Diveevo! Few Orthodox believers do not know the name of this village in the south of the Nizhny Novgorod region. Pilgrims from all over the world flock here to touch the shrines and ask for intercession and help from the almighty. This is such a deep place that it is not for us, bad and sinful, to talk about it. Frankly, it took us a long time to gather our courage before opening an empty computer file and starting to write these lines. In this article we will tell you how to get to Diveevo, what you should have with you, and give tips that will help make your trip as complete and useful as possible.
Where is Diveevo located? How to get there
It is best to consider Nizhny Novgorod . The distance from it to the village of Diveevo is about 170 kilometers. It all depends on which area of the city you are coming from. We counted from the Moskovsky station.
You can also get from Moscow to Diveevo It's better to hit the road in your own car. The road will pass through Vladimir and Murom. Its length will be 450 kilometers. It’s a bit far, but if you go for a few days, then this is the best option. The main thing in this case is the lack of connection to transport. You can come and go whenever you want. At the same time you can go around the surrounding area. For example, stop by Arzamas or Bolshoye Boldino, where the house-museum of A.S. Pushkin is located. We're not even talking about visiting Vladimir and Suzdal. This way you can have a great interesting trip. A real journey. We are sure it will be remembered for a very long time.
Those who are going to Diveevo by car should be pleased with the availability of free parking on the territory of the monastery. A little further in the text there will be a large map of the territory - there you will see where the entrance to the parking lot is located.
For those who come from very far away, you can get to Nizhny Novgorod. Next, take a regular bus. Buses to Diveevo depart from the TRC Nebo bus station almost every hour (the route is called “Nizhny Novgorod - Sarov”).
Travel time is 3 hours 20 minutes. You can buy a bus tour to Diveevo in advance.
History of Diveevo
The village of Diveevo is located almost on the border with Mordovia. According to one of the ancient legends, its first owner was Murza Divey, from whom the name came. Ivan the Terrible granted Diveya a princely title and lands for his special merits.
The village was located at the intersection of the most famous pilgrimage roads. Here in the 18th century a small church was built in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Wanderers and pilgrims found their shelter in it. In 1760, Agafya Semenovna Melgunova came to the monastery. She took monastic vows and became the founder of the local monastery.
She mortgaged the temple with her own savings. This village is home to various shrines, where pilgrims are sure to come every year. When visiting Diveevo, many tourists are interested in where they should definitely go and what to visit.
What to take with you to Diveevo
This list is compiled based on our own “punches”. We got together somehow spontaneously and went completely unprepared, so we experienced some, to put it mildly, inconveniences. I hope our list will help you make your trip more comfortable and rewarding.
- Cash. Our whole problem was that we only had small change in cash. Having relied on plastic cards, we were horrified to discover that they were not accepted on the territory of the monastery. There is absolutely no time to run around and look for an ATM to get cash during an excursion. Money is needed, for example, to buy candles, give notes, and just to have a snack.
- Text of the prayer: “ O Mother of God, Virgin, rejoice. Blessed Mary, the Lord is with you. Blessed are You among women and blessed is the Fruit of Your womb, for You have given birth to the Savior of our souls .” Learn it in advance or print it on a small piece of paper as a cheat sheet. Have it with you. Why, more on that later.
- Beads. Do you know what this is? If not, then this is a thread with beads like a bracelet or necklace. There should be 30 or 50 beads. Again, why? Do not hurry. We'll explain in due time. For now, just put it in your bag. If not, buy it at any church store. It will come in handy.
- Again, without further explanation, we recommend taking several bags with you. Not big ones, but very small ones, in which they sell loaves in stores.
- Swimming trunks for men and nightgowns for women. This is in case you decide to swim in the holy springs. Even if right now, as you read these lines, you are not going to swim, still take your swimwear. Anything can happen, suddenly you want it, but there’s nothing to it. Of course, you still need to grab towels.
- Containers for holy water. There are no special restrictions here. You can take at least a 10-liter bottle.
What and why is needed will become clear later in the text. In principle, almost all of these things are sold in numerous shops right on the spot. But why, say, buy swimming trunks if you already have 3-4 pairs. The same goes for nightshirts, water bottles and other things.
