The Convent of the Intercession Pokrovsky Monastery, Suzdal, Vladimir Oblast, Russia

The Convent of the Intercession Pokrovsky Monastery, Suzdal, Vladimir Oblast, Russia 

The Intercession (Pokrovsky) Monastery was founded in 1364, but from this initial period, practically nothing was preserved. All that has come down to our days, mainly refers to the first half of the 16th century and a later period, and is associated with dramatic events in the life of the Grand Duke’s family – the Moscow prince Basil III. He decided on an unheard violation of church rules – a divorce with his first wife Solomoniya Saburova, who after twenty years of marriage never gave birth to children. She came from an old boyar family of Moscow. During the 1508-1518 Basil III richly equiped the Suzdal Intercession monastery, while seeking a divorce from the church and looking for a future new wife – Pole Elena Glinskaya. In 1625 Solomoniya Saburova was forcibly tonsured into a nun (under the name of Sofia) and exiled to the Intercession Monastery.

Since then, the Intercession Monastery has become a place of exile for the disgraced tsarinas and women of noble boyar families. Among its nuns and elders – the daughter and niece of Ivan III, the wife of Prince Vladimir Staritsky – Eupraxia, the wife of Tsarevich Ivan – Evdokia, one of the wives of Ivan the Terrible – Anna Vasilchikova. The last crown princess of the monastery was Evdokia Lopukhina, the wife of Peter I, accused of plotting against the tsar. Here, many aristocratic spiritual prisoners ended their lives. In the monastery were found the burials of representatives of families of Nagies, Gorbaties, Shuiskies and others (more than 20 eminent nuns). In 1934, in the tomb of the Intercession Cathedral, under a small white stone slab (without an inscription), the director of the Suzdal Museum  A.D. Varganov had uncovered a children’s burial.

In the wooden deck, “remnants of semi-decayed silk fabric without bone remains” were found. This burial began to be connected with the rumors that were going on in the 16th century, about the birth at the monastery, allegedly, of Solomoniya’s son George, whom she gave to the upbringing to faithful people, having arranged a fictitious burial. In 1650 Solomoniya Saburova was recognized as a saint (Sofia of Suzdal), her tomb, “exuding miracles”, attracted pilgrims and enriched the monastery treasury. The monastery received the richest deposits and new landed estates with thousands of serfs. It was visited repeatedly by royalty.

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