Pühtitsa Convent (

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

: Kuremäe Jumalaema Uinumise nunnaklooster,

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 ...

: Пюхтицкий Успенский женский монастырь) is a

Russian Orthodox The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

in Eastern

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

(

Ida-Viru County Ida-Viru County ( or ; ) is one of the 15 counties of Estonia. It is the most northeastern part of the country. The county contains large deposits of oil shale the main mineral mined in Estonia. Oil shale is used in the production of shale oil ...

) between

Lake Peipus Lake Peipus is the largest trans-boundary lake in Europe, lying on the international border between Estonia and Russia. The lake is the fifth-largest in Europe after Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega (in Russia), Lake Vänern (in Sweden), and Lake ...

and the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland (; ; ; ) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and Estonia to the south, to Saint Petersburg—the second largest city of Russia—to the east, where the river Neva drains into it. ...

. A small Orthodox Christian church was built in Pühtitsa in the 16th century. The convent was founded in 1891 and has grown into the largest Orthodox community in the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

History

The convent is located on a site known as ''Pühitsetud'' ("blessed" in Estonian) since ancient times. According to a legend, a shepherd from the village of Kuremäe witnessed a divine revelation near a spring of water to this day venerated as holy. Later in the 16th century, locals found an ancient

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

of Dormition of the Mother of God under a huge

oak tree An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the Fagaceae, beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northe ...

. The icon still belongs to the convent. In 1888, the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

sent a nun from the

Ipatiev Monastery The Ipatiev Monastery (; also Ipatievsky Monastery), sometimes translated into English as Hypatian Monastery, is a male monastery situated on the bank of the Kostroma River just opposite the city of Kostroma. It was founded around 1330 by a ...

Kostroma Kostroma (, ) is a historic city and the administrative center of Kostroma Oblast, Russia. A part of the Golden Ring of Russian cities, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Volga and Kostroma. In the 2021 census, the population is 267, ...

to establish a convent in Pühtitsa. 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 ...

was built to Mikhail Preobrazhensky's designs in the

Russian Revival The Russian Revival style comprises a number of different movements within Russian architecture that arose in the second quarter of the 19th century and was an eclectic melding of Byzantine elements ( Neo-Byzantine architecture in the Russian E ...

style. It was consecrated in 1910. There are six churches in the convent dedicated to a number of Orthodox Christian Saints such as St. Sergius of Radonezh, St. Simeon the Receiver of God,

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

, St. Anna the Prophetess and others. Prince , the Governor of Estland, was the convent's patron and protected it from local landowners, mostly German

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

s, who opposed the spread of Orthodoxy in Estonia. It was the first Orthodox monastery built in Estonia (to the delight of mostly Orthodox local peasants of

Jõhvi Jõhvi ( ; ; ) is a town in northeastern Estonia, and the administrative seat of Ida-Viru County and Jõhvi Parish. The town is located about 50 km west of the Estonia–Russia international border. History Jõhvi was first mentioned as ...

county). In 1919, after Estonia became independent from

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 ...

, the new government confiscated most of the convent's land and transferred the convent to the

Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church The Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAOC; , officially the Orthodox Church of Estonia) is an Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox church in Estonia under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Under Estonian law i ...

, independent of Moscow. During the

Second World War 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 battlefront was at times only a few kilometres away from the convent and

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

organized a concentration camp for Russian prisoners of war inside the monastery compound. Following the second invasion and occupation of Estonia by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1944, the convent managed to survive despite the uneasy co-existence with the

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

authorities.

Patriarch Alexius II Patriarch Alexy II (or Alexius II, ; secular name Aleksei Mikhailovich Ridiger ; 23 February 1929 – 5 December 2008) was the 15th Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus', the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. Elected Patriarch of Mosco ...

who was the

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

(later the

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

) of

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

and Estonia in the 1960s was instrumental in the fight to keep the convent from closure. The Pühtitsa Convent and the

Pskov-Caves Monastery Pskov-Pechory Monastery or The Pskovo-Pechersky Dormition Monastery or Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery (, ) is a Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox male monastery, located in Pechory, Pskov Oblast in Russia, just a few kilometers from the Esto ...

were the only monasteries in the Soviet Union that did not suspend their activities throughout the 20th century. By 1991, the Pühtitsa monastic community consisted of 161 nuns. In 1990 it was placed under the direct authority of the

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia The Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus (), also known as the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, is the title of the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). It is often preceded by the honorific "His Holiness". As the ordinary of the diocese ...

External links

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Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate - Pühtitsa (Pyhtitsa) Dormition Convent
*

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Orthodox holy places - the Silver Ring of Russia

Entrance to the Pühtitsa Convent
QTVR fullscreen panorama (July 8, 2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Puhtitsa Convent Eastern Orthodox churches in Estonia Russian Orthodox monasteries Christian organizations established in 1891 Alutaguse Parish Buildings and structures in Ida-Viru County Christian monasteries in Estonia 1890s establishments in Estonia Russian Revival architecture 1891 establishments in the Russian Empire Russians in Estonia Tourist attractions in Ida-Viru County Nunneries