Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, Russia - Catholic Stock Photo

Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery (Russian: Кирилло-Белозерский монастырь), translated into English as White Lake [translation of the town name of Beloozero] St. Cyril's Monastery, used to be the largest monastery in Northern Russia. The monastery was consecrated to the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, for which cause it was sometimes referred to as the Dormition Monastery of St. Cyril. By the 20th century, the town of Kirillov had grown nearby.

The monastery was founded in 1397 on the bank of Lake Siverskoye, to the south from the town of Beloozero, in the present-day Vologda Oblast. Its founder, St. Cyril or Kirill of Beloozero, following the advice of his teacher, St. Sergius of Radonezh, first dug a cave here, then built a wooden Dormition chapel and a loghouse for other monks. Shortly before the creation of the monastery, the area fell under control of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

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