The members of Byzantine Tree Club travel to the Voronezh Don region

The trip to the Kostomarovo Spassky Convent was held within the project “Byzantine Tree: Roots of Orthodox Spirituality and Morality” project under the “Prioritet-2030” programme, headed by Nikolay Bolgov, a professor of General History Department of Belgorod State University.

According to Nikolay Bolgov, during this year the Byzantine Tree project has demonstrated the importance of turning to the roots of the national civilization tradition.

The first stop of the pilgrimage trip was made in the town of Ostrogozhsk, which is part of Belgorodskaya Cherta. The participants got acquainted with the architecture and historical appearance of the small town where Ivan Kramskoy, a painter, was born. Also Grigory Skovoroda and Kondratiy Ryleev lived there, Samuel Marshak studied in the local grammar school.

The main aim of the trip was to visit to the famous monastery complex in the village of Kostomarovo, located near the Don in a closed ravine, like in a canyon, creating a unique atmosphere of seclusion from the outer world. Students and lecturers visited the unique chalk monastery caves and were told about the history of the monastery and its construction.

The participants of the trip noted that the tour left bright impressions and proved the importance of such events for moral education of the youth.