Kozelsk
Kozelsk Camp also goes by the name Optina Pustyn. This was a holy place, a monastery run by Coptic Catholic monks of the Eastern Orthodox religion. It is a very beautiful place. It also has a dark history.
MAGDALENA
10/16/20241 min read
In the 19th Century this was the most important spiritual centre for the eastern orthodox church. Prominent Russian writers flocked to this place and both Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky came here on retreat. Dostoyevsky set his novel The Brothers Karamazov here.
In 1938 the Soviets killed the head monk - evicted the rest - and declared the Optina Pustyn monastery a Gulag. In 1939-1940 this place became a camp for Polish Army officers – all prisoners of war. Most were murdered by NKVD and are buried in the Katyn Forest.
Optina Pustyn
The churches are painted in bright vivid colours which contrast strongly with the white snow. The buildings are grand - majestic even - with tall onion shaped spires arching up into the sky, all topped by the crosses of eastern christendom... it seems a very romantic setting... it is perhaps only the stones in the graveyard at the back of the camp that will hint otherwise.
Optina Pustyn Today
The monastery has been returned to the monks. These churches are filled once again with daily services, monks chanting and the sounds of Georgian choral singing.
