His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visited the Kazan Skete of the Valaam Monastery

On July 10, 2024, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, who arrived in Valaam on this day, visited the Kazan Skete of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Stavropigial Monastery.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church arrived at the skete accompanied by the Vicar of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankratiy of Trinity, and His Holiness' personal secretary, Bishop Alexis of Ramensk. 

At the entrance to the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, His Holiness was greeted by the benefactor D.G. Loskutov. The Primate was welcomed in the church by Metropolitan Varsonofiy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga;   Metropolitan Grigory of Voskresensk, Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate; the head of the Republic of Karelia A.O. Parfenchikov; the hermit superior Hieromonk Theophan (Demakov).

Bishop Pankratyi of Troitsk addressed His Holiness with a welcoming speech, in which he noted:

«This skete, as well as the previous three sketes and hermitages, which were built with your blessing, given by you exactly 10 years ago, is now complete. Here already The Divine Liturgy is celebrated, the brothers live and pray. It was conceived by you in such a way that the brethren could make a solitary prayer here, a prayer for the whole world, and work in such a way that many pilgrims who visit Valaam would avoid these places or visit at such a time that they would not disturb the brethren.

All this has come true. Here, in this temple, we tried to make everything so that there was nothing unnecessary, distracting from prayer. Here one of the brothers, the clergyman, is praying, and the other brothers are listening to his prayer, praying with him. Therefore, we did not want to make a large iconostasis, in gold, with some decorations, and tried to make extremely simple, but at the same time so that everything reminds of the ancient Church, the Holy Land, Jerusalem. Sandstone is used in the design of the temple, the acoustics here is wonderful, and even the prayer, which is read in a whisper, is very well heard… This is a temple that is not afraid of silence,  — on the contrary, it is a temple for silence, for prayer. And we thank you for the blessing you gave us, for the opportunity you gave us then, so that the brothers could pray and celebrate the Eucharist here.

Bishop Pankratiy presented His Holiness with a gift of honey from the monastery apiary.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill addressed those gathered in the hermitage with the Most High Patriarchal word: 

«I am glad that such a temple has been erected, in a wonderful style — very ascetic and at the same time light and joyful. God grant that the Valaam land will be decorated with new temples, but most importantly, with new ascetics. Because everything on this land is able to set a man to fully devote himself to the service of the Lord, to contemplation, to prayer, to detachment from the world, and God grant that it was so.

The further human civilization develops, the more and more people are aware that there are certain limits, through which it is very dangerous for a person to cross, including for the preservation of his mental health. We know what a nightmare megacities are turning into, how hard it is for people to live there, how the whole system of values is mixed and destroyed in such a way of life. In our country, all these crisis phenomena do not yet pose such a decisive danger to human beings, but nevertheless, we have a lot of things that prevent people from strengthening their faith and developing spiritually.

That is why both our Church and our people, deeply convinced of this, need places like this. But in order for it to be attractive, it is important not only to build a temple, but also to build a church. to make it possible to pray here, to carry out monastic feats and at the same time for the brothers to be able to treat pilgrims with love and attention, to pray with them and for them.

I would like to thank you once again, Hegumen, for the labor that was put into the construction of this temple. Special thanks to all those who contributed to this good holy work. God bless you!

The Primate of the Russian Church presented the icon of the Apostle and Evangelist John to the brethren of the Kazan Skete.

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In the early 20th century, the Valaam Monastery had thirteen sketes located in different parts of the Valaam Archipelago. As of the beginning of 2024, eleven of the thirteen historical sketes have been restored.

In the early 20th century, the Valaam Monastery had thirteen sketes located in different parts of the Valaam Archipelago.

In the recent period of the Valaam Monastery's history 5 new sketes were founded, including the skete in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. It is located in the largest bay in the north-eastern part of the archipelago, which was named Trostyanaya in the middle of the XIX century. This calm, shallow bay is covered with extensive reeds near the shore. It is protected from Ladoga waves by two rather large islands.

Kazan Skete is located on the territory of the former summer farm Valaam monastery. At the end of the 19th century there was a temple and outbuildings, including cells for the monks who served as cattle breeders and fishermen. In addition to economic purposes, this area was used as a base point for sending the brethren on economic and other matters to the remote island sketes of Svyatoostrovsky, Ilyinsky and others. Near this area the brethren were engaged in fishing in Lake Ladoga.

In the middle of the twentieth century, the church and all economic and historical buildings in Trostyan Bay were lost. Only the cellar, foundations and plantings of ornamental shrubs (lilacs, rose hips, etc.) were preserved. For decades this place was used for tourist tent camping.

In 2015, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, it was decided to organize a hermitage in this area with a church and a cell block. The temples of Novgorod-Pskov architecture of the late XII — early XVI centuries, as well as Novgorod temples of the XIV-XV centuries were taken as a model. The temple is cubic, with one chapter and three altar apses. On the facades the temple is decorated with crosses, figured niches in front of the entrance part and on the facades above the windows under the mosaic. The drum and altar apses are decorated with figurative belts of brick.

In. At the end of 2020 the construction of a wooden cellular fraternal building was completed. The heating of the building is stove heating. Electricity and water supply networks were also installed in the building.

In the competition, held as part of the architectural festival «Zodchestvo-2021», in the category «Buildings» the project of the Kazan Skete was awarded the prestigious Silver Mark.