Oranki Monastery, Orthodox monastery in Oranki, Russia

Oranki Monastery is an Orthodox monastery in Oranki, Russia, built on elevated terrain with white stone walls and multiple church buildings. The complex displays traditional Orthodox architecture with various structures distributed across the grounds.

Founded in 1634 by nobleman Pyotr Glyadkov as a hermitage in honour of the Oran Icon of the Mother of God, the monastery became a first-class cenobitic male monastery in 1866. In August 1918 fifteen monks, including Archimandrite Augustine, were shot on Mochalny Island on the Volga. The monastery was closed in 1920, and from 1942 to 1949 its grounds held NKVD camp No. 74 for captured officers, among them Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus in 1943. It was revived in 1993.

The monastery is named after the Oran Icon of the Mother of God, and its main cathedral is dedicated to the Vladimir Icon. Since 2004 an unextinguishable lamp has burned before the Vladimir-Oran Icon, and an akathist is read daily before services. The monastery holds patronal feasts on September 8 (Meeting of the Vladimir Icon) and September 21 (Nativity of the Theotokos).

The monastery is best reached via Nizhny Novgorod, which offers regular transportation connections to Oranki village. Visitors should prepare for simple roads and pay attention to local weather conditions when planning their trip.

Among the prisoners held at Camp No. 74 of the NKVD, which operated on the monastery grounds from 1942 to 1949, was the captured German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, brought here in 1943. The camp held officers from Germany, Finland, Hungary, Austria, Romania and Italy; by some accounts their number reached 12,000.