Antipyretics for children are prescribed by a pediatrician. But there are emergency situations with fever when the child needs to be given medicine immediately. Then the parents take responsibility and use antipyretic drugs. What is allowed to be given to infants? How can you lower the temperature in older children? What medications are the safest?
In the city of Odessa, a convent has been functioning for more than 150 years. In the last century, the institution was closed several times for a number of reasons. In 1992, the St. Michael's Monastery officially opened its doors to everyone in need of shelter and a kind word. The abbess of the temple is Abbess Seraphima (Shevchik).
Conditions
There is a “Mercy” department on the territory, accommodating about 80 people. The nuns look after the bedridden and help them cope with everyday problems.
Accompany people with walks disabilities, feed, provide assistance with hygiene procedures, and always listen and support their guests.
Nutrition
Not only those living in the Mercy House can receive quality food, but also all the poor and poor. The community meal sets the tables with hot food and is attended by about 50 people daily.
Leisure
Various workshops are open on site. Residents take an active part in sewing church vestments, make various utensils for church ceremonies, and restore icons.
Anyone can visit the theological schools that are open at the monastery. It contains many books, including works from pre-revolutionary times. The territory of the monastery is fully equipped with walking paths and benches where you can sit and breathe fresh air.
Iconography with cars, treatment with cartoons and obedience to live to 100 years
Holy Archangel Michael Monastery in Odessa: “Even Khrushchev’s wife studied at our monastery” Anastasia Belousova https://cdn..jpg https://cdn..jpg 2014-10-29T08:00:00+02:00 Monasteries of Ukraine Iconography with cars, treatment with cartoons and obedience to live to 100 years
The Holy Archangel Michael Monastery is the only convent for women on the territory of the port of Odessa. It’s as if it’s hidden in the depths of a garage-yard jungle, and not even all the locals know what’s here, but when they see it, they exclaim: “Wow, a monastery!” The gate is slightly open, the guard in the booth nods his head, allowing him to enter. Archangel Michael looks at you from the walls of the temple. Coming towards... cats - well-fed, with shiny fur, as if they had just been washed with shampoo. “Our mother loves cats, and nuns too,” explains our guide, assistant and driver of the abbess, nun Inna.
Lions and lambs.
TO THE SOURCES. The office of the abbess, Mother Seraphima, looks like an architect's workshop - a long row of tables is filled with drawings for the construction of the Refectory Church. Next to the drawings are ancient Orthodox books and icons, which Mother carefully studies before sending them to the restoration workshop or to the Christian monastery museum. “I think it is very important to study history, to revive what was lost,” says Mother Seraphima. “When we came here in 1991, the monastery was practically destroyed, trees were growing from the walls and roofs. In Soviet times, there was a tuberculosis hospital with a special department for prisoners. In addition, they tried to treat drug addiction and alcoholism here. My mothers and I lived in a building adjacent to the morgue - cells with a rotten floor and ceiling, where the dead were brought and simply left. For more than 5 years, we saw what kind of attacks they had tuberculosis patients, how painfully they die. We tried with all our might to help them. I remember once, during a severe attack, I gave one of them my cross - the most expensive thing I had at that time. The attack passed, and the patient was already the next day he managed to go into the city and exchange my cross for a bottle of vodka. He soon died. And there were plenty of similar cases and deaths here."
The abbess's office. On the one hand there is a huge library, on the other there are many icons.
KHRUSHCHEV'S WIFE.“I wonder what Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, on whose orders the Holy Archangel Michael’s Monastery was closed, would say to this. Or his wife, who in 1915 studied here at the monastery in the diocesan school, which was considered unique,” says the abbess. “Girls They studied here not so much secular sciences as spiritual ones. They were taught to be wives - the mistress of the house, the mother of the family! The pupils learned to lead household, sew, embroider, cook, can. As well as communication culture and etiquette. It is not surprising that children from neighboring gymnasiums periodically took our monastery by storm, climbed over fences to meet such wonderful students, who were taught to be exemplary in everything. There was no better female education in all of Odessa! At the insistence of the abbess, the monastery was even surrounded by a high fence, but this only fueled interest, and the “assaults” continued. It was precisely this educational profile of the monastery that we decided to restore.”
