The Donskoy Starocherkassk Convent () ― an Orthodox monastery in the

stanitsa A stanitsa or stanitza ( ; ), also spelled stanycia ( ) or stanica ( ), was a historical administrative unit of a Cossack host, a type of Cossack polity that existed in the Russian Empire. Etymology The Russian word is the diminutive of the word ...

Starocherkasskaya Starocherkasskaya (), formerly Cherkassk (), is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a ''stanitsa'') in Aksaysky District of Rostov Oblast, Russia, with origins dating from the late 16th century. It is located on the right ...

, Aksaysky District of

Rostov Oblast Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblastʹ, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It was established in 1994 on the territory of the former Efremov Convent, which had been functioning from 1837 to 1927, when it was ravaged by

Soviet regime The political system of the Soviet Union took place in a federal single-party soviet socialist republic framework which was characterized by the superior role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the only party permitted by the C ...

History

The monastery is centered on the

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

built between 1756 and 1761 by

ataman Ataman (variants: ''otaman'', ''wataman'', ''vataman''; ; ) was a title of Cossack and haidamak leaders of various kinds. In the Russian Empire, the term was the official title of the supreme military commanders of the Cossack armies. The Ukra ...

Stepan Efremov to serve as his

house church A house church or home church is a label used to describe a group of Christians who regularly gather for worship in private homes. The group may be part of a larger Christian body, such as a parish, but some have been independent groups that se ...

. Both the church and the monastery are dedicated to '' Our Lady of the Don''. The convent was inaugurated on September 12, 1837. Money for construction of the convent were donated by the widow of Colonel Daniil Efremov. At the beginning of the 20th century in the monastery there were 16 salaried nuns, 2 supernumerary nuns, 96 frocked nuns, 135 lay sisters, and 250 people in total. Relics of the monastery, as well as those of Resurrection Cathedral, were taken abroad during the times of

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. Before its reestablishment the monastery was administered by Starocherkassk Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve. The monastery was reestablished on October 5, 1994. Initially the monks settled in Starocherkassk in a rented private house and did restoration works of Don Church. They fertilized land around the temple put the graves in order and installed bells in the church. The first prior of the revived monastery was

Archimandrite The title archimandrite (; ), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot ('' hegumenos'', , present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") whom a bishop appointed to supervise several "ordinary" abbots and monaste ...

Modest (Potapov) (1926 ― 2002), who took the veil from his confessor

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

Zinovy (Mazhuga), who was canonized as a local saint. In 2005, Macarius (Zelenkov) was appointed as a prior.

Relics

Feast Day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

― August 19 (Julian calendar), the day of celebration of Our Lady of the Don icon. In 1995, the Cossacks from Gnilovskaya village gave to the monastery a big-sized Our Lady of the Don icon. It was placed in Resurrection Cathedral for a while, until the monastery church had been restored. Subsequently, the icon was solemnly transferred to the Church of Our Lady of the Don. Now it is kept in antechamber of the temple. On the left to the choir in the monastery church there is the icon of St. Dimitry of Rostov, the patron of Don. It has and integrated reliquary with the relics of the saint.

References

External links

Official site (in Russian)
{{coord, 47.2394, N, 40.0375, E, source:wikidata, display=title Russian Orthodox monasteries in Russia Churches in Rostov Oblast Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Rostov Oblast