Tsivilsky Monastery, Chuvashia. Tikhvin Mother of God convent diocesan convent

Not far from the city of Cheboksary there is the Tsivilsky Bogoroditsky Convent. It was founded in 1675 and is one of the oldest monasteries in Russia.
The main shrine of the monastery is miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Tikhvin. Also here is an icon of the Hieromartyr Harlampy, painted on Mount Athos at the end of the 19th century, an icon with particles of the relics of St. Tikhon - Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Hieromartyr Hilarion of the Trinity, Archbishop of Verei and Holy Blessed Matrona of Moscow, as well as the myrrh-streaming icon of Archangel Michael.
In the Tsivilsky Monastery, virtue coexists with hard work, and Mother Superior has guided more than one thousand on the right path. After her conversations, people are transformed; it is not for nothing that the monastery patronizes the colony for minors. And faith penetrates into the embittered hearts of many colonists, and they fulfill their duty to God and people with the hope of a different, righteous life. And mother is always happy to help a lost soul, so many parents come to her for peace of mind and prayers for their children.
In the monastery, the sisters read the Indefatigable Psalter for a long time or for one year with the remembrance of names for health and repose around the clock. Reading the Psalter drives away evil spirits and attracts God's grace. Long-term commemoration of the Indestructible Psalter will be performed by the sisters for as long as the monastery exists. The sisters of the monastery welcome guests very cordially, prepare food with special diligence, and even on fasting days they feed the pilgrims very tasty. By the way, it is in the Tsivilsky Monastery that they sell real wax candles with the aroma of honey, which are extremely difficult to purchase in Russia.

A monastery is not only a home and prayers, it is creativity, hard work and beauty. Divine chants always sound under the arches of the temple. During the day, sisters and brothers carry out various obediences, read the Psalter, bake prosphora and bread, grow vegetables and flowers, and of course, joyfully receive pilgrims. And all this with prayer on our lips.

The miraculous Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God
Vladimir icon
Tolga Icon of the Virgin Mary
Icon of the Hieromartyr Harlampius
Myrrh-streaming image of the Archangel of God Michael
Particles of the relics of St. Tikhon Patriarch of All-Russia
Particles of the relics of the blessed Matrona of Moscow
Particles of the relics of the Hieromartyr Hilarion
Myrrh-streaming image of Sergius of Radonezh
Myrrh-streaming image of Nicholas of Myra
Myrrh-streaming image of John the Baptist

Divine services

Evening Worship - 16:00;
Water-blessing prayer before the icon of the Mother of God “Inexhaustible Chalice” - on Thursdays, at the end of the Liturgy;
A prayer service with an akathist to the Hieromartyr Charalampius - on Fridays, at the end of the Liturgy;
Paraklisis of the Mother of God - on Fridays, during the evening service
Prayer service for the increase of love and the eradication of hatred and malice - the first Sunday of the month, at the end of the Liturgy;
Prayer service to the Saints - on Sundays;
Akathist to the Sweetest Jesus - on Sundays at evening services;
Requiem service - on Saturdays after the end of the Liturgy;
Procession of the cross around the walls of the monastery with the prayer “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice...” - daily, 12:00.

Monastic holidays

On July 9, the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God is celebrated;
On October 30, a religious procession is held through the streets of Tsivilsk, dedicated to the miraculous deliverance of the city from the bandits of the Cossack Stepan Razin. The procession of the cross takes place with the miraculous shrine, the patroness of the city - Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God .

Monastery address:
429900, Chuvash Republic, Tsivilsk, Sovetskaya St., 1

How to get there:
By bus - highways of republican significance - "Yoshkar-Ola - Tsivilsk", "Mariinsky Posad - Tsivilsk", "Tsivilsk - Kranoarmeyskoye".
By car - the area is crossed by federal roads - "Nizhny Novgorod - Kazan"; "Tsivilsk - Ulyanovsk - Syzran".
By rail - 8 km from the city of Tsivilsk in the north-eastern part of the region there is a railway line Kanash - Cheboksary (Mikhailovka station).
Distances: from the city of Cheboksary - 37 km.

History paragraph

The Tikhvin Bogoroditsky Civil Monastery has a very long and interesting history. According to legend, in the place where the monastery is now located, the wooden Tikhvin Church originally appeared (according to other sources, the Ascension Church, but with the Tikhvin chapel). This temple appeared for a reason, but in honor of the miraculous deliverance of the city from the rebel troops besieging it under the command of Stepan Razin. In 1671, troops, so to speak, under the command of Stenka approached the city of Tsivilsk and besieged it. Since Tsivilsk, rising on the banks of the river of the same name, was a fairly powerful fortification, it was not possible to take it on the move. Therefore, the rebels decided to starve them out, which they practically succeeded in doing. Until one of the residents of the city, Juliania Vasilyeva, was awarded a vision from the Image of the Mother of God of Tikhvin. According to legend, the Mother of God told the woman: “So that the people sitting in the city would sit firmly: the Cossacks will not take the city, and when the city receives salvation, the inhabitants would build a monastery outside the city near the Streletsky meadow, between the Bolshoi and Maly Tsivil rivers...” The Cossacks really couldn’t take the city, but the archer Stefan Ryazanov, one of the defenders of Tsivilsk, built a wooden temple and cells for the monks in that place.

