1. I’ll immediately make a reservation that the story is told on behalf of a person who is extremely far from religion. I love studying temples and monasteries, as well as mosques and synagogues, as part of the culture and history of certain places. I don’t understand issues of theology and faith, so I will try to touch on them to a minimum, simply describing what I saw. It is quite possible that I will make some inaccuracies, but this is without malicious intent.
From the parking lot to the Holy Gates, the road passes between two lines of similar guest houses for pilgrims:
2. In case anyone doesn’t already know: according to legend, the monastery here was founded at the end of the 14th century by a repentant robber known as Opta. Later it became a refuge for elders; it was closed a couple of times even before the Soviet years and was revived again. The heyday of the monastery and the construction of most of its buildings that have survived to this day occurred at the beginning of the 19th century. Under the USSR, a rest house and two concentration camps were located within the walls of Optina Pustyn. About the post-Soviet period in the life of the monastery, we can safely say that this is the period of its second heyday.
3. Outside the monastery, closer to the parking lot, there is brisk trade from stalls, even on a frosty February day. They sell souvenirs and church supplies. But the main discovery for me was “Beaver Stream”, the sale of which was announced in large letters by almost every stall. This is a secretory substance extracted from the glands of beavers. You can only get it by killing an animal. It is used more in perfumery, but there is also limited use in medicine, as well as the production of tinctures based on it. Of course, in “folk” medicine the beaver stream is represented much more widely. Despite the popularity attributed to it on the Internet in Russia, I saw mentions of it, much less sale, here for the first and last time in my life.
Before we even go inside we see the first church. The Church of All Saints is located outside the monastery fence. Built in 2003 on the site of a destroyed cemetery church from the 19th century:
4. In Optina Pustyn you feel a little constrained. The monastery bears little resemblance to a quiet, remote place of peace for praying elders. There are many possible reasons for this. The sullen guards at the entrance in Chop uniforms are the last thing you would expect to see in a monastery. Expensive cars, including on the premises. Busy servants talking on their cell phones while walking. Crowds of hurrying people and queues, as if in some kind of Federal Migration Service. Monastery refectory with a selection of good cafes and a mini-market. The general polish and some kind of pathos around, much like in the Iversky Monastery. The feeling of being in Optina Pustyn was rather nervous. There was no trace of peace in my soul.
5. The pilgrim trail to Optina Pustyn, jokes aside, is not overgrown. There are a lot of people, and completely different ones. Families with children, serious rich guys, old women with sticks, as if they had stepped out of the pages of Dostoevsky. We saw how very infirm old people were led into the monastery arm in arm. As I already said, people are bustling around on the territory, organizing something, and taking turns. Apparently, to some shrines. The collision of all these completely different people in the monastery sometimes does not happen entirely smoothly. A crooked old woman, wrapped from head to toe in some kind of black scarves, walked towards a mother and a girl of about nine, already outside the monastery walls. The girl was wearing a now fashionable hat with cat ears. “They dressed the whole country in horns!” - the old woman hissed. Damn, there are so many people around with completely different thinking...
6. Vvedensky Cathedral, the main one in the monastery. Built in 1771:
8. Nearby is the Church of Mary of Egypt, built in 1824 as a refectory:
9. In the Kozelsky district there is at least one more noticeable monastery - the Savior of the Hermitage Not Made by Hands in the village of Klykovo, but I did not get there. It is the youngest of all three: it was founded in 2001, on the place where the monks of the closed Optina Hermitage moved in the 20s.
Church of Hilarion the Great in the building of the monastery hospital in 1874. Now it has a hotel for pilgrims:
10. One of the cell buildings:
13. Church of the Transfiguration (2007). Previously, there were no churches in its place:
14. Resurrection Chapel, built in 2008 on the burial site of monks killed on Easter in 1993, allegedly by Satanists:
15. Behind the grove, about five hundred meters from the monastery wall, is the monastery of John the Baptist. It was founded in 1821. Hermits lived here - the same Optina elders. In many ways, it was the monastery, and not the monastery itself, that brought All-Russian fame to Optina Hermitage. For lay people, the monastery opens only twice a year - on patronal holidays. Even though the monastery is very close here, there is no fuss or tension here anymore. The place is calm and conducive to thoughts. At the walls of the monastery, it’s easy to believe that some kind of spiritual life that is completely unusual for us flows here. All you need to do is drive away the strangers...
In the monastery on a normal day you can only see the gate bell tower:
16. Yes, the Church of Leo of Katansky, adjacent to the fence:
17. The Shamordino Monastery (officially the Kazan Amvrosievskaya Pustyn) is much calmer and quieter than the Optina Pustyn. It is located just 12 kilometers from Kozelsk, on the high bank of the Serena River. I visited here twice - in February on a weekday and in April on a weekend. Of course, on a spring Saturday it was more crowded here, but it was still very peaceful.
18. The Shamordino Convent was founded at the end of the 19th century, with the support of the monks of the same Optina Hermitage. Initially it was just a monastic community. It received the status of a monastery in 1901. Around the same years, most of the monastery’s buildings were created. They are made of red brick in approximately the same style, making the ensemble look stylish, uniform and a little unusual.
The Church of St. Ambrose of Optina is the first church in Russia in the name of the elder:
19. In February there was not a soul here at all. Walking leisurely along the centuries-old walls, I heard only the rustling of trees and the hubbub of crows. The thoughts that come into my head are completely different than in Optina Pustyn. Here even an unbeliever will involuntarily think about the eternal. The bulk of the main monastery cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God does not oppress, but rather, on the contrary, creates a certain comfort.
