The Krasnogorsk Bogoroditsky (Mother of God) Orthodox monastery
is located near the village of Pinega, Pinezhsky district,
Arkhangelsk region (it is not active now). The monastery was founded
in 1603 on the banks of the Pinega River, about 16 kilometers from
the Penezhsky port. According to legend, hegumen Varlaam had an icon
of the Vladimir Mother of God. In old age, he decided to give the
icon to his friend. One Sunday in 1603, after the service, Barlaam
fell asleep. He dreamed of a "light-like wife" who ordered to give
the icon to Priest Myron, take it to Black Mountain and build a
monastery there. After awakening, Barlaam thought: he had heard
about the Black Mountain, but who was priest Miron, he did not know.
And then the first miracle happened. In the same 1603, on the
occasion of the collection of church tribute, the priest Miron
arrives in the village of Kevrola, who served in the Yurolsk parish
about 2 kilometers from the Black Mountain. In 1604, in the summer,
only a cross was erected on the mountain in an ordinary fence.
The mountain on which the Krasnogorsk Monastery is located forms
2 hills: upper and lower. In 1606, Barlaam and Myron decided that
the monastery would stand on the upper hill. Myron is tonsured a
monk and takes the name Macarius.
At first, the monastery was
called Montenegrin, after the name of the area "Black Mountain". And
this place was called so because there was a dense, impenetrable
forest. The erected monastery soon came under the care of a wealthy
merchant Yegor Tretyak Lytkin from Yaroslavl. He had trade relations
in Persia and sent his goods there with the salesman S. Lazarev.
Once he had a dream that the clerk Stephen from Persia had brought a
holy icon. And the merchant Lytkin heard a voice from above,
commanding him to take the icon to the Red Mountain in the Dvina
land. After a while, a salesman arrives from Persia and accurately
brings an icon decorated with gold, silver and precious stones.
Patriarch Filaret advises the merchant to immediately go to the
designated place. And in August 1629 he delivered the miraculous
Georgian icon of the Mother of God to the Krasnogorsk Monastery. In
1695, the monastery was damaged by fire.
In August 1723,
Archpriest Job of Kholmogory laid the foundation of the stone church
of the monastery of the Krasnogorsk monastery. In 1735, under the
direction of Hieromonk Theodosius, the erection of the main church
of the miraculous icon of the Georgian Mother of God was completed
and consecrated. The Krasnogorsk monastery acquired great fame at
the beginning of the 18th century, when Prince Vasily Golitsyn, an
associate of the disgraced princess Sophia, who was exiled to Pinega
by the decree of Peter I, often came here. In 1714, according to his
will, he was buried in the monastery cemetery. The tombstone from
his grave is now in the local museum of local lore, and a modern
copy of it can be seen near the walls of the temple. At the
beginning of the 20th century, there were 3 churches in the
monastery, surrounded by a stone fence. The monastery was widely
known, and it was often visited because of the two miraculous icons.
In 1920 the monastery was closed and plundered, and the
miraculous icons (Georgian and Vladimir) were confiscated and
irretrievably lost. For many years, until the end of the 1960s, the
church stood covered and in fairly good condition, until lightning
hit the cathedral dome. The roof broke down and collapsed, and today
you can see picturesque ruins with remnants of frescoes. The
buildings of the monastery housed a commune, then a children's
recreation camp, and until the 1990s, a hospital for the mentally
ill.
In 2006, the residential building of the monastery, the
adjacent buildings were revived and the area around it was equipped:
mainly for the operation of the Krasnaya Gorka tourist complex. The
bell tower at the monastery is gradually being restored.
The
Mother of God Monastery is located at the highest point of the
Belomoro-Kuloi plateau. This place offers a beautiful view of the
picturesque surroundings.