Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage, Klykovo. Hotels nearby, photos, videos, how to get there

Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage

The Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage is one of the places of pilgrimage in the Kaluga region. It is located in the village of Klykovo, 18 km south of Kozelsk and 85 km north of Kaluga (travel through Kozelsk). The monastery is surrounded by birch groves, picturesque meadows and fields stretching along the banks of the Zhizdra and Serena rivers. In these amazing places there is another famous monastery - Optina Pustyn.

History of construction

Not far from Klykovo there is the village of Kurynichi. In 1733, a wooden church was built here, but a century later there was a fire, and everything burned down except the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands and the ancient Gospel. How it appeared in Kurynichi is not known for certain, however, it has been kept there for a long time. In the 1820s, cholera broke out in Kozelsky district. The epidemic did not spare Klykovo either. It was decided to bring here the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands in order to stop the disaster through common prayers. They carried him around the village with a religious procession, and in a matter of days the attack passed. In honor of the miracle that happened, instead of the old church, built of wood and very dilapidated, a stone temple was erected in 1829 in honor of the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands.

With the advent of Soviet power, the authority of the church was shaken. In the early 1920s, aggressive anti-religious propaganda began. The oppression of the church was accompanied by terrible events, including the execution of priests. In 1924, Optina Pustyn was completely destroyed. Some of the clergy moved to Klykovo, but the situation became increasingly tense, and in 1937 the temple was closed and at various times was used as a granary, a repair shop, and a warehouse for nitrogen fertilizers.

The temple in the village of Klykovo was returned to the church only in 1991. The building made a sad impression: everything was ruined, collapsing and fell into complete disrepair. Work on the restoration of the temple and other buildings on the territory was completed in 1999.

In a solemn ceremony in 2001, the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands was opened in the village of Klykovo.

Schema-nun Zipporah

The pilgrimage of believers is largely connected with a visit to the grave of Mother Zipporah, who lived in the monastery in 1996-1997. Daria Shnyakina, born in the 19th century, was a contemporary of many significant events in the history of the country and the world.

Her life was difficult: the loss of loved ones in the war, dispossession, death of children, parents, and spouse. In 1946 she moved to Kireevsk in the Tula region. One day, during a solitary prayer, angels appeared to her and began to put monastic robes on her. It was a rite of tonsure. Secretly from her daughters, she left for the Lavra, where in 1967 she was blessed to be tonsured into the mantle and named Dosithea.

In 1989, she was tonsured into the schema with the name Zipporah. She settled in Klykovo in 1996, and a little more than a year later she died.

Schedule of services at the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands

On weekdays:

17:00 - evening service,
06:00 - midnight office,
07:00 - hours, Divine Liturgy.

On Sundays and holidays:

17:00 - evening service,
09:00 - hours, Divine Liturgy.

Check the schedule for the current week.

How to get to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands in Klykovo

There are several ways to get to the monastery. Firstly, by private car from Kaluga or Kozelsk (see diagram). Secondly, by minibus. Finally, by excursion bus from Kozelsk or Kaluga.

A minibus leaves from the Kozelsk bus station on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 07:00 and 14:00. The final point is the village of Burnashevo (500 m to the monastery).

Mother Zipporah (Shnyakina)

Eldership is a great phenomenon in Orthodoxy. Since ancient times, saints received people who came to them for advice. People learned about the holiness of the ascetic by his gift of miracles and clairvoyance. It was after long ascetic deeds that the Optina elders accepted people. They cast out demons from possessed people, healed, prophesied and consoled people in any troubles.

Their tradition was also inherited by Mother Zipporah. She spoke not from herself, but from her prayer experience of communicating with God.

Today, the most famous is the Cathedral of the Optina Elders - a meeting of the great holy ascetics who lived quite recently in the Optina Hermitage. These are ascetics and prayer books for all people, who did not leave anyone without consolation. In their prayer experience and help - God's grace, faith, wisdom and understanding of the purpose of every person in this world. After all, today it is difficult to understand where to apply yourself among the many possibilities, how to act in a given situation.

The 14 venerable elders of Optina Pustyn were glorified in the Cathedral. This monastic monastery was founded in the 14th century, but its true spiritual flowering came in the 19th century. The Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn is located near the city of Kozelsk. Here, two centuries ago, the experience of spiritual mentoring of the laity - eldership - was revived. Previously, after the reforms of Peter the Great, in Russia it was customary to confess only briefly, and with distrust of the priest - Peter the Great ordered the clergy, under pain of punishment, to denounce criminals.

The revival of eldership in Optina occurred during the Golden Age of Russian literature. Some elders influenced the life and work of Russian writers: Nikolai Gogol, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Konstantin Leontyev (the latter lived in the monastery for a long time).

The most famous Optina elder is St. Ambrose. Saint Ambrose, by the will of God, was to become an important link in the unbroken chain of Optina elders. After the death of one of the first elders, Macarius, despondency almost reigned in the monastery: the spiritual mentor died, the brethren did not know how to cope without spiritual advice. Saint Ambrose was able to take his place as confessor, and for 30 years, despite serious illnesses, he helped with advice and strengthened the spirit of not only the brethren, but also all the people of Russia who came to him.

The great Dostoevsky himself found consolation from Elder Ambrose Optinsky after a family tragedy - the death of his little son. Many episodes of the writer’s greatest novel, “The Brothers Karamazov,” were the result of reflections on this trip, and in the literary image of the holy elder Zosima, all contemporaries recognized Saint Ambrose himself. In the novel “The Brothers Karamazov” you can read about the daily reception of people by Saint Ambrose, his help to them and read a description of his appearance and behavior: Dostoevsky left a truly invaluable gift to all admirers of Optina.

BIRTH OF THE MONASTERY

Estimated reading time: less than a minute.

How do monasteries appear on Earth?

To people who are not very familiar with the life of the Church, it may seem that this is simply the result of an administrative decision by the church leadership: the authorities gave orders, drew up a project, allocated money, people, equipment, and within the planned period - please! Another monastery is ready to be settled by monks! But how far from reality such fantasies are... In fact, any monastery is not built, but born. It arises at the junction of human selflessness, determination to devote one’s life to the salvation of the soul and gracious help from above, with which the Lord responds to such a person’s aspiration to Heaven. Even people who are not very experienced in matters of Church history know that the Trinity-Sergius Lavra began precisely with such determination shown by the Monk Sergius, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra - with the Monks Anthony and Theodosius, Solovki - with Zosima and Savvatiy... But these monasteries appeared a very long time ago. And it is sometimes difficult for us to believe that even today a new monastery is born in the same way as centuries ago - from the prayerful feat of a person and God’s answer to his prayers.

Hegumen Mikhail (Semyonov) is the abbot of one of the youngest monasteries on our planet: the monastery in honor of the Image of the Lord Not Made by Hands in the village of Klykovo (Kaluga region) for a little over ten years. Communicating with Father Mikhail, we received a unique opportunity to introduce readers to an amazing story, as they say, first-hand, since Fr. Michael stood at the very origins of this miracle of God - the birth of a new monastery.

