Description of the attraction
The Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery was founded in 1371 by the Monk Dimitri Prilutsky, a disciple of the great Russian ascetic Sergius of Radonezh. The monastery is located two kilometers northeast of Vologda.
Saint Demetrius Prilutsky was born into a family of wealthy merchants in the city of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. He was clothed in a monastic image in the Pereyaslavsky Goritsky monastery, then he was elevated to the rank of hegumen of the same monastery. In 1392, he founded a monastery in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on the shores of Lake Pleshcheyevo. The Monk Demetrius was spiritually close to his spiritual mentor - Saint Sergius of Radonezh. Saint Demetrius was revered already during his lifetime. Thus, Prince Dimitry Donskoy honored an ascetic of the faith and called on him to baptize his children. However, Demetrius, as a true humble monk, avoided veneration and widespread fame. He longed for solitude and went to the North. He chose a place where the Vologda river made a bend, a meander - "bow". From this word came the name of the monastery - the Prilutsky monastery. The founder of the monastery, Saint Demetrius Prilutsky, was buried in the lower church of the stone Savior Cathedral.
The monastery developed and, thanks to the donations of the Moscow princes and the labors of the abbots, soon became one of the most famous in the Russian North. Not only ordinary pilgrims flocked to the monastery, but the tsars also came: Vasily III with his wife Elena Glinskaya, John the Terrible.
The first monastery buildings were made of wood. Stone structures began to be erected from the first half of the 16th century. The Cathedral of the All-Merciful Savior was the first of them. The architecture of the Spassky Cathedral (built in 1537-1542) corresponds to the traditions of the Moscow school. However, there are also differences that are inherent in the architecture of the North - modesty and brevity. The "flat" unusual shapes of the domes, the decorative decoration of the chapters, two rows of zakomars are surprising.
The bell tower was built in 1537-1542, at the same time as the Cathedral of the All-Merciful Savior, but it was soon dismantled. The new one was erected a hundred years later, in 1639-1654 (it has survived to this day).
In the 1540s, a monastery refectory was built. It was connected with the Spassky Cathedral by passages. The small Vvedenskaya church adjoins the refectory.
In 1645, cells for the abbot were built, and in the 18th century this building was merged into one building with hospital wards and cells for the monastery's brethren. The All Saints Hospital Church became part of this building. The monastery gate with a church was built around 1590.
The monastery was plundered during the Time of Troubles. In the 17th century, a fortress wall was built to defend against enemies (1656). The wall is 2 meters long and about seven meters high.
Famous revered monastery shrines are the Kilikievsky cross and the icon of the founder of the Monk Dimitry Prilutsky with his life. The eight-pointed wooden cross is decorated with basma and icons that were carved from bone. The shrine was brought from the Armenian region of Cilicia. The miraculous icon of the saint was painted in the years 1483-1503 by the Monk Dionysius Glushitsky. The ancient and revered shrines of the monastery were the miraculous icons of the Intercessor of the Christian family of the Most Holy Theotokos - Korsun and Passionate. The Russian poet Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov (1787-1855) rests in the monastery.
In 1812 shrines of monasteries and jewelry from Moscow were evacuated to the Prilutsk monastery. From 1924 to 1991, the holy monastery was closed by the Soviet government and was in desolation. At present, monastic life has resumed. The monastery is the focus of the spiritual life of monasticism and a monument of Russian culture.
