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website=[http://www.raifa.ru/english/foreword/ website]<br> [http://eng.kazan.eparhia.ru/english/monastyri/raifa/ Diocesan Second website]
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The '''Raifa Monastery of the Mother of God''' (''Raifsky Bogoroditsky Monastery'') is a [[monastery]] for men located in the Russian [[Diocese of Kazan]]. The monastery was established in 1613. in what is now the Republic of Tatarstan. Closed during the Soviet years, the property, in 1991, was the first monastery in the [[Diocese of Kazan|Diocese of Kazan and Mari]] to be returned to the [[Church of Russia]]. Restoration work began immediately. The monastery is the largest in the Diocese of Kazan and Tatarstan.
==History==
Raifa Monastery was established as a [[cenobitic]] hermitage in memory of the holy fathers who had been tortured in Sinai and Raithu, from which the monastery’s monastery's name is derived. The monastery was founded in 1613 by the [[monk]] Filaret Philaret during the Time of Troubles and the beginning of the reign of Tsar Michael Feodorovich Romanov. The Filaret Philaret came from the [[Chudov Monastery]] in Moscow where he had witnessed the martyrdom of Patriarch [[Hermogenes of Moscow|Hermogenes]], who died of starvation while a prisoner of the Polish forces who then controlled Moscow. That the [[saint]]ed Hermogenes had been the Metropolitan of Kazan and Sviyazhsk may have influenced Filaret Philaret in coming to Kazan to establish a monastery where Hermogenes’ Hermogenes' memory was still alive.
Upon arrival in Kazan, Filaret Philaret entered the community of the Savior’s Savior's Transfiguration Monastery in Kazan. To avoid the worldly environment of the city, Filaret Philaret later sought the solitude of the forested lands near the city. In his search he found a place on the shore of a picturesque lake where he built a humble hut. In time his presence became known to the people of the Kazan area and many came to visit and honor him. Among these people were some who settled into heritages nearby, wishing also to dedicate themselves to God and a [[monasticism|monastic]] life and thus led to the establishment of the community of the Raifa monastic skete. It was after the death of the Filaret, Philaret that the skete became the monastery.
After his repose in about 1659, his remains were buried at the Monastery of the Savior’s Savior's Transfiguration. The monk Faddey, on behalf of the brethren of the hermitage, approached Metr. Laventy of Kazan and Sviyazhsk for his blessing to formally establish a monastery. Metr. Laventy gave his blessing, and the Hiermonk Hieromonk Savvaty, who was experienced in construction, was assigned to build the new church.
The first [[church]] constructed of wood was built in 1662 and consecrated in the honor of St Evfimy, Bishop of Novgorod. At the same time a wall was built around the monastery that included two gateway churches of which one was consecrated in honor of the sainted fathers who were tortured in Sinai and Raithu. It was this church that gave the name Rafia to the monastery. The earliest churches were consecrated while Metr. Laventy was the ruling hierarch in the Kazan Diocese. In 1670, the monastery received a grant of land on the banks of the Kama River. Thereafter, the monastery continued to enlarge through the donation of additional land.
In 1689, tragedy struck the monastery. All the buildings and equipment burned, reducing the monastery to poverty. Restoration began in 1692, under the leadership of Father-Superior Herman. Recovery progressed slowly and prosperity came mainly through the efforts of the ruling bishop of the diocese, Archbishop Adrian, who later was also to become the Patriarch of Moscow, as well as the hierarchs Markell and Tikhon III. ,As recorded in the Kazan Eparchial Register, by the year of 1739, fifteen 15 churches, including side [[chapel]]s, had been built, financed largely by Metr. Tikhon and wealthy Kazan citizens.
In 1842, a program under Abp. Filaret Philaret (Amfiteatrov) began that found the older churches replaced. The architect M. P. Korinfsky designed the main church. Further construction included, in 1889, the bell-tower Church of Archangel Michael over-the-gate, and Trinity Cathedral. The Mikhail Timofeevich Atlashkin, the benefactor of the bell-tower, Mikhail Timofeevich Atlashkin, who after he died in 1901, and was buried in the monastery cemetery.
After the Bolsheviks assumed power in Russia the monastery entered into hard times. It ceased functioning in 1918 and was closed by the government in 1828. A parish community existed under Hiermonk Hieromonk Joseph outside the monastery but which visited it in secrecy to pray, until [[January 27]], 1930. Then, when the community, including the monks, nuns, and laymen, gathered in the church in order to commemorate the Reverend fathers tortured in Sinai and Raithu, all were arrested. The members of the monastery, Hiermonks Hieromonks Joseph, Sergei, Antony, Varlaam, and Job , and the novice Peter were [[martyr]]ed along with two peasant laymen. The others were exiled to forced labor camps.
During the Soviet years, the monastery became a part of the ''Gulag'' from 1930 to 1954. The property then used to house a colony of juvenile delinquents. Later, the site was used for a technical school, housing workshops, a club, and dining facilities.
In early 1991, as the Soviet government began collapsing, Raifa Monastery became the first monastery in the Kazan diocese to be returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Reconstruction and restoration work began almost immediately by the superior of the monastery, Hegumen Vsevolod (Zakharov), the archimandrite of Raifa Monastery, after receiving the blessing of Bishop Anastassy of Kazan and Mari.
The Church of the Georgian Mother of God was consecrated on [[August 14]], 1991 , as the miracle-working [[icon]] of the Mother of God of Georgia was translated to the church. This icon, a copy of the original at Krasnogorsky Monastery, was presented to the monastery during the time of Metr. Laventy in 1668. The last of the three churches in the monastery was sanctified on [[June 2]], 1996. On [[April 6]], 1997, a solemn ceremony with many believers attended the glorification of the new monastic martyrs of Raifa who were slain in 1930.
==Temples of Raifa Monastery==
The monastery even has its own well equipped and experienced fire department that also fights fires in the neighboring villages.
==SourceSources==
*[http://www.kazan.eparhia.ru/english/monastyri/raifa/ Raifa Monastery of the Mother of God]
*[http://www.raifa.ru/english/foreword/ Raifa Bogoroditsky monastery]
==External link==
*[http://raifa.ru/english/ The Virgin Monastery of Raifa]
[[Category: Monasteries]]
[[Category: Russian Monasteries]]