How to get to the indigenous desert. Kursk root monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary men's hermitage diocesan men's monastery
One of the most popular places of Orthodox pilgrimage in Russia is the Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery, which is also called the Root Hermitage.
The Kursk region became the location of this Christian shrine, which is equated in significance to the Diveye monastery near Nizhny Novgorod.
The legend about the origin of the Korennaya Pustyn Monastery
The name “Root” appeared due to the fact that the famous monastic monastery was built in honor of the Root Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”.
According to ancient legend, this image of the Virgin Mary was discovered by a local hunter near the roots of an elm tree in the 13th century. Two centuries after the event, a monastic monastery was founded not far from this place on the right bank of the Tuskar River.
Now this territory is occupied by the church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Spring”.
An ancient legend says that after the hunter raised the image, a spring began to flow from under the ground near the roots of the elm tree, the water in which turned out to be healing. A church was built right above this place, where the roots of this famous tree were located for a long time. Then the spring was taken outside the temple, and a bathhouse was built from wood on the river bank. In addition to this source, there are several other springs in the area of the monastery, the water in which is also considered healing.
Pilgrimages to deserts and springs continue all year round.
The temple, which rises above the spring, and other monastic buildings were built not so long ago. After the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks ravaged the deserts. The Church above the Kladeznaya was completely destroyed, the Nativity Cathedral was blown up, and a dining room was made into the All Saints Church.
Only the prosphora room, one of the tiers of the bell tower and the Holy Gate remained intact. The modern white and blue building of the monastery was erected in modern times.
Today, the Root Hermitage is a place of Orthodox pilgrimage for believers from all over our country.
The Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery is located in close proximity to the village of Svoboda. Once upon a time, the famous Russian artist Ilya Repin wrote his work “The Procession of the Cross in the Kursk Province,” in which he showed the full scale of the Orthodox ritual. In those days, the column of participants in the procession stretched for 30 kilometers, separating Kursk and the desert.
Nowadays, this ritual is gradually being revived, despite the fact that the icon of the Mother of God “The Sign” itself, after the revolution, having traveled across Europe, ended up in the USA and is now in the New York Cathedral of the Sign.
Lately she has often been brought to the walls of her native monastery.
Root Hermitage (Kursk Region) contains on its territory not only church buildings, but also a sculpture dedicated to the discovery of the icon, as well as a monument to Seraphim of Sarov. The holy elder visited these places at one time and was healed here with the help of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”.
Map of the Root Desert
In 1295, on the day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, “a certain pious man” from the city of Rylsk, hunting with his comrades in the forest, 27 versts from the former Kursk; on the banks of the Tuskari River, I found an icon lying at the roots of a large elm tree, with its face turned to the ground. As soon as he lifted it, a source of water opened under the icon, which exists to this day. The icon turned out to be “The Mother of God” of the “Sign” type, small in size - 3.5 x 3.5 inches (15.2 x 15.6). Based on the name of the area, the icon was named Kursk, and Root because it was found at the roots of a tree. Those who found the icon immediately felt its grace and did not dare to carry it from the place of discovery; Having placed the icon in the hollow of the same tree, they immediately cut down a small chapel. Subsequently, the monastery cathedral church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was built on this site.
Residents of Rylsk at the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th century more than once transported the icon to their city and placed it in the church, but each time the icon miraculously disappeared and ended up in the place where it was originally found. Then a more spacious and durable chapel was built here and people began to come here to venerate the icon, on the wooded slope of the Tuscari River. The number of pilgrims grew every year, because many beneficial signs emanated from the icon and healings were performed.
In the same 1597, a royal decree was issued on the creation of a monastery on the site of the discovery of the Kursk Root Icon with a church in the name of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The icon was sent there from Moscow along with the “royal support” for the construction of the hermitage. The abbot - abbot of the future monastery was determined to be a priest from Rylsk, who had special zeal for the Root Icon, often performing prayers and other services for pilgrims at the site of its discovery. In monasticism he received the name Euthymius.
However, the new monastery hardly had time to develop. In 1598 or 1599, Tsar Boris Godunov ordered the transfer of “royal support” from the Root Hermitage to Kursk, due to the dangerous proximity of the Crimean Tatars who attacked Belgorod. The icon was placed in the chapel in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, built through the efforts of Abbot Euthymius at the city's Resurrection Cathedral. In 1601–1603, Russia was struck by a terrible famine. The fertile lands did not produce crops, all... except the Kursk land. She alone supplied bread not only to her residents, but also to Moscow. In people's minds this was directly associated with the miraculous icon; as if in gratitude to her, Tsar Boris granted the not yet established Root Hermitage a monetary treasury, vestments, candles, incense, icons, bells and books. All this is also located in Kursk for now. Hegumen Euthymius saved the income from his services in the chapel of the Resurrection Cathedral for the maintenance of the Root Monastery. The councilors complained to the tsar, but he supported Euthymius, ordering the abbot and the brethren to own all the income from services at Nativity - the Virgin Mary chapel. From this it is clear that already at the end of the 16th century the brethren of the Root Hermitage existed and, probably, some preparatory work was carried out for the construction of the monastery. Kursk was just being rebuilt at that time; it had not yet become a strong fortress, and in 1604 the detachment of False Dmitry I entered the city without hindrance and took the Kursk Root Icon with them to Putivl, from where it was brought to Moscow in the camp of the impostor. Shrines do not help a wrong cause... False Dmitry suffered popular vengeance. But one cannot help but pay attention to the fact that at such a critical moment in history the Kursk Root Icon found itself in the capital and remained there until the end of the Time of Troubles and the establishment of legal power in Russia in 1613.
