The Hidden Jewel of Russian Orthodoxy

On April 25, the Orthodox Church commemorates the Venerable Sylvester, Abbot of Obnora.

The Resurrection Monastery, located on the Obnora River is one of the great treasures of the Russian Orthodox Church. Though considerably smaller than its mother house, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, it embodies the purest monastic ideal that St. Sergius of Radonezh planted in the heart of Rus’.

Sylvester was a true disciple of the great abbot of all Russia. From youth he craved solitude. After years of obedience at the Trinity Monastery, he received his elder’s blessing to settle in a yet more remote wilderness. In the mid-fourteenth century, he walked some twenty kilometers from the town of Lyubim into the dense wilderness along the Obnora. 

There, deep in the ancient forest, he planted a simple cross and began the ascetic life his master had lived, before crowds gathered around him. Sylvester did not reject St. Sergius’s communal vision. Rather, he sought to recapture its original purity: the radical poverty, ceaseless prayer, and total detachment from the world. He became a new St. Sergius—not by founding another great lavra, but by returning to its very source.

Soon, other monks followed. Drawn by the rumor of a man living like the ancient desert fathers, they left the relative comfort of settled monasteries and came back into the wilderness. Cells of logs and bark sprang up around Sylvester’s cross. He greeted each newcomer with the same love his own elder had shown him, blessing them to build, to pray, and to labor. As with Trinity Lavra, Sylvester’s community was a magnet for those seeking true podvig. 

In time, Metr. Alexius of Moscow blessed the construction of a wooden church dedicated to the Resurrection of Christ, and Sylvester was ordained its first abbot. Thus the Obnora Monastery was born.

From this small beginning the wilderness blossomed with saints. Foremost among them was Venerable Paul of Obnora, another disciple of St. Sergius who arrived in the same forests seeking even greater seclusion. Paul lived for years in the hollow of a linden tree, feeding wild birds that perched on his shoulders, his heart so attuned to God that creation itself seemed to recognize its master. Later he founded the nearby Pavlo-Obnorsky Monastery on the Nurma River, writing a strict rule that preserved the same spirit Sylvester had kindled. 

With them shone Venerable Sergius of Nurom and a company of lesser-known ascetics whose names are known only to God. 

History tested this jewel harshly. In 1538, Kazan Tatars ravaged the monastery. In 1612, Polish invaders burned it to the ground. Each time it rose again from ashes. In 1764, in it fell victim of Catherine “the Great” and her campaign of secularization. She closed the cloister and reduced its cathedral to a parish church. 

Later, the Soviets seized its buildings, dispersed its relics, and forbade services from being held. Yet even after the last monk was banished, laymen would sneak onto the grounds and pray at the St. Sylvester’s grave. Those secret pilgrims kept the fire of prayer alive at the Obnora Monastery throughout the long, dark winter of communism.

Today the Holy Resurrection Monastery has been returned to the Church. Restoration continues amid the same forests where Sylvester once planted his cross. Like the pearl of great price, this monastery was buried, but never lost. 

On this feast, we give thanks for this hidden jewel of Russian Orthodoxy. May St. Sylvester, St. Paul, and all the Obnora saints pray for us, that we too may keep the flame of prayer alive in the darkness of these last days.

Michael W. Davis is General Editor of the UOJ-USA. Follow him on Twitter and Substack.

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