Beaded temple of Anastasia the pattern maker in Crimea coordinates. Skete in the name of Anastasia the Pattern Maker in Crimea, beaded cave temple - history

STORY
About the time of formation of the cave monastery of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker in Kachi-Kalion no exact information has been preserved. Most scientists believe that this happened around the 8th century.
This is evidenced by both the carved Greek crosses found in the caves of the monastery, characteristic of this time, and the preserved correspondence of St. Bishop John of Goth with St. Stefan.
Enduring severe persecution for purity Orthodox faith, emigrating from Byzantium to Taurica during this period, the monks founded here cave monastery.
The spread of veneration of the Holy Great Martyr Anastasia the Pattern Maker in the period of the 6th-8th centuries. from Constantinople it comes to the southwest, and to the south, and to the northeast.
On the Greek islands and southern Italy, in Sicily and Cyprus, in Sardinia and the Middle East, as well as in Crimea, monasteries appear in the name of this saint.
It was providential to ask for protection for this monastery of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker is the patroness of Christians persecuted for their faith, who, as the history of the monastery has shown, more than once helped them in trials and hardships.

History has not preserved a chronicle about the life of the monastery during this period, but we see that the rules of the monastic way of life and the monastic charter were transmitted through St. Bishop Gotthia John St. Theodore of Studite (+826), a famous champion of icon veneration.
Since ancient times, this monastery brought the light of the Teachings of Christ to the pagan peoples who inhabited Tauris, and even Mohammedans (Tatars) families came to venerate the shrines of the monastery.
The holy spring named after Anastasia the Pattern Maker was revered by everyone, receiving numerous healings from their ailments and illnesses.
Often, thanks to such healings, the Tatars received holy baptism.
The monastery has long been revered by the Russian royal court. According to the charter of Tsar Boris Godunov in 1598, the church of St. Anastasia was given alms. It is known that Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich also showed financial favor to the monastery.
TO XVIII century The monastery buildings fell into disrepair, and the only desert-dweller of prayer remained in the monastery. Only the Lord knows the name of this ascetic, but history has revealed to us one of his exploits.
In 1774, Crimea was declared a country free from the Porte and received the right to elect its own khans. It was this event that served as the first and main reason exit of Christians into Russia.
Spiritual and civil head Orthodox Christianity During this period, there was Metropolitan Ignatius, who headed the general Crimean Gothic-Kafian diocese.
Metropolitan Ignatius came from the ancient Italian family of Gozadino. As a child he was taken to

Mount Athos and left there with a relative - a monk for education, where, imbued with holiness Christian religion, entered monasticism at a young age.
On Mount Athos, the future metropolitan passed through all the degrees of the spiritual hierarchy to the rank of bishop. Then he was summoned to Constantinople, where he became a member of the Ecumenical Patriarchal Synclite and was awarded the rank of archbishop with subsequent appointment to the Crimean See.
Spending his life first on Mount Athos and then in Constantinople, in a secluded monastic cell, before his appointment to Crimea, the saint knew only from rumors about the oppression suffered by Christians everywhere from Muslims.
When, having moved to the Crimea, he saw with his own eyes what the situation of his unfortunate fellow tribesmen was, then he cried out to God for the liberation of his flock from the barbaric yoke.
The All-merciful Lord heard the prayer of His saint. The exit of Christians from Crimea to Russia took place.
However, having learned about the impending plan for the exit of Christians, the Tatars began to pursue Metropolitan Ignatius with the aim of killing him. The Bishop found shelter for himself precisely in the Kachi-Kalyon tract, where our Greek hermit hid him for a month and a half, feeding and protecting the saint.
The exit of Christians took place through the Kachin Valley. Having bowed to the monastery of Saint Anastasia the Patternmaker, who sheltered their primate during the persecution, the Christians took with them miraculous icon This saint they left Crimea.
The holy monastery was empty, the church and other monastic buildings gradually fell into complete disrepair. An insignificant number of Christians remained in Crimea either for trade or to collect their debts from the Tatars.

