On the western outskirts of Yelets, where the city noise gradually subsides, the sharp spire of the ancient bell tower goes into the sky. This is the main lighthouse of the Holy Trinity Monastery — a place whose fate resembles a dramatic novel. The monastery survived two disappearances, two revivals and decades of oblivion, but each time returned to life.
For the first time the Trinity Monastery appeared on the map at the end of the XVI century on a high cape at the confluence of the rivers Elchik and Sosna. By the end of the XVII century there was already a stone bell tower, wooden temples and economic life. However, the XVIII century was cruel: the monastery lost its land, and in 1775 it was finally abolished. The temples were dismantled, the brethren were sent out, and desolation reigned on the site of the shrine for a long time.
The revival began half a century later thanks to the merchant Ivan Shaposhnikov. He dreamed of building a new monastery near the western outpost, on the Orel road, but did not live to see the idea realized. The case was completed by his widow, and in 1836 the monastery again opened the gates for the brethren. The ensemble, built in the style of late classicism, became the decoration of the city. The three-tiered bell tower, visible from afar, served as a guide for all who kept their way to Yelets.
The nineteenth century was a time of prosperity. The monastery grew up with temples — Tikhvin, Panteleimon, church-tomb. The miraculous icon was kept here, schools worked, and the shelter gave shelter to refugees during the First World War. The spirit of the real business reigned in the monastery: even the abbots, it happened, together with novices wore bricks on the construction site.
After the revolution, the monastery suffered the fate of many Russian shrines. In 1919, it was closed, the commune settled in the cells. The bell tower was turned into a warehouse, and in the 1960s, two main cathedrals — Troitsky and Tikhvin — were blown up. A car depot was located on the territory, and in the surviving buildings — residential apartments.
The newest history of the monastery began in 2006. The bell tower, which for many years served as a water tower, was crowned again by a cross. Today there are services, there is a gradual restoration, and once empty walls again hear prayers. The Trinity Monastery in Yelets proves that a real fortress of spirit can stand even where, it would seem, only ruins remain.
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Russian Temples and Monasteries
