Convent Seraphim-Znamensky Skete diocesan convent. Serafimo-Znamensky Skete is a special holy place ... Seraphim-Znamensky Skete Convent

DOMODEDOVO, February 7, 2018, DOMODEDOVSKIE VESTI - Not far from the noisy Domodedovo is one of the pearls of Russian architecture of the early XX century - the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete. Its foundation and construction is associated with one of the most amazing women of the 20th century - shegumen Tamar (Mordzhanova). About the monastery, the inextricable spiritual connection between Georgia and Russia, as well as the fate of this woman will tell the correspondent of the publication "Domodedovskie Vesti" Alexander Ilyinsky

Earthly Paradise

The monastic complex seems to grow out of the surrounding nature near Moscow, showing the perfect and fabulous Russian beauty to the rare visitor. This beauty seemed to have descended from the paintings of Vasnetsov or Nesterov. Seeing the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete once is enough to fall in love with this place forever. Overgrown with pine forest and birch forest, the monastery is buried in flowers in the summer. And in winter, the whiteness of sparkling snow and the blue shadows of snowdrifts emphasize the austere architecture of the monastery. At any time of the year, the skete is an image of an earthly paradise. And reminds each of those who get here, about Heavenly Paradise.

Pine forest sheltered from the hustle and bustle of the eternal rush of the monastery complex, made of whitewashed brick in the old Russian style. In its center, built according to the project of the architect Alexei Shchusev, rises the most beautiful tiered hipped-roof church, made in the traditions of the architecture of the 17th century. The illuminated tent of the church is crowned with a slide of 32 decorative kokoshniks and a colored ceramic dome with a strict cross. The small size of the church is deceiving. It contains two temple rooms. The upper church was consecrated in honor of Seraphim of Sarov and the Icon of the Mother of God "The Sign". Large arched windows and many small windows located on the tent fill the room with light and create a joyful feeling of space and flight.

Alexander ILYINSKY / DIAMO

The lower basement temple, originally conceived as a tomb and made in the Georgian style, surrounds the pilgrim with twilight and a special prayer comfort. It is dedicated to Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, the Enlightener of Georgia. Outside, according to the project of the architect Leonid Strezhensky, the skete is surrounded by a square fence, in which twelve cell houses are intricately built. Opposite the entrance to the temple are the entrance gates to the monastery - the holy gates with a belfry.

They say that architecture is a harmony of proportions. If this is so, then internally and externally the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete is simply ideal in its beauty and architectural incorporation into the surrounding nature. The history of this God-blessed place is inextricably linked with an amazing woman who was recently glorified in the host of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia - Shegemony Tamarya (Mordzhanova).

Princess who became a nun

It seemed that Tamara Alexandrovna Mardzhanishvili, born in 1868 in a Georgian princely family, was waiting for a happy marriage, a comfortable life and troubles about numerous children. Young men from the best Georgian families looked at the charming girl. But God judged otherwise. Tamara was looking not for earthly happiness, but for heavenly. At a young age, she heard a special call from God, left behind wealth and secular joys in order to become a nun Juvenalia in 1889. Before us is a secret hidden in the depths of the human heart from prying eyes. But it is obvious that her whole previous life was only a preparation for such a step. The rapid spiritual growth of the nun Juvenalia began to the extent of unity with Christ. And very soon these spiritual gifts of love, mercy, peace of mind and fiery faith became obvious to those around. For deeds of prayer, height and purity of spiritual life in 1902, she was appointed abbess of the Bodbe convent, one of the largest monasteries of Orthodox Iveria. Her whole life is inextricably linked with the special veneration of the great Russian saint - Seraphim of Sarov, a reverent love for which Abbess Yuvenalia carried to her last breath. Matushka was distinguished by her seriousness, efficiency and impeccable adherence to high Christian virtues. At this time, Georgia was restless. In 1907, an armed attack was made on Abbess Yuvenaly. The purpose of the robbers was the money of the Bodbe Monastery, but the monastery carriage, riddled with bullets, managed to escape from the ambush. The abbess remained alive by a miracle. And ten days later the church authorities transferred her to Moscow.

Bomother's command

For the nun, accustomed to spiritual silence and contemplative life, the Mother See, with all its metropolitan discord and bustle, became spiritual torture. She began to look for opportunities to move to a more peaceful place.