By the way, the story presented above is fully consistent with historical information. It is known that government troops under the command of Prince Baryatinsky and Kravkov drove Razin’s associates from under the walls of Tsivilsk.

After some time, the monastery, thanks to the miraculous icon, was called the Ascension Tikhvin Monastery. In 1723, its inhabitants were transferred to the Gerontian Hermitage, and a convent arose in its place. Which, however, in less than 10 years becomes male again. The monastery grew and was quite large for its time. However, in 1860 it fell into disrepair, and even ideas about its closure arose. But thanks to local residents, the monastery was able to be defended, and since 1870 it again became a women's monastery.

The beginning of the history of the Tsivilsky Tikhvin Monastery is connected with the peasant war of 1667-1671 under the leadership of the "covetous" Stenka Razin, which did not bypass the Tsivilsky lands. On October 1, 1671, the “thieves’ Cossacks” approached the city walls and began an assault. As you know, Tsivilsk was originally built in 1589 as a fortress, had fortress walls made of oak ridges with a deep moat and was guarded by an armed force loyal to the king, consisting of 250 archers, about 5 gunners and about a dozen mercenary landsknechts. And taking such a city was not so easy. The Cossacks tried for a long time to take the city, but could not, and it was decided to take the fortress by famine, surrounding it. When the residents lost hope of defending their city and wanted to break through the ring of Cossacks in order to flee to neighboring Cheboksary, they were stopped by the fact that in a dream, Juliana Vasilyeva, a simple citizen of Tsivilsk, saw an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, and she heard from the saint the words: “ So that the people sitting in the city would sit firmly: the Cossacks would not take the city, and when the city was saved, the inhabitants would build a monastery behind the city between the rivers of the Big and Small Civil and between the swamps and Streletsky meadows."

the city of Tsivilsk, where the monastery is located

Indeed, the civilians defended their city, and four years later, in the place indicated by the Mother of God herself, the church of the Ascension of the Lord with a chapel in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos of Tikhvin sparkled with domes. This church, built according to a vow by the Civilian archer Stefan Ivanovich Ryazanov, will soon become the temple of the newly created Ascension Monastery. Cells and outbuildings were built for the monastics.
The iconostasis of the temple was painted by a famous icon painter in those days - the son of the priest of the Sviyazhsk Annunciation Church - Efim Vasilyev. The temple itself was later rebuilt twice and in 1744 was consecrated in the name of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God.

As mentioned above, the monastery was for men. It became female on January 18, 1871 by decision of the Kazan Consistory, and the reasons for this transformation were the following:
Despite the fact that the Tsivilsky Tikhvin Monastery bazaars and fairs (of which there were two - Tikhvin from June 20 to 26 and Ilyinskaya from July 20) brought considerable income from the trade in wax candles, icons, crosses, and even purse and alms collections significantly replenished The monastery treasury and the monastery economy came to disorder and decline. And all because of the annual Civilian floods, which destroyed almost all the buildings of the monastery, both stone and wooden. By the end of the 60s of the 19th century, almost all of them fell into disrepair. Also, in the last years of the existence of the monastery, there were very few monastics. Thus, according to the list for 1867, the monastery consists of: 1 builder, 2 hieromonks, 1 hierodeacon, 8 novices and not a single monk. In addition, in addition to external economic problems and the small number of monastics, the reason for the impoverishment of the monastery was its internal condition - the brothers began to lead an undisciplined and drunken lifestyle. Evidence of this is the surviving statements against the offenders.

Such a pitiful situation of the monastery and the behavior of the monastics naturally led to the idea of its abolition, and Archbishop Anthony, visiting Tsivilsk in 1869, proposed to the Consistory to close the Tsivilsky Monastery. But the citizens of the city of Tsivilsk, who treasured the monastery and the miraculous icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God, asked His Eminence in a sentence drawn up on September 25, 1869 to preserve the monastery. In response to the verdict, the Archpastor made an offer to the citizens through the Consistory to transform the monastery into a women's monastery, citing the fact that the women's monasteries in the Kazan Diocese are distinguished by better amenities in comparison with the men's and that there are more people who want to become monks in the women's monastery than in the men's monastery.
So, on December 30, 1870, according to decree No. 2852 of the Holy Synod, the monastery was transformed into a women's monastery, and on January 18 of the same year, the Kazan Consistory confirmed this decision with its decree.

