Nun
In the early 20th century, the Pavel-Obnorsky Trinity Monastery was renowned for its spiritual life, founded in 1414 by the Venerable Pavel of Obnorsk. The monastery suffered twice from fires and was plundered by robbers. In the early 20th century, the archimandrite Nikon (Chulkov) became the abbot, bringing the monastery to a flourishing state and organizing a hospital for the wounded during the war.
Parishioners sought the monastery for spiritual counsel and healing. Archimandrite Nikon enjoyed great authority, and people turned to him for prayer and blessing. Many women, wishing to please the Lord, became spiritual daughters of Father Nikon.
Aleksandra Arkadyevna Solovyova offered Father Nikon her house for the life of the sisters of the community, which was founded in 1921. The peasants allocated land for the community, and it quickly developed despite the persecution from the Soviet authorities. Father Nikon suggested formalizing the community as an agricultural artel with a monastic charter.
Members of the community, despite hardships, preserved their faith and adhered to monastic rules. In 1930, the community was renamed the First of May Agricultural Commune named after Krupskaya and became a model farm. However, in 1931, arrests of community members began, including the abbess Anna Alexandrovna Solovyova and the nun Anna Blagoveshchenskaya.
Anna Blagoveshchenskaya, born in 1898, was a teacher who took monastic vows. She was arrested in 1931 and sentenced to three years in a concentration camp. After her release, she continued her service in the church but was arrested again in 1937 and shot in 1938.
Despite the persecution, about forty members of the community continued to live in it, maintaining a monastic way of life. The community existed until the early 1990s when it ceased to exist with the end of Soviet power.
