Gornensky Monastery in Jerusalem: history, description and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

The city where the Savior preached the Word of God and ascended the cross for the sins of the entire human race - Jerusalem, is sacred to Christians of all denominations. For centuries it was visited by Russian pilgrims and ascetics. They built several temples and monasteries in Jerusalem and its environs. The Gornensky Monastery is one of them.

Ein Karem

The area where the Gorny monastery is located is located in the southwestern part of Jerusalem. Translated into Russian from Hebrew, its name translates as "Source of grapes." According to biblical tradition, it was there, to her relative Saint Elizabeth, that the Virgin Mary came after she learned that she was destined to become the mother of the son of God. In addition, John the Baptist was born in Ein Karem, who was the son of the priest Zechariah. While still in the womb of his mother, Saint Elizabeth, he jumped at the approach of the Mother of God, thereby announcing that the Savior was soon to be born.

Backstory

According to the testimony of contemporaries, the Gornensky Monastery appeared thanks to the vigilant labors of the ascetic Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin).

Autumn 1869year he hosted one of the members of the State Council of the Russian Empire and the well-known politician at that time, P. P. Melnikov. During a walk around the outskirts of Jerusalem, the archimandrite showed the guest a piece of land where the Gornensky monastery is located today, and asked for help in acquiring his Orthodox mission from the former French dragoman Khan Carlo Gellyad.

P. P. Melnikov organized a committee to raise funds that Father Antonin needed to equip the monastery. Large Moscow manufacturers Putilov and Polyakov, the Eliseev brothers, well-known philanthropists, as well as many ordinary Russians, made generous donations to the charitable cause.

But fundraising was not the only concern of Archimandrite Antonin, since the village of Ein Karem attracted the missionary Ratibson, thanks to whom the Catholics began to acquire land there, built a chapel, a school and the Magnificant monastery. Their representatives also started negotiating with Jellad, but he was inclined to sell his property to Father Antonin.

In February 1871, after a long ordeal, a bill of sale was finally drawn up for a plot of a dragoman with two houses and a garden for 55,000 francs. However, the story did not end there, as a few days later Jellad died as a result of poisoning. The murder was never solved, although many considered it the revenge of Catholic fanatics.

Construction of the first temple

At first, during the summer, services were held in a specially equipped tent, and in winter - in a 2-storey mission house. LaterArchimandrite Antonin chose a place for the temple and drew the architectural plan himself. According to this project, during the construction seasons of 1880-1881, the Arab contractor Jiries built the church and received 300 napoleons for his work. In addition, he was paid 30 French gold coins for the erection of a free-standing bell tower. In 1883, the temple was consecrated in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

Gornensky Monastery: the history of foundation

Immediately after the plot of land came into the possession of the Russian Orthodox Church, a shelter for pilgrims was built there. After some time, several nuns settled in it. Then Archimandrite Antonin decided to found an unusual Orthodox nunnery. According to the charter he wrote, only nuns could settle in it, who were able to build a house on its territory at their own expense and plant a garden around it. So, instead of the usual buildings with cells, a small women's village appeared, immersed in the greenery of olive, almond and citrus trees.

In 1898, the Holy Synod granted the local community the status of a monastery.

After 5 years, gold embroidery and icon painting workshops began to operate on its territory. Thanks to them, the Gornensky Monastery in Jerusalem no longer needed outside funding.

The fate of the monastery during the First World War

In 1910, the construction of the cathedral began, which, at the request of the sisters, was to be consecrated in honor of the Holy Trinity. These plans were thwarted by the First World War.the beginning of which the construction of the temple was stopped.

At the request of the authorities of the Ottoman Empire, which then owned Jerusalem and most of Palestine, 200 nuns living in the monastery were forced to move to Egyptian Alexandria. From there, they were able to return to the Gornensky Monastery only in 1918. Before their eyes, a thoroughly ruined monastery with damaged buildings appeared, but thanks to the efforts of the sisters, it was quickly restored.

Further history of the monastery in the 20th century

Since 1920, due to the inability to maintain contact with the Moscow Patriarchate, the Gornensky Monastery in Jerusalem, as part of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, came under the control of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad. During this period, many nuns settled in the monastery, who fled from Russia, engulfed by the Civil War, through Bessarabia, and moved to the Holy Land through Serbia.

In 1945 His Holiness Patriarch Alexy the First arrived in Palestine. His arrival caused discord among the sisters, as some of them decided to come under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. Then it was decided to give them the Greek temple in Ein Karem.

