Sts. Boris and Gleb's Convent

The Convent of Sts Borys and Hlib of the Izyum eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church stands in the village of Vodiane, Zmiiv raion, in the Kharkiv region⁶.

The house grew out of a parish church. The stone church of the holy passion-bearers Borys and Hlib was raised on the site of a wooden one that had stood since 1819, on a high hill beside the road from Kharkiv to Zmiiv, with the money of the local landowner Serafyma Mykolaivna Kliucharova and of Fedir Oleksandrovych Zelenohorsky, professor of the Kharkiv Imperial University — probably to the design of the architect Volodymyr Khrystoforovych Nemkin⁶. The church is cruciform in plan and single-domed, built of unplastered red brick and joined to a two-tier bell tower whose upper tier is shaped as an octagonal rotunda; the interior keeps wall painting of the early twentieth century that has artistic value⁶; the painting was done by the artist Fedir Ruban⁴. The building work went on for many years and was finally completed in 1905⁶. The following year both benefactors ended their earthly path and were buried in the church grounds, where the gravestones still recall them^{4, 6}.

In 1932 the church was closed and turned into a store for mineral fertiliser and building materials; in 1942 it was working again; in 1984-1985 the local civil authorities closed it a second time and intended to blow it up, but the faithful obtained the cancellation of the decision to destroy the shrine; in 1991 the services were resumed here⁴.

In 1995-1996, through the care of the rector appointed in 1995, large restoration works were carried out: the Kharkiv artist Mykola Masema restored the compositions of the old painting and executed new ones⁴. After that the ruling Metropolitan of Kharkiv and Bohodukhiv raised the rector to the rank of hegumen and blessed him to build a residential block beside the church for the future monastery; the site of the building was consecrated on 6 August 1996⁴. He afterwards became the spiritual father of the house, was raised to the rank of archimandrite and appointed superior of the Protection monastery in Kharkiv⁴.

The monastery was established by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of 15 April 1997^{4, 6}. On 18 July of the same year the monastery well was dug⁴. In that same year 1997, with the money of parishioners and benefactors, the first residential block and a number of outbuildings were raised and the old house of the former parish school was restored, and from May 1999 to March 2000 a second residential block was built⁴. In 2012 the church of the Transfiguration of the Lord was laid down⁴.

The best-known event in the life of the house took place on 20 July 1997: during the Divine Liturgy in the monastery church the ancient image of the Saviour Not-Made-by-Hands was renewed⁴. As the eparchy describes the event, the icon shone with a bright golden light, the image of the Saviour came out more clearly, and at its sides the faces of the Archangel Michael and the Archangel Raphael became visible⁷. The icon had been given to the monastery by a woman of the neighbouring village of Chervona Poliana in the same Zmiiv raion⁷. On 28 October 1997 the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church resolved to hold the renewed icon to be wonderworking and to keep the celebration of the event on 20 July⁷. The ruling metropolitan composed a service and an akathist to the All-Merciful Saviour, which is read in the house every day⁷.

The cycle of the house's feasts consists of the Transfiguration of the Lord on 19 August, the celebration in honour of the Image Not-Made-by-Hands of the Lord Jesus Christ on 29 August, the commemoration of the wonderworking renewal of the icon "the Saviour Not-Made-by-Hands" on 20 July, and the memory of the holy passion-bearers Borys and Hlib on 15 May, 6 August and 18 September⁵.

The house continues to build, and the sisters spend their time in labour and prayer: they work the vegetable garden and look after the apiary and the livestock⁶. The Synod has returned to the affairs of this monastery more than once: on 26 July 2004 it confirmed a superior¹; by its journal no. 68 of 25 September 2013 it appointed the present superior, with elevation to the rank of abbess²; and on 19 June 2014 it blessed the change of the house's name from the Kharkiv form to the Izyum one and the registration of its statute in a new edition³. And on 20 July 2026, the day of the honouring of the wonderworking icon, the ruling archbishop served the Divine Liturgy at the house, followed by a rite of glorification before the icon⁸.