comments: 5, add yours
Varlaamo-Khutynsky monastery - (Varlaamo-Khutynsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky female (formerly male) monastery) is located on the right bank of the Volkhov River in the Novgorod district of the Novgorod region, 7 km from Veliky Novgorod and 3 km from Krechevitsy.
According to folk legend, this place was under the power of evil spirits and was called “Khutyn”, that is, a bad place. Here the monk Varlaam (in the world Alexa Mikhalevich) retired to prayer. One day Prince Yaroslav came to him. Saint Varlaam, blessing him, said, “Be healthy, prince, and with your noble son.” This greeting amazed the prince, who did not yet know about the birth of the baby (this was in 1190). Having cut down the cell and having won victory over evil spirits, he erected first a wooden and then a stone temple in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord (Church of the Savior in Khutyn). The church was consecrated on August 6, 1192 by Archbishop Gregory. The temple has not survived. After the annexation of Novgorod to Moscow, the Transfiguration Cathedral was built. The most famous building of the monastery is the Church of Gregory of Armenia.
In 1462, Ivan Vasilyevich III came to the Khutyn Monastery to venerate the holy relics and, according to legend, began asking the abbot why the crayfish were not opened so that everyone could venerate the holy relics. When, at his command, they began to dig up the grave of the Monk Varlaam, a pillar of fire burst out of the ground, scorching the wall and the southern door of the iconostasis. Ivan Vasilyevich ran out of the church in horror, striking the ground with his staff, and fire came out of the ground not only in the church, but also in the monastery. Throwing away his staff, the king left the monastery in great fear. This staff and the scorched altar door were kept in the monastery sacristy.
In 1611, the monastery became the residence of the command of the Swedes who attacked Veliky Novgorod.
The ashes of the great Russian poet Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin and his wife Daria Alekseevna are buried in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the Khutyn Monastery. Derzhavin died in 1816 in his house on the Zvanka estate. The coffin with the body of the deceased on a barge along the Volkhov went to its final resting place. During the Great Patriotic War, the monastery was destroyed. Derzhavin’s grave was also damaged. In 1959, the remains of the poet and his wife were reburied in the Novgorod Kremlin. In 1993, in connection with the 250th anniversary of the poet, his remains were returned to the monastery.
The monastery was closed in 1925. Since April 20, 1994, it has been an active convent.
Varlaamo-Khutyn Monastery: an island of faith and spiritual transformation
Throughout the year, the Varlaamo-Khutyn convent is open to visitors. Many come purposefully to Father Macarius, known from reviews of pilgrims. They call him “the clear sun” and people try to attend his services. It doesn’t matter whether you know how to correctly present a request or behave during a service: sincere prayers do not need conventions.
Not only tourists and believers visit the Varlaamo-Khutyn Monastery: the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate recorded news about the visit of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill to the monastery. It is impossible to imagine the sights of Veliky Novgorod without its pearl.
The official website of the Khutyn Monastery provides all the information: from the phone number to the cost of the required
History says that the Transfiguration Varlaamo-Khutyn Monastery was founded in a bad, bad place, the name of which reflected its notoriety - in Khutyn. But by the power of sincere prayer, Varlaam managed to cleanse a small island among the centuries-old forest from filth and evil spirits and build there the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior.
Today we see the Khutyn Monastery as it was built in the 16th–19th centuries. The monastery met the difficult times of the early twentieth century with the status of a military school, and its servants were repressed and exiled to camps. Later, in the beautiful monastery, the revolutionary authorities founded a psychiatric hospital, which is not at all surprising given the state of hopeless darkness in which the country lived.
Khutyn Convent: the final resting place of the monastery servants
Thanks to the novices, the temple and monastery buildings were restored to their former appearance, and life returned to the holy place in Khutyn.
Khutyn Monastery in Veliky Novgorod: a wonderful view opens from the bell tower
The monastery, like Detinets in Novgorod, are symbols of the spiritual revival of the country
The holy monk Varlaam loved to pray from childhood and knew the course of the service well
The future ascetic was the son of noble parents, famous in Veliky Novgorod. His parents, Mikhail and Anna, were not only pious Christians themselves, but were also able to instill in their son a love for Christ.
At that time, children learned to read from liturgical books, and Alexey, the name of the Monk Varlaam of Khutyn before he was tonsured as a monk, was no exception. The boy knew the course of the service well and loved to pray in church.
He loved fasting and solitude so much that his parents began to worry about his health and asked him not to exhaust himself. To which the son answered them:
“I, dear parents, read a lot of sacred books, but nowhere did I find that the parents themselves advised their children anything bad, as you advise me.
