Kitaevskaya desert. Kyiv. Trinity Monastery (Kitaevskaya Hermitage) Holy Trinity Monastery of Kitaevskaya Hermitage

Kyiv has been considered one of the capitals of world Orthodoxy for many centuries. Despite the fact that today the city is a multimillion-dollar metropolis, you can find places in it where you don’t feel its fast rhythm, where you can be in peace, alone with yourself and God. One of these places is.

Origin of the name of the area

Kitaevo is a picturesque area in the Goloseevsky forest on the southern outskirts of the city, which has several names - Kitaevo, Kitaev, Kitaevskaya Pustyn. Let’s say right away that this place has nothing in common with China.

The name for this territory was assigned back in the 12th century, and there are three versions of its origin. According to one of them, the word “China” is of Turkic origin and is translated as “fortress” - and in fact, in pre-Mongol times there was a fairly fortified craft and trading town here. By the way, part of the fortification shafts has survived to this day. According to another version, the name comes from the Old Russian word “kita” - this was the name for a bunch of poles used in the construction of the fortification. According to the third version, “China” was the nickname of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, the grandson of the Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh - presumably, on the top of China Mountain there was the prince’s palace-terem.

From base to closure

Initially Kitaeva Pustyn was founded as a monastery of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra (a monastery is a small monastery, usually subordinate to a large one, and located in a remote, secluded area).

Its history dates back to the 18th century, when in 1716 the Governor-General of Kyiv, Prince Dmitry Golitsyn, built a small wooden church here in honor of the 14th-century Russian saint St. Sergius of Radonezh.

Although there are other versions, including the one that the monastery was founded in the 14th century on the site of a cave monastery. Be that as it may, the chronology of the Kitaevskaya Hermitage, starting from the 18th century, is generally accepted and reliable.

Almost half a century after the construction of the wooden Sergius Church, in 1763-68, a stone church in honor of the Holy Trinity was built in its place in the Ukrainian Baroque style. Since that time, the monastery began to be called “Kitaeva Hermitage”, as well as “Kiev Athos” (Athos is a mountain in Greece, especially revered by Orthodox believers, on which there are 20 monasteries, united in the Autonomous Monastic Republic).

The next, 19th century, is considered the “golden period” in the history of the monastery. In particular, the monastery farm became a separate town with various enterprises, in particular, there was a candle factory with a wide range of products and a large apiary. In addition, orchards, vegetable gardens, and fisheries provided both the monastery itself and the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. Some of the products were sold at fairs that were held during the Trinity Day. The proceeds were used to repair monastery buildings and other needs of the community. By the way, the fact that the monks were engaged in fishing is today reminiscent of the cascade of five Kitaev lakes dug by the inhabitants specifically for fishing.

In 1858 Kitaevsky Monastery received its official name in honor of its main temple and became Holy Trinity.

To the east of the center of the monastery are the Kitaev caves. To get into them, you need to walk along the dam, past the lakes, and climb the steps to the wooden chapel built above the entrance to the caves. The exact age of the caves is unknown, but it is more likely that they date back to the 16th century. At the beginning of the caves there is its own small church. Walking through the underground labyrinths, you can see small cells with stone beds, niches for icons and lamps, and more. All this shows in what strict conditions the hermit monks lived. Today people come down here for special prayer, because stories about healings in the Kitaev caves are known far beyond the borders of Kyiv.

The Kitaevskaya monastery, located away from the noisy city, has always been a place of asceticism and solitude for monks, where many elders lived. The most famous of them are Dositheus and Theophilus, whose graves are located next to the Trinity Church.

One of the amazing stories is connected with the personality of the monk Dosifei, who lived here in the 18th century. The fact is that under his name was hiding the famous Orthodox ascetic Venerable Dosithea. Due to many years of constant strict fasting, she became outwardly like a man, so no one in the monastery knew anything about it. Only after her death, when the nun’s sister came to the monastery, did she recognize her as a relative from the gravestone image, which became known. Dosithea’s grave is now popular among young people who pray to the saint for help in finding and strengthening love.

Elder Theophilus, who lived at the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th, became famous for his gift of prophecy and miracles. Many people turned to the monk for advice and blessings. The Monk Theophilus predicted the founding of three monasteries in Kyiv: Ioninskaya, Intercession (women's) and Preobrazhenskaya hermitages. Together with Saint Dosithea and several other saints, he was canonized by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 1993.

