In the very heart of the Crimean Mountains in a deep dark gorge, at the sources of the Alma River, between the Babugan and Chatyrdag massifs. This place is one of the holiest for Crimean Christians. According to legend, in the Middle Ages saints lived here, selflessly healing people from many diseases. After their tragic death in the mountains, he scored Holy spring, to which for many centuries the inhabitants of Crimea, both Christians and Muslims, came for healing water.

Here it is miraculous icon saints Cosmas and Damian. And also written and consecrated on the holy Mount Athos in Greece.

HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY

Permission to open the cinema was received in 1853 by the will of Archbishop Innocent. The future monastery received 4 dessiatines from the lands belonging to the state dacha. But the development of the monastery stopped almost before it began - the Crimean War interfered.

Construction began after the war in 1857. The monks themselves prepared the timber for construction, bringing it on their shoulders Construction Materials because There was no good road from the highway to the monastery. The Cosmo-Damianovsky Monastery did not receive funds from the state, so the construction of buildings was carried out with money from voluntary donations from pilgrims.

In 1857, the first wooden, small church was built in honor of Saints Cosmas and Damian according to a drawing made by Archbishop Innocent. When the number of brethren increased, a new large church with a bell tower was built in its place in 1870, which could accommodate all the monks of the monastery and pilgrims. However, since it was not heated in winter, construction of a new winter building began in 1874. Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord. But its consecration took place only in 1878: all work was suspended due to illness and death Abbot Macarius. He was buried in the vestibule at the western door of the church. Thanks to the tireless work of Abbot Macarius, the Cosmo-Damianovsky Monastery was created. Under him, a stone chapel was built over the source with images of Christ the Savior, the Mother of God and the saints without silver Cosmas and Damian. In the center of the chapel was Holy spring, to which sick people came seeking healing. A bathhouse was built for ablution.

Gradually, three fraternal buildings and one for the abbot, two hotels for pilgrims, a refectory with a kitchen, a bathhouse and outbuildings grew on the territory. The Sevastopol merchant Grigory Petrovich Poryvai donated 201 acres of arable land to the monastery in the village of Grigoryevka. This was useful, because the land around the monastery was of little use for agricultural work; in order to set up vegetable gardens, the monks had to level plots of land and clear them of forest. In Grigoryevka, two stone houses and outbuildings were built, and artesian wells were dug. There was also a stone Church of the Three Saints

, assigned to the Cosmo-Damianovskaya cinnovia.

The monastery was proud of a special shrine - an icon of Saints Cosmas and Damian with particles of their relics.

The precious shrine and healing spring attracted pilgrims to the monastery, their donations were part of the monastery’s income. In general, life in the monastery was difficult; without receiving funds from the state, the monks had to earn money themselves. Kinovia was located in a gorge surrounded by mountains, so the daylight hours were shorter by almost four hours. Winter is a particularly difficult time for monks. Members of the imperial family visited the Cosmo-Damian monastery more than once.. In 1873, the heir to the Russian throne, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich, visited here

In October 1880, he came here again with his wife, Tsesarevna Maria Feodorovna.

Unfortunately, after the death of Abbot Macarius, the abbots in the cinnamon began to change very often. First, Hieromonk Parthenius was appointed rector of the monastery, he was replaced by Hieromonk Vasily, then Hieromonks Pavel and Serapion held this post. Frequent changes of leadership and the lack of uniform requirements led to the fact that the monks began to be lazy in performing their duties, and the monastery’s economy began to decline. Poverty and dirt scared away pilgrims, and the number of brethren decreased sharply.. In the summer of 1899, Bishop Nicholas visited the monastery He decided to convert the monastery into a women's monastery. Bishop Nicholas affirmed and supported women's asceticism; he believed that the monastery should preserve the spirit of Christ's love and bring it to the world; with his help, hospitals, schools, and shelters were created at the monasteries.August 1 The monks dispersed to other monasteries in Crimea. The old monks, who together with Father Macarius created the monastery, parted with it with tears in their eyes, because everything here was done with their hands, during for long years the monastery was their home.

The first abbess of the Kosmo-Damianovsky monastery was the nun of the Trinity-Paraskevievsky monastery Varsanuphia. 25 nuns came with her. The sisters transferred the hard work and discipline established in the exemplary Trinity-Paraskevievsky monastery to the new monastery. Despite poverty, the economy began to gradually improve. They made a major overhaul of the buildings, put the territory of the monastery in order, built stone retaining walls that strengthened the terrace on which stood the church, new cells, prosphora, bakery, workshops, laundries and other outbuildings. The cleanliness and order established in the monastery again attracted pilgrims.

On the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian, the usually deserted monastery was transformed. The icon of the Mother of God “Jerusalem” appeared in the monastery- written and consecrated on Athos and handed over on behalf of the Russian Holy Mountain Hermit Inhabitants to the Most Reverend Mother Abbess Barsanuphia for the Cosmo-Damianovsky Monastery. This icon has survived to this day and is now in the monastery.

In 1911 Another remarkable thing happened: On October 25, Emperor Nicholas II visited the monastery. He prayed at the spring and drank holy water. In 1913, in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, the chapel at the source was restored. At the same time, the “Imperial Hunting Reserve” was created and the Romanovskoye Highway was built, connecting Alushta and Yalta through the mountains.

Rare animals were brought to the reserve from different parts of the country and from abroad. Then mouflons first appeared in the mountain forests of Crimea. Ten animals came from the island of Corsica and three from the Askania Nova Nature Reserve. The mouflons acclimatized well; they especially loved the places near the Black and Big Scarecrow mountains.

During the First World War, nuns provided material assistance to the front. Being in a rather remote corner of Crimea, the monastery did not experience any serious shocks; its life continued as usual. After the establishment of Soviet power, all monastic property and lands were nationalized. In 1923 the monastery was closed.

The nuns founded a labor artel, preserving the monastic way of life. They built a church in the former prosphora. In 1928, the artel was finally liquidated. The nuns left the monastery and scattered in all directions. That same year, the chapel at the spring was threatened. The Alushta City Executive Committee, to which it belonged, decided to dismantle the chapel for building materials. But the reserve’s employees came to the defense of the monument; they appealed to various authorities, including the People’s Commissar of Education A.V. Lunacharsky, who sent a telegram: “The dismantling of the former chapel in the Alushtinsky Komza state reserve without the permission of the People’s Commissar of Education of the RSFSR is unacceptable. Please stop." Thus the chapel was saved. A nature museum was opened in the former Cosmo-Damian Church, a club of the Crimean Nature Reserve was opened in the Transfiguration Church, and a hatchery for hatching trout fry was eventually built in the chapel with a bathhouse.

During the Great Patriotic War all the buildings of the former monastery and the royal house were destroyed. Only the chapel above the holy spring survived.

On June 14, 1994, Archbishop Lazar of Simferopol and Crimea served a festive liturgy in the chapel over the holy spring. The revival of the monastery began.

Today you can visit the holy monastery, drink the purest water and pray to Saints Cosmas and Damian.

  1. Yaselskaya L. Kosmodamianovsky Monastery. - Simferopol, 1999.
  2. Lyudmila Yaselskaya, Rina Zamtaradze “Cosmo-Damianovsky Monastery in Crimea.” - Simferopol, “Tavriya”, 2006
  3. Orthodox monasteries. - Sonata Publishing House, Simferopol, 2007 (L. A. Yaselskaya. Kosmodamianovsky Monastery, p. 271)

At the foot of Chatyrdag, in the central basin formed by the northern spurs of Babugan and the slopes of the Chuchel and Chernaya mountains, a stream generated by numerous springs flows along the bottom of the gorge. The main one is the source of the holy unmercenaries and miracle workers Cosmas and Damian, or Savlukh-Su (in Tatar “healthy water”), with water as clear as crystal and pleasant to the taste. Already in our time, studies conducted by the Odessa Research Institute of Balneology have shown that the water of the source, in addition to potassium, magnesium, manganese, contains lithium and silver, which is rarely found in natural sources. Savlukh-Su is one of the sources of the Alma River.

The famous local historian V. Kondaraki in his “Universal Description of Crimea” suggested that during the persecution of Christians in this gorge there was a temple in honor of St. Cosmas and Damian. This is quite likely. In the Middle Ages, Christians of Crimea often built churches in secluded places near sources. After the eviction of Christians from Crimea to the Azov region in 1778, when more than 80 settlements, churches were left to the mercy of fate, many were destroyed. Perhaps the same fate befell the temple at the Savlukh-Su source. There is information that in the Mariupol Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary there was a particularly revered icon of St. Cosmas and Damian written on a blackboard. In Crimea, it was located where in the middle of the 19th century. The Cosmodamian cinnamonium was opened.

The Orthodox Church honors three pairs of unmercenary saints. The memory of the Roman saints Cosmas and Damian, in whose honor the spring received its name, is celebrated on July 1 (14). Twin brothers Cosmas and Damian, who lived in the second half of the 3rd century. n. e., during the brutal persecution of Christianity, they were doctors. For good deeds and the spread of the Christian faith, they received the gift of miracles, and often healed sick people and animals without medicine, with just prayer, always doing it for free. Cosmas and Damian were killed by their teacher-doctor, who was jealous of their fame and art, and were buried by the killer in the mountains, near a spring.

