– Mother Euphrosyne, you apparently had to answer the question more than once: why is the monastery for women if it was originally a monastery for men?
– At the time of the resumption of monastic life in the Spassky Kobrin Monastery in the Brest diocese, there already existed 2 monasteries and 1 monastery for women. Agree that the third monastery in one diocese it would be superfluous.
– How many nuns do you have, and what is their daily routine?
– Currently, 10 nuns live in the monastery. The day in the monastery begins at 6 am, half an hour later all the sisters gather in the house church to read morning prayers, midnight prayers and akathist (on Mondays - the Mother of God before the icon of Her “Otrada” (“Consolation”), on Wednesdays and Fridays - to the Sweetest Jesus, on Tuesdays and Thursdays - the Mother of God "Quick to Hear"). If the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated on this day, then breakfast begins at 8 o’clock, after which the sisters disperse according to their obediences.
All work performed in the monastery is called obedience. The monastery has established subsidiary farming: a monastery garden and a vegetable garden have been laid out, a poultry house and apiary have been equipped, and a pond has been stocked with fish. Bread is being baked, handicrafts are working.
The day at the monastery also ends with a common prayer. After dinner, the nuns gather for the evening rule, which consists of Small Compline with three canons and evening prayers. At the end of them, a general rite of forgiveness is performed, at which the sisters ask each other for forgiveness for the sins committed in the past day, according to the words of the Apostle Paul: “Let not the sun go down on your anger” (Ephesians, chapter 4, v. 26) . After 20.30, when the evening rule ends, the sisters have free time, which they use at their own discretion - for cell prayer, rest, reading, etc.
– Mother Euphrosyne, every day you offer prayers for the benefactors of the monastery. Which former ones are remembered? At least a few names, and who were these people?
– At every monastic service and on the Psalter, the founders of the monastery are remembered - Prince John of Kobrin and his mother Princess Juliana, whose generous donations allowed the monastery to emerge and strengthen financially. We also pray for those Orthodox governors whose names have been preserved by history - Abbot Varlaam, Abbot Andrei, Abbot Anthony and Archimandrite Vassian, as well as for all the deceased Orthodox brethren who lived piously in this monastery.
– There are ideas in the world about monastic life, especially among women believers, as something higher than Christianity in the world. Most likely, this is why someone travels to monasteries, far and near, in search of an answer, preferably the “correct” one, coinciding with the ideas about the life of the person seeking it, in search of an elder, preferably also “correct”, for the same purpose. Do such seekers come to you?
– People, of course, come. But we have old women, but we don’t have old women. (Laughs). But seriously, when many years ago a spiritually experienced person was asked why the Church had become depleted of elders, he answered: because there were no novices, i.e. people willing to live in obedience. But they multiplied from the category of “bless me what I want.” And if they don’t get what they need, then the priest is “not like that”, and the monastery is “wrong”, and in general “you don’t understand anything”...
The basic “ideas about life” are concentrated in the Savior’s Sermon on the Mount, and they apply equally to all Christians. Monasticism in its essence is perfect Christianity. Sins, passions, as well as methods of dealing with them, are the same for all people. But for monks, so to speak, it is easier to wage this battle. Because they live among like-minded people. Because they are not burdened with family responsibilities. Because the entire routine of life in the monastery is structured in such a way that spiritual (including liturgical) life comes first. Saint John Chrysostom noted in this regard that even while living in the world one can be not of this world. But,” he continued, “among the worries and rumors of life, among constant temptations and clashes with sin, is it possible to hope to achieve such moral perfection, such holiness and virtue, which the quiet, solitary life of monasticism promises and presents in abundance, far away, on the sidelines?” from the world and its vanity?
The above does not mean at all that everything in the monastery is very easy and simple, of course not. But a monk, unlike a layman, has more opportunity to engage with his “inner man,” and it is quite natural that in such a struggle with passions he gains some kind of spiritual experience. And he who himself has been tempted will be able to help the tempted one (see Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 2, v. 18).
– Nevertheless, the monastic community cannot develop without some immunity from parish and diocesan life, although it is no longer isolated from the world, as was the case before. The monastery has its own goals, its own tasks. Which ones exactly? And what is the difficulty of the life of a monastery due to the proximity of the world?
