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Peryn ( rus, Перынь, p=pʲɪˈrɨnʲ) is a peninsula near
Veliky Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the ...
(Russia), noted for its medieval pagan shrine complex, and for its later well-preserved monastery.


Location

The Peryn peninsula is at the confluence of
Lake Ilmen Lake Ilmen (, ) is a large lake in Novgorod Oblast, Russia. A historically important lake, it formed a vital part of the medieval trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The city of Veliky Novgorod, which is a major trade center of the ro ...
and the River Volkhov, south of the city of
Veliky Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the ...
. In the Dark Ages, the city was developed not far from Peryn, at Ruerikovo Gorodische also known as Holmgård, but its business and social activities were later moved to form today's city centre. The area south of Novgorod, including Peryn, is therefore considered part of the historic surroundings of Veliky Novgorod. Historically, Peryn was an islet formed by the River Volkhov and two small rivers called '' Rakomka'' and '' Prost''. It could only be reached by boat. The conditions changed significantly after a dam was constructed in the 1960s to provide access for vehicles. After the 1960s Peryn looked like a peninsula but now it looks more like a hill which only becomes a peninsula when floods arrive in the spring.


Pagan history


Cult of Perun in Peryn and in Novgorod

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...
was a centre of
Slavic paganism Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, or Slavic religion refer to the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The South Slavs, who ...
in the Dark Ages. Accordingly, the Peryn island appears to have played a role similar to that of the
Vatican Hill Vatican Hill (; ; ) is a hill in Rome, located on the right bank (west side) of Tiber river, opposite to the traditional seven hills of Rome. The hill also gave the name to Vatican City. It is the location of St. Peter's Basilica. Etymology ...
in the sense of its functions in the medieval Novgorod and its later history. The name "Peryn" is related to the Slavic god
Perun In Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, Perun () is the highest god of the Pantheon (religion), pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, ir ...
, whose shrine was there in the 10th century. The results of archaeological excavations under the guidance of Valentin Sedov described in his survey of Peryn, suggest that Peryn was a sacred place from ancient times. It is likely that the area has seen several pagan shrines, replacing one with another over time. The best known is the heathen shrine, established there in 980.
Early Slavs The early Slavs were speakers of Indo-European languages, Indo-European dialects who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th centuries AD) in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Ea ...
used to set up anthropomorphic statues of wood, picturing their gods to serve the cult, and in 980 in Peryn it was carried out this way: The Perun cult can be considered an aspect of
Slavic mythology Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, or Slavic religion refer to the Religion, religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation of the Slavs, Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and ...
combining
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
and
Scandinavian mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
with authentic Slavic features. Parallels can therefore be seen between Perun,
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
,
Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...
, and
Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
. Like the well-known deities, Perun was the head of a pantheon. He was a thunder god too, who overthrew his enemy Veles down under the roots of the World Oak. Adam Olearius, who visited Peryn in 1654, describes the cult of Perun in Peryn as follows: As paganism implies many deities, Perun was not the only god in the heathen pantheon of Novgorod.
Volos Volos (; ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia (regional unit), Magnesia regional unit of the Thessaly Region. Volos ...
, whose shrine was presumably located on the site of the Church of St. Vlasi, was another deity worshipped in the city. But it seems that his cult was not favoured by
Vladimir the Great Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych (; Christian name: ''Basil''; 15 July 1015), given the epithet "the Great", was Prince of Novgorod from 970 and Grand Prince of Kiev from 978 until his death in 1015. The Eastern Orthodox ...
, who excluded Volos from his pagan pantheon. The first Christians erected the Church of the Transfiguration in Novgorod, but the government in Kiev was indifferent towards their religion, until
Vladimir the Great Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych (; Christian name: ''Basil''; 15 July 1015), given the epithet "the Great", was Prince of Novgorod from 970 and Grand Prince of Kiev from 978 until his death in 1015. The Eastern Orthodox ...
was baptized in 988. By contrast to the folk cults of Volos and
Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
, the cult of Perun was probably seen as the royal (official) cult, arranged on Peryn Island close to the royal residence on the Holmgård Hill. When the Russian state was Christianized in 989, the heathen religion was subjected to persecution. The citizens of
Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...