Among the Crimean Tatars there was a belief that the saints were killed and buried a little above the healing spring, near two identical beech trees, similar to each other like twin brothers. After washing in the spring, the Crimean Tatars always climbed the mountain to these two trees, which, in their opinion, served tombstone saints

Documentary evidence of the stay of St. Cosmas and Damian are not in Tauris, but, according to legend, it is believed that in last years In their lifetime, the miracle workers lived at the foot of Chatyrdag, at the source that still bears their names. Tradition says that long after their death, a local Tatar, who hated his wife, took her to the mountains, gouged out her eyes and left her alone, far from home. Two strangers appeared to the unfortunate woman, who was dying of hunger, saying that they were brother doctors, Cosmas and Damian, took her to a source and ordered her to wash herself in it. After this, the woman’s sight returned, and she, returning to her village, told about what had happened.

A shepherd with leprosy, having come to the source, fell asleep, exhausted by the disease. In a dream, he saw two people with halos above their heads. Calling themselves Cosmas and Damian, they ordered to immerse themselves in the spring for healing. Having woken up, the shepherd immediately plunged into the water, and having come out of it and feeling relief, he fell asleep again. The miracle workers again appeared to him, saying: “You will be completely healthy today, but remember that you must come to our source every year on July 1 to wash your body. Advise your suffering brothers to do the same.”

There were many cases of miraculous healing at the Kosmodamian spring. In particular, on the temple holiday, July 1, 1908, a Turkish citizen, Greek Kirill, who arrived from Gurzuf, said that he had been ill for a whole year, almost did not get up, and the doctors considered him hopeless. Before the temple holiday of the monastery, at the end of June, he dreamed of four men of wondrous beauty and said: “Get up, you will be healthy, just go to the Kosmodamianovsky monastery, bathe in its source.” The next night the dream repeated itself. Those who dreamed said to the patient: “You thought, why didn’t you ask who we are? We are Cosmas and Damian, and the other two are the apostles Peter and Paul. Go to a monastery and you will be healthy.” On July 1, having arrived at the monastery, the Greek served a prayer service to the holy wonderworkers and bathed in the spring, after which he completely recovered.

Sick people were brought to the spring, which was considered healing from time immemorial, regardless of religion. There were no buildings near the source, either for pilgrims or for worship. Despite this, by July 1, the day of remembrance of St. Cosma and Damian, many people from all over Crimea flocked here every year. Invited priests blessed the water and served prayer services. In the 20s of the XIX century. At the expense of Countess Sofia Pototskaya, a barn for pilgrims was built at the source.

In 1848, the Kherson-Tavria diocese was headed by Archbishop Innokenty (1800–1857), who did an extraordinary amount for the spiritual life of Crimea. Any story about the Crimean monasteries cannot begin without mentioning it. Among the names of many outstanding shepherds of Taurida, the name of Bishop Innocent shines especially brightly. Contemporaries called him “the star of the Fatherland” and “Russian Chrysostom.” Academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Theology, talented historian, brilliant orator, he had a great influence on the course of church life in the country for more than a quarter of a century.

His Grace Innocent dreamed of working for the good of the church in the holy places of the East - in Palestine, Sinai, Athos. This dream did not come true, but he created Athos in a different place. His appointment to the Kherson-Tauride department occurred during the difficult period of Crimean Orthodoxy, when the dominant religion in Taurida was Islam, and local shrines were in sad desolation. Bishop Innocent had a worthy predecessor - Archbishop Gabriel of Kherson and Taurida, who was engaged in research and description of ancient Christian monuments in Crimea. The new ruler had an even more serious and noble mission - the restoration of ancient church shrines. The archbishop's attention was drawn to the abundance of destroyed Christian churches. Despite his poor health, the archbishop visited the ancient ruins of temples, caves, tracts and springs on horseback and sometimes on foot. First of all, he examined the holy places revered by the people. At the same time, he visited the source of St. Cosmas and Damian. The Bishop called on the Orthodox population of Crimea to restore shrines, believing that it was not enough to visit these places only on certain days of the year, but it was necessary to take care of the revival of monuments of faith and the creation of monasteries in them.

Local residents responded to this call immediately, turning to the bishop with a request for the restoration of Christian monuments, so that “in accordance with the natural properties of these places, similar to Mount Athos, known throughout the Christian world, our Russian Athos could be formed over time on the Crimean mountains.” Among others, this petition indicated the source of St. Cosmas and Damian as a place especially revered not only by Christians, but also by Mohammedans. The Archbishop sent a submission to the Holy Synod to request imperial permission to open the Bakhchisarai Assumption Skete, and then monasteries in various places.

By a synodal decree of May 4, 1850, Archbishop Innocent was informed that the highest permission had been given for the opening of the Bakhchisarai monastery with the monasteries; including the cinnamonium at the source of St. Cosmas and Damian. In the same year, Archbishop Innokenty petitioned for the allotment of 4 acres of land near the source for the establishment of the Kosmodamian cinnovia, and after a year and a half this area was separated from the forest government dacha. Subsequently, in 1872, by royal decree, another 19 acres were demarcated from the same government dacha.

Temporarily, until the opening of the cinnamonium, in 1851, the trustees of the source of St. Cosmas and Damian were appointed rector of the Theodore-Stratilatovskaya Church in Alushta, priest Dmitry Chernyaev, and the elder, merchant Andrei Korotenko. On a clear winter morning in late December, the trustees went on horseback to the source. The place was deserted and silent. In the snow there were many traces of deer and goats going down to drink, but there were no traces of humans at all. Father Demetrius blessed the water in the source, praying for the health of the Tsar and all Orthodox Christians.

Despite the permission received, the cinema did not open soon. In 1853, the Crimean War began; in 1854, Anglo-French troops landed in Crimea and besieged Sevastopol. During this difficult time, Archbishop Innocent continued to visit Crimea. The thought of discovering the cinnamonium never left him. July 1, 1855, after another visit to the source of St. Cosmas and Damian, the archbishop in the Simferopol Alexander Nevsky Cathedral said: “Among the Tauride Mountains there is still a healing spring, bearing the name of Saints Cosmas and Damian, which was brought out of the earth, according to the testimony of ... tradition, by their prayers ... The sanctity of memories, the beneficial property of the source, the majesty of the location immediately aroused me Special attention and reverence for this extraordinary place. If anywhere, I thought, then in such mountain gorges there is a place for monastic monasteries, and I suggested, if God pleases, to organize a monastery in the name of St. unmercenary Cosmas and Damian. The Holy Synod was not slow in blessing this thought, and the most pious sovereign not only sealed our proposal with his sovereign word, but also deigned to know all the traditions connected with this place.”

It was necessary to find funds for the construction of the monastery. In the consistory case regarding the Kosmodamian Kinovia it was stipulated: “Kenovia does not receive support from the treasury, but is supported by the voluntary donations of pilgrims.” The construction of the monastery was started by the Simferopol merchant of the 1st guild, hereditary honorary citizen, headman of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Simferopol Ivan Potapovich Sanyutin. He suffered for a long time from fever, nervous breakdown and weakness of the whole body. After bathing in the spring, Sanyutin was healed. In gratitude to the saints, this worthy man vowed to build a small church over a spring with two baths, and nearby several cells for both monks and pilgrims. Premises for pilgrims were built first of all, since, despite the permission to open the monastery, there was no abbot or monks here yet, and people, as before, flocked to the source in large numbers in the summer months. The founder of the Bakhchisarai Assumption skete and the Crimean monasteries, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride Innokenty bequeathed 100 shares of the Shipping and Trade Society. These shares were divided between the monastery and the monasteries. The share of Kosmodamianovskaya cinema accounted for nine shares, which were sold, and 5 percent shares were purchased with the proceeds of 5 thousand rubles state tickets in the name of Kinovia. The interest from this capital went to the maintenance of the monastery.

In 1997, a joyful event occurred - Archbishop Innocent of Kherson and Tauride was canonized. Archbishop Innocent founded new and restored ancient monasteries and churches. A strict ascetic and ascetic, he constantly cared about the prosperity of monasticism. Now the saint of God Innocent stands in the face of the saint in the unfading glory of heaven, interceding before the Lord for those monasteries to which he devoted so much strength and attention during his earthly life.

After the end of the Crimean War, in 1856, the first builder of the monastery, Hieromonk Macarius, was sent from the Bakhchisarai Assumption Skete, who was later elevated to the rank of abbot. The construction of the cinema began almost from scratch. There were no funds to hire workers; the monks had to do everything on their own. But nevertheless, the results were amazing. Arriving at the source, he, together with the monk Ignatius, immediately began to build a small wooden church according to the drawing given by Archbishop Innocent. Many residents of Simferopol helped them with their donations, and a year later the church was ready for consecration. Unfortunately, Archbishop Innocent died without waiting for this desired event.

