One of the main Russian pearls of architecture is considered to be the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow. Since the 16th century, the monastery museum has been located in the bend of the Moskva River, in a historic place called Maiden Field, and does not cease to attract the endless stream of tourists and pilgrims with its beauty and centuries-old history.
Secret events and legends are covered in the Novodevichy Convent. In Moscow, where the ancient monastery is located, during the time of the Tatar yoke, Russian people collected tribute for the Golden Horde. Tribute to the Tatars was paid not only in gold coins and furs. It was here that the Russian beautiful girls were brought, whose fate was predetermined by the time of enslavement. Since then, the field has been called Maiden, and the land here, having seen endless grief, has remained saturated with tears. Here the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow was laid, the history of the foundation of which goes back centuries, by the time of strengthening the power of Russia.
The time has come to unite the Moscow lands
The Novodevichy Mother of God-Smolensky Monastery begins its history in 1524, and its appearance was due to a momentous event for Russia - the completion of the unification of the Moscow state. The Grand Prince of Moscow Vasily III, called the “collector of Russian lands”, personified the inheritance of the Byzantine emperors and the protection of Orthodoxy from the Gentiles.
The great unification of lands in Russia ended with the liberation from the Lithuanian rule of Smolensk, a city of strategic importance to the Russian state. The historical battle took place in 1514, and 10 years later, fulfilling his promise made before going to Smolensk, the prince founded a monastery with a church consecrated by the icon of the Mother of God of Smolensk Hodegetria ("Guidebook").
The Great Way of the Smolensk Icon
The icon of the Mother of God of Smolensk reached the Russian land in the XI century, before the appearance of Muscovy. According to legend, written during the earthly life of the Virgin by the Apostle Luke, she traveled a long way from ancient Jerusalem to the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, and then to the Russian prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich. She was destined to become a shrine to the family of Russian princes. And for a long time the miraculous image was carefully kept in the Smolensk church of the Assumption of the Virgin. Since that time, she was called the icon of the Mother of God of Smolensk, and the city was now kept from harm by the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the annals of the XIII century, the miracle created by the icon was specifically described when she saved Smolensk from the invasion of the Batu army.
Since 1398, the miraculous image was in Muscovy. It was brought by Sofya Vitovtovna, the wife of the Moscow Prince Vasily I. During a visit to Smolensk to her father, the Lithuanian prince, Sofia received the blessing of her parent and the instruction to keep the icon in her home. Her place was determined in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kremlin.
For many years, ambassadors from Smolensk requested Vasily III to return the icon. But only the decision to unite the Russian lands and the desire to draw the inhabitants of Smolensk to the side of the Russian prince allowed this event to happen.
Before sending the shrine on a long journey to Smolensk, at the behest of the prince, the exact list that was left in the Annunciation Cathedral was removed from the icon. He got to the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow, where the list with the icon is located today, in 1525.
In Smolensk, the shrine was escorted by the procession from the walls of the Kremlin to the Savvin Monastery. And only after the great prayer service she moved along the Smolensk road.
Since then, this milestone event has been celebrated annually by holiday services and a procession to the place where the Novodevichy Convent is located today. Moscow, Russia, all Orthodox Russians glorify the icon of the Mother of God of Smolensk on July 28. At this place, after the victorious battle for Smolensk, the first wooden church of the new monastery was laid.
How did the name of the monastery appear on the Maiden's Field
The monastery got its name "Novodevichy" for a reason. By the beginning of the 16th century, Moscow already had two convents - the oldest Zachatievsky monastery, then called Starodevichy, and located on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin Voznesensky. The original name of the monastery on the Maiden’s Field, mentioned in the annals of 1598, is the Most Holy Theotokos of Hodegetria, New Maiden’s Monastery.
There is another version of the appearance of the name. The abbess of the monastery was dedicated to the schema nun Elena, an old woman and an ascetic of the Suzdal-Pokrovsky monastery. From Suzdal to the new monastery, the abbess also unsubscribed and 18 nuns who faithfully served her in all endeavors. The life of the nuns in the monastery was based on the principles of the old dormitory and was subject to a strict charter. Until now, a unique manuscript document compiled by the abbess of the Novodevichy Convent has been preserved - the charter and routine of the women's monastery at the beginning of the 16th century.
The old woman, Elena, was known as an “all-fair teacher of the virgin rank” and had the nickname Devochkina among the parishioners because of her special attention to the care of girls. The love and custody of them from the abbess were so great that she was entrenched in the old Moscow name of the shelter for women.
From the history of the Novodevichy Convent, it is known that during the time of Peter I, a shelter was organized for baby girls born illegally. The nuns raised and raised them in severity, instilling in them humility and obedience. It was Peter I who owned the idea of teaching novices of the monastery how to weave lace in the Dutch manner. The shelter was the first prototype of the future Moscow educational home for girls of high estates.
The history of the monastery for women and an orphanage for girls was subsequently continued by the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent, founded on the orders of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in 1746. At that time, she decided to transfer the experience of Moscow nuns to St. Petersburg. And this monastery became especially popular during the heyday of monasticism among women in the 19th century.
One version of the reasons for the foundation of the monastery
Historians almost unanimously agree that one of the reasons for the founding of a new convent was the personal drama of Vasily III. A parallel is drawn between the construction of the monastery and the divorce proceedings of the prince. Solomoniya Saburova chosen by him for 20 years of marriage could not give the prince an heir. Fearing his brothers who aspired to rule, he obtained permission from the church to remarry. Solomony Vasily III, who could not cope with his marital duty, was forced to accept tonsure and sent her to the Christmas monastery. In 1525 she was dubbed Sofia.
