“They won’t get to Moscow, they’ll win back on us”: how the Holy Assumption Nikolo-Vasilyevsky Monastery lives on the front line

It is dangerous to move around Nikolsky, warns Mother Superior Anna.

In March, when the Ukrainian military fled, they mined roads and even paths.

Therefore, monks and nuns most often do not go out and do not advise guests.

There are two cloisters in the monastery - male and female.

Of the almost 150 inhabitants, a little more than twenty people remained.

There is no permanent electricity, the central water supply does not work.

Some buildings burned down, the animals on the farm died.

Nikolskoye is a small settlement of the Volnovakhsky district of the DPR, which would not differ from the rest if the Orthodox Holy Dormition Nikolo-Vasilyevsky Monastery did not rise in the center.

Founded by the elder Zosima (Sokur) in 1998, it has become a real gem of the region.

Zosima is a legendary figure for Donbass.

He was revered by believers as an old man and seer.

In his spiritual testament, he urged "strict adherence to the Russian Orthodox Church and the Patriarch of Moscow", and in the event of "Ukraine's departure from Moscow" - to cut off contact with the Metropolitan of Kyiv.

At the same time, he predicted "the brightest future times of the unity of Ukraine and Russia."

In 2009, the monastery was visited by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, who consecrated the main altar of the Assumption Cathedral, built according to the will of Father Zosima "to the extent and likeness" of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

In Ukraine, it was the largest of the newly founded monasteries.

It no longer belongs to Ukraine. 

• © Tatyana Plotnikova

Today the monastery does not please with golden domes.

The plating fell off, and in some places crosses were shot down by shells.

The architectural ensemble lost the Vasilyevsky church, the cell of the elder Zosima burned down, the fraternal and sister buildings, the house of Xenia of Petersburg (the sisters worked there), the refectory church, the house of mercy, the almshouse, the house of industriousness (the place of obedience to the brethren) were damaged.

Fragments also flew into the Sampson Church of the almshouse, one of them remained in the altar Gospel.

Prior to the liberation, Nikolskoye was under the control of the Ukrainian military and national battalions.

The Aydar militants and artillery units of the tank division were located here.

The monks recall that soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine placed howitzers right on the monastery gardens, in the courtyard and fired from here at Donetsk and Yelenovka.

“They didn’t try to object.

It was scary.

Many of them were simply in an inadequate state.

Maybe under alcohol or even drugs.

Others, on the contrary, seemed to understand that they were doing something bad, unkind.

Therefore, they tried to somehow laugh it off, smiled.

There are also different people.

These understood that it was wrong to put cannons in the monastery.

But they couldn’t do anything, ”one of the inhabitants told RT, who asked not to be named.

The monastery remembers how Hieromonk Feofan (Kratirov) was kidnapped back in 2015.

“Six people came, two in civilian clothes and four in military uniform.

They were taken away in an unknown direction,” the monks say.

Only at the beginning of April 2020 did the DPR authorities achieve his release as part of a prisoner exchange.

The hieromonk went through torture: he was drowned, choked, beaten with electricity.

After the Ukrainians left Nikolskoye, things got worse.

The forces of the People's Militia of the DPR and the Russian army did not fire at the monastery, they knew that civilians were here.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine had much less generosity and respect.

Ukrainian units took up positions in the nearby mining town of Ugledar, and from there the monastery is visible at a glance.

If at first many people thought that shells had accidentally landed on the territory of the monastery, then later, when humanitarian aid began to be brought to the monastery, it became clear that it was being targeted: Ukrainian drones often circle in the sky.

• © Tatyana Plotnikova

As soon as a car with humanitarian cargo drove up to the main shelter of the inhabitants - the lower church of the cathedral - the shelling immediately began.

Therefore, the arrival of humanitarian missions was not reported anywhere, they unloaded quickly and left in the same way, fearing to be hit by rockets and shells.

“We are trying to survive.

We have water, we cook food.

Bring humanitarian aid.

Of course, we try to save food.

Light from a generator.

There are difficulties, but many people help us, especially the Vostok battalion.

Help comes from Donetsk, from Moscow.

I hope we will not be abandoned,” says Hieromonk Joseph (Vinyar).

The inhabitants of the monastery are still afraid to talk about the Ukrainian military.

Probably because the nearest Pavlovka changed hands many times.

“We are the front line, and we see how our village is being attacked.

Maybe at least they will drive them out of Ugledar.

We understand that on the other side, in Ugledar, there are atheists who have nothing sacred.

It is not for nothing that the Kadyrovites call the VSE shaitans.

Satan is a demon in our opinion.

And the monks fight demons with fasting and prayer, as the Lord bequeathed,” they said in the monastery.

The monastery is sure that the special bitterness of the Ukrainian artillery is connected precisely with the fact that the Assumption Cathedral in Nikolsky is a small copy of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin.

“They cannot reach Moscow, they take revenge on us.

Let's wait until this is all over.

Those who remain will not leave,” the monks say.