– All Christians have one goal – the Kingdom of Heaven, and one task – to unite and be with Christ.
As for isolation from diocesan life, of course there is none and cannot be. Well, about the world... Even before, before the October Revolution of 1917, there were different monasteries - small and large, missionary and with shelters for children, secluded deserts and city monasteries that were spiritual centers. For example, can you imagine the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius or Optina Pustyn or the Diveyevo Monastery without numerous pilgrims? Of course not. But there were also monasteries into whose territory laymen were not allowed under any pretext. Those. gradation existed before, and exists now. And a person who has the intention of entering a monastery must determine for himself: what is closer to him? If he wants the most secluded, concentrated life, then he should not choose a city or crowded abode. If a person goes to a city monastery, then he needs to be prepared for the fact that he will have to deal with people every day, be visible, communicate, and try to help them to the best of his ability.
Our Spassky Monastery is a city one. Of course, Kobrin is not a metropolis, but a small regional center, but nevertheless, the specifics of the city monastery are present here too. Although it is only the fifth year since the resumption of monastic life in him, in parallel with its establishment we are trying to carry out our feasible service to our neighbors. The monastery operates a Sunday school for children and a Sunday school for adults. A sisterhood has been organized, through which the Spassky Monastery carries out charity events. Open lectures on Biblical history are held monthly, given by the dean of the parishes of the Pruzhany district, candidate of theology Archpriest Mikhail Nosko. During the day, many come to our icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear.”
But all of the above is organized in such a way as not to disrupt the main thing - monastic work. Our monastery is open to visitors from 8 am to 8 pm. This allows the sisters to monastically prayer rule perform in the temple without strangers. At the moment, parishioners are allowed to attend all monastic services, but I think that over time, with the development of the monastery and during the construction of the parish church, if the Lord grants, it will be possible to leave the existing house church only for the prayer of the monastics.
The organization of prayer life in a monastery requires some delimitation and space of the monastery. Thank God, a division of the territory has appeared: into one accessible to everyone who wants to visit the holy monastery, participate in divine services, receive spiritual nourishment, and - intended exclusively for sisters. The monastic cell, the temple and this territory are that small “desert” in the middle of a big city, with the help of which an inner desert is established in the soul - “God and the soul - that’s the monk.”
I also want to note the amazing feature of the monastery’s location. City buildings approach its fence on two sides, and the Mukhavets River on the other two sides. Therefore, despite the fact that the monastery is theoretically located in the historical center of the city, in fact the place is quite secluded. And incredible silence.
– One granny I know who cleans one of the churches in Brest has told me more than once how much calmer and more confident it is to work in an organization where the overwhelming majority are men (or better yet, 100%) than where there are women. Mother Euphrosyne, how do you cope with your little angels? Without particularly washing dirty linen in public, what kind of offenses are there? And what are the possible punishments?
– Let me remind everyone of the well-known aphorism: it’s good where we are not. And maybe it’s only because it’s good that we haven’t gotten there yet. The root cause of everything that happens to us, including in the sphere of human relationships, must be sought first of all in ourselves. One of the Optina elders answered this way to a nun, who in a letter complained to him about barbs from other sisters: “Blessing lips have no vexation.” That is, if our lips only bless the people around us, then we will not hear annoyance from them.
“This is why we enter a monastery, to discover the hidden passions within us,” wrote St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. And these “discoveries,” sometimes so unexpected, allow a person to finally see that he is spiritually sick. It’s not for nothing that the monastery is also called a spiritual hospital. The communal way of life itself already implies “ healing properties“: “If we rub against each other, we will be saved,” joked the saint. Ambrose Optinsky.
A person who is sick, including spiritually, is not punished; he is prescribed medicine. And if a sister is aware of her weaknesses and shortcomings and tries to fight them, then she can only be helped, guided, and advised. Of course, pray for her. It’s another matter if a person, not realizing his passions, without fighting them, voluntarily or unwittingly begins to infect others with them, or his behavior becomes a temptation, discredits the monastery and the monastic form as a whole. For such cases, the monastic charter provides for certain disciplinary measures, including deprivation of the right to wear monastic robes. “But when, even after repeated admonitions, it is not corrected, then, like a damaged member of the body, it is completely cut off from the common body of the sisterhood,” says one of the sections of the charter. However, this is an extreme and quite rare measure.
