Changes

==History==

The Venerable [[Anthony of the Caves|Anthony]] is credited with founding the monastery when he settled in one of the caves that is now part of the '''Far Caves''' (also called the '''Caves of Theodosius'''). This occurred most probably in the year 1051 which is the traditional date for the foundation of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. As the community grew to twelve [[monk]]s new cells were excavated. Among those who joined Anthony in the early years were [[Theodosius of the Kiev Caves|Theodosius]] and the Venerable Barlaam. In 1057, Anthony, who desired a life of seclusion, named Barlaam as the first [[hegumen]] ([[abbot]]) and withdrew from the community to new cave in a hill that today is part of the '''Near Caves''' (also called the '''Caves of Anthony''').

The monastery was supported generously by the princes and boyars of Kiev, who donated not only money but land and buildings as well. Also, many of the educated men of the area became monks at the monastery as it became the largest religious and cultural center of Kievan Rus'. Of these monks twenty became [[bishop]]s during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

In the mid 1070s the center of the monastery began to move to the area of the present Upper Lavra with the building of the Dormition [[Cathedral]]. In time the Near and Far Caves became places of seclusion for the monks and burial places for the monastery brethren, In 1073, Anthony became the first burial in the Near Caves, followed in 1074 with the burial of Theodosius in the Far Caves.

From these times until the end of the sixteenth century little documentation remains as historical source material as records were destroyed during each raid. Beginning in the sixteenth century, reports by travelers provide descriptions of the caves and the monastic life then practiced at the monastery. These reports noted the length of the underground caves, whose entries resemble entrances to mines, and which also noted that liturgy was celebrated in the two underground churches every Saturday. By the late sixteenth century the monastery had once again recovered. At this time it was granted [[stavropegial]] status by the Patriarch of Constantinople. This freed the monastery from the control of the metropolitan of Kiev. The monastery was also granted the status of a [[lavra]].

At the same time the government changed the organization of the monastery by abolishing the monastery's custom of electing the council of elders, the monastery’s governing body. Thereafter the council was appointed by the Metropolitan of Kiev. The metropolitan also became the archimandrite of the monastery with his residence within the monastery’s grounds. A trend toward [[Russification]] of the monastery began in the late eighteenth century and continued in time.

In the early twentieth century, before the Bolsheviks' assumption of power, Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra was the residence of over one thousand monks. It was one of the most famous centers of religious life in the Orthodox world, visited each year by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. The monastery was renowned for the relics of many saintly monks who had been glorified in 1643 under Metr. Peter Mogila. This changed after the Soviets assumed control of the government in late 1917.

Changes by the Soviet authorities began in 1921. Initially, the authorities confiscated the [[relics]] and historical and artistic objects that belonged to the monastery. Buildings were converted to commercial and other uses. Many of the monastery's monuments were combined into a museum, the Lavra Museum of Religious Cults and Way of Life, that also contained collections from other museums in Kiev. After closing down the monastery completely in 1926, the Soviet government first turned the grounds into a museum preserve, the All-Ukrainian Museum Quarter, that consisted of a number of museums which emphasized anti-religious propaganda, and included archives, libraries, and workshops before closing the Quarter in 1934 and transferring the collections to new museums in Kiev. All the bells were removed by the Soviet authorities during the period 1931 to 1932.

During World War II (the Great Patriotic War) the Soviet army mined the Holy Dormition Cathedral before the advancing Nazi forces. The explosives were, then, detonated after the Nazi forces had occupied Kiev on [[November 3]], 1941 severely damaging the cathedral. After the war the lavra grounds were restored and renamed the Kievan Cave Historical-Cultural Preserve, which housed a number of museums and institutions. Also, a functioning monastery of about one hundred monks was allowed to operate until 1961.

==Churches of the Lavra==

The Dormition of the Most-Holy Theotokos Cathedral is the Lavra's principal place of worship. Other churches are as follows:

::Church of the Nativity of Christ (an underground church in the Far Caves)

::Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos

==Administration==

His Eminence Pavel, Archbishop of Vyshgorod and Vicar of Kiev Metropolia, has been the Superior of the Lavra since 1994.