Arkazhsky Monastery

Pankovka, Russia

The Arkazhy Monastery was one of the most important monasteries of medieval Novgorod Republic. All that remains of it today is the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God, which is visible on the road out to the Yuriev Monastery. The foundations of the medieval monastery were excavated by Soviet archaeologists in 1961.

The monastery was founded by and takes its name from Arkadii, who founded it in 1153 prior to his being elected bishop of Novgorod (1156–1165). He initially built a wooden church to the Assumption. This church was subsequently rebuilt in stone in 1188 by Simeon Dibakevits and was consecrated by Archbishop Gavriil (1186–1192) the following year. Other boyars, including several posadniks, helped add to the monastery over the centuries. In 1206, Posadnik Tverdislav Mikhailovich built the Church of Simeon Stylites over the gates of the monastery. In 1395, Isaak Onkifov had the Church of St. Michael the Archangel rebuilt in stone, and it was overhauled in 1407 by Posadnik Yuri Dmitrievich and his cousin Yakov.

In addition to patronizing the monastery, at least two posadniks, in fact a father and son, became monks there: in 1206, Posadnik Mikhailko was shorn in the schema, the highest level of Eastern Christian monasticism, in the Arkazhsky Monastery and died there, having taken the monastic name Mitrofan. In 1222, his son Tverdislav was also shorn a monk in the monastery after he had taken ill.

References:

Comments

Your name



Details

Founded: 1153
Category: Religious sites in Russia

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

User Reviews

Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Wieskirche

The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.

The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.

The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.