– Experience comes with time. And the more time, the more experience.
To the best of my ability, I try to avoid what is for the most part typical of women’s monasteries - excessive attachment to the abbess. A man of high spirit of faith and piety, a prominent archpastor of his time, Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia Filaret (Amphiteatrov) (1779-1857) spoke about this: “Those mentors are commendable who lead not to themselves, but to God.”
Coming to the monastery, a person has the intention of dedicating his life to his Creator. And the abbess is a spiritual mentor, a kind of compass that points in the right direction, guides on the right path, and helps not to stray from it. A person must go himself and where God will bless. The Lord's land is everywhere.
– But who can truly understand monastic life, and who can truly want to live it? Is there some kind of “test” for someone who comes to you with the desire to become a nun? While preparing questions, I came across the following very strong statement. I will quote in full: “If our whole life is a struggle, and this is exactly the case, the life of a Christian is a battle against the spirits of evil in high places (Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians, 6; 12), dark demonic forces. Monasticism in this war is “special forces”, that is, monks – no more, no less, those warriors whose lot falls to the most difficult, dangerous, responsible “tasks”; these warriors must be well prepared to perform them, know and be able to do a lot of things that ordinary soldiers do not need to do.”
– It seems to me that only those who have lived it to the end can truly understand monastic life. The expression you used is really strong. But at all times it was applicable to very, very few monks. St. Ignatius Brianchaninov called monasticism a kind of barometer of society: what is the spiritual level of society, such is the spiritual level of contemporary monasticism. And from the abbess of the previous generation I heard the following saying: “What the world gave birth to, God rewarded,” which is more than relevant in our time.
After all, sisters who want to enter a monastery come here from a common “habitat” with all its vices and temptations. In other words, future monks do not grow up in some kind of “spiritual greenhouse.” They live among you. And the fact that between all this modern “thorns” - a free press, television, a more than free Internet, slogans “take everything from life”, a life in which few people remember self-sacrifice - someone’s soul heard the call of the Lord and followed Him, this in itself is already a miracle.
In order to test oneself and confirm one’s intentions, a person is given many years before being tonsured. probation(3-5 years). In Russian Orthodox Church such nuns of the monastery are called novices, but in the Serbian Orthodox Church “temptresses,” i.e. undergoing a test, a test, and it seems to me that this is closer in meaning.
As John Climacus writes in the First Word on Rejection of the World, the reasons why a person comes to a monastery are different. But none of them says anything yet, because the crown is given at the end of the feat, and not at the beginning. Christ teaches that he who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew ch. 10, v. 20). It is then, at the end, that it becomes clear whether monastic life was “real.”
– And the last thing. Your wishes and instructions to those who read these lines.
– I don’t dare say anything on my own behalf. I just want to remind you of the wisest words of St. Basil the Great: “Having put aside sorrow for what you do not have, learn to give thanks to God for what you already have.”
Interviewed by Gennady Levchuk for the newspaper "Spiritual Messenger".
Coordinates: 52°12′51″ n. w. 24°21′30″ E. d. / 52.2142806° s. w. 24.3585056° E. d. / 52.2142806; 24.3585056(G) (I)Spassky Monastery- a female Orthodox monastery in the city of Kobrin, Brest region of Belarus. Founded in the 15th century by the princes of Kobrin. After the adoption of the Brest Church Union in 1569, the monastery became Uniate and belonged to the Basilian Order. After the Polotsk Church Council of 1839 it was closed. In 2010 it was restored as a women's Orthodox monastery.
Of the entire historical monastery complex, only a two-story residential building has survived to this day - a monument of Baroque architecture. Nowadays this building is the central building of the restored Spassky Monastery.
Story
In literature, the founding of the monastery is traditionally dated to 1497. It is known that back in 1465, Princess Ulyana of Kobrin with her son Ivan Semenovich from their possessions transferred to the Church of the Holy Savior of the Kobrin Monastery a mill on the Shevni River (a tributary of Mukhavets) with a pond and land and some movable property to local clergy.
In the first half of the 16th century, the monastery was transferred to the archimandry.
In 1512 Grand Duke Lithuanian Sigismund I the Old confirmed the right of the monastery to Fedora's grants. Later, Fedora converted to Catholicism and transferred part of the monastic lands in the Bystritsa estate to the boyars M. Zhambotsky and G. Kh. Postrigach. In 1541, after a lawsuit by Archimandrite Vasian of Kobrin, these lands were returned to the monastery.