What am I doing here?

How did Klykovo begin? It’s hard to say... Back then, in the early nineties, I had just arrived in Optina Pustyn, worked in obedience, and was involved in supplies. And, having lived there for more than a year, I was sadly forced to admit: at home, in Crimea, reading the books of the holy fathers and communicating with an ordinary parish priest, I gained more knowledge about spiritual life than in a year of living in a monastery. The fact is that the monks then simply avoided us, pilgrims, kept their distance. And we really missed just this kind of personal communication with more experienced Christians. There was some kind of spiritual vacuum that needed to be filled. And we found an outlet for ourselves. Not far from Optina, in the village of Novokazache, an old hieromonk, Father Peter, lived in retirement. He was once a resident of the Pochaev Lavra, went through Soviet camps, and served eleven years. When the Optina Monastery opened, he was invited there, but Father Peter refused. He stayed to live in the village, in his house, and sometimes went to Optina for services - prayed, received communion... It was on one of his visits that we met. I and about seven other young pilgrims began to visit Father Peter. We bought some food, bread there, gingerbread, and went to see him in Novokazachye. It cannot be said that he especially nourished us or gave us spiritual instructions. For the most part, we just talked, Father Peter talked about his life... But this communication exuded the same warmth that we so lacked in the monastery.

And so, at one fine moment, the priest was offered to become the rector of the temple in the village of Klykovo. This also turned out to be unusual. One man lived there, Vladimir, who bought a house in Klykovo and, with the blessing of Elder Elijah, began almost single-handedly to restore the temple - he bought materials with his own money, ordered frames for the windows... He proposed to the bishop to appoint Father Peter as rector of the Klykovo temple.

But I've been there before. There are Optina fields nearby, and I went there on business matters. I saw a destroyed temple on the mountain and went to look. Then, of course, there was no fence here. I went out onto the hill, looked at all this beauty - at the river, the meadows... My soul was filled with some new feeling, as if I had finally breathed in plenty of fresh air. I remember thinking then: wow! I’m doing something incomprehensible here, but life is like that, that’s where the beauty of God is! At that time in Optina there was such a funny multi-level hierarchy among the pilgrims: they gave you a work robe - you are already a worthy person, not a beginner; cassock - you are generally great... And if someone was blessed to dine in the fraternal refectory - that’s all! The man began to walk around the monastery - like this, with his head held high! I looked at all this and thought: “How can this be? Why? So what am I doing here? After all, I was leaving the world precisely from this, from this stupid system of relationships, I saw all this at school, then in the army, I came to the monastery, and here, it turns out, it’s the same thing, again some kind of careerism”... Such are the thoughts Then they were spinning in my head.

And here I stand on the shore and my heart skips a beat - what beauty! And all these squabbles seemed so stupid and worthless to me...

And now I’m returning from another business trip to the monastery, and Father Peter is there. He grabs me by the sleeve, his eyes are shining, he’s happy: let’s go, he says, Vladyka has blessed me, we’ll restore the temple, let’s go! He was such a small, dry priest... I told him: if Father Eli blesses, of course, I’ll go. And he himself is already like a balloon: just let go of the thread and immediately - blow! To Klykovo is like to heaven! And when Father Eli began to recruit pilgrims to restore the Klykovsky Church, I could not stand it and, like a little one, rushed to him: “Father, what about me, how am I? Can I do it too?” Father Eli smiled and said: “Yes, yes, of course, go and help Father Peter.” It’s like a stone has been removed from my soul.

The fraternal building of the monastery under construction has 80 cells.

Battle for Worship

As far as I now understand, the Lord was simply testing us for the first two years of life in Klykovo: will we be able to stand it? No, I was absolutely sure that we would succeed, especially since Father Eli constantly consoled us. But for two years our life was a daily struggle for everyday life, for some simple things, which in those conditions required incredible efforts from us. And most importantly, these two years were literally a battle for us for worship. The fact is that there was no current road to the temple then, and there was no road at all. There was a church on the mountain, and around in rainy weather there was a complete swamp. Our rector, Father Peter, was already old, he stayed to live in his village, and only came to us in Klykovo to serve. And we took him to work and home. But in spring and autumn the mud became completely impassable, and in order to deliver the priest to the temple, we had to organize an entire expedition. The spectacle was impressive: the three-axle Ural all-terrain vehicle was pulling the UAZ, where Father Peter was sitting, up the mountain over muddy clay. That’s the kind of “daddy mobile” we had back then, in which we brought the priest right to the doors of the church, because immediately from the threshold an almost half-meter swamp began.

True, the summer was surprisingly good even then. It was beautiful, everything was green... There was no asphalt, no fences, no houses. Just heaven on earth - everything is overgrown, untouched. There were also bushes and trees here, which we removed when we were planning the area. And the grass is taller than a man! There were two paths through these thickets, along which local residents occasionally walked, but they were not even visible because of the grass. It was a real desert. Greenery, sky - and silence...

But this is in the summer. And in the fall the entire area turned into a swamp. You used to go to the refectory in tarpaulin boots and hold them with your hand at every step so that they don’t get sucked into the mud. So you stomp - chwak, chwak... You go into the refectory, and there is already such a layer of clay on the floor - the brothers applied it. How else? There was no water, we carried it with cans about a hundred meters from under the mountain. Well, summer or winter - okay. And in the fall... You drag a cart with a can through the mud, and there is nothing to hold your boots with - your hands are full. A couple of cans per day were enough just for cooking and washing the dishes. One person was on duty in the kitchen, and the rest worked and worked... In general, we worked a lot then. Somewhere before 1998, we worked hard every day for eighteen hours, no less. Now, having already had some experience in construction, I remember those times and sometimes think: why were we so stubborn? It would have been easier to hire workers and equipment, and everything could have been done with much less bloodshed. But if you look deeper, everything is not so simple. The soul thirsted for achievement, and this work of ours was also part of asceticism. We tried to imitate the ancient monks - we prayed, humiliated the flesh with hard work, and ate very little. After all, no one was obliged to supply us with food, and there was no funding. They lived with whatever they brought. It happened that for seven there was only one loaf of bread, and it was unknown whether tomorrow there would be even such food. But we firmly decided to stay here and completely relied on the will of God. And the Lord sent us everything we needed, sometimes in some amazing way.

This is what it is - Klykovo! A white-stone island among a lush sea of greenery.

On the “lawn” - in Tambov

When we came here, this place was no longer completely bare. Vladimir left us his house, building materials... Over the course of a month, we glazed one chapel of the temple, built a stove, built a temporary iconostasis from plywood, and fixed the roof. In general, in a month it was already possible to serve. Vladyka consecrated the temple with a small rite, Father Peter regularly performed divine services, life slowly got better. But it was approaching winter, and we had no food, no money, no real hopes for improving our financial situation. It is unclear how to live further.

