Description of the attraction
St. George Monastery in Sevastopol is located on Cape Fiolent. This is a functioning monastery, where the buildings of the 19th century have been preserved. A picturesque place that still remembers A. S. Pushkin. From the Georgievskaya rock, magnificent views of the surroundings open.
History of the monastery
The monastery is located on a rock near Cape Fiolent … Tradition traces its foundation to the year 891. They say that once a storm found several Greek ships here and they almost crashed on the coastal rocks. But the sailors prayed to Saint George - and the storm died down wonderfully. On a high rock, Saint George himself appeared to them. Then they erected a cross on it, visible from everywhere, and a little lower, on the slope of a rock, they founded a monastery. A church dedicated to their savior, Saint George, was built in a cave, and the one found on a rock was placed in it. icon saint. Since then, the rock has been called the rock of the Holy Appearance or St. George.
Once upon a time on one of the surrounding rocks there was a pagan temple of Artemis. Visited these places in the 1820s A. S. Pushkin saw its ruins. Tradition connects the plot of the tragedy with these places. Euripides "Iphigenia in Tauris" … The legend tells how the goddess Artemis demanded that the Greek king Agamemnon sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia in exchange for help in the Trojan War. The goddess took the girl to Taurida (that is, to the Crimea) and made her a priestess in her temple on the seashore.
Tradition says that the very icon that was once found on the rock has survived. True, it dates from a later time - XI century, but perhaps this is one of the first copies of it. The date was determined during the restoration in 1965. The icon was taken from the monastery to Mariupol after the annexation of Crimea to Russia in the 18th century. In the late 19th - early 20th centuries. she was periodically brought here to "stay". The icon is currently in National Art Museum of Ukraine.
The first written mention of the monastery, however, dates back to a much later time. This monastery is described by a Polish diplomat and traveler Martin Bronevsky … He was the ambassador of the Polish king to the Crimean Khanate Stefan Batory, lived in Crimea for almost a year, and left a detailed book about everything that he saw - "Description of Tataria". In this book, he writes, among other things, about the St. George Monastery and those who flock to Cape Fiolent on St. George to numerous crowds of Greek Christians.
Since the capture of Crimea Ottoman Empire, the monastery begins to decay. It was robbed several times, all the jewelry from it passed into the hands of the Turks. In 1637, the monks complained to the Russian tsar Mikhail Fedorovich to ruin and asked for help. However, the monastery remained among the four Crimean monasteries that retained their status even during the Ottoman yoke.
The monastery obeyed To the Patriarchate of Constantinople and most of the monks in it were Greeks. After Crimea became part of Russia, they did not want to change jurisdiction and left this place, moving to Mariupol. They sent the main valuables, including silver utensils, to Constantinople. The monastery archive was also sent there - that is why now there is no exact documentary evidence of the date of the monastery foundation.
And the monastery itself - now Russian - at the beginning of the 19th century became “ naval . It was home to the clergy, who were responsible for the Russian Black Sea fleet. There were 26 hieromonks in the monastery, but not all of them lived here permanently. They went sailing with ships.
A major reconstruction of the monastery dates back to this time: in 1816, the old dilapidated St. George Church was demolished and a new one was built, as well as new buildings of cells and a refectory. The monastery was quite famous at that time. Everyone who, for some reason, ended up in the Crimea, certainly came here. Pushkin, Griboyedov, Bunin, Chekhov - they were all here. Beautiful view of the monastery from the sea painted Aivazovsky.
The monastery was not damaged during the Crimean War, despite the fact that it was occupied by allied troops, and in 1891 it magnificently celebrated its millennium. By this time, the main buildings of the monastery were again updated, and a grandiose staircase to the rock was built, which is now one of the main attractions.
At the same time, the remains were found cave church - perhaps the very first one, created in the 9th century. The cave was cleared, consecrated - and a church in the name of the Nativity of Christ was created here.
In 1898, a new temple was founded here - Voznesensky … It was made in memory of the salvation of Nicholas, still Tsarevich, from an attempt on his life in Japan in 1891. Nicholas himself and the entire royal family, who loved to relax in the Crimea, were present at the foundation stone of this church.
After the revolution, the monastery was not closed, but its property was nationalized, and the community was transformed into a labor state farm "St. George Monastery", the majority of whose population remained monastic. However, the abbot was arrested in 1923, like many priests in the case of confiscation of church valuables. At the same time, the marble cross, which towered over the St. George's rock, was destroyed.
St. George's Cathedral was badly damaged during the terrible earthquakes in 1927 … Soon after, the temple was dismantled. The monastery itself was abolished in 1929, but even before 1930 services continued in the Ascension Church. After its final closure, a sanatorium OSOVIAKHIM, during the Great Patriotic War, officers' courses and medical and sanitary battalions were located. After the war, on the territory of the former monastery there was military unit - to this day, part of the buildings belongs to her.