On May 20, 1595, negotiations on church union took place in the monastery between Bishop Hypatiy Potey of Vladimir-Berestey, Bishop of Lutsk and Ostrog Kirill Terletsky on the one hand, and Metropolitan of Kyiv Mikhail Rogoza on the other.
IN different times the monastery was under the control of such hierarchs as Bishop Paisius of Pinsk (1603), Archimandrite Kobrin Shatinsky (1613), Bishop Rafail Korsak of Pinsk (1632), Archimandrite Kobrin Benedikt Glinsky (1678), Bishop of Vladimir and Brest, Archimandrite Kobrin Leonid Zalessky (1691) and Archimandrite Andrei Benetsky (1747).
In 1626, the Kobrin Church Council of the highest Uniate clergy was held in the monastery. In the 17th century, monastery lands were located in the villages of Korchitsa, Lepesy, Khodynichi, Novoselki, Kustovichi. In addition, the monastery owned the Gogolevka and Petki farms, the Tolermontovsky dungeon, Khiltsevshchina (the village of Bystritsa) and some other lands.
The monastery was destroyed during hostilities and robberies, and was rebuilt several times. For example, during the Kobrin battle on June 27, 1812, an ancient wooden monastery church was destroyed by fire.
In 1839, after the abolition of the union, the monastery was closed. The monastery buildings housed religious school, destroyed by fire in the second half of the 19th century. The main building of the monastery stood in disrepair until the 20s of the 20th century, when the building was repaired by order of the Polish authorities. During the reconstruction, the remains of the inner temple were completely destroyed. According to the former director of the Kobrin Museum A. M. Martynov, during the work the remains of the burials of the Kobrin princes were found, as well as skeletons in chains walled up in the walls. The renovated building housed the court of Kobrin Povet.
After the war, the district department of internal affairs (police) was located in this building.
On November 20, 2010, after the police moved to a new building, the synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church blessed the opening of a convent here in the name of the All-Merciful Savior. On November 22, 2011, a copy of the “Quick to Hear” icon of the Mother of God was delivered to the monastery.
After the restoration of the monastery, a one-story cell room (new residential building) was erected, and a major renovation of the historical residential building is underway.
In 2015, the monastery celebrated the 550th anniversary of the first written mention.
Residential building
The only building remaining from the historical Spassky Monastery is a residential building in the Baroque style, probably built in the second half of the 18th century. The two-story rectangular building is covered with a high roof with kinks and reaches 30 meters in length and 10 in width. The main façade is symmetrical, the central projection is highlighted by an attic pediment with a beamed end, filled with stucco decorative elements. The facades are reinforced with pilasters and figured panels around rectangular window openings. The cornice is developed.
The ceilings on each floor are beams, the basement vault is cylindrical. The original internal layout has not been preserved. Previously, the central part of the building was occupied by a monastery church. There was a refectory in the northwestern corner of the first floor. Other premises were residential and service.
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Notes
Literature
- Gabrus T.V., Martynau A. M. Architecture of Belarus: Encyclopedic data. - Mn. : BelEn, 1993. - 620 p. - P. 246.
- Chernyavskaya T. I.// Code of monuments of history and culture of Belarus. Brest region. - Mn. : BelEn, 1990. - pp. 251-252.
- Yarashevich A. A.// Religion and royalty in Belarus. - P. 163.
Links
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An excerpt characterizing the Spassky Monastery (Kobrin)
The next day, Davout left early in the morning and, inviting Balashev to his place, impressively told him that he asked him to stay here, move along with the luggage if they had orders to do so, and not talk to anyone except Mister de Castro.After four days of solitude, boredom, a sense of subordination and insignificance, especially palpable after the environment of power in which he had so recently found himself, after several marches along with the marshal’s luggage, with the French troops occupying the entire area, Balashev was brought to Vilna, now occupied by the French , to the same outpost where he left four days ago.
The next day, the imperial chamberlain, monsieur de Turenne, came to Balashev and conveyed to him the desire of Emperor Napoleon to honor him with an audience.