Bus tour Nizhny Novgorod - Diveevo begins
The cost of the excursion for an adult is 1100 rubles. For a child - 800-900 rubles. The program includes visits to Diveevo and Arzamas. Arzamas is located along the way, so it would be wrong not to stop by for an hour and a half. Although, there is a route only to Diveevo.
Our excursion bus departed at 9.00 from Lenin Square. When boarding the bus, everyone was told where they were sitting. Naturally, we got seats on the sunny side. Before we could start to get upset, the driver closed the doors and the car set off. Looking around, we were delighted to find that the last row of seats (our favorite seats) was completely empty.
It was just luck that the bus was half empty. Otherwise we would have been roasting in the sun all the way. So let me give you one more piece of advice. If you are traveling to Diveevo from Nizhny Novgorod in the morning, it is better to take seats on the right side of the bus. It’s just amazing, but no one else moved to the right except us. Why?
Just a few words about the group. When our lady guide started asking who was from where, we were surprised to discover that there were only four Nizhny Novgorod residents on the bus. The remaining participants came, without exaggeration, from all over the country and even from abroad. There was a couple from Vladivostok, two ladies from Kyiv, someone from the Stavropol region, a small group from Pskov. We didn’t remember everyone, but as you can see, the geography is impressive.
A pilgrimage tour to Diveevo is a very special event. Here they don’t quarrel with each other about seats on the bus, don’t push each other while boarding, don’t speak loudly, don’t laugh at the top of their lungs, and don’t pester neighbors with all sorts of empty talk. The environment is calm and focused. This is understandable. We are not going to some rodelbahn in Gorokhovets, not to the underground speleology museum in Peshelani, or even on a sightseeing tour of Nizhny Novgorod. We have a meeting with a special place ahead. We must behave accordingly.
Go. The bus taxied onto the metro bridge and rushed across the Oka River. Suddenly I thought that now people from other cities are looking at Nizhny Novgorod, getting to know it, making some kind of first impression. We tried to look at the city through the eyes of a guest. Here's what we got:
The bus rushed along the new metro bridge, rose to the upper part of the city, then drove along Gagarin Avenue towards the Shcherbinki-II microdistrict. I think the guests must have liked what they saw. Especially if someone came from a small town. Of course, it was impossible to say that we felt proud of our city. Fortunately, the guests did not see any old “bedbug infestations” in the vicinity of the station or the backwaters of other outlying areas. Otherwise, we would definitely have collapsed from shame.
When we left the city and drove along the Arzamas highway, the guests could witness large-scale road construction. So large that a temporary bypass road was built to bypass the problem area. On the main highway, a unique job was carried out to compare relief convexities.
Hills that were too high were “cut off”, and lowlands that were too deep were filled with soil. For what? So that in winter loaded trucks can have a chance to “pull” their cargo up a high slope and not accelerate too much on sharp descents:
The rest of the road here is quite good. There is only one big BUT. There are very few gas stations on the Arzamas highway. Very! Therefore, if you drive your own car, try to refuel in advance so as not to spoil your nerves.
After about an hour and a half of travel, a sanitary stop awaited us. The roadside complex "Caramel", which does not reach the city of Arzamas, hospitably opens the doors of a cafe, motel, toilets and even a laundry room with a shower to everyone passing by. Since the stop lasted only 15 minutes, we, naturally, did not take a shower, but we had the happy pleasure of admiring the building of the complex itself.
We have always liked architectural solutions that greet visitors with welcoming “faces” from afar. When building the “Caramel” complex, the architects decided to increase the impact on travelers and designed this “friendly” façade:
And at night they also glow! Horrible! Can you imagine what it will be like for a “tired traveler” to find himself face to face with the façade of the “Caramel” complex?
Letting us off the bus, the guide said that the cost of a taxi fare from here to the village of Diveevo was 2,000 rubles. By doing this, she made it clear what would happen to those who did not return to the bus within the allotted 15 minutes. Looking ahead, we would like to say that on pilgrimage tours people behave more responsibly. During the entire excursion, no one was late for the bus.
As a contrast: when we were on a bus tour of Kazan, one couple decided to leave the tour altogether at the next stop. It would seem that it’s their business, let them blame all four. But if they had at least warned about this. For about 30 minutes, the rest of the participants sat on the bus, and the guide tried to find slobs at the next object. Only later, when they got through to them through the travel agency, it became clear that they just up and left. Well done! That's how it should be!