That year, disaster also befell the Root Hermitage. In 1611, a united horde of Crimean, Nogai and Kazan Tatars attacked the Kursk district (Kursk was not taken by them) and then “all the letters and extracts” of the Root Hermitage were burned, which, therefore, by this time had managed to settle down and acquire business papers.
In 1612, a seven thousand strong army of Polish-Lithuanian invaders, led by Sagaidachny and Zholkiewski, unexpectedly approached Kursk. Residents of Kursk ran to the Resurrection Cathedral and prayed all night with tears in front of the copy of the Root Icon in the chapel of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary for deliverance from the enemy, promising the Queen of Heaven to build a monastery in Kursk in honor of Her icon. That same night, gunner Ivan Moskvitin saw the Radiant Virgin, accompanied by two young men in light clothes, walking from the Pyatnitskaya Tower along the city visor. Encouraged, the Kursk residents carried the copy of the Root Icon along the walls of the fortress in a religious procession. The enemies kept the siege of Kursk for four weeks, captured the Big Ostrog, but could not take the Small Ostrog, where residents and soldiers were hiding.
Fulfilling their vow, Kursk residents of all classes sent petitions in the same 1612 to the Moscow boyars, and in 1613 to Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, in which, having described the events that had taken place, they asked for permission to build a monastery on the site of the Small Ostrozhok in honor of the Kursk Root Icon of the Sign. In 1615, the Znamensky Monastery was built. At the request of the Kursk residents, the Root Sign Icon was returned from Moscow to Kursk. It should be noted that neither the hetman nor any other enemy ever managed to take Kursk, although throughout the 17th century the city was often attacked by both Poles and Crimean Tatars. Kursk, however, was occupied during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. But let us note that it was here that the victorious Battle of Kursk took place, which had a turning point for the entire war. The command post of the Central Front was located in the monastery garden of the Root Hermitage, very close to the miraculous spring.
The indigenous desert was planned as a large spiritual center. According to the letters of grant of Feodor Ioannovich and Boris Godunov, in addition to money and valuables, the Root Monastery complained of estates “in the Kursk district in the Obmyatsky camp, the village of Tazovo, and the village of Zhernovets, and the settlement of Sluzhnya, and the settlement of Dolgaya on the Tuskari River, and in those villages and settlements of the monastery There are 600 people of land, but there are fallow lands and wild fields, they don’t know how many people there are. Old books and... letters of grant and extracts were lost during the war.” This is what it says in the petition of 1621, addressed by the abbot of the Kursk Znamensky Monastery to Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. The Tsar confirmed ownership of the said estates, but not of the Root Hermitage, but of the Znamensky Monastery in Kursk, in relation to which the Root Hermitage was now assigned.
The emergence in 1613 of a monastery in honor of the Root Znamenskaya Icon in Kursk itself put the Root Hermitage in a strange position; Since the main shrine, the Kursk Root Icon, was in Kursk, the hermitage inevitably had to fall into decay.
True, a small and very modest monastery was built in this holy place. In 1618, the wooden Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was consecrated; Several cells, the necessary outbuildings (all wooden), and a well over the source were built. There was one monk and four “investors” in the Monastery. In 1621, four monks lived here, and behind the monastery there was the house of the priest Michael. In 1630, the monastery numbered 10 monastics. The “Pustynsky Monastery,” as it was called in those days, had quite good icons, including one ancient copy of the Kursk Root Icon in a silver-gilded frame, the necessary books, crosses with relics, bells, and other utensils, but did not even have a fence. The canopy over the holy spring was covered with bast, the church with planks, and many buildings with thatch.
And, nevertheless, religious processions have already begun here. According to legend, the Kursk Root Icon was brought here from Kursk for the first time in 1618 on the occasion of the consecration of the first wooden Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on the ninth Friday after Easter, and then a bargaining took place here. In 1667, four monks lived in the Root Hermitage; the buildings are dilapidated. At this time, the Kursk Root Icon was sent to the Don to collect alms for the benefit of the desert. The monastery came to life at the beginning of the 17th century, when the danger of Tatar raids had passed. According to documents from 1701, there were six monastics with a charter close to the cenobitic one. Abbots from among the hieromonks were appointed as “builders”; There were also abbots - in the event that they had previously already had such a rank. In 1703, in the Korennaya Hermitage, on the site of the previous wooden one, a new stone Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (with a chapel of John the Baptist) was built. In 1708, the stone gates and gateway Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord with the chapel of the Archangel Michael were created. All this is from the personal funds of two rich (from the nobility) monks of the Root Desert.
