A few words from myself. I will not say that I am too interested in church topics. But this article seemed interesting to me. Moreover, I never understood what makes ordinary people leave worldly life. And then repost. There are many letters \u003d)
Black shawl, baggy cassock and complete submission to another woman. Why do girls and grandmothers go to monasteries these days?The correspondent of "MK" in St. Petersburg "told how she lived for five years in a monastery
And how they live there - is it as decency as it seems from the outside. The correspondent of "MK" in St. Petersburg "experienced all the delights of tonsure and modern monasticism, moreover, in the largest and most famous nunnery in St. Petersburg - Voskresensky Novodevichy, whose temples and buildings are located on Moskovsky Prospekt.
Handkerchief test
I have not had any problems in worldly life. She was prosperous and carefree: higher education, work, my mother and brother who love me, a large comfortable apartment. No disappointments, losses, betrayals ...
Black-robed nuns used to bewilder and fear me. Go to a monastery? To be among them? And such a thought never occurred. I loved comfort, and any prohibitions and restrictions caused a strong protest in me. Church trips were limited to the fact that I lit candles in front of the icons. But one day I had a chance to help around the temple. My mother, who regularly cleaned up the small Athonite church of the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent, could not come. I agreed to replace her without much desire. It was my intention to quickly do as asked and leave. But the nun-churchwoman greeted me so warmly that I stayed until late at night! And even came the next day.
I wanted to know how the nuns live - what they are in everyday life, in everyday life, hidden from outsiders, leaving the church to their cell building through a gate with a warning inscription "Unauthorized entry is strictly prohibited."
Having become acquainted with all the sisters of the monastery, Mother Abbess (abbess of the monastery) Sophia, I began to go to church more and more often. I was accepted for obedience (as the work is called in the monastery) in a local shop with a good salary and two meals a day.
But less than three months had passed when, imperceptibly to myself, I found myself among the novices. How did this happen? The talk of the sisters about salvation and a joyfully calm life in the monastery, about the mission of the chosen one of the bride of Christ, had an effect. In a word, they were recruited.
The nuns called me to them: to pray and be saved. True, there were those among them who tried to stop: "Baby, do not take a rash step." They warned: the abbess is strict, she may not accept, she must go through an interview. This further piqued my curiosity: such a good one - and will not accept? What kind of exam is this so strict? The abbess asked me to tell about myself. She asked if I was married and if I would have such a desire, and then blessed me: “Come!”. I didn't even have a recommendation from the priest. They gave me a black skirt, jacket and scarf. They settled in a single spacious cell. I lived above everyone else - in the attic, between two churches, above me - the monastery bell tower. In the morning, everything in the room trembled from the resounding sound of a large bell.
It turns out that such a cell was a great privilege. Usually, everyone who is accepted by the abbess into the monastery first lives in a pilgrim hotel. In a cell for 10 or 15 people. Doing dirty and hard work. They eat in the working refectory. They pray separately from the sisters.
"How long will I last?" - I thought.
I never thought it would be so hard to constantly walk around with a headscarf covered. She constantly itches, her hair begins to fall out after a while. She complained to the abbess, she assented: yes, yes, I have the same thing. I wanted to make my life easier and get a haircut, but she did not bless, they say, leave a braid for a tonsure! It turned out that you also need to sleep in a scarf! Mother Abbess came to her cell at night, checked what her sister was doing: sleeping or praying, what she was wearing, what was on her bedside table.
Lost fiance - made a career
The sisters are not blessed to spread about the life they led in the world, age and the reason for leaving for the monastery. But women are women - and somehow, gradually, from conversations, everyone learned about each other. No one will leave a good and prosperous life for a monastery. A push is needed: something must happen so shocking that white light will not be nice.
Women of any age come to the monastery. But underage girls or married women, as well as those with small children, are not accepted according to the rules of the monastery. True, even children can simply live there, performing the obedience that they can do. In the summer months a 10-year-old girl came to visit us. She was instructed during the service to watch the candles, and during the day to stamp books in the monastery library, and a 14-year-old schoolgirl sang in the kliros and helped in the garden.
Among the 22 women with whom I shared table and shelter, three were very old age, four were girls in their twenties. Most of the sisters are between 35 and 60 years old. Many were worried about the growing children left in the world. They constantly asked the monastic authorities to go home - to solve the problems of their daughters. Some of this subsequently left the monastery.
