Petrozavodsk diocesetranslated

On July 3, 2026, on Monastyrsky Island in the middle of Vashozero, in the Kondopoga region of Karelia, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Chapel of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Priest Sergius Sobolev and Priest Mikhail Doroshin concelebrated together. According to an already established tradition, believers from nearby villages and the city of Kondopoga came here to pray on this summer day.

Monastyrsky Island has a centuries-old history. Since the end of the 16th century, here, among the harsh northern nature, the Vashostrovskaya Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya hermitage carried out its prayer feat. According to legend, the monastery was founded by Elder Joseph. The first mention of the monastery is found in the scribe book of 1616–1619 by Peter Voeikov. Under Elder Joseph, two wooden churches were erected on the island - in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord with a refectory and cellar, as well as St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. According to the 1678 census, 19 elders labored here in seven cells, and two cattle yards were built outside the monastery fence. In 1723, the hermitage was assigned to the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery. Depopulated by the early 1740s, the monastery was finally abolished by the secularization tsarist reform of 1764. For a long time, only memory reminded of the monastery, until in 2017–2018...