Antonievo-Siysky Monastery

The Siya Monastery of St. Antonius (Antonievo-Siysky Monastery) is a Russian Orthodox monastery that was founded by Saint Antonius of Siya deep in the woods, 90 km (56 mi) to the south of Kholmogory, in 1520. Currently the monastery is located in Kholmogorsky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast in Russia, inside the Siya Zakaznik nature protected area. The monastery takes its name from the Siya River, a tributary of the Northern Dvina. This river route allowed the monks to travel to the Solovetsky Monastery and other centres of spiritual life. There was also a station on the trade route connecting Archangel (the main sea port of Muscovy) and the Russian capital of Moscow. Following the saint's death in 1556, the monastery grew on the salt trade with Western Europe and developed into one of the foremost centres of Christianity in the Russian North. Ivan the Terrible and his son Feodor granted it important privileges and much land. By 1579, the monastery owned 50 versts of ploughlands stretching towards Kargopol. In 1599, Boris Godunov exiled his political opponent Feodor Romanov to this remote monastery. While many of his relatives were starved to death in other cloisters, Feodor took monastic vows and the name Philaret and was eventually raised to the dignity of hegumen (abbot) of the monastery. Later he became the Patriarch of Moscow, and his s

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