Diveyevo Obediences: Photographs from the Early 20th Century
On June 14/27, the Fourth Portion of the Mother of God on Earth—Diveyevo Convent—honors its own saints. Before the revolution in 1917, there were approximately 1700 nuns and novices in the monastery. Only one of them, Schemanun Margarita (or as they used to call her, Grandma Frosia) lived to the reopening of the monastery and the return of St. Seraphim’s relics. Nevertheless, the pre-revolutionary day-to-day life of the monastery and its sisters were preserved in photographs, some of which were found in the personal photo album of Abbess Alexandra (Trakovskaya †1942), the last abbess of Diveyevo. Fortunately this album was preserved, and it we gladly present these unique pictures here.
View of the St. Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery, from the southern side
Cross procession to Diveyevo Monaster
The Church-parish school and orphanage at Diveyevo Monastery
The Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God
Sisters working at the printing press in Diveyevo Convent
Sisters embossing icons in Diveyevo Convent
Icon painting in Diveyevo Convent
Drawing in Diveyevo
Painting in Diveyevo Convent
Sewing vestments in Diveyevo Convent
Sisters entering names into the prayer commemoration books at Diveyevo Convent
A nun’s funeral
The Diveyevo Convent choir
Making wax
Candle-making in Diveyevo
The Church of the Transfiguration and the hermitage of St. Seraphim in the Diveyevo Convent
Sisters cutting the hay
Sisters laboring at the harvest
A chapel on the place where the mill was built at the blessing of St. Seraphim
Sisters laboring in the kitchen