So, by the end of the 60s of the 19th century, almost all the buildings of the monastery were dilapidated: in the cells of the lower floor all the floors were rotten and torn out, the stoves were destroyed, there were significant cracks in the walls of the buildings, the plaster in the temple had collapsed in many places - all the buildings required indispensable major repairs. Accordingly, the new owner of the monastery - the abbess - had to be a good business executive, politician, skillful and demanding leader, capable of influencing other sisters by her example. The nun Kherubima, a native of the Kursk province from the family of a clergyman, fully met these necessary qualities. She was transferred to the Tsivilsky Monastery from the Kazan Convent. One interesting fact is noteworthy: as soon as the new abbess entered the monastery (March 1871), a few days later the Tsivil River began to flood, and during the liturgy, icy muddy water poured into the church itself, and they had to end the service standing on the benches. And this situation happened almost every spring; water, flooding the entire territory of the monastery, left a lot of garbage, silt and dirt in the buildings, destroying the plaster. Therefore, the monastery urgently needed considerable funds to strengthen the bank and repair buildings. The monastery did not have such funds, and donations from city citizens were negligible for work of such a scale.

The philanthropists for the renovation of the monastery were the Kazan merchant of the 1st guild Vasily Nikitich Nikitin and his wife Maria Ivanovna. Vasily Nikitich was of peasant origin, from the Vladimir province. Having learned to read and write “from a young age,” he began working as a cab driver at an early age. He had an uncle - a rich merchant Kondyrin, who lived in Kazan. After his death, all his considerable property passed into Vasily’s inheritance. Honesty, serviceability and obligatory accuracy made his name the loudest and most honorable among both Moscow and Kazan and Trans-Ural merchants. His trade turnover amounted to millions of rubles. In addition, he owned a huge inn, two large steamships and dozens of barges.

On his first trip to Tsivilsk, V.N. Nikitin bought all the bricks stored in the city for the monastery. Then in the spring he acquired huge rafts of timber, which were delivered along the river to the very walls of the Tsivilsky Monastery. And in the summer a large detachment of builders arrived at the Tsivilsky monastery. New spacious cells were immediately rebuilt, the monastery was surrounded by a high stone fence, chapels were built, and tall beautiful gates were built to enter the monastery territory. In addition, deep ditches and a high earthen rampart were built on all sides, which eliminated the danger of flooding. The temple was thoroughly renovated: the base was replaced, the windows were raised and expanded, two beautiful stoves were added, and a third iron stove was placed behind the altar; the walls of the temple were plastered and painted, all the window frames were replaced with new ones, the outside of the temple was whitewashed, and the roof was painted with copper. A lot of new utensils were delivered to the monastery: robes, candlesticks, lamps...
When Archbishop Anthony of Kazan visited the monastery again, he was amazed at such a rapid revival of the monastery. He was met by the priest of the monastery with the holy cross and the abbess of the monastery with all the sisters while singing “It is worthy to eat.” On the same day, at the Divine Liturgy, the abbess of the monastery, nun Cherubima, was elevated to the rank of abbess.

V.N. Nikitin’s participation in the fate of the monastery was not limited to these benefits. With his funds, a new main temple was founded, fundamentally different in its architecture from the churches of that time, the building of which has survived to this day. During the construction of this temple, a wooden church was erected, donated by the Cheboksary merchant Efremov, which was consecrated in the name of the holy martyr Kharlampy. By the way, a warm wooden church, built quite recently on the territory of the monastery, was consecrated in honor of St. Harlampy on February 23, 2001:

Unfortunately, Vasily Nikitich never had the opportunity to see the main decoration of the monastery and his main work - the new temple: he died suddenly on October 1, 1880. Not long after him his wife lived. They were buried near the new temple, on the right side. And the construction of this temple continued for another 6 years after Nikitin’s death. He donated a total of about 37,000 rubles to the monastery. In addition to him, the Tsivilian tradesman Ivan Nagasov donated for the construction - 100 rubles, the Tsivilian merchant Pyotr Fedorovich Zarubin - 100 rubles, the Moscow merchant Vasily Matveevich Maltsev - 750 rubles, the Nizhny Novgorod merchant Stepan Ivanovich Zyablov - 2550 rubles, unknown people contributed 800 rubles to the monastery treasury . A certain Praskovya Andreevna Nazhivina contributed 2,100 rubles to the construction of the temple. In total, 43,900 rubles and 30 kopecks were spent on its construction.

And the temple turned out great - tall, wide, bright. There were three thrones - in a row, the main one in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, on the right side in honor of the Ascension of the Lord, and on the left - in honor of all saints. The temple was built very successfully from an architectural point of view: inside, everything that happened in the temple was open before the eyes of every worshiper. Traditionally, choirs for singers were located above the entrance doors on the west. Above the middle of the temple rose an extensive domed drum with a number of windows, between which nine angels were depicted, and at the very top - an image of the Lord God of Hosts with blessing hands. There were three altars and iconostases, as well as thrones. All the walls and arches of the temple were in frescoes, which depicted large figures of saints.