The construction in 1713 of the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God of the “Life-Giving Spring” over the well is associated with the name of the outstanding commander, hero of the Battle of Poltava, the Northern War with the Swedes and many other battles, the first Russian field marshal general from the Russians, Count Boris Petrovich Sheremetyev. On the way from Ukraine to Moscow, Sheremetyev visited the Root Hermitage and, having experienced the grace of the holy spring, wished to erect a temple over it and express his possible gratitude to the Mother of God, “the only one who has an invincible victory.” He allocated the necessary funds and appointed his caretaker for the work. (One of the antimensions of the Church of the Life-Giving Spring was consecrated in 1752 by St. Joasaph (Gorlenko; 1754) - an outstanding Russian hierarch, canonized).
At the same time, a stone covered passage was built from this church to the upper square of the monastery to the cathedral church. The roof is planked, the steps of the stairs are paved with oak boards. New cells and guest courtyards were built. Year after year, traditional religious processions to the Root Hermitage became more and more numerous, as did the auctions that local residents celebrated at this time. From 1726 to 1764, the period of stay of the icon in the desert increased from three days to a week. Religious processions and the fair were almost the only sources of income in the Root Hermitage.
According to the decree of 1764 of the Belgorod Consistory of His Grace Porfiry, Bishop of Belgorod and Oboyansky, the Root Hermitage was excluded from the jurisdiction of the Kursk Znamensky Monastery and became independent with a staff of seven monastics.
At the same time, the Bogoroditsky forest, meadows, orchards and vegetable gardens, a mill, a beekeeper, and all the buildings externally adjacent to the wattle fence of the monastery, including dilapidated living rooms, were illegally taken away from the Korennaya Hermitage. In the monastery inventory of 1765 there are such eloquent entries, “livestock, three horses riding, all elderly. Note: two fell in labor, one sold. Cattle, old and young cows, two-year-old bulls and small heifers, all 11. Note: by fraternal verdict, for lack of something to feed, 5 were sold. There is no money in the treasury.) From the documents it is clear that the monastery lacks the most necessary utensils, the churches required repairs. The monastery was still not fenced, so barns, monks' cells and even temple altars were often robbed. In this state, Abbot Isaiah (Ilyashevich), tonsured a monk by Saint Joasaph of Belgorod (Gorlenko), an experienced in economic affairs and a very zealous abbot, who ruled the hermitage from 1765 to 1771, accepted the Root Hermitage. The abbot managed to repair, correct, and improve some things in the monastery. In order to find funds for further repairs and maintenance of the life of the monastery, Abbot Isaiah ensured that in 1765 the period of stay of the Kursk Icon in the Root Hermitage was increased to two weeks. When disagreements arose between the Kursk Znamensky Monastery and the Root Hermitage about income from circle and other fees, Bishop Porfiry ordered the income to be divided equally, in half. In 1767, during a traditional religious procession, a quarrel occurred over these revenues. An imperial decree was issued banning religious processions in the Root Hermitage, believed to have been initiated by the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod, a man of Protestant sympathies, Count Melissino. They were resumed only in 1791. The indigenous desert began to fall into complete decline.
After a noticeable revival at the beginning of the 18th century, the situation of the Kursk Root Hermitage soon began to steadily deteriorate. This was facilitated by more than just specific local conditions. It all started with the “church reform” of Peter I, carried out under the leadership of English professors at Oxford, and continued with the anti-Orthodox policy of Catherine II, all kinds of oppression of monastic asceticism
This was an internal consistent policy of the ruling elites of Russia, aimed at undermining the fundamental foundations of Russian church and spiritual life, carried out for more than 80 years. The result of such a policy was the impoverishment of monasticism and the decline of its moral level. And in 1792, when it was decided to introduce a firm cenobitic charter in the Root Hermitage, of the five inhabitants of the monastery brethren, only one, Hieromonk Proterius, expressed a desire to stay, the rest asked for permission to retire to other monasteries, where it was more free. This was a disaster much worse than the material deprivations and constraints of the monastery. Thus, what happened to the Root Hermitage and in itself was only a local reflection of all-Russian phenomena in church life.
Catherine II significantly changed her attitude towards Orthodoxy, in particular towards monasticism. This explains the amazing fact that in 1790, Kursk citizens, led by the city mayor Ivan Golikov, dared to turn to her with a request to resume religious processions to the Korennaya Hermitage and immediately received the highest permission.
In June 1767, the Mother of God appeared to a seriously ill 9-year-old boy, Prokhor Mashnin, and said that She would come and heal him, which Prokhor told his mother, Agafya Fateevna. The next day, the religious procession from the Znamensky Kursk Monastery changed direction due to heavy rain and went through the Mashniniykh estate. Agafya Fateevna took the boy out into the yard, asked him to carry the Root Icon over him and gave her son to venerate it, after which he began to recover. This incident from the life of the great lamp of the Russian land, St. Seraphim of Sarov, connected him with a spiritual thread with the Root Icon and the Root Hermitage. At the age of 20, he went to the Sarov Monastery of the Tambov Diocese, and it may not be a coincidence that the spiritual revival of the Kursk Root Hermitage began precisely from the Sarov Monastery. In 1792, the first (renewed) religious procession to the Root Hermitage took place, after which another petition followed to the Synod. Noting that many thousands of people took part in the procession, and not only locals, but also “from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Great Russian, Little Russian and Greek cities, Wallachia, Crimea, Poland and other countries,” the citizens of Kursk with sorrow complained that cathedral services, prayer services and akathists in the desert were performed “with extreme negligence.” And they asked in the Root Hermitage “to establish a community of residence approximately opposite the Sarov Hermitage and appoint Hieromonk Nikander as abbot from among the monastics thereof.”
