Yelizarov Convent, Orthodox convent in Yelizarovo, Pskovsky District, Russia
Yelizarov Convent is a white Orthodox complex with pale blue roof trim, a white bell tower with a gold spire and dark grey onion dome, and a large dark brown onion dome with a gold cross over a white drum with narrow arched windows. A smaller gold onion dome sits to the right, and the long facade has tall arched windows, a central doorway, and a staircase to an upper entrance.
Founded in 1425 by the monk Euphrosynus, formerly the peasant Eleazar of Videlebye, the monastery began with a wooden church of the Three Holy Fathers. In 1447 a church was built on the hilltop; after Euphrosynus died in 1481 the community moved downhill and erected a stone cathedral around 1574 under builder Ferapont. Closed in 1923, it reopened as a convent in 2000.
Under Hegumen Philotheus in the mid-16th century the monastery ran a school of icon painters and produced manuscripts; some scholars hold that the only known copy of the Lay of Igor's Campaign was made here by a local monk at Philotheus's request. Philotheus is credited with the Legend of the White Cowl and the Third Rome prophecy. The cloister was revived as a nunnery in 2000, and its patron saints are commemorated on 28 May.
The convent stands in the village of Yelizarovo, Pskovsky District, on the road running north from Pskov toward Gdov. It is an active women's monastery of the Pskov eparchy, so visits fit around the services; the grounds held a children's sports camp until 1999, and the restored cathedral, cells and stone wall are best seen on foot from the entrance.
The only known copy of the Lay of Igor's Campaign, a medieval epic, is thought by some scholars to have been made by a monk here at the request of Hegumen Philotheus in the 16th century; it later reached Count Alexei Musin-Pushkin. Philotheus, hegumen around 1465–1542, is also credited with the "Moscow, Third Rome" formula and the Legend of the White Cowl.
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