20. Now for spring photos. Refectory and water tower:
21. All this was created not without the help of rich and influential patrons of his time. The land was donated to the monastery by local landowners, and the money for the construction of all this brick splendor was allocated by the Moscow merchant S.V. Perlov. His personal house was also built on the territory of the monastery, where he stayed with his family during visits to the monastery. He is buried here. His former home is a real fairy-tale tower, decorating the territory no less than the cathedrals:
22. Temple of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quiet My Sorrows” and the almshouse building. Interestingly, after 1991 the building was returned to its former purpose, and today it is an active almshouse:
23. Hospital building and church workshops:
24. Below, near the river bed, there are several holy springs. The staircase leading to them is quite steep and long. In the spring, I went down and up it twice in a row, but didn’t photograph anything except this landscape of typical Kaluga nature:
No matter how different these monasteries may be, they both deserve attention equally. The Kozelsky district, apparently, attracts many pilgrims and simply believers. I wouldn’t be surprised if they make up the majority of all the guests in the area. In the next story, without leaving the Kozelsky region, we will move away from issues of faith and religion into a completely different area - mining and instrument making. Adjacent to the most famous monasteries is the little-known late Soviet city of Sosensky, which, for all its short history and modesty, has managed to absorb the atmosphere of two different forms - a science city and a mining town.
I don’t think that random tourists come to Optina Pustyn - it has a location that completely sweeps away any tourist spontaneity: “Shouldn’t we stop by on the way?”
No - ~200 km to Kaluga, then ~70 km to Kozelsk, 7 km from where Optina Pustyn is nestled in a centuries-old pine forest on the banks of a river with the healthy name Zhizdra - no one will go just like that. And even if your intention to visit Optina Pustyn seems like an accident to you - for example, you are suddenly struck by the idea of going there, or your eyes catch a note with the route, and your ears catch the idea of a trip from a friend or from a media source - do not call it an accident.
Because this is your personal invisible invitation to Optina Pustyn from the Optina Holy Elders.
For what?
Everyone will answer this question only after the visit. Or he won't answer. But in any case, a visit to Optina Pustyn will not be an ordinary sightseeing trip, and it will not be just another pretty monastery. And in any case, Optina Pustyn will take a special place in your soul, in your heart - no matter how pathetic this phrase may sound now in our mercantile world. You won’t leave Optina for no reason, because you will definitely take something with you. What will it be? Well, at the very least, and for sure - you will think about different things.
How to describe Optina Pustyn? It's like opening your heart. Of course, you can describe it - a church like this, a century like that, a style like that. But this will not convey the spiritual fulfillment that Optina Pustyn gives. This state is somehow elusive, unclear - you can’t definitely say that I entered the Desert like that and came out with a shining halo on my head. Words cannot capture this invisible thing in you and around you. Moreover, in our materialistic age, when everyone needs to feel everything. I read someone’s review, people were disappointed - they supposedly came to such a distance, but what to look at, there’s nothing special here.
In general, there is some truth in this. Until 1985 there were ruins here. Optina Pustyn is a remake. And if you decide to come here for architectural show off, then don’t, turn back.
Optina Pustyn is illuminated by people - the holy Optina Elders. It’s even strange to write about this. “The radiance of these people’s lives still illuminates the lives of countless others.”
Shamordino - located 14 km from Optina Pustyn and this is a place of natural beauty and completely unusual (it would seem for such a small village) and a beautiful cathedral in architecture. The spiritual idea of creating a convent in this place belongs to one Okhta Elder - Ambrose, and the material embodiment - the famous Moscow merchant Perlov. To estimate in advance the scale of his future amazement at the sight of the cathedral, it must be said that this merchant owned a store in Moscow that to this day amazes us with its wonderful Chinese interior - the famous “Tea-Coffee” on Myasnitskaya.
Trip idea.
"Accident". Chance meeting. Random words.
One day, while running along Tverskaya, I suddenly decided to look into my favorite courtyard of the Valaam Monastery (2nd Tverskaya-Yamskaya). I think I wanted to buy children's fairy tales (there is a bookstore there). I went into a small church on the 1st floor, there were no people except me and another woman. Suddenly a young plump guy in a cassock comes in. I have already observed his completely childlike sincere communication in the church and bookstores on the 2nd floor, where he cheerfully broke the peaceful silence: “Hello. Here I am. Back today. But I decided to drop by to see you. How are you doing? And I went to see a doctor in Moscow...” Everyone also greeted him joyfully. In general, this guy also casually and easily struck up a conversation with us. He said that he was a novice from Optina Pustyn, which is not far from Kozelsk, that he was put on hard obedience in a cowshed, and the blood vessels in his eyes burst, then he was transferred to a church shop, and now he came for a medical consultation, back in the evening, some then it’s 4 o’clock and he’s already at home. He suggested that we write notes and he would pass them on.
We wrote, gave it to him, paid, thanked him, chatted some more and said goodbye. That's all.
There are only fifteen minutes of work to do, but all that remains in my head is Optina Pustyn, Kozelsk. And where is it? ...
What’s interesting: right before the trip, my husband and I suddenly suddenly began to quarrel violently. Well, I’ll tell you that the 9-point storm in Aivazovsky’s painting can be called almost calm in comparison with the intensity of our passions, and “King of the Ring” can be called a nice tea party with bagels. I don’t even know how we went anyway. The holy elders say exactly that “every good deed is preceded or followed by temptation”….