The Synod sent Hieromonk Ilarius to be the rector for the Root Hermitage of Sarov, and with him came Hierodeacon Parfeniy and two novices. Elder Hilary, having released those from the Root Hermitage who did not want to live monastically, replenished the brethren with spiritually strong people, introduced a communal charter, leaving no concern for the external improvement of the monastery. However, due to old age and poor health, he could not remain abbot for long and in 1795 he returned to Sarov. Hieromonk Parthenius remained as confessor in the Root Hermitage. Hieromonk Macarius (Kamenetsky), appointed rector in 1799, had previously served as a refector at the St. Petersburg Alexander Nevsky Lavra; Personal connections with high-ranking people in the capital, including Metropolitan Gabriel, helped Father Macarius in the revival of the Root Hermitage. With his arrival, the monastery returned many lands and lands taken away in 1764, including forest, meadows on both sides of the Tuskari River, gardens and vegetable gardens, a mill near the village of Dolgoye and more. In 1804, a decree was issued according to which the Kursk Icon of the Sign was to henceforth remain in the Root Hermitage from the 9th Friday after Easter until September 12/25; all fees during this time went to the benefit of the Root Desert. Internal, spiritual beautification was naturally followed by external, material splendor.
In 1806, Father Macarius was elevated to the rank of abbot. He made Hieromonk Parthenius (a former Sarov monk) his closest assistant, who worked diligently on the spiritual strengthening of the monastery until 1809, when he was transferred as rector to the Glinskaya Nativity of the Virgin Hermitage.
In 1811, the Root Monastery had nine hieromonks, five hierodeacons, one white deacon, four monks and 25 novices. Among them were people of different origins and positions (sometimes high), but with a common sincere desire for monastic piety and ascetic life.
Hegumen Macarius died on August 16, 1815 and was buried under the porch of the cathedral monastery Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. His successor was Abbot Palladius (1815-1818), in the world Pavel Belevtsev, from the nobility of the Kursk province, who completed a course of science in the Engineering Corps. Under him, an archimandry was established in the Root Hermitage; he himself became its first archimandrite, in 1819 he was transferred to the abbot of the Kursk Znamensky Monastery; there his activities culminated in the construction of the majestic Znamensky Cathedral, which adorns the city to this day.
In 1819, the fourth Church of All Saints was consecrated in the Root Hermitage in a fraternal refectory with cells. In the 30s, the monastery brick factory began operating, producing 300 thousand bricks per year. The mill near the village of Dolgoye provided the monastery with flour.
In 1825, according to the will of the monastery, the courtyard of the merchant Gladkov in the city of Kursk was given to the monastery, which became something of a courtyard of the monastery. In 1832-1835, under Archimandrite Paisius, the famous majestic stone ramps with windows were built from the upper platform of the monastery to the Church of the Life-Giving Source. Having spent a lot of money for those times - 20 thousand rubles in silver. According to eyewitnesses, these gatherings gave the Root Hermitage an unusually beautiful appearance, reminiscent of the galleries of the Athos monasteries and the covered galleries of the Near and Far Caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, and created great conveniences for pilgrims.
In 1825, the cathedral church in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded according to a design chosen by the famous Kursk landowner Count Kleinmichel, who had a government commission to do so. Consecrated in 1860, the new temple represented one of the best examples of the Russian-Byzantine style.
The Church of the Life-Giving Spring was also renovated. In its center, in front of the altar, there was a well fenced with an iron grate; into a metal vat, built for a better flow of water from the Root Spring, believers used to throw silver and copper money; Sometimes a considerable sum was collected. The southern doors of the temple opened onto a small courtyard, on the western side of which the slope was cut vertically and paved with stone; nearby, through a hole made in the stone, one could see the root of the very elm tree from which the miraculous icon of the Sign of the Mother of God was found in 1295. In 1885, the root still emitted three living green shoots. A wooden shield with the image of the Root Icon at the moment of discovery, in the hands of the person who found it with a lantern-lamp in front of it, was covered on top with a wooden roof on pillars; below is a wooden platform, above which a miraculous spring flowed, which was immediately led through a pipe into the church, into a well with a vat, and from it through a pipe to the Tuskari River.
In 1875, under Archimandrite Ioannikis, the fifth monastery church was built - in honor of the icon of the Mother of God of the Sign on another hill of the monastery, across the ravine. Near this temple, a one-story building for the brethren was also built, with a small bell tower among its roof. At this temple, another, fourth, modest cemetery was built for the burial of the brethren and benefactors of the monastery.
