One of the most visited holy places in Bashkortostan is the Pokrovo-Ennatsky Monastery in the village of Novomikhaylovka, Fedorovsky District. The Orthodox monastery was founded on the initiative of the temple builders, the local landowners of the Ennatskys, on September 30, 1893. The first wooden church appeared in the monastery on June 29, 1894. The holy Monk Zosima of Ennatskaya, Ufimskaya, began her monastic path in the Pokrovsky Monastery. The holy relics of the venerable aged nun are now in the monastery and are its main shrine.
At the end of 1917, the monastery was devastated. Subsequently, the buildings housed: a warehouse, a commune, a school for tractor drivers, and during the Great Patriotic War - an orphanage for evacuated children.
Approximately in the 40s, two small monastery churches, the upper and the lower, were ruined completely. The wooden monastery buildings were dismantled and taken to Fedorovka, Dedovo, to be used for various institutions.
In 1971-1976, the Ashkadar pioneer camp was built in the territory of the monastery. In 2000, at the request of Nikon, Bishop of Ufa and Sterlitamak, the Pokrovsky Monastery was opened. In 2005, they began to revive the place.
Tremendous credit for this goes to the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Nikolay (Chernyshov).
The Iversky Church is also located in the territory of the monastery. In winter, all services are held in this temple, because it is heated.
In addition to the Iversky (gateway) church, the ensemble of the revived monastery includes the baptismal church in the name of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, the wedding church of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, the refectory church dedicated to the Archangel of God Michael and all Heavenly Forces disembodied, the house church of the Blessed Matrona in Moscow, Nikolsky Church as well as abbot, monastic, nursing buildings, houses for workers, livestock breeders, a pilgrimage center.
The Pokrovo-Ennatsky Monastery is also a large social, economic, pilgrimage, and educational complex.
“We also bear a great social burden: people who find themselves in a difficult life situation are sheltered here. We have our own garden, vegetable garden, apiary, chickens, cows, goats, we have built our own bakery, ” Archimandrite Nikolay says.
To the northeast of the monastery, in the lowland on the banks of the Ashkadar River, there is a monastery source, fossilized by the holy Venerable Zosima of Ennatskaya with healing water. Near the source, there is a monastery skete, a chapel, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.
At present, the monastic building and the house church of St. Sergius of Radonezh are being completed.
