Moscow, March 28, 2022
The Znamenny Convent in the Ulyanovsk Province. Photo: mitropolia-simbirsk.ru
According to the decisions of last week’s session of the Holy Synod (Journal #27), two new monasteries were officially established in the Russian Orthodox Church.
On the basis of the petition of Metropolitan Longin of Simbirsk and Novospasskoe, the Znamenny Convent was opened in the village of Lyakhovka in the Ulyanovsk Province, 500 miles southeast of Moscow, with Mother Cleopatra (Ephremova) appointed abbess.
The first wooden church in the village, consecrated in honor of the Znamenny Mother of God, dates to 1703, the Simbirsk Diocese reports. A stone church was built in its place in 1830. The church is one of the oldest in the province, and a female monastic community arose there, now transformed into a full-fledged monastery.
At the Holy Dormition Convent on Sakhalin Island. Photo: sakhalin.info
And on the basis of the petition of His Eminence Archbishop Nikanor of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Kuril, the Holy Dormition Convent was opened in the village of Bereznyaki on Sakhalin Island in the Pacific Ocean. Mother Arsenia (Orlova) was appointed abbess.
The first St. Vladimir Church in the village was consecrated in 1896. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times over the years. Construction began again in 2013, near the site of the original church, and the first Liturgy was celebrated there on the feast of St. Vladimir in the summer of 2014, reports Drevo.
Construction on the first monastic buildings began in 2015, and several experienced nuns were sent to establish the community. Several Sakhalin women also began to express interest in joining. The first Liturgy was celebrated on the feast of the Entrance of the Mother of God in 2015.
The newly-appointed Abbess Arsenia has been serving as the Elder Sister of the community since October 2015.
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