Khutyn Monastery
Encyclopedia
Khutyn Monastery of Saviour's Transfiguration and of St. Varlaam used to be the holiest monastery of the medieval Novgorod Republic
Novgorod Republic
The Novgorod Republic was a large medieval Russian state which stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains between the 12th and 15th centuries, centred on the city of Novgorod...

. The monastery is situated on the right bank of the Volkhov River
Volkhov River
Volkhov is a river in Novgorod Oblast and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia.-Geography:The Volkhov flows out of Lake Ilmen north into Lake Ladoga, the largest lake of Europe. It is the second largest tributary of Lake Ladoga. It is navigable over its whole length. Discharge is highly...

 some 10 km north northeast of Velikiy Novgorod, in the village of Khutyn, whose name is perhaps derived from the Russian "khudoi" (худой) meaning "ill, bad, or poor," possibly suggesting that the village or the region around it was an evil place, or a poor area among the marshes and near the river.

The cloister was founded in 1192 by the monastery's first hegumen, the former Novgorodian boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....

 Oleksa Mikhailovich, whose monastic name was Varlaam
Barlaam of Khutyn
Barlaam of Khutyn , also known as Varlaam, was a hermit. Born Alexis Milchalevich to a wealthy family from Novgorod. After the death of his parents, he became a hermit on the Volga and handed all of his inheritance to the poor. At this time he had gained many followers...

. The main church of the monastery was consecrated by Archbishop Gavril of Novgorod the following year, the same year Varlaam died. He is buried in the main church of the monastery, the Church of the Transfiguration, to the right of the altar. He was the patron saint of Novgorod and the patrilineal ancestor of many families of Russian nobility, including Chelyadnins
Chelyadnins
Chelyadnins is an old Russian boyar family of Radsha and St Varlaam lineage via Akinfovs , extinct in 16th century.- Notable Chelyadnins :...

 and Pushkins, of which Alexander Pushkin was a member.

According to Varlaam's
Barlaam of Khutyn
Barlaam of Khutyn , also known as Varlaam, was a hermit. Born Alexis Milchalevich to a wealthy family from Novgorod. After the death of his parents, he became a hermit on the Volga and handed all of his inheritance to the poor. At this time he had gained many followers...

 saint's Life, Ivan III visited the cloister and wished to see the relics of Saint Varlaam
Barlaam of Khutyn
Barlaam of Khutyn , also known as Varlaam, was a hermit. Born Alexis Milchalevich to a wealthy family from Novgorod. After the death of his parents, he became a hermit on the Volga and handed all of his inheritance to the poor. At this time he had gained many followers...

 in 1471. When they opened the saint's tomb, it was full of smoke and fire. Afraid of inflicting divine wrath, Ivan III fled the monastery and Novgorod altogether, leaving his staff as a curiosity to local monks. This staff was exhibited at the cloister's sacristy
Sacristy
A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...

 for centuries to come.

Ivan's son Vasily III ordered the old main church of the monastery demolished and replaced with a noble six-pillared edifice. The new church, completed by 1515 and consecrated by Metropolitan Varlaam (the archiepiscopal office in Novgorod was vacant from 1509-1526), was evidently patterned after the Assumption Cathedral in Rostov
Rostov
Rostov is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population:...

. It was the first piece of Muscovite architecture in the Russian North-West and a venerated model for many subsequent churches in the region.

The annex of St. Gabriel, added to the cathedral in 1646, received its present name after the poet Gavrila Derzhavin had been interred here in 1816. The refectory with St Varlaam Church was built on behest of Ivan IV in 1552. The Neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 belltower dates from the reign of Catherine the Great.

The vicar of the Novgorodian diocese was, at times, titled Archbishop of Khutyn and lived in the Khutyn Monastery. For example, Archbishop Aleksei (Simansky) was Archbishop of Khutyn from 1926-1932. He administered the diocese while Metropolitan Arsenii was imprisoned and in exile in Central Asia. Aleksei was briefly Archbishop of Novgorod (in 1933) and then Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' (1945-1970).

During the first decades of Soviet rule the monastery housed a lunatic asylum. It was later a vacation home or hostel for visitors to the area. It was restored to the church in 1993. While for most of its history it was a male monastery, it is currently a women's convent.

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