Monastery of St. Anastasia Bakhchisarai. Bead Temple. Crimea, Kachi-Kalyon. Bakhchisarai district, Bashtanovka, how to get to the Beaded Temple in Crimea

Pages: 1

//ajushka.livejournal.com

In the valley of Kachi-Kalyon ("ship of the cross", the rock mass looks like the stern of a ship with a cross made of natural cracks) there are several rock monasteries. In the 6th-8th centuries, Byzantine Christians who fled to Tavria from persecution created a large rock monastery here, but after an earthquake it collapsed. Then periodically the monks returned here again, the monastery was rebuilt in different centuries. The rock is very hard, no one knows how they managed to knock out the cells in those days: perhaps they used natural depressions, but traces of the use of some tools are visible. Even now, with the help modern technology, processing this stone is extremely difficult.

A long and steep path leads from the road to the monastery. To prevent the soil from eroding and to be able to climb to a height of 150 meters to the monastery at any time of the year, the monks did a great job: about 650 car tires laid out with steps and filled with cement. The path to the monastery turns into a kind of pilgrimage: going up and down those steps is quite difficult, with my injured knee, by the end I realized that I would not go up there a second time. This road is also called the “road of sinners.” We climbed for about half an hour, fortunately it was not hot, and the trail goes for the most part in the shade of low trees.

The rock monastery existed here for many centuries with long interruptions; in 1921 it was closed by the new government, although, according to local testimony, monks lived here until 1932. Subsequently, this area was declared a protected area.

The monastery of St. Anastasia belongs to the Holy Dormition Monastery in the city of Bakhchisarai.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

“Here there were fraternal cells, next door there was a refectory. They went underground, like the first Christians, and then little by little came out from here,” says Father Dorofey, rector of the Church of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

On the road to the monastery there is a tiny temple of Hagia Sophia, inside of which only a few people can fit. It was created in stone, broken off from a rock many years ago during an earthquake, has a round vault, inside there are small niches for icons, but at the entrance they placed metal gratings and you can’t just get into it.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

In the middle of the last century, stone mining was carried out here, but, apparently, mining was too expensive, so it was stopped, then a geological reserve was established here. After the blessing, the monks turned the abandoned adit into a small temple.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

Because the stone walls raw, it was impossible to paint. That's why everything interior decoration The temple is made of beads. The first impression when you get there is that this is some kind of Buddhist temple: the ceiling and walls are lined with beads and beads, under low ceiling Hundreds of beaded lamps hang.

Apparently, there was a collapse some time ago, or the stone was worn out. Impressive.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

When you go up, you are first greeted by a holy spring, the water of which is considered healing. They ask you to treat him with respect. Next to it is the text of the prayer.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

New monks are building another temple nearby; in the background you can see a grotto, which the monks are deepening with the help of heavy equipment. In the photo on the left is a small shop where you can buy icons, soap with Crimean mountain herbs, kvass, mead, on the right is the entrance to the existing church.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

Staircase leading to the entrance to the temple.

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On the walls and doors of buildings, decorations from pebbles are made with love and patience, wooden planks, plant seeds and beads.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

Even small flower beds were carved out of the rocks.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

- The decoration of the church began with lamps with pendants, similar to those on Holy Mount Athos. We took them as a basis, and then added a little of our own, and the decoration of the temple itself continued in the same beaded style. Nature itself suggested this option to us - the rock is limestone, damp, and even if we wanted to do a painting, we would not have succeeded early. And so our beaded panels are held on the walls and vault of the cave on a waterproof basis,” Father Agathador says about the temple.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

Since there are no windows in this temple, the beaded walls and ceiling reflect dim moving light church candles and lamps, transforming the space of the temple into something fabulous and flickering. This can put anyone into a trance, so you don’t want to leave the temple during the service; your soul relaxes and soars. The smell of candles, the glare from beads, the prayers of monks make you forget about problems and think about the soul, about God in it.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

There are several by the wall high chairs with inlay with beads - these are stasidia, on the backs of which the 10 commandments are laid out with beads. The seats are folding, and during hours-long services and night prayers, the monks lean on the armrests.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

All lamps are unique, no one is the same, made with love from what believers bring. However, like all products, you can not only look at them, but also take them with you. The shop also sells fragrant soap. self made, oils from Crimean plants.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

The monks built hotels for pilgrims and workers - people who come to work for housing and food.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

There is something to work on there. Small subsistence farming helps to survive at such an altitude: there are cows, the monks have learned to make cottage cheese and cheese from milk, and they grow simple vegetables and fruits. There are only seven monks, workers help - people for whom it is important to work in the name of faith, in the name of God.