Little of. Also curious. I can usually write a travel story fairly quickly - time would be precious. She sat down (usually at night), plunged into memories and away she went. Here, it was impossible to write about Optina - I can’t and that’s it, and not because it’s difficult - just out of nowhere, various things began to distract me. Like annoying flies, and not even important, but on the contrary, somehow very enticing, sudden invitations to all sorts of pleasant events - parties, birthdays - poured out of a cornucopia.
And the text flew away several more times. As soon as you write, you wipe the sweat from your face, but something is wrong with the file and instead of text there is white paper.
Therefore, I wouldn’t be surprised if you suddenly start to “break” - like “I don’t feel like reading something.” That’s right, it’s as if someone is waving their tails in front of your face.
Guide.
Road.
From Moscow to Kaluga: you can drive either along the Kievskoye or Kaluga highways - after ~100 km (in the Obninsk area) they meet in a circle, after which you get onto an excellent highway to Kaluga. There is no need to go into the city itself - so you follow the Kaluga-2 sign, this is a bypass route. Further along the bridge over the Oka to the right (Kaluga remains on the left), then after a very long village without gardens - Karekozevo there will be another bridge over the Oka to the right. This is the direction Przemysl - Kozelsk. The road to Kozelsk, although narrow, is excellent, i.e. 100-120 km/h is normal speed.
Starting from Przemysl - the most beautiful section of the road. Of course, I imagined the beauty of Oka after my trip to Polenovo. But here... If I painted landscapes for cartoons based on Russian folk epics, then I wouldn’t need to invent anything. Come here, sit down, sketch. The road goes through the hills - up and down. Green velvet expanses stretch to the right and left to the horizon. It’s spring now, so the colors are either juicy bright green (grass) or sunny yellow (dandelions, rapeseed). The landscape is truly epic. The hills are perfectly rounded and spread in waves. Somewhere the back of the river will shine. Somewhere, curly groups of trees are picturesquely arranged. Somewhere herds of tiny motley cows are grazing. It’s definitely somewhere out there that Alyosha Popovich and Dobrynya Nikitich are galloping along these hills. The transparent blue sky meets a velvety wavy-lumpy grassy carpet somewhere very, very, very far away. It’s not for nothing that the horizon used to be called differently – the eye. Indeed, with one’s eyes, that is, with one’s eyes one cannot grasp, one cannot embrace all this grandiose natural creation. I read somewhere that this is “a national park stretching along the basin of the Ugra and Zhizdra rivers - over 110 hectares of magnificent landscape with unique flora and fauna.” Russian Switzerland - one could even say so, if not for the two-story, shabby panel houses with hanging sheets (in some village) and grannies in incredibly old Bolognese raincoats from the 60s and scarves.
The ecology here, I would like to think, is wonderful. The villages, although passable, are very quiet, there are not many cars. It’s interesting that in the villages, products are sold strictly in turns: in one milk, in another eggs, in the next again milk, then eggs again, etc. J By the way, the potatoes here are incredibly tasty. We bought a bucket on the way back, then tried it at home - crumbly, white - well, at least come back.
Shamordino is located somewhere ~ 14 km before reaching Kozelsk. You don’t have to go to Kozelsk and just turn onto Optina Pustyn (there is a sign). But we, of course, did not do this. Drive past ancient Kozelsk - no way! And they didn’t regret it.
Optina Pustyn.
Lord, how can I start!
I won’t have a smooth narrative, that’s for sure. There will be fragments from what I think, what I read, what I saw.
When there were only a few kilometers left to Kozelsk, we were rushing along in joyful anticipation, meadows stretched to the horizon on both sides of the road, and suddenly, on the left, some absolutely fabulous town suddenly and unexpectedly appeared. Golden sparkling onions, multi-colored buildings - blue, pink, light green - exactly from Pushkin’s fairy tale “an island lies on the sea, a city stands on the island, with golden-domed churches, towers and gardens.” The sensations were exactly like that - as if a marvelous city was located in the palm of someone’s hand. Moreover, all this is quite far away, meadows run ahead, and a dark green forest stands like a wall. The surprise was so strong that we didn’t even immediately realize that it was Optina Pustyn.
“Several miles away, approaching the monastery, you can already hear its fragrance.” N.V. Gogol.
“The monastery looked like a basket of white lilies against a blue forest.” From Soloukhin.
The foundation of Optina Pustyn dates back to the late 14th and early 15th centuries. According to one legend, it was founded by the repentant robber Opta, who took the name Makaria when he was tonsured, and for some time the hermitage was called Makaryeva. According to another, two centuries earlier the Kozel princes could have founded the monastery along with the city.
A very beautiful road also leads from Kozelsk to Optina; beyond the Zhizdra River from the highway you make a smooth turn and find yourself in a dense, tall, powerful pine forest.
The road leads to a huge parking lot. On the right is a wall of giant pine trees with thick caps of pine needles on thick amber legs. Ahead is the colorful Optina Pustyn.
We pass through the monastery gate in the cream-colored strong wall and our eyes begin to wander back and forth. We must first understand the buildings.
Left:
Church (completely new, small, in the name? I don’t remember).
Bell tower.
On right:
Temple in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (Kazan Church), 1811.
Optina necropolis.
Cathedral in honor of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Vvedensky Cathedral), 1750-1771.
