Konevets Munastery of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary

Subject / Religion. Church/Monasteries and convents
The Konevets Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (Konevets island, the Priozersk district). It is located in the southern part of the Konevets Island in seven kilometres from the West shore of Ladoga Lake. The monastery was founded in 1393 by Venerable Arsenius of Konevets, a native of Novgorod, who brought an icon of the Mother of God, named Konevskaya (on the present days the icon is in the Cathedral of the New Valaam Monastery in Finland) from Mount Athos. The monastery was the centre of the spiritual education of Karelians. In the third quarter of the 16th century a stone cathedral was built. In 1577 and 1610 the monastery was brought to ruin by Swedes, monks took cover in Derevyanitsky Monastery of the Resurrection near Novgorod. It was resumed by Peter I in 1718, in 1719 the wooden church of St. Nicholas the Wondermaker (the iconostas of the 16th century was lost in the 1940s) was built. Under the superior Adrian (Blinsky) the monastery became the centre of the eldership which was famous in Russia, the scete form of the monk life was established. First the Kazan scete on Holy Mountain with the church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (1794-1798) was built, then Konevsky scete with the church of the Konevets Icon of the Mother of God (1874-1876; the architect I.B. Sluosky) was built. The building of the stone Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God (it was survived) was completed; the project of the cathedral, sent from St. Petersburg, was remade by hieromonk Silvester (Petrov). The cathedral high is 34 metres; the upper altar was consecrated in the name of the Nativity of the Mother of God, the lower altar was consecrated in the name of the presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple. There was the side-chapel of the Konevets Icon of the Mother of God (from 1830). Paintings of the 1830s are partly survived. Some icons in the cathedral were painted by V.L. Borovikovsky (they were lost). In the first quarter of the 19th century the main stone estate was built by the superior hieromonk Illarion (Kirillov). In 1810-1812 the western part of the monastery square was completed with the 36-metre bell tower, frescos were restored in the arch. The new hospital and cemetery church was built instead of the wooden church of St. Nicholas in 1813-1815. Pilgrims of the Valaam Monastery usually visited the Konevets Monastery. At different times the Konevets Monastery was visited by Alexander II and members of the Emperor family, writers: N.S. Leskov, Vas.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, A. Dumas, the poet F.I. Tyutchev; the architect A.M. Gornostayev worked here. In 1849 St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) blessed the church of Venerable Arsenius of Konevets in the monastery. The Konevsky scete, a city residence in St. Petersburg, most of household and dwelling buildings were built under archimandrite Izrail (Andreyev) (generally according to the design of the architect I.B. Slupsky). The monastery was included into the reformed Finland Eparchy in 1892 under the superior archimandrite Poemen (Gavrilov). 321 monks lived in the monastery in 1914. From 1918 the monastery found itself on the territory of Finland and worked until 1940. Since 1991 the monastery was resumed, archimandrite Nazarius (Lavrinenko) became the first superior, since July 2001 hegumen Isidore (Minayev) has been the superior of the monastery. The monastery main shrines are the holy relics of Venerable Arsenius (they were found in November 1991) and the ancient Konevets Icon of the Mother of God which was moved from the church of the village of Vazhini. The historic city residence of the monastery in St. Petersburg with the Church if the Konevets Icon of the Mother of God resumed to work since 1996. Bertash, Aleksandr Vitalyevich
Adrian (Blinsky)
Alexander II, Emperor
Arseny Konevsky, St.
Borovikovsky, Vladimir Lukich
Dumas Alexander (Dumas-Father)
Gornostayev, Aleksey Maksimovich
Ignaty (Dmitry Aleksandrovich Bryanchaninov)
Illarion (Ioann Andreyevich Kirillov), priest in monastic order
Isidor (Igor Minayev), father superior
Israil (Andreyev), archimandrite
Leskov, Nikolay Semyonovich
Nazary (Nikolay Alekseyevich Lavrinenko), archimandrite
Nemirovich-Danchenko, Vasily Ivanovich
Peter I, Emperor
Pimen (Gavrilov), archimandrite
Silvestr (Petrov), priest in monastic order
Tyutchev, Fyodor Ivanovich
Tyutchev, Fyodor Ivanovich
Tyutchev, Fyodor Ivanovich
Topographical landmarks/Konevets, Island
Topographical landmarks/Ladoga Lake
Leningrad Oblast, the/Podporozhye District/Vazhyni Urban Settlement
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