RETURNERS. First of all, Mother tried to bring back the nuns who were here before 1961: “About 30 mothers returned to us. Some even came from other cities and even countries! We built new buildings of the House of Mercy and Seminary. How? All of Odessa helped us! This The monastery was built literally on pennies. The mothers went with donation boxes to markets, shops, even to the seventh kilometer. There were no big sponsors, people just appeared, who helped in any way they could. So they built it, and we are still building it.
In Soviet times, a copy of the 17th century Fedorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God disappeared from the monastery. Once a man came to us and said: “Take the icon as a gift.” He said that he tried to sell it, but could not. We opened the package and saw the lost Fedorov icon in a silver robe! The man told, but in a dream the Mother of God appeared to him and asked him to return the icon back to our monastery. We sent it for restoration and cleared away the primary layer of the 17th century. Now this is a decoration of our monastery, like the Gerbovets Icon Holy Mother of God- a gift from our bishop, Metropolitan Agafangel. We don’t record miracles, but we know for sure that through this icon the Mother of God saved many lives.”
In a dream, the Mother of God asked the atheist not to sell the Fedorov Icon, but to return it back to the monastery.
FOR THE EXAM WITH BUGS AND CARS. There are four women's departments of the Odessa Theological Seminary at the monastery: the regency department, the sewing department, and also the only ones in Ukraine - icon painting and gold embroidery. The pupils get up at 7 am, go to school, have breakfast and study until lunch. After lunch there is practice and worship. Each of the 100 seminarians tries to study as well as possible. And not for the sake of a “honorable diploma,” but out of fear of angering God. Everyone here knows: “Cursed is everyone who does God’s work carelessly.” They are taught and even wrote textbooks by their mothers - professional seamstresses, sculptors and artists who graduated from Moscow and St. Petersburg universities. “In general, for all of us this is obedience,” says the head teacher, Mother Taisiya, with a smile. “Mother Seraphima once called us to her and said: “So, in so many days we are opening the icon painting department of the Odessa Theological Seminary.” Mother’s word for us the law is obedience. After all, many disciplines, such as icon painting and gold embroidery, are not taught in Ukraine. There are workshops at monasteries, but to educational institution with the study of ancient techniques - this has never happened before. People come to us mainly with an art education, even after graduating from universities. For example, our Tanyusha brought a notebook with drawings of insects to the entrance exam to the seminary from her last year at the agricultural university. She’s an excellent student with us!”
Iconography class. The nuns returned to the school type of their monastery.
We caught Tanya at recess, in the gesso room - the office where they learn to prime “tablets” - tablets on which icons will later be painted. “I started going to church at the age of 14, and I realized that monks are the coolest people!” third-year student Tatyana said cheerfully. “Already at the age of 16, I wanted to go to a monastery, but I decided to finish school and university first to please my parents. How I received my diploma - that same year I went to the monastery. In general, I am from the Kherson monastery, and I came here with the blessing of the abbess. That is, icon painting was not my dream or desire. I remember when I came here, everyone was standing with paintings, and I was standing with a notebook on entomology and I think: “What am I doing here anyway?” The mother teachers smiled for a long time, looking at my art, but they accepted it. And before the start of classes they said: “Let’s ask the priest to bless Tatyana, she’s picking up a brush for the first time!” The blessing turned out to be so effective that I am now the first to hand in all the work. And in the breaks I take care of the local garden, it’s not for nothing that I graduated from the Agrarian University! By the way, the next year Misha came, who brought leaves with drawn cars as drawings for admission. He is also a very good student."
Tatiana. She was a gardener.
From the conservatory to becoming a nun. Obedience here is the highest virtue. And if you don’t deny it, but carry it out with diligence, real miracles happen. For example, one day mother called the choir director, nun Daria, known for her rigor and professionalism, and said that now she would also work in the gold-embroidery workshop. “I agreed, and I’m going to my cell and I can’t remember the last time I picked up a needle,” the 34-year-old nun tells us. “But I liked it so much! In general, I graduated from the Kiev Conservatory with a degree in conducting, and then with the blessing of the bishop Vvedensky Monastery took monastic vows and renounced the world. For embroidery, I chose an image close to me - the icon of the Mother of God “Look at Humility". I worked on it for a year. The mothers said that before, no one here had embroidered an icon of such a height - almost one and a half meters. For "This is already the second icon for two years. The previous one went to Ossetia as a gift, and this one will go to the Vladikavkaz diocese. Self-education makes you more organized. Through work you learn more about God, prayers and your service."
