Churkin, Astrakhan Province, Russia, March 25, 2024
Photo: lotosgtrk.ru
A series of large man-made tunnels and rooms has been discovered under a monastery in Russia’s Astrakhan Province.
Altogether, 14 chambers were found at a depth of 40 feet. The largest of them is comparable to the size of a subway station, Alexander Soloviev, chairman of the regional branch of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society, told TASS.
The largest chamber is 235 x 30 feet. Bone remains indicate that burials used to take place in the chambers, hundreds of years ago. Pieces of metal were also found, that could be reliquaries or Church utensils, Soloviev said.
The tunnels were discovered thanks to Innotech XXI, a Moscow-based charity for the revival of Russian Church architecture, which sent a team of researchers that spent a month studying a 25-acre plot of land on the territory of the monastery.
The researchers believe the chambers could contain sacred items known in Russia before the time of the Bolshevik revolution. In particular, they speculate that a staff of St. Seraphim of Sarov, which was given to his fellow Sarov monk Archimandrite Evgeny who was then appointed abbot of the Churkin Monastery in 1840, could be somewhere within the chambers.
The video below shows scenes from around the monastery:
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In 1568, the present Churkin Island was transferred to the ownership of the Astrakhan-Holy Trinity Monastery, and the first church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, was built there by the abbot of Holy Trinity, Igumen Kirill. At the beginning of the 18th century, the church was moved to the Churkin hillock, from which the monastery derives its name.
In 1919, the monastery was closed, and in 1930, the cathedral, most of the buildings, and the bell tower were demolished. The former hospital later housed a boarding school, a sanatorium, and a TB hospital.
An agreement was signed between the Astrakhan Diocese and the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society in December 2022 for the restoration of several of the monastery’s buildings.
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