Iversky Monastery (Donetsk)

Iversky Monastery

Іверський монастир
The Iversky Monastery in 2008
Monastery information
Order	Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)
Established	December 2001
Disestablished	2014
Diocese	Diocese of Donetsk and Mariupol
People
Founder(s)	Hilarion (Szukało)
Architecture
Status	Largely destroyed
Groundbreaking	April 1997
Completed date	2001
Site
Location	Donetsk, Ukraine
Coordinates	48°3′56″N 37°43′56.1″E / 48.06556°N 37.732250°E

The Iversky Monastery (Ukrainian: Іверський монастир, Russian: Иверский монастырь) was a monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) in Donetsk, Ukraine. It was built between 1997 and 2001, and was closed in 2014 due to the War in Donbass. The monastery was largely destroyed by Ukrainian Ground Forces shelling during the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport in January 2015.

History

The first stone of the Iversky Monastery was laid down by Hilarion (Szukało) in April 1997. The monastery was built on a vacant plot in northern Donetsk, close to the airport. The monastery was opened in December 2001, and it was a subsidiary of the Monastery of St. Nicholas in Nikolskoye before it became independent in December 2002.^[1]

War in Donbass

The remains of the monastery in May 2015

The monastery was severely damaged during the War in Donbass. The sisters evacuated the monastery in 2014.^[2] In January 2015, the building was shelled by the Ukrainian Ground Forces while fighting the Donetsk People's Republic during the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport. The monastery and its cemetery were almost completely destroyed in the fighting, with only a bullet-ridden shell remaining.^[3]

In October 2015, Donetsk People's Republic authorities announced that they will repair the monastery, and combat engineers began to clear the debris.^[4]

Architecture

The monastery consisted of a church with a bell tower, a convent building housing the sisters and a number of other buildings. A cemetery, an orchard and a vegetable garden were located within the grounds of the monastery.^[1]

References

1. "Свято-Иверский женский монастырь" (in Russian). ortodox.donbass.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014.
2. Velikodnaya, Marina (10 November 2014). "Плотию уснув: Монастырь, которого больше нет". pravmir.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 11 September 2015.
3. "Украинская армия разрушила Иверский монастырь и обстреляла кладбище (ВИДЕО)". Русская весна (in Russian). 23 January 2015. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015.
4. "Donetsk authorities to repair the monastery destroyed by Kiev junta’s militants". Essence of Time Europe. 9 October 2015. Archived from the original on 20 December 2015.