first tried to protect their deities, reportedly saying: ''"We would rather die than allow our gods to be outraged"''. The Novgorodians ravaged and plundered the house of Dobrynya, who was appointed to Christianize Novgorod, and beat up his wife. However, Dobrynya with the help of Putyata the warlord stifled the riot and completed his Christianization by force. Subsequently, the Peryn shrine, being the main spiritual complex in the second most important city in the Russian state, was ravaged and destroyed. No doubt, the process of ravaging was ritualized in Peryn, demonstrating that the new religion had overthrown its predecessor. According to the chronicle, it happened this way in Peryn: The Christianization and ravaging of the shrines was a great tragedy for the people. They wept and cried out for mercy with their gods, and Dobrynya reportedly mocked them in response: ''"What, madmen? Are you mourning those who are not able to protect themselves '' n their own'? What benefits do you expect from them?"''. Some people, who did not will to betray their deities, started to pretend they have already been baptized. In response, Dobrynya ordered that the citizens be checked to determine which of them were wearing crosses and “''not to believe and to baptize''” those who wore no cross. Whatever it was, the old religion along with the cult of Perun were not easy to oust from the social mind of the city. It was displaced at the level of social underself, rising in Novgorodian fables, sagas, oral tales and traditions. One of the legends, about the mace of
Perun In Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, Perun () is the highest god of the Pantheon (religion), pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, ir ...
, is fixed in the Novgorod Fourth Chronicle. The legend about the mace of Perun, thrown down on the Great Bridge, was seminal and linked with the Novgorodian tradition of arranging wrestling matches between the citizens of different districts of the medieval city. The significant attribute of the wrestling battles were maces (a symbol of Perun): a sidenote in the Book of Royal Degrees tells us that the maces with tin pips for use in the wrestling matches were kept inside the Church of Boris and Gleb, and Nikon the Metropolitan burned them down in 1652, stopping “''that devilish trizna'' fter the deity. The tradition is described by
Sigismund von Herberstein Siegmund (Sigismund) Freiherr von Herberstein (or Baron Sigismund von Herberstein; 23 August 1486 – 28 March 1566) was a Carniolan diplomat, writer, historian and member of the Holy Roman Empire Imperial Council. He was most noted for his exten ...
, who visited Novogorod in 1517 and 1526. Novgorodian society has carefully guarded its memories of Perun and Peryn throughout the centuries. '' The Saga of Sloven and Rus'', created in 1634, contains one more legend on the matter; the excerpt from ''the Saga'' below also describes certain Slavic heathen traditions and rituals. Two centuries later, in 1859, the Russian writer Pavel Yakushkin, when he was near
Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...
, wrote down an oral legend about Perun the serpent and Peryn, told to him by a Novgorodian fisherman. In fact, the oral legend is cognate with the plot of ''the Saga of Sloven and Rus''. Even at the turn of the 20th century there was a tradition to drop a coin in the river Volhov while passing Peryn by boat. As frequently occurs after a
Christianization Christianization (or Christianisation) is a term for the specific type of change that occurs when someone or something has been or is being converted to Christianity. Christianization has, for the most part, spread through missions by individu ...
, people reconcile the mental conflict in their minds after changing their religion, substituting heathen gods with
Christian saints In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Ortho ...
, making it easier for them to virtually adhere to the old cult, traditions, symbolism and values without betraying the Christian religion. In the case of Novgorod, the
imago In biology, the imago (Latin for "image") is the last stage an insect attains during its metamorphosis, its process of growth and development; it is also called the ''imaginal'' stage ("imaginal" being "imago" in adjective form), the stage in wh ...
of Perun was substituted with the figures of
God the Father God the Father is a title given to God in Christianity. In mainstream trinitarian Christianity, God the Father is regarded as the first Person of the Trinity, followed by the second person, Jesus Christ the Son, and the third person, God th ...
and Elias the Prophet. In the first case it is plays the role of Perun with the head of a pantheon; in the second, Elias the Prophet carries the attributes of Perun: he moves across the sky on a chariot, thundering and flashing (lightning) like Perun. Simultaneously, as explicitly shows ''The Saga of Sloven and Rus'' (1634) cited above, the imago of Perun incorporates the peculiarities of the
Devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...
, embodying a character who had been overthrown by the Christian religion; the one defeated in the name of the
God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
and displaced in the
underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...
, who is opposed to the God, ruling his own (pagan) world. Thus, the image of Perun in Novgorod is a complicated social phenomenon. File:Perun (Radzivill Chronicle).jpg, The pantheon of the
Vladimir the Great Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych (; Christian name: ''Basil''; 15 July 1015), given the epithet "the Great", was Prince of Novgorod from 970 and Grand Prince of Kiev from 978 until his death in 1015. The Eastern Orthodox ...
in Kiev as shown in the Radziwiłł Chronicle. The figure with a ray-shaped subject in his hands on the top of the hill is Perun File:Saint George slays the dragon, Croatia, 8th century.jpg,
Perun In Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, Perun () is the highest god of the Pantheon (religion), pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, ir ...
is defeating
Volos Volos (; ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia (regional unit), Magnesia regional unit of the Thessaly Region. Volos ...
. Žrnovnica,
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
. Probably, 8th century File:Перун.1998г.смеш.,тех.,бум.40,5х27,5.jpg, ''
Perun In Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, Perun () is the highest god of the Pantheon (religion), pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, ir ...
'' by Maxim Presnyakov, 1998. Paper, mixed technique. The god holds in his hands a mace, his symbol File:N.Novgorod Elijah icon.jpg, ''The fire ascension of Elias the prophet'', the Novgorodian icon. Late 15th to early 16th centuries