And suddenly some grandmother, a complete stranger, comes to me and tells me an absolutely fantastic story: somewhere in the Tambov region, it turns out, there are two villages that, since Soviet times, have been cared for by nuns who settled there after Khrushchev’s persecutions. The mothers were very respected there, and they led these villages like a monastery: they decided when to plant what, where to sow what... And this grandmother advises us to go there, because the people there are very kind and love to donate, especially to the monasteries, which in those days there were several throughout the country. And then it so happened that one Optina monk sold his apartment in Moscow and bought us an old truck, a “lawn.” We drove to the Tambov region in this truck. We found these villages there, these mothers... And people collected for us everything they could, from everything they had, they allocated us some part. There the whole village is one street. We first went to mother, explained to her who we were, what and how... Mother quickly ran through the houses, and people began to carry whatever they could out to the road. They loaded us with a truck full of vegetables. Amazing people, low bow to them!

Thanks to their help, we were able to survive the first winter and continue work on restoring the temple. They ate exclusively vegetables - potatoes, cabbage. We started eating fish in 1997 - before that we simply didn’t have money for it. Then, at the beginning, all the money that we had went only to building materials for the temple and to pay wages to hired workers. We didn’t spend a penny on ourselves, we ate what the Lord sent. Our diet then was like this: rice, lentils, palm oil from American humanitarian aid, and potatoes with sauerkraut. All. This is how we lived here for the first four years.

We worked as hard as we could, we managed to stay here in those years when established economies were falling apart, but still there was no significant progress in the restoration of the temple. I felt that we had reached some limit: whether it was our own strength or circumstances, I don’t know. It was just that behind all our problems there was a barrier that we could not overcome, no matter how hard we tried. But the power of God is made perfect in human weakness. And the next stage of our life began after the arrival of our angel, Mother Sepphora, in Klykovo.

Everything in Mother Zipporah’s house remained as it was during her lifetime. In the center of the picture, on the table, is a photograph of my mother, which disappeared soon after her death.

...You and I should live together

There's an interesting backstory here. Mother Zipporah visited Optina when I had just arrived there, I had literally lived there for a month. I see: the brethren - fathers, abbots, hieromonks - have surrounded some elderly woman and are approaching her for a blessing. I asked one of the monks: who is this? He says: Mother Zipporah, old woman. Well, I didn’t bother approaching her then, there was no way to get through. And then, in the evening, I walk along the monastery courtyard and see Mother Sepphora coming out of the Vvedensky Church. And there was no one nearby, only the cell attendant. I ran up and said: “Mother, bless me.” And she was blind, and asked me: “Who are you?” I answer: “Pilgrim Sergei (they called me Sergei then), I work here, they say, for the glory of God.” Mother paused and said: “Do you know that you and I should live together?” I was taken aback and asked: “How to live? Why? Where?" And she: “Nothing, you’ll find out everything later. Run for now, run." And she moved on. I stand there, I don’t understand anything - what did she say, what does it mean? I later asked where my mother lived, and they told me - in the city of Kireevsk, Tula region. Well, what is there to think? And I conveniently forgot about this conversation until we began to restore the Klykovsky temple.

At this point, Father Eli, the confessor of the Optina Monastery, told me: “Go to Kireevsk to see Mother Sepphora. She will explain to you what and how to do around the monastery.” Again, I didn’t understand why go to some Kireevsk, when the old man himself is here, here, nearby? And he says: “No, go. Your mother will look after you, not me.” Well, we went to Kireevsk.

And when we arrived, we found out that, it turns out, in the same year of 1993, the Mother of God appeared to Mother Zipporah and told her: “You will live in Klykovo, wait, they will come for you from there.” And she waited for us for two years. The Optina brethren later told me that she asked everyone who came to mother then: “Are you not from Klykov?” But no one knew then what it was - Klykovo. Well, what was there at that time? A destroyed temple, a swamp and seven young madmen who took on an impossible task. Nobody took us seriously then, they didn’t believe that we would succeed... But mother was waiting for us. And when we arrived, she immediately began to tell me what and where we would build, how it should be... In one evening she said so many things that I sat dumbfounded and thought: “Wow! Here the temple has not yet been restored, but mother is already talking about the hotel and the fraternal buildings!” She also explained to us how to ask for help from philanthropists, and told us to go to Moscow, promising to pray for us.

The next day we arrived in the capital, and the first company we turned to for help immediately gave us a large sum of money. There was no secret here, mother simply said: “You should not say “donate”, but “do holy mercy.” And in the future we only addressed him this way, and wrote the same way in our letters. And things started to improve for us, benefactors appeared, construction began... But the matter, of course, is not only a matter of correct treatment. Mother was simply perspicacious and told us in advance where to go and who to contact. It’s hard to explain, she didn’t give the address or the name of the company... It’s just that when we came to an unfamiliar place to ask for help, we suddenly understood with joy that this was exactly the place that mother had told us about, described it. Of course, sometimes we had to leave with nothing—we weren’t lucky every time. But then things went with mother’s prayers! Yes, as it went, it still doesn’t stop!

On that first visit, my mother told me that the Mother of God blessed her to come to us in Klykovo. Then my parents sold their house in Crimea and decided to give all this money to the temple. We somehow continued to work on them in the second year of our life in Klykovo, and then we began to build a house for the brethren on them. Mother asks me: “Are you building a house?” I say: “I’m building.” And she: “Come on, build it faster, I’ll come to live with you.” To be honest, I didn’t take her words seriously then, for the reason that I myself assessed this swamp of ours as a swamp. And she is a prominent and respected old lady. The Optina residents all knew her... And then, just then, the governor of the Optina Hermitage himself was already preparing a house for her in the monastery, and assigned a cell attendant for her there. And I also knew about this and thought: “Well, where will she go to us in this swamp?” And we also had terrible poverty at that time, we couldn’t even provide for ourselves, we lived from hand to mouth, and she was an old woman, blind, she needed special care... In short, I didn’t believe that she would really come to us, I thought I was joking. But my mother was so persistent, every time I visited she began to ask me: “Have you built a house? Finish it quickly, I’m already ready.”

The abbot of the monastery, Abbot Mikhail: “... This is not at all how I wanted to do everything here.”

Next to the angel

We managed to finish the house only by the new year of 1996. We brought her here before Christmas. This is where I got confused. I made this house almost entirely with my own hands. And now I’m finishing off the last nails, we brought some kind of sofa, a rug on the floor, well, they put everything in order, they brought my mother, and then I suddenly realized that we had never lit the stove! We got busy and forgot to heat it. So they brought mother to the unheated house. In January! I was terribly upset, but mother... Well done, she was so persistent, she didn’t care at all: it’s cold and cold... Just think, it’s a problem! But a man is ninety-nine years old. We gave her warm scarves, she wrapped herself up and sat there, happy: “Oh, a house, finally! It’s so good, well, thank God, I’ve arrived!” Then the Optina monks came and wanted to take her to their place. Well, imagine: the governor gave his blessing, a luxurious house was ready for her in a monastery, and here - some kind of Klykovo, an incomprehensible hut, no conditions... But mother stayed with us.