But it is at this moment that a turning point occurs in her fate. During the prayer, she receives a command from the Queen of Heaven Herself to found a small convent. But you never know who will like it! Being spiritually sober and alien to exaltation, Abbess Juvenal seeks advice from the great confessors of that time - Alexei Zosimovsky, Anatoly Optinsky and Gabriel Sedmiezersky. And they, without saying a word, unexpectedly support the initiative of the forty-year-old nun.

Serafimo-Znamensky Skete

And then the impossible begins. Benefactors come to an unknown provincial abbess, ready to invest heavily in construction. It is located in a convenient place in the Podolsk district, 36 versts from Moscow, in the forest near the Vostryakovo station. A branch of the Paveletskaya railway was supposed to pass on this land. At the very last moment, the railway company unexpectedly sells the land and moves construction five kilometers east. The Holy Synod, the highest body of church authority, gives permission for the construction of the skete. The famous Moscow architects Shchusev and Strezhensky, delighted with the prospect of embodying the image of the Heavenly City of Jerusalem in stone, are developing a detailed project in the shortest possible time.

Finally, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fedorovna Romanova, the founder of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent, takes an active part in the creation of the skete. Love for St. Seraphim of Sarov forever united these two different women.

The first stone in the foundation of the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete was laid on July 27, 1910. Construction was completed in September 1912. The rite of consecration of the newly created monastery was conducted by Metropolitan Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky) of Moscow. 33 nuns settled in the skete - according to the number of earthly years of Jesus Christ. They spent their lives in work, prayer and solitude. Worship was performed daily. The external symbolism and the internal charter of the skete were designed to follow the gospel words: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness." The spiritual support of the new monastery was carried out by the most famous priests of that time - Bishop Arseny (Zhdanovsky) and Bishop Seraphim (Zvezdinsky). And in 1915, a particularly significant event took place in the spiritual life of Abbess Yuvenalia. She was tonsured into the Great Schema with the name Tamar. The Great Schema meant for mother Tamar the most complete, ultimate estrangement from the world and its rejection for the sake of union with God. All her thoughts and spiritual impulses were now directed towards only one thing - unceasing prayer. Life became life. Under the name Tamar, she remained in the history of the Domodedovo region. Under this name, she will enter the saints of the Georgian and Russian Orthodox Churches.

Years of hard times

The difficult time of civil unrest did not bypass the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete. In 1924 it was closed, and in 1934 the nuns, together with the Mother Superior, were arrested, imprisoned, and then deported to Siberia. After closing, the Zaboryevskaya hospital was placed in the monastery, which became the best in the county. In the 60s there was a pioneer camp, then - a recreation center. Gradually, the buildings began to fall into disrepair, and the territory - into desolation.

The founder of the monastery, schema-nun Tamar, at the request of her brother Konstantin, a well-known Soviet director and theater reformer, was released from exile in 1934 to die in Moscow. Despite the physical weakness from the tuberculosis she had earned in prisons, the spiritual greatness and beauty of the mother's spirit remained unchanged. Moreover, this inner radiance seemed to gain strength over the years. She is all - has become a prayer and love for people and God. This is how the artist Pavel Korin saw her. A few days before the death of the nun, he managed to finish the portrait of "Sheigumenya Tamar", well known to our contemporaries and now in the artist's museum. Matushka died peacefully in June 1936 in a small house near the Pionerskaya station of the Belarusian railway and was buried in the German cemetery in Moscow. Most of the sisters of the Seraphim-Znamenskaya monastery were repressed. Bishop Arseny, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna and Bishop Seraphim were shot.

rebirth

The deserted and dilapidated monastery was transferred to the Orthodox Church in 1999. The renovation work has now been completed. The Serafimo-Znamensky Skete, under the leadership of Abbess Innocentia (Popova), has taken on a spiritual life and once again delights pilgrims with the miraculous fusion of architecture with nature near Moscow, the treasures of Orthodoxy, and the special silence that is so necessary in our time. On December 22, 2016, the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church made a decision to canonize the founder of the monastery, Sheikhumene Famari. The Orthodox Church of Iveria is fraternal for the Russian Church. And therefore, on December 28, 2017, at a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, a decision was made to include the name of the Confessor Tamar (in Russian transcription - Mordzhanova) in the official months. The date of her prayerful memory is June 23rd.