Heathen shrine

In 1951 an archaeological expedition under the direction of Valentin Sedov revealed the remains of a pagan temple complex. According to the report by Sedov, the shrine was located in the centre of Peryn Islet, on the historical top of the Peryn Hill. The remains were preserved quite well, though some parts were spoiled significantly by diggings many centuries ago. The shrine is circular-shaped with a diameter of , encompassing a shallow ditch a metre in depth. The construction is of regular (geometrical) forms. The ditch has a sharp internal edge, and a flat external edge. The ditch has eight bulges with the radius of . The bulges are aligned to the
points of the compass The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...
. The circle's centre has a hole of in width. Sedov in his survey suggests that the shrine's shape reflects the symbols of Perun. The excavations disproved the opinion that the Peryn Chapel was erected right on the site of the pagan shrine according to the Old Russian tradition of erecting churches on the places of pagan shrines. The results of Sedov are consistent with those of Artemi Artsihovsky, who was looking for the remains of the shrine in the chapel's basement two years earlier (in 1948), and had not found them. The excavations confirmed the chronicle data that bonfires had burnt around the idol. Heaps of charcoal and/or evidence of fire were revealed in every bulge. Sedov in his survey ties that fact with what is known about the cult of Perun, and suggests that the bulges in the ditch were for ritual bonfires. The eastern bulge is remarkable with an especially large heap of charcoal, indicating that an eternal flame might have been located there. The remaining pyres are likely to have been in use from time to time (probably for ceremonies). The samples of charcoal analyzed were from oak wood, Perun’s tree. The excavations showed that the bonfires and the ditch were buried when the shrine was ravaged in ancient times. The hole in the centre of the circle is interpreted by Sedov as a groove for the wooden idol. He found pieces of putrefied wood inside the hole and argues in his report: the data from the
Novgorod First Chronicle The Novgorod First Chronicle ( rus, Новгоро́дская пе́рвая ле́топись, Novgoródskaya pérvaya létopisʹ, nəvɡɐˈrot͡skəjə ˈpʲervəjə ˈlʲetəpʲɪsʲ, commonly abbreviated as NPL), also known by its 1914 Eng ...
are confirmed, and the idol was hacked down during the process of destruction, leaving the base of the idol inside the hole. Sedov in his survey draws a more complete and detailed picture of the destruction. Based on the results of the excavations he claims: while one group of people was engaged in chopping the wooden idol down, another was covering the bonfires with soil and destroying the
altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...
. Then they all together buried the ditch. In 1952 Sedov continued the excavations and discovered two circle-shaped constructions of a smaller size to the sides of the main shrine. Sedov asserts the constructions to be arranged there ''"not later than in the 9th century''"., meaning that the main shrine seems to replace some more ancient ones. Russian historian Rybakov in his survey presumes a more ancient cult existed in Peryn before the cult of Perun. Sedov found other constructions of later periods around the shrine, including graves and dugouts. There are other interpretations of Sedov's findings. Russian historians Vladimir Konetsky and Lev Klein argue that Sedov had found a
burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
, not a shrine. They have not submitted any crucial counterarguments, though; they rather suggest an alternative version to interpret the findings. Nevertheless, graves discovered by Sedov within the construction are from later periods, Sedov took part in the excavation himself, his results are fully consistent with all the ancient written sources and appear to be justified. He asserts in his survey: ''“undoubtedly, these are the remains of the Perun’s shrine”''. On the other hand, the debates are about whether Sedov discovered the very shrine, but the fact that a shrine to Perun was located in Peryn is widely accepted and causes no doubt. File:Iris squalens 250503.jpg, '' Iris germanica'' - a symbol of
Perun In Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, Perun () is the highest god of the Pantheon (religion), pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, ir ...
. Compare with the shape of the shrine and the symbols of
Perun In Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, Perun () is the highest god of the Pantheon (religion), pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, ir ...
File:VNovgorod PerynSkete 5478.JPG, According to the scheme, the photographer who made that picture of the monastery cells stood right on the place of the heathen shrine