And we began, as she said, to live together.

I don’t remember a better time in my life. It was as if the cup was full, all our labors, all our hardships - all this finally began to bear fruit. Things have moved on. We continued to work for eighteen hours, but how easy all this is when a holy man is praying nearby... I can talk about this for a very long time. Here is just one interesting case. We met a man in Moscow who sold cars. Well, we met, he gave us money. We arrived in Klykovo joyful: “Mother, so and so, what a good man, he helped us!” And my mother responded: “Well, he’ll also give you a car.” And sure enough, the next time we come to him, and he asks: “What did you come with?” We say, “Yes, on the bus.” We didn’t ask him for anything, but he: “I’ll give you a car. I already have a new batch of Volgas, now the documents will arrive - and you can take whichever one you like.”

And then, in the mid-nineties, Volgas came off the assembly line damp, fell apart, broke down, the quality of the cars was disgusting, and I knew about it. And I turned to my mother for help, I said: “Mother, a man is giving me a car, but what a problem: how can we choose a car so that it doesn’t break, so that it drives well, without problems, please advise.” Well, it would seem, what could be more distant for a blind hundred-year-old woman than choosing a car? And mother paused, thought and said: “Okay. You know, it will be so special, not like other cars. There will be a cross on it, and also three Cs and the number of angels. You will see for yourself." We arrived in Moscow with our treasurer, Father Nikon, and went out to the site where these cars are parked. And there - only Volgas, and all the same, gray. Well, I think, where is the special one? Should it have square wheels, or what? And the cross... Where it can be placed on the car, this is not an ambulance. Unclear. There was nothing to do, we approached the first car we came across, I asked the seller to start the engine. The engine runs poorly, unevenly, and knocks. I understand this a little. I looked at the body number - there were no triples. And suddenly I look - there’s a car standing next to me. Everything around is new and shiny, but this one is dirty, covered in dust, and the front tire is flat. But the main thing is that someone drew a cross on the hood with their finger! I immediately tell the owner: “Give me this one.” And Father Nikon looks at me as if I were sick: “What are you doing? Look how many normal cars there are around.” Me: “Nothing, we’ll take this one.” Father Nikon almost cries: “Oh, the tire was punctured right there, and look how dirty she is!” I told him: “What are you talking about, let’s take it to the car wash now - it will be clean. And now we’ll unscrew and change a wheel from any car: five minutes of business, calm down.” I tell the seller: go ahead, start it. He started it - the engine runs great, it just sings! I look at the body, and there’s the number: 333 144! That's it, I say, let's take this one.

This is how we lived. This is one such case, and there were so many of them... Mother Zipporah lived with us - as if an angel lived nearby. At that time, it sometimes seemed to me as if there was no distance at all between Heaven and earth, so obvious was this help from above through her prayers.

It’s been ten years since she passed away to the Lord, and it still seems to me like it all happened just yesterday...

“My eyes anticipate the morning watch,

that I may delve deeper into Your word" (Ps. 118

:148)

Defeat the swamp

I sometimes ask myself: why did I need all this, there are many monasteries in the world - why build another one? I ask and don’t find one comprehensive answer. There is probably a spiritual meaning to this. Indeed, in honor of the Image Not Made by Hands, there is not a single monastery in the whole world, except ours, and there never was, and this shrine is large. And then, the Lord would not bless our endeavors if they were simply our whim, a whim, even a pious one. If we talk about me, I always wanted to start everything from scratch in a new place like this. I knew how life worked in other monasteries, and I really wanted to avoid the mistakes that I saw there here in Klykovo. Whether this was successful or not is difficult to say. Time will show…

Did Nil Sorsky, for example, look for a justification for leaving for the Trans-Volga forests? No, he just left and lived, prayed... I think it’s still not worth looking for detailed explanations and meanings here. The monastery does not need to be considered as some kind of center for the crystallization of cultural processes or political life. When we came here, we all wanted only one thing - a solitary life devoted to the Lord. This is why we tried. And all this scope of our construction, everything that can now be seen here... It only appeared later, for various reasons. This is not at all how I wanted to do everything here. I thought of simply renovating the temple and building houses for the brethren around it. My brother came, lived here, and established himself. Everyone got together, chopped branches, coated them with clay, built a stove - live! Firewood is in the forest. That's all. This is the kind of life I wanted here, very simple. But the Optina elder Father Eli said: “It’s impossible, it won’t work.” I didn't argue. Now, we are now building a fraternal building for eighty cells, with a house church, a refectory, we will even have a winter garden...

And much more, too, is not our idea. Well, for example, there is a wall around the territory. It was the bishop who said: “Build a fence, fraternal buildings, then we will talk about the status of the monastery.” We needed status, because without it it was impossible to tonsure the brethren as monks. And we built buildings, built this wall with towers... But I still didn’t give up my original idea at all. We have bought the land around the monastery and are planning to subsequently build houses for those who are ripe for monastic life. The monastery will be the center, and next to it there will be a monastery.

I am very afraid that our life here in Klykovo will gradually turn into such a measured, comfortable existence, I am afraid of stagnation. It's very easy to get caught up in this and forget why you came here in the first place. Then that’s it, then the monastery turns into some kind of nursing home with worship and services, and ceases to be a monastery. I really don’t want this, I’m bothering the brothers, we’re all trying to hold on together, not to drop the bar... When we came here, it was a complete swamp. We defeated him, now he is gone. But it’s much worse when your whole life turns into a swamp, when your spirit begins to get bogged down in countless everyday and household worries so much that you forget about God. Now, if you manage to defeat this swamp, then everything was right, everything was not in vain.

To Klykovo

Mother Zipporah really wanted to die in the monastery, she prayed a lot to the Most Holy Theotokos about this. And one day She appeared during sleep and promised that the schema-nun would die in the monastery in Klykovo. Therefore, the old lady was not particularly surprised when her small cell was visited by the future abbot of the monastery under construction in honor of the Savior Not Made by Hands in Klykovo. And by Christmas 1996, schema-nun Sepphora settled in the village of Klykovo. The places are picturesque, but there are no roads, the construction of the monastery was difficult. But with the appearance of mother, things with the construction of the brethren went more cheerfully: through the prayer of the old woman, benefactors and donors were found. Mother lived in the monastery for a little over a year. During this time, being blind, she not only consoled numerous laymen and monks, but also instructed, guiding them on the path of piety. The old woman was born for eternity in the 102nd year of her life in 1997. And today Schema-nun Zipporah is an example of how, living in the vanity of the world, one can (and should) not only maintain faith, but also achieve righteousness. Her grave is strewn with flowers in winter and summer: this is how pilgrims who come on excursions thank Mother for her wonderful help. Evidence of the gracious help of Schema-nun Sepphora after death: One Klykov monk was a joyful and kind person, but he could not give up smoking. He loved his mother very much during her lifetime and after her death he asked for help. One day she appeared to him in a dream, as if alive, and handed him a pack of cigarettes. The monk opened the pack, and flowers fell out of it and birds flew out. I woke up and there was joy in my heart. And from that time on, the Lord delivered him from harmful passion, through the prayers of Schema-nun Zipporah!