Four days ago, at the house to which Balashev was taken, there were sentries of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, but now there were two French grenadiers in blue uniforms open on their chests and in shaggy hats, a convoy of hussars and lancers and a brilliant retinue of adjutants, pages and generals waiting to leave Napoleon around a riding horse standing at the porch and his Mameluke Rustav. Napoleon received Balashev in the same house in Vilva from which Alexander sent him.
Despite Balashev's habit of court solemnity, the luxury and pomp of Emperor Napoleon's court amazed him.
Count Turen led him into a large reception room, where many generals, chamberlains and Polish magnates were waiting, many of whom Balashev had seen at the court of the Russian emperor. Duroc said that Emperor Napoleon would receive the Russian general before his walk.
After several minutes of waiting, the chamberlain on duty went out into the large reception room and, bowing politely to Balashev, invited him to follow him.
Balashev entered a small reception room, from which there was one door to an office, the very office from which the Russian emperor sent him. Balashev stood there for about two minutes, waiting. Hasty steps were heard outside the door. Both halves of the door quickly opened, the chamberlain who opened it stopped respectfully, waiting, everything became quiet, and other, firm, decisive steps sounded from the office: it was Napoleon. He had just finished his riding toilet. He was wearing a blue uniform, open over a white vest that hung down over his round belly, white leggings that hugged the fat thighs of his short legs, and boots. Short hair his hair had obviously just been combed, but one strand of hair hung down over the middle of his broad forehead. His white, plump neck protruded sharply from behind the black collar of his uniform; he smelled of cologne. On his youthful, plump face with a prominent chin there was an expression of gracious and majestic imperial greeting.
He walked out, shaking quickly with every step and throwing his head back a little. His entire plump, short figure with broad, thick shoulders and an involuntarily protruding belly and chest had that representative, dignified appearance that forty-year-old people living in the hallway have. In addition, it was clear that he was in the best spirits that day.
He nodded his head, responding to Balashev’s low and respectful bow, and, approaching him, immediately began to speak like a man who treasures every minute of his time and does not deign to prepare his speeches, but is confident in what he will always say. ok and what needs to be said.
- Hello, general! - he said. “I received the letter from Emperor Alexander that you delivered, and I am very glad to see you.” “He looked into Balashev’s face with his big eyes and immediately began to look ahead past him.
It was obvious that he was not at all interested in Balashev’s personality. It was clear that only what was happening in his soul was of interest to him. Everything that was outside of him did not matter to him, because everything in the world, as it seemed to him, depended only on his will.
“I do not want and did not want war,” he said, “but I was forced into it.” Even now (he said this word with emphasis) I am ready to accept all the explanations that you can give me. - And he clearly and briefly began to state the reasons for his displeasure against the Russian government.
Judging by the moderately calm and friendly tone with which the French emperor spoke, Balashev was firmly convinced that he wanted peace and intended to enter into negotiations.
- Sire! L "Empereur, mon maitre, [Your Majesty! The Emperor, my lord,] - Balashev began a long-prepared speech when Napoleon, having finished his speech, looked questioningly at the Russian ambassador; but the look of the emperor's eyes fixed on him confused him. “You are confused “Get over yourself,” Napoleon seemed to say, looking at Balashev’s uniform and sword with a barely noticeable smile. Balashev recovered and began to say that Emperor Alexander did not consider Kurakin’s demand for passports a sufficient reason for the war, that Kurakin acted this way on his own. without the consent of the sovereign, that Emperor Alexander does not want war and that there are no relations with England.
“Not yet,” Napoleon interjected and, as if afraid to give in to his feelings, he frowned and nodded his head slightly, thereby letting Balashev feel that he could continue.
Having expressed everything that was ordered to him, Balashev said that Emperor Alexander wants peace, but will not begin negotiations except on the condition that... Here Balashev hesitated: he remembered those words that Emperor Alexander did not write in the letter, but which he certainly ordered that Saltykov be inserted into the rescript and which Balashev ordered to hand over to Napoleon. Balashev remembered these words: “until not a single armed enemy remains on Russian land,” but some complex feeling held him back. He could not say these words, although he wanted to do so. He hesitated and said: on the condition that the French troops retreat beyond the Neman.
