Khutyn Monastery

(also the Varlaamii Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior), a monastery founded in the late 12th century by Varlaamii of Khutyn’ (died 1193), the son of a Novgorod boyar. The monastery is located in Khutyn’, 10 km north of Novgorod on the right bank of the Volkhov River. Varlaamii acquired the monastery’s first lands; the monastery eventually became one of the largest feudal landowners among all the Novgorod monasteries. Beginning in the mid-15th century Khutyn’ Monastery was under the protection of the grand princes of Moscow; it later enjoyed the protection of the tsars. In the mid-18th century the monastery owned more than 5,500 serfs. Its buildings suffered grievously from the barbarism of the fascist invaders. Part of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration (1515, with a covered porch) and the Church of St. Varlaamii (1552) are preserved.