Igor MOISEEV / DIAMO

On February 8, the Divine Liturgy will be held at the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete, which will be attended by all the clergy of the Domodedovo deanery. And after the Liturgy, the first solemn prayer service dedicated to the newly glorified holy Russian and Georgian Church of Famari (Mordzhanova) will take place. Rich in spirituality and traditions, Domodedovo land has found a new saint. This cannot but rejoice!

Address: Moscow region, Domodedovo district, sanatorium "Podmoskovye", 26

Directions: to the station Domodedovo Paveletskaya railway, then by bus number 23 to the stop "Selo Bityagovo". Or by buses 31, 32, 58 to the village of Zaborye, then walk 2.5 km towards the Neftyanik recreation center.

Near the city of Domodedovo, near the village of Bityagovo, stands the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete, a small convent. It was founded in 1910 by Abbess Yuvenalia (Georgian princess T.A. Marjanishvili in the world, since 1916 shegumenia Tamar, 1869-1936).
Church of the Sign of the Mother of God and the Monk Seraphim, with a tent of 24 kokoshniks rising in openwork tiers. The architect of the cathedral is A.V. Shchusev. It took two years to build the skete, and in 1912 it was consecrated by Metropolitan Vladimir (Epiphany) of Moscow and Kolomna. All buildings are made in the neo-Russian style, the correct artistic and author's approach determined the beauty of the composition.
In 1924, the monastery was closed, the godless Soviet authorities were just beginning to persecute the Orthodox faith. A hospital was opened on the site of the skete. In 1965, a pioneer camp and a recreation center of the plant were opened.
In 1999, the buildings were returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, and in 2000 the revival of the convent began.

The road to the village of Bityagovo, south of Domodedovo, is very picturesque. Small and deserted, it goes through a dense forest and you want to drive along it for an infinitely long time. A few kilometers from the village, it turns to the southwest, and another, smaller one, goes north. An inattentive traveler may not notice this turn and the sign at the fork, hidden among the branches, but if he nevertheless pays attention to it and passes along the road, he will see one of the most unusual churches near Moscow with an equally extraordinary history.

Once upon a time, like that inattentive traveler, I also went through these places to swim in the Rozhayka River, and I never saw either that tablet or the temple itself. All the more was my surprise when I found on the Internet several photographs of a secluded and very beautiful forest monastery, and looking at the map, I suddenly discovered that I had already been literally half a kilometer from this place several times. Without postponing the matter indefinitely, I packed up and went to fill in the gap in my knowledge about the Moscow region.

The skete, by definition, should be a secluded place in the wilderness, the abode of hermits and hermits. I knew well the sketes on the Solovetsky Islands - securely hidden in the forests, they fully corresponded to these characteristics. Another thing is the Moscow region, and even the near one - what kind of skete can there be? I thought. But all my doubts quickly dissipated as soon as I got there.

All skete buildings and the church are located on a low hill in the middle of a centuries-old forest - huge pine trees grow literally a few meters from the walls.

There are few people around, to be more precise, almost none at all. The road ends here, the village is left aside, and vacationers on the river, which runs about a kilometer from the skete, are not seen or heard. Walking around the territory, I saw only a few parishioners and a nun (Serafimo-Znamensky Skete is a small convent).

The temple impresses with its unusual architecture. A tall tent, crowned with twenty-four kokoshniks, is directed like a candle to the sky.

The tent type of temple construction was widespread in Russia in the 16th-17th centuries, but in this case the first stone in the foundation of the skete was laid relatively recently - in 1910. The organizers wanted to create a beautiful image of Heavenly Jerusalem, and the architect Alexei Viktorovich Shchusev did it well - he built the temple in the best traditions of ancient Russian architecture.

Not far from the walls of the temple there is a small well-kept garden and a beautiful flower garden.

An imposing stone wall rises around the skete, forming a square. Each of the sides is equal to thirty-three fathoms - according to the number of years of the earthly life of Christ. By the way, earlier in this small monastery there were also thirty-three sisters according to the charter. Small houses-cells are built into the wall - twelve in total, according to the number of apostles. Each cell bears the name of its apostle.

