Gomel. St. Nicholas Monastery.

On March 31, 1900, employees of the Polesie Railway established a trusteeship to collect voluntary donations from believers for the construction of a stone church of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of travelers. Among the donors were very famous people: Saint Righteous John of Kronstadt, who sent funds for the construction and supported the trusteeship with his prayers, Princess Irina Ivanovna Paskevich-Erivanskaya, who donated a plot of land for the construction of the church, and others. Four years passed, and on October 22 (November 4, new style), 1904, on the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the Nikolsky Church was consecrated. In 1930, it was closed along with other churches in Gomel, but during the Great Patriotic War it was reopened, and until 1990 it was the only functioning Orthodox church in Gomel.

The St. Nicholas Monastery was founded on December 8, 1994 at the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Gomel with the blessing of Bishop Aristarchus (Stankevich) of Gomel and Zhlobin and the initiative of Archimandrite Anthony (Kuznetsov).

The monastery has a library and a Sunday school for children and adults, a Bible school with departments for children, youth and adults, a course of lectures on the "Fundamentals of the Orthodox Worldview", lectures on current topics are given for adults by both the monastery's clergy and invited teachers from city universities, and a youth brotherhood operates at the monastery.

Among the relics in the monastery, the miraculous copy of the Kozelshchanskaya Icon of the Mother of God, given to Archimandrite Anthony (Kuznetsov) by the last abbess of the Kozelshchansky Monastery, Abbess Feofaniya, is especially revered. This icon is placed above the royal doors of the Nikolsky Church and is lowered for veneration during the service. Akathist singing is performed before this icon every Wednesday. Every Sunday at Vespers, an Akathist to Saint and Miracle Worker Nicholas is sung. In 2007, a particle of the relics of Saint Nicholas was brought to the monastery from Italy. The monastery also keeps a reliquary with the relics of saints and an icon of Saint Righteous John of Kormya with a particle of his relics and an icon with the relics of the Optina Elders.