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St. Elisabeth Monastery is one of the most famous churches of God in Belarus, which is the most revered among Christians all over the world. This is not just a female Orthodox monastery, it is the only functioning temple of its kind in the country at the present time, therefore it is a faithful stronghold of the Christian faith for every resident.
Divine service in the monastery
In two churches - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Reverend Martyr Princess Elizabeth - services are performed in accordance with the church charter, and the Inexhaustible Psalter is also read.
The Divine Liturgy begins at 7:00, the evening service begins at 18:00. The Sacrament of Communion and Confession is also celebrated in churches.
On a note! Depending on holidays, the schedule may vary. Therefore, it is better for parishioners to clarify all questions of interest in advance.
History[edit]
St. Elisabeth Convent is the only functioning monastery in the city of Minsk. Founded in the 1990s on a site where no churches previously existed. Named in honor of the holy martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. The basis for the monastery was the Orthodox sisterhood of the same name, which since 1996 has looked after the Republican Clinical Psychiatric Hospital and City Clinical Hospital No. 2.
The main goal of the monastery and sisterhood is spiritual and social assistance to sick and suffering people.
In the monastery churches: the lower one - in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (consecrated on December 10, 1999) and the upper one - in honor of the patron saint of the Venerable Martyr Elizabeth (consecrated on January 2, 2005), a full circle of the statutory Divine Service is performed daily, and the Inexhaustible Psalter is read.
Description
In the courtyard of the temple there are, as already mentioned, eight temples. In the lower one, named after St. Nicholas, a baptismal font was installed, and the interior was skillfully decorated with mosaics. Beautiful paintings with mosaic elements adorn the interior of the second church, in honor of the Venerable Martyr Elizabeth. The house church is named after Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg. At the capital's cemetery, a church was erected in honor of the Resurrection of the Righteous Lazarus of the Four Days. Orthodox burial rites for the dead are performed here.
On a note! Couples in love can get married in the Church of the Icon of Our Lady “Sovereign”. All ceremonial services are held there.
Not long ago the Church of the Royal Passion-Bearers was built. The rite of consecration has not yet been performed on it, since finishing work is being completed.
Interior of the temple in honor of the “Sovereign” Icon of the Mother of God of the St. Elisabeth Monastery
The monastery has a courtyard on Lysa Gora. There they built a temple in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “The Inexhaustible Chalice”. It is known in Orthodox circles that this miraculous image helps to get rid of bad habits, such as alcoholism and drug addiction. Construction activities for the temple in honor of Nektarios of Aegina have not been completed. A dome has just been installed on its roof.
Products
The workshops of the St. Elisabeth Monastery produce various church products. You can purchase goods from the workshops in the shop on the territory of the monastery or online. The official website of the online store of the St. Elisabeth Monastery sells exclusive handmade products:
- icons : painted, stone, triptychs, printed;
- crosses : wooden carved, pectoral, altar and altar crosses;
- books (including from the publishing house of the St. Elisabeth Monastery): the Bible, children's books, prayer books, fiction on spiritual topics;
- sewing products : hats, church vestments, towels and tablecloths, parish clothing;
- utensils : lamps, candles, censers, rosaries, incense;
- ceramics : dishes and church utensils;
- souvenirs : leather and wood products, brooches and pendants, personalized spoons.
Bench at the St. Elisabeth Monastery, © Anna Kudryavtseva
The balm from the St. Elisabeth Monastery is especially popular. But the healing cream-balm can only be purchased locally, at the monastery, or from some suppliers of natural cosmetics. This also applies to other cosmetics from the St. Elisabeth Monastery. Prices for products from the St. Elisabeth Monastery in Minsk are affordable, and the quality is famous throughout the Orthodox CIS countries.
Buy products from the St. Elisabeth Monastery
When visiting the monastery, you can take with you church items that need restoration. The shops of the St. Elisabeth Monastery are engaged not only in the sale, but also in the restoration of icons, crosses and other objects.
Elizabeth's Church inside: panoramic view
Activities of the parish
The main mission of the monastery is to help people who have faced difficult trials in life. The sisters mainly work with mentally ill and addicted people. We also provide assistance to children with special needs. Men who have decided to get rid of alcoholism and drug addiction undergo obedience here. Former prisoners who do not have a roof over their heads are also trying to socialize within the walls of the monastery.
To improve the monastery churches and outbuildings, workshops were opened on the territory. They employ precisely the same disadvantaged people whom they are trying to help improve the quality of their lives.
Divine service in the church of St. Elisabeth Monastery
The monastery created a website telling about saints canonized at different times. The resource is called “Saints of the Orthodox Church”. The monastery has a publishing house that produces educational literature. The pilgrimage service deals with the organization of foreign trips for pilgrims, and also receives believers, providing comfortable conditions for their stay.
Important! Women and men addicted to alcohol and drugs undergo rehabilitation in the monastery's courtyards. A professional psychologist conducts conversations both with addicted people themselves and with their relatives.
The sisters of the monastery periodically travel around the cities of Belarus and Russia in their own trailer. They hold fairs presenting products made in the workshops of the monastery. Entire puppet theater performances are performed for children. All the activities of the monastery are aimed at charitable assistance.