Temple in honor of Rev. Mary of Egypt and St. rights. Anna (under restoration).
Behind the Vvedensky Cathedral:
Temple in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God (Vladimir Church), 1996.
Behind the Kazan Church:
Chapel in memory of the Optina monks.
We knew that they conduct excursions around the monastery, so after some searching we finally found a house where everything was decorated (behind the gate, on the right, there is a low trailer house, the entrance to it is also on the right side). A big excursion left 15 minutes before us, if we had fit into it, the tickets would have cost ~ 70-100 rubles, but for the two of us - 700 rubles. But it's worth it. After a short wait, a modest woman in a long skirt and headscarf, Lyudmila Vasilievna, came up to us and began to take us around the temples and tell us. If we had not taken the excursion (it lasts about an hour, which flew by unnoticed), we would have lost a lot.
We all have different eyes, different spiritual content, different priorities and goals in life. Many people strongly see certain things in clergy. For example, they enter a monastery, see a priest getting into a foreign car and immediately spout a joyful label: “Ohhh, well, we knew it, look, the priest drives a jeep, the Russian Orthodox Church, here he is the opium of the people. Everything is clear to us!” And what is clear is unclear. I don’t argue that they happen among clergy, of course, everything happens and happens, happens. But can one such “priest,” two, ten, or a hundred such ministers cast a shadow on the Russian Church, on the Russian faith? No matter how much they want, they won’t succeed—it won’t stick to such a deep and pure concept as Russian monasticism. On the contrary, you are dirtying yourself with your thoughts, since you create a “global opinion” just based on first superficial impressions and are ready to see only one color. “Let no bad thought remain in you for long, for it causes harm. He is like a fly that lands on meat and lays eggs. Soon worms appear in the meat. Likewise, a bad thought, when it remains in the mind, causes great harm.”
One true monk, that is, a person incredibly striving for God, and therefore for love and goodness, besides his own soul, pulls out thousands of other souls from the darkness. A true monk-prayer, who has made his way through the barbed wire of human passions, desires, and sins, acquires firm faith and a gentle character, a gift for soul knowledge and clairvoyance, and works miracles. Wisdom is the wealth of mature people. The Optina elders are the light of the nation.
Moses, Anthony, Leo, Macarius, Hilarion, Ambrose, Anatoly I, Isaac I, Joseph, Barsanuphius, Anatoly II, Nektarios, Nikon, Isaac II.
In the century before last, thousands and thousands of people lined up to see some wizened little old man, and each had their own problem, pain, question: “Help, father. Tell me. We are not going there. Direct. We don't know what to do. Please advise. Soul hurts. Heal."
Some overly inquisitive mind will definitely be preoccupied with thinking: “Well, before, everyone went to the elders for advice - so this is understandable: there was no TV, no magazines with beautiful pictures, no book labyrinths for you, no Internet, no ISQ! How did people live without football news, weather forecasts and TV series? It's mind boggling! So going to the elder is already entertainment.”
So why is it that even today, now with such abundance, people don’t just come here, they flock here in droves. Why are the questions still the same? “Help, father. Tell me. We are not going there. Direct. We don't know what to do. Please advise. Soul hurts. Heal."?
To be continued.
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I chose the title, perhaps not the most successful, because both Shamordino and especially Optina Pustyn are known far beyond the borders of Kaluga land and Russia in general. But it just so happened that both of these famous monasteries are located precisely in the Kaluga region, which is already rich in historical and architectural monuments. Thanks to the next (already the sixth for me) excursion from the travel store Optina Pustyn - Shamordino, I covered a few more blind spots in these parts.
I saw quite a lot of monasteries and actually did not expect to see something that could amaze me. The same Optina Pustyn from the photographs did not impress with any special architectural solutions, but Shamordino was seen as one of the many monasteries already seen earlier. However, as often happens (both for better and for worse), in life everything turned out to be completely different...
I was already so used to well-organized excursions that I even forgot when I went somewhere “savage”. You get on the bus early in the morning and are immediately immersed in wonderful stories. What’s remarkable is that they begin immediately from leaving the gathering place and while we are driving around Moscow, we are already hearing about it, and about the region... And I thought that I knew my hometown and surrounding areas well, yeah... I wouldn’t be surprised, if they have already come up with something for navigators that not only displays interesting places along the route, but also voices it, but it’s hard to compare this with a professional guide who loves his job. Even my morning nap went away. And how much I learned about Lev Nikolaevich along the way... In general, there are more than one such directions from Moscow, where word for word the figure of a great writer arises. And on the way to Optina Pustina I remembered another great writer - Dostoevsky, who depicted the monastery in his last novel "The Brothers Karamazov". He mentions him in the chapter on the elders, and the monastery itself in the described Skotoprigonyevsk, of which Alyosha Karamazov was a novice, is just some collective image from the Optina Hermitage and the Nikolsky Kosinsky Monastery near Staraya Russa. Perhaps one of the famous Optina elders was also the prototype for Elder Zosima from the novel. Optina Pustyn has been famous throughout Russia for quite some time. Since the end of the 18th century, the monastery has been a representative of spiritual renaissance.
Founded in the 15th century. In 1821, the repentant robber Opta, who took the name Macarius, established the St. John the Baptist monastery for desert monks behind the monastery grove. Since then it has served as a kind of religious, philosophical and cultural center. It was and is famous for its elders. This phenomenon itself is very well described, again, in The Brothers Karamazov.