The Soviet era, which did not spare many monasteries, temples, monks, priests and ordinary believers, did not spare the Kitaev Hermitage. In the 1920s, the authorities placed a children's colony, as well as agricultural institutions, on the monastery territory. The monastic community was finally liquidated in 1930, and all the buildings were transferred to the Institute of Fruit and Berry Farming.

During the Great Patriotic War, all buildings were badly damaged. For example, Trinity Church was so damaged that its domes collapsed in the 1950s.

Renaissance and modern life

In 1990, after an almost 70-year break, the first service was held in the Seraphim Church.

The main church, Trinity Cathedral, began to be restored in the late 1980s, and services began to be held there in 1991. It is worth saying that the cathedral church began to be revived not as a monastery church, but as a parish church. Thus, until 2009, the monastic community itself and the parish church existed on the territory of the monastery, until the latter became the main church of the monastery.

The revival of monastic life on the site of the ancient monastery began in 1993. Like three centuries before, the monastery was initially a monastery of the Lavra. In 1996, by the decision of the Holy Synod, the Kitaevskaya hermitage became independent.

At the end of the 1990s, a wooden bell tower was built instead of the stone one that was dismantled in 1932.

In 2000, a small temple was consecrated in the Kitaev caves in honor of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary, although in the early 1990s it was named in the name of Saint Dosithea.

In 2013, the revived St. Seraphim Church was consecrated. A separate page in the history of the Chinese Hermitage is associated with the name of Saint Seraphim of Sarov. The fact is that the young man Prokhor, and in the future the Monk Seraphim, came to the Kitaev Monastery and received a blessing from Saint Dosithea to carry out monastic feats in the Sarov monastery.

In the first half of the 2010s, the revival of the monastery brotherly cemetery, liquidated in the 1960s, began in the northern part of the monastery. In the center of the cemetery there is a large cross with a crucifix, carved from white marble.

Let's briefly talk about the shrines of the Chinese desert. In the Church of the 12 Apostles there are particles of the relics of 10 of the 12 apostles. In the same church rest the relics of Elder Theophilus, transferred in 2009 from the Trinity Cathedral Church. And in the cathedral itself there is a list (copy) of the miraculous Slain Icon of the Mother of God.

To this day, one issue remains unresolved - the fact is that several families have lived in some buildings on the monastic territory since Soviet times. And until the state provides them with new housing, they continue to live simply in the middle of the monastery. Therefore, when someone comes here for the first time, they may be surprised to see, for example, satellite dishes and drying children's clothes on several buildings.

Holy Trinity Monastery (Kitaevskaya Hermitage) Cave

An ancient stronghold of the Slavs.

In that distant time, when the Slavic tribes were not yet enlightened by the faith of Christ, but worshiped pagan idols, here, in the Kitaevsky tract, on the right bank of the Dnieper, there was a settlement of glades.

The first settlements in Korchevat, Kitaevo, Goloseev appeared in the Copper-Bronze and Early Iron Ages (III-II millennium BC). Historical science dates the emergence of unions of Slavic tribes to the 5th-6th centuries, one of which was the union of the Polyans. Then a settlement arose, which laid the foundation for Kyiv. Soon Kyiv became the center of the Polyansky principality, which united the Slavic tribes into a single state of Kievan Rus.

On a high hill (40 meters above the level of the Dnieper), the glade-pagans built a settlement with a total area of 2.22 hectares. The location was so convenient that the settlement continued to exist in Christian (grand-ducal) times.

Then, as you know, trade began to develop rapidly, cultural exchange took place, especially with the countries of the East. At the same time, the life of our ancestors was constantly in danger from nomadic Turkic tribes, who made frequent raids on the rich Kiev region. They killed, robbed and captured people, who were then sold in the slave markets of Kafa and Bosporus. To protect against surprise attacks, a system of fortifications (three lines of ramparts and ditches) was created in Kitaevo. Thus, artificial fortifications were added to the natural complexity of the terrain, dotted with holes and beams that divided the territory of the settlement into five separate areas. To the south of the Kitaevsky settlement, the largest burial mound that exists in the vicinity of Kyiv arose - over 400 mounds. It consists of three groups of mounds, separated by ramparts. According to archaeologists, who date the earliest local finds to the 10th century, one group of burials are the graves of warriors-defenders of the settlement, the other two are most likely the burials of civilians. Nowadays the mounds are overgrown with centuries-old forest.

