery and the villages assigned to it, as well as capturing government money, horses and grain reserves. Then some of the letters granted by the former princes were also lost. Tsar Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky, having learned from the petitioning abbot about the plundering of the monastery and its estates, in 1607 freed the monastery villages and villages from paying yam money for one year.
"The simple, not without grace, the palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich is characterized by lightness rather than majesty"
the monastery received a letter, according to which, in connection with the ruin “from the Lithuanian people”, it was ordered not to take duties from the monastery goods when they were transported along the Moscow River.
Under Mikhail Fedorovich, the monastery prospered more and more every year. The sovereign often went here on a pilgrimage, granted the monastery letters and contributions. There were three bells on the bell tower with the name of Tsar Michael: one, daily, was cast in 1636, and the other two - in 1620.
The reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (second half of the 17th century), which is called the “golden age of Russian piety,” turned out to be kind for the monastery of St. Sava. By the diligence of the sovereign, the monastery quickly healed the wounds inflicted on it by the Time of Troubles, and in just a few years it turned into one of the most populous, rich and revered in Russia. The sovereign began the restoration and decoration of the monastery from the ancient Nativity Cathedral, where the honest relics of the founder, the Monk Savva, hegumen of Storozhevsky, the wonderworker of Zvenigorod, rested under a bushel.
Upon completion of work in the cathedral, in 1650, a royal decree appeared on the start of large-scale construction in the monastery. In just six years, a new, amazing in its beauty and harmony, architectural ensemble has formed around the ancient cathedral, in which each building has taken its own, only intended place. The territory of the monastery was completely replanned, almost doubling it (the ravine that once separated the two peaks of Mount Storozhi was also partially covered). The cloister now consisted of two courtyards, front and backyard. The center of the front part (and the entire ensemble as a whole) remained the ancient shrine of the monastery - the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He, as before, occupied the highest point of the relief. All other buildings, facing the cathedral, are located below the hillside. The utility rooms were concentrated in the northern part, behind the belfry and the Refectory, and did not interfere with the contemplation of the cathedral square. Almost all of this has survived to this day. Only the hospital wards have disappeared, from which the only description made by Paul of Aleppo remains. Judging by it, they were arranged as a “monastery in a monastery”: with special gates, numerous cells and with their own temple - the church in the name of St. John, the author of the “Ladder, or Spiritual Tablets”.
The Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery combined picturesqueness with the rational use of the terrain. Paul of Aleppo compared it with the monastery of St. Sergius: “The monastery of St. Sava is smaller than Trinity, but built according to its model. As I would call that one a bridegroom, so this one a bride, and indeed this is just as we saw with our own eyes.
In 1652, the greatest event took place in the monastery - the relics of St. Savva were found incorrupt. According to the monastic tradition, the acquisition of the relics was preceded by the miraculous rescue of the king during a hunt by the Monk Savva himself. Alexei Mikhailovich, on one of his visits to the monastery, went hunting in the surrounding forests. When the retinue scattered through the forest to find a bear's lair and he was left alone, a bear suddenly jumped out of the thicket at him. The unarmed king was doomed to certain death, but an old man appeared near him, after which the beast fled. The elder, asked by the tsar, replied that his name was Savva and that he was a monk of the Storozhevsky monastery. Meanwhile, some of the retinue returned, and the elder went to the monastery. In the monastery, Alexei Mikhailovich learned that there was not a single monk with the name Savva in the monastery, but, looking at the image of the monk, he understood that it was the monk himself. Then the king ordered to serve a prayer service and examine the coffin for the preparation of the holy relics of the Monk Savva for the solemn opening. On January 19, 1652, after a 245-year stay under a bushel, the honest relics of the Monk Savva were solemnly removed from the ground and placed in an oak reliquary on the salt at the southern altar doors of the Nativity Cathedral.
The Cathedral of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery is apparently the third oldest building in the Moscow region. This cathedral, the size of an ordinary church, dates back to 1405.
The cross-domed four-pillar one-domed temple is one of the few surviving monuments of Moscow architecture at the turn of the 16th-15th centuries.
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03. Unlike the Assumption Cathedral on Gorodok and many other surviving churches of this era, the Nativity Cathedral was restored with the restoration of zakomara and ceilings on them, although in the 18th-19th centuries the roof was also made hipped. Almost the same reconstruction exists for the cathedral on Gorodok, built literally a decade earlier; as far as I know, similar appearance, in particular, zakomar, is disputed in the scientific community.
04. Stone carvings in the form of belts and characteristic portals are also present, and the portals are even painted (it is assumed that this was the case in the Middle Ages, and they began to whitewash completely only after)
05. And such “plug-in” elements, I think, belong to the 17th century, not earlier - but more like that way to the middle of the 18th.
06. In the 1650s. to the cathedral from the southern and western sides were added a single-domed Savva chapel, covered with a closed vault, two porches and a western porch. Above the southern porch there is a sacristy, originally connected by a covered passage with the royal palace.
07. Inside the south porch
08. The iconostasis and part of the icons have been preserved since the 17th century; walls, pillars and vaults are covered with frescoes of 1656, made by a group of tsarist masters headed by Stepan Ryazanets and cleaned in 1970-1971. from later recordings.
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Coordinates: 55.728018°N 36.816262°E
Photos 2008-2009