Then our bus took us through the city of Arzamas. On the advice of the guide, we decided to go to Diveevo first, and then on the way back to see the cathedrals of Arzamas.
And then, 3 hours after leaving, we found ourselves at the destination of our trip.
Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery
The very first thing our lady guide did was stop the group at a large map of the monastery. Within a few minutes, she showed us all the most important objects and indicated the collection time after visiting the monastery.
If you are also planning to go to Diveevo, then here’s
monastery (2.3Mb). You can download it and take a closer look.
The excursion program did not include organized group visits to temples and other sites. In fact, we were given time so that everyone could spend it as they saw fit.
However, in the allotted two and a half hours it was worth doing the following things:
- venerate the relics of Father Seraphim,
- walk along the groove of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
- collect holy land.
It just seems to you that all this can be done in half an hour. Real life is much richer than our wildest assumptions. Our plans can be adjusted at any time, and all we have to do is carry out whatever the higher powers desire. Our group was very lucky. I hope you have good luck too.
Many people who have never been to Diveevo wonder along the way: what is it like, the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery? What will we see when we enter the territory? How do you generally behave so that you don’t get reprimanded?
Upon entering the gate, you will see this panorama:
On the left is the pilgrim's house. In simple terms, this is a hotel for those who come to the monastery for a few days. According to reviews, the hotel is very worthy. The rooms are warm, with all amenities and modern furniture. Surprisingly, but true: there is a bar on each floor, and there is a cafe in the basement. All this is in stark contrast to other pilgrimage centers with old, creaky beds and courtyard amenities.
There is a free parking lot in front of the pilgrim's house. The main advice is to book your rooms in advance. There are enough people who want to live on the territory of the monastery. Phone for booking: +7 (83134) 4-34-45, +7(83134)3-00-23.
To the right are two yellow and one blue buildings. The novices of the monastery live here - tourists are prohibited from entering there.
To the right you will see a high bell tower and the Kazan Cathedral:
It is there, in the arch of the bell tower, that the bulk of the monastery’s visitors head.
In the refectory
The dining rooms in the monastery are called refectory rooms. In most modern Russian monasteries, along with paid buffets, there are free refectories for pilgrims. They feed on a schedule. Before eating, according to the rules, it is customary to pray. If you come with a pilgrim group, in which people are believers, then they will most likely want to pray before eating. Stand with everyone, even if you don’t know the prayer.
If you are traveling on your own, but have not learned how to pray, just try to behave as modestly as possible and not talk while eating. It is also not customary to throw away food in refectories. Therefore, take the portion that you will eat.
Trinity Cathedral. How to properly venerate the relics of Seraphim of Sarov
Incredible, but true: the queues to the Trinity Cathedral can amaze the imagination. The guide said that the longest time she and her group spent in line to see the relics of St. Father Seraphim was 6 hours (SIX HOURS!!!).
On our previous visits to Diveevo, we ourselves saw large lines of people who were patiently waiting for their chance to touch the shrine. Probably, only true believers who come from very far away will be able to withstand such a test. Ordinary tourists traveling for purely educational or entertainment purposes will not bother themselves.
As the guide said, she usually takes on the difficult task of standing in line, letting the group go to do other things, coming up from time to time and checking her turn.
When we arrived, a crowd of about 200 people was swaying in front of the entrance. According to the guide, one could say that “there was no queue at all today.” The estimated wait time to enter the Trinity Cathedral turned out to be approximately 20-30 minutes. The lady guide told us to wander around the area for now and after 20 minutes we would gather here at the entrance. She herself remained to guard our place.
After the specified time, we gathered at the entrance. The line really moved forward and we found ourselves almost at the gate to the temple:
It seemed that we were almost at the goal, if I may say so. But, as mentioned earlier, life is richer. When there were only a few people left in front of us, the gates of the cathedral were closed for cleaning. We had to “walk” for another half hour. The guide stayed in line again so that we wouldn’t have to stand in it again later.
A few words about the queue itself. People do not stand in a chain one by one. This is understandable - then the line of pilgrims would stretch to the entrance to the monastery territory. Imagine a line of soldiers with about five people in each row. This is what the queue to the cathedral looked like. Only here, of course, there were no straight rows and columns.