Animal farm - cows stand below.

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Obviously this is a vegetable garden. Water for irrigation is collected in barrels during rains. There are problems with water there, of course. Monks and pilgrims have a hard time; there are all the conditions for victory over pride.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

In a shop where they sell various crafts - mandalas, icons, crosses - I asked my mother, a woman about 80-85 years old, if they had an icon of St. Sophia. For his goddaughter Sofia. She took me to another room and showed me a plate. It seemed quite big to me, I was wondering whether to take it, I wanted something smaller.

Mother, the size of a 10-year-old girl, with blue eyes emitting some kind of kind human light, said:

You know, the monk Father Agathador writes these little plates and prays and prays. She is so prayerful, take it, you won’t regret it. This is very good for a girl. You take her to communion, it will be so good.

I held the plate in my hands, imagined how a monk unknown to me chose, glued and prayed all these chains of stones, looked into the eyes of a kind woman, and could not resist.

//ajushka.livejournal.com

I bought it. Granny carefully packed a plate for me and attached a stand for it, I was very touched.

// ajushka.livejournal.com // ajushka.livejournal.com

Those interested can visit this monastery, bring beads or unnecessary decorations, live and work in a holy place. The people there are sincere, good, and reliable.

How to get there.

By car: driving through Bakhchisarai towards Sevastopol, turn at the sign for Preduschelnoye. About 1.5 km from the village of Preduschelnoye, stop along the road near the Kachi-Kalyon rock massif. GPS coordinates 44.695169;33.885226.

address: Russia, Crimea, Bakhchisarai district, Bashtanovka village

ajushka
21/03/2016

Pages: 1

While in Crimea, we visited a unique place - a beaded temple, one of a kind. There are several rock monasteries in Crimea, some are famous and popular, such as the Holy Dormition Monastery in Bakhchisarai. We didn’t get to it a little, because... It was already getting dark, there was no point in going, but we ended up in a small rock monastery in the narrow Tash-Air gorge on the slope of Mount Fytski (what names!), bearing the name of Anastasia Pattern, a Christian great martyr of the 4th century, who alleviated (“resolved”) the suffering of Christians, she is also considered the patroness of pregnant women, and also helps innocent Christians to free themselves from captivity or imprisonment.
In the valley of Kachi-Kalyon ("ship of the cross", the rock mass looks like the stern of a ship with a cross made of natural cracks) there are several rock monasteries. In the 6th-8th centuries, Byzantine Christians who fled to Tavria from persecution created a large rock monastery here, but after an earthquake it collapsed. Then periodically the monks returned here again, the monastery was rebuilt in different centuries. The rock is very hard, no one knows how they managed to knock out the cells in those days: perhaps they used natural depressions, but traces of the use of some tools are visible. Even now, with the help of modern technology, it is extremely difficult to process this stone.

A long and steep path leads from the road to the monastery. To prevent the soil from eroding and to be able to climb to a height of 150 meters to the monastery at any time of the year, the monks did a great job: about 650 car tires were laid out in steps and filled with cement. The path to the monastery turns into a kind of pilgrimage: going up and down those steps is quite difficult, with my injured knee, by the end I realized that I would not go up there a second time. This road is also called the “road of sinners.” We climbed for about half an hour, fortunately it was not hot, and the trail passes mostly in the shade of low trees.

The rock monastery existed here for many centuries with long interruptions; in 1921 it was closed by the new government, although, according to local testimony, monks lived here until 1932. Subsequently, this area was declared a protected area.
2

The monastery of St. Anastasia belongs to the Holy Dormition Monastery in the city of Bakhchisarai.
3

Since the stone walls are damp, it was impossible to paint. Therefore, the entire interior decoration of the temple is made of beads. The first impression when you get there is that this is some kind of Buddhist temple: the ceiling and walls are lined with beads and beads, and hundreds of beaded lamps hang under the low ceiling. I didn’t take pictures there because... There was a service going on, but I found a video on the Internet. On the ceiling there is the Star of Bethlehem and a Byzantine cross, made of beads and beads by the hands of monks. The adit, in which services are also conducted, goes several tens of meters deep.

