Description of the attraction
The Orthodox Gornensky Convent is located in the Ein Karem area in the southwest of Jerusalem. The monastery, run by the Russian Spiritual Mission, is a small corner of Russia in the Holy Land.
Since ancient times, there has been a village surrounded by gardens: Ein Karem in Arabic means "source in the vineyard." Christian tradition believes that it was here that the young Virgin Mary came from Nazareth to her relative Elizabeth. The evangelist Luke described a striking scene of this meeting. Elizabeth, pregnant with the future John the Baptist, seeing Mary already wearing Christ under her heart, joyfully exclaims: "And where did it come from to me that the Mother of my Lord came to me?" (Luke 1:43).
In 1869, the head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, Archimandrite Antonin, accompanied Pyotr Melnikov, a member of the State Council of Russia, in the vicinity of Jerusalem. The ascetic told the guest about his plan - to buy a piece of holy land for Russia in Ein-Karem, on which the Mother of God walked two thousand years ago. Melnikov caught fire with the idea and organized a fundraising committee. Large donations were made by the industrialist Nikolai Putilov, merchants, the Eliseev brothers, and ordinary Russian pilgrims made their contribution. After a long bargaining with the dragoman (translator) of the French embassy, Khan Jellad, who owned the plot, the olive plantation on the mountainside was bought. Father Antonin, in accordance with the text of Scripture, called it "The City of Judas in the Heavens," or Heights.
A female monastic community was established here. A small stone church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God has grown on a beautiful slope. A strict procedure for the appearance of new nuns was established in the monastery: each of them, receiving a land allotment, assumed the obligation to build a house with outbuildings here at their own expense, lay out a garden around, plant cypresses and almonds. Very soon the monastery turned into a blooming oasis.
In 1911, the construction of a large cathedral began here, but the First World War destroyed all plans. Palestine was then part of the Ottoman Port, and its authorities even expelled the nuns from Gorny - they were forced to leave for a while to Egypt, to Alexandria. In 1948, after the formation of Israel, the monastery was transferred to the Moscow Patriarchate. The construction of the temple was resumed in 2003, after four years it was completed. In 2012, the Cathedral of All Saints Who Shone in the Land of Russia was solemnly consecrated by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.
In the center of Ein-Karem there is a spring from which, it is believed, the Most Holy Theotokos took water. From here the road leads to Gorny. The monastery looks unusual, but extremely picturesque: there are no buildings with cells, small houses of nuns scattered along the slope are scattered in greenery.
At the entrance to the church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, you can see a magnificent floral carpet made by the sisters. To the right of the entrance is a stone, near which, according to legend, John the Baptist preached. On the border with the neighboring Catholic Church of the Visitation, there is a cave temple dedicated to St. John the Baptist, consecrated in 1987.