One sister came to the monastery immediately after the death of her beloved five-year-old son. She unquestioningly went to any obedience. Hard work even seemed to delight her. She tirelessly scraped, cleaned, washed, weeded, trying to forget the grief at work. But she did not find consolation from grief - a year later she asked to return to the world. Another sister, having lost both her parents and the groom, on the contrary, made a career in the monastery - in a relatively short time, according to monastic standards, she became a nun and the right hand of the abbess.
The older the nun is, the longer she lives in the monastery, the more the monastery benefits from her. Taught by bitter experience, she does not fall into the temptations of new-born sisters. He quickly finds his bearings in a non-standard situation. These 60-70-year-old grandmothers work, not yielding to the young - and they briskly lay bows, and dig in the garden, and cook in the refectory. And getting up in the morning, unlike young dormouse, is not difficult for them. The pension of the old women goes to the monastic treasury, which again classifies them as profitable nuns (living) for the monastery. And monastic life is also beneficial to them - they will feed and heal. And when the Lord calls, they will be buried here, in the cemetery on the territory of the monastery, on the monastic site.
This is what the life-giving cross does!
Obedience is the meaning of monasticism. Any virtue fades in its absence. The obedience assigned by the abbess at first may not coincide at all with what the new novice did in worldly life. Before us, new sisters, an elderly nun once confessed: “I worked in a bank in the world! I was a big boss! And on the very first day they sent me to obedience to the barn. What cows! I am afraid of frogs ... ”However, it is not accepted to refuse obedience. It is believed that in any service you can find your salvation and draw closer to God.
I had obedience in the refectory. Once after dinner, having washed the dishes, I went down to the cold room (we simply called it "refrigerator") for groceries. Taking what was required, she turned around and was stunned - the door was closed. I pulled the handle - it does not open. I was really scared. Shouting, calling for help is useless: the doors are thick, and none of the sisters could be in the basement at that time. There was not even a call - in a remote room, the phone did not receive a signal. And the low temperature was already doing its job: I was starting to freeze. So that panic would not take over me, I began to pray. She crossed the door. She began to investigate her. Suddenly my attention was attracted by a small spring, and I decided to press it. Opened! When I told the abbess about this in the evening, she sympathized like a true nun: “Well, we would have missed you and found you later. And to die in holy obedience is salutary. "
I remember another instance of the power of prayer. Once I leave the refectory after supper. I cannot understand why all the sisters were crowding at the door to the exit from the building. I push her - not moving. The lock is probably stuck. "Are you alone, or what, so smart?" - the treasurer mother says mockingly. And then a happy thought struck me. I loudly say the words of the Jesus Prayer, baptize the door coarsely and push again. To my amazement, it opened easily. I turn around - in the ringing silence hanging over the hall, the sisters look at me with eyes round with surprise: this is what prayer can do. They were already going to spend the night here.
Blessing for an injection
My same age, thirty-year-old novice Anna, came a year earlier than me. Contrary to the wishes of unbelieving parents, who had an only daughter. Her worldly profession was a paramedic in an ambulance. Laughter and chatterbox, a player with rock music in her ears, favorite clothes - jeans and caps. But one day she entered the monastery, and something in her mind switched. The sweet singing of the sisters in the service touched her soul. Her feet themselves brought her to Sunday school, where she learned to read in Church Slavonic and sing in the kliros. She asked to help in the poorhouse. She stood out for her asceticism: she slept on boards, in her cell she did with a minimum of things, and walked in light sandals until the first snow. Timid and unsure of herself, Anna often became the object of ridicule by her older sisters. But she was boundlessly devoted to the abbess. She asked for blessings for everything, up to the point of absurdity: "Mother, bless your sick sister to get an injection!" Having received the blessing, the next moment he asks: “Mother! Bless your sister to anoint her ass with a cotton swab with alcohol before injecting it. ”True, she often woke up during morning prayers. For one of the holidays Anna was even given a gift with a hint: a huge bright blue alarm clock. As punishment for being late, she was often bowed down.
Bowing is quite humiliating in the eyes of an ordinary person. You get up in the center of the church or the refectory (at the discretion of the abbess) and while everyone is eating, you bow down - there may be three, or maybe forty. Depending on how strong the abbess's anger is. The novices of public bows are shy. Adult nuns do them indifferently and quickly, like push-ups: fell - with his forehead on the floor - jumped ...