Revival of the monastery of St. VMC. Anastasia the Pattern Maker became possible in the 19th century, thanks to the activities of St. Innocent (Borisov), which forever linked his great, bright name with Crimea and its history.
Having received an appointment to the Crimean (Tauride) See, having traveled around the entire area, Archbishop Innocent clearly saw its spiritual needs.
The predecessor of Archbishop Innocent at the See of Kherson-Tavria, Archbishop Gabriel (Rozanov), marked his activity with scientific research and descriptions of Christian monuments and Orthodox antiquities in the Crimea, which have survived to this day and represent important historical evidence. Another great and close to his soul task was revealed to Archbishop Innocent: the restoration of ancient church shrines in Tauris. In the fall of 1849, he compiled a “Note on the restoration of ancient holy places in the Crimean mountains,” where he points to the hermitage type of monasticism as the most appropriate for the Crimea, preserved in full force on Mount Athos and well known in Russia.
Emperor Nicholas I, having signed this “Note...” with his own hand for execution, revived monastic life in the monastery of St. in 1850. Anastasia.
In his “Note...” St. points to the hermitage type of monasticism as the most appropriate for the Crimea, preserved in all its strength on Mount Athos and well known in Russia.
Archbishop Innocent of Kherson and Tauride pointed out the similarity of the physical conditions of Crimea and Athos and the superiority of Crimea over Athos for our compatriots who seek silence in those monasteries. As for the “holy memories,” then, he says, “Tavria will not yield to any Athos.” “How good it was for God’s Providence to arrange our Russian Athos!..”
And “Russian Athos” began to revive...
On August 13, 1850, Saint Innocent visited Kachi-Kalyon, the source of St. Anastasia and consecrated in the church of St. Anastasia's second limit in the name of the Passionate Icon Mother of God.
The miraculous Passionate Icon of the Mother of God, which depicts Angels with the instruments of the Savior's Passion on the Cross on both sides of the Face of the Mother of God, has long been revered by sovereigns and people, since it symbolized the Holy Week before the Resurrection of Christ.
The icon was brought to Moscow in 1641 by the will of the first Russian sovereign from the House of Romanov Mikhail and met at the Tverskaya Gate White City The Emperor, his son Alexei Mikhailovich, the Holy Patriarch and the Holy Council with a large crowd of people. But the icon, according to Tradition, stopped in front of the entrance gate, and Mikhail Fedorovich ordered the construction of the Passion Cathedral on “this place,” which was built in 1646 by his son Alexei Mikhailovich. And in 1654, Alexei Mikhailovich founded the nunnery of the Passion Monastery at the cathedral.
Moscow pilgrims from the community of the Passionate Convent periodically made pilgrimages to the Anastasievskaya monastery and in 1888, at their expense, with the participation of the nuns of the same monastery, the second ancient church, carved in a separate stone that fell off the rock, in the name of the holy martyrs: Sophia and her three daughters - Faith, Hope and Love, very small in size: no more than 4 m by 2.5 m. It has survived to this day and is located on a mountain, 350 meters from the Anastasievskaya Church, now destroyed. The church is oriented to the southeast and has two entrances. Above one of them, grooves were carved to drain away rainwater, and in a niche, above the entrance itself, there was an equal-pointed cross.
Niches for icons are carved in the southern and northern walls of the church. The walls themselves were treated with oblique blows from a pickaxe and plastered. The temple also had benches carved for worshipers, and in the floor of the southern part of the temple there is a tomb covered with stone slabs.
Ancient burials and ossuaries have been preserved around the temple.
Making a pilgrimage to the Patronal Feast on September 30, pilgrims are located right in the forest, around the cave church, feeling all the mystery of what is happening.
By the beginning of the 20th century. The Anastasievskaya kinovia had already fully blossomed and was very well known both to the Crimean population and to Moscow pilgrims.
However new wave The persecution of Christians after the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia could not but affect the Anastasiev kin.
06/20/1932 by the minutes of the meeting No. 9 of the Standing Commission under the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic. A.S.S.R. on religious issues, they decided: “The monastery courtyard and the church are to be liquidated, in view of the demands of the working people of the surrounding villages, and the farmstead and church are to be transferred to farm No. 2 of the Comintern state farm for cultural needs.”
The resolution was carried out. The Anastasievskoe monastic compound in the village of Pychki (now the village of Predushchelnoye) was liquidated. All church real estate was confiscated and transferred for the “cultural needs” of farmstead No. 2, and the fate of the evicted monks remained unknown.
A little later, the church building and the cells of the monastery were blown up and dismantled almost to the ground, allegedly for the construction of a road that never passed there.
Throughout the history of this amazing monastery, persecution of Christians who labored there did not stop. The monastery was destroyed, chronicles and holy icons were destroyed, the inhabitants were persecuted, but again and again, by the grace of God, the monastery of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker was reborn.
And in our time, in the 21st century, the revival of the monastery of St. VMC. Anastasia the Pattern Maker.
The monastery of St. Anastasia on the slope of Mount Fytski, not far from its previous location.
In 2005, Hieromonk Dorofey from among the brethren of the Bakhchisarai Holy Dormition came here monastery, having received the blessing of the rector, Archimandrite Silouan. After 2-3 months, the first inhabitants gradually began to appear.
May 28, 2005 We consider it the day of the founding of the revived monastery.
The beginning was not easy: it was 1.5 km. walking for water in mountainous areas with a canister on your back, living in dugouts, lifting building materials along a mountain path on your shoulders and in your hands. But prayer began in this holy place and the monastery began to be improved. During construction, they found a piece of the cross: you know, a place of prayer. In a rock cave, the monks built a temple in the name of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker. A community was formed and pilgrims began to flock.
The Holy Great Martyr Anastasia herself did not remain indifferent to her children. Through her prayers, the Lord granted a source of tasty and healing water right on the territory of the monastery. This source is consecrated in the Name of Sophia, the Wisdom of God.
Today the number of brethren is small, as the desert lifestyle suggests. Together with the monastery leader, Abbot Dorofey, ten people and up to 20 workers in the summer.
The temple in the Byzantine style is decorated by the hands of the abbot and the brethren. Among the numerous handmade lamps, we will not find two alike; each of them is created with prayer, unique and unrepeatable.
At numerous requests from parishioners and pilgrims of the monastery, Father Dorotheos blessed the monks to sell these products, and today they can be purchased in the monastery shop.
Here you can also buy natural handmade soap made by the monks, self-baked yeast-free bread and other products of the brethren.
Every year the monastery becomes more comfortable. The work and prayer of the brethren, as well as the protection of the Holy Great Martyr Anastasia the Pattern Maker, are helping in the revival of this amazing place.
Today one of the main tasks of the monastery brethren is the construction of a temple in the name of the icon Holy Mother of God"Three-handed" Construction has already begun. It requires not only physical strength monks, but also significant investments, given the seismic instability of the area.
We invite everyone who wants and has the opportunity to visit the holy monastery at any time, drink the purest healing water, pray in solitude, and not remain indifferent to the restoration of centuries-old Orthodox traditions on the amazing Crimean land, take part in the construction of the monastery with the work of your own hands or with your contribution.
The pages of the history of the monastery are rich in legends and retellings of local residents, researchers, scientists, historians, who illuminate the external life of the monastery, its heyday and decline from its foundation to the present day.
But the most valuable thing here is the grace of God, the Divine power that fills the heart of every person who enters this holy land.

