Narovchat. Trinity-Scan Monastery. Narovchatsky cave monastery

The emergence of the Holy Trinity Skanov Monastery is attributed to the beginning of the 17th century. All documents that could trace its original history perished in a fire in 1676. It is only known that this monastery existed long before the aforementioned fire and had a well-maintained appearance.

Initially, the monastery was for men, since 1786 it had a Charter of a strict hostel. The divine service was performed in the monastery in accordance with the general Church Rule, not derogatory. The All-Night Vigil was quite lengthy, since in its continuation the interpretive Gospel and the life of the saint were read according to the prologue. Early Liturgies were celebrated at 5 o'clock in the morning, in the winter in the hospital, and in the summer in the cemetery church. In winter, the evangelism for the Liturgy began at 9 o'clock, on holidays and in the summer - at 8 o'clock. On Sundays, before the late Liturgy, a moleben to the Mother of God was always served by the rector with all the brethren in front of the miraculous Trubchevsk icon of the Mother of God. At the Liturgies, a lesson was always read. Vespers began at 5 p.m. in summer and at 4 p.m. in winter. After the evening service, the rule was read - the canon to Jesus the sweetest, the canon of the Mother of God and the Guardian Angel. Akathists were read on the eve of Sunday, on Wednesday and Friday - an akathist to the Savior, on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday - an akathist to the Mother of God. After the evening meal, at the ringing of a small bell, the brethren again gathered in church, where they read Small Compline, then a commemoration book and evening prayers.


The monastery had a rich sacristy, a solid library and an archive, which included the decrees of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Grand Dukes John Alekseevich, Peter Alekseevich and Empress Sofya Alekseevna, a letter from Patriarch Joachim.

After the fire of 1676, the wooden Holy Trinity and St. Nicholas churches that had suffered in the fire were rebuilt. But the Holy Trinity Church burned down again around 1785, and St. Nicholas Church in 1802 was dismantled due to the dilapidation of the bell tower in which it was located. In 1762, on the north side, among the fence, a high stone bell tower was laid, in which a new St. Nicholas Church was built above the gates in 1793–93.

Since 1795, in the middle of the monastery, on the site of the dismantled one-story Holy Trinity Church, the construction of a stone two-story Holy Trinity Cathedral with five domes began. The lower temple of the cathedral with two thrones: in honor of the Assumption of the Mother of God and the Three Hierarchs, the upper temple of the cathedral in the name of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity. In 1809, on the south side of the monastery in 1809, the refectory church of the Beheading of John the Baptist was built. In 1853, a stone cemetery church of the Trubchevskaya Icon of the Mother of God was built.

In the 30s of the XX century the monastery was closed and ruined. The monastery cathedral was turned into a warehouse and a poultry farm, the cemetery church was turned into a feed kitchen for birds, bells were thrown from the bell tower, the tombstones of the monastery crypts were buried in the Moksha River. Icons, church utensils and the library were partly looted, partly transferred to the local museum. A club was organized in the church in honor of the Beheading of John the Baptist, a store, a garage, a canteen, and housing for workers of the local state farm were placed in other buildings. The abbot and the inhabitants of the Trinity-Scanov Monastery were arrested, many were killed.


The revival of the monastery began in 1990, when the monastery was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery was founded now for women, since at that time the believing people were mostly women. On March 12, 1990, a new abbess and seven sisters arrived from the Riga Monastery to the Scanov Monastery. By the end of the first year of the revival, there were already up to thirty nuns in the monastery.


Now the Holy Trinity Scanov Monastery has been restored from ruins, acquired its original appearance and is the pearl of the Penza region. There are about 70 nuns in the monastery. Divine services are performed here daily, the indestructible Psalter is read. The monastery lives mainly by the labors of the nuns themselves. The monastery has its own farm: a field for planting potatoes and sowing grain crops, a vegetable garden, a garden and a berry meadow, a farmyard with domestic animals and a poultry house. The sisters of the monastery carry out obedience: choir singing, churchwomen, in the refectory, in the prosphora, in the sewing room, in the sacristy, in the barnyard. In the summer, the sisters take care of flower beds, mow hay, cultivate fields, grow vegetables and berries in the garden, and take care of the garden. In their free time from obedience, the sisters do needlework: weave belts and a rosary, embroider icons with beads, make crafts from natural materials, learn gold embroidery, paint and bead Easter eggs, and learn church hymns.


In the Holy Trinity Monastery there is a shrine of the Russian Orthodox Church - the miraculous Trubchevskaya Icon of the Mother of God. The icon was painted by the priest of the city of Trubchevsk, Oryol province, Evfimy in 1765, as indicated in the inscription on the icon, at the request of the Tambov diocese, to which the Narovchatsky district was assigned at that time. In the middle of the 18th century, the Holy Trinity Scanov Monastery burned down several times from fires. Prayer songs ascended, people turned to the Mother of God for help. This was the reason to order an icon of the Mother of God for the monastery. This icon is included in the list of miraculous icons of Russia. For more than two centuries, the Trubchevskaya icon, especially revered by parishioners and providing miraculous help and patronage to the inhabitants of the Narovchatsky district, was in the Holy Trinity Scanov Monastery. "Penza Diocesan Gazette" in 1869 and in 1877 reported: "This icon is taken to the houses of the townspeople to serve prayers and All-Night Vigils, and in the monastery itself many pilgrims flock to it with faith, prayers are served." "In 1831 and 1848, during the rampage of cholera in Narovchat, this holy icon was identically carried to the city, and its reverent worshipers attributed the mercy and patronage of the Queen of Heaven to the speedy cessation of the epidemic disease."