As you can see, everything in the skete is in its place and has its own meaning. Even the twenty-four kokoshniks crowning the temple were not made by chance, but according to the number of apocalyptic elders, who, in turn, symbolize the victory of good over evil and unceasing prayer that goes up to the Lord around the clock - twenty-four hours. Undoubtedly, the founders of the skete wanted to give even greater holiness to their creation with such symbolism. But, as you will soon understand from the brief history given in this short article, the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete is already one of those special shrines of the Russian land, which, unfortunately, few people still know about.

Tamara Alexandrovna Marjanishvili was born in 1868 in Kvareli into a Georgian princely family, received a good secular upbringing and education. Having lost her parents by the age of twenty, she found comfort and consolation within the walls of the Bodbe Convent, one of the largest monasteries in Georgia. Once being under its vaults, she immediately felt that her place was there. The persuasion of her relatives, who were concerned about the correctness of the path she had chosen, had no effect.

Coming to the monastery as a young novice, a few years later Tamara was tonsured under the name of Yuvenaly, and in 1902, for her deeds of prayer, purity and height of spiritual life, she was appointed abbess of the Bodbe Monastery, which at that time had 300 sisters and two women's schools. It was not easy for the young mother to accept such a high post and she even wanted to refuse it. At that moment, John of Kronstadt strengthened her with his blessing, to whom Juvenalia came along with other novices. For more than two decades, the elder predicted for her to become abbess in three monasteries and to be tonsured into the great schema.

In 1905, against her own will, Juvenaly, on the new appointment of the Synod, left for Moscow to become abbess of the Intercession Community of Sisters of Mercy. Three years later, during a pilgrimage trip to Sarov - the homeland of St. Seraphim of Sarov - during a prayer at the icon of the Mother of God "The Sign", the Mother of God appears to her and calls to establish a skete for a more solitary life "not only for herself, but also for others."

At first, taking this as a temptation, Juvenalia does not dare to act on her own and goes for advice to several famous elders: Father Anatoly from Optina Hermitage, the recluse Father Alexy from Zosima Hermitage and the governor of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra - Father Tobias. And from all three he receives a blessing for the construction of the skete.

The construction went on for two years. The place was chosen in the Podolsk district, 36 versts from Moscow, in the forest near the Vostryakovo station. All of a sudden, funds for the construction appeared, and the participation of such people as Princess Elizabeth Feodorovna. The temple was consecrated in honor of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov and the icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”. Hence the name of the skete - Seraphim-Znamensky. Metropolitan Vladimir of Moscow personally sanctified the newly created monastery. Below, under the temple, a church was built in the style of Georgian Orthodoxy in honor of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, the Enlightener of Georgia, whose relics rest in the Bodbe Monastery.

In 1916, with the blessing of Metropolitan Macarius, Abbess Yuvenaly was tonsured into the great schema - the highest degree of monasticism - with the name Tamar. The small monastery headed by her continues to live its modest and righteous life until 1924, when the Bolsheviks decide to abolish and plunder it, and then turn the skete into a hospital, then a pioneer camp and a recreation center of the Krypton plant.

From that moment on, a monastery disguised as an artel begins to operate in the world. Mother Tamar, 10 sisters and a priest settle near Moscow in the village of Perkhushkovo, where they continue their monastic deed. In 1931, they were arrested, imprisoned, and Mother Tamar was sent into exile in Siberia. From there, she writes the following lines: “I am glad that I got the cup of testing stronger than my children. Everything that happens over the years, the whole life - isn't it a miracle?!"

Thanks to the intercession of her brother Konstantin, a well-known Soviet theater director, mother's exile ended in 1934. She returned from Siberia seriously ill with tuberculosis and settled in a small house not far from the Pionerskaya station of the Belarusian railway.

A few days before her death, the artist Pavel Korin completed the portrait of Sheigumenya Tamar, which later became one of his greatest works. He managed to see and convey the hidden beauty of the spirit of the ascetic. It was this portrait, along with twenty-eight others, that inspired the artist to create the grandiose in conception and size of the canvas “Departing Russia”, which he never had time to finish. But Pavel Korin himself never believed in the final departure of Holy Russia, in the disappearance of Orthodox spirituality. He passionately believed: “Russia was, is and will be. All the false and distorting its true face can be, albeit a protracted, albeit tragic, but only an episode in the history of this great people. And as if to confirm his words, the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete has been used for its true purpose again for more than fifteen years. Just like once upon a time, services are held here daily, sisters live, work and pray. Still, a fast river runs nearby and a pine forest rustles in the wind ...

