THE GETHSEMANE SKETE

ollowing the tradition of pilgrimage to the sacred places connected with the life of Our Saviour, Russian Orthodox people also wanted to see some reminders of the Holy Land in their own country. The Gethsemane skete completed the creation of the "Russian Jerusalem" conceived by hegumen Mavriky. Father Mavriky completed the construction of the New-Jerusalem skete on the Sion mountain. Ladoga and a small Nikonovskoje lake are connected by the channel called Kidron. To the left of it one can see the thirty-metre Eleon mountain with a Russian style five-domed chapel on top.

At the foot of the Eleon mountain stands the Gethsemane skete. In Gethsemane Our Lord prayed before suffering on the cross. Inside the small wooden chapel of the skete, there used to be only the icon of the Prayer about the Cup. In Gethsemane garden Our Lady was buried. That is why the skete church (built in 1911 by adding an altar to the chapel of 1906) was consecrated to worship the Assumption of Virgin Mary. Its patron saint's day was August 17 (30), the day Our Lady was taken to heaven. The church, like the chapel, was built in the style of mid-Russian wooden churches. The belfry and the middle dome have hipped roofs, the church is richly decorated with carving. Behind it, between fir trees, there are two buildings with monastic cells. From eight to ten people used to live there, including the famous "old style" adept, the last great elder Timon (Mikhail).

Map of Valaam