Description of the attraction
The Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery, or a nunnery in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Grodno, was built on the site where the Prechistenskaya Church once stood. The Prechistenskaya Church is mentioned in 1506 in the Acts of Western Russia. It was founded by Prince Glinsky, on behalf of the Kiev governor Dmitry Putyata, funds for the maintenance of the temple and the almshouse that existed at the temple. The poorhouse was also taken care of by Sigismund II Augustus, who ordered to deduct money for her needs from income from royal estates. The church also owned land in the Olshansky tract. In 1614, the cornet Kuntsevich bequeathed to the Prechistenskaya Cathedral Church the Great Platz in Grodno.
In the 17th century, the Orthodox church was transferred to the Uniates. Vasilisa Sapega moved here with three nuns to found a women's Basilian monastery in Grodno. In 1642, Metropolitan Anthony Selyava transferred the lands to the west of the Prechistensky Church to the monastery.
The wooden Basilian temple was burned and rebuilt several times. Devastating fires occurred there in 1647, 1654, 1720 and 1728.
After the transition of Grodno to Russian jurisdiction, in 1843 the Basilian monastery became the Orthodox Nativity of the Theotokos convent. To create it, Abbess Afanasy with nuns and novices moved from the Orsha monastery to Grodno. In 1860, the nuns organized an orphanage for girls at the monastery.
In 1866, for the arrival of Emperor Alexander II, the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh was built in the monastery.
In 1870, a rare miracle took place in the convent - the myrrh-streaming of a copy of the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God. The nuns realized that their monastery was blessed with special grace. The miro that the icon exuded was collected in a special reliquary in the shape of a cross, which is kept in the monastery to this day. This icon was evacuated to St. Petersburg during the First World War. After the end of the First World War, Grodno became a Polish city, but the Nativity Monastery remained Orthodox. The miraculous Vladimir Icon was returned to him.
The monastery existed until 1960, when the nuns were evicted from their native walls to the Zhirovitsy Monastery, and the miraculous Vladimir Icon was confiscated and taken to Russia. She was in a church near Moscow in the village of Ermolino.
After the collapse of the USSR in 1992, the Mother of God Christmas Church was reopened, the restoration of monastery churches began, and the miraculous Vladimir Icon was returned to the monastery. A peaceful monastery life began, a Sunday school for children was opened.
