The Svyato-Troitsky Makaryev Zheltovodsky Convent — an active Orthodox convent on the left bank of the Volga in the settlement of Makarevo, Lyskovsky District, roughly ninety kilometers from Nizhny Novgorod and across the river from Lyskovo.[1] Founded in 1435 by the Venerable Makary of the Yellow Waters, it was sacked twice and restored twice. The Makaryev Yarmarka grew up beneath its walls, later relocating to Nizhny Novgorod and becoming the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka. The seventeenth-century ensemble is a federally protected cultural heritage site.

Founding and Sacking

The Venerable Makary, a monk of the Voznesenskiy Pecherskiy Muzhskoy Monastery in Nizhny Novgorod, spent a long time searching for a place of solitary life and settled by the Yellow Lake on the left bank of the Volga. The year 1435 is considered the founding date of the monastery.[1]

It did not stand for long: in 1439 the forces of the Kazan Khan Ulu-Muhammad sacked the monastery, killed the monks, and took Makary himself captive.[1] Released from captivity, the Venerable Makary went to the Unzha River, where he died; hence his second epithet — of Unzha.

Second Founding

The site lay empty for nearly two centuries. In the early seventeenth century, the monk Avraamy was visited, according to tradition, three times by the Venerable Makary, who commanded him to go to the Yellow Waters and revive the Trinity monastery. The monastery was reestablished in the 1620s.[1]

A market quickly sprang up nearby: the Makaryev Yarmarka began operating in 1641,[1] and by a decree of Tsar Alexis in 1648 it received official status.[2] For nearly two centuries it served as the principal all-Russian trade fair — until the fire of 1816 and its relocation to Nizhny Novgorod.

The Stone Ensemble

All of the monastery's principal stone structures were built between 1651 and 1667 — within a decade and a half, the ensemble that stands to this day had taken shape.[1]

The main structure is the Cathedral of the Life-Giving Trinity, built in 1658 on the model of the Dormition Cathedral of the Kremlin; it preserves frescoes from the late 17th century. Nearby stand the Church of the Dormition of 1651 with its tent-roofed bell tower, the gate church of the Archangel Michael, the church of the Venerable Grigory Pelshemsky, and the church of the Venerable Makary of Zheltovodsk, built in 1808 in the Neoclassical style.[3] The white-stone walls and towers of 1662–1667 complete the ensemble, forming a striking example of Old Russian defensive architecture.

The monastery's fame at this time was all-Russian: in 1666 the Patriarch of Antioch, Macarius, visited and called it "the second Jerusalem," and both Peter I and Catherine II came here as well.[1]

The Decline of the 19th Century

The 19th century dealt harshly with the monastery. In 1817 the fair moved to Nizhny Novgorod, depriving the community of both income and foot traffic, while the Volga crept up to the very walls and undermined the foundations.[1] In 1868 the monastery was dissolved, and the surviving icons were transferred to the Aleksandra Nevskogo Cathedral at the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka.[1]

It did not stand empty for long: under Alexander III the community was revived in 1883 — this time as a convent.[1]

The Soviet Era and Restoration

In 1927 the monastery was closed again, and its buildings were handed over for civilian use.[1][4] Restoration work began in the late 1950s and stretched over more than thirty years; during this period a bank-reinforcement structure was also built, halting the advance of the Volga.

In 1990 the community was returned to the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese,[1] in 1991 the Holy Synod resolved to reopen the Holy Trinity Makaryev Zheltovodsk Monastery, the formal handover took place in the spring of 1992, and the first altar was consecrated in August of that same year.[4] By 2005 the monastery's churches had been fully restored and consecrated.[1]

The Monastery Today

Since 2012, the monastery has belonged to the Lyskovsky Diocese.[1][3] The abbess is nun Nina (Antonova), appointed in 2022.[1][3] The monastery's main sacred relics are the head of the Venerable Makary of Zheltovodsk and fragments of his relics.[3] The monastery runs a children's shelter housing twenty girls left without parental care.[1][3]

In July 2024, the monastery received architectural and artistic illumination: the walls and towers, the Trinity Cathedral, the churches of Gregory of Pelshema and the Dormition with its bell tower, the Makaryev Church, the gate church of the Archangel Michael, and the residential buildings were all lit up. The works were timed to coincide with the feast days of the Venerable Serafim of Sarov and Makary of Zheltovodsk — August 1 and 7.[5]

The monastery is open to pilgrims and tourists; in summer, Volga river boats moor at the pier by the monastery.

See Also

Sources

  1. nne.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis (archive)
  2. yarmarka.ru — History of the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka — Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka — JSC "Nizhegorodskaya Yarmarka" (archive)
  3. monasterium.ru — Holy Trinity Makaryev Zheltovodsky Convent / Monastery Bulletin (archive)
  4. drevo-info.ru — ZHELTOVODSKY MONASTERY — Drevo — Open Orthodox Encyclopedia "Drevo" (archive)
  5. GIPERNN — Illumination adorns the churches of Makaryev Monastery in Nizhny Novgorod Region (archive)