Minsk, December 10, 2024
On Sunday, December 8, the St. Elisabeth Convent in Minsk festively celebrated its 25th anniversary.
From its humble beginning, the monastery quickly developed into one of the most beautiful and most influential monasteries in modern Belarus.
The Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Reigning Icon of the Mother of God was celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Benjamin of Minsk together with four brother bishops from the Belarusian Church, the monastery’s spiritual father Archpriest Andrew Lemeshonok and other monastery clergy, and other clerical guests, reports the Belarusian Church.
The church was filled with the members of the sisterhood, parishioners, pilgrims, and visiting monastics.
After the Augmented Litany, the Metropolitan offered a prayer for the restoration of peace.
The service was broadcast on the monastery’s YouTube channel:
Following the service, Met. Benjamin offered the monastery an icon of St. Manefa of Gomel, as well as a stole that was used by St. John of Maximovitch to hear children’s confessions at the St. Tikhon of Zadonsk Orphanage in San Francisco. The relic will be placed for veneration in the monastery’s church dedicated to St. John.
His Eminence Archbishop Mikhail (Donskov) also spoke, sharing personal memories of St. John, whom he met when he was seven years old.
In connection with the celebration and in recognition of zealous labors for the glory of the Church, the monastery’s spiritual father Archpriest Andrew Lemeshonok was awarded the Order of St. Cyril of Turov, 1st Class, and Abbess Euphrosyne (Laptik) received the Order of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk. Other clergy members and those serving in various obediences at the monastery also received church awards.
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The history of St. Elisabeth Convent began when the first Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, His Emience Metropolitan Philaret (Vakhromeev), tonsured three sisters as riassaphore nuns and blessed seven sisters for the novitiate.
The monastery site was chosen near a psychiatric hospital so that the sisters could combine social and spiritual ministry, following the example of the Sts. Martha and Mary Convent in Moscow, founded by the Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elisabeth. Today, the monastery comprises about 120 monastics and over 300 sisters and brothers of mercy. In total, 13 churches have been built in the monastery itself, its dependencies, and the hospitals and residential care facilities under its care.
The monastery provides spiritual care for psychiatric and neurological care facilities for both adults and children. Near Minsk, there are associated men’s and women’s sketes that welcome people with addictions, the homeless, those released from prison, and anyone with nowhere else to go. The monastery has established the Dobrodel social workshop for rehabilitating people with mental disorders.
Additionally, the monastery has created a social rehabilitation center in Minsk that helps people start new lives and find their place: overcome harmful habits, find employment, and learn new professions. The center operates more than 30 Church craft workshops, including: iconography, icon mounting, restoration, gold embroidery, sewing, stone mosaic icons, wall painting and mosaic, ceramics, stained glass, and others.
The monastery’s plans include large-scale construction of an almshouse for housing, rehabilitation, and care of elderly people and individuals with disabilities. The proximity to the monastery will allow residents to regularly participate in Church Sacraments, while enabling the sisters to carry out their ministry of love for God and neighbor.
The monastery also runs an Orthodox kindergarten and general education school, and conducts a summer camp for children and teenagers.
One of the important aspects of the monastery’s activities is organizing exhibitions and festivals in various parts of Belarus and beyond. Traditional events now include the Kladez Orthodox culture festival, the Joy educational festival, the Reading City book festival, the Dobrodel festival of folk craftsmen and applied arts masters, and others.
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