The people gradually moved forward, but no one pushed, no one tried to get forward. At the gate the queue became a little narrower - about 2-3 people in a row, and people approached the shrine with relics one at a time. Therefore, the queue goes quite slowly at the very end and gets faster as it approaches the entrance to the cathedral.
The conversations of pilgrims are also significantly different from the gossip that can be heard in a regular queue. No one talked about politics, their illnesses, or discussed medicines or gardening problems. Mostly people stood silently, and those who spoke quietly discussed only topics related to religion. At least we didn’t hear any other conversations.
On the approach to the cathedral there is a small kiosk where you can submit notes - requests, order commemorations, masses, memorial services and other similar things.
Here are the prices:
But then the gates opened again and it was our turn.
How to properly venerate the relics of Seraphim of Sarov
Good for believers. They know the rules and do everything as expected. But if a simple person approaches a shrine, his actions may be clumsy. This will make both himself and the people around him feel awkward. To avoid embarrassment, it is enough to know how to apply the relics correctly.
Two bows, they touched the cloth cape with their lips or cheek, another bow, they walked away. If in doubt, watch how other people do it.
It would seem that everything is quite simple. But in the temple you can get confused, worried and mess up something. Therefore, while you are standing in line, you can mentally perform these simple steps. If you have a pectoral cross, you need to pull it out from under your clothes. When you venerate the relics, the cross will certainly touch the reliquary and will be considered consecrated. If you want to consecrate other things - wedding rings or something like that, give them to the minister before adding them to the relics. She will do everything right. Do not attempt this step yourself. You all don't know how to do it early!
Unfortunately, at the shrine with the relics of Seraphim of Sarov we are faced with two directly opposite rules: on the one hand, one must venerate the relics thoughtfully, without fuss. On the other hand, it is also somehow impolite to linger at the shrine for a long time. After all, there is a considerable queue behind you. Some came from the other side of the country or even from abroad.
What to do?
I don’t know if this is the rule, or if we were somehow especially lucky, but in the afternoon at the entrance to the cathedral one could see this picture:
Look: no one! NOBODY!!! There is usually a long queue here. Where the canopy ends is the cathedral gate (on the right). They are open. So the cathedral is open. That is, if we had not tried to immediately go into the cathedral, but had done it later, then we would not have had to stand in line at all, or rush, performing the ritual at the relics. As they say, if only I had known in advance.
You are not allowed to take photographs inside the cathedral itself. Therefore, we cannot show you photos of the interior decoration. The personal belongings of St. Seraphim are especially revered. His shoes, his clothes, even his hoe. All this lies in glass cases to the left of the shrine with the relics. Many people don't even know that these items are here. They are also shrines worshiped by the Orthodox.
To the right of the shrine there is a small icon - the same one that Father Seraphim himself prayed to. There is also a queue for her. People ask her for help in their affairs. There is a misconception about how to make requests to an icon. It is believed that one must mentally say the request while standing right in front of the icon, then bow, venerate and move away.
For this reason, many people linger at the icon for a long time, creating a queue.
How to? You really need to mentally say your request. But you can do this on the way, while still standing in line. When approaching the icon, you need to make two bows, kiss your lips or forehead, bow one more time and move away. Under no circumstances should you touch sacred objects with your hands!
In total, we spent about 10 minutes in the Trinity Cathedral. It was possible to stay longer, but there was another action next, which is also a must when visiting Diveevo.
Rules of conduct in church
The first thing you can pay attention to is clothing. You should not dress provocatively when going to church; too much jewelry will also be inappropriate. Women must wear skirts no longer than knee length and hats. Men, on the contrary, take off their hats and caps when entering the temple. Shorts and short pants are not acceptable for everyone.
We also read a review of other “women’s” questions about the trip to Diveevo
How to prepare for a trip to Diveevo, and what to take with you?
What can and cannot be done on the territory of the monastery: popular questions
For modern women, the issue of clothing comes to the fore. Many people quite sincerely do not understand how you can travel in skirts? Here, of course, it’s a matter of everyone’s choice. But what if you know that the trip program will include a visit to the monastery, or? Moreover, if you yourself want to visit a holy place, take a skirt with you.
Now in churches and monasteries, right at the entrance, there are places where aprons-skirts sewn from light fabrics hang (or lie), which can be tied directly over clothes. But this is still a last resort for those who accidentally find themselves in the temple. For those who are planning a trip in advance, it is better to bring a skirt from home.
