16,951
edits
Changes
m
link
{{monastery|
name=Monastery of <br>St. John the Forerunner|
jurisdiction=Diocese of Kazan <br> Church of Russia|
type=Male Monastery|
founded=1564|
superior= [[Hegumen]] Nektaty (Demin)||
size= 6 monks|
hq= Kazan, Tatarstan|
language= Slavonic|
music=Russian Chant|
calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|
feasts=unknown|
website=[http://www.kazan.eparhia.ru/english/monastyri/forerunner/ Diocesan website]
}}
The '''Monastery of St. John the Forerunner''' is a [[monastery]] for men located in front of the Spasskaya (Russian: спаская - Savior) tower of the Kremlin in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. It was established in the sixteenth century as a dependency of the Sviyazhsk Monastery of the Mother of God.
==History==
St. [[Gury of Kazan|Gury]] founded the monastery between the years 1564 and 1568. The monastery was consecrated in honor of St. [[John the Forerunner]], the patron [[saint]] of Tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible). At first, the monastery of St John was a dependency of the Monastery of Sviyazhsk Monastery of the Mother of God. The monastery did not receive its own hegumen until 1595. The buildings of the early monastery were built of wood. As a consequence, fire was always a danger and, in 1649, the buildings of the monastery burned down.
The wealthy merchant Gavrila Fyodorovich Antipin, whose residence was near the monastery, was the benefactor for rebuilding it. The new wooden church was not equipped to be heated. The church, which had three tent shaped domes, was dedicated to the Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem, and had two side [[chapel]]s dedicated to St. John the Forerunner and the Apostle and Evangelist [[Apostle John|John the Theologian]]. Also, a free standing stone [[bells|bell]] tower was built at this time. During the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, [[September 7]], 1652, Metropolitan Kornily of Kazan and Sviyazhsk consecrated the rebuilt monastery.
This unheated wooden [[church]] was supplanted with a building of stone. The new five dome stone building was three stories high with the church itself on the third floor along with the prior’s [[cell]]. The church was consecrated to the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple, The cells for the brethren were placed on the second floor and, on the lowest floor were the kitchen, refectory, and cellars. This building could be heated. The monastery was also surrounded on three sides with stone walls. On the Kremlin side of the monastery compound, the over the gate Church of Ss Anthony and Theodosius of the Kiev Caves was built.
In 1756, an [[icon]] that contained a particle of the [[relics]] of St. German was brought to St John’s monastery from Sviyazhsk Monastery and was placed in the Church of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple. [[Translation (relics)|Translation]] of the icon was made under a decree of the Empress Catherine II.
Fire again caused great damage to the St. John the Forerunner Monastery on [[September 3]], 1815. On that day a great fire burned in the city of Kazan that destroyed almost 1,200 buildings, including the monastery. Only some furniture and the icon of St. German were saved from the heated church. Restoration of the monastery began in 1818 by rehabilitating and using the unheated church. Its [[altar]] was enlarged and a new vestry was built. Cells for the [[monk]]s were added in the passageway between the bell tower and the church. This work led to re-consecration of the restored church on [[June 24]], 1819.
