Ten kilometers from settlement Novogrigorjevskaya, in a very beautiful place, one can see Svyato-Vosnesensky Kremensky Male Monastery. It is one of the oldest monasteries of Russia. In the 16th century there was a cave at this place, and according to a legend, there were 7 lay brothers – monks, who were killed by robbers.

In 1693 monk Nikanor founded Kremensky monastery. And in 1694 the local administration decided to give some land to the monastery. Later this donation was confirmed by Metropolitan Stefan (Javorsky) of Ryazan and of Murom. The inhabitants made a donation to the monastery – that was a building of an old chapel. The monks asked sovereign Peter the First to give them a sanction to build of church there. Sovereign Peter the First permitted them to transport this building and to make an altar there. But that shabby chapel did not exist for a long time and it was soon destroyed. Its logs were burnt. In 1711 monk Kapiton constructed a desert and in 1712 after vice-president Ryazan’s Metropolitan Stefan’s (Javorsky) of the Synod blessing Father-Superior Nikanor with lay brothers started to build a wooden temple. The building of the church was finisched and it was sancrifitied in 1716. In 1712 the monastery got the forest on the Don island. The monastery had 2 mills on the rivers Ilovlya and Chernaya and a small settlement. According to local chronicle the following building constructions were mentioned in the documents: two wooden churches (the second church was built in honour of Sergiy Radoneshsky, later that schurch was burnt down), two altars, 8 cells. 1 builder, 1 Celibate Priest and 11 monks lived there.

After Celibate Priest Nikanor’s death there were conflicts between the monastery and neighbour’s settlement Kremenskaya because of the lands. New Abbot Ieremey accused the priests of the settlement of taking a sum of money (300 roubles) and a military letter about the lands from the year of 1712 confirming the rights of the monastery on possession of those lands. In turn the Cossacks refferred to «Abbot Ieremey’s oppressions and damages». In 1743 Danila Efremov, the Head of the Cossacks, understood how difficult the existance of the monastery was, he ordered to give it some lands, forests and a small piece of the river Don and of the lake for fishing. Some datas about expenditures of the monastery were mentioned in the chronicle from the year of 1750: 18 roubles for Father-Superior for clothes and footwear, 10 roubles for the treasurer, about 8 roubles for Celebate Priest, about 5 roubles for the monks and so on. Ten people worked in the monastery then. Among local inhabitants of that time the name of Vasily Mishaylov, a talented missionary, who had founded «Women’s Gathering» consisted of 50 women, who wanted to live single, in his settlement, was well-known. In 1761 he became a monk and started to live in the monastery.

Thus, it was not so very easy to run a monastery in both financial and spiritual senses. The process of its development required the building of a stable church. The Head of the Cossacks D. E. Efremov began to build a stone temple. By 1763 the old church building had become shabby. Both archbishop Tikhon of Voronezh and Elez blesses the building of the stone construction of the church. Vosnesenskaya church was sancritified in 1782 and it became a real decoration of the monastery. The temple had two side-chapels: the northern side-chapel and the southern side-chapel. There was a beautiful angel made of silver in a temple. On the wooden bell tower there were 7 bells. The territories of the monastery became larger: the walls, the cells, the dining room, the house of the Father-Superior were built in.

The Cossacks, who had been hurt during wars, were supposed to live in the monastery. If some eldery soldier, who had taken a decison to go to the monastery, did not find any suitable place for himself, he could usually dig out some hole for him somewhere hear the monastery. In that hole he could have his own cell to pray. Hermits dug out some caves – cells in the mountains, which were connected with each other by tunnels. A small underground church was built in there. There was a little chapel there. It was situated near the entrance there.

The state wanted to have a struggle with the Cossacks’ liberty in the 18th century. The state started to kill independent Cossacks and priests of the Don area. In 1788 within the time of Katherina the Second Kremensky Monastery was closed. But numerous requests of the Cossack about its opening played a very important role, and the Synod ordered to open it again in 1798.

In 1845 the monastery had some forests, lands for gardening. There were also two mills there. Archmandrite Gavriil-Father-Superior lived in a special little house with one cell. He often went to the forest of the monastery or to the mountains. Sometimes he prayed and lived there for very many days. Half a year before his death, which he was able to foresee and quietly waited for, he became an unearthly person: his appearance became unusual, his eyes were large, light, quiet, looking somewhere inside. He died, when he was 80 years old. There is a big cross and a monument on the tomb of Saint Ioann. After numerous requests of the inhabitants of Novocherkassk according to the order of the Synod from the 1st of September of 1911 the relic of archbishop Ioann were brought to the cathedral of the capital of Don. A special commission opened his tomb on the 11th of September and certified, that the relic of archbishop Ioann was unspoilt. The relic was buried in Vosnesensky cathedral. In 1928 the relic of archbishop Ioann was opened by bolsheviks (On the 15th of May of 1993 the relic of all the people, buried in that cathedral, were solemnly reburied).

The Soviet state closed this monastery, as well as many other monasteries. The bell tower in the place, where the seven lay brothers, killed by robbers, had been buried, some other building constructions were broken down, the entrances to the caves were covered with heave stones. In 1924 a hospital for mentally underdevelopped people was opened in the monastery. And in 1928 the monks left Kremensky monastery, and the monastery was turned into a children’s labour colony.

During the second world war soldiers lived in the monastery. And one of the soldiers, a Moslem, who had been deadly hurt, recovered from his wounds at the spring of the monastery. He swore, that he would return there, if he did not die. And in 1956 he was appointed a director of the hospital for mentally underdevelopped people. With his wife he dug out that spring. Despite of numerous interdictions of the local Soviet authorities at the place of ruined chapels the services were held every year, many people came to pray. But in 1948 the authority forbade the services and mass pilgrimage. In the 50s they attempted to ruin the temple, but a rope tied to its wall, was torn, and the tractor caught fire.

The revival of Remensky monastery began with the arrival of archbishop Herman in 1992. Inhabitants of the town Frolovo and other neighbour’s towns cleaned the territory of the monastery. In 1993 a new Abbot – celibate prist Daniil was appointed there. The main relic of the monastery was the icon of Augustovskaya God’s Mother. In September of 1914 some soldiers saw Maria with the baby on her arms near the town of Avgustov. The icon was in honour of the health of soldiers, the surnames of the Cossack women were written on the icon. The newspaper «The Moscow News» wrote about this miracle. At the Soviet time this icon was separated into 2 parts to make it possible to hide it safer.

Now Father-Superior Rufin (Ivanov) is responsible for the monastery. The temple, the chapels and other houses are being restored. In 2001 the stone chapel was sancritified in the name of Nikolay. It is located at the place of the ancient monastery. The cupolas with crosses and bells were built in the church, the sacred spring (3 kilometers from the church) was cleaned, the tombs of the monastery were put in order. In 2002 the building of a new church began.

Pilgrims and people, who want to release theimselves from drugs, visit that place. A community in honour of the icon of God’s Mother was founded and a medical social centre «Rubesh» was opened. And in October of 2001 the monastery got the Church of Saint Oleg of Bryansk in the suburbs of Volgograd in settlement Kirov. The monastery started to revive.

If you want to go to the monastery, you can go there by car from settlement Novogrigorevskaya across the river Don at the ferry crossing.