At the beginning of the XX century on the bank of the river Temernik nearThe city of Rostov-on-Don was founded by a convent, which in a short time became one of the main spiritual centers of the region. He was destined to endure all the evils that had befallen the Orthodox shrines during the years of theomachy, and finally, the monastic life of the monastery was revived within its walls. About our story.
In 1903, the rich Rostov merchant SamuelFedorov donated to Ekaterinoslav Diocese a significant land plot located near the city of Nakhchivan. He was intended to create a female monastic abode.
Benefactor prompted to such a generous gift, exceptworries about the salvation of his own soul, and even the desire of his sixteen-year-old daughter to leave the vain world and forever shut up in the walls of the monastery. A letter was preserved in which the Rostov-on-Don diocese, appealing to the Holy Synod, requested permission for its opening.
In the same year, after the execution of all legalformalities, the future abode received official status, and its construction began. It is not known for certain whether the merchant's daughter fulfilled her intention to take a haircut as a nun, or, having changed her mind, safely married, having pleased the chosen one with abundant childbirth, but the female St. Iversky monastery (Rostov-on-Don) based on daddy's money began its existence.
The people at first called him onlyFedorovsky, by the name of the benefactor, who financed the construction. To its credit, it should be noted that, continuing what he had begun, the merchant built the first stone church on the territory of the monastery, which rose next to the wooden chapel that had been built before, and ordered a list of the miraculous Iveron Icon of the Mother of God for him, from which the monastery received its name.
Female St. Iversky Monastery (Rostov-on-Don)it grew rapidly, and by 1905 there were fifty sisters headed by Mother Superior Abbess Anastasia. The merchant Fedorov's generosity became a good example for other donors, for the funds of which a number of buildings were erected, including the abbot's house and sister cells.
Significant event in the life of the monasteryoccurred in August 1914, when, returning from a trip to the Caucasus, he was visited by Tsar Nicholas II with his son and heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei. Entering the vaults of the recently completed church, they worshiped its main shrine, and defended the Divine Liturgy.
During the First World War, the sisters of the monasterycommitted an act of true Christian charity. They were taken to the education of orphan girls brought from occupied Poland. At the monastery they were not only surrounded by warmth and care, but also had the opportunity to study at school. Their stay there lasted until the early twenties.
Драматические события, охватившие Россию в 1917 year, in its entirety, and fell upon the women's St. Iversky Monastery (Rostov-on-Don). However, thanks to the wisdom of his superior abbess, Anastasia, the monastery managed to survive for another ten years. The sisters registered their religious community as an agricultural charter, and this saved it from immediate closure.
In those years, the nuns of the monastery launched a wideeconomic activity. Hardworking by nature (the majority of nuns came from peasant families), in a short time they opened cattle and poultry yards, bakeries, set up an apiary and set up an orchard, which was not equal in the district. To top it all, they made a dam, where they bred fish and planted a rose garden.
The end of this prosperous economy came in1929 In the wake of another state campaign to combat religion, the women's St. Iversky Monastery (Rostov-on-Don) was closed. The sisters were dispersed, and his superior and several closest assistants were tried, and, sentenced to six years in the camps, sent to Siberia.
The whole economy of the monastery, from year to yearcreated by the hands of his nuns, was ravaged, and in a short time the territory of the once thriving monastery turned into a wasteland overgrown with weeds, in the midst of which the deserted church, deprived of domes and a bell tower, sadly towered.
In the late eighties in the country recruitedforce new perestroika trends, and the Rostov-on-Don diocese appealed to government bodies with a request to return the monastic territory and the buildings preserved on it under the jurisdiction of the Church.
When, finally, after long bureaucraticDelaying the question was resolved positively, and the desecrated shrine was returned to the Church, the process of its restoration began. By 1996, when abbess Rachel (Kovalev) was put in charge of the monastery, the main restoration work was completed.
The throne of the lower floor of the temple was consecrated, and in itresumed worship. With the arrival of the new prioress, the reconstruction of the entire building was also completed, and its main shrine, the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, took its place.
Holy image stored in Rostov on Donis a list of the miraculous icon, located on Mount Athos, and dating from the XI-XII century. Art critics refer it to the type of icons of the Mother of God called Hodegetria, which in Greek means Guide. The Blessed Virgin is depicted with the Baby Jesus sitting on Her knees. Holding it with her left hand, with the right hand, she points to him, as to that unique path that leads to Eternal Life. At the same time, the right hand of Her Eternal Son is raised in a blessing gesture.