Silence should be maintained in the temple. Turn off cell phones or put them on silent mode. Even if you just want to light a candle or see the interior of the temple. Respect the feelings of believers who came here to pray.
You must be prepared that during special prayers at a church service, the church door may be closed for a while in order to stop the flow of people walking. Also at this time there is no service at the church box: they do not sell candles and icons and do not accept notes.
Canal of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Surely many have heard this name, but... what kind of groove is this? how does she look? Why is it so revered among Orthodox Christians?
On November 25, 1823, the Mother of God appeared to Father Seraphim. The Mother of God showed him the place in Diveevo where he needed to build a monastery, and ordered him to surround it with a ditch and a rampart. Thanks to this event, the Diveyevo Monastery was created. The groove of the Virgin Mary is a broken line, an open heptagon with a symbolic length of the sides - 777 meters.
During the life of Father Seraphim, 6 sides were dug. The last one was completed after his death. It is believed that when the Antichrist comes, he will pass everywhere, but will not jump over the grooves.
Let's see what the groove of the Most Pure Queen of Heaven looks like:
The groove is on the right. Do you see the green spacers? Apparently they keep the banks from crumbling. Along the shaft along the groove there is a path fenced with a fence.
Brief Life of Saraphim of Sarov
The saint labored in the Sarov hermitage in the Nizhny Novgorod province. His life was accompanied by solitude, performing miracles, communicating with animals, spiritual instructions to everyone who came to him for advice and prophecies about the future of Russia. A righteous lifestyle allowed the saint to see Christ, the Most Holy Theotokos and the angels of the Lord during his lifetime.
- Founded the Diveyevo women's monastic monastery. Thanks to Seraphim’s feat in those places, the Mother of God appeared to him. Diveevo is considered one of the four inheritances of the Mother of God on earth. Today the monastery has become one of the centers of world Orthodoxy. The monastery is visited by believers and pilgrims from all over the world.
Source of the article: https://zapiski.elitsy.ru/church/prp-serafim-sorovskiy
How to correctly walk the Canal of the Virgin Mary?
Scroll back and look at the text of the prayer “O Theotokos, Virgin, Rejoice...”. Walking along the path at the top of the shaft, you must say this prayer 150 times (one hundred and fifty times). If you do everything as expected, then passing the Holy Canal takes about 40 minutes. People here walk slowly, intently reciting a prayer.
But how not to lose count? It’s only at the very beginning that you can bend your fingers and count “times” to yourself. But no longer in your third or fourth decade, you will most likely begin to get confused. As a result, you will, of course, pass the groove, but not being sure of the accuracy of the calculation, you will be immersed in heavy thoughts that you did everything wrong.
Rosary beads help. Do you know what this is? Yes, here they are:
We are ashamed to admit our ignorance, but previously we had never understood the purpose of this item. It was obvious that he had something to do with religion. There is even an expression: “to pray while fingering the rosary.” But we didn’t understand why we were going through them.
The excursion to Diveevo filled the knowledge gap. It turns out that rosaries are needed precisely in order not to lose count when reading prayers. After all, many prayers must be said more than once. After each repetition, we “shift” the next bead on the bracelet. And so on until they are all over.
Of course, it is not necessary to have a rosary with 150 beads. It is enough for there to be 30 or 50 of them. Then you will have to make, respectively, 5 or 3 circles around the bracelet. But this is still much easier than trying to count in our mind how many times we have already said the prayer and how many are left.
Pay attention to how much the rosary costs in the monastery. You can buy them in advance at any church store. It will cost less. Although... you might want to have rosary beads from Diveevo. Then get your fat wallet ready. You see the price. Please note that plastic cards are not accepted here.
In light of the described rule for passing the groove of the Virgin Mary, it no longer seems surprising that people walk along it slowly, as if immersed in a light trance. After all, if you walk quickly, the path will end before you have read the prayer the prescribed 150 times. And you are not supposed to go to the second round.
It's actually very good that the groove is divided into 7 sections. This helps you maintain the correct walking pace. After completing the first segment, you should have the prayer read 21 times. If you don’t have time, you can slow down and even stop altogether, as many do.