Speaking about the monastery, it is impossible to mention its economy. Monasteries have always been large landowners. The Tsivilsky Tikhvin Monastery owned quite large arable and hay lands, more than 30 acres of pasture land, allocated to the monastery back in 1797 by decree of Paul I. Since 1838, the monastery has owned 144 acres of forest. There were 3 fishing grounds “Chuvash wasteland”, “Opolzino” and in the Chekursky backwater and river crossings, which the monastery rented out for about 400 rubles a year to various businessmen. The monastery owned a flour mill on the Sulitsa River in Sviyazhsk district, which, however, fell into disrepair in 1892 due to changes in the river bed in the spring; before that, the mill was rented out for 30 rubles a year. On January 1, 1692, the monastery received two land plots for allotment use: Sundyrskaya in 17 dessiatines, 1900 sq. m. fathoms and Ki-bechinskaya in 17 dessiatinas 1500 sq. fathoms; they were located about 30 miles from the monastery. Let us quote the archival document: “The monastery owns the following lands:
a) arable and hay land,
b) fishing with bush forest growing along the banks of the Volga,
c) flour-grinding water mill with two stages,
d) two forest dachas, consisting of 150 acres.

The arable and hay lands consist of several plots located in different places, for which the monastery has five special plans with boundary books. Cultivated lands included in two plans - in the first
- thirty dessiatines 1112 sq. fathoms, and in the second - eight dessiatines 2004 sq. fathoms - cultivated by the monastery itself. Eighteen acres 1941 sq. fathoms of hay land, called “Kochki”, are also cultivated by the monastery. Twenty-four tithes 1181 sq. a fathom of haymaking land called "Prorva", including two dessiatinas of 230 sq. fathoms of arable land, cultivated by the monastery. In addition, the monastery owns another eighteen acres of 1070 square meters. fathoms of hayfields located near the monastery itself. All of the above lands, arable and hayfields, were donated to the monastery, but when and by whom is unknown. They lie in the Tsivilsky district, at a close distance from the monastery.

Fishing with bushes growing along the shore is located in the Cheboksary district, in places called the “Chuvash wasteland”, “Opolzino”. In a special watershed plan, calculated in 1795, December 5, inside the property, delimited from all adjacent properties by one circumferential boundary, eleven dessiatines of 1981 sq. m. are shown. fathom...
Two forest dachas allocated to the monastery in 1876 as a result of the request of the Abbess Cherubim, at the request of His Eminence, the Most Reverend Anthony, Archbishop of Kazan, by the Ministry of State Property, are located in two areas: in the Koshko-Kulikchevskaya dacha
- thirty acres and 1343 sq. fathoms and in the northern part of the Tugaevskaya dacha -119 dessiatines 127 sq. fathoms.
These dachas were delimited by the Provincial Technician Schmidt with the participation of the district forester Solovyov and the deputy from the spiritual side, the dean of Tsivilsky Archpriest Lazar Belyaev. The plan for both Dachas, drawn up by the above-mentioned land surveyor Schmidt, is stored in the monastery with other documents..." (Gazette of the Tsivilsky Tikhvin Monastery for 1883. National Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, fund 4, inventory 114, file 6).

The monastery also had a lot of real estate: in Kazan there were two large stone houses representing the monastery. There were also houses in Tsivilsk.
Behind the monastery wall on the eastern side, since 1871, a cattle yard was built: spacious stables, a cattle shed, haylofts, two large cellars and two wooden houses for housing assistants at the court. The monastery had its own bathhouse and a large garden. There was also a small hospital with six beds and a school. In summer there was always a flower garden of roses near the main entrance to the monastery territory.
In addition to numerous household chores, the sisters were engaged in handicrafts: they knitted stockings, socks, quilted blankets, embroidered with beads, and last but not least was painting.
If we talk about the financial well-being of the monastery, it should be noted that the main income and sources of funds for the Tikhvin Monastery were allocations from the state treasury, which had a special article on monasteries. There was also an influx of money from interest on various kinds of securities and income from arable land, forest plots, fishing, ferries and a water mill owned by the monastery, which were rented out. Some income was also brought in by candles, purses and mugs, prayer services, prosphora and other fees and alms. There was a constant sale of icons, paintings of biblical scenes and views of his monastery, rosaries, crosses, rings.
The annual cash turnover of the monastery per year was approximately 100,000 rubles,

Everyone living in the monastery monastery was divided into nuns, ryasophore novices and white novices. The reason for this division is the existence in monasteries of a system of spiritual growth and improvement. At first, she decided to leave worldly life and devote it to God, living in a monastery, wearing secular clothes, working and looking closely at life in the monastery. With exemplary behavior, within a certain period of time, she became worthy of wearing a cassock, becoming a ryassophore (Greek - “wearer of a cassock”). Further, after a certain period of time and compliance with the monastic rules, the rite of tonsure was performed on the ryasophore novice - the abbess cut a cross in the hair on the top of the novice's head. Moreover, the tradition was observed: the novice had to hand the scissors to the abbess three times, and only on the third time did she agree to take the tonsure. This meant that the novice made three vows: chastity, non-covetousness - renunciation of any property, and a vow of obedience. The tonsured woman received a new black robe made of coarse wool, and, as if born again, received a new name.