The spiritual ascetic life of monastics improved, especially under Archimandrite Yuvenalia (Polovtsev), appointed in 1862 from the Glinsk Hermitage, where he was rector. He continued the work begun in 1793 by the Sarov elder Ilarius. Juvenaly was a genuine old man; at one time he labored for more than 10 years in the Optina Hermitage under the leadership of the famous elder Macarius. So, along with the spiritual direction of Sarov, the spirit of Optina was added to the Root Hermitage. Educated in “spiritual sciences,” Father Juvenaly became an example for the brethren. Under him, a two-story stone building on the right side of the monastery and a two-story hotel were completely built. In 1868, Archimandrite Juvenaly was transferred as governor of the St. Petersburg Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Root Hermitage acquired the appearance in which it was remembered by eyewitnesses. From the holy gate, closer to the market square, another gate with a bell tower was built. In front of the monastery there were two hotels; inside the monastery there appeared a stone abbot's building, brethren's buildings, a refectory with a church, hotel and hospital buildings, and other buildings.
The indigenous annual fair was named in the law of 1824 as one of the three main fairs to which foreigners were allowed to send their goods.
In 1860, more than 60 thousand people took part in the procession with the Root Icon. There were years when so many people gathered and gathered that the religious procession stretched over the entire 27 miles - so that when the first pilgrims entered the Korennaya Hermitage, the last were still on Red Square in Kursk. The sacristy of the Root Hermitage kept historical and spiritual relics, in particular two altar crosses with many pieces of relics of various saints, precious frames, crosses, vessels, books, including seals of the 17th century, etc. The most revered icons of the monastery were the Kursk Root icon (there were two copies of the original icon, one of them was from the 17th century), the Kazan and Fedorovskaya icons of the Mother of God, as well as temple icons: John the Baptist, Anthony and Theodosius of the Pechersk, the Life-Giving Source, the Transfiguration of the Lord, the Archangel Michael, All Saints.
In 1918, at the Gathering of the Poor, it was decided to rename the town of Korennaya Pustyn to a new name - the town of Svoboda.
At the same time, the monastery was deprived of its rights as a legal entity, and in 1922, according to the “Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on February 16, 1922,” the confiscation of monastery valuables took place. A large number of precious items: frames of icons, Gospels, crosses, vestments and much more were taken away forever.
In October 1923 the desert was closed. Numerous brethren were disbanded. Some of them, remaining devoted to the holy place, enduring hunger and cold, huddled in dugouts, which they built not far from the monastery in the vicinity of the temple of Joachim and Anna in the village of Dolgoe.
After the monastery was closed, the remaining valuables, including the unique library, were looted and taken away. All the temples of the monastery, the covered gatherings to the source, two tiers of the bell tower and its hipped top were destroyed and dismantled into bricks, the tops with crosses on the entrance gates were destroyed, the chapel was completely dismantled - the place where the miraculous image was found, and many other buildings.
The surroundings of the monastery also changed. The Bogoroditsky forest was cut down, and these were relict oak forests that created a special, unique healing air. The bright clearings of the forest and coastal meadows made it possible to harvest medicinal herbs and plants, which were skillfully used by the indigenous monks.
In the thirties, on the site of the destroyed Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, a fountain was built, decorated with figures of plaster bears. By this time, the Svoboda sanatorium was located here, and after the Great Patriotic War, a vocational school was organized in the surviving monastery buildings.
On August 7, 1989, the Root Hermitage was returned to the Kursk diocese. And already on August 15, the first service took place on the site where the majestic church of the monastery stood in the name of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The first religious procession after a long break took place on June 15, 1990, the ninth Friday of Easter. In its scale it differed from its historical predecessors: its length was only 300 meters along the territory of the monastery. Subsequent moves regained their former historical scale.
In 1990, the entrance gates of the monastery were restored to their original form. In 1991, the bell tower over the Holy Gates and the monastery refectory were restored. For the period 1994-97 a unique covered gallery with access to the spring and the temple of the Life-Giving Spring were restored. The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was equipped and consecrated on September 19, 1991 by Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, and the cell building was restored. At the new location, a large economic courtyard of the monastery was built, where a monastery with the house church of St. Seraphim of Sarov was built. On the site of what was once destroyed, the main cathedral church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been recreated. Work has been carried out to improve the monastery territory. The gallery (of the descent) to the source and the temple in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Spring” have been restored.
On September 24, 2012, Metropolitan Herman of Kursk and Rylsk, Archbishop Mark of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain, and Bishop Benjamin of Zheleznogorsk and Lgov performed the rite of consecration of the restored church in the name of the Icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Spring” and the first divine liturgy in it. A distinctive and unique feature of the temple is the porcelain iconostasis made by Ekaterinburg craftsmen.
The main monastery church - the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - was consecrated by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' on September 24, 2009, the right chapel was consecrated by the bishop's rank on December 22, 2011 in honor of the Nativity of John the Baptist. Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - consecrated by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II on September 19, 1991. The Temple of the “Kazan” Icon of the Mother of God was consecrated by the bishop on July 21, 1991. Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Spring” - consecrated by the bishop’s rite on September 24, 2012. Church of the Great Martyr Panteleimon (hospital building), Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov at the monastery courtyard. Divine services are held mainly in the Cathedral Church, as well as on patronal holidays and in other churches of the monastery. The holy springs on the territory of the monastery have not dried up either. As before, holy water from the life-giving springs of the Root Hermitage gives strength and strengthens Orthodox people in the faith.
