Igumen Savvaty, Vitalka, Hieromonk Simeon
Vitalk’s Dream for Bringing Pilgrims
In the late 1980s, when a small almshouse-community arose not far from Verkhnechuskovkie Gorodki, on Mount Miteina, at the Church of All saints and later grew to the status of a monastery, Vitalka came to live at the church.
He was a thin young man, disabled from childhood, simple as a child. He stayed with us, amazing everyone with his love for the services and his detachment from the world. He would push the sisters and the rare pilgrim in a wagon along the rocky, broken road on church grounds, and sometimes a large “bird” would turn up—Igumen Savvaty, who also from time to time allowed himself, to Vitalka’s delight, to sit in his simple wagon. Pilgrims were rare then. We were all used to living in our own world, far away from the hustle and bustle of the world.
Kazan-St. Tryphon Hermitage
And then Vitalka had a thought that he couldn’t shake, of getting a bus instead of a wagon. And he began to bring it to life on paper. He spent whole days drawing buses and tickets and coming up with a schedule. He used up notebooks, albums, pens, and markers. He kept drawing, much to the endless amusement of all the residents. What kinds of buses he dreamt of, and there aren’t even any roads here!
But to our surprise, a road did appear. The new Perm-Chusovoy Highway was built in 2006 a few miles from the monastery. And buses started coming exactly according to Vitalka’s schedule.
Finally, everyone was able to get to the monastery with less difficulty than before. And there were excursions with pilgrims of all ages. The monastery opened its doors to a world starved for Divine grace.
Some people who come here simply say: “Everything’s so nice here!” “What grace you have here!” Everyone, even non-believers, feel it.
The Pilgrim Photini’s Story About Healing
When my mother died, after forty days my legs gave out due to nerves. I was bedridden for four months. Then I gradually got up on crutches, then moved around with a cane. The first time I went to the monastery, three people carried me up the mountain, and I walked to the relics of Archpriest Nikolai Rogozin and the wonderworking Kazan Icon with a cane. On my third visit to the monastery, I climbed the mountain myself without a cane. I’m visiting this holy place for the seventh time today, and you won’t believe it—I came in high-heels! I’m very grateful to these grace-filled places, and I hope I’ll bring my grandchildren here too!
The Story of Ekaterina Badanina, a Pilgrim from Berezniki
Kazan Icon of the Mother of God When we arrived at the Kazan-St. Tryphon Hermitage, we prayed at the relics and icons for our needs. First, my sister has three children and her husband died. We asked the Lord to help her. Second, my other sister had just one child, unable to get pregnant for many years. She and her husband were treated for infertility for several years, but to no avail. We submitted their names for commemoration at the Skete of St. Anna (next to the monastery) for the gift of a child. Third, my only son moved to another city and took up dubious work, which caused me great sorrow.
After we returned from the monastery, my first sister met a kind man. He fell in love with her and her children and they got married. Then we found out that my other sister was pregnant with her long-awaited second child. And after some time, my son returned, although he had previously insisted that he would be gone for a long time. Glory to God for all things!
Our Main Treasure
Our main treasure is the ancient Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which was found in these places at the end of the eighteenth century. Many prayers have been offered up before it at various times, and they’ve always been heard.
The Story of a Pilgrim from Chusovoy
Many pilgrims come to the monastery from Chusovoy, and teachers often come with their students. One day, some high school students visited us, and after a while their teacher arrived, but alone. She asked the sister taking care of the church to hang a gold ring on the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and told her her story.
This woman’s son had been very badly beaten by ruffians. They brought him home black and blue from the beatings. The doctors didn’t admit him to the hospital because his organs were so badly damaged that they had no hope for his recovery. They said he would die in about a month. Having lost hope, his mother began praying for his healing before the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. And she made a promise that she would bring a gift if her son lived… Then the woman began to cry. And when asked what happened to her son, she said he was alive, healthy, that he got married, and now he and his wife are raising their firstborn.
The Story of the Pilgrim Anna from Perm
I am the handmaiden of God Anna from the city of Perm. I first came to the Kazan-St. Tryphon Hermitage with my husband. We’re both over seventy. My husband has permanent ulcers, open wounds on his legs. He underwent treatment every year, more than once, but nothing helped. Our son was working for the Perm Region Ministry of Health. He brought in highly qualified specialists, but to no avail.
At the monastery, my husband and I prayed before the Kazan Icon, asking for help. We bought oil from the inextinguishable lampada in the church store and started anointing the sick spots at home. And how shocked we were when the ulcers began to heal! Everyone had been worried about their husband, father, grandpa, and now the whole family rejoiced! Today is my third time in the monastery. I’m going to get some more blessed oil to continue treating his legs.
The Healing Spring of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God
The holy spring Our Kazan Icon was found in the waters of a forest spring, which also has grace-filled power.
In the late 1990s, in winter, when the road to the spring wasn’t cleared, if people wanted to get there, they went on hunting skis, waist-deep in snow. Today, the flow of pilgrims visiting the spring and immersing themselves in its waters continues unabated. Each summer on July 20, on the eve of the feast of the Kazan Icon, a procession departs from the monastery carrying our locally venerated icon to the spring and back.
The Story of the Pilgrim Taina from the Tyumen Province
I’m originally from Bashkiria, a Tatar by nationality. I got baptized when I was twenty-seven. I live in the Tyumen Province but I love visiting the Kazan-St. Tryphon Hermitage on the Chusovoy River to pray before its holy icons and relics. After one such trip, I took home some holy water from the Kazan Mother of God Spring. My unbaptized sister had undergone two eye surgeries, but they weren’t very successful. One eye had become inflamed and treatment wasn’t helping.