Isn’t the kingdom of heaven dearer to us than anything else?
But it is not food and drink that will lead us there, but fasting and prayer.”
The life of the saint tells us that his father and mother allowed him to live at his discretion. After the death of his parents, he distributed all his property to the needy and went to the desert to the Monk Porfiry, who tonsured him as a monk with the name Varlaam.
Holy Venerable Varlaam of Novgorod the Wonderworker
Khutyn Monastery: how to get there, schedule, address on the official website
Any resident of the Novgorod region will tell you how to get to the Varlaamo-Khutyn Monastery and will certainly share rumors about miraculous healings.
From St. Petersburg, the road to the monastery will take almost three hours, which the travel agency “Charm Travel” offers to spend in the company of its guides
If you are interested in the Varlaamo-Khutyn Monastery, the schedule of services can be found on the official website. The address of the monastery is not determined by the street, house number and telephone number: the wonderful place is known far beyond the borders of the region and the country.
Pupils of Sunday schools come to the monastery
In addition to the famous holy spring and the relics of St. Varlaam, the monastery is known as the burial place of the statesman Gabriel Derzhavin and his wife.
Transfiguration Cathedral
Our company invites everyone to go to Novgorod and touch the shrine. Book trips on the Sharm Travel website, use your weekends to get acquainted with the history of the country and region. We will select for you the most interesting route with a visit to the convent in Khutyn.
Varlaam took care of the monastery even after his death
Both great princes and simple peasants turned to Saint Varlaam for help. For his unparalleled humility, God gave him the gift of insight and healing. There are many known cases when, even during the life of Varlaam, through his prayers the Lord healed people and even resurrected them.
He was merciful to those who diligently carried out their labors, and harsh to those who did not show mercy. In the legend about the life of the Monk Varlaam, we can read about an incident when famine occurred in Novgorod. This happened after the death of the holy elder.
Hungry townspeople came to the monastery gates to ask for bread, but Abbot Nikifor ordered the gates to be closed. At night, the monk came to him in a dream and began to reprimand him for his cruelty, and then punished him with a rod.
In the morning, Nikifor could not move his arm or leg and was forced to retire to the Chudov Monastery.
Even after his death, the Monk Varlaam did not stop caring for the monastery.
Everyone who came to pray at his tomb received an answer to their prayers.
A large number of testimonies about healings and miracles that occurred through prayers at the relics of the saint prompted Novgorod Archbishop Euthymius to begin examining his relics.
When the stone lid was removed from the coffin in 1452, the saint’s relics were found incorrupt.
The burial of St. Varlaam
After this, the relics continued to remain closed. In 1471, the Grand Duke of Moscow, John III, conquered Novgorod. He came to venerate the holy relics of the monk. “Why don’t they open the Saint’s tomb?” - he began to ask abbot Nathanael.
“For a long time, no one has dared to see the relics of the wonderworker,” the abbot answered, “neither for princes, nor for archbishops, nor for boyars they open them until the Lord is pleased to express His will.”
Then the Grand Duke in anger ordered the coffin to be opened, but as soon as they began to lift the stone board and dig the ground, thick smoke came out of the Saint’s coffin and then a flame that scorched the walls of the temple.
In horror, the prince fled with his retinue from the temple, dropping his staff. This rod and the burnt door of the altar were kept in the sacristy of the temple for a long time.
Mid-price hotels
Hotel "Volkhov" is located in the very center of the city, providing guests with comfortable rooms with all amenities. The price includes a buffet breakfast.
- Address: st. Predtechenskaya, 24.
- Phone (reservation), (administrator).
- Cost of living: single room: 2150 rubles, double room: 2900–3100 rubles.
Hotel "Novgorodskaya" is located on a quiet street in the very center of the city. Guests are offered rooms with all amenities, breakfast, and free Wi-Fi.
- Address: st. Desyatinnaya, 6A.
- Telephone.
- Cost of living: from 2000 rub.
The Yuryevskoe Podvorye complex is a spacious countryside tourist complex designed to accommodate organized groups. Stylized numbers.
- Website: www.tk-podvorie.ru
- Address: Yuryevskoe highway, 6A
- Phone, fax, 94-60-63.
- Cost of living: from 2800 rub.
Architectural ensemble of the monastery
North-west of the main temple of the monastery there is a single-domed pillarless church of Varlaam Khutynsky with an extensive refectory, built in the middle of the 16th century. The building is square in plan, externally elongated upward, with 3 apses. Inside the building is divided into 2 floors. There was a kitchen in the basement.
