The ancient city of Chernigov holds a lot of interesting things for those who are eager for vivid impressions, but the most mysterious and mysterious of its attractions are considered to be the Anthony’s Caves founded by the legendary Christian saint, which are almost a thousand years old.
Antony’s Caves are part of the Troitsko-Ilinsky Monastery, which is part of the National Architectural and Historical Reserve «Chernigov Ancient». It is an amazing four-tiered underground complex — a cave Christian monastery, which in 1069, having dug the first cave in the thickness of the Boldy Mountains, was founded by Anthony of Pechersk, called by the Russian Church «the chief of all Russian monks». According to the annals, after the foundation of the Kievo-Pechersk Lavra «Anthony came to Chernigov and loved the Boldin mountain and fossilized the cave, and there settled down, and there is a monastery of the holy Virgin Mary on the Boldin Mountains to this day». Since then, the monastery is widely known and there are many legends about it, as well as about the place where it was founded.
Why did Anthony choose the Boldin Mountains for the foundation of the monastery? This place was honored by people back in pre-Christian times. On the Boldinye Mountains there was a large ancient pagan temple of the god Perun, they were attributed amazing energy and power, which, visiting the monastery Anthony’s Caves, you can feel even today.
Anthony, who came to Chernigov, was looking for peace and wanted to go into recluse, but near his monastery, as it happened at the foundation of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, monks began to settle again. Thanks to the patronage of the Chernigov prince Svyatoslav, who dreamed of victory in his rivalry with Kiev, the monastery developed rapidly until the middle of the XII century. At the beginning of the century, the Ilyinskaya Church was erected near the entrance to the caves, and it welcomes visitors to the monastery even today — it is a unique cult monument of Old Russian architecture of the pre-Mongol period.
Over the years, the number of monks grew, and the underground monastery also grew: monks made cells and dug passages in the ground, arranged underground temples. Over time Antony Caves turned into a large monastery complex, the length of which is about 350 meters. The development of the monastery was suspended by the invasion of the Mongol-Tartars, and only in the XVI century the monastery began to revive again, which lasted until the beginning of the XX century.
The complex has reached our time in the form of underground passages, cells and ossuaries (burial places of monks), it includes three unique churches: St. Anthony, St. Nikola Svyatoshi, St. Theodosius of Totem — the largest underground church in the country. The main shrines of the monastery are considered to be the cell of St. Anthony and the ancient cross, which has been here since its foundation. Chilling stories are associated with this cross: demon-possessed people were tied to it and left in pitch darkness until they were healed. And healings in the monastery dungeons really happened and are happening nowadays.
These unexplained healings are one of the reasons why the monastery is known throughout Ukraine and beyond, but only one of many. Among the other legends that shroud the Antony Caves in mystery are numerous eyewitness accounts of anomalous phenomena. Some were mesmerized by the strange glow here, others were frightened by the Black Monk who wanders through the dark dungeons, while others believe that one of the passages leads all the way to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Strong energy surges were even recorded by scientists, who in their attempts to explain them could only assume that somewhere under the monastery there is a meteorite that fell in unknown times. Nevertheless, even blood-chilling stories do not scare those who wish to visit this ancient attraction of Chernigov and wander through the gloomy but holy dungeons.