Archaeological research in the tract, begun in the second half of the 19th century, led researchers to the conclusion about the significant role of the Kitaevsky settlement in the history of Ancient Rus'. The geographical location of the point also leads to this - at the intersection of trade routes, next to the river, on the southern outskirts of Kyiv, which was the first to meet the attacking Pechenegs and Polovtsians. A.D. Ertel assigned the role of the settlement in Kitaevo to the point that is named in the chronicle “Kuyava”, and is usually associated with Kiev. Kyiv, according to Ertel, arose later than Kitaevo. Kitaevo, having lost its significance, transferred it to Kyiv along with its name.

At the foot of the ancient settlement, on the opposite bank of the stream running from Feofaniya and flowing into the Dnieper, according to the results of archaeological research, a settlement settlement arose in the 8th-9th centuries. By the 11th-13th centuries it stretched along the bank of the stream for 1.5 km. and occupied an area of about 40 hectares. If the Kitaevskoe settlement was devastated and abandoned after the Mongol-Tatar invasion of the 13th century, the settlement at the foot of the hill did not cease to exist.

The monastery was called the Kitaevskaya Hermitage.

One of the times here is the arch "Chinese rates"

Autumn on one of the rates

After the adoption of Christianity, Kitaev or Kiev Athos, as it was also called, became an Orthodox center. Then the Kitaevskaya Hermitage lost its significance. The Lavra took over the functions of the main monastery, and many monks moved under its vaults. And Kitaev became a monastery, where pilgrims-hermits and everyone who was tired of worldly vanity came. If until recently high ramparts protected Kitay-Gorod from enemy attacks, now these ramparts have turned into protection from the city and its bustle. The good area became a refuge for the old monks of the Lavra. There were beautiful lakes in which there were a lot of fish, planted gardens and plots of land provided fruits, vegetables, berries, beekeeping was also developed, and this included honey and candles. In 1763-1768, Stepan Kovnir, a former mason and subordinate of the Lavra, as he was also called the “master of stone construction” (the best works of the “Kovnirovsky building”, the bell towers on the Near and Far Caves, the Klovsky Palace and other attractions of the Ukrainian Baroque), built the Holy -Trinity Church in Baroque style.

She worked at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra for three years. But one day, relatives came to the monastery and recognized Daria. She had to flee to Kyiv, where Dosithea dug a cave for herself on Kitai Mountain, not wanting to use other people’s labor. The monastery accepted her and subsequently ordained her as a monk. It never even occurred to anyone that the mysterious monk was a woman. So that no one would unravel his secret, Dositheus mutilated his face. Both priests and parishioners fell in love with the wise hermit. She helped many, but more and more she began to move away from broad daylight while in the cave. Thus, over the years of prayers and a kind of trance, she received the gift of foresight. It was Dositheus, instructing the famous Solovetsky elder Theophan, who ordered to go to Solovki. One day the youth Prokhor, the future Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, came to the monastery. He liked the Kitaevskaya Hermitage and decided to stay here. However, Dosithea blessed him to go to the “Sarov desert” - there to help people. In 1744, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna came to Dosifei, who, as you know, was a devout person and loved to travel to holy places. I was not too lazy to climb Kitai Mountain and see the amazing hermit who was talked about so much. The Empress liked the wise things that the young hermit said, she even wanted to take Dositheus to St. Petersburg, but the hermit refused. Elizaveta Petrovna even gave a bag of gold, which Dosifey gave to the Lavra. With this money a church was built in the village of Pirogovo. But only after his death did the brethren learn that Dosifei was a woman.

At the end of her life, Dosithea helped sick people. One day a Ryazan noblewoman came to the monastery and, seeing Dosifei’s grave, recognized him as her sister. Although once they met within the walls of the same monastery and talked through the window. The noblewoman had no idea that she was talking to her sister and said that Daria had run away from the family nest. Dosithea advised not to look for Daria, for she left home for the sake of God and spiritual life. Dosithea died while reading a prayer at the age of 55.

In the 19th century, the Kitaevskaya Hermitage was a monastic ensemble consisting of a hexagonal monastery courtyard. It included a brick Trinity Church, a wonderful 45-meter bell tower, a refectory with the churches of the Twelve Apostles and the Three Russian Saints - Peter, Alexei and Jonah, the abbot's house, a fraternal building, a two-story home for elderly clergy, cell buildings and a brick fence with a gate. Since 1898, the Lavra candle factory operated on the territory of the economic yard. In 1904, the church of St. Seraphim of Sarov.