Until the end of the 18th century, the Trubchevskaya icon was located in the one-story Holy Trinity Church. After the completion of the construction of the two-story Holy Trinity Cathedral, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the icon was in the Holy Dormition lower church of the monastery of the Holy Trinity Cathedral behind the front pillar on the left side in a gilded icon case. On the icon, through the efforts of Abbot Philaret, a silver riza with a gilded wreath and a crown adorned with precious stones was arranged for donations. In 1853, 114 sazhens from the monastery, a stone church was built in the name of the Trubchevskaya Icon of the Mother of God.

In the 30s of the last century, during the closure of the monastery, the icon was preserved and taken to the Narovchatsk Museum of Local Lore, where the silver riza, gilded crown were removed from it, and precious stones were "withdrawn" from the crown. For almost half a century it lay in dust and oblivion. She was ignored and used as a table for exhibits. At the next inventory of museum valuables, against the line "Trubchevskaya Icon of the Mother of God" they wrote: "lost." This was in 1976.


In 1993, the icon was found in the storerooms of the museum, but covered in dust and mold. Having cleaned it of dust, everyone found in the corner of the icon the inscription: "1765", and three letters - "EVF", which meant that this icon was painted in 1765 by the priest Euthymius. The icon was returned to the monastery. It was sent to the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra for restoration, which lasted for 9 months. Now the updated icon is again in the Holy Trinity Scanov Monastery. There are several cases of miraculous healings through the Trubchevskaya icon.

Three kilometers from the ground monastery, on the slopes of Mount Plodskaya, there are caves where hermit monks labored in the past.

Scanov cave monastery

Skanov Cave Monastery is one of the largest in Eastern Europe for cave monuments of this group. For the European part of Russia, it can be attributed to the largest. The Skanovskiye caves are longer than the underground structures of the famous Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

The cave is located 2 km northeast of the village. Skanovo, not far from the Holy Trinity Scanov Monastery. Mount Plodskaya, in which the entrance to the cave is located, is framed by a forest. Under the mountain is the river valley. Moksha. The caves are laid in gray and brownish-gray glauconite, fine- and fine-grained sandstones of medium hardness, the Otradnenskaya stratum of the Santonian stage. In the near-surface part, there are deluvial sandy loams with crushed sandstones.

At the foot of the mountain there is a healing spring in honor of the holy Reverends Anthony and Theodosius, the miracle workers of Kiev-Pechersk. There used to be a wooden chapel here. At the source, the ascent to the mountain begins along a rather steep staircase. The mountain is the highest point in the region.


Not far (4-5 km southeast of the village of Skanovo) there is another healing spring - the Panik (Ponik) spring. He built a chapel and a gazebo.

As suggested by local historians, the cave monastery was founded in the XIV century by the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. According to historians, its foundation can be attributed to the middle of the 17th century.


One of the first mentions of caves on Mount Plodskaya (Peshchernaya, aka Gorodok) refers to the second half of the 19th century: "At 1.5 miles from the monastery there is a mountain called" Gorodok "<…>Inside the mountain, caves 18 wide (about 0.8 m) wide, 40 inches high (about 1.8 m), up to 256 fathoms (546.2 m) long, were excavated in different directions, and small rooms were made Shut up, without any decorations. The novice of the monastery, John, was the first to work on their excavation, followed by others, but most of all, the monk Arseniy 2nd, who almost always lived here ”(Penza eparchial journals, 1877).


“Arseny the 2nd, from the military lower ranks, was a simple-hearted, meek, toiling man, for which he was respected and loved by both the brethren and others who knew him. For his pious life, he was awarded both hieromonasticism and the abbotship of the monastery by His Grace Ambrose I of Penza, who sometimes spent many days with him in spiritual conversation. However, he did not stay as rector of the monastery for long (from July 1825 to January 1827) and leaving it, of his own free will, retired to the caves,<...>in which he had previously worked, distributing them, and arranged in them several cells and a place for the church.<...>He died in the monastery and was buried near the cathedral church on the south side; over his coffin, many visitors to the monastery are creating a memory” (Penza Diocesan Gazette, 1877).



In the 19th century, active construction was going on above the caves: “There is a spring at the foot of the mountain and a wooden chapel above it. It should be noted that originally there was also a chapel and several cells for the brethren living there. But at present, a stone church with the same bell tower has been built in the caves; The construction of this church began in 1866 and was completed in 1870, in which it was consecrated on September 6th. There is only one throne in it - in the name of the Kiev-Pechersk Mother of God and the Monks Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves wonderworkers. In the caves, in addition to the chapels, there are 5 wooden outbuildings” (Penza Diocesan Gazette, 1877). The temple also had a limit of St. vmch. Barbarians. The temple was made in the forms of ancient Russian architecture, with a hipped bell tower.


a spring and above it a wooden chapel.