Napoleon noticed Balashev's embarrassment when uttering his last words; his face trembled, his left calf began to tremble rhythmically. Without leaving his place, he began to speak in a voice higher and more hasty than before. During the subsequent speech, Balashev, more than once lowering his eyes, involuntarily observed the trembling of the calf in Napoleon’s left leg, which intensified the more he raised his voice.
“I wish peace no less than Emperor Alexander,” he began. “Isn’t it me who has been doing everything for eighteen months to get it?” I've been waiting eighteen months for an explanation. But in order to start negotiations, what is required of me? - he said, frowning and making an energetic questioning gesture with his small, white and plump hand.
“The retreat of the troops beyond the Neman, sir,” said Balashev.
- For Neman? - Napoleon repeated. - So now you want them to retreat beyond the Neman - only beyond the Neman? – Napoleon repeated, looking directly at Balashev.
Balashev bowed his head respectfully.
Instead of the demand four months ago to retreat from Numberania, now they demanded to retreat only beyond the Neman. Napoleon quickly turned and began to walk around the room.
– You say that they require me to retreat beyond the Neman to begin negotiations; but they demanded of me in exactly the same way two months ago to retreat beyond the Oder and Vistula, and, despite this, you agree to negotiate.
He silently walked from one corner of the room to the other and again stopped opposite Balashev. His face seemed to harden in its stern expression, and his left leg trembled even faster than before. Napoleon knew this trembling of his left calf. “La vibration de mon mollet gauche est un grand signe chez moi,” he said later.
“Such proposals as clearing the Oder and Vistula can be made to the Prince of Baden, and not to me,” Napoleon almost cried out, completely unexpectedly for himself. – If you had given me St. Petersburg and Moscow, I would not have accepted these conditions. Are you saying I started the war? Who came to the army first? - Emperor Alexander, not me. And you offer me negotiations when I have spent millions, while you are in an alliance with England and when your position is bad - you offer me negotiations! What is the purpose of your alliance with England? What did she give you? - he said hastily, obviously already directing his speech not in order to express the benefits of concluding peace and discussing its possibility, but only in order to prove both his rightness and his strength, and to prove Alexander’s wrongness and mistakes.
The introduction of his speech was made, obviously, with the aim of showing the advantage of his position and showing that, despite the fact, he accepted the opening of negotiations. But he had already begun to speak, and the more he spoke, the less able he was to control his speech.
The whole purpose of his speech now, obviously, was only to exalt himself and insult Alexander, that is, to do exactly what he least wanted at the beginning of the date.
- They say you made peace with the Turks?
Balashev tilted his head affirmatively.
“The world is concluded...” he began. But Napoleon did not let him speak. He apparently needed to speak on his own, alone, and he continued to speak with that eloquence and intemperance of irritation to which spoiled people are so prone.
Spassky Monastery in Kobrin is one of the oldest monasteries in Belarus. Founded by Kobrin Prince John Semenovich and his mother Princess Juliania at the city church of the same name. The first written mention of the monastery dates back to October 1465. The two-story cell building of the monastery has survived to this day. Currently, the two-story brick rectangular building is covered with a kinked roof. The main and courtyard facades are supported by two risalits - in the center of the main eastern facade and in the northwestern part of the courtyard facade. The central risalit is highlighted by an attic pediment with a beamed finish and is filled with stucco decorative elements. The walls are decorated with pilasters, figured panels around rectangular window openings, and completed with a developed cornice. The ceilings above the floors are beams; above the basement and the southern part of the first floor there is a cylindrical vault. There was an extension on the northern side of the courtyard façade. The main building of the monastery is an architectural monument in the Baroque style, 17th century. Modern view of the historical building of the Spassky Monastery In June 2010, the monastery building with the adjacent territory was transferred to the Brest Diocese of the Belarusian Orthodox Church. At a meeting of the Synod of the BOC on November 20, 2010, a decision was made to revive the monastery as a convent in the name of the All-Merciful Savior. Abbess Euphrosyne (Kurakevich) was appointed abbess. Work has begun on the arrangement of one of the buildings. Gas was supplied to the territory of the monastery, a boiler room was equipped, external and internal communications for heating, water supply, and sewerage were laid. The adaptation of the former administrative building for housing was accompanied by internal redevelopment and renovation. After completion, it housed sisters' cells, a kitchen, a refectory, a prosphora, a library, a needlework room, and the heart of the monastery - the house church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Quick to Hear".