Domes made in autumn

In the Kitaevskaya desert in 1857, the Kitaevsky caves were found and explored. In 1910-12, under the leadership of archaeologist A.D. Ertel, several underground galleries were discovered, similar in structure to the caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. In the Kitaevsky caves the remains of two hearths and household items were found. Inscriptions in Old Church Slavonic letters have been preserved on the walls. In addition to Dosifei, Elder Theophilus (Rossokha), the schema-archimandrite, the first governor of the revived Kitaevskaya Hermitage, is buried here. In 1928-1996. the famous preacher was included in the register of great elders. The Kitaevskaya Hermitage is still quite a crowded and popular place of pilgrimage and visiting by tourists.

Sources: Kiev. Encyclopedic reference book, Main editorial office of the USE, Kyiv -1985.

Kitaevskaya hermitage "Kyiv Athos"

Photo and text by Rostislav Malenkov

>> Kitaevskaya Pustyn Monastery

The Holy Trinity Monastery of Kitaevskaya Monastery in Kyiv is often called the Ukrainian Athos. There are several versions of the origin of the name Kitaevo. Some historians associate it with ancient Russian fortifications that were once located on this site, since the word “China” itself is translated from the Turkic language as fortification, fortress. The nature is amazingly beautiful, wooded hills above the Dnieper, which are washed by lakes from the southeast - this place is very similar to the holy land of Athos. One of the mentioned hills is called China Mountain. There is documentary evidence that it arose in pre-Batyev times, when fortifications were built here, surrounded on one side by water and on the other by a rampart. In the 5th century, five cities arose on the protruding platforms of these mountains, which later merged into one - Peresichen. However, there is another version of the origin of the name "China". There is a Lavra legend that the founder of the Kitaev monastery is Andrei Bogolyubsky, who was popularly nicknamed China.

It is reliably known that the first settlers, monks from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, appeared on the territory of China Mountain in the 16th and 17th centuries. A cave monastery was founded in the mountain itself, and the existing caves were expanded and landscaped. At that time, the Kitaevskaya Hermitage was administratively subordinate to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. At that time, an above-ground Lavra monastery was erected on the site where the monastery buildings are now located. The cells were ennobled, and in 1716, under the leadership of the Kyiv military governor, Prince Golitsyn, the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh was erected here. Due to the fact that the building was built of wood, it soon fell into disrepair and, in 1767, a new stone Holy Trinity Church with side chapels of St. Sergius of Radonezh and St. Dmitry of Rostov was erected in its place. Throughout the history of its existence, the temple has undergone reconstruction several times. The modern church is a five-domed temple, made in the Ukrainian Baroque style.

In the 18th century, the Venerable Dosithea settled in the Kitaevskaya Hermitage. At the age of 15, she ran away from home and, under the guise of a male monk, lived and worked in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Not wanting to be recognized by her relatives, she moved to the Kitaevskaya Hermitage, digging a cave there for herself. When Empress Elizaveta Petrovna came to see her in 1744, the blessed one was tonsured into a ryasophore with the name Dositheus (no one knew the secret that she was a woman). Only after the death of the ascetic, and she was buried on the territory of the Kitaevskaya Hermitage, the sister, seeing the portrait, immediately recognized the fugitive.

A warm church in the name of the Twelve Apostles and a stone four-tiered bell tower, which unfortunately has not survived to this day, appeared on the territory of the monastery in 1835. Until 1870, the Kitevskaya hermitage was the place where the dead monks of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra were buried. The monastery itself was famous for the ascetics who lived in it. In the middle of the 19th century, St. Theophilus, endowed with the gift of clairvoyance and miracles, lived in the Kitaevskaya Hermitage. The holy fool of Kiev, the robed monk Paisiy, was transferred here from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Another ascetic of piety, the holy fool John the Bosy, was buried on the territory of the monastery. In 1904, another temple appeared in the monastery - St. Seraphim of Sarov, which was attached to the building of the Lavra almshouse. The monastic economy was quite prosperous. The monks cultivated vegetable gardens, had fishing grounds, orchards, were engaged in viticulture and beekeeping, providing honey for themselves and other monasteries. Thanks to their own labor, the monks were able to feed the elders of the almshouse and the pilgrims who stayed at the monastery hotel. The surplus food was sold, and the proceeds were used to repair the monastery premises. The monks had a tradition - on the day of the Holy Trinity, fairs were held in the monastery, in which a huge number of people came to participate.