It is not known how the cinema would have been settled if not for the truly ascetic work and efforts of the first abbot, Fr. Macarius, who did extremely much for the monastery. Many names have been forgotten, graves have been lost, and simple justice requires preserving the memory of people who devoted their entire lives to a holy cause.

Hegumen Macarius (in the world - Mikhail Prutsky) was born in Belgorod in the family of a chief officer in 1822(?). He graduated from the Belgorod district school. From his youth he felt a calling to monasticism, and entered the Glinsk hermitage as a novice in the Kursk province, where he stayed for about five years. Having learned that the Kherson Archbishop Innokenty was going to found several cenobias in Crimea, Mikhail Prutsky submitted a request to the Kherson diocese for admission to one of the cenobias being opened, and was accepted. Before the opening of the Bakhchisarai monastery and monastery, he was temporarily in the Korsun Mother of God Monastery in the Dnieper district of the Tauride province, where he was ordained subdeacon.

Even before the opening of the Bakhchisarai monastery, a brethren of seven people was gathered. Among the first inhabitants of the monastery was novice Mikhail Prutsky. Here he began a special life and special works. The construction of the monastery required considerable effort. Novice Mikhail was more diligent than others in his work and obedience. Before his ordination as a hieromonk, he was at the same time a sexton, a cook, a candle maker and a prosphora maker and, in addition, managed to go to the city before sunrise for provisions and bring it on his shoulders. The monastery was so poor that there was no money to hire horses.

When he was tonsured a monk in April 1853, novice Mikhail was named Macarius. From that time on, he began to work even more zealously. For some time after the opening of the Assumption Skete, the wanderer John lived in one of the caves, walking all year round barefoot and without a hat, almost in rags. Monk Macarius became close to him and imitated his lifestyle, although even without such asceticism life in the monastery was not easy. It was necessary to break stones from the rock, and trim them, and lay them in the walls. One day, while breaking a stone, Fr. Macarius stumbled and almost fell off the cliff. Fortunately, the abbot who happened to be nearby held him by his clothes and saved him from death. Another time, in winter, in icy conditions, going down the open stone stairs from the cave church, Fr. Macarius slipped, fell and hurt himself so badly that blood gushed out of his throat and ears. He was ill for more than a month and has since suffered from shortness of breath and chest pain.

During the Crimean War 1853–1956 Bakhchisarai and Simferopol were overcrowded with the wounded and sick. Temporary hospitals and infirmaries were left without priests, since military priests were with their regiments. Hieromonk Macarius was sent to temporary hospitals located in Bakhchisarai to fulfill Christian requirements. Selfless, ascetic, energetic, Fr. Macarius strove for such activities where life and health were in danger, always remembering the words of the Lord: “Whoever loses his life for the sake of Me and the Gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35). He consoled and encouraged not only the wounded, but also soldiers sick with typhus and cholera, being in hospitals from early morning until late, confessing, receiving communion and singing funeral services. For his diligent service in temporary military hospitals, he was awarded a gaiter. As already mentioned, after the end of the Crimean War, in 1856, Fr. Macarius was sent with the monk Ignatius to the source of St. Cosmas and Damian for the establishment of the cinnamonium.

Arriving at the source, Fr. Macarius saw that there was nothing there except the house for pilgrims: there were no cells, no church, no provisions, no horses, no people. Everything necessary for the monastery of Fr. Macarius brought it on foot from Simferopol 45 miles on his shoulders along a barely passable road. Later, through the works of Fr. Macarius and the monks built a road 8 miles long along the right bank of the Alma River.

Many were attracted here by the personality of Fr. Macarius, who treated everyone with love and meekness. Despite the poverty of the monastery, Fr. Macarius did not refuse anyone who wanted to settle here. But only hardworking people could stay in the monastery. The lazy quickly left him.

Every day the brethren gathered to sing Vespers, Compline, Midnight Office and the Hours, but on holidays and Sundays the monks were sad without serving the liturgy. Fr. Macarius made every effort to establish a church in the monastery, and when exactly a year later a small wooden church was ready for consecration, Fr. Macarius for a long time was the only hieromonk in Konovia, and despite this, Divine Liturgy was performed daily if he was in the monastery and was healthy. He loved to read the Six Psalms himself and akathists at prayer services at the request of pilgrims. He had a pleasant voice, his reading was clear, sensible and imbued with a deep sense of reverence, even those who were indifferent next to him prayed earnestly. U o. Macarius had an excellent memory, he knew all the rules laid down in the rules for monks, he knew the Gospel readings by heart and read them flawlessly during services.

The number of brethren increased, it was necessary to build new cells. We had to cut down forest, deliver bricks for stoves, glass for windows, and so on. The abbot himself worked with a pick and an ax, and went shopping on foot to Simferopol. He never made any orders regarding work at the monastery: what was Fr. Macarius, the monks also did this.

Residents of the surrounding villages knew Fr. Macarius, often meeting him in the forest and on the roads. He communicated with the Tatars and Greeks and was fluent in their native languages. Those who knew Fr. Macarius treated him with special respect and reverence, however, it turned out that the family had its black sheep. One day Fr. Macarius, together with a novice, went on monastic business to the southern coast of Crimea. Not far from the village of Kuchuk-Lambat (now the village of Maly Mayak), several Tatars attacked them for the purpose of robbery. The bound monks were taken to a nearby water mill, tortured, demanding money, and threatened with death. Fortunately, my friend Fr. arrived in time. Macarius was a Tatar and freed the monks. Subsequently, the perpetrators were identified by Fr. Macarius, but he forgave them. Although various faiths in Crimea lived quite peacefully side by side, such cases were not isolated, and the Orthodox clergy were sometimes exposed to danger.

Health o. Macarius was undermined by heavy physical labor; he suffered seriously from tuberculosis, which developed after a fall on the stairs of the Assumption Monastery. The sick rector was placed in the Simferopol hospital at the Taranov-Belozerov hospice house, where on September 18, 1878, at 4 o’clock in the morning, Fr. Macarius died. From the Taranov-Belozerov shelter the body of Fr. Macarius, accompanied by all the city clergy, was transferred to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. After the burial ceremony, it was sent to be buried in Kosmodamian’s kennovia. Father Macarius was buried in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, in the vestibule at the western door. A cast-iron grate was placed around the grave, and a large marble slab was built on the grave itself in 1880.

People remembered Fr. for a long time. Macarius, his kindness, friendliness to everyone, without distinction of ranks and classes. To the best of his ability, he helped everyone in need, and if he could not provide material assistance, he never let those who turned to him go without spiritual consolation. After the death of his parents, Fr. Macarius inherited about seven thousand rubles - a very significant amount for those times. He used all the money to set up the cinema and to help the poor, but left nothing for himself. Even during the last fatal disease O. Macarius had nothing to thank those who cared for him, and after his death everything necessary for burial was prepared by his spiritual disciples.

On September 10, 1857, Hieromonk Macarius was appointed the first rector, and thus the Kosmodamian monastery received the final administrative structure. Subsequently, the first monastery church was dismantled, and in its place in 1869, a new one was built at the expense of voluntary donors, also in the name of St. unmercenary Cosmas and Damian. The new church, as stated in the consistory document, “is a wooden building, with the same bell tower in one connection (the sacristy is located in it), strong. The temple is cold, the iconostasis is two-tiered.”

Among the icons of the Cosmodamian Church there was a special shrine - the temple icon of St. Cosmas and Damian with particles of their relics. The very relics of the unmercenary brothers are kept in Rome, in the church in the name of St. Cosmas and Damian. The history of this icon is extraordinary and significant in many ways. One day, Empress Maria Alexandrovna provided George Saruf, an Arab from Damascus, with financial assistance for travel to St. Petersburg to enter the Medical-Surgical Academy. Father George Saruf, the famous missionary priest Spyridon Saruf, had particles of the relics of St. Cosmas and Damian, which were given to him by Bishop Macarius of Ashita, who received this shrine from Rome. Before George Saruf left for St. Petersburg, his mother blessed him by presenting him with particles of the relics. While studying at the Academy, the President of the Academy, Dr. P. A. Dubovitsky, especially took care of Georgiy Saruf, and the entire family of the President belonged to young student with warmth and love. Dubovitsky’s wife, having learned about the shrine that Saruf had, asked to give her a piece, which was done. A few years later, M.A. Dubovitskaya, with the blessing of Metropolitan Isidore, transferred particles of holy relics to the rector of the Inkerman Monastery, Fr. Ephraim, who delivered them to Bishop Alexy of Tauride.

July 1, 1862, on the day of celebration of the memory of St. unmercenaries and wonderworkers Cosmas and Damian, Bishop Alexy solemnly brought in particles of relics and confirmed them in the temple icon of St. Cosmas and Damian. This icon was located on the left side, in a special place near the choir, with an unquenchable lamp burning in front of it. A letter from Bishop Alexy about this event was kept in the sacristy of the Kosmodamian Church.

In 1874, at the expense of willing donors, a second monastery church in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord was built, wooden, warm, with a two-tier iconostasis. Both churches were, according to consistory records, “supplied with mediocre utensils.”

