The Epiphany Convent was founded at the end of the 14th century by Princess Evdokia, monastic Efrosinya, wife of Dmitry Donskoy. Initially, it was located in the Uglich Kremlin, in the northwestern part. In 1661, during the construction of new fortifications of the Kremlin, the monastery was transferred to a new location, near an earthen moat on the Rostov road. The monastery was first wooden, at the end of the XVII - early XVIII centuries, a stone Epiphany (later Smolensk) church was built. Especially large-scale construction was carried out at the beginning of the 19th century, when the sister buildings, the Feodorovskaya Church, the fence were built, and in 1853 the construction of the huge Epiphany Cathedral was completed.
Epiphany convent he was famous for the needlework of the nuns-gold seamstresses: facial, ornamental sewing; embroideries with silks, pearls, gold and silver threads. Here the secrets of creating unique works of arts and crafts were preserved and passed on.
The Epiphany Monastery was closed in the 1930s. During the Soviet period, its temples were used as storage facilities.
In the 1970-1980s, the Smolensk and Fedorov churches were restored under the guidance of the architect S.E. Novikov. In 1976, the Smolensk Church was transferred to the Uglich Historical and Art Museum, in 1992 - Fedorovsky. In 2000, the Epiphany Cathedral was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Autumn Synod 2010 with the blessing His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', again after more than 92 years of oblivion, the monastery revived its life. An abbess, nun Antonina (Zlotnikova), was appointed. The restoration of the lost shrine began.
The Epiphany Convent occupies half a block adjacent to Rostovskaya Street. According to one version, it was founded at the end of the 14th century by the wife of Dmitry Donskoy Evdokia of Moscow. According to another version, it was founded by Ksenia Shestova, the mother of Mikhail Romanov at the end of the 16th century.
Of the three monasteries of Uglich, Epiphany is the youngest (if one can say so about a monastery with more than six centuries of "experience"). It was originally located in the Uglich Kremlin and consisted of two wooden churches. In 1591, after the assassination of Tsarevich Dmitry in the Kremlin, his mother, Tsarina Maria Feodorovna Nagaya, was forcibly tonsured to the monastery.
Almost a hundred years after its discovery, in connection with the construction of defensive structures in the Kremlin, the monastery "moved", however, not far - at a distance of only a few hundred meters, no more than a 5-minute walk from the Kremlin. Here she is to this day.
Opposite the Eastern Gate stands the Smolensk Church (1700). This is the oldest stone temple of the monastery.
The Church of the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God was built in 1818. It was consecrated in honor of the patronal icon of the Romanov family in gratitude to the old woman Martha, Xenia Shestova, the mother of the founder of the dynasty.
In 1930, the monastery was closed, all its valuables were confiscated, and the nuns were evicted as an undesirable element. Storerooms were organized in church buildings, converted into schools and housing.
In the post-revolutionary years (from 1918 to 1921), the future poetess and writer Olga Berggolts lived in the former cells of the Epiphany Monastery, and she studied at school here. In 1931, she wrote the story "Uglich" about her life here, and 20 years later her memories of the city were included in her best book "Day Stars". Below we see the same school where she studied.
“I remembered Uglich dear;
The house where she lived with her mother,
And that monastery is my favorite,
Where did I go to pray?
And the Volga, the river is dark blue,
Anywhere to play on a hot day.
Ah, everything that I willingly threw,
How I want to see you again!”
(O. Bergholz, "Diary notebooks of 1923")
Opposite the school is the Epiphany Cathedral, built according to the project of K. Ton himself (the author of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow) in 1853 in the Russian-Byzantine style. This temple is almost the only surviving building of Ton.
This is a real pearl of Uglich, the largest and most beautiful church in the city. Placed at the crossroads of two main highways, it is visible from afar, in the prospects of the streets and from the Volga.
Let's go inside. Not a soul here in the morning. You can take pictures if you make a symbolic donation, one hundred rubles.
In the early 1840s. the monastery acquired the neighboring estate of the merchant G.V. Butorin, where there were two houses and a luxurious orchard with apple and pear trees. There is an interesting story associated with this event.
Abbess Elikonida (Muratova) had an intention to build a new Church of the Epiphany, but there was no place for it on the territory of the monastery. The most convenient for construction was the land occupied by the Butorins' estate. The abbess repeatedly asked to sell the estate, but the owners were sorry to part with the ancestral home and, in addition, they had three sons-heirs.
But in winter, crows and jackdaws flew into the garden in huge numbers. The birds caused great disturbance to the owners and neighbors, and they could not be driven away in any way. In the spring, the Butorins saw that the trees had dried up. Attempts were made to re-plant the garden, but the trees did not take root. Then G.V. Butorin, fearing that misfortunes might pass on to himself, himself offered the monastery to buy the estate. At the same time, the hostess remembered that she had seen several times how three white swans landed in the same place and did not fly away for a long time.
