Joseph Volokolamsk Monastery (Иосифо-Волоколамский монастырь, Волоцкий Успенский Иосифов монастырь in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

) is a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

for men, located 17 km northeast of

Volokolamsk Volokolamsk () is a town and the administrative center of Volokolamsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Gorodenka River, not far from its confluence with the Lama River, northwest of Moscow. Population: 25,729 (2024 Estimate ...

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...

. In the 15th and 16th centuries, it rivaled

the Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three di ...

as the most authoritative and wealthy monastery in

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 frequently referred to as

lavra A lavra or laura (; Cyrillic: Ла́вра) is a type of monastery consisting of a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center. Lavra monasteries operate within the Orthodox and other Eastern Chri ...

, although there was no official corroboration of that status.

Early history

Joseph Volokolamsk Monastery was founded in 1479 by

Joseph Volotsky Joseph Volotsky — also known as Joseph of Volotsk or Joseph of Volokolamsk (); secular name Ivan Sanin () (1439 or 1440 – September 9, 1515) — was a prominent Russian theologian and early proponent of tsarist autocracy, who led the par ...

. Originally under the jurisdiction of the

archbishop of Novgorod The Diocese of Novgorod () is one of the oldest offices in the Russian Orthodox Church. The medieval archbishops of Novgorod were among the most important figures in medieval Russian history and culture and their successors (as bishops, archbishop ...

, following a dispute with the local prince, Fedor Borisovich of Volokolamsk, Joseph appealed to grand Prince Vasilii III and the metropolitan to take the monastery under direct control. This led to a dispute between Joseph, the grand prince, and the metropolitan on the one hand, and Archbishop Serapion I of Novgorod (r. 1506–1509) on the other, since according to canon law a monastery could not be removed from a bishop's authority without his permission and Serapion had clearly not granted permission. The grand prince and metropolitan convened a church council, headed by Joseph's brother, the bishop of Rostov, which deposed Serapion and confined him to the Troitse-Sergeev Lavra, where he died in 1516.''Zhitie sviatitelia Serapiona Arkhiepiskopa Novgoroskogo'' (Troitskaia Sergeeva Lavra: Sobstvennaia tipografiia, 1912), 21-22. Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery 50

Over the next several decades, the monastery became the center of his disciples, or Josephinians, and played a key role in the political and ecclesiastic life of the 16th-century

. It was also a stronghold of struggle against the opponents of church landownership and

heretic Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

s. Its vaults were used as a prison for dissenters. The famous inmates included

Maximus the Greek Maximus the Greek, also known as Maximos the Greek or Maksim Grek (; ; ), 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 signat ...

(who spent 14 years there),

Vassian Patrikeyev Vassian Patrikeyev (; – between 1531 and 1545), also known as Vassian Kosoy (; real name Prince Vasily Ivanovich Patrikeyev), was a bishop of Rostov and confidant of Ivan III of Moscow. Vassian was an ecclesiastic and political figure and wr ...

, Feodor Kuritsyn, Feodosii, Archbishop of Novgorod (1542–1551) who helped in compiling the Velikaia Mineia Chetii of Makarii and helped draw up documents for the

Stoglav Council The Stoglav Synod (), also translated as the Hundred Chapter Synod or Council of a Hundred Chapters, was a church council (''sobor'') held in Moscow in 1551, with the participation of Tsar Ivan IV, Metropolitan Macarius (presiding), other high ...

, Metropolitan Daniel, and

Tsar Basil IV Vasili IV Ivanovich Shuisky (, 12 September 1612) was Tsar of all Russia from 1606 to 1610, after the murder of False Dmitri I. His rule coincided with the Time of Troubles. He was the only member of House of Shuisky to become tsar and ...

