Deposition of Robe of the Mother of God in Blachernae Monastery

The monastery for men dedicated to the Deposition of the Robe of the Mother of God at Blachernae stands in the village of Tomashivka, in Fastiv district in the Kyiv region, in the former Khoietsky estate^{2, 6}.

The estate has a history of its own. In 1795 this land was granted to Prince Hryhorii Dolgorukov, a naval captain of the first rank, who in 1810 sold it to a nobleman, Ivan Khoietsky². To the design of the architect V. I. Kulykovsky, Khoietsky's descendants raised a stone palace here in 1903-1910². In the Soviet period a school was housed in it, during the Nazi occupation a headquarters, and by the end of the twentieth century the palace stood empty and derelict, despite its official status as an architectural monument².

In 2000 the Fastiv district administration handed the Khoietsky palace over to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for a monastic house to be established². By Journal No. 22 of 22 November that same year the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church gave its blessing for a monastery for men to open here¹. The house explains its dedication as an inheritance of the ancient Kyivan tradition of venerating the sacred garments of the Most Pure Virgin Mary: the Klov monastery, which existed in Kyiv in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, bore the same dedication to the Deposition of the Robe of the Most Holy Mother of God at Blachernae².

The house was established by the brethren of the Kyiv Vvedensky monastery together with Orthodox lay people². The palace was restored, a house church of the Venerable Martyr Elizabeth was fitted out in one of the halls on the ground floor - the first Liturgy was celebrated in it in 2001 - and the park around it was brought back, where in 2003 a site was consecrated for the building of a church of the Deposition of the Robe of the Most Holy Mother of God at Blachernae². Besides the palace, the former servants' wing and a utility building survive in the estate². Following the custom of the ancient monasteries of Constantinople, aviaries with unusual birds were set up in the park, and images of saints particularly venerated in the house, carved in stone, became part of the park ensemble².

Today the monastery grounds are enclosed by a wall: a young apple orchard grows by the main entrance, then a bell tower and a fountain, statues of lions and statues on religious subjects, a landscaped park with flower beds, a footbridge leading to the church, long stone stairs and a made-up descent to the river Irpin; there is also a small zoo here, where one can see ostriches, llamas, peacocks, parrots and doves⁶. The directory of the monasteries of the Kyiv Metropolia names the house's church the church of the Passion of Christ⁵.

Cross-processions come to the monastery every year. Early on 13 July a procession sets out from the church of the Kazan icon of the Mother of God at Sofiivska Borshchahivka in Kyiv, 58 kilometres long, carrying the wonderworking Kyivan icon of the Mother of God "Look upon my humility", the chief holy object of the Kyiv Vvedensky monastery; another procession comes from Fastiv, and both arrive in time for the festal Liturgy on 15 July³. The Bilohorodka to Tomashivka procession, first walked in 2001, covers 47 kilometres through three districts of the Kyiv region - Kyiv-Sviatoshyn, Makariv and Fastiv⁴. The patronal feast of the house is the Deposition of the Precious Robe of the Most Holy Mother of God at Blachernae, 2 (15) July; the memory of the Venerable Martyr Elizabeth is kept on 5 (18) July³.