The biggest icon. Embroidered with beads in one year.
“We teach our students not only techniques, but we prepare them for the fact that work in the workshop requires special patience and intense prayers,” says teacher Mother Taisiya. “Icon painters and gold seamstresses have special temptations, and you need to be prepared for them. You need to be strong in spirit , such a revolutionary of faith as our oldest Mother Kirill."
THE OLDEREST NUN. On the door of every cell there is a prayer: “Through the prayers of the saints, our father, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us!” - instead of calling. Until you read it, you cannot enter. In the cell of 97-year-old Mother Kirilla there is nothing superfluous - a table, a chair, a bed, icons and a list of ordeals that the soul will undergo after death. Mother Kirilla knows them by heart, also embroiders them on a typewriter and does not miss a single service. “She is a revolutionary of the Orthodox faith,” says the local priest, Father Andrei, about her. “She does not relent on anything, either to herself or to others. Such jealousy, severity and loyalty are a special gift.” Mother loves guests very much, and if you sit close to her right ear, she will be happy to talk.
Elder. 97-year-old Mother Kirill: “The Third World War is coming, baby! Repent!”
“I wasn’t going to the monastery, it was my granddaughter, the nun Virineya, who dragged me, said that she was going to the monastery and would take me with her,” the revolutionary jokes. “When I was young, I lived in Georgia. My parents were deeply religious. My father and the evening lined us up for prayer. Our parents taught us how to behave in church, why go there. As an adult, I worked in the city council, but always hosted Orthodox pilgrims, despite the Soviet era. And when they scared me, I answered: “ Strangers are God's people and must be accepted without fear. You only need to fear God, and not people." I did not allow my twins to be dedicated even in October, for which they called me and my children at school "Nicholas" (those who grew up under Tsar Nicholas II). Only I was not offended, I answered: "And you be from Nikolaev." Yes, at that time, without the pioneers and the Komsomol, my children could not reach high positions. But I didn’t need to, I wanted my children to be just... People. My twins helped the priests in churches from childhood , at school it was difficult for them, they were called "priests." But nothing, it only strengthens faith. Vitya was killed under Soviet rule because he did not sign the documents they wanted. I saw these murderers myself, and told them to their faces : “You killed my Vitenka, so he will go straight to the Kingdom of Heaven, and where will you go after that? I’m not afraid of you or of death, only of God.” I wasn’t afraid of them, maybe that’s why they didn’t touch me, out of surprise. After Vitya, my son was only two years old then, so we raised him, now he’s also a priest. God knows best , everyone has their own path. Our father recently asked me: “How old?” I answer: “Seventeen! I was born in 1917!" He laughed and gave me obedience - to live to be 100 years old! So I’m doing it. And I wish the same for you all."
Weekdays. The women's team in all its glory.
“Sometimes people are thrown under the gate like kittens”
The Odessa monastery has one more feature - the House of Mercy has been open here for 15 years, as it was before the revolution. By the way, there are no more than five of them in Ukraine. The building was rebuilt. The first two floors house 120 elderly men and women, and the top floor houses the Church of All Saints of the Caves.
“At first it was difficult, we washed by hand, then they gave us a small round machine,” recalls Mother Khionia at home. “We cooked food on a two-burner electric stove. True, there were not many people then - 17. Now we have large industrial machines, a dryer, yes and more people!"
House of Mercy. The two lower floors are for elderly residents, and at the top is the Church of All Saints of the Pechersk.
WHAT DO THEY LIVE ON? There was a knock on the door and they said the cable had arrived. The nun beamed: “Well, people donated - they bought 80 meters of five-core, three-phase cable. In the drying heater, this is exactly the cable that is needed!” Seeing my bewilderment about “three-phase” and “five-core,” the nun smiled: “Yes, in addition to the canons and rules, we have to understand electrics, types of tiles and even types of cement.”