SIMFEROPOL, September 20 - RIA Novosti Crimea, Evgenia Martynenko. Crimea is a unique corner of the planet, there is beauty around every corner. When traveling by car, I discover something new every time. However, the most powerful discovery was the monastery of the Holy Great Martyr Anastasia the Pattern Maker in the Bakhchisarai region.

A small mountain monastery hid in the narrow Tash-Air gorge near cave city Kachi-Kalyon. Everyone knows about him local residents, so it’s not difficult to find the way. The path on foot is shorter, but it runs through the “path of sinners”. One hundred and fifty meters up a narrow, steep path lined with old car tires is not easy. They rise slowly and prayerfully. For people unaccustomed to mountain walks, this is a real test, a reason to gather their willpower and make an effort on themselves.

You can also take a detour by car - the road runs along the edge of the canyon, opening up a picturesque panorama of the Kachin Valley. Then through the forest, accompanied by the singing of birds and the crunching of roadside branches. Intoxicating beauty and heady mountain air - how is this possible just ten kilometers from the bustling city? And then the rocks parted, making way for a huge “amphitheater”.

On the rocky slope, cozy cell houses with carved shutters, a mini-library and a hotel for pilgrims “grow” like mushrooms, and an unusual monastery garden is located right there. Every wall here is a real work of art; everything is decorated from floor to ceiling with beads and multi-colored stones. The September sun reflects off billions of beads and the gorge immediately becomes brighter. I instinctively reach for sunglasses and then I stop: no, I want to look at such beauty with all my eyes.

No exact information has been preserved about the time of the formation of the cave monastery of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker in Kachi-Kalion. Most clergy believe that this happened around the 6th-8th centuries. For many centuries it was a Christian monastery, but in the twentieth century the monastery courtyard was liquidated, and only rare curious people looked here. And there wasn’t much to see - by decision of the authorities, a quarry was formed here and stones were mined. Only thirteen years ago the monastery began to be revived again.

© RIA Novosti Crimea. Alexander Polegenko

Temple in an old adit

In 2005, Hieromonk Dorofey came to this place from among the brethren of the Bakhchisarai Holy Dormition Monastery. He received the blessing of the rector, Archimandrite Silouan, and began to restore a Christian monastery in an abandoned quarry. First, together with the novice, and then with like-minded people, they began to remove the rubble and equip the temple.