Tour to Nicholas the Wonderworker
Six months of my life in the monastery have passed. Once, after supper, the head of the sacristy (the place where church utensils and clothes are kept) approached me: "Come to us tomorrow afternoon." I wonder why? Probably my robe is ready, which they promised me to sew for several months. No, she called me sacrificing to try on my coat. They announced to me that together with the other sisters I was going on a pilgrimage trip to the Italian city of Bari, on the feast of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker!
Twice a year - for Nicholas the Winter and Nicholas the Summer - Mother flies to Italy. On the pilgrimage trip, he takes only the sisters, who have not had any comments for six months. And they give out a decent coat for the duration of the trip: "Do not fly as a ragged girl, do not dishonor your mother."
In Bari, in a huge and beautiful church-basilica, we took turns kissing the relics of St. Nicholas of Mirliki. When I was walking to my seat, my mother suddenly stopped me: "Tell me, what did you ask St. Nicholas?" I replied, "To become a nun." She smiled, "This is a good wish."
Don't complain and don't ask
The novice Daria is the closest to the abbess. Her "ears" in the monastery. He will quickly retell everything that he hears in detail. Dasha is an orphan. Her family was considered dysfunctional. She came to the monastery very young. First of all, as soon as I entered the gate, I saw a large dog. Noticing the sister, who turned out to be a dean, she asked: “Oh, what a dog! Can I stroke her? " Received the first obedience: "You can go for a walk with her!" Dasha was sent to study as a regent at the theological academy. The abbess, out of pity for the orphan, settled her in her building. However, the mother does not even show indulgence to her favorites: a fault entails a punishment - penance. So, the abbess “undressed” Dasha - she took the apostle and chiton from her for a year, and evicted her from her body, and even drove her out of the monastery for a while.
To be expelled from the monastery is the most terrible punishment. And no one can be immune from this. Among the sisters who have been living in full board for years and without worrying about earning their daily bread, there is a persistent belief that after the monastery, having tasted the joy of prayer, the sister who has gone into the world will certainly be unhappy. It is very difficult to return to the cruel world. They scare each other with a story about one such sister who could not stand the return to the world and went crazy.
It is not customary in the monastery to have attachments: neither to a sister, nor to a household item, nor to obedience. But still, each has a girlfriend, whom you can believe in your ear in a secluded corner your resentment and listen to the same complaints in response. You can't complain to the abbess!
Nun Anastasia has been singing since the age of 7. Singing is as natural to her as air, food, sleep. Once on the hegumen's question about well-being, Anastasia could not resist: "Oh, mother, how tired I am!" It happened after the liturgy. The next morning, Anastasia was not allowed to enter the choir: "Mother blessed you to pray separately." No matter how much the young nun cried or repented, everything was useless. Her forced rest lasted two weeks, and seemed like a century. Abbess about her fatigue, she no longer stuttered. This is how the sisters walk in pairs and console each other.
Effective care
However, sometimes this friendship takes a very different turn. After one incident, which stirred up the entire monastery for several months, the abbess began to suppress the solitude of the sisters.
The novices Olga and Galina were friends, they simply did not spill water. Then Galina took monastic vows and ... three weeks later both escaped from the monastery! The abode hummed like a beehive. Many sisters were crying. In the cells of the fugitives, disorder reigned: clothes on the floor, unmade beds - they left at dawn. Without saying goodbye to anyone. Everyone was perplexed - after all, what correct and exemplary sisters were! However, the abbess judged as follows: the novice seduced the nun to escape. To leave without a blessing (especially for a newly tonsured nun) is a grave sin: there will be no peace in the soul until death.
The sisters left the monastery with a blessing. The nun Irina had the most theatrical departure. In the morning, while reading the prayer, she went up to the temple icon of the Mother of God "Joy and Consolation" and threw a heap of clothes under her. The apostles, robes, tunics, klobuk - everything flew in different directions. It was unusual, in the twilight of the church, with burning candles, and therefore it was remembered forever. The nun was already dressed in ordinary women's clothing: a colored skirt and a scarf. Irina had an unrestrained character, constantly defied the abbess, offended her younger sisters, and therefore her departure from many caused a sigh of relief.