How to get there
Address of Elisaventskaya monastery: 220053, Republic of Belarus, Minsk, st. Vygotskogo, 6. You can get to the holy monastery by bus from the Southern Station of Kaliningrad (Zheleznodorozhnaya str., building 29). You need to take the Kaliningrad-Sovetsk bus, going through Slavsk, and then get off one stop before the village of Priozerye. Along the road you will see a sign leading to the monastery itself.
The convent in Minsk is not only a uniquely beautiful structure, but also a majestic monument of Orthodoxy, which is a real adornment of Belarus and the entire Christian world. And most importantly, it carries within itself the harmony of a true miracle and faith, which gives everyone who comes the eternal - God's grace.
The best article for you, go to: Temple of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God in Alekseevsky
May the Lord protect you!
You will also be interested in watching a video about the holy Minsk monastery:
Shrines and patronal feasts
In the churches of the monastery are kept particles of the relics of several saints: the venerable martyrs Elizabeth and Barbara, Saint Luke of Crimea, the holy martyrs Lyudmila and Natalia, and Saint John.
Particularly revered holidays in the monastery churches include:
- May 22, December 19 - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker;
- July 18 is the day of remembrance of the Holy Martyr Elizabeth;
- February 6, June 6 - Xenia of St. Petersburg;
- October 17 is the day of the Resurrection of St. Lazarus of the Four Days;
- March 15 - the “Sovereign” icon of the Mother of God is venerated;
- February 5 and 11, June 25, July 17 are the days of remembrance of the Royal Passion-Bearers;
- May 18 is the day of the icon of the Mother of God “The Inexhaustible Chalice”.
This list will be updated as the construction of new temples continues.
Current state[edit]
The monastery conducts active economic activities. It operates numerous workshops of various profiles - mural painting, mosaic, restoration, ceramics, sewing and others.
The monastery cooperates with the nearby Republican Clinical Psychiatric Hospital, Psychoneurological Boarding School No. 3, and a boarding home for disabled children with special needs of psychophysical development.
People suffering from alcohol and drug addiction, as well as people released from prison, undergo rehabilitation in the monastery's courtyards.
The monastery carries out charitable activities in the Republican Clinical Psychiatric Hospital, boarding schools for children and adults with special needs of psychophysical development, and city hospitals.
Rehabilitation of addicts at the monastery
The atmosphere of love, beauty, kindness and God's mercy provides all possible assistance to people who suffer from addiction to alcohol and drugs. Rehabilitation is also provided to people returning from prison and people with an unhealthy psyche.
Not only the atmosphere of the temple itself, communion with God, prayers, but also work helps to rehabilitate people. There are workshops in the monastery. People can visit mural painting, restoration, mosaic, ceramic, sewing, culinary, and pottery workshops. Doing housework, caring for the yard and garden, baking bread, and making cheese, which is then sold in a local shop, helps to return them to a peaceful life and clear their thoughts. The sisters will teach you how to embroider, draw pictures, make candles and many other crafts.
All these activities will help you find peace of mind and overcome addiction. It is in the monastery that people understand that there is another life, in work, for the good of their neighbor, life without selfish and evil thoughts.
The amazing fate of one woman
A German princess, a Russian princess, an Orthodox Saint - all this can be said about one woman: Elizabeth Feodorovna. It was in honor of her that the Belarusian monastery got its name.
The German princess, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England, having refused other suitors for her hand and heart, married her beloved man: the brother of the Russian Emperor Alexander III - Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. So, as fate would have it, she became one of the Romanov family then reigning in Russia.
Elizaveta Fedorovna devoted her entire life to charitable causes and helping those in need. She founded a charitable society, which was intended to help children, as they now say, from disadvantaged families. She did not have her own children in the family, but together with her husband they raised their nephews, since their own mother died during childbirth.
During the Russo-Japanese War, the princess organized a community to help soldiers, where clothes, medicines and other things necessary for soldiers were prepared. After the death of her husband, Princess Elizabeth sold most of her jewelry.
Using the money she received, she bought an estate in Moscow with 4 houses and a beautiful garden, and founded the Martha and Mary Convent there, where the sisters carried out charitable and medical work, helping everyone who asked for help.
It is surprising that this institution was not a monastery in the full sense of the word. The sisters took vows of obedience, non-covetousness and chastity, but after a certain time they could leave and start a family at their own discretion - they were freed from all the vows they had previously made.
Elizaveta Fedorovna accomplished many good deeds during her life. But after the revolution that took place in Russia, she was arrested and killed some time later. Together with other members of the Romanov family, they were thrown alive into a mine near the city of Alapaevsk and left to die of hunger and their wounds.
Witnesses said that for some time prayer chants could be heard from the mine, and the wounds of one of the dead were bandaged with a piece of Princess Elizabeth’s clothing.
And in 1992, the Russian Princess Elizaveta Fedorovna, a woman of difficult fate and amazing holiness, was canonized by the Orthodox Church. She began to be revered as a Saint.