The path to recovery was not easy: I had to walk one and a half kilometers in the mountains to get water with a canister on my back, live in dugouts, and lift building materials up a steep cliff. With faith and prayer, the monastery began to improve. In the cave of the rock, the monks built a temple in the name of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker.

The monastery leader himself, Abbot Dorotheos, does not like to talk about himself and his life path, so he sent monk Isidore to guide us. He came to the monastery a year after Father Dorotheus, so he knows everything about the monastery.

© RIA Novosti Crimea. Alexander Polegenko

Monk Isidore

“In this territory in the middle of the last century there was a quarry, but then it was abandoned. And in the place where our temple is today, there was an industrial adit. The monastery is not rich, so the first icons here were made of paper. The monks and believers prayed and worked, doing a common cause, - says Isidore. “It was very damp in the abandoned limestone adit, which means that the paint on the walls and vaults would not stick. Therefore, then it was decided to decorate with what the believers brought - beads, earrings, fabric jewelry.”

We approach the temple for a leisurely conversation. Here it is - the holy of holies. The entrance to the church is through a small wooden extension. From the moment you understand, you have found yourself in a unique place. Several candles are burning inside, but you don’t immediately notice them - the eye instantly catches on the decorations: various beaded panels, multi-colored lamps, thousands of crosses made of bright beads. And this is just the “front” one. I have been to cave temples before, but this is the first time I have seen this.

© RIA Novosti Crimea. Alexander Polegenko

Decoration in the cave temple of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker in Kachi-Kalyon near Bakhchisaray

Suddenly your gaze falls on those very crosses decorating the “hallway”. Attached to each of them is a miniature red pouch with drawstrings. As if reading a silent question, monk Isidore explains: these are the most secret desires of the parishioners.

“We have such a tradition - pilgrims write notes with the most important requests, hide them in a bag and tie them to the cross, and then hang it here at the entrance. This is what they desire most, and no one reads it except God ", says Isidore.

The cave is warm and incredibly quiet. In the center there is an iconostasis, along the walls there are stasidiums (a chair in churches with a folding seat, a high back and armrests - ed.), on the backs of which there are commandments. Along the perimeter there are amazingly beautiful icons. And all this is made of beads, beads and stones. And although there are no windows inside, everything is filled with unusual light - the flames of candles are reflected in each bead, filling the temple with thousands of colorful rays. The decoration is complemented by hundreds of lamps with pendants hanging from the ceiling, similar to those on the holy Mount Athos. It was from them, says Isidore, that the decoration of the temple began.

© RIA Novosti Crimea. Alexander Polegenko

Parishioners in the cave temple of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker in Kachi-Kalyon near Bakhchisaray

"Our abbot Dorotheos went to pilgrimage trip to Greece and saw many lamps in the temples there. Upon his return, he began making them here with his own hands, decorating them with beads that parishioners donated. First one, then another... and today there are several hundred of them. Each one was created by the hands of our abbot, and not a single one is repeated,” the monk smiles.

For several years, all creative monks and novices helped decorate the monastery. Following the temple, the walls of the monastery buildings, the church shop, and outbuildings were “clothed” with beads. The monastery shone with colorful lights. And then there was a fire.

Second revival

© RIA Novosti Crimea. Alexander Polegenko

Cave monastery of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker in Kachi-Kalyon near Bakhchisarai

On January 28, 2018, a terrible fire occurred on the territory of the Christian monastery - most of buildings burned to the ground. Thanks to the coordinated work of the rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the brethren, it was possible to avoid human casualties and defend the temple by the fire. However, the cells, refectory with kitchen and warehouses with materials were destroyed. A few days later, the monks and believers, having recovered from the shock they had experienced, began to clear the rubble from the ashes and put the area in order.

“Help came from all over Russia - donations, parcels... The largest industrial enterprise Bakhchisarai, they supplied us with building materials for the construction of new buildings,” says Isidor.

© RIA Novosti Crimea. Alexander Polegenko

Monks assembling a panel

And work began to boil again in the monastery. He began to be reborn again, for the second time. From the ash. The noise of construction equipment in the Tash-Air gorge ceases only during services - in the morning and in the evening. Every day the monastery grows upward and wider, literally biting into the rocks. New wooden buildings are being erected on the territory at a rapid pace, and each of them is also decorated with various panels and beaded icons. In the monastery, next to the existing temple, which fortunately survived the fire, construction of a temple in the name of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Three-Handed” has begun. He will also be in grief.