A few descriptions of the state of the cave at the beginning of the 20th century have been preserved: “Old-timers say that at the beginning of the century the Skanovskiye caves had a very attractive appearance. The main entrance was lined with beautiful ornaments. The vaulted ceilings and walls of the caves were whitewashed, and lighted candles stood in small niches in front of each cell in the aisles. “When I was still very young,” says one of the residents of the village of Skanovo, “I worked in the monastery garden. One evening, a monk took us to show the caves. There was a spring right in the cave. The water was pure, pure. There were benches near the spring. We approached some door. The monk did not let it in. He said: "It is impossible. The holy relics are kept there.”


In the 1930s the underground monastery, as well as the Holy Trinity monastery, was finally abolished and destroyed. The monastic buildings were occupied by the state farm. The church and other buildings on Plodskaya Gora were spontaneously dismantled by the local population into bricks for the repair of stoves, houses and the state farm cowshed.

One of the last monks at that time, together with a novice, lived in a cave. In the same place, after some time, he was killed by unknown people. The body of the murdered monk in the cave was discovered by a novice who returned from work.

It is possible that later some of the entrances were blown up.

Description of the cave monastery
The Scanov Cave Monastery is a complex structure of galleries and rooms laid out on three tiers at a depth of 6 m with an amplitude of 12 m. tier t 6-7 °С. The cave is dry, water manifestations are practically absent. Of the animals common: insects (mosquitoes and butterflies); rodents (mice); bats (brown bats), wintering in the cave three species of bats were noted: Brandt's bat, water bat and brown bat.

The first (upper) tier (about 126 m of passages), elongated in a northerly direction, is practically devoid of chamber spaces, with the exception of an extension at the entrance. The entrance to it is in a failed funnel. Possibly, the upper tier was connected with the ground structures of the monastery. Now the first tier is connected to the second one through a connection formed as a result of the failure of the vault of the second tier room. Possibly, previously associated with the second tier 1-2 galleries, now littered.

The second tier occupies the northeastern part of the dungeon. It has a separate entrance, now cleared. According to the testimonies of old-timers, monks used this entrance. Here there is a maximum concentration of rooms, various niches, benches and galleries. It is possible that the development of the cave monastery began from this site.

The third tier, the longest, occupies the western part of the dungeon. It has a separate entrance, which is now equipped in the form of a chapel. In addition to this entrance, there are several more littered. The tier is represented mainly by passages with a small number of rooms and niches. It is possible that part of the passages of the tier was created in the 19th century. during the revival of cave-digging. Most likely, the passage was equipped for the passage of pilgrims to the main premises of the monastery on the second tier. The end of this passage is equipped with niches for relics. Then, apparently, from the central passage, the rest of the system of the third tier develops in different directions. The third tier has various connections and connections with the second tier in the central part of the cave labyrinth. One of them was formed as a result of the collapse of the arch of the 3rd tier gallery, passing under the floor of the 2nd tier gallery.

The section of the galleries is mainly box-shaped (arched), sometimes rectangular. The width of the passages is from 0.5 to 1.1 m. The height is from 1 to 2 m. In the most landslide-prone areas, the galleries are reinforced with brickwork. There are niches for icons in the walls and in the dead ends of the galleries.

In total, there are more than 33 rooms in the caves. Many of them have been whitewashed. Structurally, the premises can be divided into groups: premises with a separate entrance; rooms articulated with the gallery; rooms (halls) at the intersection of galleries.

The most common are hermit cells (shelter cells), on average 2.2 x 1.4 in plan, about 1.5-1.8 m high (in some cells the floor is littered with scree, due to which their height is less). They are equipped with one or more benches and lecterns; niches for icons are carved into the walls. Some cells have air vents. The cells are connected to the gallery by a narrow doorway with a high threshold (some have grooves in the door). Part of the cells could have been used for burial (especially with a low ceiling height). There are also chambers and niches for burial (ossuaries) in the monastery.

Along the gallery of the second tier, 7 niche-beds were cut down. There are two options for using these niches: residential (“cell-gallery”); for the storage of Christian relics - for example, relics (arcasolia niches).

Of particular interest is the 2.2x1 m crypt with a brick vault, on which crosses are applied with red paint. A tomb was built in the floor of the crypt, which, obviously, was covered with a slab (grooves were preserved along the walls). On three sides above the floor there is a fresco with inscriptions in Church Slavonic. It is possible that this crypt was also used as a chapel. In the cave monastery there is another chapel built at the intersection of the passages.

Two sections of the monastery, located on the second tier, can be interpreted as cave temples, which were subsequently not used for their intended purpose. On the southeastern section of the second tier, there is another tomb, perhaps there was a monastery necropolis (kimitirium), located around one of the mentioned temples.

Of the graffiti, the most common are images of crosses carved or applied with paint or soot on the walls of galleries, in the dead ends of galleries, in entrance openings and niches.

Since 2006, active restoration and clearing of the cave monastery began. Restoration work is being carried out to this day under the guidance of employees of the Narovchatsky Historical, Archaeological and Natural Museum-Reserve. An entrance in the form of a chapel was equipped, several hundred meters of galleries were lined with bricks, a staircase was built to climb the mountain to the cave. The spring under the mountain was cleared and strengthened. The issue of arranging a skete from the Trinity-Scanov Monastery over the cave has been resolved.

The initial history of the Trinity-Scanov Monastery was lost somewhere in the first half of the 17th century. A fire in 1676 destroyed all wooden monastery buildings and documents. Thanks to the activity of the abbots, the monastery quickly rebuilt after the fire and even multiplied its possessions.

