Moscow, October 15, 2019
Photo: monasterium.ru
Holy Protection Monastery in Moscow is the biggest center of pilgrimage in the city, and one of the most important in the entire Russian Church. Hundreds and thousands flock to the monastery every day to venerate the precious relics of St. Matrona of Moscow, considered the “8th Pillar” of Russia.
Yesterday, the convent celebrated its patronal feast, which this year doubled as a celebration of the 25th anniversary of its reestablishment after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The feast began the evening before with the celebration of the All-Night Vigil by His Grace Bishop Dionysius of Voskresensky, during which the Akathist to the Protection of the Mother of God was read.
Photo: monasterium.ru
The Divine Liturgy in the morning was celebrated by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill together with 19 other hierarchs of the Russian Church and a number of priests and deacons, reports the monastery website.
Photo: monasterium.ru
The monastery was opened by decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Church on November 24, 1994.
Photo: monasterium.ru
Upon arrival at the holy monastery, the Patriarch first venerated the holy relics of St. Matrona and then celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Holy Protection.
Photo: monasterium.ru
Special prayers were read for the unity of the Orthodox Church and the preservation of the Church from divisions and schisms, as well as a prayer for peace in Ukraine. Pat. Kirill also ordained a Moscow deacon to the priesthood during the Liturgy.
Photo: monasterium.ru
Following the Liturgy, the glorification of the Mother of God was celebrated, then Abbess Theophania greed Pat. Kirill and presented him with an icon of the Protection of the Mother of God.
His Holiness addressed the gathered faithful with a primatial word and presented the monastery with a set of veils for the chalice and diskos for feasts of the Mother of God.
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Photo: monasterium.ru
Holy Protection Monastery was founded as a men’s monastery in 1635 by Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich in memory of his father, Patriarch Philaret, who reposed on the feast of the Protection. The stone cathedral was initially built in 1655 and rebuilt in 1806-1814. The Church of the Resurrection and a bell tower were built in the 18th century.
The monastery was severely damaged during the War of 1812, and the Church of the Resurrection was rebuilt and consecrated in 1855.
The monastery took on a missionary focus under the reign of Metropolitan St. Innocent in the late 19th century, training several dozen monastic missionaries.
The churches of the monastery were closed in 1926, and the monastery itself in 1929. In the ensuing decades, the monastery housed a park, a printing house, a magazine editorial office, a sports hall, a billiard room, a film studio, and a cinema department.
The monastery was returned to the Church in 1994 and reopened as a convent on November 24, 1994. Abbess Theophania, previously a nun of the famous Diveyevo Monastery, was appointed abbess on February 22, 1995. The first Liturgy was served within the half-ruined walls of the monastery in October 1995. There were 5 nuns in addition to Mother Theophania at that time.
Three altars in the Holy Protection Church were consecrated on April 4, 1998. The relics of St. Matrona were transferred to the monastery on May 1, 1998, and she was glorified as a locally-venerated saint the next day. She was approved for Churchwide veneration in 2004.
Since then, several other churches have been consecrated, as well as the rebuilt bell tower and holy spring. The monastery today has more than 50 nuns.