The Kosmodamianovskaya kinovia was located in an extremely beautiful, but inaccessible place, in a deep gorge surrounded by mountains and dense forest. Characteristic feature basin, where the monastery was located, the sun rises later than in other places in Crimea and sets earlier. Even in July, this difference is expressed in two hours in the morning and the same in the evening. In winter, the sun rarely appears in the monastery gorge, and in summer it is visible only from the tops of the mountains, so even in summer it is quite cool there in the morning and evening. Already in August, frequent rains and cold nights begin in the mountains. The roads leading to the monastery were extremely inconvenient and no one lived around. To build the monastery, it was necessary to cut down the centuries-old forest and compare the slopes. There was simply no land - the soil around the monastery was unsuitable for vegetable gardens, and the forest was so dense that there were no pastures at a great distance. Places suitable for haymaking were located far from the monastery. The monastery annually rented clearings located on the mountains among the forest from the state property board of the Tauride province. It was difficult to deliver hay from these meadows; the monks had to manually drag it from the mountains to the valleys, and then deliver it to the monastery by cart.

The life of the monastic brethren in the Kosmodamianovsky Monastery was difficult. All necessary products were purchased in Simferopol. “Usually in this transcendental monastery it is difficult to find anything other than a mug of milk. In this elevated mountain zone it is impossible to cultivate even garden vegetables, and in winter the monastery and its approaches are covered with snow to such an extent that sometimes it remains buried under snowdrifts for several weeks. When residents of the neighboring valleys notice that the riding monk has not come from the monastery for shopping to the city for a long time, the alarm is raised, and they go with shovels to dig up the monastery, to inquire whether it is intact,” wrote Evgeniy Markov in “Essays on Crimea.” Snow here usually falls as early as October and remains until March, and sometimes until April. During particularly snowy winters, accidents also occurred. Soon after the opening of the monastery, one of the novices was sent to Alushta on urgent business. The day was cloudy, all the paths were covered with deep snow. The messenger did not find the road and froze.

Construction of the monastery continued. In 1891, instead of the first wooden chapel, a stone chapel was built over the spring, beautiful and convenient for worship. In the center of the chapel, rising above the floor, there was a small stone reservoir in which the source was enclosed. Filling the reservoir, the water noisily flowed into a large wooden pool, located indoors and serving as a bathhouse for pilgrims. The bathhouse was divided into two halves - men's and women's. Despite the low water temperature (+8° C), many pilgrims swam in the pool, while others limited themselves to partial ablution. The water in the pool was not stagnant, as it was constantly full and excess water drained away. There was also a special device with which it was possible to completely change all the water in the pool in just 25 minutes. In the chapel, from the source itself, they took water for drinking.

On the occasion of the celebration of St. Cosmas and Damian, on July 1, many people flocked to the monastery. Long lines of carts drawn by oxen were heading to the source from various places, mainly from Simferopol. Families left a few days before the holiday, stocking up on food and necessary things. Stopping not far from the monastery, the pilgrims changed into festive clothes and hurried to the source. Everyone fetched water in the chapel, and the sick Tatars, having washed themselves in holy water, left scraps of their clothes on the walls of the pool, believing that illnesses would remain here with them. At this time, a divine service took place, and towards the end of the mass, shops with food supplies were opened. The deserted area came to life, fires burned everywhere, herds of oxen wandered, and trout were caught in the stream. After the end of the prayer, the pilgrims had lunch, packed their belongings and set off on their way back, and the surroundings of the monastery were empty again.

The Kosmodamianovsky monastery was a monastery for men for 43 years, from 1856 to 1899. If the first twenty years, during the management of the monastery by Abbot Macarius, could be called a time of prosperity for the monastery, then the next 23 years were a time of decline. Fr.'s successors Macarius cared little about the improvement of the monastery. Not only were no new buildings erected in the monastery, but the existing ones were not repaired either. The temples were not decorated, the number of monks decreased - instead of 50, 30 remained along with the novices. All this happened not only from a lack of funds, but also, mainly, because the monks did not know how to run a household, and they did not always live like a monastery. Sharp changes in life came with the arrival of Bishop Nicholas to the Tauride See.

At the beginning of May 1899, Bishop Nikolai arrived in Alushta. His plans included visiting the Kosmodamian monastery. The newspaper “Salgir” reported in sufficient detail about this trip: “Met at the monastery by all the brethren, the bishop settled down in the abbot’s chambers, and the next day, already at 5 o’clock. In the morning I walked around the monastery and examined the royal house, where I signed the visitors’ book. Later, the bishop served mass together with the brethren. After the service there followed a procession of the Right Reverend with all the brethren to the refectory “with glory.” During the meal, the bishop made several instructions and amendments to the inaccurate implementation of the charter... The bishop liked the location of the monastery. He believes that the climate here is the same as Abas-Tumansky and that this is a great place for a sanatorium. By the way, the bishop expressed the idea that it would be most appropriate to transfer convent».

Bishop Nicholas immediately began to implement this idea, and already in July 1899, the diocesan authorities received a decree from the Holy Synod to transform the monastery into a women’s monastery.

Bishop Nicholas paid special attention to the fulfillment of the spirit of Christ's love in the monasteries, and therefore he wanted to see schools, hospitals and almshouses at the monasteries. He cared about the elevation of monastic life, especially about the establishment of women's monasteries, and diligently planted women's asceticism in Crimea. This was precisely the main reason for this reform.

From the Toplovsky Paraskevievsky women's monastery, the dean, Mother Varsonofia, was transferred to the Kosmodamianovsky monastery, and was appointed abbess. Twenty-five nuns, led by nun Barsanuphia, moved to a poor monastery at the foot of Chatyrdag.

On August 1, after reading the definition of the Holy Synod, an official announcement was made about the transformation of the monastery into a women's monastery. The monks were placed in other monasteries of the Tauride diocese, mainly in Chersonesos, Balaklava, Georgievsky and Kiziltash. The former abbot, Hieromonk Philadelph, at his request, was moved to the Korsun Monastery.

The brethren's farewell to each other and to the monastery was touching. There were monks who labored here for decades: the monk Theodosius lived for 41 years in the Kosmodamian monastery, the entire history of the monastery unfolded before his eyes. Fr. came here while still a young man. Theodosius, but left him a very old man. The half-blind monk Pachomius lived in the monastery for more than a quarter of a century. For the old monks this change was a big blow. The young monks and novices left the monastery completely calmly.

On the sixth of August, on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the warm monastery church celebrated its temple holiday. On this day solemn service was performed here for the first time as in a nunnery.

September 5, 1899, Sunday, His Grace Nicholas, accompanied by the cathedral archpriest Fr. Alexander Serdobolsky arrived at the Kosmodamian monastery. On this day, during the celebration of the liturgy, the abbess of the monastery was elevated to the rank of abbess. When presenting the staff, Bishop Nicholas gave archpastoral instructions to the new abbess and all the nuns of the transformed monastery. “The Chief Shepherd Christ, who distributes titles and ranks in His church,” said the Bishop, “now, through my measure, calls you, the all-honorable mother Barsanuphia, to the highest service for a woman in His church, elevating you to the degree of abbess of this monastery... This will take away the rod from the hand of your husband and gives it into your weak hands... Accept it as from the hand of the Lord Himself, and wear it with dignity befitting your rank!

...Now my word to you, sisters in Christ! Treat your mother abbess with love and obedience, remembering that obedience, according to the word of the Savior, more than fasting and prayer... Whatever the “obedience” given to you by the mother abbess, “pure” or “impure,” fulfill it without complaint, for in it there is a path for you both to moral perfection and to the achievement of the Kingdom of God. In your patience, gain your souls, I will tell you in the words of St. apostle...

Do not forget, and especially prayerfully, your monastery-mother - Toplovskaya. There you all “laid your beginning”, there you were all revived in spirit. Love this monastery, rejoice in its joys and grieve with its sorrows...”

Under the leadership of Abbess Barsanuphia, the monastery became completely unrecognizable. The Kosmodamian Church and other buildings were thoroughly renovated. To strengthen the terrace on which the large church stood, a stone retaining wall 40 fathoms long was erected. Several new cells, a prosphora room, a bakery, a workshop, a laundry, a barn with bins, a hay barn for 1,000 poods, and two hotels with twenty rooms for visitors were built. In 1913, in honor of the 300th anniversary of the reign of the House of Romanov, the chapel over the source was restored.

The number of monastic sisters has increased. Immaculate cleanliness was maintained everywhere, and food was provided to poor pilgrims free of charge. The nuns devoted all their time to prayer and work, resting only a few hours a day, and even then with breaks for prayer. At a common meal for all the sisters, the lives of the saints were read. There was a lot of housework: in the kitchen, bakery, prosphora, vegetable garden and barnyard. The nuns themselves sewed church vestments, clothes and shoes for the sisters. Some learned to weave carpets, embroider and weave lace. Most sisters, especially the poor, received everything they needed for life from the monastery.

Naturally, the monastery needed new cells, major repairs were needed to the wooden Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord and the chapel over the source. The wooden bell tower threatened to collapse. The monastery did not have a bathhouse or running water. It was necessary to build at least a canopy for the pilgrims, because their number on temple holidays and during procession from Sevastopol it reached up to a thousand, and many had to spend the night in the open air.