After familiarizing myself with a number of springs in Optina Pustina, I expected to see pandemonium and bustle. It all seemed to me to be on the scale of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, but in reality, even despite it being Saturday, there were relatively few people here, and there was no particular fuss. There are a lot of beggars, yes, but this is typical for many similar places and not only in our country. The monastery itself turned out to be quite small (although the size of the subsidiary farm, for example, is impressive), but surprisingly picturesquely located. He suddenly appears at the entrance to Kozelsk, among fields and a river. From an architectural point of view, it also doesn’t impress with anything, but, no matter how hackneyed it may sound to describe such places, you can feel a strong energy here, and people don’t come here for the architecture and most likely not for the history.
The monastery looks quite modern. There are modern buildings inside, and all the old ones have been restored, because for almost 80 years of Soviet power, these walls housed everything - from a rest home and a military hospital, to the Kozelsk-1 concentration camp, about 5,000 Polish officers were housed, later sent to Katyn and the USSR NKVD testing and filtration camp for Soviet officers returning from captivity. These walls remember quite a few tragic destinies - on Easter 1993, three monks of the monastery were killed here by a mentally ill Satanist - Hieromonk Vasily and monks Ferapont and Trofim. But there are also many bright stories associated with the Desert: miraculous healings, phenomena, discoveries. It is not for nothing that the glory of these places is strong to this day. Pilgrims from different cities and countries flock here.
1. There are a number of buses from different cities in the parking lot, many Belarusians come.
4. Church of Hilarion the Great (1874).
5. Spring near the monastery of John the Baptist
6. Skete Gates with a bell tower. The miraculous Kazan Icon of the Mother of God is kept in the monastery. In the same monastery there is a white stone house in which Elder Ambrose lived for more than 50 years; everything is stored in it in the same form as it was during the life of the elder.
9. Church of Mary of Egypt and Anna the Righteous
10. The gate church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God is one of the modern (1988) buildings on the territory of the monastery.
13. If you go down from the monastery to cheerful Zhizdra, then there is no one at all, just the empty spring monastery garden.
14. The bell tower and the oldest building of the monastery - the Cathedral of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
19. On the way to Shamordino we were taken to the Transfiguration Church of the Savior (1787), very unusual both outside and inside, in the village of Nizhnie Pryski. In 1924 the temple was closed. The local collective farm used the building as a grain warehouse. In 1942, the village was occupied by the Germans. They ordered the residents to clear the temple of grain and the priest who came with them was allowed to conduct services. In 1943, Soviet troops liberated the village and closed the temple.
20. The temple was built in 1731 by landowner N.V. Rtishchev.
25. There are very unusual icons in the temple. For example, this one is the Transfiguration of the Lord, created with the active use of various minerals.
Then we went to Shamordino and, to be honest, this was the brightest part of the trip. Firstly, the views are fantastically beautiful (which, for the Kaluga region, is generally true in many respects, remember the same Borovsk and Kaluga itself), secondly, the territory is very beautiful and well-groomed, thirdly, the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God itself is impressive in size and decoration (all the icons inside the cathedral are embroidered with beads - I have never seen anything like this anywhere). Shamordino can be seen in photographs, but they honestly don’t convey much.
Kazan Ambrosievskaya Shamordinskaya Mountain Hermitage Founded at the end of the 19th century. Optina Elder Ambrose. L.N. was here when visiting his sister. Tolstoy.
During the Soviet years, an agricultural school was located here, where B.Sh. began his teaching career. Okudzhava. Ambrose's cell was dismantled and moved to a neighboring village, M.N. Tolstoy's house was transported to Kozelsk.
26. Near the walls of the desert there is trade with various delicacies that are so familiar to Russian people.
31. The Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was built with the blessing of St. Elder Ambrose. The design of the temple was made in the workshop of the architect S.V. Sherwood.
Address of the monastery: Kaluga region, Kozelsky district, Kamenka village, village. Shamordino. Phone: 8484422-61-62 and 2-16-49. You can visit the monastery every day at any time of the year from 8.00 to 20.00. The entrance is free.
At all times, special places were chosen for the construction of monasteries - away from noisy cities, among forests and fields. But such beauty as in the vicinity of the Kazan Ambrosievskaya stauropegial women's hermitage cannot be found even in more famous monasteries.
A long road among the usual landscapes of the middle zone suddenly leads to a hill covered with forest, above which rises a slender cathedral. It looks like an illustration for historical chronicles or ancient fairy tales.
By car from Moscow
The village, next to which the monastery was built, is located 220 km from the capital, 14 km from Kozelsk and 20 km from the famous Optina Pustyn. Drive along M3 until the turn sign for Kaluga, continue along P93. From there go to P92, move without turning off to the village of Kamenka. Behind it, turn right onto Shamordino. You don't have to look for the monastery - the domes of the Kazan Cathedral are visible far away.
Public transport
From Moscow to Kaluga take the train, then take buses going from the bus station to Kozelsk or Sosensky, Khvastovichi, Ulyanovo. Get off, before reaching Kozelsk, to the village. Kamenka. Then you can get to the village of Shamordino by bus or taxi. The last kilometer to the monastery will have to be walked.
You can use buses going from the Teply Stan metro station to Kozelsk or to Khvastovichi and Sosensky. Get off at the "Kamenka" stop.
In addition to the usual requirements for maintaining silence and cleanliness on the premises, visitors are advised to adhere to a strict dress code. For men, these are trousers, long-sleeved shirts and suits. For women - scarves, long sleeves and skirts below the knee. T-shirts, shorts, and open sundresses are not allowed.
