Business companies, fancy restaurants, night clubs are in every European city but it is a very rare case to have functional monasteries inside the busy and crowded mega polis. Kyiv is an exception. There even were examples of governors that left everything behind and went to the monastery. The first one was Nicholas Svyatosha in 1106, he was a prince of Kievan Rus and a great grandson of Yaroslav the Wise. Religious Kyiv has 10 monasteries, 7 friaries and 3 nunneries.
Frolovskiy Monastery
One of the most powerful and the most beautiful nunneries is Frolovskiy Monastery. First paper trial about the mansion was written in 1566. In 1766 the emperor Petr I added the convent to the monastery. The monastery has two floors: the first floor is called “the warm one” and it was built in honor to St. Nicholas and the second floor is called “the cold one”, constructed in1818 in honor to the Tyhvins icon of the Virgin Mary. Sanctities that are kept in the monastery are: hallows of st. Elena, Kazan’s and Tyhvin’s icons of the Virgin Mary, icons of st. Varvara, Nicholas Chydotvorec and Feodosiy Chernigovskiy.
Pokrovskiy Monastery
Pokrovskiy Monastery was found in 1886 by the knyazhna A.P. Romanova. It is a picturesque and a very calm place. Under the nunnery there was a school, hospital, ambulance station and a drugstore. There are several cathedrals on the territory: Nicholas cathedral has two floors and 6 altars, Pokrovskiy cathedral – 3 altars and refectory cathedral in favorem to archangel Myhail. The monastery has a stone from the Jesus’ pall, the Pochainskaya miraculous icon of the Blessed Virgin and a part of a Jesus coat.
Svyato-Troickiy monastery
The mansion of the Svyato-Troickiy monastery is believed to be established by the knyazh Andrew Bogolubskiy. In 1174 it was named Kitai which means a fortress. It was named so because there was an Old Russian outposton the today territory. It is one of the most popular friaries in Kyiv. Svyato-Troickaya church, that is the head church in the monastery, was built in 1767. The cathedral of Twelve Apostles together with stone bell tower was constructed in 1835. This place used to be a place for burial monks from Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
Assumption monastery
Assumption monastery in Kyiv Pechersk Lavra takes the first place between all the mansions in Kyiv and in Ukraine. This was a first home for the men monks in all Kievan Rus. It appeared as a cave monastery. The first cave was made by the priest Ilarion in 1051. Soon after it many monks started to settle in cave to live a monastic life. In 1073 the first ground monastery was built on one of the hills. This place has two caves that are called neighbors caves and the distant caves. This place is very important for Kyiv. It is a World Heritage of UNESCO. What makes this caves and the monastery so unique is that in these caves there are hallows of the first saints of the Kievan Rus. They are kept there for centuries. They are believed to be healing, many people are said to lose their problems and sickness because they prayed near them. Another important fact is that these hallows lay there without any additional embalmment.
