Description of the attraction
The Holy Trinity Varnitsky Monastery was founded in 1427 by the Rostov Archbishop Ephraim in the place where the parental home of St. Sergius of Radonezh was located. The monastery is located on the northwestern outskirts of Rostov Veliky, in the village of Varnitsa. The monastery is surrounded by a stone fence in the shape of a quadrangle, at the corners of the fence there are pyramidal-hipped stone towers.
The cathedral with a three-tiered bell tower above the porch was built in 1771. The right side-altar was consecrated in the name of the Monks Sergius and Nikon, abbots of Radonezh; the left - in the name of Saints Athanasius and Cyril, the Patriarchs of Alexandria. The walls and vaults of the temple were decorated with plaster cartouches with picturesque subjects. Each side-altar had a carved gilded iconostasis with holy images. Many of the icons that were in the church were also decorated with silver frames and inserted into gilded carved icon cases, arranged at the expense of benefactors.
The church in honor of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos was built in 1828 at the southern wall of the fence, to the right of the Holy Gates. The temple had two chapels: the right one - in the name of the holy prophet Elijah, the left one - in the name of the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian.
By the second half of the 19th century, the entire architectural ensemble of the monastery was completed. In the northwestern part of the monastery, two small stone houses were built: the abbot's chambers and the brotherly cells. At the northern wall of the fence there was a one-story stone building for the refectory.
After the revolution, the monastery was closed and plundered. Trinity Cathedral, bell tower, cemetery and monastery walls were destroyed. The Vvedenskaya church was rebuilt. In 1995 the monastery was returned to the Church and the revival of the monastery began. Restoration and restoration work is underway there.