Edited righteous woman
Nun Olga is an orphan from a provincial Kazakh town. Such people are especially loved in monasteries. Since these novices and nuns are the most unrequited. Outside the walls of the monastery, no one is waiting for them, and they with all their might cling to the right to remain "supported" by God. Before the Voskresensky Monastery in St. Petersburg, Olga worked in Kazakhstan in a station buffet as a distributor of food. A hopeless and difficult life forced her to move to her only kindred spirit - a godmother in the Leningrad region. I went to services at the local church. Father, noticing how out of this world she was, once advised her to go to a monastery. Olya gladly agreed - what awaited her further in this life? And in the monastery she is well fed and dressed - she does not need more. Olga is irreplaceable at work, where you have to wash, cook or clean in the kitchen, but she will fall into melancholy, bordering on despair, if she is put to obedience where she needs to think.
By the way, the thoughts of the nuns do not belong to them. I kept a diary. Once I had the imprudence to mention this abbess. "Bring me tomorrow!" I'm completely at a loss: how? Would the abbess take it into her head to read in front of everyone at a common meal? I decide to fill my notebooks with ink, so that I don't read these revelations. And then a brilliant idea comes to mind! “We need to be creative about the assignment. To fill with ink is to show disrespect. I'll rewrite my notebooks. I will leave what I think is necessary. I'll decorate with pictures to add volume. "
I copied notebooks for four hours! The result of patient diligence was one common notebook. Mother did not say a word about the diary. Only two weeks later she blessed me to bring it. And when she got it, she held out in disappointment: "Just one notebook?" I reproachfully remarked to her: "Are you going to read someone else's diary?" She read it. A few days later, she returned the notebook to me, strewing it with remarks and corrections, supplying with quotations from the Holy Gospel. As she gave me the diary, she said: "If only you were like in your edited diary!"
Every day after dinner, which began at 21 o'clock, the abbess Sophia summed up the day, admonished the guilty, made plans for the future or shared her impressions of the pilgrimage trips. The attendants for the refectory all this time shifted at its door: furtively glancing at the clock - they would have to get out until late at night. So, the next day there was a risk of oversleeping the morning prayer. And at one of the posts, the abbess suggested making dinner at 16 o'clock. And those who find it difficult to endure a long break from dinner to breakfast were offered to drink tea with cookies in private in the evening. Everyone liked the innovation and took root!
Skipping a joint meal or being late for it (coming later than the abbess) is considered sacrilege ("Meal is the continuation of the liturgy!") And entails severe punishment, up to and including deprivation of food or communion.
Mother Superior is not a friend
Among the monasteries, which in large numbers, like mushrooms after a rain, began to open in the late 90s throughout Russia, there is not a single one similar. How life proceeds in them and what kind of sisters there are in it - depends exclusively on the abbess. My abbess was a very strict woman. Not forgiving the slightest offense, not compromising, generously distributing penances.
By their very nature, women who live in a monastery are no different from worldly ones: they are also lovers of chatting about life, they can also quarrel in the kitchen, arguing about how to cook soup correctly, they also rejoice in new things - for example, a new apostle (headdress ) or cassock. Most of the sisters, of course, are narrow-minded: most often they are uneducated, intimidated, afraid to express their opinion (even when the abbess herself asks him!). Once my mother asked me: "Does anyone use you advice?" I shrugged my shoulders in bewilderment: “I live by observations and from books. Who, besides you, can still come up here for advice! "
Monasticism has not become the meaning of my life. Being a nun is not only about giving up worldly pleasures. This is a special state of mind. When any nuisance that unsettles a normal person is a joy for a nun - the opportunity to suffer for Christ.
I “suffered for Christ,” crying and complaining to the sisters. Once she was guilty and received a well-deserved penance from the abbess - she was excommunicated from a joint meal with her sisters. Not a terrible punishment in fact, but I really did not like it.
I must go and be reconciled with my mother! I can't afford such a punishment, ”I blurted out to one of the sisters.
Do you think what you are talking about? - exclaimed the shocked nun Anastasia (she endured all her punishments steadfastly and if she suffered, then in silence). - She's the abbess! And it is impossible to make peace with her. She's not a friend. She herself must remove the penance.
It is not customary in the monastery to reason and have rational thinking. And the most difficult thing that I personally could not overcome was to submit myself to someone else's will. Resignedly to carry out the order, no matter how ridiculous it may seem. You have to be born a nun.