So, for example, in 1897, in the Tikhvin Convent there was 1 abbess, 1 schema-nun (unlike nuns, she had stricter vows and led a hermit life), 26 nuns, ryassophore novices - 34,153 novices and 11 residents. A total of 226 people.
The abbess of the monastery, as mentioned above, was Cherubim. She remained in this rank until her death (December 7, 1896). She died instantly and without pain from a heart defect, having devoted all 70 years of her life to monasticism and 25 of them to service in the Tsivilsky Monastery of the Tikhvin Mother of God.
Antonia became the second abbess of the monastery, approved by decree of the Holy Synod of March 3, 1897, No. 1015. The third and last abbess (until 1925) was Abbess Asenefa, confirmed on April 8, 1909.
In the monastery, the right hand of the abbess was the cellarer - the head of the considerable monastic household. Next in importance was the treasurer, whose duties were to monitor the supplies and general welfare of the monastery.

The services in the church were conducted by the nuns themselves, and only the priest and deacon in the monasteries were always men. The first priest in the convent was the dean of the village of Voskresenskiye Shigali, Tsivilsky district, Captain Podobyedov, who served in the rank of priest. The salary of a priest at that time was 300 rubles a year, an assistant priest received 250 rubles. In 1878, Alexander Biletov, who had previously served in the secondary department of the Theological Seminary, assumed the position of Priest; he was also a member of the district branch of the Diocesan School Council and held the position of teacher of the law in a monastery school.

All life in the monastery was regulated by a special charter, in which three principles were mandatory: equality of sisters, obedience to the abbess and a clear distribution of responsibilities. The day at the monastery began very early. As soon as the sun appeared, the alarm clock went to the door of the abbess’s cell, bowed and loudly said, “Bless and pray for me...”. Waking up, the abbess answered, “God will save you.” Next, the alarm clock gave the order to ring the bell, walked through the cells and woke up the nuns with the words “Bless the saints.” Soon the bells called everyone to the temple for prayer, and the nuns gathered at the church. First the priest and his assistant deacon. In the temple, everyone lined up in order, with the abbess on the right in front, the cellarer on the left; priest with deacon in front of the altar. The morning service (vigil) lasted about five hours. After the service, there was usually a meal, before which everyone also said a prayer, and they entered the refectory only with the third bell. On ordinary days there were two meals - lunch and dinner, for which they served brew (soup) and sochivo (porridge), and when preparing food, certain mandatory rituals were observed (for example, they lit a fire in the kitchen only from a torch lit by a priest from a lamp in the temple) . During the meal, no one spoke, and one of the nuns read religious works of an instructive nature. At the end of the meal, the nuns, singing psalms, went to the temple, performed a prayer in front of its walls and dispersed to their cells, where they read theological books, prayed, or worked on the house or did handicrafts. During fasting, the nuns had only one meal a day and devoted more time to prayer.

In 1872, at the Tsivilsky Tikhvin Monastery, the missionary organization "Brotherhood of St. Guria" opened a school for girls, teaching the law of God and literacy. It was remarkable that in this school, unlike others, teaching took place in both Russian and Chuvash languages, since many children knew only their native language. In October 1897, the school of St. Guria was renamed into a parish school. In 1911 it was closed as it was not included in the school network. The school usually had about 40 girls, one third of whom were from families somehow involved in churches and religion, about 50 percent from ordinary Chuvash families, the rest from Russians.
The October Revolution of 1917 radically changed the status and life of Orthodox monasteries literally from the first days after the revolution. On October 26, 1917, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted the Decree on Land, which abolished private ownership of land and made it public property. Thus, all the land of Russian monasteries, including the Tsivilsky Tikhvin Monastery, was confiscated, or rather, legally stolen without any cause or effect. In addition to the lands of the Tsivilsky Monastery, fishing grounds and forest cottages were also taken away, which were immediately plundered, destroyed and burned uncontrollably, while the forest was immediately cut down by local residents. Monasteries and churches were left only small plots of land for food.

Also a strong blow to the monasteries of Russia was a very cunning “knight move” of the Soviet government - the nationalization of private banks, where the clergy and monasteries had significant deposits. Merged with state banks, they formed the United People's Bank of the Russian Republic. Thus, the Soviet government received incredible capital under its control and disposal.
Further more. On January 23, 1918, the decree “On the separation of the church from the state and the school from the church” was promulgated, according to which all property and property of monasteries and churches transferred to Soviet power and the state no longer supported the church, took away all benefits and declared the church a purely public organization. Acts of civil status (birth, marriage, death) were removed from the jurisdiction of church bodies and were transferred to state ones. The teaching of the “Law of God” in schools was prohibited, and students were exempted from compulsory attendance at church and religious rites. It was decided to perform church rites only with the permission of the district Department of Administration, and each religious community had to provide the Soviet Government with a charter, a list of society members and the executive body in triplicate upon annual registration.

