History of Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery: Fourth Portion of the Theotokos

The history of the Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery begins around 1758 when the widow Agafia Semenovna Melgunova, with her three-year-old daughter, entered the Kiev Florovsky Ascension Convent and received the monastic name Alexandra. According to monastery tradition, the Theotokos appeared to her in Kiev and directed her to travel north through Russia, visiting convents dedicated to Her, promising to reveal the site for a great monastery.

On her way to the Sarov desert, Alexandra stopped in the village of Diveyevo, where the Theotokos appeared again and identified this as the chosen place. She declared that She would found Her community there, calling it the Fourth Portion on earth after Iveria, Mount Athos, and Kiev. Around 1767 Alexandra returned to Diveyevo. In 1773 she began building a stone church dedicated to the Kazan Icon of the Theotokos on the site associated with the apparition; it was completed in 1779 after six years.

In 1788 she obtained land for a sisterhood, built three cells, and gathered sisters living in prayer and work. Before her repose on June 13, 1789, she entrusted the sisters to Elder Pachomius and the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov. Tradition holds that on November 25, 1825, the Theotokos appeared to Seraphim in the Sarov forest and instructed him to establish a new sisterhood in Diveyevo.

Eight sisters were chosen, and on December 9, 1826, construction of a mill began, giving the community the name Mill Community. The sisters built cells and the Holy Canal, which became one of Diveyevo's most renowned holy sites. The two sisterhoods were united into a monastery by a decision of the Holy Synod in 1861, and on November 17, 1862, Maria (Ushakova) was appointed abbess.

During her tenure numerous churches and monastery buildings were erected, including the Trinity Cathedral in 1875. The monastery was closed in 1927. Church life began to revive in 1988, and the decision to restore the monastery was published on July 21, 1991.