Alexander-Svirsky Monastery
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Alexander-Svirsky Monastery (Александро-Свирский монастырь) is a
The abbey was founded in 1487, when a
The monastery's founder died on August 30, 1533, and was buried at the Transfiguration cloister, which still serves as a burial place for the local monks. 12 years later, his disciples recounted his life in a biography. The church synod of 1547 canonized Alexander of the Svir, and the new saint became venerated throughout Russian lands. One of the chapels of the famous Saint Basil's Cathedral on Red Square, for instance, was consecrated to him.
The Russian tsars bestowed many important privileges on Alexander's cloister, including the right to appropriate taxes from the Svir Fair, which was held annually under the cloister walls. During the
This renewed prosperity was reflected in the monastic structures erected in the 1640s. In 1644, when the five-domed Transfiguration Cathedral was finished, Tsar
The vast lands of the Alexander Svirsky Monastery were secularized during Catherine the Great's ecclesiastical reform in 1764. The Transfiguration cloister continued as a seat of the local seminary and a residence of the Olonets archbishops, who rebuilt much of the monastery structures for their own needs.
Following the
As of 2005, the Transfiguration Cloister is the home to the local monastic community, while the Trinity Cloister still houses a
References
- ^ Figes, Orlando: A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924. The Bodley Head, London (2014). p. 528
External links
- (in Russian) Official website of the Alexander-Svirsky monastery
- (in English) Monastic Martyrs of Alexander-Svirsky Monastery