© RIA Novosti Crimea. Alexander Polegenko

Construction site of the temple in the name of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "Three-Handed" near Bakhchisarai

“According to the project, we will build a second temple here, and near it, where the equipment is now working, there will be new buildings - a large refectory, monastic cells and other buildings. Together with the builders and brethren, they are erected by pilgrims and workers - people who live and work at the monastery ", says Isidore.

While some work “in the fields,” others create jewelry and icons in the so-called church workshops. The work does not stop for a minute. Monks and novices take on the difficult and creative tasks; the lighter ones - for example, caring for the garden - are entrusted to pilgrims. While there are only a few of them, people in the monastery complain, and those are mostly visitors - from Bakhchisarai, Sevastopol and Simferopol. But guests come from all over Russia, from Ukraine and even Belarus.

© RIA Novosti Crimea. Alexander Polegenko

Icons in the cave temple of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker in Kachi-Kalyon near Bakhchisaray

While we are leisurely strolling between the cells, we are overtaken by another group tourists.

“Mom, is this all real? Not painted?” - one of them, a schoolboy about 8-10 years old, asks a woman hurrying after him.

“The real thing, of course, is handmade. Didn’t you listen to the guide?” - Mom is surprised.

“Wait, you haven’t seen the temple yet,” the guide, a gray-haired man of about fifty, hurries after them. “It’s so beautiful and unusual there, there’s nothing like it anywhere else in the world.”

Involuntarily hearing the dialogue I smile. Indeed, I have never seen such a temple. Either way, says monk Isidore, after construction is completed, the already unique monastery will become even more beautiful and unusual. Another pearl of Crimea. However, when this will happen is difficult to say. Here they don’t make wishes and don’t set deadlines as they see us off, says the monk. And returns to work.

© RIA Novosti Crimea. Alexander Polegenko

Restoration of the cave monastery of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker in Kachi-Kalyon near Bakhchisaray

Quiet, calm, prayerful place. They say that each person has his own, individual place of power, in which he feels good and calm. This place has become like that for many.

Crimea is famous for its cave monasteries, mountain chapels, hermitages and altars hidden in rocky grottoes. One of the most unusual hermit settlements on the peninsula is the restored monastery of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker. It is notable not only for its amazing history, but also for its truly unique temple, all the decoration of which was created by the hands of monks and parishioners from beads.

A small hermitage is hidden in the Tash-Air gorge on the slope of Mount Fytski, not far from the cave city of Kachi-Kalyon. Accurate information about the time of the founding of the cave monastery of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker in Kachi-Kalion has not been preserved. According to scientists, this happened in the 8th century. The monastery existed until the resettlement of Christians from Crimea, and after 1778 it gradually became empty and fell into disrepair.

IN mid-19th century, the monastery was revived thanks to the efforts of St. Innocent. Services resumed in the church, and a new one was built near the road, also named after Saint Anastasia. In 1932, the monastery courtyard and church were liquidated.

The monastery experienced its second birth in the 21st century. In 2005, the monks of the Bakhchisarai Holy Dormition Monastery received a blessing to restore the cave monastery. At the same time, in an old adit, going several tens of meters deep into the cave, a new temple of Anastasia the Pattern Maker was built, which is now commonly called Beaded Temple.

Since the abandoned limestone adit was damp and it was not possible to paint the walls, it was decided to decorate the temple with what the believers brought. Used jewelry, beads and beads were used. With painstaking manual labor they were transformed into pendants for lamps, copies Orthodox shrines, icons.

Each product in the bead temple is unique in its own way. Beaded panels shimmer in the flames of lit candles. In total, there are 65 lamps with beaded pendants in the temple, and not a single one is the same. The ceiling of the monastery of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker is decorated with beaded Star of Bethlehem and a Byzantine cross. There are ten Commandments embroidered with beads and many other unique things that highlight the splendor of the temple. Once people have visited the monastery, on their next pilgrimage they are sure to bring beadwork made with their own hands as a gift to the monks, making their contribution to the decoration of the monastery.

Anyone can visit the Beaded Temple. To do this, you need to travel from Bakhchisaray in the direction of the villages of Predushchelnoye - Sinapnoye by bus or car. From the Kachi-Kalyon stop there is a steep climb up a narrow path lined with old car tires. For parishioners and tourists, there is a church shop on the territory of the monastery, where you can buy beaded jewelry, handmade soap, oil based on aromatic mountain herbs, souvenirs and magnets. A hotel for pilgrims was built at the monastery. Those who wish to work for the benefit of the monastery can also stay here.

