Andronikov Monastery of the Saviour (russian: Андро́ников монасты́рь, Спа́со-Андро́ников монасты́рь, or ) is a former

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

on the left bank of the

Yauza River The Yauza (russian: Я́уза) is a river in Moscow and Mytishchi, Russia, a tributary of the Moskva. It originates in the Losiny Ostrov National Park northeast of Moscow, flows through Mytishchi, enters Moscow in the Medvedkovo District and f ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, consecrated to the Holy Image of Saviour Not Made by Hands and containing the oldest extant (i.e. outside the Kremlin) building in Moscow. It is home to

Andrei Rublev Andrei Rublev ( rus, Андре́й Рублёв, p=ɐnˈdrʲej rʊˈblʲɵf , also transliterated as ''Andrey Rublyov'') was a Muscovite icon painter born in the 1360s who died between 1427 and 1430 in Moscow. He is considered to be one of the ...

Museum of Old Russian Art, named after the most famous monk of this abbey.

Muscovite and Imperial period

The monastery was established in 1357 by

Metropolitan Alexis Saint Alexius (''Алекси́й'' or ''Aleksij'' in Russian) (before 1296–1378) was Metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia (from 1354), and presided over the Moscow government during Dmitrii Donskoi's minority. Biography Alexius, whose n ...

as a way of giving thanks for his survival in a storm. Its first

hegumen Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen ( el, ἡγούμενος, trans. ), is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of nuns is called a hegumenia ...

was Saint Andronik, one of

Sergii Radonezhsky Sergius of Radonezh (russian: Се́ргий Ра́донежский, ''Sergii Radonezhsky''; 14 May 1314 – 25 September 1392), also known as Sergiy Radonezhsky, Serge of Radonezh and Sergius of Moscow, was a spiritual leader and monastic ref ...

's disciples. The extant four-pillared Saviour Cathedral was constructed from 1420–1427. The great medieval painter

spent the last years of his life at the monastery and was buried there. In addition, one of the largest

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...

s for

lay brother Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choir, ...

s (called , ''skudelnitsa'') was located on the

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

's premises. In the second half of the 14th century, a monastic quarter formed outside the walls of the Andronikov Monastery, which started producing

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

s for the ongoing construction of the

Moscow Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (R ...

(1475). From its beginning, Andronikov Monastery was one of the centres of book copying in

Muscovy Muscovy is an alternative name for the Grand Duchy of Moscow (1263–1547) and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). It may also refer to: *Muscovy Company, an English trading company chartered in 1555 * Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') and Domes ...

Manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

collection of the cloister included most of the works by

Maximus the Greek Maximus the Greek, also known as Maximos the Greek or Maksim Grek (; ; –1556), was a Greek monk, publicist, writer, scholar, and translator active in Russia. He is also called Maximos the Hagiorite (), as well as Maximus the Philosopher.. His ...

. In August 1653, archpriest

Avvakum Avvakum Petrov (russian: link=no, Аввакум Петров; 20 November 1620/21 – 14 April 1682) (also spelled Awakum) was an Old Believer and Russian protopope of the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square who led the opposition to Patriarch Nik ...

was held under arrest at this monastery. Andronikov Monastery has been ransacked on numerous occasions (1571, 1611, 1812). In 1748 and 1812, its archives were lost in fires. In the 19th century, there were a theological

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

and a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

on the cloister's premises. In 1917, there were seventeen

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

s and one

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession A profession is a field of work that has ...

in the monastery.

Soviet period and beyond

After the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

, the Andronikov Monastery was closed. One of the first

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə), abbreviated ...

penal colonies A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...

(mostly, for foreign nationals) was located within the walls of the monastery. In 1928, the Soviets destroyed the

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

of the Andronikov Monastery, where Andrei Rublev and

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

s of the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedi ...

and the Patriotic War had been interred. In 1947, however, Andronikov Monastery was declared a national monument. In 1985, the Andrei Rublev Central Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art was opened on the cloister's premises. In 1991, the Saviour cathedral was returned to the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

. Archaeological excavations on the cloister's territory in 1993 uncovered an ancient

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

and other

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

Monuments

Since the 1930s, when the Communists destroyed the 14th-century Saviour Cathedral in the Wood, the monastery's cathedral has attracted a renewed interest as the oldest preserved in Moscow. Consequently, its present outlook is the result of a controversial Soviet restoration (1959–1960), which sought to remove all additions from later periods. Nothing but traces of the frescoes by Andrei Rublev and

Daniil Chyorny Daniil Chyorny () (c. 1360–1430) was a Russian monk and icon painter. Career Together with his companion Andrei Rublev and other painters, Chyorny worked at the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir (1408) and Trinity Cathedral in the Trinity ...

remain visible on its walls. The second oldest monument (1504–1506) in the abbey is a spacious

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the La ...

, the third largest such structure after those in the

Palace of Facets The Palace of the Facets (russian: Грановитая Палата, ''Granovitaya Palata'') is a building in the Moscow Kremlin, Russia, which contains what used to be the main banquet reception hall of the Muscovite Tsars. It is the oldest pr ...

and Joseph-Volotsky Monastery. The adjacent baroque church was commissioned by

Eudoxia Lopukhina Tsarina Eudoxia Fyodorovna Lopukhina ( rus, Евдоки́я Фёдоровна Лопухина́, Yevdokíya Fyodorovna Lopukhiná; in Moscow – in Moscow) was a Russian Tsaritsa as the first wife of Peter I of Russia, and the last ethnic ...

in 1694 to commemorate the birth of her son, Tsarevich Alexis, and contains a burial vault of the Lopukhin family. Massive 17th-century walls and towers are reminiscent of the period when the monastery defended the eastern approaches against the Moscow Kremlin. In 1795, they started a Neoclassical belltower, one of the tallest in Moscow. This astonishing belfry was destroyed in 1929–1932, and its bricks were subsequently reused in construction of nearby buildings. File:Andronikov Monastery 11.jpg, The fortified monastery used to protect approaches to Moscow from the south. File:Church of Saint Michael at Andronikov Monastery 02.jpg, Church of Michael the Archangel (1690s, restored 1960) File:Cathedral of the Holy Mandylion (Andronikov Monastery) 36.jpg, The

katholikon A ''katholikon'' or catholicon ( gr, καθολικόν) or ''sobor'' ( Slavonic: съборъ) refers to one of three things in the Eastern Orthodox Church: * The cathedral of a diocese. * The major church building (temple) of a monastery corre ...

(1420s, restored 1959) File:Chapel of Dimitry Donskoy (Andronikov Monastery) 03.jpg, Chapel of Dmitry Donskoy (2000–2001)

References

External links

St. Andronik's Monastery, Andronikov Monastery (Moscow)
{{Monasteries of Moscow Monasteries in Moscow Russian Orthodox monasteries in Russia Former religious buildings and structures in Russia 1357 establishments in Europe Religious organizations established in the 1350s 14th-century establishments in Russia 1917 disestablishments in Russia Christian monasteries established in the 14th century Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Moscow