Biography

The future schema-nun Sepphora was born in the Tambov province on March 19, 1896 into a family of middle peasants, the Senyakins. The parents were illiterate, but hardworking and very pious. There were many monastics in the family, and my grandfather often traveled to holy places. Dasha and her two brothers were imbued with piety from childhood. The girl was barely seven years old, and she was already practicing the Jesus Prayer: nuns from a nearby church taught her to unite her mind and heart with Christ while doing needlework. In 1916, at the height of the First World War, when the girl was 20 years old, her brother died the death of the brave, then her father died suddenly. After his death, Daria will not contradict her mother, who blessed her for marriage with fellow villager Dmitry Shnyakin, although her soul asks for monasticism. The young husband's family was large, friendly and firmly believing in the Savior. The father-in-law was the elder of the church, five sons lived in his large house with their families, Dasha was warmly received by the eldest daughter-in-law. There were many responsibilities, but she coped with it and did not get tired - she prayed, and the Lord helped. Four daughters were born one after another. And in 1933, the family experienced a terrible dispossession, which was accompanied by the brutal murder of relatives (including a brother). My husband's parents were exiled to Solovki, the house was rolled into pieces of logs... Where to go with young children in the middle of winter? On the edge of the village lived a widow

Agafya. She was unsociable, the neighbors avoided the woman, only Daria secretly placed a jug of milk on her porch. So she sheltered the sufferers. We lived in cramped conditions, sleeping six of us side by side on the cold floor. The father did odd jobs and the older girls helped as best they could. We were happy when, four years later, we received a tiny room in a communal apartment. They lived meagerly, but in peace. And in 1946, when her husband died, the family moved to the Tula region to the small town of Kireevsk. Here, long before accepting monasticism, the woman left all earthly cares, and her grown-up daughters took care of her. She was tonsured into the mantle at the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius in 1967 and named Dosithea. And in 1989, Metropolitan Serapion of Tula tonsured her into the schema with the name Zipporah. The neighbors continued to call her Grandma Dasha - in Soviet times it was not customary to advertise faith in God.

Zosima Klykovo

Seven miles from the village of Klykovo is the village of Kurynichi. In 1733, through the efforts of the Davydovs, who owned Kurynichy at that time, a church was built in the village. But in March 1826 there was a fire and the church burned down. From the wooden church that burned down in the village of Kurynichi, the following were preserved: the ancient Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands and the Gospel, printed under Patriarch Andrian. The history of the appearance of this ancient image of the Savior in the Kurynichsky Church is little known. There are only legends that it was brought to Kurynichi by one of the relatives of the Kurynichi landowners, the Shulgins. In the 20s of the 19th century, cholera was rampant in Kozelsky district. And according to legend, preserved to this day among the peasants of the village of Klykovo, during the epidemic, the Image of the Savior from Kurynich was brought to Klykovo. With the religious procession, the Image of the Savior was surrounded around the village, and cholera, which had previously consumed many victims, gradually began to weaken, and by August 16 it completely stopped. In gratitude to the Savior God, the then owner of the village of Klykovo Guard, Lieutenant Alexander Fedorovich Poltoratsky, built a new stone church on the site of a dilapidated wooden church in honor of St. Nicholas. In 1829, construction was completed, and at the request of Poltoratsky, the temple was consecrated in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Image Not Made by Hands. From that time until the beginning of the 20th century, and therefore the period of persecution of the church, the history of the village of Klykovo developed very well. Klykovo was famous for its orchards and nursery. The founder of the nursery was Vasily Petrovich Zlatoustovsky, born into the family of a priest from the village of Burnashevo, Kozelsky district. After graduating from the Kaluga Theological Seminary, Vasily Zlatoustovsky married a landowner who at that time owned the village of Klykovo, thanks to which he received 7 acres of the old garden and 20 acres of arable land. Restoring the garden, Zlatoustovsky turned it into a rich pomological collection (1,500 varietal trees). At the same time, he created a fruit nursery, which annually produced up to 40 thousand seedlings of apple trees and other fruit species. Fruits from the Zlatoustovsky variety testing garden were repeatedly exhibited at provincial, Russian and international exhibitions, where they were awarded many, including gold medals. With the advent of Soviet power, persecution began against the Russian Orthodox Church, which was exceptional in its scope and cruelty not only within the history of Russia, but also on the scale of world history. Thousands of clergy and laity were arrested and shot. Temples were closed and monasteries were plundered. The Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn was no exception. After Easter 1923, the churches of the Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn were sealed, and many clergy were arrested. In 1924, after the destruction of the Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage, part of the brethren settled in the village of Klykovo. The center of the spiritual life of this community became the local temple in honor of the Savior Not Made by Hands. Optina hieromonk Panteleimon served in this church from 1925 to 1935. Little is known about Panteleimon (in the world Platon Grigorievich Shibanov): he was a skete monk, in 1916 he was ordained as a hierodeacon in the Optina monastery, and was ordained as a hieromonk after the revolution. This is how the residents of the village of Klykovo remembered him: “Father Panteleimon gathered us all, children living near the church, and always communed the Holy Mysteries of Christ, but one day, we don’t remember when, he did not come out of the church to meet us.” In 1935, Hieromonk Panteleimon was arrested and in 1937 he was accused of counter-revolutionary activities and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out in Sukhinichi prison. In 1937, the temple in honor of the Image of the Lord Not Made by Hands was closed. In the spring of 1991, the temple in the village of Klykovo was returned to the Church. By that time the building was in very poor condition. Almost nothing remained of the interior decoration of the temple. Even the floor was destroyed. Earth and debris covered the walls of the building up to the windows. The ceilings began to collapse, and grass and trees grew on the remains of the roof. Archbishop Clement of Kaluga and Borovsky blessed the establishment of the Bishop's Compound in the village of Klykovo with the help of the brethren who came from Optina Pustyn and settled here. On January 11, 1993, a Bishop's metochion was formed at the temple, and on October 18 of the same year, Abbot Peter (Drum) was appointed rector of the metochion. A monastic community began to form at the metochion, and on July 17, 2001, a Resolution of the Holy Synod was adopted on the opening of the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the village of Klykovo. With the transfer of the temple, restoration work began. The Temple of the Savior Not Made by Hands was in complete desolation and ruin. During the years of Soviet power, the local collective farm first used the temple building as a granary, and then adapted it as a workshop for repairing equipment. After the destruction of the roof of the refectory part of the temple, nitrogen fertilizers began to be stored in it. When alluvial soil was removed from the temple, remains of human bones were found that had damage from firearms and bladed weapons. The temple, built by Poltoratsky, was completely restored in 1999 and on November 28 of the same year, Archbishop Clement consecrated its central chapel.