Weekend route:
Sevastopol - Beaded Temple - Kachi-Kalen - Sevastopol

Distance: 140 km
Time: 8 ocloc'k

Coordinates:
Parking at the beginning of the route
Latitude 44°41′52″N (44.697834)
Longitude 33°52′45″E (33.879251)

How to get there:
From Sevastopol. Through Verkhnesadovoe - Zheleznodorozhnoe to Bakhchisarai. In Bakhchisarai, first turn right, at the next intersection turn right again to Predushchelnoye, Bashtanovka. Before reaching Bashtanovka there is an impromptu parking lot on the side of the road. Let's park and go!!!

About the route:
The route is not difficult. There are two lifts, but one is equipped up to the "Beaded Temple". I advise you to start with it. Then go down and take a walk along Cachi Kalen.

What else to see in the area:

A little history:

Bead Temple:
Monastic monastery of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker of the Bakhchisarai Holy Dormition Monastery is located in the cave town of Kachi-Kalyon near the village of Predushchelnoye. The monastery existed here until the resettlement of Christians from Crimea in 1778. In 1850, the monastery of St. Anastasia was created in Kachi-Kalion. The spring in the grotto became a place of pilgrimage, because it was considered healing. The old church was restored, worship resumed, and a new one was built near the road, also named after St. Anastasia.

The monastery was closed in 1921, but the Anastasyevskaya monastery, being away from the stormy political events, remained active until 1932. During collectivization it was closed, and the monks were evicted outside the Crimea. The lands were transferred to the Kommunar state farm. Kachi-Kalyon ceased to exist as locality. Until 2005, rock was mined above the monastery, there was a quarry and everything was filled with stones. Then this place was declared a nature reserve and stone mining was banned.

The monks cleared away the rubble and wanted to restore the old cave temple Vmch. Anastasia, but the authorities prohibited it since the territory belongs to a geological reserve. Then a new church was built, where services are now held. The monks use a rock cave as a temple.

A small mountain hermitage hid in the narrow Tash-Air gorge on the slope of Mount Fytski near the cave city of Kachi-Kalyon. Nine years ago, Hieromonk Dorotheos began restoring the monastery. It all started with one cave, where the monk and his followers lived and prayed. Now the monastery has grown: modest but cozy cell houses with carved shutters have risen on the rock, spread out on the rock unusual garden- iron barrels in which vegetables and fruits grow; the mooing of cows can be heard from afar.

But it is not the houses or the garden that attract the weary traveler, but the man-made cave that has turned into a temple. How medieval monks managed to create such a voluminous grotto is difficult to understand. The current inhabitants of the monastery tried to create a similar one using modern technology, but the rock did not give in to them.

The entrance to the church is through a small wooden extension. Looking like a large spiral, glistening with moisture, a piece of limestone rock supports the roof. It’s just that you don’t immediately notice the stone block - the eye instantly catches on the decorations: beaded panels, lamps with pendants - but this is only the “hallway”.

Kachi-Kalyon:- Crimean medieval cave monastery, located in the valley of the Kacha River. It is located in the rocks of the Inner mountain range above the Bakhchisaray - Sinapnoe road, between the village. Predushchelnoye and s. Bashtanovka, Bakhchisaray district of Crimea. The period of development and prosperity of Kachi-Kalyon falls on the VI-XVIII centuries.

Kachi-Kalyon - (translated as Cross Ship). The height of Kachi-Kalyon is about 140 meters. There are many caves in the rock massif, and at the very top in a large grotto is the spring of St. Anastasia, the waters of this spring are considered healing.

In the 8th-10th centuries a large monastery was founded near the holy spring. The remains of five churches, many cells and utility rooms, tombstones and remains of defensive walls have been preserved.

The Kachin Canyon has been inhabited by people for a long time. There is a parking lot on the right bank of the river near the village of Preduschelnoye ancient man Late Paleolithic era - Kachinsky canopy. Not far from it, near a spring, there is a site of the Late Bronze Age, with rock paintings Kemi-Oba culture - Tash Air (Separate stone). A little further is the cave monastery of Kachi-Kalyon. Here, the earliest traces of human habitation date back to the 4th century.

Ancient settlement appeared at the crossroads of trade roads, serving as a shelter for travelers and traders. The path went through the Kibit-Bogaz pass and connected the southwestern part of the peninsula with the southern coast of Crimea. There are numerous wine presses (tarapans) of that time preserved here; even without excavations, there are about 120 of them, which indicates the main occupation of its inhabitants. They could process 250 tons of grapes at once. Apparently local wine was used in great demand. Down by the road, a pottery factory was discovered, where amphoras, jugs, flasks, pithos and tiles were produced. Pouring wine into ceramic containers, winemakers sold and exchanged it with neighbors and passing merchants.

