Description of the attraction
The Holy Ascension Cathedral is an Orthodox church located in the city of Velikiye Luki. Previously, the cathedral was called the Peter and Paul Cathedral Church, which operated at the Ascension Women's Monastery.
The history of the construction of the Ascension nunnery goes back centuries. The monastery was built on the site of the Ilyinsky Monastery that had previously been located on this site, which was burned down during the "Time of Troubles" in the late 16th - early 17th centuries. In 1715, a stone fence was built along the perimeter of the monastery, respectively, inside it was the Ascension Church, also built of stone. The parish abbot's chambers were built of stone, and the brotherly cells were hewn out of wood. In addition, on the territory of the church there were: a laundry, a kitchen, two cows, a small barn, a guard room and a large hayloft for storing feed for the cows.
The Holy Ascension Cathedral was built in 1752 from bricks with the money of an abbess named Margarita Kartseva. The temple was erected in the Baroque style of the "octagon on a quadruple" type. The church had three thrones, the main of which was the throne in honor of the Ascension of the Lord; in 1826 two more were added to the main throne - the Blessed Holy Princes Boris and Gleb, as well as the Holy Prophet Elijah.
The cathedral consists of a gallery located on the west side, as well as a church vestibule, side chapels, a faceted apse, a high bell tower, on which there were nine bells, the largest of which weighed 188 poods and 37 pounds, and a mushroom-shaped ceiling of the temple dome forms. The most impressive bell bore an inscription that on February 10, 1828, the bell was already on the bell tower of the Maiden Ascension Monastery, and this event took place during the reign of the great Russian Emperor Nicholas I; the creation of the bell became possible thanks to the diligence and diligence of Mother Superior Xenophon; the casting of the bell took place in the city of Moscow at the famous factory of Nikolai Samuil; Vorobyev Akim became responsible for the work.
An icon of ancient origin, which was especially revered by local parishioners, was kept in the Holy Ascension Cathedral - this is the icon of the Mother of God called "Joy of All Who Sorrow". In addition, the relics of some Orthodox saints were no less revered. It is known that in 1913 130 novices and 36 nuns lived at the monastery.
Some churches were attributed to the Ascension Cathedral at one time: the house church of the Twelve Apostles, the Kazan cemetery church located on the monastery farm and several chapels: the Holy Martyr Kharlampy, St. Alexander Nevsky, the healer and the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon.
In 1918, the Ascension Monastery was closed, after which, in May 1925, any activity in the monastery and in the temple completely ceased. Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, all the bells were removed, and the building of the bell tower was completely dismantled. The Great Patriotic War caused irreparable harm and great damage not only to the Ascension Monastery, but also to most other monasteries and cathedrals, but it is worth noting that no repair or restoration measures were taken in this regard. The church building was soon transferred to the so-called city bargaining, and in the temple building itself, an ordinary vegetable storehouse was equipped.
The renovated Ascension Church was consecrated only in 1990, and already in 1992 services began to be held here. Today there is a Sunday School at the Ascension Church. This school teaches the Orthodox faith, which is based on the special course of Archpriest Seraphim Slobodsky called the Law of God; as additional material, teachers use other various manuals, in which you can learn about the basics of Orthodoxy and read children's Orthodox fiction. The school also has a handicraft circle "Skillful hands", as well as a circle on handicrafts made from natural materials.
