Valaamsky Monastery

Holy Transfiguration Valaam Monastery or Valamo Monastery (Russian: Валаамский монастырь) is a stauropegic Orthodox monastery in Russian Karelia, located on Valaam - the largest island in Lake Ladoga. According to the Valaam monastery tradition, the first of the disciples of Christ, the holy apostle Andrew, the First-called, enlightening Scythian and Slavic lands left Novgorod for Valaam, where he destroyed pagan temples and raised a stone cross. It was the Holy Apostle who predicted a great future to Valaam that came to pass with the foundation and blossom of the monastery. The founders of the Valaam Monastery, saint Sergius and Herman, according to tradition, were Greek priest monks that came to the Great Novgorod lands in the 10th century along with the first Orthodox missionaries. Memory of the monastic deeds of the Saints has been kept in chronicles. They give an indirect evidence of saint Sergius and Herman’s selfless activity: enlightening heathen Karelian tribes with the light of the Christian faith, strengthening Orthodoxy in the North of Russia, foundation of a monastic cloister that became a stronghold of Orthodoxy in the early centuries of Christian enlightenment. In 1719 the wooden Cathedral of Transfiguration, built upon the Saints' relics, was consecrated. In fires of 1748, 1750 and 1754 all wooden buildings were burnt to ashes. In 1755 the new buildings of the church of Assumption, the five-domed cathedral of Transfiguration, and the church of Christmas were consecrated again. They were surrounded by a wooden fence with chapels.