A monastery appeared above the settlement in a large grotto with a spring in the 8th-10th centuries. Perhaps it was founded by immigrants from Byzantium. These were the times of iconoclasm, when many icon-worshipers fled to Taurica, founding monasteries and bringing with them the culture of their homeland. Over the years, the monastery grew and became upset. Several churches and chapels appeared.

After the capture of Crimea by the Tatars, the monastery was destroyed, and life in the settlement gradually began to die out. Pottery workshops are being abandoned, viticulture and winemaking are weakening. But the local Christian population still retained their religion. In difficult times, a number of monasteries and churches maintained connections with the Russian Orthodox Church and received help from Moscow. From the charter of Tsar Boris Godunov (1598) it is known that among those who received such help was the Church of St. Anastasia, which was provided with monetary support, as well as icons and candles.

Along the entire route there are carved out in the rocks a large number of caves Grape presses and utility pits are hollowed out in the floors of the caves. Everywhere there are crosses carved on stone. Most of them are quite early, inscribed in a circle, equilateral with flared ends. Other later ones are stylized as a grape branch. Right underneath open air millstone for grinding wheat.

In the open area there are traces of an ancient monastery cemetery; all around there are the remains of stone gable tombstones covered with carvings. There was a wall with a tower and a gate protecting the approaches to the settlement from the north-west. Time has not been kind to her, and now she is badly damaged. A church altar is knocked out on a piece of stone, this is all that remains of main shrine settlement - the Church of St. Anastasia. The church was built in the Byzantine era and existed until 1778. In the 19th century, it was restored by the local landowner G. Khvitsky and consecrated in the name of St. Anastasia. Next to the church, in a nearby rock fragment, a tomb was carved, on the wall of which a cross in a circle symbolizing eternity was carved.

At the top, behind the ledge of the rock, the Fourth Grotto opens - a creation of nature amazing in its grandeur and grandeur. Its 70-meter-high stone walls resemble a vault gothic cathedral. In the center is a stone-lined spring in a recess similar to a baptismal chamber. Above it is carved a large cross with widened ends and three niches in which stood the icons of the Mother of God, St. Anastasia and the Evangelist Matthew. In front of him is a bizarrely shaped century-old cherry tree. There are many caves around, located in three tiers. All of them had wooden extensions, connected by bridges and passages, from which grooves are still preserved in the stone.

The southeastern side of the Fourth Grotto is littered with huge boulders, some of them hanging over the cliffs. Behind them, a narrow cornice leads to the Fifth Grotto. This place is called Kyl Kopyr (Hair Bridge), you cannot cross it without special equipment. There are about a dozen caves in the grotto, and in the eastern edge there is a large depression for water.

PHOTO REPORT:

Beaded Temple

Click to enlarge!

PHOTO REPORT:

Beaded Temple

While in Crimea, we visited a unique place - a beaded temple, one of a kind. There are several rock monasteries in Crimea, some are famous and popular, such as the Holy Dormition Monastery in Bakhchisarai. We didn’t get there a little, but we ended up in a small rock monastery in the narrow Tash-Air gorge on the slope of Mount Fytski (what names!), bearing the name of Anastasia Pattern, a Christian great martyr of the 4th century, who alleviated (“resolved”) the suffering of Christians, she She is also considered the patroness of pregnant women, and also helps innocent Christians to free themselves from captivity or imprisonment.

In the valley of Kachi-Kalyon ("ship of the cross", the rock mass looks like the stern of a ship with a cross made of natural cracks) there are several rock monasteries. In the 6th-8th centuries, Byzantine Christians who fled to Tavria from persecution created a large rock monastery here, but after an earthquake it collapsed. Then periodically the monks returned here again, the monastery was rebuilt in different centuries. The rock is very hard, no one knows how they managed to knock out the cells in those days: perhaps they used natural depressions, but traces of the use of some tools are visible. Even now, with the help of modern technology, it is extremely difficult to process this stone.

A long and steep path leads from the road to the monastery. To prevent the soil from eroding and to be able to climb to a height of 150 meters to the monastery at any time of the year, the monks did a great job: about 650 car tires were laid out in steps and filled with cement. The path to the monastery turns into a kind of pilgrimage: going up and down those steps is quite difficult, with my injured knee, by the end I realized that I would not go up there a second time. This road is also called the “road of sinners.” We climbed for about half an hour, fortunately it was not hot, and the trail passes mostly in the shade of low trees.

