The Kursk Root Hermitage is a monastery of the Kursk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, named in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God. It is located in the village of Svoboda on the right bank of the Tuskar River, within the Zolotukhinsky District of the Kursk Region.
The monastery was founded in 1597 by decree of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich on the site where, according to a legend, in 1295, a resident of Rylsk found an icon of the Mother of God The Sign at the root of a tree. At the place of the discovery, a spring-well burst out. At the same time, the first cathedral was built in the Root Hermitage to honor the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God. From 1618 to 1764, the Hermitage was assigned to the Kursk Znamensky Monastery, which kept the Kursk Root Icon since 1618. Starting with 1618, every year before the ninth Friday after Easter, a Cross Procession was held with the Icon in the Root Hermitage from the Znamensky Monastery. The Icon remained in the Hermitage until the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God, when a Cross Procession brought it back to Kursk. In 1708, a stone gatehouse with the Transfiguration Church above it was built. In 1785, the Monastery was surrounded by a stone wall and stone brethren’s cells were built with the house church of Archangel Michael and St. Paraskeva. Between 1806 and 1814, the following buildings were constructed: tri-level stone cells, three guesthouses, a church dedicated to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, a refectory, and stone covered staircases. From 1852 to 1860, a new Cathedral of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God was built by architect Konstantin Ton, topped with five tents. In 1860, a three-floored tent-topped bell tower with a clock was built. By 1862, a three-storied Church of All Saints was built, and by 1875, a cemetery church dedicated to the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God was constructed. The Monastery housed an icon workshop, a hospital and a pharmacy.
In 1920, the Icon was taken out of Russia. In 1924, the Monastery was closed. Between 1924 and 1926, the cathedral was blown up; and the bell tower, the holy gates, the stairways, the cemetery chapel, and the church dedicated to the Icon of the Mother of God Life-Giving Spring were destroyed. Despite the authorities' opponency, pilgrimages to the holy spring continued. The Monastery was revived in 1989. In 1994, the Cross Procession with a replica of the Icon was resumed. In 2001, the Root Fair, dedicated to the Summer Cross Procession, was started.
The postage stamp provides a panoramic view of the Monastery and an Icon of the Blessed Mother of God.
The Kursk Znamensky Monastery of the Mother of God is an Orthodox monastery located in Kursk. It belongs to the Kursk and Rylsk Diocese. The Monastery was founded in 1613; it is one of the oldest monasteries in the Kursk Region. For a long period, from 1618 until 1919, the Monastery served as the repository for the miraculous Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God The Sign. Every year since 1618, a Cross Procession was accomplished with the transfer of the The Sign Icon from the Znamensky Monastery to the Kursk Root Hermitage .The architectural complex of the Znamensky Monastery incorporates several architectural monuments of federal significance. The hegument of the Monastery is Metropolitan of Kursk and Rylsk Hermann.
In the early 17th century, the Kursk Kremlin stood on the site of the present-day Znamensky Monastery. In 1613, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich granted permission to establish a monastery in the center of Kursk. He presented the miraculous Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God, known as The Sign to the Monastery; and after that, the Znamensky Monastery became the main monastery of the Kursk Region. In 1634, after the unsuccessful siege by the Poles under the leadership of Jeremiah Vishnevetskii, Kursk and the Monastery had to be rebuilt, with the Znamensky Monastery being rebuilt already in stone.
The Znamensky Monastery had been enlarging up to 1762, when the secularization of church lands was carried out, depriving the Monastery of its lands. The second blow to the Znamensky Monastery was the Kursk fire of 1781. The Znamensky Cathedral was dismantled in 1816 and rebuilt in the classicism style, and in 1832, the Znamensky Monastery became the residence of the Archbishop of Kursk. In 1924, it was closed; its churches became parish churches and remained so until 1932, when the last parish was dissolved, and the Znamensky Cathedral building housed the Oktyabr movie theater.
The monastery was reopened in August of 1992. By early July of 2004, major restoration work was completed. The Bishop’s House now accommodates the Kursk Regional Museum of Local History.
The postage stamp provides a panoramic view of the Monastery and the Icon of the Blessed Mother of God.
In addition to the issue of the postage stamp, JSC Marka produced First Day Covers and special cancels for Moscow and Kursk.
Design Artist: S. Ulyanovsky.
Face value: 50 rubles.
Stamp size: 65×32.5 mm, sheet size: 154×190 mm.
Emission form: sheets with formatted margins (2×5) with 9 stamps and a coupon.
Quantity: 72 thousand each stamp (8 thousand each sheet).
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