Modern life of the monastery

The monastery maintains the “Renaissance” children's creativity center in the city of Kozelsk, which is the focus of the spiritual and moral education of children in the Kozelsk region through creativity. The following spiritual and educational work is carried out in the monastery: conversations twice a week, trips to holy places in Sunday school and parishioners to holy places - monasteries and churches of the Kozelsky district, in the Kaluga diocese, Moscow diocese, to exhibitions of children's drawings, spiritual and educational work Among the employees of the Department of Internal Affairs of the city of Kozelsk, young people are involved in altar obedience, four people, aged from 8 to 12 years, a weekly leaflet is published in the monastery. There are 2 temples assigned to the monastery: the temple of the holy prophet of God Elijah in the village. Ilyinskoye (this church works with alcohol and drug addicts through rehabilitation) and the restored church in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village. Senino.

14th of April. Saturday of Bright Week.

Bishop Nikita of Kozelsk and Lyudinovo celebrated the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in the Church of the Hieromartyr Kuksha of the Kiev-Pechersk Enlightener of the Vyatichi Monastery of the Savior Made by Hands in the village of Klykovo, Kozelsky District.

Concelebrating with His Eminence were: the rector of the monastery, Hegumen Mikhail (Semyonov), Hieromonk Ambrose (Kosorukov), Archpriest Anthony Khatuntsev, the brethren of the monastery in holy orders, clergy of the Kozelsk, Kaluga and Pesochensk dioceses.

During the service, Abbess Vitaly (Kochetova) prayed with the sisters of the Assumption Feklina Pustyn convent.

At the Small Entrance, the monastery’s inhabitants, Hieromonk Seraphim (Manukyan) and Hieromonk Zosima (Kibler), were awarded the right to wear the legguard.

Mikhail Pestov, a graduate of the Orthodox St. Tikhon's Humanitarian University, was ordained to the rank of deacon, after being ordained reader and subdeacon.

Following the prayer behind the pulpit, the bishop read a prayer for the fragmentation of Artos, which at the end of the service was distributed to the believers.

At the end of the service, an Easter religious procession took place, after which the archpastor addressed the pilgrims with a sermon.

After the service in the monastery, Bishop Nikita visited the widow of the rector of the Transfiguration Church in the village of Nizhnie Pryski, Archpriest Leonty Nikiforov, Mother Tamara, who reposed blessedly in February of this year. Vladyka congratulated mother on the Easter holidays and talked with her over tea.

Details >>

The broadcast can be seen on the YouTube channel “Mother Zipporah – Klykovo”. Recordings of Holy Week services are also available there. As well as a broadcast of the removal of the Shroud and the Rite of Burial - two of the most important services that take place on Good Friday of Holy Week. Let us recall that earlier the abbot of the monastery, Mikhail (Semyonov), organized a flyover with the shrines of the monastery over the Kaluga region. In the sky, the abbot and his brethren prayed for the deliverance of the Russian land from the coronavirus. “Our Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage cannot remain indifferent in the days of large-scale disaster and trial, sorrow and sorrow of the Russian people,” this is how the monastery explained the “aerial” procession of the Cross. Later, Abbot Mikhail and his brethren toured the neighboring regions with the shrines.

The Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village of Klykovo is the first monastery built and consecrated after the fall of the USSR. Along with the Optina Hermitage and the monastery in Shamordino, it is considered one of the main spiritual centers in the Kozelsky region. The dawn of the monastery is associated with Schema-nun Sepphora, who lived in the monastery, who during her lifetime became famous as a wonderworker and a person of high spiritual life. Mother's grave is located on the territory of the monastery. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visit it every year.

Bishop Nikita led the meeting of the Shrines of the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the Hermitage. Klykovo in Nikitsky Temple in Kaluga March 09, 2020

On March 9, 2021, to the Church in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Nikitsky) in Kaluga, with the blessing of Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, for the worship and strengthening of believers during the days of Lent, the Shrines of the monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands from the Klykovo Kozelsky district of the Kaluga region were brought : an ark with a particle of the Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos, an ark with a particle of the relics of the holy Myrrh-Bearing Women and a cell, myrrh-streaming, icon of schema-nun Sepphora (Shnyakina) “Helper in childbirth”, some things of the schema-nun.

The meeting of the Shrines was led by Bishop Nikita of Kozel and Lyudinovo. Together with the bishop, the Shrine was met by: the rector of the Nikitsky Church in Kaluga - Archpriest Alexy Pelevin, Archpriest Anthony Khatuntsev, Priest John Ignakhin - rector of the Temple in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Spas-Sukhodrev of the Maloyaroslavets district, priest Maxim Konovalov, rector of the Church in honor of the Epiphany in Kaluga, priest Sergius Barykin, rector of the Church in honor of the Annunciation of the Lord in Kozelsk, clergy of the Nikitsky Temple - priest Maxim Kartuesov and priest Oleg Pleshakov, hieromonk Zosima (Kibler ) - resident of the monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage. The diaconal rank was headed by Protodeacon Sergius Komarov, head of the Department for Interaction with Government Agencies, Society and the Media, and Deacon Evgeny Vasiliev also concelebrated.

His Eminence and the clergy serving with him performed a prayer service with an Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos (“To the chosen victorious Voivode...”). The clergy and believers sang a prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos, “Offering to my Queen...”

At the end, Bishop Nikita addressed those gathered with a sermon and anointed the believers with consecrated oil.

We remind you that during the stay of the Shrines, Divine services in the temple will be performed daily: in the morning at 9.00, in the evening at 17.00. In the morning, after the end of the morning Divine service, and in the evening, before the start of the evening Divine service, prayer singing will be performed in front of the Shrines. Also, on weekdays, at 13.00 a prayer service with Akathist will be performed.

Story

First, a wooden church was erected here in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and the construction of the stone building of the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands is associated with a miracle. There was once a cholera epidemic in the Kaluga province. Christians, knowing that 8 kilometers from here, in a neighboring village, there is a temple with a miraculous image of the Savior. Then pilgrims with a procession brought this shrine to the dying village. They surrounded the shrine around Klykovo. Cholera has retreated. In honor of the miraculous deliverance from the scourge, they decided to build a stone temple. And they consecrated it in honor of the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands, through which the Lord revealed this miracle. It is significant that the epidemic stopped on the day of the celebration in honor of the image, August 29.

Connection of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Desert with Optina and Shamordino

The Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the village of Klykovo, Kaluga Region, stands on the high bank of the Serena River, far from major roads. Next door is the women’s Shamordino hermitage, famous for its traditions.