In Soviet times, in particular in the 30s of the 20th century, the Holy Trinity Monastery of Kitaevskaya Pustyn was closed, and the revival of the monastery began only in 1990, when a parish was opened in the Holy Trinity Church. For three years, from 1990 to 1993, employees of the Kyiv-Underground scientific department at the Museum of History of Kiev and desert monks carried out work to clear monastic caves on Kitay Mountain. Today, in one of the caves, which in the second half of the 19th century was lined with bricks for the purpose of arranging a church, an underground temple in honor of the Venerable Dosithea of Kiev-China has been consecrated. At the end of the 90s of the 20th century, a new wooden three-tier bell tower was built on the territory of the monastery.

The modern Holy Trinity Monastery Kitaevskaya Hermitage is a whole complex of monastic buildings and grounds. The main temple remains the Holy Trinity Church; in addition, there is the Church of the Holy Twelve Apostles, which is adjacent to residential fraternal buildings, outbuildings and a refectory.

There are not many places left where rich history, lush nature, and unique legends are still preserved at the same time. The Kitaevskaya desert is just one of these.

Story

Kitaevo is a historical area in. Desert is not a desert at all. This word denotes a monastic village remote from the monastery.

In 1716, she built a separate monastery, remote from its main territory. This place quickly became popular among Orthodox pilgrims.

Later, in 1763-1768, Stefan Kovnir built the Trinity Church in Kitaevo. After some time, other objects were added to the temple itself, built in the Ukrainian Baroque style. So the church, the 45-meter bell tower, the refectory with two more churches - the Twelve Apostles and the Three Russian Saints - Peter, Alexei and Jonah, the brethren's building, cells, and a home for elderly ministers formed a single ensemble. Today it already functions as a separate, independent monastery.

Caves and gardens

What is interesting about Kitaevo? First of all, of course, tourists and pilgrims are attracted here by man-made caves in the Kitaevsky tract. Archaeological finds date back to the 17th century, when monks began to settle here. However, until now the complete map of the caves, their original layout, length and other exact data about this place are a mystery. They could have appeared in pre-Christian times - the galleries have a multi-level system. It has been partially damaged by time, human intervention, and landslides. The same section of caves in Kitaevo that survived can be visited by visitors to the desert today.

The Kitaevskaya Hermitage has long been known for its gardens. Lush berry bushes, fruit trees bursting with fruit - all this has been preserved on the territory today. During a walk here you can enjoy the dense forest and sit by the local ponds.

Monks

The most famous inhabitant and monk of Kitaevo is probably Elder Dosifei. His biography and spiritual path are covered in legends. Rumor has it that the old man was not a man at all. In fact, it was a woman in the world - the Ryazan noblewoman Daria Tyapkina. Due to his solitary lifestyle, this remained a secret until his death. Dosifei was tonsured as a monk of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra after the visit of Empress Elizabeth herself in 1744. Having learned about the sage, she wished for a personal visit and visited him in his cell. Despite the fact that Daria herself, before her death, bequeathed her body to the earth without touching it - that is, without washing it, Dosithea’s secret was revealed thanks to her sister. Looking at his portrait, she recognized him as Daria.

Another famous monk of the Kitaevskaya Hermitage is Theophilus, monastic name Theodorite. Many people came to him, because he was considered a real miracle worker. They believed that he was capable of healing and had the gift of prophecy. The future of Thomas, as he was called in the world, was predetermined in childhood. His mother tried to drown him three times, but he miraculously survived. At the age of seven he became an orphan, after which his wanderings began.

How to get to Kitaevo

From the metro stations “Arsenalnaya”, “Pecherskaya”, “Friendship of Peoples”, from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra by minibus No. 470; From the Lybidskaya metro station, take bus No. 52 to the Shkola stop. By bus No. 20, 27 to the stop “Kitaevskaya Street”; From the Vydubichi metro station, take bus No. 43 to the 1st Korchevatsky Massif stop, as well as any minibuses to the same stop.