The Kursk Root Hermitage is one of the most wonderful places in central Russia, and everyone will take something from this place:
someone will touch the shrines (in the 13th century, the “Znamenie” icon, revered in Orthodoxy, was found here), someone will enjoy the picturesque views, a walk through the forest, swimming in the river and springs.
The place is truly unique. It is not for nothing that the Korennaya Hermitage is called the main attraction of the Kursk region.
Honestly, this place just suggests a majestic temple. It is not surprising that one of the most significant icons of Orthodox Russia, the Icon of the Virgin and Child “The Sign,” was found here.
It happened in the 13th century: a local resident found an icon in the forest under a tree. As soon as he lifted it, a spring began to flow from the place where it lay. The icon turned out to be miraculous. Subsequently, a chapel was built just above this place, then a church.
Over the years, a monastery arose - the Kursk Root Hermitage.
During the Tatar-Mongol raids, the icon was moved to a more fortified Kursk. And after this, the desert, which had resisted the enemies for so long before, was burned.
And in Kursk, the huge Znamensky Cathedral on Red Square was built especially for the “Sign” icon.
She has performed many miracles and healings since her appearance on Kursk land. After the restoration of the Kursk Root Hermitage, an annual religious procession with the “Sign” icon took place from Kursk to the Root Hermitage. This event was depicted by Repin in the painting “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province.”
How to get there
The Korennaya Hermitage is located 30 km north of Kursk. The village itself is called Liberty, Zolotukhinsky district.
They usually describe how to drive to the desert from Kursk. However, if you are traveling by train from Moscow, you can get off at Zolotukhino station before reaching Kursk. From there, minibuses run every quarter of an hour to Svoboda.
After Zolotukhino, the train also makes a stop at Svoboda station. In fact, the village of Budanovka is located near the station, and the village of Svoboda is 7 km from Svoboda station. Minibuses run, but rarely, about once every two hours. So, if you are going to the Kursk Root Hermitage, then go either to Zolotukhino or in Kursk itself.
In Kursk, from the station you need to take a minibus or bus to the stop “Zheleznodorozhnaya Hospital” or “Ulitsa Dubrovinskogo”. Drive for about 5 minutes. Walk – 15 minutes. The cost of a bus ticket is 14 rubles. The cost of a minibus is 15 rubles.
Get off on Dubrovinsky Street. Directly ahead is the blue and white Church of Nikita the Martyr (for some reason in Kursk and the surrounding area, most churches are painted blue with white trim). You go to the church, turn right and find yourself near a cluster of minibuses and buses. You ask which minibus will go to Freedom.
A ticket from Kursk to Svoboda costs 50 rubles. The drive takes half an hour.
Visit to the Kursk Root Hermitage
Svoboda is a fairly large village. Two-story stone houses predominate.
A hotel for pilgrims stands out from the local development. It stands right next to the road, and this is the first building that catches your eye when you get off the minibus.
This is the center for pilgrims:
until we run into a large street perpendicular to it, at the end of which domes are visible.
The area is changing dramatically. This is already a tourist place. Hotels, shops, restaurants - everything is brand new, brand new.
There is also a large parking lot here. When we were there, there was a lone bus standing there.
We go out to the indoor building of the Root Fair. Previously, the Root Fair was the third most important after Makaryevskaya and Irbitskaya.
In the open square there is a monument-fountain dedicated to the discovery of the icon. There are slabs laid out around the monument, each slab reflects an episode from the chronicle of the Root Desert.
On the square there is a rookery for cats. Peddlers lay out souvenirs on the counters.
Entrance to the Kursk Root Hermitage. First gate:
We pass through the gate and find ourselves in a small square, from which the path goes down to the next gate.
And here the first blow of beauty strikes. You see the gates, and behind them, in the depths, domes are lined up. Unfortunately, the sun was shining directly into the lens, and not a single photo came out well.
We go down to the second gate.
An apiary is visible on the left side of the mountain.
Side view of the monastery
We pass through the second gate and find ourselves on the territory of the monastery - the Kursk Root Hermitage.
A small square in front of the ceremonial square. There are two churches on the square: the Cathedral of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary and the Church of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary.
The large area is laid out in concentric circles.
The Cathedral of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary was built recently, finishing work is still underway inside.
The Church of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary is a miracle, how beautiful! Naryshkin baroque in all its glory.
Marvelous windows. The eight-piece drum, and what a soft pink color it is.
Inside, the church looks like a jewelry box, the whole thing is burning from the inside from the paintings. And the shape is similar to a chest, only in the center, where the eight-drum is, there is a small dome. There was a service going on and it was impossible to take pictures.
In general, everything looks just done. Generous cash injections are felt.
