Today was rainy and gross but we trecked on anyway. We went to the Holy Assumption Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (Monastery). It is huge! We got an English speaking tour guide and toured a lot of the churches and the cathedrals. There aren't a lot of pictures because we could only take pictures outside the buildings since these are sacred temples still in use but if you've ever been to a Greek Orthodox or eastern Orthodox church then you know what the inside looked like! There is a lot of Greek influence at the Lavra. The word lavra for example is Greek for "street, village" there are only 4 monasteries in the former Russian empire that still retain the title Lavra. This is the oldest lavra. There is an upper Lavra and a lower lavra. The lower houses the caves. The monastery was founded by Antoniy of Lubeck who was from Greece. His disciple Feodosiy became the co-founder of the monastery. This all took place in the 11th century. They dug the caves to live in solitude above the Dnieper. Prince Sviatoslav Yaroslavovich gave the monastery the land on which the Upper Lavra was erected. The Lavra attracted numerous hermits and a multitude of pilgrims over the years. This lavra played a major role in the cultural history of both Russia and Ukraine. In the 17th Century the first printing-house in Kyiv was founded here, however in the 1718 more than once buildings were destroyed by fire as well as during the Nazi occupation. Under the Soviets the monastery was used as a museum town but now there is an active congregation on the Lavra.

We saw a few of the buildings on our tour. Each Temple has an entry way (I forgot the word used), the Church and an alter area. We did not get to see the alter area in any of the Temples because they are still active. The first place we saw was Nikolskaya Hospital Church. This area of the Upper Lavra was a separate monastery for elderly and ailing monks. It has the only temple with "chairs" because the elderly and the ailing could not stand for hours during the church service. The state Historical Library of Ukraine is housed the former pharmacy which use to be the largest in Kyiv but we didn't get to see the library :(. The next place we saw was the economic gate and All-Saints Church. This is were the economist had his cell. We also saw the Uspenskiy Cathedral. Most of the Cathedral is modern because it was blown up during World War 2. We saw the outside of the Great Bell Tower and heard the bells several times. We also over got to a ledge and that over looked the Lower lavra but I have no pictures of that because it was raining. Our guide told us to wait out the rain so that it was not so slippery on our journey to the Caves. I ended up not going down to the caves but I heard I didn't miss much however I will tell you about what is down there because we did go to an exhibit about them.

There are the near caves and the far caves. The cave were Antoniy first dwelled is the beginning of the far caves however later in the 11th century he moved to a new cave which is closer to the Upper Lavra and is where the near caves are. Some monks chose to live as hermits, digging out narrow caves off the main corridor and only leaving a small hole for food and and air and stayed their permanently. Our tour guide told us they could live up to about 17 years that way. By food we are talking about Communion to put in terms that would make sense to all of you. If this went untouched then the other monks new he had died. The Orthodox Church considers these early monks saints because their remains have never decayed. The caves mostly consist of the graves of these monks and a few others. They are still active and many come from far away to pray in them to each of the saints. There is also a famous solider (I can't remember his name) who is the largest man buried on the grounds and a small boy, who is the smallest. He was sacrificed by pagans before is baptism but I didn't catch why he was buried in the caves.

The pictures attached are of me in front of the entrance, a group of some of the ladies with our heads covered so that we could enter and a picture looking across to the cathedral.