On October 19, 1843, a new Epiphany Warm Cathedral was laid on the acquired territory. The altars of his three thrones were placed where the swans sat.
Currently, the murals of the cathedral are in poor condition. The painting of the upper part of the walls and vaults mostly crumbled. Losses, darkening and pollution are visible everywhere.
Here we were witnesses of an unusual phenomenon, which we were warned about, but we did not believe. Unfortunately, the camera cannot convey this. When we entered the temple, only some dark spots were visible on the walls with no signs of a pattern.
It was early in the morning, the sun was rising, and literally before our eyes, dark spots began to take shape, and after 15 minutes all kinds of frescoes began to clearly distinguish themselves on them. They appeared everywhere, on all the walls.
I believe in God, but I don't believe in miracles. What was it? Miracle of God, optical effect or some other chemistry, I will not undertake to explain. One thing I know for sure: little knowledge leads away from God, great knowledge leads to Him.
The Uglich Epiphany Convent was founded at the end of the 14th century by the Grand Duchess Evdokia, in mon. Euphrosyne, Dimitrievna, wife of the Moscow prince Dimitri Ioannovich Donskoy. The monastery was in the Kremlin in the northwestern corner of the former fortress. In 1611 the monastery was destroyed by the Poles. In 1620, according to the letter of the Great Antiquity Marfa Ioannovna, the mother of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, he was restored to the same place. In 1661, according to the letter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, it was moved to its present place. There are stone churches in the monastery: 1) Smolensk, formerly called Epiphany, two-story, founded in 1689 on the amount of well-meaning donors; 2) Feodorovskaya Bogorodichnaya - one-story, cold, founded in 1805 on a combined basis; a stone bell tower was built at this church in 1837; 3) Bogoyavlenskaya - a warm cathedral, one-story, founded in 1848 on a combined basis; 4) Dostoynovskaya Bogorodnichnaya, two-storey, warm; arranged in 1886-87. at the expense of well-meaning donors. There are 7 of all the thrones in the churches: 1) in Smolensk - two, the main one in honor of the "Hodegetria" of the Smolensk Mother of God, and in the northern left aisle in honor of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord. There were two altars in the lower floor of this church: Sts. The Apostles John the Theologian and Andrew the First-Called and Saints John the Merciful and Demetrius of Rostov were abolished in 1846; 2) in Feodorovskaya - one throne in honor of the "Hodegetria" of the Feodorovskaya (Uglich) Icon of the Mother of God; 3) in the Epiphany Cathedral - three thrones: the main one in the name of the Theophany of the Lord, in the southern right aisle in honor of the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, and in the northern left aisle in the name of Saints John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, and Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra; 4) in the Dostoynovskaya church - one throne in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "It is worthy to eat." 3 miles from the mountains. In Uglich, at the monastery dacha "Petrovskoye village", the ascribed Innokentievskaya cemetery church, stone, one-story, warm, with a stone bell tower, was built in 1896. There is only one throne in it in the name of St. Innocent of Irkutsk the Wonderworker. Monastic capital in %% securities 194.957 rubles, from which %% is obtained in favor of the church 2977 rubles. 24 k., in favor of the sisters 3676 rubles. 75 kopecks, and in favor of the clerk 1488 rubles. 71 kop. Kaz. sod. 337 r. 43 k. Earth 330 dec. 1039 sq. soot Inside the monastery are five stone, two-story buildings, one one-story stone building, four wooden houses and services. The monastery is surrounded by a stone fence with four towers. At the monastery parochial school for girls with a needlework class, a literacy school, a hospital with 10 beds and a hospice room for visiting pilgrims. There are three chapels: 1) under the Cathedral Church of the Epiphany; 2) at the Innokentievsky cemetery church, arranged in 1898; and 3) in the mountains. Rybinsk in the 25th quarter, arranged in 1872.
In the early 1840s. the monastery acquired the neighboring estate of the merchant G.V. Butorin, where there were two houses and a luxurious orchard with apple and pear trees. There is an interesting story associated with this event.
In the book of A.N. Ushakov tells that Abbess Elikonida (Muratova) had an intention to build a new Church of the Epiphany, but there was no place for it on the territory of the monastery. The most convenient for construction was the land occupied by the Butorins' estate. The abbess, through the treasurer, mother Margarita, repeatedly asked to sell the estate, but the owners were sorry to part with the ancestral home and a wonderful garden, in addition, they had three sons-heirs.
The treasurer made a proposal in the autumn, and in winter the garden was infested with crows and jackdaws in great numbers. The birds caused great disturbance to the owners and neighbors, and they could not be driven away in any way. In the spring, the Butorins saw that the trees had dried up. Attempts were made to re-plant the garden, but the trees did not take root. Then G.V. Butorin, fearing that misfortunes might pass on to himself, himself offered the monastery to buy the estate. At the same time, the hostess remembered that she had seen several times how three white swans landed in the same place and did not fly away for a long time.