The Trinity-Scan Monastery belongs to that relatively small number of monasteries that have not lost their significance after the reform of 1764. The monastery not only did not become empty, but was able to receive the inhabitants from the Krasnoslobodsky Forerunner Monastery and the Insari Hermitage, which were abolished under the reform.

The ensemble of the Trinity-Scanov Monastery was formed at the end of the 18th - the first half of the 19th centuries. All monastic buildings until the end of the 18th century remained wooden. At the same time, the Trinity Church stood only until 1785, when the monastery burned down again, although not on such a large scale as a hundred years ago. In 1795, the current Trinity Cathedral was founded on the site of the burned-out Trinity Church.

After the last big fire in 1785, it was decided to gradually rebuild the main monastery buildings from brick.

In 1792, the first stone building of the monastery was laid - a bell tower in four tiers. By 1796, the bell tower was completed, and the St. Nicholas Church was built in the lower tier. Apparently, the wooden St. Nicholas Church was no longer served at that time, destining it for demolition. At the same time, the Trinity Cathedral was being built, in the same “complex” style as the bell tower.

The last wooden temple of the monastery, Nikolsky, was dismantled "because of dilapidation" in 1802.

A few months after its completion, in 1809, the construction of a refectory church in honor of the Beheading of John the Baptist began on the south side of the monastery courtyard.

The next stage in the formation of the Trinity-Scanov Monastery as a single architectural whole falls on the middle of the 19th century.

The cemetery church was consecrated in 1853 in honor of the main monastery shrine - the Trubchevskaya Icon of the Mother of God, by that time already glorified by numerous miracles.

The mill on the Sheldais River was granted to the Trinity-Scanova monastery in 1797 by Emperor Paul I. Finally, at a small distance from the fence there was an apiary for 80 beehives, which provided honey and wax in abundance for the monastery's needs.

On October 8, 1801, Abbot Kornily consecrated the lower church of the Trinity Church with two altars - the Assumption and the Three Hierarchs. It took almost seven more years to finish the upper temple. Moreover, according to the surviving descriptions, the church initially looked somewhat different than now: in particular, it had exterior paintings.

The liturgical life in the monastery was quite intense, however, in addition to prayerful labors, the monks also carried labors in the universal human sense of the word: they mowed, plowed, gardened, fished, looked after cattle. Thus—peacefully and profitably—the monastic days passed. The number of inhabitants increased more and more, and the laity did not leave their attention to the holy monastery, loving to be here for the sake of long services and that special mood that is communicated to an attentive pilgrim in a properly arranged monastery.

Skanovo was especially crowded on holidays accompanied by religious processions. In the past, there were three religious processions here (in addition to the generally accepted ones) - to the Trinity and the Assumption (around the monastery) and on October 3, on the day of the Trubchevskaya Icon of the Mother of God, to the cemetery church dedicated to her.

Scanov monastery after the revolution

The post-revolutionary history of the Skanov Monastery is as dramatic as it is usual in the context of Russian history. In 1928 it was closed. The inhabitants were offered to get out the best of health (I must say, very few of them survived the 1930s). However, for some time several monks, including the rector, Archimandrite Filaret (Ignashkin), still remained in the monastery, living in the vestibule of the Trinity Cathedral. By the end of the 1920s, the Soviet government had already taken over all residential buildings. In the early 1930s, the cathedral was also placed at the disposal of the new masters of life. A warehouse and a poultry farm were set up here. Bird food was prepared in the cemetery church, and a club operated in the Church of St. John the Baptist. With dancing. The rest of the monastery buildings were occupied by a shop, a canteen, a garage and housing for poultry farm workers.

In addition, clearing the monastery territory to the state of a wasteland, its then owners drowned almost all the tombstones in the river.

Revival of the Trinity-Scanova Convent

In 1990, the dilapidated monastery was returned to the Church. It was renewed as a woman's. Arriving in Skanovo, the nuns found the Trinity Cathedral without crosses, without windows, almost without a roof, not to mention that - without the murals that once existed (some of them were whitewashed, some were knocked down). Up to the level of the first floor, the temple was filled with earth. Other monastic buildings were in the same dismal state.

The emergence of the Holy Trinity Skanov Monastery should be attributed to the time of the beginning of the 17th century. A former fire in 1676 on April 26 destroyed all documents that could trace its original history. From the patriarchal charters given in 7184 (1676) for the construction of churches, it is known that before the fire there were three churches and other monastic buildings.

The name of the Skanova monastery, as it appears in the history of the Russian hierarchy, comes from the Skanova river. (“History of the Russian Church Hierarchy”, v. 5, p. 136). According to the legend of the old-timers, the desert area, together with the village nearby, belonged to the Spanish boyars, who took part in the formation of the monastery. According to the correct pronunciation, the monastery should be called the Iscan Hermitage, and the word "Scanova" is a shortened time afterwards.

The Holy Trinity Scanov Monastery had a thorough dispensation both in the 17th century and in subsequent times. It firmly maintained its viability during the 18th century, when many monasteries, especially after the establishment of monastic states (1764), were abolished and fell into disrepair. So, after 1764, the monastics of the abolished monasteries were transferred to the Holy Trinity Scanov Monastery: the Krasnoslobodsky Predtechensky Monastery and the Insar Hermitage.

