St. Elijah's Monastery

The St Elijah Monastery of the Odesa eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church grew out of the Odesa hostel of the Athonite skete of St Elijah^{1, 3}. In 1884 the coenobitic skete of St Elijah on Athos bought a house on Pushkinska Street near the railway station, and until 1890 pilgrims were lodged in it¹.

The hostel existed to help those travelling through Odesa to Athos and to Palestine: pilgrims were given shelter, helped to obtain a foreign passport, sent on to their steamer, and their belongings kept for them¹. The need for a church arose at once, both for the brethren with their pilgrims and for the Orthodox inhabitants of the city. In 1890 the Holy Synod, with the blessing of Nikanor, archbishop of Kherson and Odesa, permitted the skete to have a larger hostel with a church at it, and for the building the skete bought another plot of land as large as the whole former hostel¹.

The foundation of the church was laid by the superior of the skete, Archimandrite Gabriel, on 10 November 1894, in the presence of the highest administrative representatives of Odesa and a great crowd of citizens¹; a memorial plate was walled into the foundation, and the archimandrite himself laid the first cornerstone³. In 1896 the building of the three-altar, five-domed church was finished¹. On 22 December 1896 the main altar, in the name of the wonder-working icon of the Mother of God "the Milk-Giver", was consecrated by Iustyn, archbishop of Kherson and Odesa, concelebrated by Tykhon, bishop of Yelysavethrad, by the skete's superior Archimandrite Gabriel and by the secular and monastic clergy; on 23 December Archimandrite Gabriel and the sacristan Archpriest Havryil Seletskyi consecrated the right side altar in the name of the holy prophet Elijah, and on 28 December the left one, in the name of the Archangel Gabriel. To the right of the entrance a chapel was arranged in the name of St Nicholas of Myra¹.

Three holy objects brought from Athos by Archimandrite Gabriel were kept in the church: the wonder-working icon of the Mother of God "the Milk-Giver", a cross-shaped portion of the wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, and the left foot of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. All three are now kept in the Dormition monastery of Odesa^{1, 3}.

St Gabriel of Athos himself was born on 8 January 1849 in the Kyiv province to a family of modest means and at baptism received the name Heorhii - the Church keeps the memory of St George Chozebites on that day. In his twelfth year he was orphaned, was schooled in the village, and after a grave illness vowed to visit the shrines of Kyiv and fulfilled the vow. In 1867 he set out for Jerusalem, the following year came to Athos and remained at the skete of the holy prophet Elijah; in 1869 he was tonsured with the name Gabriel, in 1874 ordained hierodeacon, and in 1876 hieromonk².

In 1922 the hostel was abolished, the church remained in use until 1928-1932, and in 1946-1949 monks lived at the hostel again¹. In 1995 the parish of St Elijah was turned into a monastery^{1, 3}. Since 1997 the eparchial administration of the Odesa eparchy has been housed at the monastery³.

In 1994 the relics of St Gabriel were found in the church. Servers and parishioners had often heard unaccountable knocking from the basement of the church, and many knew that a saint of God was buried somewhere in the crypt, but not where; with the blessing of the ruling bishop the clergy of the church decided to examine the presumed place of burial, and on 22 July 1994 the relics were found³. On 23 October of the same year the glorification of St Gabriel of Athos took place in the cathedral of St Elijah: the Divine Liturgy and the rite of glorification were celebrated by the then Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church³.

Today the main altar of the cathedral church is consecrated in the name of the holy prophet Elijah, the right side altar in the name of the icon "the Milk-Giver" and the left in the name of the Archangel Gabriel, and every day in the house begins with a fraternal moleben at the reliquary with the relics of St Gabriel¹. The eparchy names as the monastery's holy objects the Holy Shroud, the icon of the Mother of God "the Milk-Giver" and the relics of St Gabriel, and as its patronal days the celebration of the icon on 25 January, the memory of the prophet Elijah on 2 August and the day of St Gabriel of Athos³. A Sunday school works at the monastery for children from three to seventeen with free meals, where the younger classes study the Law of God, singing and drawing and the older ones read classic works of literature, and there is a youth club³.

The house has its place in the general church structures as well. On 26 August 2011 the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church approved the composition of the Synodal Commission for Monastery Affairs, which included the superior of this monastery⁵. On 26 January 2012, by journal no. 12, the Synod blessed the opening in Odesa of a skete of the St Elijah Monastery of Odesa in honour of the icon of the Mother of God "the Queen of All"⁴. And on 20 July 2019 the monastery, together with the International Institute of Athonite Heritage and the museum "Christian Odesa", held in Odesa an international scholarly and theological conference on "The Athonite heritage and the traditions of hesychasm in the history and culture of Ukraine", marking the 170th anniversary of the birth and the 25th of the glorification of St Gabriel; about fifty scholars from eleven countries took part in it⁶.