Valday Iversky Monastery

Valday Iversky Monastery is located on one of the small islands of Lake Valdayskoye, near Novgorod. It was named in honor of the Iviron Theotokos icon (999), which was kept in the Monastery of Iviron on Mount Athos. Patriarch Nikon of Moscow and all Russia commissioned an exact copy of the Iviron icon in 1648. In 1654, at Patriarch Nikon's request, the village of Valday and the territory belonging to the state administration adjacent to the monastery were transferred to the newly built Valday Iversky Monastery (according to the plan of the Monastery of Iviron on Mount Athos), where the icon was transferred. The commissioned copy of this icon remained in the Nikon Cathedral in Moscow.