Around 1786, the Charter of strict communal life was introduced in the monastery, as indicated in the Presentation to the Holy Governing Synod of Penza Bishop Athanasius on the subject of increasing the number of monastics. In the 19th century, the number of regular monks in the monastery increased even more.

The preservation of monastic traditions and the spiritual life in the monastery attracted everyone who was looking for eternal salvation to the monastery.

The divine service was performed in the monastery in accordance with the general Church Rule without fail.

The All-Night Vigil was quite long, because during it the interpretive Gospel and the life of the saint according to the Prologue were constantly read. Early Liturgies were celebrated at 5 o'clock in the morning: in winter - in the hospital, and in summer - in the cemetery church. In winter, from the Intercession of the Mother of God, for the Liturgy, the evangelization began at 9 o'clock, on holidays and in the summer - at 8 o'clock. On Sundays, before the late Liturgy, a moleben to the Mother of God was always served by the rector with all the brethren in front of the miraculous Trubchevsk icon of the Mother of God.

At the Liturgies, a lesson was always read. Vespers began at 5 p.m. in summer and at 4 p.m. in winter. After the evening service, the rule was read: the canons to the Sweetest Jesus, the Mother of God and the Guardian Angel. Akathists were read on the eve of Sunday, on Wednesday and Friday - an akathist to the Savior, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday - an akathist to the Mother of God. After the evening meal, at the ringing of a small bell, the brethren again gathered in church, where they read small compline, then a commemoration book and evening prayers.

Religious processions, except for those performed throughout Russia on three known days, i.e. On January 6, August 1, and on the day of Midnight, three more were celebrated in the Skanov Monastery: two around the monastery on the temple feast of the Holy Trinity and the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God (these passages were introduced from ancient times) and one in honor of the Trubchevskaya Icon of the Mother of God, in the newly built cemetery church, on the day of its consecration (October 3).

This move was introduced with the oral blessing of Bishop Ambrose II from 1854.

Since 1795, in the middle of the monastery, on the site of the dismantled one-story stone Holy Trinity Church, the construction of a stone two-story, five-domed, Holy Trinity Cathedral began.

The lower church of the cathedral with two thrones: in honor of the Assumption of the Mother of God and the Three Hierarchs was consecrated on October 8, 1801 by the builder of the monastery Cornelius.

On May 29, 1808, with the blessing of Bishop Moses of Penza, Archimandrite Israel consecrated the upper temple of the cathedral in the name of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity.

On the southern side of the monastery in 1809, the refectory church of the Beheading of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John was built, which was consecrated by Abbot Cornelius in 1812.

In the summer, the brethren were engaged in arable farming and fishing in the Moksha River. Not far from the monastery there was a bee-keeper (up to 80 hives), which gave honey and wax for monastery candles. On the Sheldais River, near the village of Monastyrskoe, there was a wooden water mill granted to the monastery in 1797 by Emperor Paul I.

Outside the fence, four two-story stone living rooms were built for visitors. In one of the buildings there was a hospital for the brethren and visitors, and an icon painting. There was a wooden smithy on the banks of the Moksha River. Near the monastery were located: a grain barn, a stone barn, a living room, a cattle and horse yard, a stone glacier and outbuildings. The monastery had a garden, a kitchen garden, hay meadows and forest lands.

In with. Narovchat, on the corner of the market square, on the manor land (40 sazhens long and 20 sazhens wide), donated by the tsars: John, Peter and Sophia Alekseevich, where there used to be a garden on which anise was sown for the Tsars, a wooden one was arranged, and then - stone chapel in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, covered with iron, inside which was placed an iconostasis with holy icons, gilded in places.

At the chapel there were two cells for a monk living from among the brethren. Next to the chapel, in 1857, a two-storey house with outbuildings was built by the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Ambrose, which, after a fire in 1872, was again restored. The chapel belonging to the monastery has been preserved to this day.

In the 30s of the XX century the monastery was closed and ruined.

The monastery cathedral was turned into a warehouse and a poultry farm, the cemetery church was turned into a feed kitchen for birds, bells were thrown from the bell tower, tombstones of the monastery crypts were flooded in the Moksha River. Icons, church utensils, the library were partly looted, partly transferred to the local museum. In the church in honor of the Beheading of the Holy Prophet and Forerunner of the Lord John, a club was blasphemously organized. In other buildings there were: a shop, a garage, a canteen and the workers of the local state farm lived.

In 1990 the monastery was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.

On March 12, 1990, nun Mitrofania (Peretyagana) arrived from the Riga Monastery and was appointed abbess of the Holy Trinity Skanov Convent. Seven sisters came with her. By the end of the first year of the revival, there were already up to thirty nuns in the monastery.

The monastery lives mainly by the labors of the nuns themselves. The monastery has its own farm: a field for planting potatoes and sowing grain crops, a vegetable garden, a garden and a berry plot, meadows, a barnyard with domestic animals and a poultry house. The sisters of the monastery carry out various obediences: choir singing, churchwomen, in the refectory, in the prosphora, in the sewing room, in the sacristy, in the barnyard, in the almshouse. In the summer, the sisters take care of the flower gardens, cultivate the fields, grow vegetables and berries in the garden, and take care of the garden. There are sisters in the monastery who can drive trucks and cars.