Prikhovana in the middle of the forest and the valley "Kitaivska Desert"

Kitaev is a territory in the southern part of Kyiv, in the Goloseevsky district and the eastern part of the Goloseevsky forest. Now it is an archaeological reserve located between Mishelovka, Korchevaty and Bagrinaya Gora. The name of the area probably originated from the Turkic word "China" - fortress (city). Nowadays the remains of the fortification of the 9th-10th centuries have been preserved. Another version of the origin of the name is from the ancient name “China” - this is the second non-Orthodox name that the son of Yuri Dolgoruky and the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh had. Although you can twist it to “Kitan” - this is a Polovtsian name, and as you know, the mother of Andrei Bogolyubsky was a Polovtsian. The surname Bogolyubsky came from the town of Bogolyubovo, which the prince made his residence. It was in Kitaevo that Andrei Bogolyubsky settled. He built himself a beautiful, large courtyard, making Kitayev his next residence. In 1159, Bogolyubsky transferred, or rather donated, Kitaev, Vasiliev and Michesk (Radomyshl) out of love for God and the Most Pure Mother, and also as a sign of remembrance of his family, to the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. In the 14th century, a cave monastery was created in Kitaevo, subordinate to the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery from the 17th century. The monastery was called the Kitaevskaya Hermitage.

One of the valіv here Park "Chinese rates"

Autumn on one of the rates

Holy Trinity Church

Keliya

There is an interesting story about a monk's wife. In the 17th century, a young woman, originally from the Ryazan Tyapkin nobles, Rev. Dosifeya (Daria), having reached adulthood, did not want to get married and lead a social life. She left the family home and, having bought men's clothing and cut her hair, called herself a man's name - Dosifei - a runaway serf. She worked at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra for three years. But one day, relatives came to the monastery and recognized Daria. She had to flee to Kyiv, where Dosithea dug a cave for herself on Kitai Mountain, not wanting to use other people’s labor. The monastery accepted her and subsequently ordained her as a monk. It never even occurred to anyone that the mysterious monk was a woman. So that no one would unravel his secret, Dositheus mutilated his face. Both priests and parishioners fell in love with the wise hermit. She helped many, but more and more she began to move away from broad daylight while in the cave. Thus, over the years of prayers and a kind of trance, she received the gift of foresight. It was Dositheus, instructing the famous Solovetsky elder Theophan, who ordered to go to Solovki. One day the youth Prokhor, the future Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, came to the monastery.
He liked the Kitaevskaya Hermitage and decided to stay here. However, Dosithea blessed him to go to the “Sarov desert” - there to help people. In 1744, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna came to Dosifei, who, as you know, was a devout person and loved to travel to holy places. I was not too lazy to climb Kitai Mountain and see the amazing hermit who was talked about so much. The Empress liked the wise things that the young hermit said, she even wanted to take Dositheus to St. Petersburg, but the hermit refused. Elizaveta Petrovna even gave a bag of gold, which Dosifey gave to the Lavra. With this money a church was built in the village of Pirogovo. But only after his death did the brethren learn that Dosifei was a woman. At the end of her life, Dosithea helped sick people. One day a Ryazan noblewoman came to the monastery and, seeing Dosifei’s grave, recognized him as her sister. Although once they met within the walls of the same monastery and talked through the window. The noblewoman had no idea that she was talking to her sister and said that Daria had run away from the family nest. Dosithea advised not to look for Daria, for she left home for the sake of God and spiritual life. Dosithea died while reading a prayer at the age of 55.

Church of the 12 Apostles and Church of the Three oh Saints - Petra, Alexia and Joni

Church 12 Holy Apostles

In the 1920s, the temples continued to function, but the hermitage itself no longer belonged to the monks: a children’s colony was located in the cells, and some of the buildings were used by agricultural institutions. In 1930, Kitaev was finally liquidated, the territory and buildings were transferred to the All-Union Research Institute of Fruit and Berry Farming (since 1954 - Ukrainian Research Institute of Horticulture). Unfortunately, the bell tower has not survived to this day - it was dismantled in 1932. Other structures were heavily damaged during World War II. After the war, the Republican Training and Production Plant of Beekeeping and the Ukrainian Research Institute of Plant Protection were located in the desert.

Domes made in autumn

Sources: Kiev. Encyclopedic reference book, Main editorial office of the USE, Kyiv -1985. Kitaevskaya hermitage "Kyiv Athos" Photo and text by Rostislav Malenkov