After Easter 1923, the churches of Optina Hermitage were closed. Some of the brethren, who miraculously escaped arrest, settled in nearby villages and towns. Some monks found refuge in Klykovo. The rector of the temple here was one of the Optina hieromonks, Panteleimon. Here he lived and prayed, and during Soviet times he gave communion to local children. In 1937 he was arrested and soon shot.

The temple was closed and converted into a granary. In the 1960s it was already very dilapidated. The roof was lost and the walls began to collapse. The church was turned into a fertilizer warehouse.

Once, more than 30 dispossessed people were herded into the already desecrated empty Klykovsky Church. The “crimes” of those simple Russian people were that they were strong and hard-working owners. Moreover, they were still believers. Perhaps that is why the Red commanders chose the Orthodox Church as a common grave.

When the church was returned to the Diocese in 1993, workers discovered a ditch within its walls into which the remains of those very “enemies of the people” had been dumped. Judging by the skulls, among them there were not only people of working age, but also small children and old people. Christians buried the dead and began to repair the temple on their own. By 2000, a temple and a bell tower were erected, residential buildings, other buildings, and a fence were rebuilt. A new holy monastery was born.

Description

Pilgrimages (11)

Trips here (42)

Description of the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo

The Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage is located in the village of Klykovo near the city of Kozelsk, Kaluga region. These places are famous for their unusually picturesque nature: birch groves, vast fields, meadows, the Zhizdra and Serena rivers. It is probably no coincidence that one of the oldest, most famous and revered monasteries in Russia, the Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn, is located here.

The monastery in Klykovo has been operating for quite some time now, but the history of the monastery is connected with events that took place much earlier.

Where today is the village of Klykovo, along the high bank of the Serena River in ancient times there was a path along which the Khazars, Tatars and princes walked. There was also a pagan settlement where the Monk Kuksha, an outstanding Russian educator of the pre-Mongol era, preached. The events preceding the construction of the temple in honor of the Hermit-created Image of the Lord in Klykovo are also noteworthy.

The Christian historian Eusebius (270-338) said that King Abgar, who ruled the peoples living beyond the Euphrates, suffered from a serious illness. Hearing about the name and miracles of Jesus, he sent the painter Ananias to him with a letter, asking him to be healed of his illness. Having handed over the message, Ananias tried to examine the face of Jesus and make sketches. But his efforts were unsuccessful. The seer, recognizing the desire of Ananias, called him to himself, demanded water, washed himself and took a cloth folded in four, wiped himself with it - and suddenly the likeness of His face was reflected on this cloth - the Image Not Made by Hands was drawn

The Lord gave the cloth to Ananias with the words: “Go and give this to the one who sent you.” Along with the image, the Lord gave a letter to Abgar. “Blessed are you, Abgar, for you believed in Me without seeing Me. For it is written about Me that those who have seen Me will not believe in Me, so that those who have not seen may believe and live...” Abgar reverently accepted the Miraculous Image of the Savior and was immediately healed.

And he ordered to place the Image over the city gates. In place of the Hellenic deity who stood there, ordering that everyone passing through this gate worship the Image. More than once the icon saved the city of Edessa from siege by enemy troops.

In 944, Emperors Constantine VII the Porphyrogenitus and his father-in-law Romanos I Lecapinus bought the icon from the owners of Edessa. The procession of the icon from Edessa to Constantinople was accompanied by the glory of miracles.

In memory of the transfer of the Image Not Made by Hands from Edessa to Constantinople, the Church established a holiday on August 16 (29), when believers glorify the Image Not Made by Hands of the Lord as evidence of His true incarnation and veneration of icons. This holiday in Rus' is also called the Savior on Canvas. This day is popularly called the Third, or the Savior of the Bread. According to tradition, this is dozhinki, the end of the harvest.

The name of the Monk Kuksha (or Kupsha), a monk of the Kyiv Pechersk Monastery, who preached the Christian faith among the pagan Vyatichi and suffered martyrdom from them at the beginning of the 12th century, is not known to many.

The Vyatichi, the easternmost of all Slavic tribes, inhabited most of the territory of what is now the Kaluga region. This means that the Venerable Martyr Kuksha, “the apostle of the Vyatichi” (as he is sometimes called in church literature), should be revered as one of the main educators and baptists of our Fatherland and the most ancient ancestors of Kaluga residents.

The exact time of the life of the Monk Kuksha is also unknown, and where he came from to the Kiev Pechersk Monastery, and who he was before he was tonsured. There is only an assumption that the monk himself was from the Vyatichi, which supposedly can explain his ardent desire to enlighten his fellow tribesmen with the light of the Christian faith. The Vyatichi land, to which the Monk Kuksha headed together with his disciple, occupied a very special place on the political map of Rus' in the 11th-12th centuries. According to the legend recorded in the Tale of Bygone Years, the Vyatichi (as well as the Radimichi) came to their lands from somewhere in the west, “from the Poles,” that is, by a different route than the rest of the Eastern Slavs.

Living in the upper and middle reaches of the Oka and its tributaries (in the territory of the present Kaluga, Bryansk, Oryol, Tula and Moscow regions), the Vyatichi later than other East Slavic tribes became part of the Old Russian state and resisted the power of the Kyiv and other princes longer. Perhaps, no other East Slavic tribe did not cause so much trouble to the rulers of Rus'.

One must think that Kuksha’s mission occurred during the period of gradual entry of the Vyatichi into the political and state system of the Old Russian state - that is, chronologically it took place between the campaigns of Vladimir Monomakh and the wars of Yuri Dolgoruky. The first mentions in the chronicles of most Vyatichi cities, such as Kozelsk, Dedoslavl, Bryansk, Mtsensk, Karachev, Serensk, Mosalsk, Vorotynsk, as well as Moscow, which arose in the extreme northeast of the Vyatichi land, date back to this time.

The Vyatichi remained adherents of the pagan religion longer than other Eastern Slavs. The complexity of the Christian education of the Vyatichi was further aggravated by the fact that their lands were mostly covered with dense, impenetrable forests.

Bishop Simon of Vladimir-Suzdal (1214-1226), one of the authors of the Paterikon of the Kyiv Pechersk Monastery, wrote about Kuksha: “How can one voluntarily remain silent about this blessed monk, about whom everyone knows how he drove out demons, and baptized the Vyatichi, and the rain with brought down the sky, and dried up the lake, and performed many other miracles, and after many torments he was killed with his disciple.” Although Simon’s story about the events in the Vyatichi land is too short for one to draw any conclusions about the duration on its basis and the nature of the Vyatichi mission of the Monk Kuksha, nevertheless he fulfilled his mission of “Vyatichi baptism”.