. Joseph Volotsky, Metropolitan Daniel, Archbishop Feodosii, and

Malyuta Skuratov Grigory Lukyanovich Skuratov-Belskiy (), better known as Malyuta Skuratov () (? – January 1, 1573) was one of the leaders of the Oprichnina during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Biography Malyuta Skuratov approaches Philip II in order ...

are among many notables buried within monastery walls. 2018-09-01-DJI 0019

In the 1560s, Joseph Volokolamsk Monastery was the second largest landowner in Russia, with more than 30,000

desyatina A dessiatin or desyatina () is an archaic, rudimentary measure of area used in tsarist Russia for land measurement. A dessiatin is equal to 2,400 square sazhens and is approximately equivalent to 2.702 English acres, 10,925 square metres, or 1. ...

s of

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

s in its possession. Several smaller priories, dependent on the monastery, were founded on these lands. Within the principal cloister, three ponds were kept full of fresh water. After the Assumption Cathedral was constructed in brick in 1486, the great icon-painter

Dionisius Dionisius (; – 1503/1508) was a Russian icon painter who was one of the most important representatives of the Moscow school of icon painting at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. He continued the traditions of Andrei Rublev. Dioni ...

was summoned to embellish its walls with frescoes. An enormous octagonal

bell-tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell towe ...

was constructed in 9 tiers in the 1490s. At that time, it was the tallest structure in Russia. Its design heralded that of

Ivan the Great Bell Tower The Ivan the Great Bell Tower () is a church tower inside the Moscow Kremlin complex. With a total height of , it is the tallest tower and structure of the Kremlin. It was built in 1508 on Cathedral Square for the three Russian Orthodox cathed ...

in the

Moscow Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall along with the K ...

. During the

Time of Troubles The Time of Troubles (), also known as Smuta (), was a period of political crisis in Tsardom of Russia, Russia which began in 1598 with the death of Feodor I of Russia, Feodor I, the last of the Rurikids, House of Rurik, and ended in 1613 wit ...

, Joseph Volokolamsk Monastery was actively engaged in helping the government of Basil IV in his struggle against

Ivan Bolotnikov Ivan Isayevich Bolotnikov (; 1565–1608) headed a popular uprising in Russia in 1606–1607 known as the Bolotnikov Rebellion (''Восстание Ивана Болотникова''). The uprising formed part of the Time of Troubles in Russia ...

's rebels. The Polish

hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

Roman Rożyński lost his life besieging the monastery in 1611. After the siege, the monks captured a lot of Polish cannons, which were later used for festive fire works.

Re-construction

At the end of the 17th century, the monastery was reconstructed in the fashionable Naryshkin style. The new walls, completed by 1688, featured nine sharp-coned towers of stone. A golden-domed church was built over the main gates to the monastery in 1679. A church of similar design was added in 1682 to the spacious

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

, currently the oldest building in the complex, dating from 1504. The new Assumption Cathedral replaced the old one between 1682 and 1689. Its exterior was elaborately decorated with coloured tiles, and a marvellously carved

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere withi ...

was installed in the interior.

Recent history

After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

of 1917, Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery was turned into a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

. The Soviet authorities destroyed all the bells and took most of the icons to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

army seriously damaged the cloister and blew up its famous bell-tower. Although the churches have been subsequently restored, the bell-tower remains a major loss sustained by Russian art during the war.

Gallery

File:Свечная (часовая) башня 1677.jpg, Chasovaya tower File:Собор в честь успения пресвятой богородицы с церковью в честь богоявления господня.jpg,

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

(1504, 1682) File:Joseph-VolokolamskMon Cathedral S08 2p.jpg,

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 ...

(1680s) File:Joseph-VolokolamskMon GateChurch 2897.jpg, Gate church File:Joseph-VolokolamskMon GermanovaTower 2848.jpg, Germanova tower File:Joosef Volotskin patsas.jpg, Monument to Joseph Volotsky

Other burials

References

External links

Article on the monastery
featuring many photographs.
Russian Monastic Culture
- openlibrary.org abstract of a book about the history of the monastery in the 16th century {{coord, display=title, 56, 10, 19, N, 36, 5, 51, E Russian Orthodox monasteries in Russia 1479 establishments in Europe 15th-century establishments in Russia Buildings and structures in Moscow Oblast Christian monasteries established in the 1470s Museums in Moscow Oblast Religious museums in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Moscow Oblast Monasteries used as prisons