The Kosmodamianovsky monastery was very poor, existing only on donations from pilgrims, on small incomes from the monastery’s courtyard in Simferopol and from the “Poryvay” farmstead in the village. Grigorievka, Perekop district, 100 versts from the monastery. This farm, a generous gift from a pious Orthodox soul, was donated to the monastery in 1878 by the Sevastopol merchant Grigory Petrovich Poryvay. It consisted of 200 acres of land. There was also a stone church attached to the monastery in the name of the Three Ecumenical Saints. The necessary buildings for the sisters living and working there were erected on the farm, agricultural equipment was purchased, and an artesian well was installed.

In 1907, the Kosmodamianovskoe farmstead opened in Simferopol, located halfway from the farm, which was very convenient for transporting crops to the monastery and when traveling on farm business. This courtyard, which the residents of Simferopol called the “monastic church,” no longer exists.

The Kosmodamian monastery was one of the most respected and beloved monasteries in Crimea. Russian emperors visited Kinovia several times. A separate entry from the archives of the consistory reports that “this cenovia in October 1873 was twice blessed by the visit of His Imperial Highness the Sovereign Heir, Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich, and in 1880, for the third time, the cenovia was blessed by the visit of Their Imperial Highness the Sovereign Heir Alexander Alexandrovich, together with Empress Tsesarevna Maria Feodorovna, now reigning peacefully and wisely by God’s Grace, where they deigned to stay from October 14th to 18th.” The royal couple spent these few days in the modest house of the monastery abbot. On October 25, 1911, Emperor Nicholas II visited the monastery and prayed at the St. Cosmas and Damian and drank holy water.

In the 1870s, by order of Alexander III, a royal hunting lodge was built near the Kosmodamianovsky Monastery. Since 1910, improved dirt roads from Yalta, Alushta and the most important hunting areas began to be built to the royal house, and consequently to the monastery. In 1913, an imperial hunting reserve was organized in Crimea.

The classic of Ukrainian pre-October literature M. M. Kotsyubinsky visited the Kosmodamian Monastery several times. He was amazed by the beauty surrounding nature, but the monastery itself seemed to the revolutionary-minded writer “a nasty spot, a stinking heap of dung.” Apparently, everyone sees what they want. At the same time, the writer showed strikingly unethical intentions. He decided, he writes, “to enter the monastery for a while to observe, become a novice, put on a cassock, go to church, eat and sleep with the brethren. But I didn’t succeed: just that year the Kozmodemyansky monastery was turned into a women’s monastery, which I learned about when I arrived there. The intention was not realized, the plot for the story was lost, and out of despair I wrote only “Into a Sinful World,” a short novella, based on the material collected during a short time... staying in the monastery.” One can only be glad that circumstances did not allow the writer to thoroughly denigrate the Crimean shrine. True, he partially succeeded in this in the short story “Into a Sinful World,” written in 1904 and approved by the legal Bolshevik press.

The plot of the novel is simple and implausible. Four young novices, while picking raspberries for the abbess, ate several berries. The enraged abbess expelled the novices from the monastery. On the way to the city, the girls calmed down, felt the great joy of existence and, throwing off monastic oppression, rushed to worldly joys and the happiness of a “free” life. The novella is written brightly, with the pen of a great master - magnificent descriptions of the nature surrounding the monastery, subtle comparisons. From a real point of view, despite the fact that Kotsyubinsky was a realist writer, the work is extremely weak. According to Kotsyubinsky, the monastery was inhabited by evil hysterics, half-crazed erotomaniacs, and greedy hypocrites. In the heat of denigration, the writer did not spare anyone; as a result, the work turned out to be very tendentious and reveals ignorance of the specifics of the monastic way of life. Consider the fact that novices were expelled from the monastery at the whim of the abbess! This simply could not happen, since a consistory decision was needed; Moreover, one of the novices was already a cassock, that is, she had received the blessing from the abbess to wear a cassock and hood. This is one of the steps to tonsure, and not every novice was awarded this. It is sad when talent is sacrificed to false ideas: a gifted writer found nothing for a holy place except lumps of dirt.

In 1920, shortly after the establishment of Soviet power in Crimea, the last, most difficult and bitter period of the monastery’s life began. The January 1918 decree on the separation of church and state was successfully implemented on the peninsula. The nationalization of the monasteries of Crimea was carried out from the beginning of the 1920s, and by the mid-20s there was a tendency towards their complete liquidation. During 1922, 74 churches of various cults were liquidated in Crimea, as well as 4 monasteries, 3 were in the process of liquidation. A colony for disabled people named after Kalinin was set up in the Kosmodamianovsky Monastery; it existed until 1924, after which the disabled were transferred to a new colony, the former Kiziltash monastery. An artel was organized from the nuns, which included 42 people. The churches were sealed, but practically the nuns continued to live a monastic life.

In 1923, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR issued a decree “On the Crimean State Reserve and Forest Biological Station.” The Presidium of the Crimean Central Executive Committee decided: “The Kosmo-Damianovsky Monastery with all its buildings should be transferred to the Crimean Nature Reserve. The artel of nuns currently living there will be allowed to remain until April 1, 1924.” The management of the reserve demanded that the colony of disabled people be removed from its territory, citing the fact that no one except its staff should live in the reserve. That is why the Crimean Central Executive Committee transferred the former monastery to the reserve and proposed to the People's Commissariat for Social Security to transfer disabled people to another place. The management of the reserve did not touch the nuns, which was immediately reported to the highest authorities. In June 1924, in a memo to People's Commissar V.S. NKSO worker N. Wegner reported to Brezovsky: “The disabled people were transferred, but the nuns remained there, and apparently they don’t even think about leaving, because the reserve gave them land for a vegetable garden and a clearing for sowing a vegetable garden. In addition, although there is a seal on one of the churches, the seal is not of the established type and the keys to the church doors are kept by the nuns. But this is not enough: the nuns built a new church there. For this purpose, in the former prosphyra room they set up a throne, an altar, etc., new tonsures, ordinations, etc. are taking place.

Based on all of the above, I propose to bring to the attention of the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Central Executive Committee that, firstly, the resolution on the liquidation of the former. The Kosmo-Demyanovsky Monastery was not fulfilled by the Alushta church table, and, secondly, that the reserve, when it said that no outsiders should live on the territory of the reserve, was lying. He couldn’t live with disabled people and NKSO, but he could live with nuns. They don’t bother him, and he gives them land for cultivation.”

Apparently, it was not only the nuns who opposed the closure of the monastery. The Yalta Regional Executive Committee in May 1925 complained to the Central Administrative Department of Crimea: “The Church Table of YaltRIK reports that in the affairs of the former Kosmo-Damianovsky Monastery, now under the jurisdiction of the Crimean State Reserve, there is a TsAU-Kr relationship. dated 8.IV-24 on the liquidation of 2 churches of the Kosmo-Damianovsky monastery and the eviction of monks. However, b. The Alushta district executive committee did not comply with the instructions indicated in this regard and the nuns, numbering 20 people, continue to live in their cells at the monastery, where Hieromonk Romanchenko Pavel, who is serving in the Crimean State Reserve, also lives, and the nuns formed a labor artel.”

However, this too came to an end. The Transfiguration Church was used to set up a club in the Crimea Reserve, a natural history museum was opened in the Kosmodamianovsky Church, and in the chapel with a bathhouse it was planned to set up a hatchery for hatching trout fry. One of the Soviet guidebooks to the Crimean Reserve tells us: “In the years civil war the monastery was a refuge for the counter-revolution. After the liberation of Crimea from Wrangel and interventionists, until 1923 the monastery existed under the guise of a “monastic labor artel” and had close ties with Tatar counter-revolutionary nationalists. During the liquidation of the monastery, a lot of weapons and ammunition were found here.” I think comments are unnecessary.

During the Great Patriotic War, the royal hunting lodge and all the buildings of the former Kosmodamianovsky monastery were destroyed, except for the chapel over the source.

70 years after the closure of the monastery, by Decree of the President of the Republic of Crimea No. 50/94 of April 26, 1994, the territory and buildings of the monastery were returned to the Simferopol and Crimean diocese. The charter of the monastery of Cosmas and Damian was again registered with the Council for Religious Affairs under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. On July 14, 1994, on the day of remembrance of the holy unmercenaries and wonderworkers Cosmas and Damian, Archbishop Lazarus of Simferopol and Crimea celebrated a festive liturgy in the chapel above the holy spring.

Now ten monastics live in the monastery. Services are held regularly in the chapel. As before, on the day of remembrance of the holy unmercenaries, believers and those thirsting for healing flock to the monastery; pilgrims come on other days as well. Living conditions are not much different from the first years of the monastery’s existence.

