On May 12, 2025, on the territory of the Sukhotinsky Znamensky Convent in the village of Sukhotinka in the Znamensky Municipal District of the Tambov Region, acting head of the Tambov Region E.A. Pervyshov and Metropolitan Feodosiy of Tambov and Rasskazovsky took part in the laying of the monastery orchard in memory of the soldiers of the SVR.
Before boarding, Metropolitan Theodosius celebrated a prayer service for the beginning of a good cause. In his welcoming speech after the service, the head of the Tambov Archdiocese noted that the memorable event at the monastery brought together the leaders of the region, clergy, Tambov scientists, university and college teachers, students, soldiers, relatives and friends of the participants of the SVR, residents of the region who highly appreciate the feat of the soldiers participating in the SVR.
The head of the Tambov Region, E.A. Pervyshov, welcomed the audience and stressed that in the Year of Defender of the Fatherland, the Garden of Memory will become a living symbol of the bond of generations and will preserve the memory of all the heroes who gave their lives for the Motherland.
The day before, specialists carried out the planning of the land plot for the future garden; student volunteers prepared planting sites for seedlings of fruit trees and shrubs, philanthropists arranged an extensive garden area.
Each tree planted by the relatives and friends of the participants of the SVO will have its own name. Relatives will be able to visit the Znamensky Monastery at any time to pray and take care of the planted trees.
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Sukhotinsky Bogoroditse-Znamensky Convent was opened by the decree of the Holy Synod in 1849. It is located 30 km from Tambov in the Znamensky district on the banks of the Naru-Tambov River.
In 1918, the monastery was closed. Until 1923, it housed an agricultural commune for prisoners. During the Great Patriotic War, the monastery housed a hospital, and after the war, a home for the elderly. In the mid-1960s, patients of a neuropsychiatric boarding school were settled in the monastery, which operated until 2016.
During the Soviet years, the main temple of the monastery, the Znamensky Monastery, and part of the cell buildings were destroyed, and the stone wall was almost completely destroyed. Until the end of the twentieth century, only the temple in honor of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, which was used as a storage facility for a neuropsychiatric boarding school, remained in a dilapidated state.
In the 2000s, the revival of the monastery began. The temple in honor of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God was restored. At the request of Metropolitan Theodosius, in 2016 the Sukhotinsky monastery was transferred to the ownership of the Tambov Diocese. In the same year, work began on the reconstruction of the stone monastery wall. In 2023, work began on the restoration of the cell building in the eastern part of the monastery and the construction of a chapel near the altar of the Iveron Temple. Communications were also laid in the monastery and paths paved.
In April of this year, Metropolitan Theodosius consecrated the dome and the cross for the chapel. Currently, work is underway in one of the former monastery buildings to create a center for women with children in difficult situations, as well as landscaping the territory.
The project of the memorial orchard was developed by specialists of Michurinsky State Agrarian University. The garden has more than 200 seedlings of apple trees, pears, cherries, plums, as well as berry bushes provided by scientists of the I.V. Michurin Scientific Research Center.