Novodevichy Convent

Church of the Dormition

Novodevichy Convent, built circa 1524. Many of the 15 buildings on the fortress grounds were being renovated, so they were inaccessible, as was much of the cemetery. Buried there is Yeltsin, Khrushchev, Chekhov, and Stalin’s wife. Peter the Great banished his half-sister and first wife to this convent. Napoleon tried to blow it up before he fled the city, but a nun diffused his canons. We visited on the feast day of St. Nicholas the Wonder Worker, some of whose relics are there in Church of the Dormition, as well as relics of the Optina Elders, whose prayer is our of my favorites.

Pretty chapel in the park across the street as we’re entering.

Cool shot by Aleksandr right inside the monastery.

The 3 Amigos, Trisha, and Seraphim.

Beautiful grave in the monastery center.

Houston snaps a shot of Mom and Dad.

It’s a no-no to take pics inside the churches, but I snapped this quickie of St. Nicholas’ icon with relics when Stephen and Aleksandr were behind me and the serious lady “bouncer” was looking away. No such luck with the Optina Elders relics, though.

Wide view of the Church of the Dormition.

The Virgin of Smolensk Cathedral is the main cathedral of the convent, but unfortunately, it was under renovation. Good for the monastery, bad for us. It is said that it’s modeled after the Kremlin’s Uspensky Cathedral.

One of the tower walls surrounding monastery.

 

More Fun in the Holy City

We’re leaving Charleston tomorrow and have plans to head back into town one more time to visit the United Daughters of Confederacy Museum. We tried to visit there yesterday, but they have limited hours and were closed. So, we tooled around the Old Slave Market, which begins just behind the museum. There, we found some cool Civil War stuff and bought Dr. and Mrs. Levin a little thank-you gift for letting us stay at their wonderful condo for nearly a week. It was our 7-year anniversary, so we dined out at a swanky restaurant called Hank’s, which specializes in low country cuisine. Although quite expensive (my bottle of mineral water was $6), it was a nice place. Houston, who had been virtually perfect up until this point, decided he didn’t want to nap and was thus a whining, squirming little mongrel. I tried to get him to fall asleep by taking him outside of the restaurant and rocking him, but that didn’t work. So Stephen took him for a walk in the stroller. That didn’t work either, but Houston eventually drifted off as I rocked him inside the restaurant in his stroller. We were able to finish our meals and get some yummy desserts. I do believe Houston is simply worn out from all the fun we’ve had. He has slept through the night great, but has napped sporadically and only for very short periods of time. I think my boy will be glad to get back home, as will Stephen and I. Charleston has been a blast, but we’ve run ourselves ragged and still haven’t done all the things we wanted to do, like visit the USS Yorktown, tour some of the old houses and churches downtown, as well as the nearby plantations. I suppose we’ll just have to come back again!