See hotels in Kursk
And we go around the cathedral and actually find ourselves on the observation deck. Immense distances lie ahead. It seemed like we were descending all the time and suddenly found ourselves at the top of the mountain!
At the rear façade of the cathedral is a sculpture of Prokhor Moshnin, who later became known as Seraphim of Sarov.
Prokhor was born and lived in Kursk. His parents sponsored the construction of the Sergius-Kazan Cathedral. Once Prokhor was very ill, almost dying. A procession of the cross was passing by - they were carrying the icon of the Sign. And Prokhor’s mother begged him to go with the icon to his dying son. Indeed, the son soon began to recover.
So the monument to Seraphim of Sarov, kneeling at the place where the icon was found, comes in handy here.
There are stairs going down the slope all the way to the river.
Tuskar River and springs
The Tuskar River is small, and one can only marvel at how such a generally invisible river has such high banks and connects two high ridges - on one of these ridges stands Kursk, on the other - the Kursk Root Hermitage.
A staircase along the mountainside goes down to the baths: on the left - women's, on the right - men's:
Opposite the baths is an image of the “Sign” icon:
The Church of the Sign was built at the site where the icon was found
The embankment along Tuskar is well maintained, tiled, and there are benches along it.
There is a descent into the water and places for changing clothes.
There are paths on both sides of the embankment. Be sure to walk along the shore both to the left and to the right.
There are three springs on both the left and right sides. On the right: “eye”, “skin” and John the Baptist. On the left are Nikolai Ugodnik, Panteleimon the Healer and Seraphim of Sarov.
We went right first (following the river). The area here is open. There are bushes along the river.
The “eye” source barely oozes. But you can’t pass by - opposite it is a tree with multi-colored patches.
The sources "skin" and John the Baptist follow each other. The jets are strong. Streams flow from the springs.
Behind the third source, a staircase rises along the slope. At the top there is a nice pine forest.
We return back to the baths and walk along the shore against the current.
Wonderful view of the monastery.
The first source is Nikolai Ugodnik. There is a small bathhouse next to it.
Bath
The forest is riddled with streams.
The second source is St. Panteleimon the Healer.
The wooden walkways end at the third source - Seraphim of Sarov. There is also a small chapel there.
Let's go back.
Meanwhile, people are arriving. There is already a queue at the baths and at the springs.
We go up to the monastery.
Coming out of the gate of the Root Desert, go along the fence to the left. Soon you will find yourself near the memorial complex.
In the summer of 1943, the command post and headquarters of the Central Front under the leadership of Rokossovsky were located here. A dugout was built in this place for Rokossovsky, from where he directed the actions of our troops during the Battle of Kursk.
We pass the park and walk past military equipment of those times.
On the right is the museum, on the left is Rokossovsky’s dugout.
After the war, the logs from the dugout were dismantled by local residents. The dugout has now been restored. This, one might say, is a full-fledged log hut - only underground.
After the museum we went to the bus stop. Minibuses on the Zolotukhino-Kursk route and back run frequently, so we didn’t have to wait long.
We took a minibus to the “Zheleznodorozhnaya Hospital” stop, and then transferred to a bus heading to the center of Kursk.
The trip to the Kursk Root Hermitage took us about three hours. This was the most powerful impression.
Kursk Root Nativity of the Mother of God Hermitage in Central Russia is one of the most famous monasteries. It is located in the village of Svoboda, although before the revolution this area was called, as expected, the same as the monastery. The place where it was laid was indicated in the most miraculous way. And none other than the Queen of Heaven. Her image appeared on the edge of a dense forest above the Tuskor River, where one of the commercial hunters miraculously ended up.
Seeing the face turned downwards under a large elm tree, the timid man picked up the blessed image and hid it in the hollow of the elm tree. From the place where the icon had just been lying, at the same instant a source began to flow. This happened in 1295, and it still shoots out of the ground to this day. The water in it does not freeze and, according to those who have tried it, it has a sweet taste. Almost like mother's milk. The elm tree in whose hollow a man from the Rylsky region hid the icon is considered magical.
In those days, a chapel was first built next to it, and then a church. Little by little it came to the construction of the Root Desert. It arose here through the efforts of the God-loving Tsar Fyodor Ioanovich, the last of the Rurikovichs. When he built Kursk in 1597, he made sure that citizens had a place to pray, and ordered the construction of a monastery with a church in the name of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
When the temple was erected, the wonderful icon was placed in the most honorable place. Many sick people applied to the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”, and it helped them to heal. They say that among those who got rid of illnesses was Seraphim of Sarov himself. Then, however, the Root Desert had to endure many sorrows. It was blown up and set on fire more than once. And the beautiful and life-giving icon ended up in the USA.
In the post-revolutionary period, when many people who disagreed with communist ideas fled into exile, someone took this relic with them, not wanting to leave it to the Bolsheviks, who could have a very short conversation with priests and the attributes of their activities. True, they say that in America this icon is often taken to parishes visited by Russian people, but still it is in a foreign land. Alas. And in 1923 the monastery was also closed.