After Christianization


Monastery

The monastery was probably founded in Peryn soon after the pagan shrine was destroyed, when a wooden church was reportedly erected there. The remains of the church were presumably discovered by Vasili Sedov while excavating the small northern shrine in 1952. The wooden church had approximately the same dimensions as the present church of stone. It had reportedly been preserved well for about 200 years, until it was replaced with the Peryn Chapel which existed until contemporary times. Nevertheless, the first chronicled reference to the monastery was not made until 1386. The chronicle tells us that the monastery was one of 24 cloisters burned down by the Novgorodians so that they would not be left to the followers of Dmitry Donskoy, the Grand Prince of Moscovy who acted against Novgorod in 1386. The wooden Church of the Trinity was the second church to be built on Peryn Islet. It was accompanied by a wooden refectory built in 1528. All the wooden buildings were destroyed during the Swedish occupation of Novgorod in 1611 – 1617: the monastery was ravaged. The Novgorod inventory for 1617 reported: To sustain and support the monastery after it had been ravaged in 1611 - 1617, it was merged with the
Yuriev Monastery The St. George's (Yuriev) Monastery () is usually cited as Russia's oldest monastery. It stands in 5 kilometers south of Novgorod on the left bank of the Volkhov River near where it flows out of Lake Ilmen. The monastery used to be the most impor ...
(the main monastery of
Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...
). According to one source, this occurred in 1634, according to another, in 1671. After the secularization undertaken by Catherine the Great in 1764, the monastery was abolished, its assets were transferred to
Yuriev Monastery The St. George's (Yuriev) Monastery () is usually cited as Russia's oldest monastery. It stands in 5 kilometers south of Novgorod on the left bank of the Volkhov River near where it flows out of Lake Ilmen. The monastery used to be the most impor ...
, and all the buildings except the Church of the Nativity were disassembled. The monastery was revived in the 18th century thanks to Anna Orlova-Chesmenskaya and Photios the Archimandrite. Photios the Archimandrite, when he was a
hieromonk A hieromonk,; Church Slavonic, Slavonic: ''Иеромонахъ''; ; ; ; ; Albanian language, Albanian: ''Hieromurg'' also called a priestmonk, is a person who is both monk and Priest#Roman Catholic and Orthodox, priest in the Eastern Christianity ...
in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, dismissed the popular idea of the times emphasizing direct communication between a man and the God outside the influence of the church. As a result, he was removed from Saint Petersburg and sent to Novgorod in 1821. In 1822 he was appointed head of the
Yuriev Monastery The St. George's (Yuriev) Monastery () is usually cited as Russia's oldest monastery. It stands in 5 kilometers south of Novgorod on the left bank of the Volkhov River near where it flows out of Lake Ilmen. The monastery used to be the most impor ...
. He was no longer considered an oppositionist when the new emperor, a deeply religious person, came to the throne in 1825. He undertook extensive repairs of the
Yuriev Monastery The St. George's (Yuriev) Monastery () is usually cited as Russia's oldest monastery. It stands in 5 kilometers south of Novgorod on the left bank of the Volkhov River near where it flows out of Lake Ilmen. The monastery used to be the most impor ...
and on Peryn Islet, relying on financial support from Duchess Anna Orlova-Chesmenskaya, his rich god daughter. At first, Photios asked that Peryn Islet should be returned to
Yuriev Monastery The St. George's (Yuriev) Monastery () is usually cited as Russia's oldest monastery. It stands in 5 kilometers south of Novgorod on the left bank of the Volkhov River near where it flows out of Lake Ilmen. The monastery used to be the most impor ...
. After this had been agreed in 1824, he arranged for major repairs to the Peryn Chapel: the walls were repaired thoroughly inside and out; the church’s interior was redecorated; an outbuilding was built up from the west side of the church; the floor and the dome were replaced. The church was sanctified once again in 1828. The monastery was extended in the 1830s and in the beginning of the 1940s: the red-bricked cells for the monks were erected along with two small buildings for an abbot and an archimandrite in the same architectural style. The monastery was provided with two utility buildings and surrounded by a brick wall; the complex was completed with a bell tower housing six bells. The buildings (apart from the bell tower and the fence) still form part of the monastery complex today. Finally, Photios succeeded in giving the monastery the status of
skete A skete () is a monastic community in Eastern Christianity that allows relative isolation for monks, but also allows for communal services and the safety of shared resources and protection. It is one of four types of early monastic orders, alo ...
in 1828 - a monastery with severe regulations, isolated from the outer world. The monks had many prescriptions, one of them being that women were only allowed to visit the monastery once a year on September 8, the day of the Nativity of Our Lady. After the 1917
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 ...
, the monastery was closed and ravaged once again. A decree to abolish all the monasteries in the Novgorod governorate was issued by the new Regional Council in August 1919. Subsequently, the bell tower, the fence and the southern utility building were disassembled for bricks. The bricks were used to build a depository for ice in the monastery land. The church was used as a storehouse. The remaining buildings were transferred to a fishing enterprise. When Novgorod was occupied during World War II, the battle line came close to the monastery, but it was not badly harmed. After the end of the war, the monastery was turned into a
sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, is a historic name for a specialised hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments, and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often in a health ...
. A dam was built in the 1960s to connect Peryn Islet with the landmass. That altered the water regime substantially, and the historical islet became a peninsula which only became an islet during the spring floods, and then into a hill. The monastery was transferred to the church in 1991. Now monastery at Peryn is referred to as
Yuriev Monastery The St. George's (Yuriev) Monastery () is usually cited as Russia's oldest monastery. It stands in 5 kilometers south of Novgorod on the left bank of the Volkhov River near where it flows out of Lake Ilmen. The monastery used to be the most impor ...
.


