St. Anthony Monastery

A beautiful white monastery in excellent conditions, the facade and architecture are great. Not open inside for tourists

Nice location next to the river. There is a walking path.

The Anthony Monastery or Anthony the Roman in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, the male monastery is now inactive. From it there are several buildings of different times. Now on the former territory of the monastery is the Novgorod State University (formerly there was a pedagogical institute). The founder of the monastery is believed to be Anthony the Roman (c. 1067-1147). Information about him is contained in the annals and life, known from the second half of the 16th century.According to the life, Anthony was born in Rome, at the age of 18 he took monastic vows, and when the persecution of Orthodoxy began, he retired and for a year indulged in prayer on the seaside rock, which broke off on this stone Anthony through the warm seas, the Neva, Lake Ladoga and Volkhov sailed to Novgorod, moreover, in just three days. He made landfall on September 5, 1106. The stone, by the way, is still in the cathedral. Here's a real story. Anthony bought a plot of land on the coast with his own funds, where the monastery was built. According to life, it turns out that even before the tonsure he put part of his property in a barrel and threw it into the sea. The barrel sailed to Novgorod and brought funds with it. Such a continuation of a realistic story. The fabulous character of the life or, as it is written in clever books, the "legendary character", of course, is impressive, but some data are confirmed by more reliable historical sources, for example, in the annals there is information about the construction of the monastery, the appointment of the abbot and death. Also preserved are Anthony's deed of sale and spiritual charter of the 12th century. According to the deed of sale, Anthony bought the land for 100 rubles (this is a very large amount for that time, so Anthony pushed money into a barrel not too little). Where Antony was from is unknown. Apparently, he really sailed to Novgorod, not on a stone, of course, but the locals remembered some kind of stone. Until the mid-16th century, Antony's Roman origins were not mentioned at all. A "Roman" could be called a native not only from Rome, but also from any part of the then existing Holy Roman Empire (including from Germany), as well as from the Byzantine Empire, whose inhabitants were called "Romans". It was Anthony who initiated the construction of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin (Nativity Cathedral), which was mainly built in 1117-1119. This was the first of the Novgorod churches, built not by the princely order. Now the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin is a museum (there is even an audio guide, but for a fee and on bail), but next to it there is a preserved Sretenskaya church (the Church of the Presentation) with a refectory, built in 1533-1536, which is one of the first pillars temples. This is a working church, considered a university church. Anthony was canonized in 1597 and his relics were buried in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin. During the Novgorod Republic, the monastery was one of the richest and had many estates. After the defeat of Novgorod by Ivan the Terrible in 1570, the monastery was abandoned, since all 20 of its inhabitants and the abbot Gelasiy were executed. Then his activity continued, but during the Swedish occupation of Novgorod in 1611-1617 he was plundered. During the monastic reform of 1764, the monastery was not closed and continued to operate. Churches and buildings were constantly built on the territory of the monastery for centuries. In 1806-1807, a three-tiered bell tower above the southern gate was built in the classicism style, but now only the first tier in the form of a gate remains of it, and the other two were dismantled in the 30s of the 20th century. The monastery wall and several buildings from the 17-19 centuries have also survived. In 1740, at the Anthony Monastery, a theological seminary was established on the model of the Kiev Theological Academy. The seminary had a very rich library, which, in particular, included a collection of books by Feofan Prokopovich in 1742. The seminary was closed in 1918. The Antoniev Monastery was closed on March 3, 1920. A commune for former street children was placed on its premises. The Cathedral of the Nativity served for some time as a parish church, but it was also closed.

historical place, beautiful, large park, river

A beautiful place on the banks of the Volkhov