The Extant Heritage of Monastic Culture of the 17th Century. On the History of the Creation of the Sacristy in the Holy Trinity and St Alexander Nevsky Monastery

Abstract

The article analyzes the monuments of church antiquity, which were stored in the Sacristy of the Holy Trinity and St Alexander Nevsky Monastery. For the purpose to ascertain the structure of the Sacristy the author of article used the oldest inventory of 1724 year and later inventories of the 18th and 19th century. Basing on archival materials and several publications the author establishes the facts of delivery of icons and church plates from the church eparchies to St Petersburg since the first quarter of the 18th century. The subject of the special research is the church plates of the 17th century from the three monasteries: of the Our Lady on the Valday lake, of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Vladimir and the Dormition of Our Lady of Sumy. The author focuses on the issues of the origin and the circumstances of arrival to the Sacristy of the free sacred objects, such as the church cup of Patriarch Nikon (1652–1660), the pall on the tomb of St Alexander Nevsky (circa 1697) and the prayer Gospel book (1681). Attention is given to the inscriptions on the items. Some of them are read and published for the first time.