Church of the Nativity of Our Lady in Peryn

The church adopted a traditional name for the first Novgorodian church, being named in honour of the Mother of God, who was believed to be a patron of Novgorod. Archaeologists assert that the church was erected in the first half of the 13th century, and the historian Leonid Krasnorechyev specifies the date as the year 1226, when the elections of an archimandrite for the church are known to have been held. The church is remarkable for its small dimensions: it is and in width. Despite that, it looks surprisingly holistic and large from the inside: the attention of the visitor is drawn to the ceiling which looks very high. The columns in the church are not massive in contrast to other churches of the period. The church has three wide portals. The chapel is notable with the cross at its dome: its design includes a crescent. That was typical for ancient churches in Russia built in the pre-Mongol period. That is called “The Grapevine Cross” and symbolizes a vine. It has no ties with Islam and is based on the interpretation of the
Gospel of John The Gospel of John () is the fourth of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "Book of Signs, signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the ...
:


See also

*
Black Grave The Black Grave () is the largest burial mound (kurgan) in Chernihiv, Ukraine. It is part of the National Sanctuary of Ancient Chernihiv and is an Archaeological Monument of national importance. Overview Comparable to the barrows of Gnyozdovo ...
* Our Lady of the Sign (Novgorod) * Desyatinny Monastery (Novgorod) * The Church of the Nativity of Our Lady in the Antoniev Monastery (Novgorod) *
Yuriev Monastery The St. George's (Yuriev) Monastery () is usually cited as Russia's oldest monastery. It stands in 5 kilometers south of Novgorod on the left bank of the Volkhov River near where it flows out of Lake Ilmen. The monastery used to be the most impor ...
* Rurikovo Gorodische (Holmgård) *
Novgorod republic The Novgorod Republic () was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries in northern Russia, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east. Its capital was the city of Novgorod. The ...
* Massacre of Novgorod


Gallery

File:PerynEntrance.jpg, The gates of Peryn File:PerynChapel1.jpg, the Church of the Nativity of Our Lady at Peryn File:VNovgorod PerynSkete 5473.JPG, The cells (built in 1830s–1840s) File:03_Перынский_Рождества_Богородицы_мужской_скит.jpg, The abbot chamber (built in 1830s–1840s). The architectural style is
Eclecticism Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories i ...
influenced by the National Romantic Style File:PerynCells.jpg, The abbot chamber File:Skitushka skit.jpg, The utility building (similar to the abbot chamber, built in 1830s–1840s) File:PerynCross.jpg, The memorial crucifix on the bank of Peryn


Notes


Links and citations


References

Websites: * Literature: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Periodicals: * * * * * * * * * * * Original documents reprinted: * * * * * * * * * {{Refend Buildings and structures in Veliky Novgorod Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Novgorod Oblast