During the Arab-Israeli war in the summer of 1948, Ein Karem was bombed. The sisters had to leave the Gornensky Monastery (the history of the monastery before the First World War is presented above), they fled to the part of Palestine that belonged to Jordan.

After the formation of Israel

In 1948, the monastery was transferred by the authorities to the Moscow Patriarchate. Inhabitants who did not wantreturn under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, went to London and founded the Annunciation Monastery there. Another 5 nuns moved to Chile, where in 1958, under the leadership of Archbishop Leonty, they founded the Dormition Convent.

From the middle of the last century, Orthodox women and girls who came from the USSR began to enter the Gornensky monastery as residents. They quickly became full members of the community and worked hard in the name of the Lord.

In the future, for many years the monastery continued to be the only operating convent of the Moscow Patriarchate abroad.

In 1987, for the first time in many years, on its territory in the name of St. John the Baptist, the cave temple was consecrated.

Revival of the monastery

In 1997, it was decided to resume construction of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. It lasted 10 years and ended in 2007. On October 28, the temple was consecrated in the name of All Saints who shone in the Russian land (small rank).

Later, in November 2012, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow visited the Gornensky Monastery (you already know how it was founded). He solemnly consecrated the cathedral and talked with the sisters.

For the revival of the monastery, its current abbess George (Shchukina) did a lot. She was appointed to the Gorny Convent with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy in 1991. Matushka George survived the siege of Leningrad as a child, and when she and her mother were evacuated to the Krasnodar Territory, she ended up in the zone of German occupation. After longThe ordeal girl returned to her hometown, and a few years later she retired to an Orthodox convent in Estonia, where she lived for 40 years.

When she took over the management of the hermitage, the latter was in decline. Suffice it to say that the houses of the nuns did not even have running water and sewerage, and many of them were in a dilapidated state.

Gornensky monastery: description

Today, 60 sisters live permanently in the monastery. The main cathedral of the monastery is the Church of All Saints, who shone in the Russian land. It contains the miraculous Kazan icon of the Mother of God. To the right of the entrance you can see the holy stone, on which, according to ancient tradition, John the Baptist himself preached. The boulder was brought to the monastery from the outskirts of Jerusalem from the "desert", located near the village of Even-Sapir. It is believed that there, shortly before his execution, St. John the Baptist.

Besides, in 2012 a cave temple was consecrated in the monastery. It is dedicated to St. John the Baptist (Forerunner). According to ancient legend, this small church is located on the site where, shortly before the birth of Christ, the holy righteous Zacharias and Elizabeth built their dwelling. Its stone niches are decorated with icons depicting scenes from the life of John, who baptized the Savior in the waters of the Jordan River.

On the territory of the monastery there is a Greek Orthodox church, which was built in the 19th century. After she passed awaya nun who lived at this temple and devoted many years to creating paintings on its walls, it rarely opens its doors to visitors.

Monastic way of life

All the nuns who have chosen the Gorny Monastery (Ein Karem) as their place of service have their obediences. Their day is scheduled by the hour:

• from 5:30 to 9:00 a morning service is held in the monastery;
• from 9:00 to 9:30 - breakfast in the refectory;
• from 9:30 to 12:30 - time for obedience, during which the nuns perform tasks assigned to them by the dean;
• from 12:30 to 13:00 - lunch;
• from 13:00 to 15:00 - obediences;
• from 15:00 to 18:00 - evening service;
• from 18:00 to 21:00 - obediences.

Employees

In recent years, more and more people want to devote some period of their lives to the service of the Lord. To this end, they go to monasteries, where they seek to find answers to their questions regarding the salvation of the soul and the meaning of a person's stay on earth.

In particular, believing women and girls can become laborers at the Gornensky Monastery for up to three months. To do this, they must obtain a tourist visa to Israel, as well as the blessing and recommendation of a priest from the temple they usually visit.

How to get to the monastery

The main question that interests those who want to see the Gornensky Monastery is how to get there from Jerusalem? The easiest way to do this is on buses No. 19 and No. 27 (to the Hadassah Hospital stop). Besides,from the Central Bus Station, you can go there by first using tram number 1, and then bus number 28.

Now you know the history of the Gorny Monastery. You also know how to get there, and you can visit it if you find yourself in Jerusalem and want to visit places associated with the earthly life of the Mother of God.