Holy Dormition Divnogorsky Divnogorsky Monastery

Divnogorsky Dormition Monastery is a cave monastery in the Voronezh region, located on the territory of Malye Div in the northern part of the Divnogorie Museum-Reserve. The ancient male monastery is a place of pilgrimage and a popular tourist attraction, many travelers come here every day.

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The abode in the chalk cliffs appeared in the middle of the XVII century. Year after year, expanding the old cells and equipping new underground rooms, the monks created a unique cave complex. Nowadays Divnogorsky Dormition Monastery is active. Divine services in its temples are held daily at 7.15 and 16.00. Excursions around the monastery complex are conducted by the novices themselves.

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For those who want to stay in the monastery for a few days, the monastery hotel is open. Tourists are also accepted by the hotel of the museum-reserve “Divnogorie”, located in the village Divnogorskoye, 3 km from the monastery, on Podgornaya Street, 48. In addition, travelers can spend the night in a tent on the territory of the camping site, which is arranged near the estate of the museum-reserve.

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Video: Divnogorsky Dormition Monastery

Contents

History of Divnogorsky Dormition Monastery

According to legend, the monastery was founded in 1640 by two Greek scheimonakhs who came to Prydonie from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Ioasaph and Xenophontos were looking for a place of prayerful solitude and cut out cells and a small temple in the chalk cliffs. In 1653, when the Russian state, fleeing from Tatar raids, was building the Belgorod defense line, builders were sent to the monastery. They enclosed the territory of the monastery with a wooden wall, erected cells and the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

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The first abbot of the Divnogorsk Dormition Monastery was hegumen Guriy. In 1658, the wooden church burned down, and instead of it in the monastery there was a church in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God. At the same time the consecration of the cave church of St. John the Baptist took place.

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Malye Divy were not far from the road leading to Russia from the Crimean Khanate, and therefore were repeatedly subjected to Tatar raids. The life of the inhabitants was difficult. To protect themselves from “thieving people” they installed cannons and squeakers on the bell tower, and in moments of danger they hid in underground cells.

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Divnogorsk Dormition Monastery had a good library and played the role of a cultural center for the surrounding lands. In 1699 Peter the Great visited the monastery. The monastery was assigned to the Voronezh diocese and granted it large arable lands. Prosperity of the monastery lasted until 1788. Then under the church reform initiated by Catherine II, the monastery was deprived of lands and peasants, and then closed.

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The revival of the lost monastery began in the mid-19th century. With the advent of Soviet power Divnogorsky monastery was again abolished. The inhabitants who lived here were destroyed, and the books from the monastery library were drowned in the waters of the Don. During the Great Patriotic War a German military hospital was located on the territory of the monastery, and in the post-war period – a tuberculosis sanatorium. Church services in the monastery began to be held in the early 1990s.

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What can be seen in the monastery nowadays

The Divnogorsky Dormition Monastery complex includes above-ground and cave temples. Climbing the chalk pillars of the Malye Div is prohibited. The above-ground buildings and temples have been fully restored, while restoration work continues in the underground ones.

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Tourists and pilgrims can visit the cave church of St. John the Baptist and the cave church of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God. It should be borne in mind that it is quite cool inside the caves even on hot days. The air temperature there stays within +9…+12 ° C.

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How to get there

Divnogorsky Dormition Monastery is located near the village of Selyavnoe, 1 km from the place where its right tributary, the Tikhaya Sosna River, flows into the Don. Electric trains from the city of Liski pass through the Divnogorskaya platform located near the monastery three times a day. Travel time is about half an hour. In summer on weekends to “Divnogorskaya” are appointed express trains from Voronezh. You can get to the monastery in two and a half hours. From Lysoki to the monastery twice a day runs a shuttle bus. The road on it takes 1 hour and 15 minutes.

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Those who want to get to Malye Div by car, should be guided by the signs “Divnogorie”. The distance from Lissok to the monastery is 40 km, and from the city of Ostrogozhsk – 50 km. To the cloister there is an asphalted road running through the village of Selyavnoye. Motorists are advised to park not in the official parking lot located on top of the hill, but near the monastery’s barrier.

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