The Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God () is located in

Sarov Sarov () is a closed city, closed town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It was known as Gorkiy-130 (Горький-130) and Arzamas-16 (), after a (somewhat) nearby town of Arzamas,SarovLabsCreation of Nuclear Center Arzamas-16/ref> from 194 ...

, Russia. The town took its name from being the site of the monastery, next to the

Sarov River Sarov () is a closed city, closed town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It was known as Gorkiy-130 (Горький-130) and Arzamas-16 (), after a (somewhat) nearby town of Arzamas,SarovLabsCreation of Nuclear Center Arzamas-16/ref> from 194 ...

. In 1664, an Orthodox monk Theodosius first settled on the Sarov hill. The monastery was established for monks in 1706. The hermit and mystic Saint Seraphim of Sarov, one of the most venerated saints of the Russian Orthodox church, was living in Sarov from 1778 to 1833. In 1903, the monastery was visited by Tsar

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

and other members of the imperial family. At that time the monastery had nine churches, including one underground. Around 320 monks lived in the monastery. In 1927, the monastery was closed, the monks faced Bolshevik repressions, and many were executed. During World War II, the monastery buildings were used as factories for producing rockets for BM-13 "Katyusha" rocket launchers. It was reactivated in 2006 and reconstruction is taking place. It is under the jurisdiction of the Eparchy of 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 ...

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

External links

English page on Sarov Monastery web-site
Russian Orthodox monasteries in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Buildings and structures in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Monasteries used as prisons {{Orthodox-monastery-stub