The Pechenga Monastery (russian: Печенгский монастырь; fi, Petsamon luostari) was for many centuries the northernmost

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

in the world. It was founded in 1533 at the influx of the

Pechenga River The Pechenga (russian: Пече́нга, fi, Petsamonjoki) is a river in Murmansk Oblast, Russia (Kola Peninsula). It is the namesake for the Pechenga settlement, Pechenga Monastery and the Pechenga District. The river discharges into the Pechen ...

into the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...

, 135 km west of modern

Murmansk Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') i ...

, by St. Tryphon, a monk from

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...

. Inspired by the model of the Solovki, Tryphon wished to convert the local

Skolts The Skolt Sámi or Skolts are a Sami ethnic group. They currently live in and around the villages of Sevettijärvi, Keväjärvi, Nellim in the municipality of Inari, at several places in the Murmansk Oblast and in the village of Neiden in the m ...

to Christianity and to demonstrate how faith could flourish in the most inhospitable lands. His example was eagerly followed by other Russian monks. By 1572, the Pechenga Monastery counted about 50 brethren and 200 lay followers. Six years after St. Tryphon's death in 1583, the wooden monastery was raided and burnt down by the Swedes on December 25, 1589. It is said that the raid claimed the lives of 51 monks and 65 lay brothers, bringing the history of Tryphon's establishment to an end. This revenge raid, and was part of the

Russo-Swedish War Wars between Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and ...

of 1590–1595, is said to have been carried out by a Finnish peasant chief Pekka Antinpoika Vesainen, but the claim is contested. In 1591 Tsar

Fyodor I Fyodor I Ivanovich (russian: Фёдор I Иванович) or Feodor I Ioannovich (russian: Феодор I Иоаннович; 31 May 1557 – 17 January (NS) 1598), also known as Feodor the Bellringer (russian: Феодор Звонарь), ...

ordered to revive the monastery in the vicinity of

Kola KOLA (99.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Redlands, California, and broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire radio market. It is owned by the Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation and it airs a classic hits radio for ...

, but the new hermitage fell in flames in 1619. Although the New Pechenga Monastery was eventually moved to the town itself, it was so sparsely settled that the

Holy Synod In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod. For instance, the Holy Synod is a ruling body of the Georgian Orthodox C ...

deemed it wise to disband it in 1764. As the Russian colonization of the

Kola Peninsula sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк , image_name= Kola peninsula.png , image_caption= Kola Peninsula as a part of Murmansk Oblast , image_size= 300px , image_alt= , map_image= Murmansk in Russia.svg , map_caption = Location of Murmansk Oblas ...

accelerated in the late 19th century, the Pechenga Monastery was restored at its original location in 1886. Prior to the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

, it consisted of the Upper Monastery, commemorating the graves of Tryphon and 116 martyrs of the 1589 raid, and the new Lower Monastery, overlooking the

Pechenga Bay Pechenga Bay (russian: Печенгская губа, fi, Petsamonvuono; also ''Petsamo Fjord'' and ''Pechenga Fjord'') is a fjord-like bay of the Barents Sea on the Kola Peninsula in the Murmansk Oblast, Russia, about 25 km east from the bor ...

. The

stauropegic A stauropegion, also spelled stavropegion (from el, σταυροπήγιον from σταυρός ''stauros'' "cross" and πήγνυμι ''pegnumi'' "to affirm"), is a monastery or a parish which depends directly on the primate or on the Holy Syn ...

monastery continued to flourish when Pechenga became part of Finland in 1920. At the end of the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

in 1944 the

Moscow Armistice The Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side on 19 September 1944, ending the Continuation War. The Armistice restored the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940, with a number of modi ...

granted Petsamo to the Soviet Union. The brethren were evacuated to the

New Valamo Monastery New Valamo or New Valaam ( fi, Valamon luostari, or more informally, especially in the postal address: ''Uusi-Valamo'', sv, Valamo nya kloster, russian: Ново-Валаамский) is an Orthodox monastery in Heinävesi, Finland. The monaste ...

, where they kept their autonomy until 1984 when the last of them died at the age of 110. Although the monastery buildings were destroyed during the war, the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

decreed the reestablishment of the monastery in Pechenga in 1997. File:Petsamo Church.jpg, The monastery church c. 1911
(photo by Ellisif Wessel) File:Alaluostari.jpg, The church in the 1940s File:4Y1A5012 (21771088814).jpg, File:Pechenga Monastery Petsamon luostari 01.jpg, Modern buildings

References

* Friis J.A.: The Monastery of Petschenga, 1896, online here: https://archive.org/details/monasteryofpetsc00friiiala * Nikolsky A.V. ''Монастыри. Энциклопедический словарь''. Moscow, Moscow Patriarchate Publishers, 2000. {{Coord, 69, 32, 39.94, N, 31, 12, 47.15, E, region:RU-MUR_type:landmark, display=title Russian Orthodox monasteries in Russia Religious organizations established in 1533 Buildings and structures in Murmansk Oblast Pechengsky District 1533 establishments in Europe 16th-century establishments in Russia Wooden churches in Russia Cultural heritage monuments in Murmansk Oblast