Let's see some more photos of the Heavenly Queen Groove:
The most amazing and unexpected thing: behind the fence of the monastery, despite all this, the most ordinary life goes on. Children go to school, some ride bicycles and scooters. Talking loudly. Here's one who rode a hoverboard. All this happens very close. Local residents are probably so accustomed to being next to a monastery known throughout the world that they do not attach much importance to it.
At the same time, even in our group there were people from Vladivostok! They flew almost 7,000 kilometers to walk along Our Lady's Canal. And some come from abroad! Still, life is not quite fair. Those who “need” are forced to endure enormous inconveniences and difficulties in order to get what they want. Others, who either “don’t need it at all” or “don’t need it that much,” walk by every day and don’t even notice.
Of course, one could write beautifully about how God sends us such trials, only true believers will overcome obstacles, etc. But is this really true?
I remember another pilgrimage tour we went on a few years ago. It was an excursion to the Trinity Makaryev Zheltovodsky Monastery. Then the driver of the excursion bus did not bother to study the route in advance, got lost and for some time drove us along the intricacies of local roads. It got to the point where I had to ask locals for directions.
Then the guide, without blinking an eye, said that it was the Lord God himself who did not let us into the monastery, sending us a test. We, of course, cannot know for sure, but isn’t it so often that we cover up our personal mistakes, laziness, reluctance to change something with the will of above? If this is really the case, then God, looking at us from above, most likely draws the appropriate conclusions.
I don’t know about the rest, but we wouldn’t want, when the time comes, to be labeled a quitter, a slacker and a couch potato. Wouldn't it be better to act in such a way that God would have reason to evaluate us more positively?
After passing the Canal of the Virgin Mary, a small chapel awaits us. In it you can get a handful of crackers completely free of charge. In addition, you can collect holy soil, which you can then use as a talisman. This is where the bags that were mentioned at the beginning of the text in the “don’t forget” list come in handy.
If you don't have bags, you can buy them here. Not that expensive - 5 rubles apiece. In general, you can buy at the monastery everything that you forgot to take with you. You can also buy souvenirs and icons:
The last photo shows gooseberry cuttings. These are cut off excess branches of plants growing in the ditch. They are brought here. It is believed that if you take a cutting and put it in water, it will give roots; you can plant gooseberries from Diveevo .
If you want to conduct such an experiment, you need to have some kind of vessel with water, into which you immediately lower the cut of the cutting. Or at least wrap it in a wet rag. Otherwise, during the return journey the cutting will dry out and will not germinate.
Monument-icon to the royal family
Among other things, you are unlikely to be able to pass by this special attraction of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery. The monument was erected quite recently, so if you have been to Diveevo before, you may well have missed it.
The sculptural composition is located between the Transfiguration Cathedral and building number 6 (look at the map of the monastery). She is also revered as an icon. Very strong work:
Next there will be several photographs of the monument. They will give you the opportunity to look at the details:
Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra
Tsarevich Alexy
Grand Duchess Maria, Grand Duchess Olga
Grand Duchess Tatiana, Grand Duchess Anastasia
Sometimes a lot of people gather in front of this icon-monument. But there are moments when there is not a soul. So if you want to take photos, take your time. There will definitely be a moment when you can do it without fuss and without a single person.
From general advice to pilgrims
Despite its tourist attractiveness, Diveevo is, first of all, a holy place, a monastery where people pray, and where one should come to pray. Therefore, the most important thing will be if you are willing and able to tune in to prayer.
Yes, this is not easy work, especially for beginners and people with little church faith. But if you try, you will get from the trip not just new impressions and emotional delights, but something more and deeper. What goes into the very heart.
Try to plan your trip in such a way that prayer takes a central place in it, starting from getting ready and ending with the visit to Diveyevo itself.
God bless you!
Tatyana Strakhova
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What else can you see on the territory of the monastery?
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to film in the cathedrals. So let's take a short photo walk around the territory of the monastery.
This is the so-called over-chapel . It is located on the square in front of the Trinity Cathedral. There is a cross in the chapel from which holy water flows. You can type it here, but it’s better not to rush, because there’s still a trip to the springs ahead. We just saw some people picking up large bottles of water here and then carrying them around, continuing to explore the area.