6, in connection with the confiscation of all buildings and property from the Tikhvin Monastery, a decision was made by the Tsivilsky District Department of the Administration to draw up an inventory of church property, but Abbess Asenef submitted a request to delay the inventory for at least two weeks, and her request was granted. In addition to compiling the inventory, on December 16, 1918, it was decided to hold a general meeting with the participation of citizens of the city of Tsivilsk and the clergy, chaired by the monastery priest Alexander Biletov. At the meeting, the issue of the decision of the local Council of December 10, No. 309 “On the transfer of all monastery property to the Council of Workers and Red Army Deputies” was considered. It was customary to retain the property and buildings of the monastery, as supposedly unprofitable and useless property. Surprisingly, the decision of the meeting was considered by the local Council and even satisfied. So the monastery, although not for long, was preserved. By this time, there were 240 nuns and novices in the monastery, but, unlike in previous years, all the nuns were of advanced age, the youngest of them Agnia and Milentina were 56 years old. The abbess of Milanova, Asenef Pavlovna, was 70 years old.

In the 20-30s there was a sharp reduction in existing churches and monasteries; they began to be completely rebuilt into municipal houses and clubs. Bell towers and some temples were barbarically destroyed. It was believed that there was no place for religion in the new state, which would only distract people from building a bright future - communism.
And so, in July 1925, a resolution was issued by the expanded Plenum of the U.S. Regiment Committee on the transfer of some of the monastery buildings to the district department of public education for a cultural and educational institution and the eviction of the nuns. In the same month, cleaning of the stone temple began, the iconostasis was dismantled, and an inventory was compiled of valuable items. The Tsivilsky District Executive Committee received a statement from the city's believers with a request to transfer the icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God and some property to the Cathedral of the Kazan Mother of God, their request was granted. A copy of the Tikhvin icon of the Mother of God, an icon of the Great Martyr Barbara, a local icon of the Mother of God with an ark, and others were transferred to the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.
The last service of the monastery was held on the tenth of July 1925, and in the fall of the same year the last church in the monastery was liquidated. A club was opened in one of the monastery buildings and a radio installation was installed.

After the monastery was closed, its premises were occupied by an incomplete secondary school, a children's town (orphanage), during the war years - a military unit, a pedagogical college, a boarding school, a seven-year school, a vocational school... Each heir in his own way remodeled and managed the monastery's economy. As a result, the cathedral and other buildings were changed beyond recognition. The main cathedral lost all five domes and vaults, the third floor was completed, standard windows were cut, and ceilings were made between the floors. The bell tower and wooden church were demolished. Fragments of the stone wall and towers remain. The Civil River destroyed buildings every year during floods.

And here are the 90s. Years of revaluation of spiritual foundations and the foundations of culture, revision of the mentality of a real Russian person. Years of doubting the correctness of the path we are still on. The years when we finally came to the revival of an inseparable component of Russian life.
With the blessing of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Tikhvin Mother of God Monastery was opened in the city of Tsivilsk, and monastic life was revived in it. This decision was made at a meeting of the Holy Synod on February 26, 1998 for N "797. Naturally, the question arose about the appointment of a mentor. Moreover, the situation is similar to the situation in 1870, since the state of the monastery in 1998 is comparable to the picture 130 years ago. May 14, 1998 In the same year, Mother Agnia, the abbess of the Alatyr Kiev-Nicholas Novodevichy Monastery, was appointed senior sister to the Tsivilsky monastery. Her sisters, who did not want to stay in Alatyr, also came for their mentor. On November 1 of the same year, Mother Agnia left the post of abbess of the Novodevichy monastery and accepted this post at the Tsivilsky monastery.

There is an orphanage at the monastery where orphans studying at Tsivilsky Secondary School No. 1 are raised. The main activities of monks in their free time from service, as before, are housework and caring for animals (the monastery farm has several cows and horses, and chickens). The monastery also owns 10.5 hectares of land, 3 hectares of which are occupied by the monastery building complex itself.
On the territory of the monastery, the abbess's house, three wooden buildings, the Harlampie Church, a guest house, and a cell building have been restored.

SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads.
http://gov.cap.ru/
http://sobory.ru/
Braslavsky L. Yu. Operating churches, chapels, monasteries of the Cheboksary and Chuvash diocese: - Cheboksary: Chuvash Book Publishing House, 2010.
http://foto.cheb.ru/
photo by Vladimir Mikhailov.