Many historians believe that the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow, where the list of the Smolensk Icon is located, was designed specifically for Solomonia. And Vasily III, the “pioneer” of the monarchs in the forcible removal of his wife from the walls of the monastery, tried thereby to mitigate his guilt.
From the Kremlin to the Novodevichy Convent there were only three versts. But the nun Sofia could not move to a picturesque place near Moscow after spending the days allotted to her in Suzdal, outside the walls of the Pokrovsky nunnery. With her righteous life, she deserved to be considered a saint, and today is worshiped by believers as the Sophia of Suzdal Reverend.
Godunovs in the Novodevichy Convent
The sad practice of referring to persons of royal families was continued by Ivan the Terrible. He hid the widows of his brother and his own son here. The monastery also received the widow of Fyodor I Ivanovich, Irina Godunova, who protects her brother Boris from death. Her decision to leave the monastery after the death of her husband was then tantamount to abdication. But here the nun queen continued the state works, making the monastery a royal residence. It was here that the boyars bowed three times, asking Boris for the kingdom.
It was Boris Godunov, who took power in 1598, who began to give special attention and patronage to the Novodevichy Convent. For his sister, Irina Fedorovna, he built new spacious cells, a house church and a refectory. Subsequently, they will be called the Irininsky Chambers. Additionally, funds were allocated for the complete renovation of Smolensk Cathedral, the murals and the iconostasis were restored, and the miraculous images were clothed in new salaries with precious stones.
Imperial captives
The chain of inhabitants of the monastery from the clans of boyars and princes turned out to be endless. Among them were those who found themselves behind strong walls not of their own free will.
Continued imprisonment of relatives and Peter I. In 1689, Princess Sofya Alekseevna, sister of the monarch and instigator of the Streletsky uprising, was hid here. The fate of her associates was notorious. They were executed opposite the Novodevichy Convent, and their heads were strung on the stone battlements of the walls of the monastery. The first wife of Peter I, Lopukhin Evdokia, was exiled here, according to legend, cursing his beloved city on the Neva.
“The Novodevichy Convent in Moscow, where there are many especially noble families, the richest and most destined for the highest, ” testified Patriarch Nikon. As in the old days in Starodevichy, so did the wives of the kings, widows, daughters and sisters of the boyars.
To the innumerable riches obtained by the monastery at its foundation, the jewels of future nuns and deed of gift for the possession of their lands were constantly added.
A cloister or fortress?
At the behest of Vasily III, the monastery was to become a miniature copy of the Moscow Kremlin. The court architects and painters worked not so much on the defenses of the walls as on their beauty. Boris Godunov decided to turn the walls of the monastery into serfs, having begun after the accession to the throne, the architectural transformation of the monastery. Strong new stone walls with new towers and loopholes surrounded the territory of the monastery. Their height has now increased to 13 meters, and the length is almost up to a kilometer. To carry the guard on the territory of the monastery, a sagittarius garrison of 350 sabers was placed, by the XVII century the monastery became a real watchtower on the border of Moscow.
Engravings with views of Moscow and the Novodevichy Convent tell us about the times of the Great Troubles, when the fate of the monastery fortress was tragic. Standing at the turn of the city, it was subjected to numerous raids by foreigners, rioting squads of archers and ordinary robbers. By 1612, the walls of the monastery were almost destroyed, and the monastery was looted. It was under the destroyed walls of the Novodevichy Convent that a historic battle took place with the Polish army, after which Prince Pozharsky led the squads to the Kremlin.
New life of the monastery: restoration and flowering
The restoration of the Novodevichy Convent began with the advent of the first Romanovs. Mikhail Fedorovich, who liberated the monastery from taxes, by 1650 cleared the monastery of traces of the war, restored and strengthened the walls. He made the monastery a place for the prayers of the royal people. Since then the Novodevichy Convent was located outside the city, tents were destroyed under its walls, where they remained for the night, “so as not to miss the morning prayer.” Thanks to the monastery, Moscow was named Prechistenka Street, the current symbol of the old city. It is on it that parishioners go on holidays.
The custom of festivities near Novodevichy came to the life of Muscovites from those times. And today, thousands of people are eager to get to the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow. How to get to the place where the festivities are held?
Celebrations in the historic center
Over time, the place of festivities was moved from the walls of the monastery to Presnya and the Maiden’s Field. The first festivities were held only on church holidays. The appearance of the famous Prechistenka street is also associated with the Novodevichy Convent.
The road on which believers annually walked from the walls of the Kremlin to the monastery existed before. But the imperial command of 1658, she began to be called after the Most Holy Virgin, whose miraculous face accompanied every holiday.
Gradually, secular important events began to be celebrated in this historical place. Until the XVIII century, the territory of the Maiden Field remained undeveloped. Here gardens bloomed and drugstores were broken. Country houses of aristocracy in this place began to appear only at the end of the century.
Today the territory of the Maiden Field is completely built up, and the main streets of this historical center are considered to be Bolshaya Pirogovskaya, Malaya Pirogovskaya and Pogodinskaya. Festivities are held in several places, within walking distance from each other, so these streets will serve as a guide for finding their venues.
