Description of the attraction
The picturesque cave monastery, which many call "Crimean Athos" is located in a gorge not far from Bakhchisarai. This is one of the main shrines of the peninsula, a fertile and amazingly beautiful place.
History of the monastery
Nobody knows the exact date of the foundation of the monastery. It is in a rocky area, in the gorge of Mariam-Dere … People have lived in these soft limestone rocks for a long time. There are also cave cities - Bakla and Chufut-Kale, and monasteries. Tradition connects the appearance of the first temples in these places with the fact that icon-worshipers fled here from Byzantium.
In the 8th-9th centuries, an iconoclastic movement arose in Byzantium, which was periodically supported by the emperors themselves. So, in the VIII century by decree Emperor Leo the Isaurian it was expressly forbidden to venerate icons. Images sacred to many were destroyed, confiscated and spoiled. Admirers of icons fled from persecution to remote places - for example, to the Crimean mountains, to the far northern outskirts of the empire. Anyway, the first cave church of the monastery appeared just then. But over time, the place was abandoned. The monastery, known to us from historical sources, appeared here already in the 15th century.
Legends associate the foundation of the monastery with miraculous acquisition of the icon … A shepherd passing by saw an icon of the Mother of God high on a rock and took it out, but the icon mysteriously returned to its place. Then it became clear that there is a temple there, and God wants a monastery to be founded.
According to another - more fabulous - legend, a terrible snake settled in the mountains, which devoured people. The surrounding population prayed to the Mother of God for help - and soon help came. People found a cave in the mountains, in it a dead monster, and the Hodegetria icon.
One way or another, the monastery, located not far from the new capital of the Crimean Khanate, Bakhchisarai, has become the main monastery for Christians who find themselves in a Muslim environment and are subjected to various oppression. However, while the khanate remained independent, the Christians were treated well here, but after the khanate fell under the protectorate Ottoman Empire, their lives have deteriorated significantly. In all of Crimea there were only four monasteries - Holy Dormition became one of them.
Ignatius Mariupolsky
The brightest page in the history of the monastery in the 18th century is staying in it Metropolitan Ignatiuswhich is now canonized as Saint Ignatius of Mariupol … A Greek by birth, a very educated and moral person, he was appointed Metropolitan here in 1771. Arriving in Crimea, the saint saw numerous oppression of the Christian population: unbearable taxes, powerlessness and humiliation. The time of his reign fell on the period of the Russian-Turkish war. On the territory of the Crimea, hostilities were fought, at Perekop, at Kerch, battles took place. Peace was finally concluded in 1774. According to him, the Crimean Khanate received independence from both the Ottoman Empire and Russia. Russian protégé became Khan Shahin-Giraybut this did not help the Christian population. Khan was distinguished by cruelty, and uprisings immediately began against him. The country was plunged into turmoil.
Then the saint turned to Russia for help. He asked Empress Catherine II help Crimean Christians move to new lands and accept Russian citizenship. The Empress agreed to help. Considerable funds were allocated for the “exodus”, the settlers were promised land in the southern provinces and exemption from taxes and recruitment for ten years.
The Metropolitan and his people secretly began to inform Christians about the impending resettlement. And on Easter 1778, after a service in the cave church of the Assumption, he officially announced its beginning. They bought off the khan with rich gifts, and he himself provided a guard for those who left. In total, more than thirty thousand people left Crimea - mostly Greek and Armenian Christians.
It was they who founded the city Mariupol … The Metropolitan took with him the main shrine of the monastery - the icon of Hodegetria. Before the revolution, it was kept in the Kharlampievsky Cathedral, and then it was lost. Ignatius himself died in 1786, and in 1997 he was officially canonized by the Orthodox Church. Now in the Assumption Monastery there are his icons.
Monastery in the 19th century
But the story of this place did not end there. Many Christians remained in Crimea: some could not abandon their homes and lands, others hoped for an early reunification with Russia. The monastery itself ceased to function, but Assumption Church remained active, and turned into just a parish church. For a long time it was the only church on a fairly large territory. After the transition of Crimea to Russia, many Orthodox Christians again appeared here, only now they were not local Greeks, but Russian soldiers from the surrounding garrisons.