On October 19, 1843, a new Epiphany Warm Cathedral was laid on the acquired territory. The altars of his three thrones were placed where the swans sat.
The construction of the temple was a real feat for the nuns of the monastery. The monastery did not have sufficient funds for such a large-scale construction, there were no large contributions and outside assistance. Therefore, many sisters themselves were engaged in the preparation of rubble stone for the foundation, dug clay, molded and fired bricks, brought materials to the construction site, worked out and burned lime. Among them was the future abbess of the monastery Izmaragda (Voskresenskaya) (at that time nun Alevtina), who spent seven years at a brick factory one verst from the city. Other nuns were involved in collecting donations that went to hire workers. Over time, contributions and offerings began to appear.
On June 11, 1844, the masonry of the cathedral was started, and in 1853 it was completed. On October 17, Archbishop Eugene consecrated high altar and the right aisle in honor of the Tolga icon Mother of God, the next day, October 18 - the left chapel in honor of Nicholas the Wonderworker and John the Merciful. The consecration of the latter was carried out by Archimandrite Nikodim, who later became Bishop of the Yenisei and Krasnoyarsk.
The cathedral was built according to the project of the largest Russian architect Konstantin Andreevich Ton, who built the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, a large number of other buildings, cathedrals, churches, created albums of standard projects for church and civil buildings, and was engaged in the restoration of ancient monuments.
The interior of the temple is a vast hall with four pillars supporting the vaults. The altar apses are placed behind an additional pair of pillars replacing the eastern wall of the quadrangle. From the west, a small porch room leads to the temple, above which there is a sacristy on the second floor, where a wide and comfortable intra-wall staircase leads. Beneath the cathedral is an extensive cellar, which is mainly of structural importance, reinforcing the base of the building. It could also be used for business purposes. Under the northern apse of the cathedral there was a chapel, where the revered icon of the Mother of God "The Waking Eye" was located. The entrance to the chapel was from Rostovskaya street, completed with an iron visor.
The Cathedral of the Epiphany was a warm temple of the monastery, where divine services were performed in winter. For heating, four huge stoves lined with white tiles, which have survived to this day, served. Two are located near the side walls in the western part of the quadrangle, the other two are in the intermediate arches of the altars, behind the pillars.
The interior of the cathedral was distinguished by luxury and wealth. The main decoration was a majestic four-tiered iconostasis gilded on polyment with pure gold - one of the best in the city. It had a rich fine carving, many icons were covered with silver salaries. Small iconostases, made in the same style, surrounded the four pillars of the temple part. To illuminate the temple, a huge four-tiered chandelier was used, hanging under the central dome. The cathedral had a floor lined with patterned cast-iron slabs, the solea was separated by an iron grate, the main altar was covered with gilded silver vestments. In the temple part, near the right front pillar, there was a gilded case with a shroud, above which there was a bronze gilded canopy, elegantly finished, made at the Verkhovtsev jewelry factory in St. Petersburg, donated in 1871. Near the left pillar there was a carved gilded canopy, under which there was a tomb with particles of relics various saints, including in a separate ark - St. John the Merciful. Near the right pillar was the abbot's place with carved decoration.
The interior of the temple was painted by the famous Uglich painter Dmitry Grigoryevich Burenin and his son Pavel. It is more likely that the cathedral was painted during the builder of the cathedral, Abbess Elikonide (Muratova), i.e. before 1864
The right side of the temple was painted on the theme of miracles from the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, and the left side - the miracles of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and John the Merciful. In the center of the vaults, on the dome, there is a temple composition "Epiphany", below on the sails, obviously, there were images of the Evangelists. Above the right kliros, the plot “The Coronation of the Mother of God” is noticeable. On the porch there are paintings on the theme of the Last Judgment.
Currently, the murals of the cathedral are in poor condition. The painting of the upper part of the walls and vaults mostly crumbled. Losses, darkening and pollution are visible everywhere.
The temple had exterior paintings. Above the western entrance, in a semicircular niche, there was an image of the Theophany of the Lord, protected by a glazed frame. On April 23, 1888, in the niches of the altars, the icons of the Epiphany of the Lord, the Apparition of the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, made on zinc sheets, were installed. In 1889, in the tympanums of the kokoshniks of the temple, paintings were also made on zinc sheets depicting Holy Trinity, Nativity of Christ, Transfiguration of the Lord, Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord, Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, Annunciation Holy Mother of God and icons of the Theodore and Iberian Mother of God.
The icons in the altar niches were lost shortly after the closure of the temple, and the murals of the kokoshniks were in a significantly damaged state, the zinc sheets disappeared. The wooden frames on which they were attached were removed during the renovation of the facades in 2006.
