Ugresha Monastery

Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery (russian: Николо-Угрешский монастырь) is a walled stauropegic Russian Orthodox monastery of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker located in a suburb of Moscow, Dzerzhinsky. It is the town's main landmark and is featured on the city emblem.

The monastery is known to have existed as early as 1521, when the Tatar horde of Mehmed I Giray reduced the city to ashes. The old katholikon of St. Nicholas (later destroyed by the Soviets) was built in the 16th century. The Ugresha Monastery was one of the walled abbeys defending approaches to the Russian capital from the south.

A late legend attributes its foundation to Dmitry Donskoy who, on his way to the Kulikovo Field, is supposed to have made a stay there and determined to give a decisive battle to the Tatars after seeing an image of St. Nicholas in a pious dream. He "is reputed to have called out in ecstasy ''ugresha'' ("this sets my heart aflame") and founded a monastery on the very spot".Kathleen Berton Murrell. ''Discovering the Moscow Countryside.'' . Page 134.

The monastery was greatly expanded in the 17th century due to its proximity to the royal residences in Izmailovo and Kolomenskoye. Tsar Alexis made a habit of visiting the monastery several times a year. After the Great Moscow Synod the sanctuary was visited by the Patriarchs of Moscow, Alexandria, and Antioch. Metropolitan Macarius II spent the latter years of his life in the monastery, and Archpriest Avvakum was imprisoned there. The great katholikon (main church) of the monastery was built to a Russian-Byzantine design by Alexander Kaminsky between 1880 and 1894. It is one of the largest churches in the Moscow region and has a set of new frescoes dating from 2009.

After the Russian Revolution, the monastery was closed and its grounds were given over to a children's colony of the People's Commissariat of Finance in 1920. In an effort to fight children homelessness, Felix Dzerzhinsky had it transformed into a labour commune. The town was later renamed after Dzerzhinsky. Many church buildings were destroyed; others survived in a state of great disrepair. The ruined buildings were returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1991. The monastery has since been fully restored and operates several museums, including one dedicated to Nicholas II of Russia. There is a new seminary on the grounds.

The modern life of the monastic community

The monastery was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church on January 30, 1991, by the decision of the Moscow Regional Council. Archimandrite Veniamin (Zaritsky) was appointed the vicar of the monastery.

In the 1990s many structures were restored and new temples were built.

A school at the monastery was opened in 1998 which was reorganised in 1999 into the Nikolo-Ugreshskaya Theological Seminary.

In 2004 a hipped-roof church-chapel in honour of the Passion of Christ was completed. In the same year, a new iconostasis was made in the Transfiguration Cathedral of the monastery. According to the project of hieromonk Arseniy, the Nikolsky Cathedral was restored (rebuilt). In 2009, the interior painting of the Transfiguration Cathedral was completed.

At the monastery, outside its territory, there is a hotel for pilgrims, managed by the pilgrimage service of the monastery.

On 24 December 2010, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church appointed hegumen Bartholomew (Petrov) as the head of the monastery.

Since April 2021, the monastery has served as the residence of the metropolitans of Krutitsy and Kolomna, and it houses the administration of the Moscow metropolis and the Kolomna diocese.

See also

* List of largest Orthodox cathedrals

References

External links

* {{in lang, ru}
Official website

Russian Orthodox monasteries in Russia
Buildings and structures in Moscow Oblast
Christian monasteries established in the 14th century
Museums in Moscow Oblast
Religious museums in Russia
Biographical museums in Russia
Decorative arts museums in Russia
Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Moscow Oblast