
View of the monastery from Lubyanka Street in 1882 (compare
modern view).
'Sretensky Monastery' (
Russian: Сретенский монастырь) is a
monastery in
Moscow, founded by
Grand Prince Vasili I in
1397. It used to be located close to the present-day
Red Square, but in the early
16th century it was moved northeast to what is now
Bolshaya Lubyanka Street. The Sretensky Monastery gave its name to adjacent streets and byways, namely Sretenka Street, Sretensky Boulevard, Sretensky Lane, Sretensky Deadend, and Sretensky Gates Square.
The monastery is named after one of the
twelve Great Feasts of
Russian Orthodox Church ''Sretenie Gospodne'' (''Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple''), with ''Sretenie'' being a
Church Slavonic word for "meeting".
The monastery was built on the spot where the Muscovites and the ruling prince had met the
icon of
Our Lady of Vladimir in
1395, moved from
Vladimir to Moscow to protect the capital from the imminent invasion of
Tamerlane. Soon thereafter, the armies of Tamerlane retreated and the grateful monarch founded the monastery to commemorate the miracle. In
1552, the Muscovites gathered at the walls of the monastery to meet the
Russian army returning after the conquest of
Kazan.
In the
1920s, the monastery was closed down. In
1928-
1930, most of its buildings were dismantled by the
Soviets, including the Church of
Mary of Egypt (
14th-16th century) and Church of
Saint Nicholas (16th century). Only the Cathedral of the Meeting of the Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir (собор Сретения Владимирской иконы Богоматери) with a side chapel to the Nativity of
John the Forerunner (built in
1679 by the order of
tsar Fyodor Alexeyevich) survived to this day.
The service in the Sretensky Cathedral was resumed in
1991. The cathedral was transferred under the authority of the
Pskovo-Pechorsky Monastery in
1994, but nowadays it is a separate monastic establishment, with Patriarch
Alexy II as its
hegumen.
Modern views of Sretensky Cathedral
External links
★
Official website
★
History of the monastery