Kazan Cathedral
Temple of Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia.
The Church of the Martyr Sophia and her three daughters, Vera, Nadezhda, and Lyubov, is the earliest surviving building of the Kazan-Bogoroditsky Monastery. The exact date of construction of the Church of St. Sophia is unknown. Scholars believe it was built in the late 17th to early 18th centuries. This is supported by its architectural forms and decor, characteristic of the Russian Terem style and Baroque. It served as a gate church before a new fence was built, moving it deeper into the monastery grounds. The same Ya. M. Shelkovnikov likely designed the church. Begun in 1807, the church, while still unfinished, was severely damaged in a fire in September 1815. Its construction was completed only in 1825, funded by the Musin-Pushkin noble family, and the church was consecrated. During the Soviet era, the church was used as a residential building. In 1994, the Church of St. Sophia was returned to the faithful. We will also try to arrange a tour of this temple in the near future.
High place
A raised seat in the sanctuary of an Orthodox church, near the eastern wall opposite the altar. A chair or throne for the bishop (archbishop) is placed on it, and on either side, slightly lower, are seats for the priests.The High Place has a profound symbolic meaning and is directly connected to the altar as the earthly image of the Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore, the bishop, seated on the High Place during the service, is likened to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the King of Glory, and the priests surrounding him symbolize the rank of the apostles.Even when no one is seated on the High Place, it is perceived as a symbol of the mysterious presence of Christ Himself, the Great Hierarch of the Order of Melchizedek.
The abbot's and sisters' buildings
The majority of the nuns and novices lived in the "Abbot's" and "Nikolsky" buildings, which formed a semicircle around the cathedral. The abbess's quarters were in the building of the same name, located closer to Pyatnitskaya Church. The design for the buildings was drawn up by Ya. M. Shelkovnikov. The buildings were built over a long period—the "Abbot's" from 1810 to 1832, the "Nikolsky" from 1832 to 1843—and provincial architect Foma Petondi, who oversaw the construction, made significant changes to the designs. Therefore, it is sad to see them today, forlornly standing and crumbling due to our collective indifference.
Abbesses of the Bogoroditsky Monastery of the 16th-20th centuries
The names of 27 abbesses of the holy monastery are known.1. 1582-1584 - Abbess Petronilla 2. 1588-1593 - Abbess Maria 3. 1631 - Abbess Theodosia 4. 1643-1646 - Abbess Anfisa (Levasheva) 5. 1652 - Abbess Olga 6. 1654-1656 - Abbess Marfa (Kireevskaya) 7. 1680-1681 - Abbess Julia 8. 1699-1704 - Abbess Marfa (Voronova) 9. 1735-1742 - Abbess Marfa (Solovtsova) 10. 1764-1778 - Abbess Evdokia 11. 1778-1787 - Abbess Alexandra 12. 1788-1795 - Abbess Pavla 13. 1795-1807 - Abbess Sofia (Princess Volkhovskaya Lyubov Borisovna) 14. 1807-1822 - Abbess of Nazareth (Shvanvicheva) 15. 1822-1826 - Abbess Euphrasia 16. 1826 - treasurer Arkady 17. 1826-1846 - Abbess Eupraxia 18. 1846-1847 - Abbess Margarita 19. 1847-1849 - Abbess Arkadia (Makarova Anna Ivanovna) 20. 1849-1865 - Abbess Dosifeya (Verevkina Anna) 21. 1865-1867 - Abbess Callista 22. 1867-1880 - Abbess Anfia 23. 1881-1889 - Abbess Dorothea 24. 1889-1890 — Abbess Seraphima 25. 1904-1910 — Abbess Margarita 26. 1910-1917 — Abbess Varvara 27. 1917-1926 — Treasurer Rachel
Church of St. Nicholas of Tula. 17th century. Church of the Meeting of the Lord.
In the second half of the 16th and 17th centuries, the churches of St. Nicholas of Tula and the Meeting of the Lord stood on this site. On July 8, 1579, a revealed image of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was brought to the Church of St. Nicholas of Tula. In the early 19th century, the stone churches were dismantled during the reconstruction of the monastery.