Strictly prohibited:
- smoking and drinking alcohol;
- listening to worldly music;
- entering the monastic buildings, distracting the sisters with idle talk;
- photography and video filming inside churches and other monastery buildings is prohibited. It is not allowed to take photographs of sisters.
When planning to visit the Kazan-Amvrosievskaya Hermitage - one of the most beautiful monasteries in the Kaluga region, you yourself need to think about where you can stay for the night if you plan to spend more than one day here. Accommodation in the monastery hotel is provided only to organized pilgrimage groups upon prior request.
The monastery has a tea room and a refectory, but meals are not provided to single travelers even for a fee. You'll have to buy groceries on the way to Shamordino. Therefore, many travelers try to combine a visit to the monastery with the nearby Optina Hermitage.
Among the founders of women's monasteries in Russia there are many holy elders. The Shamordino Monastery is the favorite creation of Father Ambrose of Optina, the place where he spent the last year of his life, where he died in October 1891.
The place where the monastery was created in 1884 belonged to the widow of the landowner Klyucharyov, known for her piety and good deeds. Under her patronage were several orphans and elderly poor widows. Later she would take monastic vows under the name of Ambrosia, donating her property to the creation of a small monastic community. Schema nun Sophia will be called upon to lead several nuns. The community will receive monastery status in 7 years. From the very beginning, Elder Ambrose will establish that women who come are accepted regardless of age, class and without making a monetary contribution. There were no such monasteries in Russia anymore.
The extensive monastery economy developed in different directions - in addition to the usual pottery, shoe, sewing and weaving workshops for communities, there was a printing house, photographs were printed, icon painters worked, and there were masters in gilding and chasing. The works of goldsmiths were famous throughout Russia.
After the death of Elder Ambrose, according to established tradition, the elders from Optina Hermitage became confessors.
Most of the buildings were built with constant donations from S.V. Perlov, a major tea merchant, who supported many of the monastery with his money. Following the Kazan Cathedral, built in 1901, an almshouse and a hospital church are being built. Behind them, work will begin on the refectory and water tower. Almost immediately, the house of the benefactor Perlov will appear on the territory of the monastery.
All buildings were erected in the pseudo-Russian architectural style typical of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Thanks to this, a harmonious complex emerged that has retained its austere beauty to this day.
By 1917, under the leadership of Abbess Valentina there were approximately seven hundred nuns and novices. They maintained shelters for the poor and orphan girls, an almshouse and a hospital. There was a hospice house and a pharmacy at the monastery. Pilgrims from distant places came to the miraculous icons of the “Spreader of the Loaves” and the “Kazan Mother of God.”
But within a year the monastery will be closed, removing icons, removing crosses from church domes and bells. Everything of value - temple vessels, precious frames from icons and vestments of priests - will be collected and taken away to an unknown destination. The vast lands belonging to the monastery will be nationalized, but until 1923, nuns and novices will be allowed to remain at the monastery, becoming members of an agricultural artel. Then it will be abolished, associated with counter-revolutionary activities.
Most of the nuns will be sent to the Solovetsky Islands and the outskirts of Karaganda, others will be luckier - they will be allowed to live near Kozelsk or go to their native places.
Monastery buildings have long been used for other purposes. An agricultural technical school will be set up in the Kazan Cathedral, destroying the paintings and dividing the tall building into two multi-room floors. Most of it was used for classrooms, and the altar was replaced by a combine harvester, which was used as a teaching aid. The refectory will be converted into a club and cinema hall, and students will be housed in the almshouse. The house church will have ceilings installed and divided by internal partitions. The old cell that served as Elder Ambrose’s home will be dismantled, and the spacious house built above it to protect it from exposure to bad weather and destruction will become a garage. New residents will appear in the nuns' cells. The carriage house will become a dormitory. A small cemetery will suffer - the tombstones of the sisters who rested there will be used for construction in nearby villages, the Tomb of the Mother Superiors will simply be destroyed. Lack of timely repairs will lead to the gradual deterioration of recently strong and well-maintained buildings. A vast orchard, carefully cultivated for decades, will be cut down.
During the Great Patriotic War, a military hospital will be located in one of the buildings; they say that its patients recovered from serious wounds faster than usual.
The nuns returned to the destroyed monastery only in the spring of 1990. There were only ten of them, and there was a lot of work to be done to restore the gradually returned buildings. First, the former almshouse and the house church “Quench My Sorrows” were restored. They will be consecrated in the spring of 1997. According to ancient tradition, the confessor of the newly opened monastery will be Abbot Polycarp from the Optina brethren.
Over the past twenty-six years, most of the monastery buildings have been restored. And the house, once built over the elder’s cell, was rebuilt into a small church for St. Ambrose of Optinsky, the first in Russia. In July 1996, it was consecrated by Patriarch Alexy II.
The construction of a monastery and church on the site behind the cemetery has been going on for several years. It will be consecrated in honor of the “Different of the Loaves” and the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga and Prince Vladimir.
Today, the workshops have been restored and the nuns, as in the years of prosperity of the monastery, embroider banners, shrouds and ceremonial vestments with gold threads, paint icons and embroider frames for them with beads. There are chasing and stained glass workshops. At the monastery, extensive vegetable gardens are cultivated, there is an apiary and a barnyard. They provide assistance to the poor and disabled children. Rural children come to open Sunday school. The plans include the restoration of a shelter for orphan girls and the construction of the tomb of the abbess, destroyed after the revolution, the construction of chapels at holy springs and a bell tower.