If in pre-revolutionary times it was even prestigious to maintain an almshouse, now this type of social assistance has been practically forgotten. “This is very responsible and troublesome,” the mothers explain. “Having taken a person, we are fully responsible for him before God and people. It happens that grandma gets worse, she needs to go to the hospital, we call relatives, and they say: “Sorry, we don’t have money.” we are not there, we won’t treat." But we can’t do that. We go to Mother Superior, take the sick old woman and treat with our own strength and the donations of parishioners. Five years ago God sent us a unique family, they have a construction business. So they for their own and with their workers made repairs on the entire lower floor for bedridden and especially critically ill patients. They changed the windows, installed water, made new bathrooms, laid tiles, hung wallpaper. Another servant of God Alexander bought a generator for 180 thousand hryvnia. Such people are very rare today ". In general, the House of Mercy lives on donations from parishioners.
Ward. For seriously ill patients.
HOW THEY LIVE. Both nuns and parishioners work here. There are two doctors - a therapist and a psychiatrist, four nurses are on duty every other day, one nurse is in the rooms of seriously ill bedridden patients. Some suffer from sclerosis and can go out, forgetting the way back. There is a cinema room in the corridor. Old people enjoy watching detective stories. “We don’t show the news, and we warn relatives not to talk about the situation in the country to the sick,” the nurses told me. “They are vulnerable here, like children. They love to watch cartoons on the children’s channel, they watch and laugh so cheerfully, like kids. For example , Larisochka can stumble, fall and cry, kick her legs like a child. We calm her down, like mothers calm children - she stops crying and starts smiling. Tasenka loves to sing, and we love to listen to her. And Baba Raya, she’s on the train "He's always in a hurry or waiting for a stop to be announced. This is not just a job, it's also a service. We are like a family to them, they are our children."
Cinema hall. They love detective stories, romance series and cartoons.
Many here come to faith, regularly confess to the priest, and go up to the top floor of the church for services. “How many times has it happened that after resuscitation, patients are told: “They will live for several weeks,” but they live with us for a month or a year,” says nurse Yulia. “They brought us a man and a woman from the Jewish community, not relatives, with a letter - intercession. We baptized them here, married them, and after about two months they left one after another. As we say, newly baptized babies.”
Newbie. Asked to "see the ladies."
AWESOME SERAPHIM: “It’s time to stop confrontation and talk more about what unites us”
Despite the current wartime, renovations are underway at the monastery, and the central church is being reconstructed. “So we want to show that we need to build our future now, no matter what,” Abbess Seraphima is sure. “Through tears and through grief we will get rid of the unnecessary, leaving only the most important things. We are building a temple-refectory for sisters and students according to the model The refectory temple of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. After all, the army - even the church - begins from the kitchen. The main icon of the temple will be a copy of the Jerusalem icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. We have many connections with Kiev. We are very grateful to His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir for donating pieces of the relics to our monastery of all the Pechersk saints. It is not surprising that the temple that we built was named in honor of All the Pechersk saints. Our artists consider St. Gregory and Alypius their spiritual patrons. Even in the Kiev Lavra, a similar temple was built later than us. We honor the Pechersk saints, and their feat, the struggle with their own sins, is very important for us. We consider ourselves a part of the Holy Lavra. Vladyka Paul also constantly helps us both spiritually and financially, despite difficult and difficult times. We hold a religious procession every day with prayer for Ukraine, observe fasting and deep prayer, as in all monasteries of the Odessa diocese, with the blessing of Metropolitan Agafangel. Peacekeeping service, spiritual and patriotic, is very important to us. But I think the most important thing now is for everyone to stop even thinking about confrontations with any confession. We communicate with people and help them, regardless of nationality or religious affiliation. When we open exhibitions of children's works, collect help for refugees, ATO participants, we get help from everywhere. Now is not the time to talk about disputes at all. We need to talk about what unites us."
In the city, Governor General Count Mikhail Vorontsov built a church in honor of his heavenly patron, Archangel Michael, on a vacant lot by the sea, on the outskirts of the city. In the city, the Holy Synod decided to establish a female cenobitic monastery at this temple. A lot of charitable work was carried out at the monastery: there was a refectory for the poor, a hospital, and a school for orphan girls. Through the tireless work of the abbess, the monastery flourished.
In the year the monastery was closed “as counter-revolutionary” for its support of Patriarch Tikhon and refusal to follow the renovationist schism. In the year the Archangel Michael's Cathedral and the bell tower were blown up.
In the post-war years, Blessed John (Ivan Petrovich Zhukovsky), a fool for Christ's sake, lived within the walls of the monastery.