Apparently, there was a collapse some time ago, or the stone was worn out. Impressive.
11

When you go up, you are first greeted by a holy spring, the water of which is considered healing. They ask you to treat him with respect. Next to it is the text of the prayer.
12

13

Staircase leading to the entrance to the temple.
15

16

17

18

The decorations on the walls and doors of the buildings are made with love and patience from pebbles, wooden planks, plant seeds and beads.
19

20

21

22

23

Even small flower beds were carved out of the rocks.
24

Since there are no windows in this temple, the beaded walls and ceiling reflect the dim moving light of church candles and lamps, turning the temple space into something fabulous and flickering. This can put anyone into a trance, so you don’t want to leave the temple during the service; your soul relaxes and soars. The smell of candles, the glare from beads, the prayers of monks make you forget about problems and think about the soul, about God in it.
26

All lamps are unique, no one is the same, made with love from what believers bring. However, like all products, you can not only look at them, but also take them with you. The shop also sells aromatic handmade soap and oils from Crimean plants.
28

The monks built hotels for pilgrims and workers - people who come to work for housing and food.
29

Mother, the size of a 10-year-old girl, with blue eyes emitting some kind of kind human light, said:
- You know, the monk Father Agathador writes these plates and prays and prays. She is so prayerful, take it, you won’t regret it. This is very good for a girl. You take her to communion, it will be so good.

I held the plate in my hands, imagined how a monk unknown to me chose, glued and prayed all these chains of stones, looked into the eyes of a kind woman, and could not resist.
32

I bought it. Granny carefully packed a plate for me and attached a stand for it, I was very touched.
33

Everything that pilgrims bring is used, even the dial of a watch.
All crafts exude carelessness, love, patience, and the desire to make the world a better place.
34

They began to build a temple in the name of the icon in the monastery Holy Mother of God"Three-handed" The church is being built in the Byzantine style: large, with domes and bells, light - the opposite of the cave chapel. But its interior decoration will also be made of beads.
35

I found another video online where you can see the interior of the temple.

Those who wish can visit this monastery, bring beads or unnecessary jewelry, live and work in the holy place. The people there are sincere, good, and reliable.

How to get there.

From Simferopol, minibuses depart every hour from the Zapadnaya bus station to Bakhchisarai. There you need to change to a bus heading towards the village of Sinapnoe. The “Kachi-Kalyon” stop is located between the villages of Predushchelnoye and Bashtanovka.
By car: driving through Bakhchisarai towards Sevastopol, turn at the sign for Preduschelnoye. About 1.5 km from the village of Preduschelnoye, stop along the road near the Kachi-Kalyon rock massif. GPS coordinates 44.695169;33.885226.
Contacts:
e-mail: [email protected]
tel.: +79788733850 monk Isidore, +79787971923 monk Damian
address: Russia, Crimea, Bakhchisarai district, Bashtanovka village

Beaded Temple

While in Crimea, we visited a unique place - a beaded temple, one of a kind. There are several rock monasteries in Crimea, some are famous and popular, such as the Holy Dormition Monastery in Bakhchisarai. We didn’t get there a little, but we ended up in a small rock monastery in the narrow Tash-Air gorge on the slope of Mount Fytski (what names!), bearing the name of Anastasia Pattern, a Christian great martyr of the 4th century, who alleviated (“resolved”) the suffering of Christians, she She is also considered the patroness of pregnant women, and also helps innocent Christians to free themselves from captivity or imprisonment.

In the valley of Kachi-Kalyon ("ship of the cross", the rock mass looks like the stern of a ship with a cross made of natural cracks) there are several rock monasteries. In the 6th-8th centuries, Byzantine Christians who fled to Tavria from persecution created a large rock monastery here, but after an earthquake it collapsed. Then periodically the monks returned here again, the monastery was rebuilt in different centuries. The rock is very hard, no one knows how they managed to knock out the cells in those days: perhaps they used natural depressions, but traces of the use of some tools are visible. Even now, with the help of modern technology, it is extremely difficult to process this stone.

A long and steep path leads from the road to the monastery. To prevent the soil from eroding and to be able to climb to a height of 150 meters to the monastery at any time of the year, the monks did a great job: about 650 car tires were laid out in steps and filled with cement. The path to the monastery turns into a kind of pilgrimage: going up and down those steps is quite difficult, with my injured knee, by the end I realized that I would not go up there a second time. This road is also called the “road of sinners.” We climbed for about half an hour, fortunately it was not hot, and the trail passes mostly in the shade of low trees.