In their free time from obedience, the sisters do needlework: weave rosaries and belts, embroider icons with beads, make handicrafts from natural materials, learn gold embroidery, paint and bead Easter eggs, and learn church hymns.

The Trinity-Scan Monastery is famous for the miraculous icon of the Mother of God and majestic caves.

Monastery on Moksha

No one knows why the Narovchatsky Trinity-Scan Monastery bears such a mysterious name. There is no river with the name Skanov near the monastery. They say, however, that the area on which the monastery was founded in ancient times belonged to certain Iskansky boyars. But no one knows for sure either. Why, and located not too far from these places, on the banks of the same Moksha River, the Sanaksar Monastery also has such a name, it is not known why. And the famous Optina Pustyn, too... And when there are no facts, space for legends and fictions opens up... Either a legend will appear about the repentant robber Opta, or about boyars with strange, almost mythical names...
According to legend, the monastery began two kilometers from here. The monks who came from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra dug underground caves 570 meters long in the mountain (the Kiev-Pechersk caves are slightly smaller - 510 meters). Today, the caves are the main attraction of the monastery, largely thanks to them, buses with pilgrims began to turn here from the main “pilgrimage highways”. But the monastery is still quiet and comfortable. And pilgrims are really welcome here. The head of the monastery is Abbess Evstoliya, a middle-aged woman with a surprisingly kind face. Everything shows that she is one of those rare "administrators" who try to solve all issues with love. And there is a rumor about the confessor of the monastery, Abbot Herman, as a strong prayer book. Many come to him for spiritual advice.
It is not known exactly when the monastery was founded. But it is known that in 1676 this monastery was burned, which means that its history began much earlier than this date. Not all even famous monasteries can boast of such a venerable age.
During the Soviet years the monastery was closed. In one of his churches - in the name of the Beheading of John the Baptist - there was a club and for many years “dances” were held in it, where young Salomes, as if at a feast at Herod, wriggled and writhed in a holy place, demanding to “behead” the honest head of the saint ...
And the new history of the Narovchatsky Trinity-Scanov Monastery began in 1989. At that time, restoration workshops were located on the territory of the former monastery. And so one of the leaders, comrades in the "workshop" decided to fire him. And he, in order to annoy his former colleagues, began to seek that not he and they would get this territory, but ... the Church! And in this, with God's help, he succeeded. So human weaknesses served God's Providence. The women's monastery was one of the first to open in the years of perestroika. And ten years later, on October 3, 1999, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia visited this monastery. He examined the restored churches, buildings, served a prayer service at the miraculous Trubchevskaya Icon of the Mother of God, and, completing his visit to the Trinity-Scan Monastery, said that this is the pearl of the entire Penza region ...

Trubchevskaya Icon of the Mother of God

One of the great shrines of Russia. This icon, kept in the monastery, was included in the list of miraculous icons of the Russian Church. Her feast takes place on October 3 - and it is not by chance that His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II visited the monastery on that day. This icon was painted in the city of Trubchevsk, now in the Bryansk region, in 1765 by the monk Euthymius from the Chelny Monastery, as the inscription on the icon says. There is no information about how and when the icon ended up in the Trinity-Scan Monastery. But on the other hand, the monastery’s chronicle contains information about how, during the cholera epidemics that claimed many lives, the monks carried the miraculous icon out of the monastery in procession and walked with it around Narovchat. After that, the epidemics stopped. As a sign of special veneration for the icon, in 1853, not far from the monastery, the residents of the city built a cemetery church in the name of the Trubchevskaya Icon of the Mother of God.
After the closing of the monastery, this icon was kept for a long time in the local museum of local lore. During the next inventory of museum valuables in 1975, opposite the line "Trubchevskaya Icon of the Mother of God" appeared the inscription: "lost." But through the efforts of a local historian and journalist, at that time the editor of the Narovchatskie Novosti newspaper Vladimir Afanasyevich Polyakov, this icon was found in the museum's storerooms. Other museum exhibits lay on this miraculous image. After such “storage”, the icon had to be taken to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra for restoration. But from this the holy image did not lose its miraculous power. Quite recently, before the New Year, a woman suffering from tuberculosis came to the monastery from Saransk. She prayed in front of the Trubchevskaya Icon of the Mother of God and, leaving home, took with her oil from the icon lamp in front of the miraculous icon. At home, she prayerfully anointed herself with this oil and soon received complete healing. A month later, she again came to the Narovchatsky Monastery to give praise to the holy icon for the miraculous healing ...

