The Pühtitsa Assumption Monastery is an Orthodox female stauropegic monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church, located in the village of Kuremäe, Ida-Viru County, Estonia.
The Pühtitsa Assumption Monastery is an Orthodox female monastery located in the village of Kuremäe. This is one of the main Orthodox pilgrimage sites in Estonia, The history of the monastery is closely connected with the names of the associates of the church – St. John of Kronstadt and the late Patriarch Alexei II.
Orthodoxy connects the name of the area with the miraculous sign of the image of the Mother of God, which appeared to Estonian peasants in the 16th century. Tradition says that local shepherds saw how the Virgin Mary stood at the Holy Mountain and climbed almost to its very top, until she suddenly stopped by a spreading tree and disappeared into thin air
The story goes that at the place of the appearance of the Mother of God, a source of Holy water was poured, and an icon of the Assumption of the Mother of God was found in a crevice of a spreading oak tree. From that moment on, Pühtitsa became a revered Christian shrine. The holy spring and the thousand-year-old oak are still in their places – pilgrims come to them all year round to improve their health and ask for the fulfillment of desires.
Orthodoxy connects the name of the area with the miraculous sign of the image of the Mother of God, which appeared to Estonian peasants in the 16th century. Tradition says that local shepherds saw how the Virgin Mary stood at the Holy Mountain and climbed almost to its very top, until she suddenly stopped by a spreading tree and disappeared into thin air
The story goes that at the place of the appearance of the Mother of God, a source of Holy water was poured, and an icon of the Assumption of the Mother of God was found in a crevice of a spreading oak tree. From that moment on, Pühtitsa became a revered Christian shrine. The holy spring and the thousand-year-old oak are still in their places – pilgrims come to them all year round to improve their health and ask for the fulfillment of desires.
The site of the present nunnery may have been an Orthodox chapel as early as the 17th century, but Shahovskoi did not establish the actual monastery until 1891, where he was later buried. In the same year, major construction work began on the monastery area. The master plan of the area was prepared by the architect Mikhail Preobrazhensky. The main church of the monastery was completed in 1908–1910. The monastery lost much of its land in the context of the 1919 land reform and was also subjugated to the Estonian Orthodox Church.
In June 1990, the monastery was granted stauropean status and since then it remains under the direct authority of the Moscow patriarch and all Russia, even though it is located in Estonia, ie within the territory of the autonomous Estonian Orthodox Church.
Access : Coordinates: 59.2025, 27.536389 / Address: Estonia, Ida-Virumaa, Illuka parish, Kuremäe village / Kuremae is a village in Estonia. It is located in the municipality of Illuka vald and province of Ida-Virumaa, in the eastern part of the country, 160 km east of Tallinn, the capital.
Highlights :
- The Pühtitsa Monastery is a complex of buildings headed by the five-domed Assumption Cathedral, erected in 1910 with donations. One of the famous donors who made a great contribution to the construction of the temple was St. I. Kronstadt. The main ensemble of the monastery is surrounded by a fortress wall with towers and two gates – the first lead to the main church, and entering through the second you can get to the chapel.
- At the place where the icon was found, a wooden chapel was built, in which the miraculous icon stayed until the beginning of the construction of an Orthodox monastery on this site.
- The monastery was home to about 160 nuns, who were responsible for the monastery’s maintenance, fieldwork, tree felling and icon painting.
- Holy source. : The water of the spring is considered sacred. / The monastery yard features a number of 20-feet-high firewood stacks.
- Churches : There are six churches in the convent dedicated to a number of Orthodox Christian Saints such as St. Sergius of Radonezh, St. Simeon the Receiver of God, St. Nicholas, St. Anna the Prophetess and others.
- Tour of the monastery : As part of the excursion, you can climb to the same oak, in the crevice of which the icon was found, drink water from a sacred spring, visit the monastery museum and workshop.
Russian Orthodox Monastery of the Assumption of Pühtitsa, opening hours: daily from 8:00 to 20:00.
Activities : Pühtitsa monastery is open for pilgrimages and excursions / Everyone can take part in a church service or be baptized in the Baptismal Church.
Go next : Kuremae is a village in Estonia / Tallinn TV Tower ,Admire panoramic views from the tallest building in Estonia / the historical sites of the Lower and Upper Towns of Tallinn.