The domes of the cathedral were originally completely gilded - in this form, the temple undoubtedly made a very strong impression, the shining domes towered over the entire city. But at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, unable to maintain gilding, the domes were painted blue and covered with golden stars. In this form, in a much dilapidated state, they remained until the end of the 1980s, when the domes were restored and covered with copper sheets. The stars were also made, but they did not have time to install.
The last temple of the monastery was a small church of the icon of the Mother of God “It is worthy to eat”, located at the cells in the northwestern part of the territory.
The Church of Dostoynovskaya - Bogorodichnaya was stone, two-storey, warm, built in 1886-1887. under Abbess Izmaragda Voskresenskaya at the expense of well-meaning donors; had one throne in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "It is worthy to eat."
The church appeared in 1886-1887. and was a two-story corner tower with a cupola. In the lower floor of the temple there were two cells for monks. The reason for the foundation of the temple was the following circumstance, testifying to A.N. Ushakov:
“The land on which the temple was erected belonged to the city and crashed into the monastery, which is why the society turned to the current abbess Izmaragda with a proposal to buy the land. And it was acquired by the monastery. On this land, the abbess set about constructing a new stone two-story residential tower in the form of a chapel in such a way that it would be a coal tower in the continued fence of the monastery. When the construction was completed, Mother Abbess Izmaragda had dreams more than once and heard a voice that told her that she had forgotten the Kazan Mother of God. The religious and God-fearing abbess began to fervently pray to God and came to the conclusion that she was being called for a good deed to build a temple in honor of the Kazan Mother of God. With this intention, mother abbess went to the city of Yaroslavl to Vladyka to ask for blessings. Vladyko noticed that there was already a temple in the city of Uglich in honor of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God, but he did not reject the desire of Abbess Izmaragda. Upon arrival in Uglich, the abbess received a letter from Athos that the image of the Mother of God “It is worthy to eat” was coming to her ... This icon was first transferred to Yaroslavl, then to Rybinsk to the chapel of the Epiphany Monastery and, finally, to Uglich. Then mother abbess was convinced that the new church should be in honor of the icon brought as a gift. They laid the foundation stone for the temple…” – wrote A.N. Ushakov.
At the end of the 17th century, stone construction began in the monastery - in 1689-1700. Under Abbess Elena, Uglich craftsmen built the Church of the Epiphany with a chapel of the Smolensk Mother of God. On its lower floor there was a church in honor of the Apostles John the Theologian and Andrew the First-Called. In 1775, a chapel of John the Merciful and Demetrius of Rostov was built in a nearby tent. But "in 1840, due to various inconveniences and darkness, all these churches were abolished and a hospital was built instead of them." In October 1853, after the consecration of the new Epiphany Cathedral, the old Epiphany Church was abolished. In the following 1854, its main altar was consecrated in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, and the northern chapel was consecrated in honor of the Exaltation Life-Giving Cross Lord's. (This limit has been abolished, used as a sacristy.)
The Smolensk Church is a typical five-domed refectory temple, raised to the basement; its forms are close to the Hodegetria Church of the Resurrection Monastery and the Vvedenskaya Church of the Nikolo-Uleiminsky Monastery. Initially, the temple had a porch for two gatherings and a hipped bell tower. The former porch in the 19th century was replaced by another in the classical style, attached to the north side. Above its dome there was a completion in the form of a thin spire topped with a cross. On the south side, a small tent was built in place of the porch. (During the restoration of the church in 1970-1975, it was dismantled and two arches were laid out in place of the opening, repeating the forms of the western gallery). The bell tower was tented, put on a small tent, from which the lower part has been preserved. It was dismantled due to dilapidation and "useless" after the construction of a new bell tower near the Fedorovskaya Church. In the in-line entry made by the monastery for the construction of the church in 1689, there is some information about the lost bell tower. The bell tower in its appearance could resemble those preserved at the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist "on the Volga" and at the Vvedenskaya Church of the Nikolo-Uleiminsky Monastery. We do not have any images of the bell tower at our disposal.
In the interior of the temple, there was originally a five-tiered gilded iconostasis, there were no murals. During the restoration of the church in 1854, a new three-tiered iconostasis was installed, in which the details were gilded for polyment, and the smooth places were covered with red lacquer paint. Many old icons made in the 17th-18th centuries were placed in the iconostasis. During this period, the church was painted - in the temple part, murals were made on the theme of miracles from the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God (at the moment the murals are lost), and in the Vozdvizhensky chapel, an image of the Mother of God and a verse are written on the vault: “Every creature rejoices in You, blessed ". The painting of the temple part, which occupies most of the surface of the walls and consists of small stamps enclosed in ornamental frames, is compositionally close to the traditional church painting of the 17th-18th centuries.
