Monastery of St. Paraskeva
Toplov monastery is located in the village of Topolevka, between Simferopol and Sudak. The full name of the monastery is the Toplovsky Holy Trinity-Paraskevievsky convent in the Crimea.
Toplovsky Monastery is a holy place, healing from many diseases that traditional medicine cannot cope with. There are many stories of miraculous healing, so the fame of the monastery is growing every day, and there are more people who want to visit the monastery. Saint Paraskeva of Rome (I-II century AD) Toplov Monastery was founded in 1864 and named after Paraskeva of Rome. Paraskeva was executed for her faith in Jesus Christ and preaching the Gospel, and her head was cut off. In the place where she was executed, a source of healing water was hammered.
For many centuries and to this day people drink holy water from the spring and are washed with it, and through the prayers of St. Paraskeva are healed. Nowadays, a special font has been equipped, in which water from the source is collected. Immersion in the font helps people with eye and head diseases. It is also known that Saint Paraskeva was born after long prayers of childless parents, and she received from the Lord the grace to help infertile parents and to intercede for the granting of children to them. Holy Mother Abbess Toplovskaya is the builder of the monastery. Many shrines, a prosperous economy, an ideal order, a high spiritual order and tireless work are all her merits. She also organized the construction of all the buildings and buildings necessary for the monastery, there is even a brick factory on the territory of the monastery. She also planted orchards, considered one of the best gardens of the entire Crimean peninsula, created an irrigation system and an apiary. But in the 20s of the last century, the monastery was ruined and desecrated by atheists, and the Cathedral was blown up. Mother Abbess could not survive this tragedy and died of a broken heart. Later she was listed as a saint, and her holy relics are now in the Paraskevsky temple. According to tradition, pilgrims can write a letter to Mother with their requests for help. The letter should be put in a special chest, which is located in the monastery cemetery near the Mother’s grave and pray. And Mother will. The Bulgarian Constantine was the founder of the Toplov monastery (1819-1874). A Bulgarian hermit who settled in a cave near the spring of St. Paraskeva. She prayed for the founding of the convent, walked through the surrounding villages and collected donations for the construction of the monastery. With the funds raised, a chapel was built near the source. The first sisters began to settle, the beginning of monastic life was laid. Before her death, Constantine took monastic tonsure in the monastery she founded and was named Paraskeva.