Belogorsky St. Nicholas Orthodox Missionary Monastery Cathedral (Perm Krai, Russia)
Belogorsky St. Nicholas Orthodox Missionary Monastery Cathedral or Belaya Gora (White Mountain) Monastery is the biggest cathedral in the Urals, situated 120 km from Perm and 80 km from Kungur.
Father Igumen Varlaam was the builder and first Abbot of the Belogorsky St. Nicholas Orthodox Missionary Monastery Cathedral. It was constructed as a missionary church by the Russian Orthodox Church within an area where many Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church congregations were located.
Construction of the monastery church began in 1902 and it was consecrated in June of 1917. Four hundred (400) monks lived at the monastery in 1917. Their daily schedule was prayers from 3 to 6 AM, then work. Lunch was 11:30 to noon, then 2 hours of rest. Return to work from 2 to 5. Last service was the day was from 6 to 10 PM.
In 1914 the Grand Duchess Elisabeth Phedorovna Romanova visited the monastery.
The monastery was captured during the Russian Revolution by the Red Army in October 1917. Fighting left some monks dead and others were deported. The Abbot of the monastery was tortured to death in 1918 and the monastery was converted into a mental hospital. The great bells of the monastery were broken into pieces with sledge hammers and the artwork of the monastery was largely destroyed.
The monastery was used as a hospital for shell shocked soldiers and civilians during and after the Second World War. A mental patient burnt off the roof of the monastery church in 1979 and the building was abandoned.
A dedicated group of eight monks rushed to stablize the building in 1993 and it has been undergoing restoration ever since that year.
North 57 degrees 23.542' and East 56 degrees 13.787' at an elevation of 465 meters. Especially in winter months, Belaya Gora looks unusually beautiful. From the elevation, one has a 360 degree view over the typical vast forest landscape of the Urals.
See also
Sources
- Russia Icons in the Belogorsky Monastery. 11 November 2006.
- The Belogorsky monastery.