The territory of the monastery itself is very well maintained. The lawns are mowed, there are flower beds everywhere. There is a monastery garden with apple trees. There are benches and even fountains:
There are places on the territory of the monastery where ordinary visitors are not allowed to enter. This applies not only to office and residential premises. For example, you cannot enter the monastery gardens and vegetable gardens. Warning signs are posted everywhere where needed. For example, you cannot enter this park:
Knowing the characteristics of some people, for whom a prohibitory sign is like a red rag to a bull, areas forbidden to access are surrounded by a fence.
There are several refectories in the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery. There is even one where you can get lunch completely free.
A plate of soup, pasta, bread and tea. This, of course, is not a business lunch in some cafe, but it is quite possible to satisfy your hunger. We entered the refectory when no one was there. Food distribution does not occur constantly, but at certain hours:
I hope you won’t need this establishment, but for some people a free monastery meal is salvation. There is also an advertisement here inviting those interested to sort potatoes. In order not to torture your conscience, it is quite possible to “work off” the eaten free lunch with a feasible labor contribution:
Two and a half hours flew by. To be honest, at first it seemed like very little. But there was enough time for a quick acquaintance with the monastery. Of course, in order to completely immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the monastery, leisurely wander around the territory, go through the groove of the Virgin Mary again, visit churches, venerate the relics of all the saints, you obviously need to come here for more than one day.
Some people who come on a tour then decide to stay in the monastery for a day or two. This happened in our group too. One married couple reported that they were staying. Nothing surprising. Driving or flying thousands of kilometers to have only two and a half hours to stay in a monastery is not entirely reasonable. It’s like entering the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and immediately leaving it, having first stood in line for several hours.
We say goodbye to the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery. We have holy springs next.
Bathing in holy springs in Diveevo
There are actually several of them. Return to the large schematic map of the monastery. If you have your own car, don’t be lazy, go to the source of St. Seraphim and the Revealed One. In the diagram they are in the lower right corner. They are located in the middle of the forest and look very beautiful.
Our group was taken to swim and get water from the nearby Kazansky, Panteleimonovsky and Umilenie springs. They are located very close to the walls of the monastery, located almost among the houses.
There wasn't much to choose from. Our group “flowed” behind the guide. At the entrance to the territory of the springs, there was a brisk trade in water bottles, nightgowns and swimming trunks. They also sold pies, honey and other “absolutely necessary things.”
Let's see what the source area looks like:
It is noteworthy that you cannot climb into the holy springs, which look like wells. There are buckets, scoops and funnels for filling your bottles. Special servants themselves draw water from the well and then pour it from a bucket into the vessels of the suffering.
Rules for visiting the bath:
There were very few people in one of the baths and we managed to take a photo of the bath. The water is really very clean and very cold. Its temperature is the same in winter and summer - plus four degrees:
If you also decide to swim, enter the water slowly and hold on to the handrail to avoid slipping. If this happens and you immediately plunge into ice water, the consequences can be very different. In any case, this may turn out to be one of the most memorable experiences of a lifetime. Or, God forbid, her last impression. There were such cases too.
Conclusion
A pilgrimage tour to Diveevo is a special event in the life of every person. Needless to say, this is a very special place. Even if you do not consider yourself a deeply religious person, you will in any case be imbued with the local atmosphere. It’s not for nothing that people from all over the world come to Diveevo. We had the happy pleasure of touching Orthodox shrines, asking for forgiveness for our bad deeds and getting a chance to start a new life.
It won't be easy. After all, there are plenty of temptations all around. No, no, and you will want to do something unworthy - lie, cheat, be rude. But we'll try anyway. Maybe it will work! And try it. Get started now. This way you will prepare in advance for your trip to Diveevo.
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Kazan Church
In the 18th century, under the strict leadership of Mother Alexandra, a stone Kazan Church was built in Diveevo, which initially had 2 chapels. It was she who created her own community at this place, which included pilgrims of the Sarov Desert.
Mother Alexandra was able to discern miraculous power in Seraphim of Sarov and realized that he could become an ascetic. That is why she invited him, after leaving seclusion, to lead the community and take the nunnery under his protection.
While in Diveevo, where you need to go is the Kazan Church to touch this shrine. It survived many events, in particular its closure during the Second World War. Now, after a high-quality reconstruction, the Kazan Church is gradually being restored and welcoming visitors.
