Did you know that Father Superior Callist of the Svensk Monastery (ascribed to Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra) was sent to Moscow and St. Petersburg by Catherine II during her reign?

The Spiritual Council of Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery entrusted Father Superior Callist with a special mission. He had to enlist the support of the imperial nobility to raise funds for reinforcing the slopes of the Dnieper River located above the caves, as well as to voice this problem in the Senate and Synod. Among those people Father Callistus could meet and talk with, there were well-known and influential personalities, such as Count Grygory Orlov, senator and cultural figure Grygory Teplov, senator and director of the imperial theaters Ivan Yelagin, police general Mykola Chycherin, engineer general Larion Kutuzov, diplomat Mykyta Panin, senator and general in chief Petro Panin, Countess Maria Rumyantseva, secret adviser and director of Moscow University Ivan Melissino, etc. On behalf of the monastery, Father Callist presented gifts to potential benefactors at such meetings. They included books published in the Lavra printing house, icons made by the isographs of the Monastery’s icon-painting school, wines and snacks. Special mission delegated to Father Superior was successful only partially because of several reasons - the outbreak of another war with Turkey, the refusal of the Senate to provide funds to the Monastery and the lack of desire of some potential benefactors to invest their capital in reinforcing the slopes. However, some noble personalities, such as Count and Countess Rumyantsevy, actively participated in that project. Thus, Oleksandr Rumyantsev contributed in sending German master Hirschberg from Glukhov to Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The latter could pump water from hills by installing special pipes and gutters.

Captions to the illustrations:

1. Configuration of the slope above the Far Caves, which collapsed in March 1798 [National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”, inv. № KPL-F-5676]

2. General view of the Svensk Monastery near Bryansk. Photograph of 1930 [National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”, inv. № KPL-N-1218]

3. Countess Maria Rumyantseva. Painted by Oleksii Antropov. 1764

                                                                                     Prepared by Anna Filipova