In 2005, monk Dorotheos and like-minded people received the blessing of the rector of the Holy Dormition Monastery, Archimandrite Silouan, and decided to restore the monastery. The monks settled in underground cells, where they lived and prayed. They carried water and building materials on themselves. “There were fraternal cells here and a refectory next door. They went underground, like the first Christians, and then little by little came out from here,” says Father Dorofey, rector of the Church of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker.

On the road to the monastery there is a tiny temple of Hagia Sophia, inside of which only a few people can fit. It was created in a stone that broke away from a rock many years ago during an earthquake, has a round vault, inside there are small niches for icons, but metal bars were placed at the entrance and you can’t just get into it. In the middle of the last century, stone mining was carried out here, but, apparently, mining was too expensive, so it was stopped, then a geological reserve was established here. After the blessing, the monks turned the abandoned adit into a small temple.

When you go up, you are first greeted by a holy spring, the water of which is considered healing. They ask you to treat him with respect. Next to it is the text of the prayer. New monks are building another temple nearby; in the background you can see a grotto, which the monks are deepening with the help of heavy equipment. In the photo on the left is a small shop where you can buy icons, soap with Crimean mountain herbs, kvass, mead, on the right is the entrance to the existing church.

The decoration of the church began with lamps with pendants, similar to those on Holy Mount Athos. We took them as a basis, and then added a little of our own, and the decoration of the temple itself continued in the same beaded style. Nature itself suggested this option to us - the rock is limestone, damp, and even if we wanted to do a painting, we would not have succeeded early. And so our beaded panels are held on the walls and vault of the cave on a waterproof basis,” Father Agathador says about the temple.

Along the wall there are several high chairs inlaid with beads - these are stasidias, on the backs of which the 10 commandments are laid out in beads. The seats are folding, and during hours-long services and night prayers, the monks lean on the armrests. All lamps are unique, no one is the same, made with love from what believers bring. However, like all products, you can not only look at them, but also take them with you. The shop also sells aromatic handmade soap and oils from Crimean plants.

In the monastery they began to build a temple in the name of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Three-Handed”. The church is being built in the Byzantine style: large, with domes and bells, light - the opposite of the cave chapel. But its interior decoration will also be made of beads.Those who wish can visit this monastery, bring beads or unnecessary jewelry, live and work in the holy place. The people there are sincere, good, and reliable.

How to get there

From Simferopol, minibuses depart every hour from the Zapadnaya bus station to Bakhchisarai. There you need to change to a bus heading towards the village of Sinapnoye. The “Kachi-Kalyon” stop is located between the villages of Predushchelnoye and Bashtanovka. By car: driving through Bakhchisarai towards Sevastopol, turn at the sign for Preduschelnoye. About 1.5 km from the village of Preduschelnoye, stop along the road near the Kachi-Kalyon rock massif. GPS coordinates 44.695169;33.885226.address: Russia, Crimea, Bakhchisarai district, Bashtanovka village

Source: ru-travel.livejournal.com ajushka

Photos of nature and recreation in Crimea

February 27th, 2016 , 12:51 pm

In the valley of Kachi-Kalyon ("ship of the cross", the rock mass looks like the stern of a ship with a cross made of natural cracks) there are several rock monasteries. In the 6th-8th centuries, Byzantine Christians who fled to Tavria from persecution created a large rock monastery here, but after an earthquake it collapsed. Then periodically the monks returned here again, the monastery was rebuilt in different centuries. The rock is very hard, no one knows how they managed to knock out the cells in those days: perhaps they used natural depressions, but traces of the use of some tools are visible. Even now, with the help of modern technology, it is extremely difficult to process this stone.

A long and steep path leads from the road to the monastery. To prevent the soil from eroding and to be able to climb to a height of 150 meters to the monastery at any time of the year, the monks did a great job: about 650 car tires were laid out in steps and filled with cement. The path to the monastery turns into a kind of pilgrimage: going up and down those steps is quite difficult, with my injured knee, by the end I realized that I would not go up there a second time. This road is also called the “road of sinners.” We climbed for about half an hour, fortunately it was not hot, and the trail passes mostly in the shade of low trees.