Serafimo-Znamensky Skete coordinates: 55°23"13"N 37°44"59"E

Date of publication or update 12/15/2017

Serafimo-Znamensky female monastery.

Address of the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete: Moscow region, Domodedovsky district, with. Bityagovo
How to get to the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete.
Public transport: from the Paveletsky railway station to the Domodedovo station, then bus number 23 to the village. Bityagovo or buses No. 31, 32, 58 to the village. Fence, then on foot 2.5 km (not reaching the village of Bityagovo 500 m).
Bus timetables - in useful links.
View all the monasteries of the Moscow region on the Yandex map.

The Serafimo-Znamensky Skete was founded in 1910 by Abbess Yuvenalia (in the world Princess T.A. Mardzhanishvili, since 1916 shegumen Tamar), it was founded in 1910.

The construction of the skete lasted two years. The skete was consecrated in 1912 by Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky).

In 1999, the buildings of the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete were returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. And in 2000, this religious center was revived as a skete, i.e. small convent.

Arriving in our days at the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete, you can see the temple in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "The Sign" and in the name of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov, in the basement there is a tomb with the throne of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina. (The founder of the monastery especially revered this saint.) An unnamed revered spring beats into the skete.

Serafimo-Znamensky Skete is of undoubted interest from the architectural, artistic and planning positions. The unique project of the skete complex was created by the architect L.V. Stezhensky. The skete complex has a square plan, in the center of it there is a tiered hipped temple, which plays the role of a high-rise dominant. The houses of the cells are symmetrically placed around the perimeter of a blank brick wall, nine of the 12 buildings have survived. The buildings in the skete complex are mostly brick, unplastered, their decorative elements highlighted with whitewash. As part of the Serafimo-Znamensky skete, in addition to the Church of the Sign and Seraphim, two types of cells have been preserved and outside the skete - the house of the priest and the house of the clergy.

The one-story wooden priest's house was created under the influence of Art Nouveau architecture.

The temple in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "The Sign" and in the name of St. Seraphim of Sarov is the most original building in the skete complex, in which decorative motifs of Moscow and Pskov-Novgorod architecture were reworked in the Art Nouveau style. The red brick temple has a cross-shaped volume; it is crowned with a slender tent of light with four rows of kokoshniks. Here are the thrones in the upper church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God of Seraphim-Ponetaevsky and the Monk Seraphim of Sarov; in the basement of the temple there is a lower temple-tomb with a throne in honor of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina (this temple in its appearance resembles a catacomb temple of the first centuries of Christianity).

Equal-sized one-story cells face the inside of the skete territory; they differ in the number of living quarters and can be assessed as two types of cells. In one case, the motifs of a stylized Russian kokoshnik prevail in their decoration, and in the other, modern forms.

During the Soviet period, the Holy Gates, part of the fence, cell buildings were lost, some buildings were rebuilt.

There is a lot of significant symbolism in the layout of the skete and in the visual appearance of its buildings. So, the fence of the skete was conceived as a square of 33 sazhens - in memory of the 33 years of the earthly life of Jesus Christ. The skete temple in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "The Sign" has 24 kokoshniks, according to the number of 24 apocalyptic elders. In the fence around the temple there were 12 small houses-cells - according to the number of 12 apostles - each of these cell buildings was dedicated to one of these apostles. Only 33 sisters were supposed to live in the skete - according to the number of years of the earthly life of Jesus Christ.

Using materials from the book "Monasteries of the Moscow Region".

The museum dedicated to shigumeneniya Thamari, the founder and first abbess of the small monastery, can be called one of the most attractive and habitable places of the skete or, as it was also lovingly called during the life of mother, the skitochka. Here it is good to talk with the sisters on spiritual topics - the atmosphere itself helps and disposes. It is good to bring guests here and show them relics dear to the heart.

We have books that Mother Tamar read when she came very young to the monastery of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina in Bodby,” said Abbess Innocentia. - The abbess of the Bodbe Monastery in Georgia at that time was Abbess Yuvenalia (Lovenetskaya). She accepted the princess, who was orphaned early, like a mother. And she gave her the books of St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) with her own inscription, wishing the girl who was striving for communion with God to love this author just as she loved him. Matushka Juvenalia also wished the novice that this wondrous saint would guide her through life.

