Briefly about our monastery

Sisters of the monastery with the spiritual father of the abode

Novo-Tikhvinsky cloister was revived in 1994. By God’s grace it has been initially created under the guidance of spiritual father abbot Abraham. Today there are 150 sisters in the monastery. Among them are 5 schemanuns, 35 nuns, 61 coenobites, and the rest are novices. At the beginning, the new resident is given the opportunity to assess her strengths, to be convinced in the immutability of her decision to leave the world, and to devote her entire life to God, and only a year or a year and a half later does she get enlisted as a novice. Adherence to the monastery Regulations, implicit obedience, daily labor for the good of the abode — this is the way a person tests him- or herself and learns patience.

Bygone traditions are gradually being revived at the monastery: a monastic choir has been created; icon-painting and sewing workshops are at work. The sisters at the icon-painting workshop are writing icons of saints and Orthodox feasts; iconostases have been repeatedly produced. The sewing workshop is advancing. Sisters make church vestments for clergy, canonicals for churches, monastic clothes, and everything necessary for this big household. The traditions of original church singing are also being revived. Sisters are learning the Znamenny chant. Its scale is built in a special way that precludes sensuality and tunes one to a deepened prayer. In ancient Russian there existed Znamenny chant that was monophonic, truly spiritual, prayerful singing. The cloister tries to revive the relics of the Urals land as best as it can. In Ekaterinburg, a chapel in the city arboretum was restored, a restoration of a cathedral in honor of St. Alexander Nevsky is began. In the Merkushino village of the Verkhotursky district, on the site of the discovery of the relics of St. Symeon of Verkhotursk, a metochion of the monastery was founded in 1997. Today St. Symeon’s church and bell tower are restored out of ruins, and a spacious guesthouse is fully furnished. The cathedral of Archangel Michael that was blown up in the 1930s is being erected. In the spring of 2000, the cloister began the restoration of the dilapidated church in the village of Kostylevo, Verkhotursky district. Now the construction of a small monastery complex is being completed.

Continuing the traditions of charity, the cloister patronizes an orphanage and a free refectory. The majority of sisters live at the St. Ignatius hermitage which is located within the precincts of the city in a forest zone. All of the workshops and two of the sisters' residence buildings are located there. About ten sisters reside by the cathedral in honor of St. Alexander Nevsky which is located in the center of Ekaterinburg, and about the same number of sisters live at the metochion in Merkushino village.