Bizukov Monastery, Orthodox monastery in Bizyukovo, Russia.
Bizukov Monastery is an Orthodox monastery situated along the Dnieper River with multiple churches enclosed within stone walls. The grounds contain a central cathedral, several chapels, residential quarters, and service buildings arranged in a self-contained complex.
Founded around 1640–1650 in Bizyukovo, Dorogobuzh district, by Fyodor, son of boyar Mikhail Glebovich Saltykov, and his brothers, with the blessing of the Kiev Metropolitan. By 1648 Fyodor had taken vows as Sergius, and the first monks came from the Kuteynsky monastery in Orsha district. In 1654 it passed from Constantinople to the Moscow Patriarchate; a 1656 charter from Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered Sergius to manage it and build the Dormition church. A patriarchal charter of 29 October 1689 made it stavropegic.
The monastery's name comes from the village of Bizyukovo, and its main church was dedicated to the Exaltation of the Cross. In 1653, when a Uniate bishop tried to replace the antimensions in Dorogobuzh district churches, the elder Sergius Saltykov refused him entry, saying the monastery was founded on his parents' graves. The monastery was abolished in 1803 and its monks transferred to a monastery in Yekaterinoslav province.
The monastery was abolished on 4 December 1803, and its Cross Exaltation Church became a parish church. The surviving churches were destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, so no active monastery or guest accommodations exist today. The site is in the village of Bizyukovo, Dorogobuzh district, Smolensk province.
The monastery's name is tied to the village of Bizyukovo in Dorogobuzh district, and it is often confused with the Sviatо-Hryhoriivskyi Biziukiv Monastery in Ukraine, a separate foundation. In 1653 the monk Sergius Saltykov turned away the Uniate bishop A. Zolotoy-Kvashnin, saying the monastery stood on his parents' graves.
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