Otroch Monastery

(or Monastery of the Assumption of Mary), a monastery in Tver’ (now Kalinin), on the left bank of the Volga River at the Volga’s confluence with the Tvertsa River. It was established in the second half of the 13th century.

Before the conquest of Tver’ by Ivan III Vasil’evich in 1485, Otroch Monastery was the largest monastery-landholder and cultural center of the Tver’ Principality. In the early 14th century one of its monks, Akindin, wrote “An Epistle to Mikhail Iaroslavich of Tver’,” in which he argued for the primacy of secular power over spiritual and the right of the prince to intervene in the affairs of the church. Somewhat later, the “Tale of the Death of Mikhail of Tver’ Among the Horde” was written, probably by the abbot of Otroch Monastery, Aleksandr. The tale sharply attacked the Tatar-Mongol domination of Rus’. Maksim Grek lived in Otroch Monastery in a state of opala (official disgrace) from 1531 to 1551.