According to the current abbess of the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete, these priceless relic books contain notes by Mother Famari herself. Recently, the sisters decided to print notes in chronological order. They printed it out and saw: specially highlighted places in the text or a response in two or three words to some thought, edification so strongly, convincingly reflect the high spiritual structure of Shegemony Tamar! That is, the result of this work for the hard-working sisters turned out to be fruitful and joyful, bringing the founder of their native skete even closer to them.

I managed to save my mother's armchair made of Karelian birch, her small chest of drawers and a sofa, - continued Abbess Innocentia. - There are some personal things of the mother. For example, a white apostle and a piece of a shawl in which she was in exile, where she fell ill with tuberculosis of the throat.

I confess that this simple piece of a shawl, this material thing from the past, especially excited the soul. Much was recalled from what I read and the tragic events that plunged Russia into an abyss of grief and unbearable suffering. End of the 19th century: a girl with a beautiful voice, musically gifted and preparing to enter the conservatory, enters the Bodbe monastery on an excursion and leaves with completely different intentions. From now on, her heart is forever with God. Now she thinks of only one thing: how to serve the Lord here, in the convent, where the tomb of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, the Enlightener of Georgia, is located. Years later, dearly beloved by the Orthodox Russian people, the holy righteous John of Kronstadt symbolically predicts to her the abbess in three places and the great schema. And indeed, she would become abbess of the Bodbe Monastery, where by that time about 300 sisters had already labored, then of the Intercession Women's Community in Moscow and at the beginning of the 20th century. - the abbess of the Seraphim-Znamensky Skete, created by her (with the active help of the Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna), which existed for 12 years and was closed in 1924.

Mother Superior Tamar, however, was not immediately arrested after the skete was closed. She was allowed to live in freedom and only in 1931 was taken to Butyrka, then exiled to the Irkutsk region, where she spent three years in a difficult climate for her. There were no medicines, no warm clothes and shoes in exile, but the shiigumeniya did not grumble, but wrote from Siberia: “I am glad that I got the cup of trial more than my children. This is how it should be ... Everything that happens over the years, the whole life - isn't it a miracle ?!

Mother Tamar is constantly present in our daily life,” said Abbess Innocentia. - We commemorate her at the Liturgy, we often sigh to her, asking for help, we go to her at the Vvedenskoye (German) cemetery in Moscow. She was buried next to the Moscow elder - the holy righteous Alexy Mechev, whose relics are now in the capital's church of St. Nicholas in Klenniki. Gathering here, with mother Tamar in this cozy, dear to the heart room-museum of the skete, the sisters voluntarily or involuntarily glance at the chains that she wore. Chains are made of metal and weigh up to three kilograms. This is the cross of the righteous.

My interlocutor admitted that when her body sometimes cannot withstand the stress - the pressure starts to jump and her heart aches, she stays here to spend the night, among the relics that have strengthened the living secret connection with the founder of the monastery. And in the morning she notes that her heart has stopped hurting, and everything is in order with pressure - in a word, she has returned to normal!

I would like to tell you about one more priceless relic of the museum. This is a small wooden chest with which the Hieromartyr Seraphim (Zvezdinsky), Bishop of Dmitrovsky, was in exile when he was “thrown” from one end of the country to the other - from a cold region to sultry places. Opening the chest, Innokenty’s mother took out a multi-page letter written by the saint to mother Tamar, in which he affectionately calls her “mother”, “dear”, and tells in detail about the wondrous dream on the Lubyanka, in which the Lord appeared to him. In the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete, the ascetic of faith found refuge from the autumn of 1918 to 1919. At the peak of the persecution of the Church of the Abbess, Tamar sheltered Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky) of Serpukhov, the former abbot of the Chudov Kremlin Monastery, and then Archimandrite Seraphim (Zvezdinsky), having built near the skete a kennel with a house church of the Monk Arseny the Great. For a year and a half, these spiritually close people lived in semi-reclusion, daily celebrating the Divine Liturgy, doing science and church work. And they also dug beds and chopped firewood ...

The letter of St. Seraphim to mother Tamar is published in the book “All of you are in my heart”, which is available in the skete library. But what excitement you feel when you pick up pieces of paper written in beautiful small handwriting and understand that a saint was bending over them, who suffered so much suffering and at the same time so much God's and human love!