Monday, June 7, 2010

Boldino Monastery Was Once Administered By The Jesuits For 40 Years

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill consecrated the Trinity Cathedral at the Boldino Monastery in the central Russian Smolensk Region on Sunday, the Russian All Saints’ Day. About a 2,000 people attended the ceremony, including Smolensk Region governor Sergei Antufyev. The monastery was founded in 1528 by Reverend Herasim. No war that ravaged on the lands of Smolensk Region passed it by.
In the second half of the 17th century during the Polish-Swedish invasion it was held by Jesuits for more than 40 years. 
It was ruined by Napoleonic troops in 1812. The monastery was shut in 1929 and turned into a museum and then into a grain warehouse. Then, in 1943, the retreating German troops blew up its churches and belfry. Finally, in 1990, the Boldino monastery was returned to the church. By now, all its edifices, including the 30-metre-high seven-dome Trinity Cathedral, have been fully restored. The Patriarch awarded the Order of St Seraphim of Sarov of third degree to the monastery’s superior, Archimandrite Antony, and handed over the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
Link (here) to the full article

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