Cholmogory, Abbey of
CHOLMOGORY, ABBEY OF
Former Russian monastery dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, situated on one of the islands forming an arm of the Northern Dvina River about 70 miles from where it empties into the White Sea, in Archangel oblast, Russia, in the archeparchy of Archangel. From the 14th century the site had been a trading center for merchants from Novgorod, and in the 16th century it was frequented also by English merchants of the Moscow Company. About 1355 Ivan Ivanovich, Archbishop of Novgorod, stationed an agent there to collect the tithes. A monastery was situated there from about the same period, and the monks maintained themselves by trade in fish and salt. The town of Cholmogory developed independently of the monastery in the late 16th century. Almost nothing can be learned of the abbey's history because of present conditions. In 1691 the Transfiguration Cathedral was built nearby. The Russian poet Lomonosov (d. 1765) was born in Cholmogory.
Bibliography: Bol’shaia sovetskaia entsiklopediia, ed. v. v. kuibysheva et al., 65 v. (Moscow 1927–47) 46:283. Masaryhkův slovník naučnȳ, 7 v. (Prague 1925–33) 3:490.
[j. papin]