Belogorsk Monastery - Ural Athos

The monastery is located in one of the most beautiful places of the Perm region. To get to it, you need to turn from the busy highway Perm – Yekaterinburg near the rural settlement of Yergach and almost 50 kilometers to go through beautiful and unique lands. Moving away from the highway of some 5-7 kilometers, the traveler seems to enter another world. Wonderful views of the fields and forests that replace the few villages. And almost at the entrance to the purpose of his trip, everyone will certainly have to drive along the shore of a beautiful lake, which is located in the village of Kalinino.

 

But the road passes through the last settlement and leads further, where the eye opens an incredible, breathtaking view of the seven-domed Cross Cathedral of the Belogorsk Monastery. It is as if he is coming at you, and you with all your heart strive to be near as soon as possible. The golden crosses and domes of the temple burn in the sun, and this radiance attracts the eye, does not let go until you are in its shadow.

 

 

How beautiful is the whole monastery and especially the temple. Wooden buildings with fonts seem to be toy houses, some giant, a belfry and a “royal” cross against the background of the endless sky create a sense of flight. And come closer, and your gaze opens views on the endless forest and fields and the sky, piercing blue, peaceful, carefree sky to the horizon.

How beautiful the temple looks up close. Snow-white walls rise to an incredible height and they are crowned by golden domes with crosses on the most poppies. How incredible is its original beauty. You look, and there is a feeling that he rises above the whole world, and there is nothing more pure and joyful in the world. The heart is filled with love and awe, you are captured by an incredible hurricane of various feelings and absorbs with your head.

All the buildings in the monastery are pleasing, and it seems as if you feel the love with which they were erected. Everything looks well-groomed and neat. Cleanliness, care and order are visible to the naked eye. Peace and tranquility reign in his land.

But it wasn't always that way. The temple, and indeed the whole monastery, had to endure much before it appeared before us in its present form.

The history of the appearance of the monastery on the Perm land goes back to the distant XIX century, when on the top of the White Mountain in 1891, in honor of the miraculous salvation of the life of the future Emperor of Russia Nicholas II in Japan, a wooden cross was installed, later known as the Tsarsky. Construction of the first temple began in June 1893 and ended in February 1894. But in the autumn of 1897 there was a fire, as a result of which the temple, completely built of wood, burned to the ground. The laying of the first stone for the construction of a new stone temple took place in the summer of 1902. Construction lasted 15 years and was completed in 1917. During the whole period from 1893 to 1902, works were carried out on the territory of the monastery on the construction of residential and non-residential buildings and structures for the brethren.

But for a short time parishioners, pilgrims and servants of the Belogorsk monastery were given to visit the newly rebuilt Holy Cross Church. Already at the end of the summer of 1918, events that shocked the whole country reached the White Mountain. The Bolsheviks tortured and brutally killed the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Varlaam. Then, before January 1919, another 34 monks were killed and died. From this moment began the decline of the monastery and in 1923 it was finally closed.

In the 1930s, a camp for the repressed and special settlers was opened in the former premises of the monastery, and then a home for the disabled. On the site of the "Royal" cross was erected a monument to V. I. Lenin, and the temple itself turned into a club. During the Great Patriotic War, a rehabilitation center for the wounded and disabled was located on the former territory of the Belogorsk Monastery, and since 1946 - a house for disabled people of the Great Patriotic War, work and childhood.

The revival of St. Nicholas Monastery began in 1988, but the first service in the church took only three years, and from that moment a new milestone in the history of the Belogorsk Monastery began.

 

All buildings, premises and the temple itself needed major repairs, restoration and restoration. Revival of the monastery helped literally the whole world. In September 1998, the Tsar’s Cross was re-erected, destroyed by the Bolsheviks. In 2000, nine bells were installed on the temporary belfry. In the period from 1999 to 2000 there was a restored highway leading to the Belogorsk monastery. After two years, the interior decoration works in the premises of the Holy Cross Church were completed. Partially restored garden near the font and renovated living quarters. Restoration of the temple outside. The territory of the temple is surrounded by a new fence to avoid accidents.

 

 

A great deal of work has been done over the years, but much remains to be done. But now we can say that the monastery on the White Mountain was revived. Thousands of pilgrims and tourists visit this incredible place every year. Many companies and enterprises of the Perm region make donations in favor of the monastery. Restoration and finishing works are constantly underway and the Belogorsk Monastery, the Ural Athos is being revived and becomes even more majestic than before.

 

Every time you visit this amazing place, you do not want to leave it, and you dream of coming back again and again. For many kilometers on the way back, you look around and see the majestically towering Church of the Exaltation of the Cross on the top of the White Mountain. It's like he's looking at you and saying he's waiting for you to come back.