Welcome!

St. Nicholas Monastery for Men
in Staraya Ladoga

The monastery is one of the oldest in Russian Orthodox Diocese of St. Petersburg, Russia

Mailing/Physical Address: Nikolskaya street, Staraya Ladoga, Volkhovsky District, Leningradskaya oblast, 187412, Russia

Phone/Fax: +7-813-634-92-03

The time we are open is from 9:00 a.m. till 7:00 p.m. daily. Moscow Time UTC+4.

Website: http://en.nikmonas.ru/

Vkontakte group: http://vk.com/nikmonas

E-mail: nikmonas@gmail.com

The Temple of Nativity of St. John the Forerunner is attached to the Monastery

Temple Phone: +7-813-634-90-97

How to get to the Monastery:

By car

If you go from St. Petersburg by car, you should find the Federal high road М18 (Kola). Continue to follow М18 high road to the Volkhov river.

Before the bridge on the Volkhov river turn to the right and follow by the A115 high road to the village of Staraya Ladoga.

In the village turn to the left to Nikolskaya street and you come to the Monastery.

Driving directions from Google maps

By train

There are electric trains that go from St. Petersburg to Volkhov. They depart from Moskovsky station as well as Ladozhsky station every 2 hours. It takes 2.5 hours to get to Volkhov by train.

To get from Volkhov station to the monastery you should take the bus #23. It takes about 20 minutes to get there. Get off the bus at Nikolskaya street in the village of Staraya Ladoga and go to the right to the Monastery which is located on the bank of the Volkhov river.

Or you can go there by taxi - one way trip would cost you approximately 300 - 400 rub.

By bus
You can also go to the Monastery by bus from St. Petersburg Avtovokzal # 2. Take the bus which goes to Tikhvin or Lodeynoye Pole. Get off the bus at Yushkovo before the bridge on the Volkhov river and take the bus # 23 which goes to Volkhov. Get off the bus at Nikolskaya street in the village of Staraya Ladoga.

Many buildings of the Monastery are under construction now and we ask that you prayerfully consider helping us toward the complete restoration of the Monastery.

God Bless you!

About the Monastery

We are glad to welcome you at the official website of our Monastery!

St. Nicholas Monastery is a male monastic community under the auspices of The Moscow Patriarchate. The buildings of the Monastery are located near the St. Nicholas Temple which was built in the 12th century, half a mile upstream along the Volkhov river near Staraya Ladoga Fortress. The terrain near the Monastery on the left bank of the Volkhov river is weird. There is a group of old tumuluses where old military burials of 8th to 10th centuries as well as of 13th century (the times of Saint Alexander Nevsky) were found.

History

According to a legend, the Monastery was founded by Saint Alexander Nevsky after The Battle of the Neva in which the villagers of Staraya Ladoga took part. The Monastery chronicle states that it was founded ‘in memoriam of the lost Ladoga congeners’ who were companions in arms with Alexander. After the Battle they were brought to Staraya Ladoga and buried in a tumulus which was later called Pobedische (the Victory Tumulus). So the Monastery is considered as the monument of Russian military glory.

The first documentary evidences about St. Nicholas Monastery were found in the old tax books of Obonezhskaya Pyatina (1496) and Vodskaya Pyatina (1499-1500).

Temples

The Monastery Cathedral, built in 10th -11th century, was sanctified in the name of the the most popular Saint in Russia – Saint Nicholas of Myra, the Wonderworker, who is the patron of sailors, fishermen and travelers.

The other important Temple of the Monastery is the Temple of Saint John Chrysostom built as an ancient basilica. It was designed by academician of Architecture Alexey Maksimovich Gornostaev in 1860-1873 in the place of an old temple of 17th century. There are paintings left on the walls and arches of the Temple: stories from the life of Saint John Chrysostom, stories from the Gospel in academic realism style and Byzantine ornaments.

