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Holy Trinity St. Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent

Holy Trinity St. Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent.
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Saint Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery, or Serafimo-Diveevsky Monastery, or Holy Trinity-Saint Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery (Russian: Свято-Троицкий Серафимо-Дивеевский Монастырь) is a monastery of nuns near Sarov and about 185 km (116 mi) from the city of Nizhny Novgorod in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is in a region considered to have immense spiritual significance. The convent was founded in 1760.

History

The history of the Holy Trinity St. Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent began in 1760 when the Mother of God appeared to nun Alexandra in a dream at the village of Diveyevo and promised to base a great and unrivalled convent there. The Most Holy Mother of God has chosen Diveyevo to be Her favorite place, "the fouth and last dower on the Earth." She also promised to gather there the mercy and the grace of the Lord from all her previous dowers:

1) Iberia (Georgia)

2) Mount Athos (Greece),

3) Holy Trinity Lavra of the Caves (Ukraine, Kiev).

On that very spot where the Holy Virgin appeared, nun Alexandra built the church dedicated to the Icon of Kazan of the Mother of God (1773-1780). Later the two Nativity Churches were adjoined. They were the Church of the Nativity of Christ (1829) and the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God (1830), a burial vault, as Father Seraphim foretold.

In the center of the convent there are two magnificent cathedrals: the impressive five-domed Catherdral of the Holy Trinity (1865-1875) and the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Lord (1907-1916).

At the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries the convent's bell tower, the Hegumenia's Hall with the Church of St. Mary Magdalene and the Refectory Hall with the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky were built.

In 1830 Father Seraphim asked Diveyevo's nuns to dig the Holy Ditch, which would surround the elected place of the Mother of God. Father Seraphim said: "He who walks along the Holy Ditch praying "Rejoice, O Mother of God and Maiden Mary..." 150 times, for him this place will be Athos, Jerusalem, and Kiev."

Today the Diveyevo ascetics Saints Alexandra, Martha, Helen, Pelagia, Paraskeva, and Mary have been canonized. Their holy relics, as well as the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov, are resting in God in the convent's churches.

Saint Seraphim the Wonderworker of Sarov predicted that Diveyevo would become a stronghold of Orthodoxy and a place where worldwide repentance would begin.

In 2003 the Russian Orthodox Church solemnly celebrated a centenary of the glorification of St. Seraphim. The next year the 250th anniversary of his birth was celebrated. Diveyevo's convent is becoming a turning point in the spiritual life of Russia.

Sources

Links (in Russian)

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