After the Russian Revolution the new atheist government sought to eradicate religion, and the local Soviet closed the monastery in September 1922. The Glinskaya Icon of the Nativity of the Theotokos was transported to a nearby village, where it vanished without a trace. Many of the monks were killed or imprisoned and many of its buildings, including seven of its eight churches, were demolished; the remaining church was converted into a club. The monastery property was in turn a playground, cooperative farm, and industrial combine). With the beginning of the Second World War, and the occupation of the area by German troops, the site was abandoned, and twelve monks, led by the exiled Archimandrite Nektary, returned to the site. The revived monastery remained open from 1942 to 1961, during which the monastery experienced a spiritual revival. However, life at the monastery was difficult: there was no electricity or plumbing, and often the monks had to subsist on beets because they had no bread. Yet many pilgrims came to pray and work to rebuild the monastery. After nineteen years, the monastery was closed in 1961 by the Soviet government as a result of Nikita Khrushchev’s renewed persecution of Christianity.