The life of the Kazan Ambrose Women's Hermitage continues according to the behests of St. Ambrose of Optina and Schema-nun Sophia, who became the first abbess. The sisters read the Indestructible Psalter and a full circle of services is performed.
Pilgrims go to the monastery to venerate the relics of the Optina venerable elders, under whose patronage the monastery was from the first days, and the miraculous icons. 
One of them is the Mother of God “The Spreader of the Loaves,” written in 1890. It was written according to the vision of the Monk Ambrose. It was believed that it was able to protect fields from pests and natural disasters, bestow a generous harvest and protect people from the elements. Local landowners who came to their spiritual father often received copies of the famous icon (copy), along with the prayer and blessing of the venerable elder. The Monk Ambrose, who indicated the day for the celebration of the “Controversy,” was buried on this very day a year later.
Stories about the power of prayers in front of this icon spread first throughout the Kaluga province, then throughout Russia. Later, new evidence of its miraculous power appeared in the monastery chronicles, and copy lists were distributed throughout the country. The monastery now houses one of these copies. The original disappeared after the closure of the monastery; it was later discovered in Lithuania; at present it remains outside Russia.
The Kazan Mother of God, the second of the miraculous icons, also has a long history. It appeared in the Belevsky Monastery as a pledge brought by an unknown woman who urgently needed money. The abbess, Mother Ambrosia, will accept her, giving the wanderer 10 rubles. Later, no one returned for the pledge and Kazanskaya will remain in the monastery. The sisters will soon notice the miraculous power of the small icon - lamp oil taken from it could cure ailments. From that time on, in memory of the appearance of the image, oil for her lamp was always purchased for exactly 10 rubles.
Later, the icon will be transferred to the Shamordino monastery, and then for the first time they will speak in the bright light emanating from the miraculous image. The icon was lost in the sixties, when it was transferred to one of the churches in the nearest village. The ancient image was stolen and no more information appeared about it. The Kazan Mother of God in Shamordino was painted by the monk Arseny, rector of the monastery on Mount Athos and transferred to the Kazan Cathedral in the fall of 1999.
The Cathedral in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God remains the main temple of the monastery. S. Sherwood's work still amazes with its majestic beauty. Made of red brick with fifteen golden domes in the Russian style, it seems to come from ancient fairy tales. It seems impossible to create from ordinary brick these patterned platbands over the high arches of the windows, decorative valances and kokoshniks, half-columns and gables. The inside of the building is no less impressive. Spacious, with high ceiling vaults not covered with the usual paintings, it creates a feeling of lightness and sublimity. It contains two of the most famous icons of the monastery. The nuns skillfully embroider with beads and gold; among the icons there are many embroidered by their own hands. Outside, on the side of the altar, there are 4 graves - the three first abbess and the benefactor, who actually built the main part of the monastery complex at his own expense, the merchant S. Perlov. Before the revolution, there was a tomb here (designed by B.A. Savitsky), but only parts of its foundation have survived.
The first abbess, Mother Sophia, is considered a locally revered saint. Having come to tonsure after a series of trials, she did a lot for the formation of the desert together with the Monk Ambrose. Several cases of healing are known to have occurred at her grave.
Temple of St. Ambrose of Optina
The modest house-cell served as the home of Elder Ambrose, who spent a lot of time in this monastery and died in it. Pilgrims came to the monk in search of spiritual advice. After the death of the elder, S.V. Perlov will help build a brick “case” around the cell to preserve it. When the monastery was closed, the cell was moved to the village of Shamordino. A garage will be installed in the sheath building. To this day, the building has remained badly damaged and had to be restored.
Church of the Holy Trinity
It was built as the first of the monastery churches and consecrated in October 1884 in honor of the Kazan Icon. Initially it was located on the spot where the Kazan Cathedral now stands. Before the foundation of the future cathedral in 1889, a small old church was moved to the edge of the cemetery, and a year later it was consecrated again, but in honor of the Holy Trinity. The funeral service for St. Ambrose was held here. A year later, the consecration of the chapel in honor of the “Life-Giving Source” took place. For almost twenty years the church was the only functioning monastery church. But after the monastery was closed, it was destroyed and only in 2006 the first restoration work began. In the fall of 2008, crosses will again appear on its domes, but work on the interior decoration is still ongoing. Most of them are performed by local craftsmen.
After the temple, you can visit the old cemetery, which starts right outside the walls. Many nuns of Shamordino from previous years are buried there.
Church "Quiet My Sorrows"
At the end of the 19th century, the wife of the monastery benefactor S. Perlova, Anna Yakovlevna, gave funds for the construction of an almshouse designed to accommodate 60 terminally ill women. Attached to the two-story building is a small church, consecrated in the fall of 1902. The almshouse will be closed along with the monastery, given over to housing institutions. The church, badly damaged, was periodically used for various purposes. It will be restored and consecrated in the spring of 1990. The almshouse will be reopened a few years later. Now it serves as a home for aged and infirm sisters, about thirty of them. In addition to modest cells for one or two people, it was equipped with a ward for bedridden patients with good care and round-the-clock duty. There is a small laundry room and a refectory. The building looks cozy and well-groomed, the surrounding area is planted with flowers. All the inmates gather for weekly services in the temple, some come on their own, others are visited in their cells.