The famous descent from the top of the hill to the source was dismantled, the temple was blown up, and the dome of the bell tower was demolished. Even the Bogoroditsky forest was cut down. Tuskor became shallow because the monks no longer looked after the dam. In short, decline and desolation came. However, people did not stop revere this place. They came here anyway. The source was their strength and hope. By the way, they also fought with it, trying to cement it, but each time the wise water found a loophole and again made its way to the people.
This is a strong place, they say. Now it is called the Kursk Regional Historical and Cultural Center “Root Hermitage”. Its main task is to conduct educational activities and receive tourists and pilgrims. In addition, famous fairs known throughout the country were held in these places. It is generally accepted that local authorities are inclined to revive these traditions. There are generally interesting places here.
In the vicinity of the Korennaya Hermitage there is the Feta estate (Vorobyevka) and the village of Ukalovo, where Tchaikovsky often visited. From the monastery itself, only the Holy Gate with the bell tower, the prosphora, the abbot’s building and the fraternal building survived. But it is not the houses and households lost by the monks that local citizens and guests regret, but their icon. Although she became the Hodegetria of the entire Russian diaspora and in this capacity again brings healing to people.
Kursk Root Hermitage in the photo
Address: 306050, Kursk region, 3olotukhinsky district, metro station Svoboda, Korennaya Hermitage Monastery
Root Deserts (Russia) - description, history, location. Exact address and website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.
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About half an hour’s drive from Kursk (30 km), on the banks of the quiet Tuskar River, in the 13th century, on the site of the discovery of the famous icon of the Mother of God “The Sign,” the unusually beautiful Kursk Root Monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Hermitage, revered in the center of Russia, was built.
As soon as one of them lifted it, a spring began to flow from this place, and when the man saw it, he placed the icon of the “Sign” of the Mother of God in the hole of this tree. The hunter told about such an unprecedented thing to his comrades, who, after consulting, built a chapel just above the mentioned place (where the cathedral Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was later built), in which they placed a wonderful icon. This incident is evidenced by the sculptural ensemble at the entrance to the monastery, created by the Kursk sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov.
Numerous pilgrims began to come to where the icon was found. And then Vasily Shemyaka, Prince of Rylsk, ordered her to be transported to the city of Rylsk. But the prince did not show worthy honors to the miraculous icon and soon became blind, regaining his sight only when he promised to build a church in Rylsk in the name of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where the miraculous icon was subsequently kept. Miraculously disappearing from the church, the icon returned to the place where the hunters found it. They tried to transport it to the city more than once, but every time the icon ended up at the place where it appeared.
In 1383, the Tatar-Mongols again attacked the land of Kursk and decided to burn down the chapel, but, alas, it did not catch fire. Then, in a rage, the wicked cut the holy icon in half. Elder Bogolyub found the remaining pieces and put them together, and, lo and behold, they grew together.
Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, having heard about the wonderful icon, issued a decree in 1597 to revive the city of Kursk. And the icon was transported to Moscow for veneration, where a special cypress board was built around it, on which there were images of prophets from the Old Testament, and it was placed in a frame made of silver with gilding, decorated with pearls and valuable stones. Queen Irina and her daughter Princess Theodosia embroidered the shroud for the setting with gold with their own hands. The “Sign” icon of the Mother of God was returned again to the Root Hermitage, where, at the direction of the Tsar-Father, a monastery and cathedral were built in the name of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In the 18th century, the Korennaya Hermitage was rebuilt with stone thanks to the donations of Field Marshal Boris Petrovich Sheremetyev, who had visited the holy monastery a little earlier.
The church of the life-giving spring was built over the miraculous spring, and stone gates with images of hell and the Last Judgment appeared.
The Root Desert has gone through many different events: destruction, devastation, closure and looting during the Soviet years, the Great Patriotic War, revival. It was only in 1989 that the monastery again appeared in the Kursk-Belgorod diocese, and a year later the monastery began a new life. Today, along with the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and the Nizhny Novgorod Diveyevo monastery of Seraphim of Sarov, Root Hermitage is the third religious center in Russia. Restoration work is underway here, divine services are held, there is a functioning monastery and a small almshouse.
Every day a huge number of pilgrims come to the church of the “Life-Giving Spring” icon and to the source itself for holy water and to plunge into the font. After all, they say that even the clothes you bathe in heal later.
A copy of the icon is in the monastery, and the original is in the New York (USA) Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. It is periodically brought to the monastery so that Russian believers can bow and touch the shrine.
The monastery is of extraordinary beauty! After restoration, its buildings, painted sky blue, look amazing!
Not long ago, a monument to Seraphim of Sarov (author - Vyacheslav Klykov), a native of the city of Kursk, was erected in the center of the monastery. Having been healed at the age of ten from a serious illness with the help of the miraculous icon “The Sign,” the monk later visited here several times.
In addition to pilgrimage trips, tourist excursions are often organized to the Kursk Root Hermitage. After all, the monastery is not only a blessed sacred place, but also our past, the history of Russia.
How to get there
From the Kursk railway station, take any minibus going to the Dubrovinsky stop, from which gazelle buses depart every 15 minutes to the village of Svoboda. Get off after about 30-40 minutes (it’s better to ask the driver for a stop).