In the city, the monastery was closed by Soviet and party authorities, and its territory was transferred to the city tuberculosis hospital.
Since then, the monastery has been actively restored. Workshops have been opened for sewing vestments, making utensils, restoring icons, and embroidering with gold and beads. At the monastery there is a charitable refectory for feeding the poor and disadvantaged, who are received by about 500 people a day, lovingly providing all possible assistance. On the territory of the monastery there is a House of Mercy, in which 80 disadvantaged people found shelter.
The monastery devotes a lot of energy to working with children, helping preschool and school institutions, a city boarding school for disabled children, etc. Schools of spiritual education have been opened at the monastery: for the disabled, at a children's sanatorium, at a women's prison, and a Sunday school for parishioners. In addition to Sunday schools, educational activities are carried out through a library, which contains a large number of both pre-revolutionary publications and books published in the modern period. Exhibitions and other cultural events are regularly held in the exhibition hall of the House of Mercy. At the monastery there are the Regency and Goldembroidery departments of the Odessa Theological Seminary, where students from all over Ukraine study.
Having such strong spiritual support and the saint’s blessing, the monastery is trying to revive all those glorious traditions of the past, with which it earned itself a good name from God and people. The monastery devotes a lot of energy to working with children, helping preschool and school institutions, orphanages, city children's medical and educational institutions, etc. The monastery operates a Sunday school for parishioners - children and adults; A Sunday school was also created at the women's correctional labor colony. On holidays, mothers visit medical institutions with sermons and conversations, where they bring a word of hope to suffering people, try to ease their pain, and make the world brighter for them.
The monastery, under the leadership and with the active participation of Abbess Seraphima, became a center for book publishing. Under her, he strives to establish his own printing business. On the eve of the Nativity of Christ 1995, in the Golden Hall of the Odessa State Literary Museum, a presentation of the first edition of the Holy Archangel Michael Convent - the book “Odessa Transfiguration Cathedral: Life, Death, Resurrection” took place. This book opened the series “200 years of Orthodoxy in Odessa.” The second stage of this series was the book “Kasper’s miraculous image of the Mother of God,” which included pre-revolutionary publications about the Odessa shrine, the icon of the Patroness of the entire southern region, the Savior of Odessa from troubles and misfortunes, the Abbess of our Christian community.
The third book in the series is called “The Canonization of Odessa Saints.” It contains the biographies of the first canonized locally revered saints of God in the history of the diocese - Archimandrite Gabriel and Schema-Abbot Kuksha, with akathists and prayers in their honor. The canonization celebrations, held for the first time in Odessa, were marked by the arrival of His Beatitude the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine. Vladyka Vladimir honored our humble monastery with his high presence, performing an all-night vigil here with a host of hierarchs and blessing the sisters for their feat of pleasing God and prayer.
For the Feast of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the book “The Royal Nun” was published, telling about the fate and deeds of “Mother Grand Duchess” - nun Anastasia, in the world of Her Highness Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna, Princess of Oldenburg, wife of the brother of Emperor Alexander II. Nun Anastasia is the only representative of the Romanov royal dynasty who devoted herself to monasticism in its strictly Orthodox, patristic incarnation. Published in 1986, the book “Prayer lamps. The History of Odessa Monasteries" contains a detailed narrative about the Holy Dormition and Holy Archangel Michael monasteries and continues the series "200 years of Orthodoxy in Odessa." In total, more than 15 books have been published.
In the year of the city’s 200th anniversary, the Odessa Historical and Local Lore Museum provided halls for the monastery exhibition, which was dedicated to the history of God-saved Odessa.
For the sake of truth, it must be admitted that there are many obstacles on the way of the monastery. Temptations can be very great. If it weren’t for the advice and prayers of the Metropolitan and the wise elders from the monastery, it would have been even more difficult. Therefore, the bishop blessed Father Jonah from the Holy Dormition Monastery to be the confessor of the monastery, experienced and skilled in the fight against the enemy. Through the narrow paths of self-denial, humility, curbing one’s own will, and unceasing prayer, Elder Jonah led his spiritual children to salvation. Strictness and zeal in the fulfillment of monastic vows were combined in him with extraordinary meekness and love. In addition to Father Jonah, spiritual assistance to the mothers was provided by the godly elders Alexy, Evfimy, Arseny and others, many of whom sent their spiritual children to obedience to the St. Michael’s Monastery. The sisters are highly respected by the rector of the monastery church, resident of the Holy Dormition Monastery, seminary teacher Archimandrite Philip, who helps the sisters not only with advice, but also with a personal example of monastic modesty, composure, prayerful concentration and obedience.
