he island of Valaam is undoubtfully the most picturesque place of the
old Finland. It is situated on the northern extremity of Ladoga lake.
Come across it - you'll face absolutely new nature, which has never been
seen by one travelling only in Russia. This nature is wild, sullen,
attracting with its wilderness in which inspired stern beauty may be
observed. You see the cliffs, proudly protruding out of the abyss;
they stand like giants on guard. You see the steep slopes covered with
sand friendly bent to the lake.
Some wasteman came out with a water carrier in his hand. He puts the
water carrier on the ground and stares at the vast lake, listens to the
noise of waves feeds his soul with spiritual observation. You see the bays,
fenced by the granite walls, in which clear waters calmly doze, during a
waterstorm in the lake. Some boat waits for the storm to pass and its
owner watches with indifferent furious waves, which wanted to destroy
his boat not long ago. You sail on the straits, where two opposite walls
often come together so close that there's enough space for one boat only.
You drop the plumb line into the water and find out that there are many,
many fathoms of water beneath your boat. You come into the bay deeply
protruding into the island from the northern side, sail on this bay.
On the right side of the bay you see the thick forest on the huge stone
ledges, which vertically come out of the dark waters. This forest and these
stones reflect in the bay water, that's why the water is especially gloomy
and the landscape looks the most sternly there. The bay broadens gradually
and finally forms a big oval. You take your eyes off this unusual,
horrifying picture and look at the opposite side. A big monastery on
the high long granite rock is in front of you. Formerly the rock was
covered with white moss. The monks have cleared it of the moss and now
granite is freed from the grey hair that used to hang on its dark brow;
it is majestic and stern in its renewed youth and its nakedness. From the
cracks in the rock there grow lime trees, maples, elms; ivy coils the rock
and under the rock there is an orchard. Green tops of the trees sway and make
noise above the orchard; they are ready to swoop down but they are held by
the roots deeply stuck into the rock. What a fascinating, wonderful picture!
What a pleasure to see a man's settlement, his hand, a plot of the land
covered with his sweat and embellished with his works among the huge masses
of wild, mighty nature! You pull up to the haven step on the shore. There is
a granite ladder on the steep slope of the mountain and you go up to the
monastery, which stands on the top of the mountain and takes extensive area
there. A steep slope leads to this square from the South and from the West
the square is formed by the sheer rock.
The plan of the monastery buildings consists of two quadrangles. One of
them is in the other one. Having gone up to the square, you walk in the
tree-lined walk to the sacred gates, which are in the outside quadrangle.
Opposite these gates there are another gates, in the inside quadrangle.
You pass them through: to the right side there is a cathedral church of
God's Transfiguration in the upper story. In the low story there is a
church of Sergy and German - Valaam wonder-workers where their remains
repose under wraps. The cathedral joints with the warm church of Assumption
of Our Lady through the gallery. There is a sacristy in the gallery. On the
other end which makes the southeast corner there is a church of Father
Nikolay(*). To the left side opposite to the temples line there are monastic
cells of the dean and of some brothers. Opposite to you there is a brother's
meal and kitchen and in the line where the gates are situated and where you
stand there are monastic cells of turn hieromonks. Above the sacred gates of
the outside quadrangle there is a church of St. Peter and Paul. In this line
on the left there is a hotel, on the right - the confessor's cell and the
large junkyard (so called monastery pantry). In the opposite line there is
the hospital of the monastery with a big number of cells in which the aged
and the injured are placed. There are the churches attached to the hospital:
in the upper story - of the Saint Trinity, in the low - of the Life-giving
Source. In the line faced to the bay there is continuation of the hotel on
one side and the office of the monastery on the other. In the east line there
is a continuation of the junkyard on one side and the library of the monastery
on the other. The library is rich and has a lot of manuscripts, which are
mostly the creatures of saint fathers who wrote about monkhood. There are no
plentiful materials on history of Valaam in the library. It was collected
in the end of the previous and beginning of our centuries; the ancient manuscripts were burnt by fires
and Swedes, just like everything ancient in the monastery. There is no
building, not even a chapel, in the monastery which is at least a hundred
years.
*
Abolished.
