Toplovsky Monastery in Crimea

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

The Crimean land is filled with legends, and one of them is the Toplovsky Trinity-Paraskevievsky Monastery. This monastery is located in a holy place. The pilgrims who visited it tell stories about their miraculous healing, increasing the popularity of this monastery more and more. Organized here and excursions in the Crimea. Prices for such tours depend on the place of departure of the group, the age of the traveler (adult or child), as well as on the travel agency, and range from 500 to 1000 rubles.

Location

Toplovsky Monastery on the map of Crimea is located 45 kilometers from Feodosia and 69 from Simferopol. You can find it near the village of Topolevka. If you drive along the highway leading in the direction "Kerch-Feodosia-Simferopol", the Toplovsky Monastery is easy to find precisely in this settlement. Those who travel by public transport will need to get to the bus stop with the name "Topolevka". Next, you need to climb the road going up. The length of this path is 1 kilometer.

If you plan to visit the Toplovsky Monastery,how to get to it from Simferopol? On the highway get to the village of Topolevka. At its end, just behind the market, the road branches off to the right. You can navigate by a small booth with a dome, on which there is a pointer. It is located just before the turn. And those who get to the Toplovsky Monastery from Feodosia or Kerch will see a booth with a sign at the beginning of the village. And he will need to turn not to the right, but to the left.

The road to the monastery is narrow but paved. Three minutes of steep climb and you have reached the end point of the travel route. In front of you is the Toplovsky Monastery. Its buildings are located among the Crimean forest, on the ledge of Mount Karatau.

Motorists don't have to worry about where to park their car. Directly in front of the gates to the Toplovsky Monastery there is a free parking lot.

Today this holy monastery is a place where pilgrimages are made by believing Christians, as well as those who wish to get rid of diseases. Monastery address: Educational, Belgorod district, Crimea. For more information, please visit the monastery's official website.

Visitor Rules

No money is taken for entering the Toplovsky Monastery. However, visitors must follow certain rules. For example, men and women do not have the right to be on the territory of the holy monastery with bare knees and shoulders.

Those who did not take a headscarf with them are invited to purchase it at the stall right at the gate. You can also borrow it there.a long skirt, leaving a deposit in the form of a certain amount of money.

Legend of Saint Paraskeva

This significant event happened many years ago in Rome. In this ancient city, in a family of pious Christians, a daughter was born. This was Saint Paraskeva. The father and mother raised the girl in a true Christian spirit. After the death of her parents, Paraskeva distributed all her property to the poor and began to preach the Gospel. However, the emperor Antonian, who lived in those days, who tried to strangle Christianity, decided to force this subject of his to renounce the faith. In the course were both persuasion and threats. In addition, they tried to kill Paraskeva by putting a red-hot copper helmet on her head, throwing it into a cauldron with tar and oil heated to a boil. However, all the attempts of the emperor were in vain. Despite sophisticated torture, Paraskeva remained safe and sound. Then the emperor ordered to douse the woman with the contents of a red-hot cauldron, but a brave Christian woman splashed the hot mess right into his eyes. Antonian went blind and immediately begged for mercy.

The legend says that Paraskeva restored his sight, which made the emperor believe in God. Further, the holy venerable martyr went to foreign lands in order to read her sermons there. Her path lay through several cities. In each of them, the appearance of Paraskeva was accompanied by inexplicable miracles. However, in one of these places, the ruler Tarasius betrayed her to torment and death. Thus he stopped the Christian preaching of the saint. It happened, according to legend, in the Crimea, not far from the village of Toply, which today bears the namePoplars.

According to legend, where the saint's head was cut off, living healing water began to ooze from the depths of the earth. Not far from this place, the Toplovsky St. Paraskevievsky Convent was erected. Its official opening took place on August 25, 1864

At all times, the memory of Paraskeva was sacredly honored in the Crimea. The proof of this is the ruins of Greek churches found by archaeologists, once built near the villages of Topolevka and Strawberry. And today the relics of the martyr are kept near the place of her martyrdom, on Mount Athos.

Foundation of the monastery

Even before 1864, in the place where the holy monastery is located today, the Bulgarian Konstantin lived. She came from the village of Kishlav (the modern name is Kursk). This hermit, who heard the voice of God and went to the mountains to pray, was soon joined by several more women. These were the times when Crimea had just become part of Russia and was sparsely populated. This was facilitated by the mass migration of Muslims and Christians to the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Greek and Armenian churches were in desolation and were being restored rather slowly.

