The Khutyn Monastery is typical of a Russian monastery that you will see as you travel Russia. Always several churches and a big bell tower, confined behind walls. Most often a village is close by and many times the village is located around the monastery…
This monastery is located near Velikiy Novgorod, Russia near an area that was considered bad, like in almost evil. It was founded in 1192 and has survived to this day. But as with most monasteries in Russia they have been used as many things in the past, instead of a church or a house of God. In the case of the Khutyn Monastery it was during the first decades of Soviet rule that the monastery housed a lunatic asylum. It was later a sanatorium for health reasons and visitors. It was restored to the title of church in 1993. While for most of its history it was a male monastery, it is currently a women’s nun type convent…
According to history Ivan III decided to see the body of Saint Varlaam in 1471. When he had them open the saint’s tomb located at The Khutyn Monastery, the tomb was full of smoke and fire and was rightly a scary sight to behold. Then Ivan III ran like a scared chicken, leaving his palanquin (staff) of his position of power in Russia and the palanquin became as a curiosity to local monks. This staff was exhibited at the monastery for centuries to come. Sounds to me like it was kept as they laughed every day at the thought that the great Ivan III ran away. He had to have been scared for he never asked or returned for his palanquin…
They (many monasteries) survived and have been restored to usable form once again, for God and his work. I find that God does work in strange ways and the stories of the monasteries in Russia are proof to that…
Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…