Pyukhtitsa Dormition Nunnery is an Orthodox monastery in the north-eastern part of Estonia in the village of Kuremäe. Kuremäe is a small village with about 350 inhabitants. The monastery is built on the terrain that Orthodox inhabitants living there call "The Virgin Mountain".
According to legend, about 200 years ago an Estonian shepherd saw a woman on the mountain, dressed in a beautiful radiant garment. However, as he began to approach the the mountain, the vision disappeared. The shepherd returned to his flock and saw the noble Lady on the mountain again. This happened several times. When he returned home, the shepherd told the villagers what he had seen. The next morning, some of the villagers villagers went to the mountain. They also saw a woman who disappeared as soon as they approached. On the third day, the whole situation happened again. When they climbed the mountain, at the place where the woman had appeared, they found an ancient image. As they were Lutherans themselves, they gave it to a nearby manor to Russian. Orthodox peasants who lived in the village of Jaama, and told them under what circumstances the circumstances under which the image had been found. The Orthodox immediately guessed that it was the image of the Dormition of the Mother of God. of the Dormition of the Mother of God.
Having received the icon as a gift, in the 16th century the Orthodox inhabitants of the Pyukhtitsa region built a chapel on the lower ledge of the Virgin Mary Mountain. The apparition of the Mother of God is depicted in the a special icon, which is called the Pyukhtitsa icon. The peculiarity of this icon is that the Mother of God is depicted standing on the ground. In times of war and turmoil the locals protected the Pyukhtitsa shrine, and in times of destruction they always they always rebuilt the chapel. For security reasons, the miraculous icon was kept in Narva. When a church was built in the village of Syrenets, the Chapel of the Assumption was attached to it, and the wonderworking icon and the miraculous icon were kept in Narva. After this event, the Orthodox inhabitants decided every year on the 15th of August, on the day of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to make a procession to the chapel on the Cross Procession to the chapel on the Virgin Mary Mountain together with the icon.
In 1885, the Pyukhtitsa Orthodox parish was established. However, the local Orthodox parishioners were oppressed by the local landlords. This situation was brought to the attention of the Governor of Estonia, Prince S.V. Shakhovskoy, and he took certain measures to protect the interests of the Orthodox inhabitants. In 1891 at the church a women's community was founded, which was elevated to the Pyukhtitsa monastery in 1892. In the same year, the icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God was returned here from the Syrenets church.
Every year in July there is a solemn transfer of the miracle-working icon to the village of Syrenets village, where it remains until 13 August. Since 1896, the holy icon has been brought annually is brought to the city of Revel on the 2nd week of Pentecost for 8 days and to the village of Oleshnitsy for the period from 7 to 10 September. Near the monastery there are graves in which, according to legend, are buried Russian soldiers who served in the time of St Alexander Nevsky and St John the Terrible. The funds of the monastery are used to maintain various institutions: in Pühtitsa, an almshouse, an outpatient clinic, a hospital for women and children, and a community of sisters. In Pühtitsa there is an almshouse, an outpatient clinic, a hospital for women and children, a community of sisters of mercy, an orphanage for Orthodox girls, a two-class school for children of both sexes; in the town of Ievve - a free medical centre.
In Soviet times, this monastery was the only active female monastery in the entire USSR. Now there are about 150 nuns and novices here from Estonia, Ukraine, Russia. Here you can book a tour, the nuns will familiarise you with the history of the monastery, show the cells and refectories. Near the monastery there is near the monastery is a healing spring and a bathing area where women are allowed to bathe only in shirts.