The Toplovsky Monastery was opened on the lands donated by Catherine II to Zakhar Zotov, the favorite of the Empress. By the middle of the 19th century. the owners of these territories were two sisters. These are Feodora Zotova and Angelina Lambiri. Angelina bought the land from her sister and gave it to her in order to build the Toplovsky Convent. However, the opening of the holy monastery was preceded by another event. Toplovsky nunnery beganto function only after a small temple was erected on July 26, 1863, named after St. Paraskeva. It was built near a healing spring. Parthenius, the Kiziltash abbot, took an active part in the construction of the temple and the arrangement of the monastery. In 1866 he was killed by the Crimean Tatars. In 2000, Parthenius was canonized as a saint.

At the beginning of its existence, the Toplovsky St. Paraskevievsky Monastery was inhabited by only nine women. Bulgarian Konstantin became a nun. She took the tonsure, calling herself Paraskeva.

Holy Cloister Expansion

In the following years after the opening, the monastery continued to be built. Commercial and residential buildings appeared on its territory. A hospital was also opened here, at which the church "Joy of All Who Sorrow" worked. Some changes have also affected buildings already erected. So, they rebuilt and somewhat expanded the church of St. Paraskeva. According to the project of the architect V. A. Feldman, the construction of the Holy Trinity Cathedral began.

Toplovsky monastery in the Crimea had an exemplary garden economy for its time. Workshops functioned on its territory. Such significant successes of the holy monastery were facilitated by the activities of Abbess Paraskeva, who headed it. She stood at the head of the holy monastery until her death. In 2009, Abbess Paraskeva (Rodimtseva) was canonized as a local saint.

Donations

At different times, some sacred relics were transferred to the Toplovsky Monastery. So, in 1886 Father Barsanuphius visited this holy monastery. At that time he was a hieromonkRussian Panteleimon Monastery, located on Old Athos. Together with his brethren, he donated a particle of the Life-Giving and Holy Cross of the Lord, as well as particles of the relics of St. Paraskeva and St. Panteleimon, to the Toplovsky monastery. All these donations were received with due honors.

The name of Count Nikolai Fedorovich Heiden is inextricably linked with the history of the Toplovsky Monastery. He, being the headman of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, donated his own dacha, which was located in Feodosia, to the Crimean monastery. At the request of the donor, a monastery courtyard, the Church of the Kazan Mother of God, and a shelter for pilgrims were opened here. An elementary school for girls also began to operate here.

In April 1890, N. F. Geiden donated to the Toplovsky Monastery an icon of the Kazan Mother of God, which was a family heirloom of his family, inherited. Such a valuable gift was made by the count in honor of the miraculous deliverance of the Russian emperor from death on 1888-17-10

The donated icon was decorated with a silver riza with gilding. Around the face of the Mother of God was an ubrus of pearls and precious stones (including diamonds). With this icon, with the permission of the Holy Synod, they made annual religious processions in honor of the salvation of the emperor.

Another most precious gift to the monastery was the cross, which contained the holy relics of the Kiev-Pechersk saints. This is another heirloom that the Count inherited from his grandfather.

A life-size picturesque crucifix was purchased on Mount Athos at the expense of N. F. Heiden. On theIt contained inscriptions in three languages - Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The foot of the crucifix was decorated with a stone from the Holy Sepulcher. His count brought from Jerusalem in 1884

Had a monastery and other donations. So, the Simferopol tradesman Fyodor Kashunin donated a house to the holy monastery.

A large number of shrines kept in the monastery attracted many travelers and pilgrims. They all wanted to see the relics there and bow to them. Many peasants from nearby villages also came to the Sunday service. Even Muslims treated the shrine with reverence. They also came to the monastery in order to ask for he alth from the icon of the Mother of God and bathe in a healing spring. Visitors certainly left monetary donations to the holy monastery.

Closing the monastery

During the existence of the USSR, the church was persecuted. This fate did not pass and the Toplovsky Monastery in the Crimea. But in order to avoid closure, for several years in a row the holy monastery officially existed under the guise of a labor commune of gardeners. Formally, they were engaged in the cultivation of fruits. Yes, the nuns looked after the garden. However, they continued their ritual life.

The final closure of the monastery occurred after the authorities decided to liquidate the agricultural artel with the name "Women's Labor". It happened on September 7, 1928. In December of the same year, the abbess of the monastery died. And a month later, in January, the NKVD soldiers who arrived at the Toplovsky Monastery evicted the nuns from its buildings, taking from them a receipt forreturn to their previous place of residence.

Infirm and old women were dismantled by the population of the surrounding villages to their homes. But the priests and nuns, who led the economic activities of the monastery, were in for a sad fate. Many of them were arrested and sent to camps. At the same time, the still unfinished Holy Trinity Cathedral was blown up. The surviving buildings of the monastery housed the Bezbozhnik state farm.

