The small Avraamiev Epiphany Monastery is located on the northern outskirts of Rostov the Great. It is one of the oldest monasteries in Russia, but for a long time all its temples were in a dilapidated state. A few years ago, their reconstruction was started, and by 2022 the monastery has been renovated and is now of great interest to visit.
According to legend, the Avraamiev Epiphany Monastery in Rostov the Great was founded by Saint Abraham of Rostov in 1080. In his hagiography it is written that a wooden idol of the pagan god Veles stood on the site of the monastery. Abraham was praying and Saint John the Theologian appeared to him. He gave him a rod in the form of a reed cane. Abraham crushed the idol of Veles with one blow of this rod.
On the site of the destroyed idol, Saint Abraham built a small wooden Epiphany church and founded a monastery hermitage. The first confirmed data about the Avraamiev Epiphany Monastery can be found in the Laurentian Chronicle of 1261. Some historians believe that the life of St. Abraham and the foundation of the monastery date back to the 13th century.
The rod of Abraham was kept for a long time in the main temple of the monastery. Ivan the Terrible made a pilgrimage to the monastery and took the rod before the campaign against Kazan in 1552. After the conquest of Kazan, Ivan the Terrible built the stone Epiphany Cathedral in 1553 in the Avraamiev Monastery. It has survived to this day, although in the Time of Turmoil, the Avraamiev Monastery, like other monasteries of Rostov the Great, was destroyed by Polish military detachments in 1606.
The heyday of Rostov the Great came at the time of Metropolitan Jonah Sysoevich, who built the monumental Rostov Kremlin in the city. At the same time, powerful fortress walls and stone temples were built around Rostov along the perimeter of Lake Nero in all monasteries. At this time, the appearance of the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery in the south and the Borisoglebsky Monastery 20 km west of Rostov was formed.
At the entrance to the Avraamiev Monastery in 1690, the gate Church of St. Nicholas was built with fortress towers on the sides. Previously, there were fortress walls on the sides of these towers, but they have not been preserved to this day. In 1650, the Church of the Introduction of the Virgin Mary to the Temple was built in the Avraamiev Epiphany Monastery.