In the village Baranovo, Ivanovo district, a monastery monastery was opened at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Previously, the church was dilapidated. It once housed a film club. The narthex was converted into a cinema installation, and a screen hung in the altar. After the nuns, together with the village residents and with the support of local authorities, began to repair the temple, the archpastor visited it. The singing of prayers to the Blessed Virgin flowed like a mighty wave under the freshly plastered arches of the recreated house of the Mother of God. All those gathered - priests, subdeacons, and the Bishop himself could not contain the excitement that gripped them. And another Orthodox shrine rose from the ashes! Now the monastery has been converted into a monastery
On May 15, 2004, on the day of the transfer of the relics of the blessed princes Boris and Gleb, His Eminence Agafangel, Metropolitan of Odessa and Izmail consecrated the Boris-Gleb Chapel in the Holy Archangel Michael Convent. The chapel was built for the prayerful memory of the murdered servant of God Boris (Vikhrov) at the expense of his mother and other Odessa residents. They came to the Divine Liturgy dedicated to the opening of the chapel and the memory of the murdered man. Boris Vikhrov was killed by a killer when he was the chairman of the Odessa Arbitration Court; His driver Igor was also killed. On this spring-like warm and sunny day, His Eminence Agafangel, Metropolitan of Odessa and Izmail performed the Divine Liturgy and consecration of the chapel.
Deputy Governor of the Odessa Region A. Kisse and Chairman of the Odessa Regional Arbitration Court V. Balukh took part in the service and consecration. The ruling bishop presented blessed Certificates to the builders and decorators of the chapel, and Boris Vikhrov’s mother, in memory of her son, distributed spiritual literature.
The chapel is decorated with beautiful paintings, as well as large icons of saints, made in the ancient Russian style. The icon of the holy brothers, the noble princes Boris and Gleb, constantly resides on the analogue. Later, an icon of Saints Boris, Gleb and Igor was installed and consecrated in niches outside the sauna.
The “Christian Odessa” museum in the Odessa St. Archangel Michael Convent has become unique and unparalleled for Ukraine. It was no coincidence that the remarkable event of the opening of this local history museum in Odessa coincided with the anniversary of the 210th anniversary of our city.
The center of Orthodox culture and piety became the glorious convent under the leadership of the abbess of the monastery, Mother Seraphim, who created this museum. Many Odessa residents came to the opening celebration of the “Christian Odessa” museum, located in a three-story building specially built for it under a blue dome and a golden cross. The celebration was led by His Beatitude Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine and His Eminence Agafangel, Metropolitan of Odessa and Izmail, who consecrated the dome cross for the museum. The city clergy and guests from Moldova and Israel were present.
The temple in honor of the Council of the Reverend Kiev-Pechersk Fathers in the Holy Archangel Michael Convent is located in the building of the House of Mercy. Compelled by the duty of Christian love, the nuns set about building a House of Mercy for sick and elderly parishioners. The foundation stone of the monastery almshouse was carried out by Metropolitan Agafangel on November 8 (21), 1995, on the day of the patronal feast of the monastery.
In 2000, the regency department at the Odessa Theological Seminary with a temple was located on the second floor of the House of Mercy. In 2007, Bishop Agathangel, Metropolitan of Odessa and Izmail, consecrated the throne in the church in the name of the Council of the Kiev-Pechersk Reverend Fathers in the Holy Archangel Michael Convent . The paintings of this small temple are admirable, as is the style of the building itself, made in the ancient, canonical style. Divine services in this temple are filled with special beauty.
IN last years the monastery has become very decorated. Images of many saints appeared on the walls inside the temple, and the iconostasis was being updated. On the temple building, on the bell tower, on the refectory, domes with crosses sparkled in gold, and mosaic images of saints appeared on the walls. Opposite it is a chapel of the miraculous image of the Mother of God “The Inexhaustible Chalice”. The fruit trees gained strength, turning into a garden; beautiful flowers also decorate the area. Beautiful carved pavilions appeared for the suffering in front of the House of Mercy and for the nuns of the monastery.