Entrance to the Cave Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.
History of creation: In 1910, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna visited the monastery and proposed installing an iconostasis under the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God on the site where the icon was found, and a cave church in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Architect Alexei Shchusev took on the project. Work on the basement of the church, also known as the "Kazan Caves," was completed in 1913. During excavations in 2016, the remains of the church were discovered. The surviving foundation was preserved, and it was decided to restore the church. On the feast of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, February 25, 2020, the church was consecrated. Currently, the church has been restored to its historical appearance. It houses a chapel built over the site where the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared.On Sundays at 6:00 a.m., services are held in the cave temple, admission to which is free.
Remains of decorative painting elements on the walls of the Kazan Cathedral cave church, lost during the Soviet era. Years of painting (1912-13)
The Cross of Worship
Since 2016, work has begun on the reconstruction of the Kazan Cathedral, which was blown up by the Bolsheviks in the 1930s. During construction, the remains of nuns buried there before the Revolution were discovered on the territory adjacent to the Kazan Cathedral. In total, the remains of approximately 200 nuns were uncovered. In 2019, the remains of the sisters of the Kazan-Bogoroditsky Monastery were reburied, and a Cross of Worship was installed behind the cathedral's altar.
Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Built between 1882 and 1887, the monastery's main church, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, and the adjacent bell tower were blown up in the 1930s. Garages were added to the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross during the Soviet era. For a long time, the church building served as an academic building for the Kazan State Pedagogical Institute. It later became a student dormitory. In April 2005, the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross was transferred to the Kazan Diocese. Restoration work was completed just before the celebrations marking the 1,000th anniversary of Kazan. By the anniversary, restorers had restored the church's exterior façade and interior. We will soon try to create a virtual tour of this church as well.
Church of the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God
[LOGIN](https://my.cybermuseum.art/en/tour/7cgynxpmjt)An Orthodox church, the katholikon of the Mother of God Monastery, and the cathedral of the Kazan Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. Built on the site of the supposed discovery of the miraculous Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
Reliquary with particles of the relics of the Holy Martyrs Grand Duchess Elizabeth
A gift from Metropolitan Mark of Berlin and Germany on the day of the consecration of the cave church on February 25, 2020. The Venerable Martyrs Grand Duchess Elizabeth and Nun Barbara († 1918) were canonized in 1992 at the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church and included in the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. Grand Duchess Elizabeth was born on October 20, 1864, into a Protestant family of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England. In 1884, she married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, brother of Emperor Alexander III of Russia. With the outbreak of World War I, the princess organized aid to the front: under her leadership, medical trains were formed, medical supply depots were established, and field churches were sent to the front.Nun Varvara was a baptized sister and one of the first inhabitants of the Martha and Mary Convent in Moscow. As a cell attendant and the sister closest to Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, she did not boast or take pride in this, but was kind, gentle, and courteous to everyone, and everyone loved her. In Yekaterinburg, Sister Varvara was released, but she asked to be returned to Alapayevsk. In response to intimidation, Varvara said she was ready to share the fate of her mother superior. As the older one, she was returned to Alapayevsk. She suffered a martyr's death at the age of about 35.The commemoration of the holy martyrs is celebrated on July 5 and on the day of the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.
Altar
A table at the north wall of the altar, to the left of the Holy Table. The Proskomedia is performed on it—the sacrifice for the Eucharist, bread and wine, is prepared. The Table of Oblation is usually placed in the northeastern part of the altar, to the left of the High Place, and sometimes in a specially separated part of the altar (also on the left side), called the Diaconium. It is where the sacred vessels are stored until they are used during the Liturgy. Unlike the Holy Table, the Table of Oblation is slightly smaller in size but the same height. A crucifix and oil lamp usually stand on it. Only the clergy may touch the Table of Oblation.
