Description of the attraction
Novgorod and its environs have been known since ancient times for the many monasteries located here. Among them there are very famous monasteries, but there are also some that are not even known to many local residents. One of these monasteries is the Perekom Monastery, which no longer exists at present. It was a regular men's monastery located near the village of Dubrovo, on the western side of Lake Ilmen. The monastery was founded by Saint Ephraim in 1450. In order to provide the monastery inhabitants with water, Saint Ephraim dug a ditch from the lake to the monastery, hence its name.
In 1611, the Swedes ravaged the monastery, and it was only rebuilt in 1672. In 1764, the monastery was abolished, but in 1796 monks were transported here from the Nikolaev - Rozvazhsky monastery, and it was reopened, renaming it Perekomsky - Nikolaevsky-Rozvazhsky. There were two active churches at the monastery. The main feature of the monastery was that it contained the relics of the founder of the monastery, the Monk Ephraim of Perekomsk.
The Monk Ephraim was born in 1412, on September 20, in the city of Kashin. His parents named him Eustathius. Even as a teenager, Eustathius left his parental home for the Kalyazinsky Trinity Monastery. Later he moved to another monastery and was tonsured. He was given a new, ecclesiastical name - Ephraim. After taking the tonsure, Ephraim received a revelation from the Lord that he must retire to a desolate place. In 1450 he moved to Lake Ilmen and set up a cell there. Soon after this, two monks, together with Elder Thomas, also settled here, near the cell of the Monk Ephraim. Then other hermits began to come here. Yielding to their requests, in 1458 Ephraim was ordained a priest.
Then, the Monk Ephraim immediately founded a monastery and a temple of the Epiphany of the Lord on the island. Then the monk dug a channel from Lake Ilmen to the monastery, and the monastery was called Perekop, or Perekom. Later, the monk decided to build a stone church dedicated to Nicholas the Wonderworker. The construction was completed in 1466. It was in this temple that the Monk Ephraim was buried in 1492.
However, due to its location, the monastery was subjected to frequent flooding. There was a real danger of destruction of buildings, and in 1509 it was moved to another location. This place was allegedly indicated by the Monk Ephraim himself, who appeared to Abbot Roman, his former disciple. This place was Klinkovo. Since all the monastery buildings were dismantled, a chapel was built on the site of the previous burial, and the relics were transported along with the temple. Since that time, in May of each year, the monastery celebrated the feast day of the Monk Ephraim.
The chapel of the Miraculous Cross, located at the Volkhov Bridge in Novgorod, belonged to the monastery. This chapel was built in ancient times, and it is named so because it contained a miraculous cross. This is an eight-pointed cross, made of linden wood, it has long been, with a carved image of the Crucifixion. The miracles that happened to this cross were noted back in 1418. The monastery had two tenement houses in the city. The monastery courtyard was located at the intersection of Tikhvinskaya and Razvazhskaya streets.
In December 1919, the Perekom monastery was abolished. In the late 1920s, all the monastery buildings were destroyed. They were taken apart into bricks. Only the Epiphany Church remained, which until 1930 acted as a parish church. On a hot July day in 1932, the temple was blown up. The relics of the Monk Ephraim remained to rest under the ruins of the Epiphany Cathedral.
The 20th century brought destruction and oblivion to the monastery. It is not known when and who destroyed all the buildings of the monastery to the ground. But they remained in the people's memory, and in 1997 a chapel was erected on the site where temples once stood.
