Photo: architectural monuments, parks and recreation, other places, Park of the Gefsimansky Chernigovsky Skit, Sergiyev Posad

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Park of the Gefsimansky Chernigovsky Skit: a Hermit's Story and an Underground Church

Architectural Monuments • Parks and recreation • Other places

In the vicinity of Sergiyev Posad there is a wonderful quiet corner, a secluded Park of the Gefsimansky Chernigovsky Skit ("Skitsky ponds"). It lies at the foot of two high hills. In 1847, a holy fool Philippushka moved here from the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius to live a sheltered life. He built an underground cell and a church in the name of the Bodiless Powers in the depths of the hill within four years. This place was named Gefsimansky Chernigovsky Skit and even competed with the famous Lavra in number of pilgrims.

Today you can find a beautiful overground Chernigovsky Church in the Park of the Gefsimansky Chernigovsky Skit with a five-tier bell tower in the pseudo-Russian style of the late XIX century. Tourists, visiting the skete, can enter the underground part of the church, listen to the story of Philippushka, see his grave in the Iberian chapel and drink holy water from an underground source. After the tour, you can relax in the park where there are playgrounds, footpaths, gazebos and opportunities for skate boarding in summer and snowboarding in winter. During the whole year you can fish here in artificial ponds and enjoy the silence and beauty of nature.

Park of the Gefsimansky Chernigovsky Skit: a Hermit's Story and an Underground Church

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