Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery description and photos - Russia - North-West: Vologda (Topic)

Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery description and photos - Russia - North-West: Vologda. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photos and a map showing the nearest significant objects.

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The Savior-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 town 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 Dimitri was spiritually close to his spiritual mentor - Saint Sergius of Radonezh. Saint Demetrius was revered already during his lifetime. So, Prince Dimitry Donskoy honored the ascetic of the faith and called him to baptize his children. However, Demetrius, as a true humble monk, avoided respect and publicity. 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 Moscow princes and the labors of the rectors, soon became one of the most famous in the Russian North. Not only ordinary pilgrims flocked to the monastery, but also tsars 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 laconicism. Surprising are the "flat" unusual shapes of the domes, the ornamental decoration of the chapters, two rows of zakomars.

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. A small Vvedenskaya church adjoins the refectory.

In 1645, cells were built for the abbot, and in the 18th century this building was merged into one building with hospital wards and cells for the brethren of the monastery. The All Saints Hospital Church became part of this building. The monastery gates with the church were 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 - the Kilikievsky cross and the icon of the founder of the Monk Dimitri 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 clan of the Most Holy Theotokos - Korsun and Passionate. The Russian poet Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov (1787-1855) rests in the monastery.

In 1812, the 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 authorities and was in desolation. Monastic life has now resumed. The monastery is the focus of the spiritual life of monasticism and a monument of Russian culture.

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Topic: Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery description and photos - Russia - North-West: Vologda.