Other buildings of the monastery complex were built in different years, but when choosing architectural projects, preference was given to a single style.
Refectory
You can get to the beautiful two-story red brick building by walking around the Kazan Cathedral. The funds of the merchant Sergei Vasilyevich Perlov made it possible to realize R.I.’s project in brick. Klein. In this place in the early 1890s there was an estate of the first owners of a small estate, the Kalygin family. A warm passage connected the refectory with the cathedral. The spouses S. and A. Perlov helped to fully equip the refectory. They tried to destroy the building immediately after the abolition of the monastery and was restored only in 1997.
Now the second floor is occupied by the kitchen, guest and sister's refectory halls. The first floor is given over to workshops, in addition to the dairy shop, where milk is processed, and the confectionery shop, where fish and canning shops are located. The nuns prepare the vegetables and fruits they grow in their garden for the whole year. There is a small drying room where fruits and collected mushrooms are dried.
During meals the lives of the saints are read. On holidays, up to 500 people are fed in the refectory. But pilgrims are accepted only in organized groups and by appointment.
The water tower, built with the money of S. Perlov, has been in operation since 1906, located immediately behind the refectory. It is made in the same architectural style as the rest of the buildings.
Hospital
It was created in 1905 with a donation from A.Ya. Perlova. Sisters, pilgrims and residents of neighboring villages could receive medical care here. The outpatient clinic was able to receive up to 200 patients per day. About 60 people were accommodated in hospital wards.
Today the building has its own outpatient clinic. In addition to the reception room, there is a treatment room, a laboratory, a sterilization room, a dressing room and equipment for physiotherapy. There is a dentist and a small hospital has been created, with only 10 beds. For obedience at the hospital, nurses with appropriate medical education and experience are elected. The second floor is reserved for gold embroidery and sewing workshops.
Perlov's House
A Moscow merchant, who sincerely loved the monastery and actually built it from churches to printing houses and well-equipped workshops, built a spacious house for his family, who often visited here. Dying, he bequeathed to be buried at the monastery. His widow, who remained in Moscow, spent a lot of time in the monastery with her children and grandchildren. Shortly before her death, she took monastic vows, receiving the name Ambrose. The house was restored and now it looks the same as it did under its owners, the Perlovs.
The surrounding area has always been rich in large and small springs. While the monastery existed, the nuns devoted a lot of time to caring for the famous springs. After its closure, the springs, having lost their caring supervision, gradually became swamped, some of them were forgotten and practically disappeared. With the revival of the monastery, the sisters again cleared and put in order several nearby ones. Now, not far from the monastery, there are two known springs with healing properties. 
The “Life-Giving Spring” is easy to find - just leave the monastery along the only road and turn left near the sign. Then you will have to walk up a steep staircase of 200 steps, made in gratitude for the deliverance of the benefactor’s brother from illness. Anatoly climbed the steep hillside many times, carrying his sick brother in his arms. The path starts from Trinity Church. At the source there is a chapel and a bathhouse where you can perform ablutions (only in appropriate clothing). It is customary to plunge three times with prayer and a request to the saints and the Mother of God. Water temperature is about +4 degrees. The well is protected from rain and the water in it is safe to drink.
Be sure to linger at the observation deck; rare beautiful landscapes open up from there, and on the benches you can take a break from the tiring ascent and descent, enjoying the clean forest air and the special atmosphere of these places. The best time to visit the spring is late spring, summer and early autumn.
From Life-Giving you can go to the Kazan spring by turning left from the last steps of the stairs. Then you will have to walk along a narrow path. It’s not far, but after rain the clay soil becomes very limp. It is advisable to take care of suitable shoes in advance. It is believed that its water can help with eye diseases, so people often take it with them. The fame of healing waters has been going on for a long time, so it constantly receives pilgrims. There is no bathhouse at the spring.
The status of an active monastery does not imply the sale of ordinary tourist trinkets. But in church shops you can buy books, blessed crosses, rosaries, candles and icons. You can order icons with beaded frames made by nuns. Pilgrims take home water from holy springs and prosphora. Here they also submit notes for all church services, and even Sorokoust with 40 Liturgies, rare in our time.
But the most valuable souvenir will be the memories of several hours spent in one of the most beautiful corners of Central Russia, a quiet place filled with special grace.
Although most often a visit to the Shamordino Monastery is combined with a trip to Optina Pustyn, the Kazan St. Ambrose Monastery deserves a whole day. This will allow you to visit churches without haste, see monastic life, walk to the springs and sit on the observation deck of the old 200-step staircase, admire the flowers grown by the sisters and novices, and attend services. Perhaps these few hours will make it possible to understand what attracted women of different classes to the monastery, from illiterate peasant women to educated ladies from noble and merchant families. Here the Tolstoys and Bolotovs, the Khrushchovs, the Dolinino-Ivanskys, the Klyucharyovs and many others sought and found solace.
Many travelers like the quiet, cozy Shamordino more than the crowded Optina Pustyn. Some assure that all the requests made here will definitely and quickly be fulfilled. Of course, if they came from the heart and are not capable of harming anyone.
On your way back, you can make a short detour and visit Klykovo with its miraculous myrrh-streaming icons in a beautiful ancient temple. There you can also arrange a short excursion and visit the cell of the nun Mother Zipporah. It is believed that whoever sits on her old hard sofa will be lucky. And if you lightly hit your head with your mother’s wand, you will get rid of bad thoughts.