However, ultimately, their preaching ended tragically: both Kuksha himself and his disciple were killed. We can judge how this could happen from the Life of St. Leonty of Rostov: he also preached among the pagans: “The old people, ossified in their unbelief, did not listen to his teachings,” says the Life. “Then the blessed one left the old people and began to teach the young.” But it was his successes in preaching that aroused the anger of the local residents, first of all, the “old people”, more precisely, the elders (not necessarily by age, but by social status): “And the pagans rushed to his holy head, planning to expel him and kill him.” Researchers presumably call the place of death of Kuksha and his student the city of Serensk on the Serena River, a tributary of the Zhizdra (the current Meshchovsky district of the Kaluga region). Most likely because this city was undoubtedly on the route of 18 preachers and, moreover, was well studied by archaeologists: obvious traces of Christian preaching were discovered at the Serensky settlement - in particular, pectoral crosses, including a cross with champlevé enamel of the 11th-12th centuries , probably of Kiev origin.

The death of the preachers was truly terrible. “Through many torments he was cut short to be with his disciple,” Bishop Simon says about Kuksha. In Ancient Rus', the word “truncated” was used in the most literal sense of the word - when it came to truncating the head. Before their death, the preachers were tortured for a long time, probably calling them to renounce Christ.

But, despite the death of the missionaries, their mission brought results. Only a few decades will pass - and the seeds of Christian enlightenment will sprout on the unfertile soil of Vyatichi. Most likely, soon after his martyrdom, the remains of the Saint were transferred to the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery and placed in the so-called Near, or Anthony's Caves, where they rest to this day. Perhaps they were redeemed by the Pecheryans for money; perhaps the Vyatichi themselves hastened to extradite them in order to at least to some extent smooth out the impression of the crime they committed against the Kyiv missionaries. As for the disciple of the Monk Kuksha, there is no information about the fate of his relics; it seems that they remained somewhere in the Vyatichsky land and, quite possibly, in the Kaluga land.

The history of the appearance of this ancient image of the Savior in the Kurynichsky Church is little known. There are only legends that it was brought to Kurynichi by one of the relatives of the Kurynichi landowners, the Shulgins.

In the 20s of the 19th century, cholera was rampant in Kozelsky district. And according to legend, preserved to this day among the peasants of the village of Klykovo, during the epidemic, the Image of the Savior from Kurynich was brought to Klykovo. With the religious procession, the Image of the Savior was surrounded around the village, and cholera, which had previously consumed many victims, gradually began to weaken, and by August 16 it completely stopped. In gratitude to the Savior God, the then owner of the village of Klykovo Guard, Lieutenant Alexander Fedorovich Poltoratsky, built a new stone church on the site of a dilapidated wooden church in honor of St. Nicholas. In 1829, construction was completed, and at the request of Poltoratsky, the temple was consecrated in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Image Not Made by Hands. From then until the beginning of the 20th century, and therefore the period of persecution of the church, the history of the village of Klykovo developed very well. Klykovo was famous for its orchards and nursery. The founder of the nursery was Vasily Petrovich Zlatoustovsky, born into the family of a priest from the village of Burnashevo, Kozelsky district. After graduating from the Kaluga Theological Seminary, Vasily Zlatoustovsky married a landowner who at that time owned the village of Klykovo, thanks to which he received 7 acres of the old garden and 20 acres of arable land. Restoring the garden, Zlatoustovsky turned it into a rich pomological collection (1,500 varietal trees). At the same time, he created a fruit nursery, which annually produced up to 40 thousand seedlings of apple trees and other fruit species. Fruits from the Zlatoustovsky variety testing garden were repeatedly exhibited at provincial, Russian and international exhibitions, where they were awarded many, including gold medals.

With the advent of Soviet power, persecution began against the Russian Orthodox Church, which was exceptional in its scope and cruelty not only within the history of Russia, but also on the scale of world history. Thousands of clergy and laity were arrested and shot. Temples were closed and monasteries were plundered. The Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn was no exception. After Easter 1923, the churches of the Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn were sealed, and many clergy were arrested.

In 1924, after the destruction of the Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage, part of the brethren settled in the village of Klykovo. The center of the spiritual life of this community became the local temple in honor of the Savior Not Made by Hands. Optina hieromonk Panteleimon served in this church from 1925 to 1935. Little is known about Panteleimon (in the world Platon Grigorievich Shibanov): he was a skete monk, in 1916 he was ordained as a hierodeacon in the Optina monastery, and was ordained as a hieromonk after the revolution. This is how the residents of the village of Klykovo remembered him: “Father Panteleimon gathered us all, children living near the church, and always communed the Holy Mysteries of Christ, but one day, we don’t remember when, he did not come out of the church to meet us.” In 1935, Hieromonk Panteleimon was arrested and in 1937 he was accused of counter-revolutionary activities and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out in Sukhinichi prison.

In 1937, the temple in honor of the Image of the Lord Not Made by Hands was closed.

In the spring of 1991, the temple in the village of Klykovo was returned to the Church. By that time the building was in very poor condition. Almost nothing remained of the interior decoration of the temple. Even the floor was destroyed. Earth and debris covered the walls of the building up to the windows. The ceilings began to collapse, and grass and trees grew on the remains of the roof.

Archbishop Clement of Kaluga and Borovsky blessed the establishment of the Bishop's Compound in the village of Klykovo with the help of the brethren who came from Optina Pustyn and settled here. On January 11, 1993, a Bishop's metochion was formed at the temple, and on October 18 of the same year, Abbot Peter (Drum) was appointed rector of the metochion. A monastic community began to form at the metochion, and on July 17, 2001, a Resolution of the Holy Synod was adopted on the opening of the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the village of Klykovo.

With the transfer of the temple, restoration work began. The Temple of the Savior Not Made by Hands was in complete desolation and ruin. During the years of Soviet power, the local collective farm first used the temple building as a granary, and then adapted it as a workshop for repairing equipment. After the destruction of the roof of the refectory part of the temple, nitrogen fertilizers began to be stored in it. When alluvial soil was removed from the temple, remains of human bones were found that had damage from firearms and bladed weapons.

The temple, built by Poltoratsky, was completely restored in 1999 and on November 28 of the same year, Archbishop Clement consecrated its central chapel.

Website: https://www.klikovo.ru

Pilgrimage trips to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo

A trip from Gomel to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Mogilev to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Bobruisk to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Mozyr to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Minsk to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Krasnoyarsk to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Moscow to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Tver to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Moscow to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Tver to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Krasnodar to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Voronezh to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from St. Petersburg to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Minsk to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Samara to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from St. Petersburg to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Klin to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Volgograd to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Klin to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Minsk to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Tver to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Moscow to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from St. Petersburg to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from St. Petersburg to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Kolomna to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Voronezh to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Penza to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Tver to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Smolensk to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Serpukhov to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Stavropol to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Moscow to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from St. Petersburg to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Dmitrov to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Moscow to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Moscow to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Klin to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Yekaterinburg to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Kolomna to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Tver to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Krasnoyarsk to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from St. Petersburg to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Tver to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Moscow to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Uralsk to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Moscow to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Zaraysk to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Klin to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Yaroslavl to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Klin to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Belgorod to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo
A trip from Moscow to the Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the Hermitage in the village. Klykovo