The location of the discovery of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God
A contemporary of the events, Patriarch Hermogenes (at that time the priest of the Gostinodvorskaya Church of Kazan, Yermolai) describes how after a fire in Kazan in 1579, which destroyed part of the city, the Mother of God appeared to ten-year-old Matrona in a dream, ordering her icon to be dug up from the ashes: "Show yourself the icon of the Mother of God in this manner. But the Lady did not show her image to the bishop of the city, nor to the ruler of the ruler, nor to the nobleman or the rich man, nor to the wise elder: but showed your honorable treasure, an inexhaustible source for those who come with faith, your wondrous image, a certain man from the simple, possessing the wisdom of shooting in war, this young daughter, ten years old, named Matrona. To this maiden appeared the wondrous and most radiant icon of the Mother of God. And after the fire in the same year and month, the same maiden, whose name we had previously given, began to appear, the most radiant icon of the Mother of God. And he commanded her to go into the city and tell the archbishop and military commanders about the icon of the Mother of God, which she had seen, so that they might go and take the image of the Most Pure Mother of God from the bowels of the earth: and the place where she was told,
The burial place of the Beketovs
The burial, dating back to the second half of the 18th century, was discovered by archaeologists during excavations that preceded the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan. A bronze slab with the inscription "Burial place of the Beketovs" is mounted in the pavement of the square near the cathedral.Colonel, governor of the city of Simbirsk Afanasy Alekseevich. -August 5, 1769 Spouse - Natalya Feodorovna. -December 23, 1768 Colonel Beketov's son - Nikita Afanasyevich Beketov (1729-1794) Lieutenant General, senator, Astrakhan governor. Colonel Beketov's daughter - Ekaterina - mother of a bass painter and the Minister of Justice. Ivan Dmitriev (1760-1837)
Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (Paraskeva Pyatnitsa)
Built in the 17th century, it is now lost. This is evidenced by a memorial plaque that reads: "In 1579, a wooden Church of the Nativity of the Virgin was founded on this site. In the 17th century, it was rebuilt in stone. It was dismantled in the early 19th century."
Fragment of the historical FOUNDATION of the first church, erected by order of Tsar Ivan IV in 1579.
Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (Church of St. Nicholas of Tula)
The parish church of St. Nicholas of Tula already existed in the year the miraculous Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was discovered (it was likely built by merchants from Tula, of whom there were many among the first Russian settlers in Kazan). It was in this church that the icon remained in the first months after its discovery. In its place, in 1686, the stone summer church of St. Nicholas of Tula and the winter church of Trinity were built, both of which burned down in 1742. The new stone church built in their place was converted from a parish church to a monastery church in 1803, but was soon demolished. According to a design drawn up in 1806 by the architect Ya. M. Shelkovnikov, a new church of St. Nicholas of Tula was built between 1810 and 1816. Architecturally, it had two altars, but two more altars were located in the choir. The Church of St. Nicholas of Tula served as the monastery's winter cathedral, and it was here that the miraculous icon was kept during the winter. The church has been heavily reconstructed and housed the workshops of a former tobacco factory.
Reliquary with a particle of the relics of the Venerable Gabriel of Seven Lakes
Gavriil Fyodorovich Zyryanov was born on March 14, 1844, in the village of Frolova, Irbitsky District, Perm Governorate. Frequently ill as a child, the Zyryanovs vowed to abstain from meat and alcohol for their son's recovery. At the age of 18, Gavriil Zyryanov made a pilgrimage to the Verkhoturye Nikolaevsky Monastery to the relics of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, who appeared to the young man in visions several times and predicted monasticism. On August 13, 1864 (according to other sources, August 16, 1865), he entered Optina Monastery as a novice. On July 31, 1872, after being dismissed from the state peasant class, he was officially enrolled in the monastery and tonsured a ryasophore monk. On April 24, 1883, he was ordained a priest. On October 7, 1883, he was appointed steward of the Kazan bishop's residence, and a month later, he was transferred to the Sedmiezernaya Hermitage. On March 4, 1889, he was appointed confessor and dean of the monastery. In the autumn of 1892, he overexerted himself pulling the monastery cart out of a ravine, and on the same day, he suffered a severe burn of the esophagus and stomach from vinegar essence. In anticipation of death, on October 5, 1892, with the blessing of Archbishop Vladimir (Petrov) of Kazan, he was tonsured into the Great Schema and given the name in honor of the Archangel Gabriel. He remained in bed for five years, frequently receiving Holy Communion. During his years of illness, he acquired the gifts of eldership and clairvoyance. On August 8, 1901, he appointed Hieroschemamonk Gabriel as acting abbot, and then abbot of the Sedmiezernaya Hermitage. On June 1902, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. He died on September 24, 1915, in Kazan. He was buried in the Church of St. Euthymius the Great and St. Tikhon of Zadonsk at the Sedmiezernaya Hermitage. On December 25, 1996, Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel (Zyryanov) was glorified among the locally venerated saints of the Kazan Diocese.