Revival of the monastery
V 1991 year, by the 1100th anniversary, the monastery was revived. For the Church New Years - September 14, 1991 - the cross was again installed on the rock. It is made of metal, rises seven meters and weighs 1,300 kilograms. They took him to the rock by helicopter.
The first service on the territory of the monastery took place in the spring of 1993. The Liturgy was served by the Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea Lazarus, there were also representatives of the city authorities and even the chief of the Black Sea Fleet.
The monastery still, as in the 19th century, performs the function of nourishing and consecrating the Black Sea Fleet. For example, in 1997 St. Andrew's flags of military units were consecrated here.
In 2000, the restoration of the church of St. George and it was completed only in 2009.
The monastery now
One of the main attractions of the monastery - ladderleading to the Georgievskaya rock. It has about 800 steps and rises 640 meters in height. On the very rock rises cross … When visiting, you should be careful - the staircase is quite steep, and it has no railings. From above, there are magnificent views of the sea and the monastery.
In the monastery itself, an old monastery refectory Built in 1838 and a bell tower from the middle of the 19th century.
It has its own Holy spring - Georgievsky. The rotunda above it was erected in 1816 and renovated in 1846, and then in 2000. This is one of the oldest buildings in the monastery. The water is considered holy and healing, it was advised to drink it by the well-known monastery elder Kalinnik, who lived to be 116 years old. Now the source is being restored - in Soviet times it was clogged and actually dried up.
Worth seeing also Christmas temple 1893 This is a stone structure above an ancient cave church.
The main temple of the monastery - St. George's - quite accurately recreates the historical appearance of the classicist temple, which was built here at the beginning of the 19th century. This is a one-domed church with colonnades. One of its main shrines - a copy of the very ancient icon of St. George, which is now in the museum.
Another venerated monastery icon is a list with Iverskoy … She is in the specially built Iverskaya chapel. The chapel was destroyed during the Soviet era and rebuilt in 2000.
Partially preserved monastery necropolis with the graves of abbots and ancient chapels above them.
In 1983, a monument to the poet A. S. Pushkinwho visited these places in 1820. The monument is a rotunda gazebo. Pushkin is remembered here - for example, in 1996, the International Crimean Pushkin Readings took place in the monastery. At the same time, a memorial service for the poet was served here.
Not far from the cave temple is located already in the XXI century monument to st. Andrew the First-Called, the patron saint of the Russian fleet.
The monastery has two courtyards: Church of Constantine and Helena in the village. Naval and the Church of the Twelve Apostles in Balaklava.
As a rule, from Sevastopol you can not only get here on your own, but also take an excursion. Insofar as active monastery, then some restrictions apply in it: you cannot appear in open summer clothes, women must be in skirts and with their heads covered, photography inside the temples is limited.
Interesting Facts
In time immemorial, Cape Fiolent was active volcano … The modern Georgievskaya rock is a part of one of the craters towering over the sea.
Buried on the territory of the monastery Count I. Witt … Before the war of 1812, he was a double agent, working simultaneously for Napoleon and for Russian intelligence. During the war, he took part in hostilities, commanding Cossack regiments. After the war, he commanded military settlements on the territory of Little Russia. To his stepdaughter - Isabella Walewska - the Decembrist was in love Pavel Pestel.
At the foot of the monastery is the famous Jasper beach, strewn with beautiful variegated pebbles.
On a note
- The official website of the monastery:
- Location: Sevastopol, Cape Fiolent.
- How to get there: from Sevastopol - bus. No. 19 from TSUM or march. taxi number 3 to the stop "5th kilometer". From Balaklava - by boat to the beach and then up the stairs.
- Free admission.
Description added:
Vasily 2016-11-09
Basil
For 10 years, coming to Sevastopol, I always visit the St. George Monastery, both in Ukraine and in Russia. But this is the first time I have encountered such bureaucracy. Submitting notes "for the peace" of my relatives and ordering a magpie for 6 months in the church shop of the church, I was asked a question, Show all text Vasily
For 10 years, coming to Sevastopol, I always visit the St. George Monastery, both in Ukraine and in Russia. But this is the first time I have encountered such bureaucracy. Submitting notes "for the repose" of my relatives and ordering a magpie for 6 months in the church shop of the church, I was asked a question, and after his death your relative was buried? Isn't he suicidal? Submit a certificate from a proper organization. I ask what information ….. From year to year I come to your church and there were no such questions. - the abbot did not give us a blessing to receive notes on the forty without confirmation - a certificate that your relative is not a suicide. And in general, let's finish faster - now the excursion will arrive, I need to serve them ….?!? I have never met such an attitude anywhere, and even here with such … nonsense, I encountered for the first time, in all previous years. Here's a story ….. It is very unpleasant for such an attitude of the church servant, it does not help to strengthen the faith, but on the contrary repulses. And I dare to assume that I was not the only one who came across such a negativity who visited the St. George Monastery in 2016. By the way, even the holy spring from which we have always drawn water has dried up. And we did not manage to communicate with the abbot, although in the past years he always found a moment to talk with us. Vasily Kmet St. Petersburg August 23, 2016.
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