Eternal values ​​have always existed and will exist. We must not forget that the monastery is the house of God, the earthly heaven. The opening of the monastery is not a tribute to fashion, but a dictate of the times. So one of the Crimean shrines, the reviving Kosmodamian Monastery, will again bring people the light of true Orthodoxy. The best confirmation of this is the return of the monastery shrine, an icon with particles of the relics of Saints Cosmas and Damian. Each of the Crimean monasteries had its own shrines, which, when they were closed, were plundered and disappeared, it seemed, forever. In our days, an unusually joyful event took place for all Orthodox Christians - an icon, whose story began so unusually and ended just as unusually, returned to the monastery. For many years it was kept by one believing woman, who, before her death, gave it to the cleric of the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Fr. Alexia Sakhnenko. Father Alexy preserved the ancient icon and donated it to the newly opened monastery. On July 14, 1996, on the day of remembrance of the unmercenary saints Cosmas and Damian, at the patronal feast, His Eminence Lazar, Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea Lazar solemnly met this holy icon at the gates of the monastery.

Visiting Saints Cosmas and Damian

Alena Markelova
Based on materials from the newspaper “Crimean Time” - http://crimeatime.blogspot.com

When I was offered to make a pilgrimage, I was, frankly, a little confused. This word reeked of hoary antiquity. Of course, it came from the very “palm”, that is, palm branches with which the inhabitants of Jerusalem met Jesus Christ two thousand years ago. True, my pilgrimage route did not lie in Jerusalem, but much closer - in the monastery of the holy unmercenaries and wonderworkers Cosmas and Damian, which is located not far from Alushta. The trip was organized by the pilgrimage department of the Simferopol and Crimean diocese.

Our bus climbs the mountains, winds along the slopes for a long time and finally rests against the gates of the monastery. The monastery is located in a gorge with huge centuries-old trees. The air here is much cleaner and colder than in the bustling world that remains below.

Having set foot on the monastery grounds, out of habit, I take out my mobile phone. There is no network. Well, thank God. Why does a pilgrim need a net?

We head to a small church on the territory of the monastery. There are so many of us that some people remain standing in the aisle. The liturgy begins. The atmosphere is very cozy, almost homely. A feeling of detachment, peace of mind and quiet joy fills me. Here, in the monastery, you begin to evaluate yourself and your actions completely differently.

After the liturgy, we leave the church and return to the ancient chapel at the monastery gates. And here is the sacred spring, which has been providing healing water for 1700 years. According to legend, he was driven out of the rock by the holy martyrs, the twin brothers Cosmas and Damian.

Kosma and Damian studied the art of medicine in Ancient Rome under the guidance of a famous doctor and teacher. The brothers did not take payment for healings; they helped the poor with property and money. Healing the sick, they converted them to Christianity. Kosma and Damian were killed by their own teacher, jealous of their fame.

The healing power of Kosmodamian water is undeniable. For a long time, as not only legends, but also historical data confirm, “both old and young, without distinction of creeds and religions, came here - Russians and Greeks, Catholics, Lutherans, Tatars, Karaites, Talmudic Jews... Everyone went to the source with faith and the hope of receiving healing from your ailments - physical and mental.”

And they received it.

One of the many legends says: “a cruel husband, hating his wife, took her to the mountains, gouged out her eyes and left her to wander among unknown places in the forest. The unfortunate woman was already dying of hunger when two brothers, doctors Kosma and Damian, came to her, took her to a mountain spring and ordered her to wash in it. As soon as she did this, her vision suddenly returned; she calmly returned home and told about what had happened.”

The main work on building a monastery at the wonderful spring began in 1856, with the blessing of Archbishop Innocent of Kherson and Tauride. The monastery was created and improved by the truly ascetic labor of the monastery brethren - after all, there was no human habitation for 10 miles around the monastery. The monks paved roads for pilgrims, cleared crossings across the Alma from boulders, built paths from dead wood and brushwood in swampy places...

Soon after the 1917 revolution, the monastery was closed. All monastery buildings, except for the chapel, were destroyed during the Great Patriotic War. However, even in Soviet times, the mystery of Kosmodamian water haunted the authorities. They say that the party leadership even ordered to find the mythical “silver pipes”, allegedly laid by monks who wanted to confuse the workers with miraculous healings. Of course, no pipes were found...

The date of the “second birth of the monastery” was July 14, 1994, the Day of Remembrance of Saints Cosmas and Damian. On this day, Metropolitan Lazar of Simferopol and Crimea celebrated the first festive liturgy in many years in the chapel above the source.

Well, it’s time for us to taste the healing water. By the way, it has been experimentally proven that its use helps with kidney and liver diseases - I heard about this from doctors. According to some scientists, the local water has a special structure. Which, of course, does not explain its wonderful properties. Because the grace of God, which is clearly present in this amazing place, can only be “measured” by one “instrument” - the human heart.

Lyudmila Yaselskaya

- May, 18th 2012

This monastery is one of the most famous Orthodox shrines in Crimea. It is located about 20 km from Alushta, at the foot of Chatyr-Dag, in the mountain basin between Babugan and Sinabdag, where even at the height of summer the sun rises two hours later and sets two hours earlier (in winter the sun rarely appears at all in the gorge).

Centuries-old trees with gnarled roots bursting out of the ground; powerful retaining walls, an ancient stone chapel and a holy spring - which has been giving its healing water to people for more than 1,700 years. From time immemorial people came to him “... both old and young, without differences in creeds and religions - ... Everyone went to the source with faith and hope to receive healing from their ailments - physical and mental.” According to legend, this source was “brought out of the rock” by the holy martyrs brothers Cosmas and Damian. And here they were killed by human envy and malice.

The brothers were born and lived in Greece near Rome around the second half of the 3rd century. They studied the art of medicine from one famous aesculapian, and when they learned, they began to treat people for free, with only one request to their patients - to believe in Jesus Christ. That’s what they called them – the unmercenaries. In the end, for their sermons, the brothers were brought to the court of Emperor Carian (according to other sources - Diocletian), however, having healed him of his illness, they were released, but in order not to further disturb the order in the city, they were exiled to the Crimea.

Here Kosma and Damian were found by their former teacher - a cruel and envious man, who was haunted by the glory of his students, who had surpassed him and were known even on the outskirts of the empire. Under the pretext of collecting herbs, he carried them into the mountains and killed them. This happened around 284. Many years passed before an incident occurred that brought this secret atrocity to light. One of the residents of a mountain village decided to get rid of his wife: he took her into the forest, blinded her and left her there to wander in the dark to certain death. The unfortunate woman was about to die when two people came to her and, saying that they were brothers and doctors, took her to some source of water and washed her. And a miracle happened - the woman began to see. Returning to her village, she told everyone about what had happened. There is another legend about a leper shepherd who fell asleep near a spring and had a dream in which brother healers appeared to him with halos over their heads and, declaring that they were Cosmas and Damian, ordered him to wash in the spring. The shepherd, who was immediately healed, was ordered to come here every year on July 1 (July 14, new style) for ablution, and also to bring other sufferers with him. And people began to come and be healed... Later, a temple was built here in honor of the Holy unmercenary brothers Cosmas and Damian.

But this did not happen soon. In the 20s of the XIX century. At the expense of Countess Sophia Pototskaya, a wooden outbuilding was built at the source for a refuge for pilgrims, and in the 50s, a healed Simferopol merchant erected a log house with images of Cosmas and Damian. The emergence of an Orthodox monastery in honor of these saints is associated with Archbishop Innocent of Kherson and Tauride (in the world - I.A. Borisov, 1800-1857) - a famous theologian and preacher. His contemporaries called him “Russian Chrysostom”... It is a pity that now in Crimea almost no one knows about him, although it was he who founded many churches in our country. Archbishop Innokenty loved the mountainous Crimea very much and always dreamed of it becoming the second Mount Athos. At his personal request, the Emperor allocated “4 acres of government land for the monastery.” He himself did not wait for the completion of the construction of the Kosmodamianovsky monastery for only some 3.5 months - he died in May 1857, and by September the monastery was officially opened.

Several years ago, Archbishop Innocent of Kherson and Tauride was canonized. Subsequently, the monastery was actually created and improved by the ascetic labor of the monastic brethren, because for 10 miles around there was no housing. The monks themselves paved roads for pilgrims (what does it mean to pave a road in a mountain forest!), cleared crossings across the Alma River from boulders, and built paths from dead wood in swampy places. The monastery did not receive funds from the treasury. The only help was modest offerings from pilgrims in the summer months. However, through the persistent work of the monks, it was built in 1869. wooden church in the name of St. Cosmas and Damian, and not far from it in 1874. another one was erected - in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

So, gradually, the monastery was upset: there appeared an abbot's building, three buildings for the brethren, a building for hired people, for visitors, a refectory, workshops, a barn, a bathhouse, a forge, a stable, a shop for selling books and church utensils. But even then the income was small: candles, donations, and also a small percentage of the capital deposited in the Simferopol bank. From the very first day and for the next 19 years, the abbot of the monastery was Hieromonk Macarius, who left behind good memory. He was silent, stern, but fair and merciful. He did not refuse admission to anyone, but, as a rule, only the most hardworking remained in such conditions. Macarius himself did not force anyone, always showing by his laconic example what needs to be done today: he takes an ax in his hands - that means everyone is going into the forest; take a shovel - level the path for everyone, but if you don’t want to, don’t go, but find something to do yourself. On the days of the temple holidays on June 29, July 1 and August 6 (old style), crowds of pilgrims from the South Coast and other regions of Crimea flocked to the monastery. Entire families of Tatars came, bringing their sick people to immerse them in the miracle spring, which they called in their own way - Savluk-Su (“healthy water”).