Monastery Today

In 1974 the buildings of the Monastery were declared monuments of federal significance. Restoration of the holy gates, the campanile, the fence and St. Nicholas Cathedral was made at that time. On December 26th 2002, by decision of Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Monastery opened its gates for ‘monastic life revival’ and became active. The Prior of the Monastery, father superior Varfolomey (Vladimir Chupov) was appointed. In the same year Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Vladimir brought the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra from the Italian city of Bari to the Monastery.

At present there are not many monks living at the Monastery because the cell buildings are not restored yet. The main St. Nicholas Temple of the Monastery is not restored too.

In 2010 Monastery celebrated 770th Anniversary. In the same year the chapel for holy water container was built. Now it’s open. In the north-east tower of the Monastery, the Chapel named Spas Nerukotvorny (The Saviour Not Made by Hands) was opened. In October 2010 the monastery library as well as the Sunday school were opened.

We are glad to welcome pilgrims and tourists to visit the Monastery and share our joy about its restoration.

This is the only official website of St. Nicholas Monastery. Any other sites are unofficial.

If you wish to copy any information from the site, you should place a dofollow link to http://en.nikmonas.ru along with the copied materials.

The Chernigov-Gethsemane Icon of the Mother of God

Commemorated on September 1/14

There is a copy of the Chernigov-Gethsemane Icon of the Mother of God in the Temple of Saint John Chrysostom in the monastery. Here is the story of the Icon.

The Chernigov-Gethsemane Icon of the Mother of God is a copy from the famed Chernigov-Il'insk Icon of the Mother of God, which was to be found at the Trinity Il'insk monastery near Chernigov on Mount Boldina, and where in the XI Century for a certain while the Monk Antonii of Pechersk pursued asceticism. To the description of the miracles from this icon, beginning with 16-24 April 1662, Sainted Dimitrii of Rostov in his book "The Bedewed Fleece" (Oroshennoe Runo) wrote in conclusion: "The end of the booklet, but not of the miracles of the MostHoly Mother of God, since who is it that can count them". The grace-bearing power of this icon is manifest also in its copies.

The first miracle from the icon was witnessed on the day of the Church New Year – 1 September 1869, when the 28 year old peasant of Tula governance, Thekla Adrianova, was healed, having been completely crippled constantly for 9 years. Living at the hostel by the caves, and then at the Lavra during the celebration of the Repose of the Monk Sergei (25 September), Thekla recovered completely. Sainted Innocent (Innokentii) the Metropolitan of Moscow (1797-1879, Comm. 23 September and 31 March), learned of the miracle from his daughter the Nun Poliksenia, treasurer of the Borisovsk wilderness monastery. On the feast of the Monk Sergei, he himself met with Thekla and asked her about all the details of the healing. On 26 September 1869 Sainted Innocent arrived at the Gethsemane skete and gave the blessing to make molieben before the glorified icon while he himself prayed with tears.

By 26 September there had occurred already three graced healings and a whole series of miracles in November of that same year. The fame of the icon of the Mother of God spread with unusual swiftness. Exhausted by suffering and sickness, thirsting for bodily and spiritual healing, people from every class of society came with firm faith to the wonderworking icon, and the mercy of God did not forsake them. Towards the beginning of the XX Century more than 100 miracles were witnessed. By its great esteem the icon benefited the ascetics of the Gethsemane skete: the schema-monk Philip (+ 18 May 1868), the founder of the cave-monastery, and his three sons – the priest-schemamonks Ignatii (+ 1900), Porphyrii (+ 1905 ?) and Vasilii (+ 1 April 1915). They preserved accounts about the deep love, which the priestmonk starets (monastic elder) Isidor (+ 3 February 1908) displayed for the Chernigov-Gethsemane Icon.

The initial celebration of the icon was established on 16 April, on the day when also was the celebration of the Cherigov-Il'insk icon. Afterwards it was transferred to the day of glorification – 1 September. At the present time at Trinity-Sergiev Lavra there are venerable copies of the Chernigov-Gethsemane icon – within the temple in honour of the Monk Sergei, in the monastery refectory, and in the portico of the Trinity cathedral, – written by elders of the Gethsemane skete and the Zosimov wilderness-monastery.