Bereznyaki village, November 16, 2015
On November 13, 2015, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, construction of the first long-awaited convent of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Kurily Diocese began in a small village of Bereznyaki on Sakhalin (a large Russian island in the Sea of Okhotsk, situated off the coast of eastern Russia).
Even before the Revolution, Sakhalin, with its austere life of hard labor, had neither monasteries nor convents, reports the diocese’s information department.
The first convent on Sakhalin in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God will be one of a handful of monastic communities in Russia’s Far East region. Orthodox residents of Sakhalin hope that the new convent, along with the monastery for men in honor of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God in the town of Korsakov, will become centers of Orthodox traditions and keepers of our faith.
As any new undertaking always begins with asking for God’s blessing, His Eminence Archbishop Tikhon of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Kurily performed a prayer service before the start of the construction.
“We hope that by the new year sisters will already be living on the territory of the convent, the liturgical circle will be regulated, monastic prayer will be offered up, and monastic life will begin,” Archbishop Tikhon said.
He has reported that the insular diocese is currently waiting for the arrival of several nuns from the mainland who have experience in monastic life. Moreover, some of local residents wish to join the sisters of the future convent.