In 1878 The monastery was visited twice by Tsarevich Alexander (future Emperor Alexander III). At that time, a nearby building was built specifically for royal family hunting lodge (“Beshuyskie forest dachas”). In 1880 Alexander came here again, this time with his wife Maria Feodorovna, and then wrote in his diary: “these days, from October 14 to 18, spent in the mountains, were the best memories of our entire stay in Crimea.” And then, on each of their visits to Crimea, the august family came to the holy spring. Nicholas II was also here. In the Vorontsov (Alupka) Palace, an album of photographs of the Kosmo-Damianovsky monastery, presented to Empress Maria Feodorovna in those years, is still kept. In 1899 by the will of the Lord and at the direction of the Holy Synod, the monastery was transformed into a women's monastery and Abbess Barsanuphia was appointed its first abbess.

After Soviet power came to Crimea, by a special decree in 1923. the monastery was abolished, and all the buildings were transferred to the Crimean State Reserve. The former nuns were allowed to stay and create an agricultural artel, but not for long: quickly, under the pretext of expanding the reserve, they nevertheless got rid of the “undesirable elements” (what was their further fate– unknown). The monastery itself began to gradually collapse, and the Germans completed the destruction during the Great Patriotic War. To this day, only the stone chapel and retaining wall have survived; in 1905. built to strengthen the terrace with the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian standing on it. It must be said that even in Soviet times, the Orthodox did not forget their holy places and every year on July 14 (new style) they came to the holy spring to ask for healing from their newly persecuted brothers. The mystery of the healing water haunted the local authorities. The party leadership, in order to “debunk” the miracle, even once ordered the search for silver pipes, allegedly once laid by monks who were shaking the atheistic platform of their fellow citizens. Of course, no pipes were found. By the way, indeed, the water of the Kosmodamianovsky spring contains an unusually large amount of silver, although this metal has not been found in the Crimean depths.

Finally, on April 26, 1994 an act was signed “On the transfer to the Simferopol and Crimean diocesan administration of the building of the chapel of the former Kosmo-Damianovsky monastery with a source and its former land plot.” In the same year, on July 14, on the day of remembrance of the Holy Unmercenary Wonderworkers, Metropolitan Lazar of Simferopol and Crimea celebrated a festive liturgy in the chapel above the source. The monastery began to be revived. Some shrines were even returned to it: an icon with a particle of the relics of the holy brothers, as well as an icon of the Mother of God of Jerusalem, painted specifically for the monastery on Mount Athos (this icon recently brightened by itself). And although today the eyes of modern pilgrims see a different picture than 70-80 years ago, there is already hope that today’s monks with their efforts and pilgrims with their donations will breathe the old life into it. Despite today's very harsh living conditions in those places, several novice monks, led by the abbot, live in the monastery permanently. They say that “the monastery is not in the walls, but in you”... But there is something special in these places themselves and some kind of grace-filled power is diffused in the air. And now there are a lot of pilgrims here. According to the monks themselves, in the summer months there are up to 200 people a day, and on patronal holidays - up to 6 thousand!

The current rector of the monastery, Father Nikanor, is a former nuclear engineer. From 1987 to 1992 worked at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Participated in eliminating the consequences of the disaster. When I was in a clinic in Moscow, the attending physician advised: if you want to live, run through the mountains. “I’ve been running ever since,” Father Nikanor says, smiling. Among the novice monks there is a conductor, a botanist, a diplomat, a circus performer... The ways of the Lord are inscrutable! A very young guy, who graduated from university and successfully served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, decided to go to Greece, to Holy Mount Athos. He went, but when it turned out that he had practically no chance of getting there (he had to apply for a special permit in advance - a visa), he turned to the Lord for help, and at the same time made a vow: if the Lord allowed him to go to Athos, he would become a monk. The guy was allowed to go to the Holy Mountain. And he fulfilled his vow. Now his monastery is here, in the monastery of Saints Cosmas and Damian, and the places near Chatyr-Dag are very reminiscent, according to him, of Athos itself. Another novice in worldly life was a famous conductor (he worked in the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine), lived in Odessa, Kyiv, Berlin, Seoul. And just in Seoul ( South Korea), in 1999 it so happened that he settled not far from Orthodox church, which had a large library. He began to read Orthodox books, and the works of the holy fathers of the church made such a strong impression on the conductor that his whole life in the world seemed unreal, that is, not worthwhile, vain, and he turned to the church with all his soul. So this one too former conductor also now in the Kosmodamian monastery as a novice. One of his obediences is preparing a meal for the brethren, and with God’s help he copes with this task, although, as he himself admits, he has never done anything like that and has never held anything heavier than a conductor’s baton and a wallet in his hands.

These are the kind of monks who will meet you in those blessed places. Now it’s not at all difficult to get there. In every city of Crimea, travel agencies offer everyone pilgrimage trips to monasteries: to the Kosmodamianovsky Monastery, and to the Toplovsky Trinity-Paraskevievsky Convent, which is on the road to Belogorsk; to the Kyzyltash Monastery of St. Stephen of Sourozh near Sudak; to the Inkerman St. Klimentyevsky Monastery near Sevastopol; to the St. Gergius Monastery near Cape Fiolent and, finally, to. Just please do not forget that in holy places you need to behave modestly and dress appropriately. For women and girls, be sure to bring headscarves and longer skirts, as well as long shirts for ablutions in the spring baths. It is also good to take containers with you into which you will probably want to collect holy water from sources. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to have extra money or food to donate to the monks, who not only build what was destroyed, but also constantly pray for all of us sinners...

On the territory of the oldest and most extensive on the Crimean peninsula nature reserve, which stretches in the highest part of the Main Range of the Crimean Mountains, is the Kosmo-Damianovsky Monastery. It is one of the most famous Crimean Orthodox shrines, where thousands of pilgrims from all over the peninsula come annually on the day of remembrance of the Roman saints Cosmas and Damian on July 1 (14).

There is no documentary evidence of the presence of these saints in Taurida, however, according to legend, the miracle workers spent their last years here, at the foot of Mount Chatyrdag in close proximity to the source that currently bears their names. Twin brothers Cosmas and Damian lived in the second half of the 3rd century. Born into a wealthy Roman family, they received a good education, but most of all they liked the science of healing. For their good deeds and spreading the faith of Christ, they received the gift of miracles. The brothers could heal sick animals and people only through prayer and the laying on of hands. When helping the suffering, miracle workers always did it for free. They distributed all the inheritance that they received after the death of their parents to the poor and disadvantaged, for which they later began to be called silverless.

The rumor about miracle workers spread more and more, but these were terrible times of persecution of Christians. In the end, they were arrested for their sermons and brought to trial before the pagan emperor Karian (according to other sources - Diocletian). According to one of the legends, Cosmas and Damian healed him of his illness and therefore were released, but so that they would not continue to confuse people, they were exiled to Crimea.

It was here that they were found by their former teacher, who was a cruel and envious man. He was haunted by the art of healing his brothers and the glory of his students, whose names became known throughout the empire. Having come up with an excuse, the teacher lured them into the mountains and killed them. Among the local population there is a belief that the saints are buried a little above the healing spring, in close proximity to two identical beech trees, which resemble each other like twin brothers.

The second name of the spring gushing out of the rock is Savlukh-Su, which is translated from the Tatar language as “healthy water.” The source of the holy silversmiths and wonderworkers Cosmas and Domian has long been famous for its crystal clear and tasty, cool water. There are many known cases of miraculous healing after bathing in a spring or drinking water from a spring. Modern research conducted by the Odessa Research Institute of Balneology has shown that in addition to magnesium, potassium, and manganese, the water contains lithium and silver, which is very rarely found in natural sources.

A huge number of sick and suffering people, regardless of their religion, came to the source, which has been famous for its healing properties since time immemorial. Perhaps a temple was built here in the Middle Ages, but after the eviction of Christians in 1788, it disappeared without a trace. Despite this, on the day of Saints Cosmas and Damian, Christians gathered at the source, priests served prayer services and blessed the water. The first building in the immediate vicinity of the source for pilgrims was erected in the 20s of the 19th century at the expense of Countess Sofia Pototskaya.

During his trip to the holy places of Crimea, Archbishop Innocent visited the Kosmodamian spring. He called on Orthodox residents to restore the monastery and monument of faith. Permission to open the monastery was received in 1853, but the Crimean War prevented the development of the monastery.

Father Macarius (in the world Mikhail Prutsky) became the first abbot of the Cosmo-Damianovsky Monastery. During the war, he cared for the wounded and sick in military hospitals, consoled, confessed and performed church rites over the dead. After the war ended, it was he who was entrusted with the construction of the monastery. The matter was very difficult. Kinovia was located in a remote gorge, high and dense forest surrounded it on all sides. Due to the fact that the terrain was not level, a huge amount of excavation work had to be carried out. The monks personally harvested the wood for the construction of the monastery and carried the necessary building materials on their shoulders. Since the monastery did not receive any funds from the state, construction was carried out using voluntary donations from pilgrims.