A new 4-story building with a church shop on the ground floor and many mosaic icons on the facade was put into operation. There are also departments of the Odessa Theological Seminary - regency, icon painting, gold embroidery. The traditions of the women's diocesan school are continued by the Department of Church artistic embroidery of the Odessa Theological Seminary, opened with the blessing of Bishop Agafangel in the 2002/2003 academic year through the labors of the abbess of the monastery - Abbess Seraphim. Many vestments for the highest hierarchs of the Church were created here - including sakkos for His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir, and His Eminence Bishop Agafangel. Now the classes of this department are held in the new building of the monastery.
The monastery, which was in need of the basic necessities, had neither funds nor building materials. There was only hope for a miracle from God. She has more than once justified the sisters’ faith in the Lord’s mercy. Indeed, at the very birth of the monastery, it was forever imprinted in the decree of the Holy Synod, which indicated the source of funds in “strong trust in the Highest mercy” and the patronage of the Archangel of the Heavenly powers, Michael. The main thing is that the blessing of God, the grace of the Most Holy Theotokos and the intercession of the Heavenly angelic forces always remain with the monastery of the holy Archangel Michael of God.
Odessa Holy Archangel Michael Convent was founded back in 1835 as the Church of the Archangel Michael. The monastery was created by famous figures of Odessa: Prince M. Vorontsov and his wife, Countess R. Edling, philanthropist and writer A. Sturdza and others. In 1835, Governor General Count Mikhail Vorontsov built a church in honor of his heavenly patron, Archangel Michael, on a vacant lot by the sea, on the outskirts of the city. In 1840, the Holy Synod decided to establish a female cenobitic monastery at this temple. This place really turned out to be great, for so many good undertakings took place here, it brought so much benefit to the city and people that its good trace turned out to be extremely deep. A lot of charitable work was carried out at the monastery: there was a refectory for the poor, a hospital, and a school for orphan girls. Through the tireless work of the abbess, the monastery flourished. Abbesses such as Tabitha, Susanna, Miropia, Archelaus and Raphael led the construction of the spiritual house of the holy family of monastics.
In 1923, the monastery was closed “as counter-revolutionary” for supporting Patriarch Tikhon and refusing to follow the renovationist schism. In 1931, the Archangel Michael's Cathedral and bell tower were blown up. During the occupation of Odessa in 1941, when obstacles collapsed, this manifested itself with particular force. All churches in the city opened. On April 27, 1942, an act of transferring the monastery premises to the sisters of the monastery was drawn up. On September 3, 1944, the abbess, nun Anatolia, was elevated to the rank of abbot. More than 70 sisters lived in the monastery at that time. They worked tirelessly in the monastery hospital, mill, vegetable garden, in the barnyard, baking prosphora, in workshops, in the church. The nuns had the good fortune to communicate with the holy ascetic Elder John (in the world Ivan Petrovich Zhukovsky), a fool for Christ's sake, who lived within the walls of the monastery in the post-war years.
In 1961, the monastery was closed by Soviet and party authorities, and its territory was transferred to the city tuberculosis hospital. The revival of the monastery began in 1992. The monastery at that time was a pitiful and wretched sight: the choir building lay in ruins, the buildings were dilapidated, trees and grass grew through gaping holes in the rotten roof. Traces of many years of neglect were visible everywhere. The monastery rose from the ruins under the care of the archpastor of Odessa, Metropolitan Agafangel. He donated the miraculous icon of the Gerbovetsky Mother of God to the monastery. Knowing how important it is to revive liturgical life, the bishop donated a Eucharistic set to the monastery for the repose of his parents, the nun Macarius and the warrior Michael, a gilded vestment for the Holy Altar, various utensils, several cars, building materials, etc.
Having such strong spiritual support, the monastery is trying to revive those glorious traditions of the past, with which it earned itself a good name from God and people. Workshops have been opened for sewing vestments, making utensils, restoring icons, and embroidering with gold and beads. At the monastery there is a charitable refectory for feeding the poor and disadvantaged, who are received by about 500 people a day, lovingly providing all possible assistance. On the territory of the monastery there is a House of Mercy, in which 80 disadvantaged people found shelter.
The monastery has two monasteries: the Holy Nativity of the Mother of God in the village of Baranovo and the Holy Ascension in Odessa.