The monastery of St. Anastasia belongs to the Holy Dormition Monastery in the city of Bakhchisarai.
3

“There were fraternal cells here and a refectory next door. They went underground, like the first Christians, and then little by little came out from here,” says Father Dorofey, rector of the Church of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker.

Apparently, there was a collapse some time ago, or the stone was worn out. Impressive.
11

When you go up, you are first greeted by a holy spring, the water of which is considered healing. They ask you to treat him with respect. Next to it is the text of the prayer.

Staircase leading to the entrance to the temple.
15

The decorations on the walls and doors of the buildings are made with love and patience from pebbles, wooden planks, plant seeds and beads.
19

22

23

Even small flower beds were carved out of the rocks.
24

All lamps are unique, no one is the same, made with love from what believers bring. However, like all products, you can not only look at them, but also take them with you. The shop also sells aromatic handmade soap and oils from Crimean plants.

The monks built hotels for pilgrims and workers - people who come to work for housing and food.

I held the plate in my hands, imagined how a monk unknown to me chose, glued and prayed all these chains of stones, looked into the eyes of a kind woman, and could not resist.

I bought it. Granny carefully packed a plate for me and attached a stand for it, I was very touched.
33

Everything that pilgrims bring is used, even the dial of a watch.
All crafts exude carelessness, love, patience, and the desire to make the world a better place.

Those who wish can visit this monastery, bring beads or unnecessary jewelry, live and work in the holy place. The people there are sincere, good, and reliable.

How to get there.

From Simferopol, minibuses depart every hour from the Zapadnaya bus station to Bakhchisarai. There you need to change to a bus heading towards the village of Sinapnoe. The “Kachi-Kalyon” stop is located between the villages of Predushchelnoye and Bashtanovka.
By car: driving through Bakhchisarai towards Sevastopol, turn at the sign for Preduschelnoye. About 1.5 km from the village of Preduschelnoye, stop along the road near the Kachi-Kalyon rock massif. GPS coordinates 44.695169;33.885226.
address: Russia, Crimea, Bakhchisarai district, Bashtanovka village

Rock monasteries, mountain chapels, and simply caves in which Christians built altars are scattered throughout the peninsula. During the persecution of the church, militant atheists were unable to deal with them, as happened with man-made temples in cities and villages. Many of them will remain history, and some will gain a second life. “MK in Crimea” visited the restored monastery of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker, which is notable not only for its past, but also for its present - the monks covered their cave monastery with beads!

Behind the splendor along the path of sinners

We, unaccustomed to leaving the city for a long time, are unlikely to look for places, albeit beautiful, but remote from civilization. To get to the monastery of the Great Martyr Anastasia you need to make an effort. Get up early, endure an hour-long bus ride, and then spend half an hour climbing up the “path of sinners,” which the monks lined with car tires to avoid being washed away by rain and snow.

A small mountain hermitage hid in the narrow Tash-Air gorge on the slope of Mount Fytski near the cave city of Kachi-Kalyon. Nine years ago, Hieromonk Dorotheos began restoring the monastery. It all started with one cave, where the monk and his followers lived and prayed. Now the monastery has grown: modest but cozy cell houses with carved shutters have risen on the rock, spread out on the rock unusual garden- iron barrels in which vegetables and fruits grow; the mooing of cows can be heard from afar.

But it is not the houses or the garden that attract the weary traveler, but the man-made cave that has turned into a temple. How medieval monks managed to create such a voluminous grotto is difficult to understand. The current inhabitants of the monastery tried to create a similar one with the help of modern technology, but the rock did not yield to them.

The entrance to the church is through a small wooden extension. Looking like a large spiral, glistening with moisture, a piece of limestone rock supports the roof. It’s just that you don’t immediately notice the stone block - the eye instantly catches on the decorations: beaded panels, lamps with pendants - but this is only the “hallway”.

How are we used to seeing churches? Strict, mostly light when sunlight flow from the high windows located under the roof of the church... But this is not the case here. A deep cave, from which you can no longer tell that it is a cave, is illuminated only by the lights of lamps. The candle flames are reflected in thousands of beads, forming bizarre shadows on the ceiling and walls. The ceiling of the temple was divided by a beaded Star of Bethlehem and a Byzantine cross, separated by a series of hanging lamps. Free space filled with smaller copies of these Orthodox shrines. It took almost three years to decorate the parish. The monks worked on decorating the monastery in late autumn and winter, when it was already cold to do other work outside.

