Orthodox Syzran, or the Triangle of Faith

18 points5 km4 hours

This route introduces the difficult fate of Syzran's religious buildings. Before the revolution the town had 22 churches, two monasteries, and a theological school. Five old churches have survived to this day, forming a kind of Triangle of Faith. Learn more with Susanin's route.

Route author

Susanin Team

Things to do

📜 Learn the city's history
🏛️🕰️ Compare the eras
🏰🕵️‍♂️ Discover a legend

Route points (18)

Feodorovskaya Church in Syzran

Point on route “Orthodox Syzran, or the Triangle of Faith”

Point 17

Feodorovskaya Church

🕍 Place of worship

Historical Background

In 1738–39 a heated stone church was built on the monastery grounds at the expense of the retired nobleman Ivan Vasilyevich Borisov; it housed the miracle-working Feodorovskaya icon of the Mother of God. Building the church was no accident for Ivan Vasilyevich Borisov. He suffered from a serious eye disease. A deeply devout man, he prayed for several years for his recovery before the Feodorovskaya image of the Mother of God. Soon he was completely healed. Then I. V. Borisov vowed to build a stone church in the monastery in place of the wooden one, and he kept his vow, despite Peter I's ban, still in force, on erecting stone buildings outside St. Petersburg. Later Borisov himself took monastic vows. At first the church had two altars: one dedicated to the Ascension of the Lord, with a side chapel dedicated to the Feodorovskaya icon of the Mother of God.

The Story of the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God

On June 25, 1713, at Kashpir near Syzran, the Feodorovskaya icon of the Mother of God miraculously appeared. The holy image was found by local herdsmen who had driven their flocks to the lush water meadows. At first the icon was taken to the parish church of the village of Kashpir. But several times the image returned to its original place, the bank of the Volga. Then the shrine was placed in Syzran's Ascension Monastery. Soon a special church was built there for it: the Feodorovskaya Church.

The Holy Spring

A holy spring gushed forth where the icon appeared. Local people soon noticed that its water was healing. Through the prayers of believers it helps with “women's ailments” and cancer. The stream of those seeking help never runs dry, whatever the season. In the godless Soviet years the holy spring was filled with ash, flooded with fuel oil, and buried under earth. In this way the authorities hoped to erase the memory of this holy place from the popular mind. But after a while the little stream would force its way through again and come back to the surface. From 1996 the area began to be improved under the care of the clergy of the Syzran deanery. The well was repaired, a small chapel was built, then a church dedicated to the icon of the Mother of God “The Life-Giving Spring” (later rededicated to the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers), and bathing pools were set up. And the marble image of the holy icon installed here soon began to stream myrrh!

Metochion of the Syzran Holy Ascension Monastery

In 2007 a metochion (dependency) of the Syzran Holy Ascension Monastery was established at the spring. Every year on June 25, the day the Feodorovskaya icon of the Mother of God appeared, a procession of the cross goes from the church of the same name in the settlement of Novokashpirsky to the spring, and a prayer service is held before a great crowd of believers.