Khutyn Monastery
Coordinates: 58°35′14″N 31°23′42″E / 58.58722°N 31.39500°E Khutyn Monastery of Saviour's Transfiguration and of St. Varlaam (Russian: Хутынский Спасо-Преображенский Варлаамиев монастырь) is an Orthodox monastery situated on the right bank of the Volkhov River some 10 km north northeast of Novgorod, in the village of Khutyn. It used to be one of the main Christian shrines of the medieval Novgorod Republic.
The cloister was founded in 1192 by the monastery's first hegumen, the former Novgorodian boyar Oleksa Mikhailovich, whose monastic name was Varlaam. The main church of the monastery was consecrated by Archbishop Gavril of Novgorod the following year, the same year Varlaam died. He is buried in the main church of the monastery, the Church of the Transfiguration, to the right of the altar. He was the patron saint of Novgorod and the patrilineal ancestor of many families of Russian nobility, including Chelyadnins and Pushkins, of which Alexander Pushkin was a member.
According to Varlaam's saint's Life, Ivan III visited the cloister and wished to see the relics of Saint Varlaam in 1471. When they opened the saint's tomb, it was full of smoke and fire. Afraid of inflicting divine wrath, Ivan III fled the monastery and Novgorod altogether, leaving his staff as a curiosity to local monks. This staff was exhibited at the cloister's sacristy for centuries to come.
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