The first small wooden church was built in 1857. In 1870, a large church with a bell tower was built, and already in 1874, construction began on the winter church. Life in the monastery was very difficult, since, not receiving funds from the state, the monks were forced to earn money themselves. Despite this, the number of monks gradually increased.

Many times the Cosmo-Damianovsky Monastery was visited by reigning persons and members of their families, which significantly increased the number of pilgrims. After the death of Abbot Macarius, the abbots in the monastery began to change frequently and gradually the economy of the monastery fell into decay. In 1899, it was decided to transform the monastery into a women's monastery. Despite various difficulties, things in the monastery began to gradually improve. A large number of new buildings were erected and old ones were renovated. An icon of the Mother of God “Jerusalem” appeared in the monastery, which was consecrated on Mount Athos and has been preserved to this day.

After the establishment of Soviet power on the territory of the peninsula, all the property of the monastery was nationalized. On the territory of the former cinema, a colony for disabled people named after Kalinin was created, which existed until 1924. A nature museum was opened in the temple, and a hatchery for hatching trout fry was set up in the chapel with a bathhouse.

During the Great Patriotic War, all the buildings of the former monastery were destroyed, only the chapel above the holy spring was miraculously preserved. In 1994, the revival of the monastery began; it was decided that it would, as before, be for men.

Today anyone can visit the Cosmo-Damianovsky Monastery, however, since it is located on the territory of the reserve, you must first obtain permission. The only day of the year when visiting is open to everyone is July 14 - the day of the holy silverless ones. Getting to it is quite easy, because the monastery is located only 16 km from Alushta. On the other side of the reserve, the road goes to the village. Massandra near Yalta. This is the old Romanovskaya road. You can get a through pass, but to do this you need to take a guide with you.

In a deep Crimean gorge, at an altitude of about 1000 meters, where the Alma River flows, a small monastery is hidden. It received its name from the source of the healers Cosmas and Damian. According to legend, in the 3rd century AD, under the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Carinus, two brothers and doctors Cosmas and Damian accepted the Christian faith, and for this they were exiled to the Tauriki mountains, that is, to the Crimea - a rather wild and dangerous region, the periphery civilized world. Once, while collecting medicinal herbs in the mountains, they asked God for water, and a spring of two springs emerged from under the mountain. The brothers settled near the spring, built a dwelling here, and began to treat local residents with water. Soon the persecution in Rome subsided, and the exiles returned to their homeland. There they died in 284, during a new persecution. In 1781, here, near a spring, the Greeks found a marble slab with the faces of Cosmas and Damian carved on it and inscriptions in Greek. And in the 19th century, after the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the Cosmo-Damianovsky Monastery was built here.

Our minibus climbs the mountains along the old Romanovskaya road, winding for a long time along winding slopes and, finally, we are at the gates of the monastery.


In 1855, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride Innokenty (Borisov), a brilliant preacher and theologian, who received the nickname “Russian Chrysostom” among his contemporaries, said: “Crimea seems to have been created to be our Russian Athos. I would like to renew it in the mountains destroyed temples and settle monks near them: Tavria will far surpass the Greek Athos... And among your mountains there is still a healing spring, bearing the name of Saints Cosmas and Damian, which was brought out of the earth by their prayers. If anywhere, I thought, then in similar gorges. mountains is a place for monks, and proposed, if God pleases, to organize a monastery in the name of the holy silverless Cosmas and Damian. The Holy Synod gave a blessing to this idea.”

Monastery on an old lithograph

Worship cross at the entrance to the monastery.

The monastery began to be built literally thanks to a miracle. No money was allocated from the state treasury, which was spent on the Crimean War, and the first monastery buildings were erected thanks to donations from the Simferopol merchant of the 1st guild, Ivan Sanyutin. He, who had suffered from a severe fever for a long time, was cured of it after bathing in our spring. By the way, before the Revolution there was a special book describing all the miracles of healing, but under the Bolsheviks it disappeared. And there were hundreds, if not thousands, of healings.

Despite its inaccessibility, artists, writers, and members of the royal family loved to visit the monastery. Even Emperor Nicholas I, who learned about the wonderful spring, ordered to collect all the legends associated with this place. Alexander III loved to hunt here, but the most notable were the visits of these places by Nicholas II. Since 1910, improved dirt roads have been built here from Yalta, Gurzuf and Alushta. The “Imperial Hunting Reserve” is being created and the Romanovskoye Highway is being built, connecting Alushta with Yalta through the mountains. Rare animals are brought into the reserve from different parts of the country and from abroad. In 1913, on the eve of the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, the emperor, along with his family and retinue, came to pray at the spring of Saints Cosmas and Damian.

Old monastery retaining wall.

Despite its inaccessibility, artists, writers, and members of the royal family loved to visit the monastery. Even Emperor Nicholas I, who learned about the wonderful spring, ordered to collect all the legends associated with this place. Alexander III loved to hunt here, but the most notable were the visits of these places by Nicholas II. Since 1910, improved dirt roads have been built here from Yalta, Gurzuf and Alushta. The “Imperial Hunting Reserve” is being created and the Romanovskoye Highway is being built, connecting Alushta with Yalta through the mountains.

In 1857, the first wooden, small church was built in honor of Saints Cosmas and Damian according to a drawing made by Archbishop Innocent. When the number of brethren increased, a new large church with a bell tower was built in its place in 1870, which could accommodate all the monks of the monastery and pilgrims. However, since it was not heated in winter, in 1874 they began construction of a new winter church in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord. But its consecration took place only in 1878: all work was suspended due to the illness and death of Abbot Macarius. He was buried in the vestibule at the western door of the church. Thanks to the tireless work of Abbot Macarius, the Cosmo-Damianovsky Monastery was created. During his time, a stone chapel was built over the source with images of Christ the Savior, the Mother of God and the saints without silver Cosmas and Damian. In the center of the chapel there was a holy spring, to which sick people came seeking healing. A bathhouse was built for ablution.

The Tsar's ceremonial arrival at the monastery took place on October 25, 1911. The press of those years widely covered this event. Nicholas II, on the eve of the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the reign of the Romanov dynasty, visited the monastery with his family, he prayed at the source of St. Cosmas and Damian and drank holy water.

To commemorate the 300th anniversary, it was decided to erect a stone chapel in the monastery above the source. From the middle of 1912, stone was prepared for these purposes and in 1913 the chapel was erected. It was decorated with turned columns at the entrance, arched windows, a decorative base and a cornice with simple ornaments. This is the only building that has survived to this day from all the monastery buildings. Currently, the chapel has been put in proper order and operates throughout the year.

The holy spring of Cosmas and Damian with healing water. This spring has been known in Crimea since time immemorial. Since ancient times, its cool, tasty water has been considered healing and capable of curing various diseases.

Tradition connects this place with the holy unmercenary brothers Cosmas and Damian. There is no documentary evidence of the stay of saints Cosmas and Damian in Tauris, but, according to legend, it is believed that in the last years of their lives the miracle workers lived at the foot of Chatyrdag, at the source that still carries them names. They say that long after their death, a local Tatar, who hated his wife, took her to the mountains, gouged out her eyes and left her alone, far from home. Two strangers appeared to the unfortunate woman, who was dying of hunger, saying that they were brother doctors, Cosmas and Damian, took her to a source and ordered her to wash herself in it. After this, the woman’s sight returned, and she returned to her village and told about what had happened.

Preserved monastery walls and stairs.

Monastery courtyard.

One can only imagine what enormous efforts it took to establish a garden in the mountains. First, the forest was uprooted here, then a level area was made for each tree, and then a garden was laid out according to all the rules.

After the establishment of Soviet power, all monastic property and lands were nationalized. In 1923 the monastery was closed. On the territory of the former monastery, a colony for disabled people named after Kalinin was created, which existed until 1924. In 1924, the monastery churches were closed and transferred to the Crimean Nature Reserve, and the bells were removed. During the Great Patriotic War, all the buildings of the former monastery and the royal house were destroyed. Only the chapel above the holy spring survived.

A memorial cross was erected on the site of the destroyed temple.

On June 14, 1994, Archbishop Lazar of Simferopol and Crimea served a festive liturgy in the chapel over the holy spring. The revival of the monastery began.

New monastery church.

Temple belfry.

In our time, a real miracle happened in the monastery. The icon with the relics of Saints Cosmas and Damian, which seemed to have perished during the liquidation of the monastery, has been found. It was kept for many years by one woman, who gave it to the monastery. On July 14, 1996, the icon was again in the monastery.

Next to the temple is the grave of Abbot Macarius.

The Cosmo-Damianovsky Monastery is located on the territory of the Crimean State Reserve, access to which is limited by car. You can get to it by excursion or personal transport, having previously obtained a pass from the administration of the reserve in Alushta.
The only day of the year when everyone is allowed access to the territory of the Cosmo-Damianovsky Monastery is July 14 - the day of the unmercenary saints.