On November 15, a block of stamps dedicated to the 550th Anniversary of the Holy Pskovo-Pechersky Dormition Monastery was put into postal circulation in the Monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church series

The Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery is one of the largest and best-known male monasteries in Russia with a centuries-old history.

It originated in caves on the bank of the Kamenets brook, discovered by local people in 1392. According to a legend, the caves were inhabited by monks who ran away to the Pskov Land from the south from Crimean Tatar raids. The main cave complex is named The God-built Cave and consists of the Cave Church of Dormition with a bypass gallery (small caves), proximal caves with the relics of Reverend Mark ("initial monk"), Iona, Lazarus and mother Vassa of Pechersk and then continues with a necropolis of seven underground gallery-streets with the cave church of the Resurrection of Christ and a chapel.

In 1470, Hieromonk Jonah, a former priest of the St George's Church in Jurjev-Livonian (presently Tartu), settled in a cave. In 1473, a cave church of the Dormition of the Theotocos dug out by Reverend Jonah in a sandstone hill was consecrated here. This year is considered the year of the Monastery foundation. The hill where the Dormition Church and the caves are located is named the Holy Mountain.

The Monastery survived many attacks by Swedish, Lithuanian and Polish conquerors, who took advantage of the internal problems of the Russian state and terrorized its western borders.

The monastery has never been closed during its history. The priest-archimandrite is Arseny Metropolitan of Pskov and Porkhov.

The block of stamps provides a general view of the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersk Monastery.

In addition to the issue of the block of stamps, JSC Marka produced First Day Covers and special cancels for Moscow and Pskov.


Design Artist: S Ulyanovsky.
Face value: 250 rubles.
Block size: 123×98 mm, stamp size in the block: 65×32.5 mm.
Quantity: 18 thousand blocks.

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