New life of the holy monastery

Toplovsky Trinity Paraskevievsky Monastery began its revival in the nineties of the last century. The first divine service in it after a significant break took place on August 8, 1992. Almost a year later, the charter of the monastery was registered. On December 20, 1994, the transfer of the holy monastery 10.76 hectares of land took place. They returned the monastery and its former buildings, which in the post-war years served as a pioneer camp. Today, there are 2 churches in the holy monastery - the icons of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" and the Monk Martyr Paraskeva.

Healing water

What is the Toplovsky Monastery especially famous for? Reviews of pilgrims and tourists who visited it most of all relate to healing springs located near the holy monastery. These springs have specific names. These are the sources:

- St. Paraskeva.

- St. George the Victorious.- Three Hierarchs (Gregory the Theologian, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom).

In addition to them, Orthodox relics of special value, such as a crucifix with saints, attract the attention of pilgrimsrelics and ancient icons.

Toplovsky Monastery is desirable to visit for everyone who chooses various excursions in the Crimea for their trip. Prices for visiting the holy monastery will not cause significant damage to the family budget. In addition, life-giving water, simple and tasty food in the refectory, as well as friendly nuns are waiting for each of the visitors.

Spring of St. Paraskeva

The spring, which appeared at the site of the execution of the venerable martyr, was improved in 1882. Near the tank, lined with granite, a kind of iconostasis appeared in the form of a semicircular wall. A year later, a special font was built near the source, consisting of two sections (male and female), as well as a water tank.

Every year on July 26 (August 8 according to the new style) a huge number of people made a pilgrimage to the monastery. Bulgarians and Greeks, Tatars and Russians carried their sick relatives on wagons. On this day, they honored the memory of Saint Paraskeva and immersed themselves in the spring. People believed that the healing water would save them from illness and restore their lost he alth.

The holy spring of Paraskeva is a place of pilgrimage even today. And today, many believers seek to plunge into the life-giving water. The source, as in former times, outwardly similar to the well located in the chapel. Above the water is an icon depicting St. Paraskeva. For those who decide to take a bath, the Toplovsky monastery offers fonts. They are located near the source. It is believed that this living water heals eye diseases and ailments of the head.

Source of St. George the Victorious

This healing spring is located 2 km from the Toplovsky Monastery. It is located in a picturesque forest area. There is a legend that it was in the place where the holy spring beats out of the ground that the horseman appeared three times. The nuns recognized George the Victorious in him.

Not far from this spring, two open fonts were built. One of them is male and the other is female. The chapel of St. George the Victorious and the bell tower were also erected here. According to pilgrims, the water from this spring heals nervous diseases, as well as pathologies of the organs of movement.

Three Saints Spring

The farthest spring of the Toplovsky Monastery is located in the mountains. It is named after the Three Hierarchs, namely Gregory the Theologian, Basil the Great and John Chrysostom. This source has three water outlets at once. They are located next to each other and subsequently merge into one seething stream. Having made a short journey, the holy water literally falls into a small lake, in which the pilgrims take a bath.

At the very foot of the waterfall, the stream boils and foams. In the lake, the water is clear and calm. It is believed that bathing in this spring is especially useful for nervous diseases. However, the path to the holy spring is not a short one, and not every person is able to overcome it. For those wishing to try the healing water, a column has been arranged on the territory of the Toplovsky Monastery. It can be distinguished by the red roof. You can also bathe with this healing water on the territory of the monastery. For this it shouldgo to the lower font.

Bathing rules

The springs of the Toplovsky Monastery are annually visited by a significant number of pilgrims. And those of them who decide to perform ablution must adhere to certain rules. Their observance in conjunction with the action of healing water will eliminate many ailments.

You need to plunge into the font three times with your head. At the same time, the following words should be uttered: "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen." In addition, the bodies of both women and men must be covered. Swimwear can be a long T-shirt or a nightgown. A new sheet is also suitable, in which a person should simply turn around. It should be borne in mind that such clothes are also sold in the monastery stall.

Baptized Christians must have a pectoral cross with them when bathing. It can also be purchased from the church shop.

Conclusion

In 2009 the monastery celebrated 145 years since its founding. And, as in the old days, every year on August 8, the holy monastery receives thousands of pilgrims. People of all walks of life and ages come and on ordinary days. Their goal is to bow to the holy relics of the monastery and bathe in the healing spring water.

Years pass, and the Toplovsky Monastery is getting prettier and more and more decorated. Today, a chapel built over the grave of Paraskeva, the first abbess, has been restored here. Every day this place is visited by many people. They bring their troubles and sorrows here, hoping for help. According to the already established tradition, people write notes with requests and put them in a box,installed at the tomb of the abbess.

There is a legend that Saint Paraskeva herself protects the Toplovsky Monastery from all sorts of troubles. At night, she walks around the monastery, holding a staff in one hand and a palm branch in the other. She blesses everyone who meets on the path of the saint. Patients Paraskeva immediately heals. And those who seek to harm the monastery are punished by an invisible force.