The temple began to receive rich donations. Head of the Bakhchisarai garrison Colonel Totovich helped to update the iconostasis and donated the icon of the Assumption of the Virgin - it became a temple. Ruler of the Tauride region Vasily Kakhovsky with his own money he made a new royal gate. In 1818, during his trip to the peninsula, he came here Emperor Alexander I and also made a rich donation. The second time he made a pilgrimage to the Crimean monasteries just before his death in 1825. In 1837, the heir to the throne came - the future Emperor Alexander II.
In the middle of the century, the monastery itself was revived. In 1850, after a solemn, crowded divine service, the restoration of the Assumption Skete was announced.
During the Crimean War, it housed hospital … Soldiers and officers from besieged Sevastopol were brought here. Those who could not be saved were buried in the monastery cemetery. In 1875, a small church was built next to this necropolis, dedicated to the patron saint of warriors - St. George … Funds for its construction were allocated by General G. I. Perovsky.
In 1896 appeared church of st. Innokenty of Irkutsk … It was built in honor of the patron saint of another Innocent - the Kherson and Tauride archbishop, the famous preacher Innocent (Borisov). He was canonized already in the 20th century at the same time as Ignatius of Mariupol.
The monastery grew and developed. At the end of the 20th century, there were five churches, a refectory, a bell tower, a rector's house and two hotels.… The monks lived in cave cells carved into the rock. In the rock, a water supply system was cut, water into which came from underground sources: in the monastery under the rock there was even a fountain. The royal family came here several times, the last time Nicholas II was here in 1913.
Four years after the revolution, in 1921, the monastery was closed and all valuables confiscated. Some were destroyed, some ended up in the Bakhchisarai Museum. At this place was formed labor colony … Most of the buildings were dismantled, only the cave cells, the Assumption Church and the refectory have survived.
During the Great Patriotic War, there was again a hospital here, and in the postwar years it was housed neuropsychiatric dispensary.
Nowadays
The revival of the ancient monastery began in 1992 year … Part of the territory was returned to the monastery, farm buildings were restored, and most importantly - cave temples.
Many now call this place "Crimean Lavra" or even "Crimean Athos", that is, the main monastery of the peninsula. Here now three churches - Holy Dormition, St. Constantine and Helena and St. ap. Brand. The place where the Hodegetria icon once appeared is marked by a balcony, from which a beautiful view of the surroundings opens. The decoration of the monastery became images carved directly into the rock - for example, the entrance to the Assumption Church is marked by a huge figure of a seraphim with six wings. The iconostasis in it is also made of white carved stone. Surprisingly, despite the fact that the church is located in a cave, it is filled with bright light coming from a high balcony. A revered icon is kept in a separate niche - a copy of the one that appeared here in the 15th century.
Festive services are performed in the Assumption Church, and for everyday ones they descend into another temple dedicated to the Evangelist Mark. It is already truly "caveman" - there are no windows in it.
The monks now do not live in caves - below, under the rock, new brotherly buildings have been built, as well as a hotel. The hotel is small, so large groups of pilgrims are often accommodated in the temples for the night.
Raised over the source chapel with the icon of the Virgin "Life-giving source".
it active monastery, so there are some restrictions to consider when visiting. Here they are asked not to use cell phones or take pictures, short and open summer clothes are not allowed, women must be covered. Tours here are conducted by the monks themselves.
Access to a number of Muslim shrines on the territory of Chufut-Kale (Zyndzhyrly madrasah and Muslim cemetery) is possible only through the Holy Dormition Monastery. In the mid-2000s, a critical situation arose associated with the dissatisfaction of the local Islamic population with the activities of the Orthodox monastery. There were even several attacks on the monastery and it had to be taken under guard. Then the abbot proposed for Muslims to build special gate with Islamic symbols … However, even now the conflict between the monastery and the Crimean Tatar community has not been fully exhausted.
Services are sometimes held in the monastery not only in Church Slavonic, but also in the Crimean Tatar language.
On a note
- Location: Bakhchisaray, st. Mariampol, 1.
- How to get there: Aut. No. 2 from the railway. Art. "Bakhchisarai" to the stop. "Staroselie".
- Official website:
- Free admission.
