Khutyn Monastery of Saviour's Transfiguration and of St. Varlaam (Russian: Хутынский Спасо-Преображенский Варлаамиев монастырь) used to be the holiest monastery of the medieval Novgorod Republic. The monastery is situated on the right bank of the Volkhov River some 10 km north northeast of Velikiy Novgorod, in the village of Khutyn, whose name is perhaps derived from the Russian "khudoi" (худой) meaning "ill, bad, or poor," possibly suggesting that the village or the region around it was an evil place, or a poor area among the marshes and near the river. Image:Hutyn.jpg