MK-help
Monastic day schedule
Not everyone can withstand the monotony of monastic life. After all, in essence, the daily routine has not changed over the years. In the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent, he was as follows:
05:30 - rise. The morning in the monastery begins with twelve strikes of the largest bell (the beginning of each meal is also announced by twelve strikes).
06:00 - morning monastic rule (prayer, which parishioners are not allowed to attend). Only those on duty at the refectory are allowed not to go to it.
07: 15–8: 30 - liturgy (the sisters pray until "Our Father ...", then go to breakfast and obedience, until the end of the service, only the choir singers remain).
09:00 - breakfast - the only meal at will, everyone, without exception, must come for lunch and dinner.
10: 00-12: 00 - obedience, every day it is new: today there can be obedience in the monastery shop, tomorrow - the church, the day after tomorrow - the refectory, the cloakroom (cloakroom), the hotel, the vegetable garden ...
12:00 pm - lunch.
After lunch until 16:00 - obedience.
Dinner at 16:00.
17: 00–20: 00 - evening service, after which free time.
23:00 - hang up.
Zhanna Chul
Monasticism, voluntary renunciation of worldly joys is an act, a way of life, similar to a heroic deed. It is impossible to hide in a monastery from any problems, and those who cannot find their purpose in worldly life, in most cases, do not find it in the monastery either. Monks do not deny asylum to anyone, but true monasticism is the lot of strong-willed women and men. By no means every person is able to live hourly according to the laws of mercy and love for one's neighbor, diligence, to observe unswervingly all the commandments of God, and to dissolve in Christianity, forgetting about oneself and renouncing everything worldly.
How the life of nuns works
Those who seek peace and tranquility, trying to get away from problems, hiding behind the walls of the monastery, as a rule, do not know anything about the nuns in the monastery.
Many women believe that nuns pray from early morning until late at night, seeking salvation and absolution for their sins and for all of humanity, but this is not so. No more than 4-6 hours are allotted for reading prayers daily, and the rest of the time is devoted to performing certain duties, the so-called obediences. For some of the sisters, obedience is doing garden work, some working in the kitchen, and some doing embroidery, cleaning or caring for the sick. Everything that is necessary for life, the nuns produce and grow themselves.
It is not forbidden to seek medical help for novices and nuns. Moreover, in each monastery there is a sister with a medical education and a certain experience in this field.
For some reason, worldly people believe that nuns are limited in communication, both with the outside world and with each other. This opinion is erroneous - the sisters are allowed to communicate with each other and with people who have nothing to do with the monastery and the service of the Lord. But idle talk is not welcome, the conversation always comes down to the canons of Christianity, the commandments of God and service to the Lord. In addition, to convey the laws of Christianity and serve as an example of obedience for - this is one of the main duties and a peculiar destiny of a nun.
Watching television programs of secular literature in the monastery is not welcome, although both are here. But newspapers and television are perceived by the inhabitants of the monastery not as entertainment, but as a source of information about what is happening outside the walls of their residence.
How to become nuns
Becoming a nun is not as easy as many people think. After arriving at the monastery, the girl is given time, and at least 1 year, to reflect on her choice and get to know the life of nuns. During this year she goes from a pilgrim to a hard worker.
Pilgrims are not allowed to share a meal, do not attend services, and do not communicate with nuns. If the desire to serve God does not disappear during her seclusion, then the girl becomes and receives the right to participate in the life of the monastery on an equal basis with all its inhabitants.
After filing a petition for tonsure, at least 3 years pass before the sacrament of initiation takes place and the girl becomes a true nun.
First try
I went to the monastery several times. The first desire arose when I was 14 years old. Then I lived in Minsk, was a first-year student of a music school. He had just started going to church and asked to sing in the church choir of the cathedral. In a shop in one of the Minsk churches, I accidentally came across a detailed life of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov - a thick book, about 300 pages. I read it in one fell swoop and immediately wanted to follow the example of the saint.
Soon I had the opportunity to visit several Belarusian and Russian monasteries as a guest and pilgrim. In one of them, I became friends with the brethren, which at that time consisted of only two monks and one novice. Since then, I periodically came to this monastery to live. For various reasons, including because of my young age, in those years I did not manage to fulfill my dream.
The second time I thought about monasticism was years later. For several years I have been choosing between different monasteries - from St. Petersburg to Georgian mountain monasteries. I went there on a visit, looked closely. Finally he chose the Holy Elias Monastery of the Odessa Diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate, in which he entered as a novice. By the way, we met his governor and talked for a long time before a real meeting in one of the social networks.