Abbess Evstoliya
originally from Saransk. There she took tonsure, there she prayed at the temple, in which in those early years the watchman was the Elder Schemagumen Jerome (2001), who later became famous throughout Russia. In 1989, Archbishop Seraphim of Penza invited her to the Trinity-Scan Monastery, which had just been transferred to the diocese. Of course, it was not easy to leave his native city and go to an uncomfortable monastery. But she made her choice. The first nuns of the monastery lived in very difficult conditions - in the cold, in dampness. The subdeacons told Vladyka Seraphim that the nuns would not be able to endure the difficulties and were about to leave the monastery... Then he came to the monastery, gathered them around him and said sternly: “This monastery, after a long desecration, was returned to the Church. If you leave here, we will have to give it back to the state…” Not a single nun left the monastery then… And in 1994, the dean nun Evstoliya was appointed abbess of the monastery.
And now we are talking to her in the well-appointed, comfortable hegumen's building, where the window overlooks the beautiful, recently restored Cathedral Church with thrones in the name of the Holy Trinity and in the name of the Assumption of the Mother of God.
“Much has been done over the years,” says Abbess Evstoliya. - But the temple in the name of the Trubchevskaya Icon of the Mother of God has not yet been restored. The Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist has not been restored. The caves need urgent restoration, after all, this is both a shrine and a cultural monument for all of Russia! People should see what miracles the faith of our ancestors performed. Cave monks lived in conditions in which we cannot even imagine living… But we have no money for the restoration of caves. The state does not allocate money for the restoration of the cave temple ... They suggested that I give up the caves, give them to a museum - but the caves and the monastery have always been one. In addition, there are plans to build a restaurant for secular tourists near the caves. Well, no, we will never allow this and we will not refuse caves ...
A few years ago, the city authorities asked Abbess Yevstoliya in private whether she would object to the restoration of the local church in Narovchat. They correctly explained to her that if the temple in the city were to operate, then all the local residents would go to it and the monastery would be left without a livelihood. Abbess answered without hesitation: “A terrible sin is to impede the restoration of the temple!” Soon the temple in the city became active and people went to it. But for some reason, just at that time, numerous buses with pilgrims from the Samara region and from other regions of the country began to “wrap up” into this quiet monastery. From the monastery, therefore, has not diminished. But this is already “higher mathematics”, which only true Christians understand!

Hegumen German

As a layman twelve years ago he came to this monastery as a pilgrim. And he stayed here forever - taking monastic vows and priesthood. Previously, he was a designer in Perm. Now she feeds not only sixty nuns of the monastery, but also numerous pilgrims. They say he is strict. I don't know if this is true - I didn't notice it myself. But in our bus, he also excommunicated most of the women for a week from Communion - and after all, many so wanted to take Communion precisely on a pilgrimage! I asked Father Herman about this.
“Mostly elderly or middle-aged people go on a pilgrimage,” he replied. “Most of the time it’s women. People sincerely want to be reconciled with God, to start a new life. But this is impossible if they do not realize what a terrible sin it is - abortion! But many of them have committed this sin. I do not impose strict penances, but I do not bless communion for a week. I do this so that people realize the gravity of this sin. They remembered God and repented.
After a long night confession, Father Herman stayed to talk with the pilgrims from Samara, and we heard a lot of interesting things. I will cite just one episode.
“Many of you are of retirement age,” Abbot Herman tells the pilgrims. - And still you try to work. It is so? (“So,” discordant voices are heard). You help children, grandchildren... And I advise you to leave your job. You have already done yours. Now you all need to get up and pray. But for real prayer. Pray five hours a day for your children and grandchildren. You will pray - and their life will improve. And it’s not you, but they will incur money for you ... Here is a case I know. A tear-stained woman came to the monastery and said that her husband was drinking heavily. I advised her to read the entire Psalter for her husband a day ... She left - and soon returned, already happy. It worked, now he does not drink at all ... Another woman's son could not find a job. She began to pray for him for four hours a day, with tears. He immediately got a good job. Prayer changes everything, everything can be obtained through prayer...

underground monastery

At the foot of Mount Plodskaya, a spring of St. Anthony and Theodosius of the Kiev Caves springs from the ground. Probably, this source is implored. When the monks began to dig caves here, this healing spring made its way out of the earth in order to at least slightly facilitate their work ...
A rather narrow passage leads into the cave. But the one who dared to go there will certainly climb through. For some reason, twelve people from our group ventured after the rain, through the mud, to dive into the underworld. I have already heard a lot about these caves, that they are three stories high, which are the longest in Russia, and even that experts have explored them and come to the unequivocal conclusion that these caves are man-made… But it’s better to see it once. And so I go down, among the twelve.
In my youth I climbed the famous caves of the Gray Brothers near the banks of the Volga, not far from Samara. It was scary there, it blew hell. All the time it seemed that something could happen, and you would never get out of this gloomy labyrinth. Years later, a tragedy occurred there - three tourists suffocated in the caves on May Day holidays, and then several rescuers. Later, I walked through the majestic Roman catacombs. There were completely different sensations, and the most important of them was the victory over death. And here I am in a Russian underground monastery.