On June 6, 2011, the first nuns arrived at the monastery - 3 sisters led by the abbess. On June 10 of the same year, the first Divine Liturgy after a many-year break took place, led by His Eminence John, Bishop of Brest and Kobrin. The next day, June 11, 2011, the first monastic Liturgy and memorial service were celebrated. Since then, at every service, the founding princes of the monastery and those governors whose names have been preserved by history are remembered with the deceased Orthodox brethren of the monastery. Therefore, it seems very symbolic that the first monastery service took place on Trinity Parents’ Saturday.
Pupils of the children's Sunday school at the monastery. 2013 A sisterhood has been organized and operates in honor of the “Quick to Hear” icon of the Mother of God.
In 2015, the monastery celebrated the 550th anniversary of its first written mention.
Festive service November 22, 2015 Schedule of services
Regular services are held in the monastery church on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. A detailed schedule is published on our website at
Our patronal holidays
The main patronal holiday of the monastery is August 1/14, when the Church celebrates the All-Merciful Savior.
The second patronal feast day is November 22, the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear.”
Shrines
The main shrine of the monastery is a list with miraculous icon Mother of God “Quick to Hear”, specially written for the monastery of St. Mount Athos. Every Friday, before this image, Vespers is performed with an akathist chanted.
Kobrin Icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear” In addition, the monastery contains revered icons of St. Euphrosyne, Abbess of Polotsk, St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol, St. Theophan, the recluse of Vyshensky, and St. Kuksha of Odessa, Righteous John of Kormyansk with particles of their holy relics.
A significant milestone in the history of the monastery was the bringing from Greece on May 15-16, 2012 of the venerable right hand of St. Spyridon of Trimythous. In memory of this event, the head of the Greek delegation of the monastery presented an icon of the saint with part of his vestments from his venerable relics, resting on the island of Corfu in the temple of the same name.
On August 14, 2014, Bishop John of Brest and Kobrin donated the exact copy of the icon of the Mother of God “Consolation and Consolation” to the Spassky Monastery, which he brought from a pilgrimage trip to Athos, which he made on August 6-11, 2014. This icon was consecrated and received the blessed power of the prototype of the same name, which is located on the Holy Mountain in the Vatopedi monastery.
On January 8, 2018, the Spasskaya Monastery found another Heavenly Patron: an icon with a particle of the holy relics of St. Nektarios of Aegina was donated to the monastery.
The Spassky Orthodox Monastery in Kobrino was founded presumably in the 16th century. Despite the fact that the exact date of its foundation has not reached us, it is known that the monastery was created on the initiative of the last Kobrin prince Ivan Semenovich. Subsequently, his widow, son and daughter-in-law made many donations to the benefit of the Spassky Monastery.
In 1465, Princess Ulyana Kobrinskaya donated a mill and extensive land, as well as other property, to the monastery. Spassky Monastery was rich and prosperous. In 1492, Princess Fedora Ivanovna transferred part of her lands and real estate in favor of the monastery. When in early XVI century, the princess converted to Catholicism, she tried to take away part of the donated lands from the monastery, however, after the suit of Archimandrite Kobrin Vasian, the lands were returned to the monks.
After the signing of the Union of Brest in 1596, the monastery, almost in its entirety, retaining all its property, transferred to the union. The last Archimandrite Jonah became Bishop of Turovo-Pinsk.
In the 17th century, the monastery was like a state within a state. He owned many villages and farms.
The monastery was badly damaged during the War of 1812. The buildings suffered significant damage, and during the Kobrin battle on June 27, 1812, the ancient wooden monastery church burned down.
In 1839, the union was canceled and the monastery was closed. A religious school was organized within its walls, and the building of the main building stood in disrepair. In the 1920s, the Polish authorities made a major renovation of the main building, during which it was completely rebuilt into a civilian building, and the remains of the monastery decor were destroyed. During the years of Polish rule, a court was located here. During the years of Soviet power, a police department was located within the walls of the former main monastery building.
On June 29, 2010, the building was returned to the Orthodox Church. On November 20, 2010, the Spassky Convent for women was organized here. In 2011, a list of the revered icon was delivered to the monastery Mother of God"Quick to Hear." The revival of the Orthodox monastery after four centuries is considered a miracle by believers.