The Tsivilsky Monastery in Chuvashia is a secluded place located in a small provincial town. The city itself stands at the confluence of the Greater and Lesser Civilizations. The population is small. The total number is 13.2 thousand people. There is a railway line six kilometers from the city. Tsivilsk was founded in 1589. It was a military stronghold in Moscow.

In its place there was once an ancient Chuvash settlement of Surbeevo. It was here that the hundredth prince lived. The first structures were built of wood. The wooden Kremlin was surrounded by a fort. The first inhabitants were archers, builders, and clergy. In 1781 the status of a county town would have been received. In the 17th century, its military significance was lost. Now it is the largest commercial and industrial center.

How to get there

The Family Suitcase company organizes pilgrimage trips.

Getting to the monastery is easy; its exact address is Chuvash Republic, Tsivilsk, st. Proletarskaya, 1. It is more convenient to use a bus or a personal car. Also 5-7 km from the city there is a railway line Kanash - Cheboksary (Mikhailovka station).

People often come here for several days, mostly pilgrims. You can stay overnight at the Saval or Savanas hotels. The number of rooms is small, but the living conditions are comfortable. You can have a snack in the cafes “Anastasia”, “Brown”, “Your People”. An inexpensive canteen is located on the street. Tereshkova, 5b, the food here is quite tasty.

History is the foundation

The construction of the monastery on the territory of these lands is closely connected with the beginning of the peasant war. This was 1670-1671. The battle was carried out under the leadership of Stepan Razin. During this period, Tsivilsk suffered greatly from banditry raids. In 1671, the Cossacks came close to the walls. The capture of the settlement began. The fortress walls were strong. They were made from oak. There was a deep ditch all around. The guard consisted of 250 archers and five gunners. The defense was powerful, so it was not so easy to defeat the city. Therefore, the enemies decided to surround the fortress and wait until the inhabitants ran out of strength.

Once, a resident of the fortress, widow Juliania Vasilyeva, saw the appearance of the image of the Mother of God of Tikhvin. She said that the rebels would not be able to take the city. The soldiers fought for freedom for two weeks. Moreover, the victory happened due to civil strife between the Cossacks. They themselves began to exterminate each other.

Ultimately, the city was saved. In tribute to this event, it was decided to build a monastery. It was placed between the Bolshoy and Maly Tsivil rivers. There were swamps and many different meadows around.

The townspeople were inspired by what happened. Seeing what was happening, they left the city and began to drive away the ill-wishers. The construction of the temple was completed four years later. The lighting was held in honor of the Ascension of the Lord with a chapel in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos of Tikhvin. It was 1675. The wooden monastery was surrounded by a fence. It was made of the same material. They installed cells for the monks. This was the time of the reign of Metropolitan Joasaph of Kazan and Bulgaria. This is exactly how the Tsivilsky Monastery appeared in Chuvashia. This is exactly how it existed until 1723.

Crucial moment

Later, Peter I began to reform the states. The monasteries were counted. The ruler wanted to obtain accurate information about the income of each religious institution. Therefore, many monasteries have actively taken up strengthening their staff. Mainly this came down to increasing the number of inhabitants. For this reason, about 15 servants of God were transferred from the Tsivilsky Monastery of the Tikhvin Mother of God to the Cheboksary Preobrazhenskaya Gerontiev Hermitage, and then 5 more people left. Thus, the entire monastic staff was practically lost.

By 1724, the monastery was no longer active. After some time, she acquired the status of a woman. The reasons for this event are still poorly understood. Only one thing is clear: in the documents of 1734, the shrine no longer had the status of a man’s. This information confirms the version of disbandment. An unknown student of the Kazan Theological Academy, as part of his scientific work, confirms the information that the convent still existed here for several years. But it is unknown when the Ascension Tikhvin nunnery appeared. It was probably part of the Trinity Cathedral of Tsivilsk. The young researcher refers to information in the book of Metropolitan Sylvester of Kazan. It contains a mention that in 1729 Sylvester Metropolitan of Kazan and Sviyazhsk gave his blessing for the election of nun Pelageya as abbess.

It is difficult to guess exactly why they decided to make the monastery a women’s monastery. After all, there were no clear reasons for this decision. But, as you can see, with this status the monastery did not last long. In 1737 it again became a men's religious institution. Abbot Joseph was appointed as rector.

Reformation

The second half of the 19th century was a period of decline for the monastery complex. Archpastor Anthony visited these lands in 1869. Having examined everything, he made an assumption about the abolition of the Tsivilsky Tikhvin Monastery. The icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God was kept in the shrine. Citizens valued her very much and systematically came to bow to her. She helped them in solving many issues. This is a monument to deliverance from sins and a symbol of healing. Residents still remembered the attacks of Stepan Razin and the miraculous victory for which everyone had prayed so much. Therefore, the townspeople asked His Eminence to leave the monastery to the populated area.

