Concerning Founding and Daily Life of the Serpukhov Vladychny (Presentation) Monastery: Source Studies Analysis

Drawing on a book by V.A. Rozhdestvensky 'Historical description of the Serpukhov Vladychny coenobitic convent, first published in 1866 and republished in 2007 with additions, the authors study history of the Vladychny convent from its foundation in the 14th century to late 19th century. The authors focus on the analysis of monastic life. The authors study the location of the monastery, its church buildings and shrines, sacristy, and library, as well as objective reasons for its conversion from a friary into a convent. When writing his book, V.A. Rozhdestvensky used the method of historical research and the descriptive method. Thus, the first part of his book shows a complete picture of structure, life, decline, and revival of the Vladychny monastery, based on records and acts of the monastery. The second part introduces modern materials concerning the monastery. The updated 2007 edition includes memoirs of nuns and parishioners. The article underscores that much of archival materials on the history of the Vladychny (Presentation) monastery used by V.A. Rozhdestvensky had been lost, but the publication of his book restores them to scholars studying the history of Christianity in Russia. According to Rozhdestvensky, in Soviet era, there was an aviation school near Presentation monastery. With such neighbors, break up of the monastery parish was imminent. Appendix contains copies of archival documents on the monastery history (1764-1916). Of particular importance, in our view, is his use of extracts from sources on the Vladychny monastery history in 1745-1917. Assessing historical importance of the book, the authors emphasize its scientific and practical significance, as it promotes a deeper study of little-known facts of the Vladychny monastery history.