Fragment of the historical FOUNDATION of the first church, erected by order of Tsar Ivan IV in 1579.
Bell tower of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, 1725
A memorial plaque installed in its place commemorates this. It reads: "Here stood the bell tower of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, built by order of Empress Catherine I in 1725." 1 The height of the bell tower "with the cross" was over 55 meters. It was built in the style of Old Russian architecture. The question of restoring the 55-meter bell tower has not yet been decided, as a five-story Khrushchev-era building stands on its historical site.
The burial place of Metropolitan Theophan
Metropolitan Feofan (Ashurkov) (May 21, 1947 – November 20, 2020) was a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church and Metropolitan of Kazan and Tatarstan (2015–2020). On July 13, 2015, Bishop Feofan was appointed to Tatarstan. The archpastor served in the republic until his death. During his five years of service at the ancient Kazan See, through the efforts of His Eminence, the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was rebuilt in the capital of Tatarstan. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill laid the foundation stone for the cathedral on July 21, 2016. On February 25, 2020, the feast of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, Metropolitan Theophan performed the Great Consecration of the Cave Church of the rebuilt Kazan Cathedral of the Icon of the Mother of God and celebrated the Liturgy in the newly consecrated church in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, Metropolitan Theophan was buried on November 23 in the capital of Tatarstan, behind the altar of the Kazan Cathedral, restored through the efforts of His Eminence.
The altar consecrated in honor of the Nativity of the Mother of God
A square table on four legs, located in the central part of the altar. It symbolizes the Throne of God and recalls Christ, whose Body rests on the throne in the form of the Holy Gifts.The most sacred objects of the church are on the throne. It is here that the main sacrament of the church is performed—the transformation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord.The relics of saints are kept inside the throne. In ancient times, in the first centuries, Christians celebrated the Eucharist at the tombs of holy martyrs.The following items are usually kept on the throne: a cross for blessing the faithful, the Gospel, and the antimension—a consecrated cloth depicting the burial of Jesus Christ.Only clergy (bishops, priests, and deacons) have the right to touch the throne. Lay people are prohibited from doing so.
The burial place of the Bolkhonsky princesses' sisters
Sisters Vera and Nadazhda were schema-nuns of the monastery. At their tonsure, they were named Varvara and Nektaria. Lyubov Bolkhovskaya (April 21, 1807) was named Sophia at her tonsure. In 1795, she was appointed abbess. During the years of Abbess Sophia's management of the monastery, the current architectural appearance of the monastery complex was laid out. Burial place of Abbess Margarita. Abbess Margarita managed the monastery in 1846-1847 (October 6, 1847).
Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan
On this site in 1594, during the reign of Tsar Feodor Ioannovich, under Metropolitan Hermogen of Kazan, the foundation of a stone cathedral was laid for the "Most Pure Lady of Our Theotokos and the Ever-Virgin Mary, Her Honest and Glorious Hodegetria of the Miraculous Icon of the Appearance" with two chapels named after the Dormition of the Theotokos and Alexander Nevsky. Due to its dilapidated condition, the cathedral was dismantled in 1796.
