ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

- CONTENT--
Ploschansky Bogoroditsky Kazan Desert (Ploschanskaya Desert) is an Orthodox male monastery located in the Brasov district of the Bryansk region.

History
The history of the monastery goes back centuries. According to legend, the monastery near the Ploschansk lake, which gave the name of the monastery, ordered the founding of St. Nicholas. It is known that the secluded monastery was ravaged by the Poles and after 1613 began to resume hieromonk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Procopius. In a book published in 1855 it was stated that according to the information of the abbot Serapion, who was the builder of the monastery in 1778:

The oldest inhabitant of the monastery, monk Ephraim, asserted that there were great forests in this desert and in the same desert in the mountain, at the source, which is called the Square Well, why it is called the Ploschansk Desert, lived in this mountain, in the dugout three monks, of whom one is Hieromonk Procopius. Procopius came here from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the native was a Greek.

According to legend, the miraculous Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was granted to Procopius by Patriarch Filaret in the blessing of the monastery, the carved icon of St. Nicholas was discovered by Procopius in the ruins of the monastery, and the ancient icon of the All-Merciful Savior was granted by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich.

In the XVIII century, active construction began in the monastery: in 1709, a dilapidated wooden church was rebuilt in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God; the stone Kazan Cathedral was consecrated in 1749. Temples were also built in the name of the Intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God (1754), in the name of All Saints over the gates of the monastery (1783) and in the name of the Descent of the Holy Spirit (1815). In 1764, the monastery became a regular.

The monastery was closed in 1917, finally liquidated in 1921, but church services continued until 1924. In 1919, the Commune “Bee” was organized on the economic base of the monastery, which during the XX century turned into a settlement.

The monastery was returned to the monastics in late 1994 in a state of ruin. The abbot was appointed Archimandrite Sergius (Bulatnikov). Of the four temples, only one Holy Spirit temple survived, the ruins of the Kazan Cathedral, the remains of the fortress wall and fraternal cell buildings also survived. The restoration of the monastery began.

In 2001, the Church of All Saints was erected over the Holy Gate. In 2012, the restoration of the destroyed cathedral began.

The spiritual life of the monastery

The desert can be considered the founder of the revival of old age in Russia. The builder of the Ploshchansk Desert, Hieromonk Joasaf (Medvedev), in 1746, went to the desert dwelling in the Bryansk forests, with this begins the history of Square old age. His successor and disciple, Hieromonk Paphnutius, ruled the monastery from 1746 to 1758; he often visited the teacher, staying with the elder for several days, and did nothing in the desert without his blessing and advice. Together with the elder in the desert lived the hieromonk Serapion, later for 30 years, from 1777 to 1807, former abbot of the Ploshchansk desert.

Under Abbot Joel (Titov) (from 1758)