I suggested that she use the holy water from the spring, but then temptations began for her and she had nightmares. I spoke with my spiritual father about what to do. He recommended that she continue drinking the holy water and think about getting baptized. After all these trials, my sister recovered and her vision was restored. And after a while she got baptized. The holy water from the Kazan Mother of God Spring led my dear sister to faith and healing. Glory to God for all things!
The Story of the Pilgrim Antonina from the Village of Polazna
I, the handmaiden of God Antonina from the village of Polazna, suffered from severe headaches, and treatment didn’t help. On the advice of a religious neighbor, I went to the Kazan-St. Tryphon Hermitage. With the blessing of my priest, I jumped into the holy spring of the Kazan Icon. I immediately felt relief, though the pain had been so severe. At night, I couldn’t even turn my head on my pillow; during the day, the ground felt like it was moving beneath me. Since then, this pain hasn’t returned. This was in the late 1990s.
Our Wonderful Man of Prayer, Archpriest Nikolai Rogozin
Archpriest Nikola Rogozin has done a lot to bring glory to our holy place. Father served in the Church of All Saints (which is now a monastery church) from 1955 to 1981. Weak in body but strong in spirit, he converted many to the faith, leading them to repentance and salvation. Fr. Nikolai wasn’t a monk—he had a wife and two children—but he had such deep humility that the Lord rewarded him with various gifts of grace during his lifetime.
After the repose of the humble priest, many people came to his grave to thank him for his prayers, for his help, for his inexhaustible love. In 2001, with the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Athanasy (Kudyuk) of Perm and Solikamsk, Fr. Nikolai’s relics were translated from his grave to a specially constructed crypt under the altar. And now, everyone who comes to visit us hastens to venerate the relics of this wonderful man of prayer.
Archpriest Nikolai Rogozin
The Story of a Resident of Verkhnechuskovkie Gorodki
I was born in Verkhnechuskovkie Gorodki in 1952. When I turned five, I got very sick and went to the hospital. The doctors treated me for a long time and eventually just wrote me off as hopeless. My parents took me from the hospital straight to the church, to Fr. Nikolai, asking him to save me from death. Batiushka made the sign of the Cross over me to bless me and of course prayed for my healing. When we went to the church, I wasn’t walking at all; my mother carried me in her arms. But after Fr. Nikolai’s blessing, I stood up and walked home myself. Dear Batiushka breathed a second life into me. You can’t call that anything but a miracle! I always thank Fr. Nikolai for saving me!
The Story of the Pilgrim Stanislav from Chusovoy
In August 2006, I got pneumonia—dry pleurisy of the left lung. The doctors said my lung couldn’t expand.
In September 2006, I went to the Kazan-St. Tryphon Hermitage and prayed at the grave of Archpriest Nikolai Rogozin, asking him for healing. A month later, after a fluoroscopy, the doctors themselves were amazed: My diaphragm had dropped and my lung had expanded. It was a miracle! That’s what the doctors said. I believe that Fr. Nikolai helped.
A Story from the Monastery’s Tour Guide, Mother Christina
I want to tell you about what happened at Fr. Nikolai’s grave with one of the pilgrims. She told me how she came here for church a few years ago. As she was leaving the church after the service ended, the door slammed shut in front of her and caught her hand. Her right hand very quickly turned blue and swelled up, forming a huge hematoma. After the service, she went down into the crypt with her group, knelt down to pray, and as she was getting up, she leaned her hand on the sepulchral stone. And when she walked away, she felt something unusual. She looked at her hand and saw that the hematoma was gone. It had dispersed, leaving a slightly yellowish spot. She was a pharmacist, and she told her staff at the pharmacy about this miracle. They said that if they didn’t know her, they wouldn’t have believed it.
The crypt with the grave of Fr. Nikolai Rogozin
Mother Christina’s Story about Help from St. Anna
Next to our monastery, we built the Skete of St. Anna. The services are celebrated there according to the Athonite typikon. It’s a closed skete—a place for the monastery sisters to have some solitude. But on the patronal feast days—August 7, September 22, and December 22—parishioners are permitted to attend the nighttime services. Plus, those who are having trouble starting a family or who don’t have any children come to the relics.
St. Anne’s Skete One Sunday three years ago, after Liturgy, our spiritual father Igumen Savvaty asked me to take a married couple to the skete. Along the way, I asked the pregnant young lady why she was weeping so bitterly. She said she’d been carrying her child under her heart for six months now and the doctors told her she needed to have an abortion because the child could be born disabled. When we got to the skete, I did everything Batiushka said to do: I dipped a candle into the lampada before the relics and anointed her belly in the form of a cross, while she herself fervently prayed.
Before we left, I asked the family to let us know how things turned out. And how great was my astonishment when some time later they brought their little daughter to us, who was born completely healthy! We baptized the baby here.
The Story of a Married Couple
A married couple came to visit us. Their son and daughter-in-law had been married for seven years but had no children. Then the whole family decided to confess, commune, and pray at the relics of St. Anna one Sunday, which they zealously did. And literally ten days later, the young woman got pregnant. For them, it was a clear miracle! In due course, a daughter was born, whom they named Maria in honor of the Mother of God. Since then, these people always help us however they can as a sign of gratitude.
We invite you to visit our holy monastery and see everything with your own eyes.