The rock monastery existed here for many centuries with long breaks, but was closed in 1921 new government, although, according to local testimony, monks lived here until 1932. Subsequently, this area was declared a protected area. The monastery of St. Anastasia belongs to the Holy Dormition Monastery in the city of Bakhchisarai.

In 2005, monk Dorotheos and like-minded people received the blessing of the rector of the Holy Dormition Monastery, Archimandrite Silouan, and decided to restore the monastery. The monks settled in underground cells, where they lived and prayed. They carried water and building materials on themselves. “There were fraternal cells here and a refectory next door. They went underground, like the first Christians, and then little by little came out from here,” says Father Dorofey, rector of the Church of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker.

On the road to the monastery there is a tiny temple of Hagia Sophia, inside of which only a few people can fit. It was created in a stone that broke away from a rock many years ago during an earthquake, has a round vault, inside there are small niches for icons, but metal bars were placed at the entrance and you can’t just get into it. In the middle of the last century, stone mining was carried out here, but, apparently, mining was too expensive, so it was stopped, then a geological reserve was established here. After the blessing, the monks turned the abandoned adit into a small temple.

Since the stone walls are damp, it was impossible to paint. That's why everything interior decoration The temple is made of beads. The first impression when you get there is that this is some kind of Buddhist temple: the ceiling and walls are lined with beads and beads, and hundreds of beaded lamps hang under the low ceiling. I didn’t take pictures there because... There was a service going on, but I found a video on the Internet. On the ceiling there is the Star of Bethlehem and a Byzantine cross, made of beads and beads by the hands of monks. The adit, in which services are also conducted, goes several tens of meters deep.

When you go up, you are first greeted by a holy spring, the water of which is considered healing. They ask you to treat him with respect. Next to it is the text of the prayer. New monks are building another temple nearby; in the background you can see a grotto, which the monks are deepening with the help of heavy equipment. In the photo on the left is a small shop where you can buy icons, soap with Crimean mountain herbs, kvass, mead, on the right is the entrance to the existing church.

The decoration of the church began with lamps with pendants, similar to those on Holy Mount Athos. We took them as a basis, and then added a little of our own, and the decoration of the temple itself continued in the same beaded style. Nature itself suggested this option to us - the rock is limestone, damp, and even if we wanted to do a painting, we would not have succeeded early. And so our beaded panels are held on the walls and vault of the cave on a waterproof basis,” Father Agathador says about the temple.

Since there are no windows in this temple, the beaded walls and ceiling reflect dim moving light church candles and lamps, transforming the space of the temple into something fabulous and flickering. This can put anyone into a trance, so you don’t want to leave the temple during the service; your soul relaxes and soars. The smell of candles, the glare from beads, the prayers of monks make you forget about problems and think about the soul, about God in it.

Along the wall there are several high chairs inlaid with beads - these are stasidias, on the backs of which the 10 commandments are laid out in beads. The seats are folding, and during hours-long services and night prayers, the monks lean on the armrests. All lamps are unique, no one is the same, made with love from what believers bring. However, like all products, you can not only look at them, but also take them with you. The shop also sells aromatic handmade soap and oils from Crimean plants.

There is something to work on there. Small subsistence farming helps to survive at such an altitude: there are cows, the monks have learned to make cottage cheese and cheese from milk, and they grow simple vegetables and fruits. There are only seven monks, workers help - people for whom it is important to work in the name of faith, in the name of God.

In a shop where they sell various crafts - mandalas, icons, crosses - I asked my mother, a woman about 80-85 years old, if they had an icon of St. Sophia. For his goddaughter Sofia. She took me to another room and showed me a plate. It seemed quite big to me, I was wondering whether to take it, I wanted something smaller.

In the monastery they began to build a temple in the name of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Three-Handed”. The church is being built in the Byzantine style: large, with domes and bells, light - the opposite of the cave chapel. But its interior decoration will also be made of beads.Those who wish can visit this monastery, bring beads or unnecessary jewelry, live and work in the holy place. The people there are sincere, good, and reliable.

How to get there

From Simferopol, minibuses depart every hour from the Zapadnaya bus station to Bakhchisarai. There you need to change to a bus heading towards the village of Sinapnoe. The “Kachi-Kalyon” stop is located between the villages of Predushchelnoye and Bashtanovka. By car: driving through Bakhchisarai towards Sevastopol, turn at the sign for Preduschelnoye. About 1.5 km from the village of Preduschelnoye, stop along the road near the Kachi-Kalyon rock massif. GPS coordinates 44.695169;33.885226.address: Russia, Crimea, Bakhchisarai district, Bashtanovka village

Source: ru-travel.livejournal.com ajushka

Photos of nature and recreation in Crimea

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