In 1869, the residents of the city drew up a verdict stating that they did not want the monastery to be closed. In response to this, the Archpastor made a counter-offer to the people - to reorganize the men's monastery into a nunnery. The fact is that His Eminence noticed such a pattern - women's spiritual centers in cities can boast of a high level of amenities, and there are much more people who want to enroll here.

Thus, this circumstance was probably the real reason for the change in status. Citizens decided to begin work to strengthen the coastal zone. After all, it was on it that the shrine was located. That is, we heard the residents’ request to preserve the memorial site. Soon, a decree came from the Holy Synod on December 30, 1870. It contained information that the monastery was now dressed as a monastery.

Cherubima was appointed abbess. She came to these lands in 1871. For further improvement of the territory, funds were required. The Kazan merchant of the first guild, Vasily Nikitich Nikitin, became the benefactor. His wife also actively participated in financial assistance. With the funds received, a new beautiful temple was erected in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. It was 1886. The monastery complex was almost completely rebuilt at the expense of the merchant. The surrounding space has noticeably changed.

A primary school was subsequently organized in the monastery. Girls of the St. Guria brotherhood were accepted here. After some time, a parish school also appeared. Then a hospital building was built. So the monastery existed until 1927.

There are many opinions about what happened next. The last heiresses were simply expelled from there. All Vladimir lands were at the disposal of the state. And the shrine itself has undergone dramatic changes. Thus, the bell tower, which was erected back in 1775, was destroyed so that it was impossible to restore it later. Outbuildings and other buildings were primarily used for personal purposes. And the central temple was so changed that it was difficult to recognize it. Crosses and domes were demolished, stone carvings were cut down. The building itself was divided into three tiers.

In the period from 1925 to 1945 there was an orphanage here, then a boarding school, then a college. During military operations, a camp and a hospital were organized. It was from here that recruits went to the front. Moreover, even the fire department worked here. Of course, all these circumstances did not have the best effect on the condition of the temple. It has become very dilapidated.

Renaissance

On February 26, 1988, it was decided that it was necessary to revive the monastery and return it to Orthodoxy. The decision was approved. The abbess of the Alatyr Kiev-Nicholas Novodevichy Convent, Mother Agnia, was appointed as the abbess. In 2001, a turning point occurred in the life of the holy lands. Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II himself came here. The townspeople prepared thoroughly for their arrival. First of all, we started to improve the church. Flowers were planted around and a new temple was erected in the name of the holy martyr Charalampius.

By the date of arrival a large number of people had gathered. The Patriarch did not come alone; he was together with Metropolitan Varnava, President of Chuvashia N.V. Fedorov. Some monks were also present as guests. Moreover, there were many other famous personalities from the government.

Shrines of the monastery

Today the monastery is still thriving and developing. The miraculous Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God serves as its main shrine. There are also many other revered images in the monastery.

For example, the myrrh-streaming image of the Archangel of God Michael, a particle of the blessed Matrona of Moscow, is kept here. The place itself is also unusual. People here constantly see phenomena in the form of holy images; in 2007, the image of Nicholas of Myra exuded to the world. And in 2008, two more images were filled with myrrh - the images of the Mother of God and John the Baptist. They are located in the refectory at the complex.

October 31 is the date of the organization of the annual religious procession through the city. The event is held in tribute to the liberation of the settlement of the robber Stepan Razin. That period was the most difficult for the townspeople. But the fortress survived thanks to a miracle that occurred. In addition, the God of God religious procession around the monastery is organized annually. It is carried out in the evening. They carry the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God, prayers are heard.

There is also a shelter of mercy at the monastery. Elderly nuns live here. Today the building is somewhat dilapidated and a complex of restoration work is being carried out.

The territory is compact. There are two operating churches - in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God and the Hieromartyr Harlampius of Magnesia. Services are held regularly. But it is better to check their schedule in advance. As a rule, the Divine Liturgy is organized at 7 am on weekdays, and half an hour later on weekends. Evening service time is 16:00. A prayer service is also carried out before the icon of the Mother of God “The Inexhaustible Chalice”. It can be visited every Friday. The schedule of other services can be clarified by calling.

Hard work is valued here. The resident monks are engaged in creativity, gardening, and gardening. The area is well maintained. Sisters and brothers carry out obediences throughout the day. Has its own bakery. Local pastries are incredibly tasty and aromatic. Pilgrims are received with joy. There is an atmosphere of peace and tranquility around. The temple, decorated with wooden lace, is extremely beautiful. Flower beds, benches, paved paths complete the overall picture.

If you have time, take a walk around Tsivilsk. The county town is distinguished by its originality and special atmosphere. There are few streets, but they are all well landscaped. Many unusual monuments. There is a monument to the Empress in the city park, there is a bronze structure dedicated to the postman Pechkin himself, and Sharik and Matroskin could not be avoided either. Such figures of your favorite characters lift your spirits. Moreover, it was here that the first reinforced concrete bridge in Chuvashia was built. There is an unexplored object here that still causes a lot of controversy - the Pugachev Tower.