Lukyantsevo, Vladimir Province, Russia, June 26, 2024
Photo: al-eparhiya.ru
On Sunday, June 23, the feast of Holy Pentecost, yet another church saw the revival of its liturgical life after the long decades of atheist rule in Russia.
On that day, the first Divine Liturgy was held in the Nativity of the Mother of God Cathedral at the St. Lucian Hermitage in Lukyantsevo, Vladimir Province, since the monastery was closed in 1920, reports the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism.
The service was celebrated by Abbot Job (Vasiliev), the ordained brethren of the monastery, and Deacon Vasily Vagurin form the Navitity of Christ Cathedral.
The cathedral gathered a large number of faithful who came to the monastery for the feast. After the Liturgy, the Kneeling Vespers of Pentecost was served.
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St. Lucian Hermitage. Photo: drive2.ru
The St. Lucian Hermitage was founded in 1654 by St. Lucian of Alexandrov. The monastery soon flourished and enjoyed royal patronage over the centuries.
The stone Cathedral of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos was built in 1712.
The monastery was home to a wonderworking icon of the Theotokos, known especially for stopping a plague in 1771 after being carried in procession, though it was lost when the monastery was closed by the Soviets.
After the monastery was closed in 1920, it was used for a nursing home.
In 1991, the hermitage was the first monastery in the Vladimir Diocese to be reborn. In 1992, the holy relics of St. Lucian were uncovered. The relics of the second abbot, St. Kornily, were discovered in 1995.
Restoration of the Nativity of the Mother of God Cathedral began in 2001, but for a number of reasons was never completed.
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