Varnavino

Varnavino lies on the Vetluga River in the forest country north of Nizhny Novgorod. Cultivated clearings and river access supported a settlement that grew beside an Orthodox monastic community.

Local tradition dates the hermit Barnabas's arrival on the riverbank to 1417. A monastery developed there and held land, forest and fishing rights along the Vetluga. The monastery was closed in 1764; its adjoining settlement became the district town of Varnavin in 1778.