… We make our way deeper and deeper. Dark narrow corridors, cells with small recesses for icons. Here sits, ruffled, a bat. We pass it with caution. It drips from the walls, although not much. Steam comes out of the mouth - the temperature here at any time of the year, depending on the tier, is from 6 to 12 degrees. We go, stretching out in a long column, so that the trailing one can always indicate the path to retreat. Here, after all, you can get lost, we go without a guide. In one place I see brickwork, apparently, the monks here strengthened the wall. How much strength was required to gouge these intricate enfilades, these cells and manholes in the "womb of the earth" with a pick and a shovel! And how much strength it took to live and pray here! History almost did not preserve the names of the creators of these caves. Only in the “Penza Diocesan Gazette” for 1877 there is a line: “The novice of the monastery John was the first to work on digging them (caves), followed by others, but more than all the monk Arseniy, who almost always lived here.”
Old-timers say that at the beginning of the century, the Skan caves had a completely inhabited appearance. The main entrance was lined with beautiful ornaments. The vaulted ceilings and walls of the cave were whitewashed, and lighted candles stood in small niches in front of each cell in the aisles. “When I was very young,” a resident of the village of Skanovo told the nuns, “I worked in the monastery garden. One evening a monk took us to show the caves. Kelly showed. Gone far down. There was a spring right in the cave below. The water is clean, clean. There are benches near the spring. We came to a door. The monk didn't let me in. Said, "You can't. The holy relics are kept there.”
It is already difficult for us to understand the builders of this underground monastery. Why did they climb here to pray, when nearby, on the top of the mountain, such a wonderful view of the eternally joyful nature opens up. Isn't it better to offer a prayer "for everyone and for everything", looking at the primordial beauty of God's world? It turns out it's not better. After all, the Lord Jesus Christ was born in the cave of Bethlehem…
In order to be lifted up in spirit to Woe, our ancestors believed, one must bury oneself alive underground. So that no earthly hopes remain. The world is a great deceiver, beauty has its downside and is often the cause of temptations. A monk is, after all, buried alive, who is no longer afraid of anything and who cannot be taken by anything ... And if in other great creations of the human genius - be it the Chinese wall, the Egyptian pyramids or even the city on the water - the majestic and beautiful Venice - some kind of ingenious senselessness seems to be , some majestic absurdity, then just here, in this underground city, the meaning suddenly opens up. Yes, so great that it is very difficult to accommodate. It is no coincidence that Russian monasticism began precisely with the Kiev caves. It will end with caves - at the time of the last persecution of faith. Then this meaning will come to life and appear with our own eyes - as the only true, real path ... And then we will remember our ancestors, and we will not wonder why they were so eager to be not on top of Plodskaya Mountain, but in its womb ...
We climb out into the light of God, and our comrades up there, strictly count the new arrivals. One, two... eight... twelve. So that one of us does not accidentally stay there, entangled in the underground corridors - with bats, but also with the Vladimir icon of the Queen of Heaven, which was discovered in a cave by one of the pilgrims.
Until it's time...

The Trinity-Scan Monastery, destroyed over many years, is currently in difficult conditions during the restoration of monastic buildings and the restoration of the monastic economy. The ancient caves are in urgent need of restoration. We appeal to you to render all possible assistance to our monastery. We ask you on your knees not to ignore our petition. We will pray for the health of all donors.
Our details:
Narovchatsky Trinity-Scan Convent.
TIN 5824000880
Settlement account 40703810348290108002
In the Narovchatsky office of the Nizhnelomovsky OSB 4291 of the Volga Bank of the Security Council of the Russian Federation
BIC 045655635
Cor. account 30101810000000000635
Our address: 442637 Penza region, Narovchatsky district, s. Scanovo, Trinity-Scan Monastery, Abbess Tabitha (Bakulina).

There are legends about the appearance of caves near the village of Narovchat. According to one of them, a long time ago, a hermit monk named Scan lived on the banks of the river. According to legend, he dug a cave for himself, began to live in it and serve God. There were cells and a church, since Church Slavonic inscriptions have been preserved. Holy relics are even buried in the caves, as in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
There are about 20 large and small cells on three tiers of the Narovchatka caves, the vaulted ceilings and walls of which, as eyewitnesses recall, were whitewashed, and lighted candles stood in small niches in the passages in front of each cell. An old icon is kept in one of the cells. All three tiers of the Narovchatka caves are about 635 meters deep, going to the depth of a 14-storey building. The 4th and 5th tiers are not yet open. The temperature inside the caves does not rise above 4 degrees Celsius. In some places, you can even find ice. Old-timers recall that at the beginning of the 19th century, the Narovchatka caves had a very attractive appearance. The main entrance was paved with beautifully ornamented stone. Under the mountain, at the entrance, there was a peculiar architectural complex: caves, two chapels and a church. Under the shady spreading trees near the transparent cold spring there was a bench where tired travelers could rest. The history of the famous Trinity-Skanov Monastery, located a couple of kilometers from here, began with the construction of the caves. On the mountain at the entrance to the caves, under the rector of the monastery, Archimandrite Ambrose, a church was built in the name of the Kiev-Pechersk Mother of God and the Monks Anthony and Theodosius, the Wonderworkers of the Caves. Construction began in 1866 and completed in 1870. Consecrated on September 6, 1870 by Bishop Gregory. According to Patriarch Alexy II, the monastery is the pearl of the entire Penza region. However, this whole boundless region is filled with echoes of events and deeds so ancient that neither the handsome monastery nor the mysterious Skanov caves remember them. In 1237, when the Mongol hordes moved west, their advanced units quickly reached Skani. The legendary Burtas tribe lived here at that time. Refusing to submit to the Batu hordes, the brave steppe dwellers, led by their princess, the beautiful Norchatka, decided to give battle to the invaders. An unequal battle unfolded in these places, along the ancient defensive rampart. This shaft has survived to this day, it lies half a kilometer from the caves. Now it is overgrown with centuries-old forest and crumbled, but it is still a difficult obstacle for any traveler or mushroom picker. Recently, the Penza authorities decided to reconstruct the historic site. Currently, builders are expanding the entrance to the caves so that people can enter in full growth, they are making a vault and walls. At the moment, the arch at the entrance has already been laid out.