Hypotheses and facts in the history of the St. Anthony Dymsky Monastery

St. Anthony-Dymsky Monastery was founded by St. Anthony in 1243. The source of data on the early history of the monastery is the life of the saint, compiled in the late 17th to early 18th centuries. The information contained in it was not taken for granted by some researchers and was regarded as an artificially created legend to enhance the role of the monastery and make the fact of its existence more ancient. The surviving documentary evidence of the existence of the monastery dates back to the middle of the 15th century, then we have at our disposal written archival materials dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries. In the presented publication, a comparative analysis of the available sources and the results of the archaeological study of its territory is carried out in order to clarify the available information.