The refectory in the western part is a spacious, bright room with 2 octagonal pillars and vaulted ceilings. Opposite the entrance of the Transfiguration Church, above the southern gate to the monastery, rises a church with a bell tower, made in the Baroque style in the form of a triumphal arch. The lower floors of the belfry are massive and of the same size, decorated with columns.
Against the background of such a base, the completion of the bell tier looks rather meager. The architect of the building was D.V. Ukhtomsky. On the 2nd floor today there is the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. The nursing building is a 2-story building with a house church, consecrated in honor of the Holy Pope Leo.
On the territory of the monastery there is a hill, which the monk himself created when constructing a cave cell. Today there is a wooden chapel on its top. Today a canopy has been installed over the well, dug by Varlaam himself. All monastery buildings with an orchard are surrounded by a white stone fence.
Interior decoration
The interior of the Transfiguration Church was restored in the traditions of the 16th century, with an open arch of the altar opening and a tyablo iconostasis. The walls of the temple are decorated with flat pilasters, which serve as visual supports for the arches of the side nave. The corner pilasters have a double shape, creating a clear rhythm and integrity of the interior. The walls are divided in height by a cornice under the windows.
See also: Petrovsky Travel Palace in Moscow. History, photos, hotel, excursions, interesting facts
The dome is light with narrow, raised girth arches, creating a feeling of lightness and spaciousness. The entire interior is very light and airy. An interesting feature is a stone staircase leading from the opening in the altar to the dome, the purpose of which is not clearly established.
Mentors
Over its long history, the monastery has changed a huge number of mentors, many of whom were glorified as saints.
Particularly noted by the Orthodox Church:
- Reverend Abbot Anthony of Dymsky, who was appointed to lead the monastery by Saint Barlaam.
- Saint Anthony of Pskov and Novgorod.
Today the abbess of the monastery is nun Alexia Simdyankina.
Cheap accommodation
Rest rooms at the city's railway station. The rooms are located in the station building, amenities are on the floor
- Address: st. Oktyabrskaya, 5.
- Telephone.
- Cost of living: from 350 rub./person.
Hotel "Roza Vetrov" offers comfortable rooms, a shared kitchen, and free Wi-Fi.
- Address: st. Novoluchanskaya, 27.
- Telephone.
- Cost of living: 1400 rub. for a room without amenities (on the floor), 2500 rubles. room with amenities.
Hostel "Yaroslav": rooms have bunk beds, free Wi-Fi.
- Address: st. Nikolskaya, 4
- Telephone.
- Cost of living: from 400 rub./person.
Interesting facts about the monastery
The oldest Novgorod official document of the 12th century is a parchment document about Varlaam’s contribution of lands to the property of the monastery, today it is kept in the State Museum of Novgorod. For a long time, the scorched altar door and the personal staff of Tsar Ivan III, with which an amazing event is connected, were kept in the sacristy of the monastery.
During the veneration of the holy incorruptible relics, the king began to pester the abbot of the monastery to open the saint’s shrine for general open worship. When the abbot gave in to the royal requests and began to dig the grave, a powerful column of fire came out of it, scorching the church walls and the wooden door.
Ivan Vasilyevich ran out of the building in horror, but the fire continued to pursue him, bursting out of the ground with every blow of the cane. The king threw down his staff and left the monastery in fear. Just before the closure of the monastery, the later widely known Pavel Gruzdev was a reader and sang in the choir. Patriarch Alexy I was Archbishop of Khutyn.
Service schedule, operating hours
The monastery is open to pilgrims and parishioners every day from 6 to 21-30. Everyone can attend daily church services, which in the Varlaamo-Khutyn Church begin according to the following schedule.
Schedule:
- Divine Liturgy on weekdays is served from 7 a.m.
- Evening services begin on weekdays at 6 p.m.
- The All-Night Vigil is served on the eve of holidays and Sundays from 5 p.m.
- Sunday liturgy starts at 10 a.m.
- Confession is performed before the start of the morning service at 6:30 and 8:30.
After mass at 12 noon, a weekly prayer service to St. Barlaam is served. On Saturdays after the morning service, by prior arrangement, the sacrament of baptism is performed.
Shrines and relics
The main shrine of the monastery is the silver shrine over the incorruptible relics of the Saint. Many royalty came here to worship. The flow of pilgrims is not decreasing even now. Many archbishops and metropolitans of the Novgorod land found their rest in the monastery cemetery.
The Holy Hill with a chapel erected above the site of the Saint’s cave cell is especially revered. Tradition says that the monk applied this soil with his palms. It is customary to walk around the slide barefoot, performing internal prayer. According to the testimony of numerous pilgrims, what is asked is always fulfilled, and through the prayers of the Saint, special healing is granted for various leg diseases and headaches.
