Wed. 9/26
Monk Syril-- White lake Monestery
The area here is covered with glacial lakes and
orchards. Berries and mushrooms are
prolific here and the average temperature is -4 in winter.
We are visiting the largest monastery in Russia rebuilt in
the 16th and 17th Centuries. It was closed after the Bolshevik
Revolution and is now a museum.
Marina is our guide and she is quite loud enough, but a
little hard to understand.
Monk Syril (Cyril) had a vision (11th century)
that he should go to this place and build the monastery. In its “heyday” it was the spiritual center,
the cultural center, and the military center of this part of Russia. In this time, the monastery was very rich,
with lots of land, businesses and serfs.
Some of their treasure shown in the museum, consisted of vestments
decorated with embroidery and river pearls.
There were 150 manuscripts heavily decorated, and sliver decorative
pieces Marina told us that it was
believed that going through the main gate, caused sins to be forgiven.
Catherine the Great, secularized the country during her
reign, taking the lands, and property of the monasteries and this one became
very poor. Treasures were hidden in
private homes to keep them away from the government.
We hear lots about icons—some are made of precious metals,
some are decorated with gens, the ones
here are painted on wood.
The grounds are very well kept with a profusion of flowers
blooming everywhere.
We were guessing
that no flowers would be seen in a few weeks, because of the quick onset of
winter. We walked to the lake and
Marina mentioned that many people fished through the ice. Another legend is that if you swim in the
water, you will get younger.
At its most populous, the monastery housed 200 monks, while
Marina told us that only 5 reside here today.
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