Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (Kiev Monastery of the Caves) is one of the first monasteries of
period after the entry of Christianity into Russia in 988. It was founded as a cave monastery in 1051 on a high area on the right side of the Dnieper River in Kiev. Lavra’s founder is Antony of Caves, who returned from Mount Athos and did not adopt the monastic approach that existed in Russia at that time.
He settled in a cave that was originally located here and earlier belonged to Hilarion of Kiev. Gradually, students gathered around Antony and adopted his ideas; they formed the cave complex (Far Caves) and established an underground church when the number of followers reached twenty. Antony, who was in pursuit of silence, left the management of this place to his student Theodosius and built his cave in the mountainous place away from these caves. This new place formed the first step of the “Near Caves” complex”. In 1062, with the increase in the number of monks, Antony received permission from the Kniaz’ of Kiev Izyaslav I to use the entire mountainous area next to the Dnieper River. After taking the first steps of the monastery formation, it took the name Pechersk (Ukrainian печера, pechera, cave or underground place).
The monastery, which had just begun to form in 1096, was plundered by the Cumans who entered Kiev; however, it was renovated in a very short time in 1108 with the help of the Kniaz’ of that period. The monastery was almost empty during the invasions into Kiev between the 12th and 15th centuries. As a result of the donations collected towards the end of the 15th century, it regained its former power and in the 16th century it was one of the important and rich institutions among the monasteries of that period.
The closest form of the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery to its present form began to be created in the 17th century. In this period, a typography building was established for the spread of religion to the public. In 1686, the monastery received the title of Larva and two years later it was attached to the Moscow Patriarchate. In the 17th century, the monastery, whose walls were made of earth, was strengthened in the era of Peter I. While the 17th and 18th centuries were a difficult period for Russian monasteries, the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery was one of the few monasteries that were not affected by the conditions of that period.
After the October Revolution of 1917, the lavra started to have difficulties like other monasteries, and in 1926, with the decision of the UkrSSR (Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic), this place was separated from religious affairs and turned into a museum as a historical and cultural preservation area. With the entry of Nazi soldiers to Kiev in 1941, the monks who were dispersed in the 1930s were granted the right to live here. In the same year, the main Dormition Cathedral located here was blown up. In 1943, after the Nazis were expelled from Kiev, the monks were allowed to live until the Khrushchev era. It was closed in the 1960s and continued as a museum. In 1988, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was reopened for religious duties in celebration of the thousandth anniversary of the Christianization of Russia. Today, it is divided into two regions: the lower Lavra region, where the caves are located and where the monks live, and the upper Lavra region, which is operated as a museum.
References:
Mitsik Y. A. ve Federova L. D. (2007). “Kievo-Peçerskaya Lavra”, Entsıklopediya istorii Ukrayını,v.4,, Ka-Kom/Redkol. Ġn NAN Ukrainı, pp. 187–199
N. Petrovskiy (2021). “Tak kto je vzorval Uspenskiy sobor?”, Plenennoe iskusstvo, Rostov-n/D., Feniks, pp.46–56.
O. Titov (1910). Putevoditel pri obozrinii svyatın i dostoprimçatelnostey Kievo-Peçerskoy Lavrı, K. Tipografiya Kievo Peçerskoy Lavrı
Author: Evgheni Batu
Translator: Evgheni Batu