Every item has the spirit of the monastery

The monks find it difficult to answer how many lamps there are in the church. But the guides who take numerous groups of pilgrims to the monastery tell us that there are 65 lamps with beaded pendants, and not a single one is the same. Some of them are just decorations, and some are lit during services, but only during the solemn service do they all light up. Dozens of lamps, flickering like small beacons of the universe, give the impression of a hot, starry August night. This creates a special environment favorable for prayer. But the beaded splendor of the church does not end with the ceiling and lamps. Standing in the temple of stasidia - wooden chairs with folding seats, a high back and armrests - the monks lean on them during all-night vigils. On the backs of the stasidia there are ten God's Commandments, embroidered with beads on beads. Temple icons are decorated with patterned icon cases made of beads, shimmering in the candlelight.

Each monk capable of creativity contributed to the decoration of the monastery. Handling every bead and every pebble with love, the monks created and are creating things that amaze with their skillful simplicity. Relief paintings with floral patterns, beaded plates with the faces of saints, large wooden crosses decorated with varnished stones - all this can not only be seen, but also taken home. On the territory of the monastery there is a church shop, where parishioners and visitors to the monastery can purchase not only jewelry, but also useful little things: fragrant handmade soap made with the addition of various mountain herbs, aromatic oil from the same herbs, small magnets repeating temple ornaments. Every little thing created with prayer, the monks say, contains the spirit of the monastery.

People who once visited the monastery bring gifts to the monks on their next pilgrimage and ask their friends for the same. They carry beads, unnecessary jewelry, buttons, sea stones - everything goes into use here.

In gratitude, they decorate the icon

With the blessing of the rector of Bakhchisaray Holy Dormition monastery Archimandrite Silouan, seven monks and several novices are engaged in the restoration of the monastery. In addition, the inhabitants take care of the garden, in which apples, cherries, plums and even persimmons grow. The monastery also has a small farm - 12 cows and several calves.

When the Burenki appeared, the brothers learned to make cheese, feta cheese, sour cream, and yogurt. At first it didn’t work out, but then we got the hang of it – and now the surplus is being sold. We have our own bakery in which we bake bread, buns, pies, and prosphora for services,” says Father Agafador.

In addition to monastic cells, a hotel for pilgrims was built on the territory. Workers can also stay here - people who want to live in a monastery and work in the name of God.

The day at the monastery begins at half past five in the morning with morning prayer. After breakfast, everyone goes to obedience - they do the work entrusted to them. In the monastery, work is supposed to be combined with prayer, but sometimes a person forgets, withdraws into himself,” shares Father Agathador, “Therefore, once an hour a bell rings, reminding of the duty of each monk. Five minutes later, the second strike of the bell signals the return to work. In the evening there is service, then dinner and evening service. prayer rule. Such days pass in the monastery, a little similar to each other.

There are few parishioners at the temple, the monks complain, only about 40 people and those visitors are from Bakhchisarai, Sevastopol and Simferopol. But residents of surrounding villages rarely visit the temple. But they come from Ukraine and different parts of Russia - even from Bashkiria and Yakutia.

They ask Saint Anastasia for different things, but the church people say that Anastasia is the patroness of those who are imprisoned. Often pilgrims return with gratitude to the saint. This can be seen from the temple icon of the Great Martyr Anastasia: there are various pendants, crosses and earrings on it - people wear them in gratitude for the prayerful help of the heavenly intercessor.

About five years ago, the monastery began to build a temple in the name of the “Three-Handed” icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. The church was built in the Byzantine style: large, with domes and bells, bright - the opposite of the cave chapel. But, the monks note, its interior decoration will also be made of beads.

From the MK dossier

Exact information about when it was formed cave monastery Great Martyr Anastasia, no. Judging by the carved Greek crosses found by archaeologists, characteristic of that time, and the surviving correspondence St. John Bishop of Gotha with Saint Stephen, Archbishop of Sourozh, this happened around the 8th century, they say in the monastery. Then in Byzantium the persecution of Christians for venerating icons had just begun - and, escaping execution, the monks moved to Taurica, spreading the veneration of the holy Great Martyr Anastasia, called the Pattern Maker for her service in alleviating the suffering of prisoners imprisoned for the faith of Christ.

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The editors of the site thanks the journalist ed. “MK in Crimea” Ekaterina Krutko for the material provided.