Description of the attraction
In 1848, Bishop Afanasy (Drozdov) of Saratov and Tsaritsyno bought a plot of land from Taman for a bishop's dacha, four versts from the city with a garden and a grove, with an area of about 16 acres. Before the construction of the house church, houses for the schema monks were hastily built on the site - the skete and the entire territory began to be called the Upper Monastery.
By the end of the 1880s, under Bishop Paul (Volchinsky), a church in the name of St. Alexis of Moscow was built on the already fenced site of the skete, after which the bishop's dacha acquired the name of St. Alexievsky skete for many years. The church stood on an elevated place surrounded by a garden and every day received pilgrims for conversations with the bishop and the wise elders of the skete. The summer residence of the clergy was also famous for its healing spring, the life-giving healing properties of which were legendary.
In 1918, the skete was alienated from the Orthodox Church, subsequently changing many owners. The temple was devastated and lost its original appearance - five domes and a belfry were demolished. Since 1929, there was a children's tuberculosis sanatorium in the church, and in 1960, to heighten the desecration, an abortion clinic. In 1982, the site was transferred to a narcological hospital, and already in 1986, the land was transferred for the construction of a ski base.
In 1990, after the petition of the Archbishop of Saratov and Volgograd Pimen, by the decision of the city executive committee, the greatly reduced (due to buildings) area of the former skete was transferred to the Divine monastery.
Now the ennobled territory and the restored church is the St. Alexievsky nunnery, with bells and a belfry. All the same, parishioners collect pure and medicinal water from the spring. There is a Sunday school for children at the monastery.
