The monastery was founded in the mid-15th century, when the first
hermits settled in local
caves. The first cave Church of the
Dormition of the
Theotokos (церковь Успения Богородицы) was built in 1473 (its modern facade was constructed in the 18th century). 's repentance: he asks the
hegumen (father superior) Cornelius of the Pskovo-Pechorsky Monastery to let him take the
tonsure at his monastery. Painting by
Klavdy Lebedev. After the monastery had been destroyed by the
Livonian feudals, it was rebuilt by a
Pskovian
dyak Mikhail Munekhin-Misyur in 1519. A
posad (settlement) was built next to the monastery, which would later grow into a town. In 1550s-1560s, Pskovo-Pechorsky Monastery and its posad were surrounded by a wall with towers (eventually, these fortifications were rebuilt in 1701). The monastery became an important outpost for defending the western border of Russia. In 1581–1582, it withstood the
siege laid by
Stefan Batory’s army. In 1611–1616, the monastery repelled the attack of the
Polish army led by
Jan Karol Chodkiewicz and
Aleksander Józef Lisowski and
Swedish army led by
Gustav II Adolf. As a fortification Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery lost its importance after the
Great Northern War of 1700–1721. In 1920–1944, Pskovo-Pechorsky Monastery belonged to Estonia. The monastery was one of the few acting male monasteries in the
USSR, having been saved from destruction by
Pechory being Estonian territory before
World War II. In
Soviet times, famous Russian mystic
Sampson Sievers briefly lived and served in the monastery. Since the
fall of the Soviet Union the monastery has flourished. Currently the monastic community numbers over 90 who through their pastoral labors live the tradition of asceticism and eldership as witnessed recently by the Archimandrite
John (Krestiankin). In 2013 the monastery marked the 540th anniversary of its existence. In 2011 a book by one of its former inhabitants
Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) Everyday Saints and Other Stories, reflecting the Monastery's life, appeared. Over a million copies were printed and over 3 million digital copies sold worldwide by 2012. In 2012 its English translation won a first prize at New York's Read Russia 2012 Festival. Its translator
Julian Henry Lowenfeld was baptized into the Orthodox faith that same year, on
Holy Saturday, in Moscow's
Sretensky Monastery, where Archimandrite Tikhon was hegumen at the time. ==References==