Monastic life
Having crossed the threshold of the monastery with things, I realized that my worries and doubts were behind me: I am at home, now a difficult, but understandable and bright life, full of spiritual exploits, awaits me. It was quiet happiness.
The monastery is located in the very center of the city. We could freely leave the territory for a short time. One could even go to the sea, but for a longer absence it was necessary to obtain permission from the governor or dean. If you need to leave the city, permission had to be in writing. The fact is that there are many deceivers who put on vestments and pretend to be clergymen, monks or novices, but at the same time have nothing to do with the clergy or monasticism. These people go to cities and villages, collect donations. The permission from the monastery was a kind of shield: almost, without any problems, it was possible to prove that you were your own, real.
In the monastery itself I had a separate cell, and for this I am grateful to the governor. Most of the novices and even some of the monks lived in twos. All amenities were on the floor. The building was always clean and tidy. This was monitored by the civilian workers of the monastery: cleaners, laundresses and other employees. All household needs were satisfied in abundance: we were well fed in the fraternal refectory, they turned a blind eye to the fact that we also had our own food in our cells.
I felt great joy when something tasty was served in the refectory! For example, red fish, caviar, good wine. Meat products were not consumed in the common refectory, but we were not forbidden to eat them. Therefore, when I managed to buy something outside the monastery and drag it to my cell, I was also happy. Without a holy dignity, there were few opportunities to earn money on his own. For example, they paid, it seems, 50 hryvnia for ringing bells during a wedding. This was enough either to put it on the phone, or to buy something tasty. More serious needs were provided at the expense of the monastery.
We got up at 5:30, with the exception of Sundays and major church holidays (on such days two or three liturgies were served, and everyone got up depending on which liturgy he wanted or had to attend or serve on schedule). At 6:00 the morning monastic prayer rule began. All the brethren were to be present at it, except for the sick, absent, and so on. Then, at 7:00, the liturgy began, for which the serving priest, deacon and the sexton on duty stayed without fail. The rest are optional.
At this time, I either went to the office for obedience, or returned to my cell to sleep for a few more hours. At 9 or 10 o'clock in the morning (I don’t remember exactly) there was breakfast, which was optional. At 13 or 14 o'clock there was a dinner with the obligatory presence of all the brethren. At dinner, the lives of the saints, whose memory was commemorated on that day, were read, and important announcements were made by the monastery authorities. At 17 o'clock, the evening service began, after which there was dinner and the evening monastic prayer rule. The time for going to bed was not regulated in any way, but if the next morning someone from the brethren slept through the rule, they sent him to him with a special invitation.
Once I happened to serve the funeral service for a hieromonk. He was very young. Slightly older than me. I didn’t know him during his lifetime. They say he lived in our monastery, then he left somewhere and flew under the ban. So he died. But the funeral was, of course, like a priest. So, with all the brethren, we read the Psalter around the clock at the grave. I was on duty once at night. In the temple there was only a coffin with a body and me. And so for several hours, until I was replaced by the next one. There was no fear, although Gogol recalled several times, yes. Was there pity? I do not even know. Neither life nor death is in our hands, so pity - do not pity ... I only hoped that he had time to repent before dying. As well as each of us will have to be in time.
Leprosy of the novices
On Easter, after a long fast, I became so hungry that, without waiting for the general holiday meal, I ran across the road to McDonald's. Right in the cassock! I and everyone else had such an opportunity, and no one made any comments. By the way, many, leaving the monastery, changed into civilian clothes. I never parted with vestments. While I was living in the monastery, I simply did not have any secular clothes at all, except for jackets and pants, which had to be worn under a cassock in cold weather so as not to freeze.
In the monastery itself, one of the novices' amusements was fantasizing about who would be given a name during the tonsure. Usually, until the last moment, only the one who tonsured him and the ruling bishop knows him. The novice himself only learns about his new name under the scissors, so we joked: we found the most exotic church names and called each other with them.
And punishment
For systematic delays, they could bow down, in the most difficult cases - on the solea (the place next to the altar) in front of the parishioners, but this was done extremely rarely and always reasonably.
Sometimes, someone left without permission for several days. Once it was done by a priest. They returned him with the help of the governor directly by phone. But again, all such cases were like childish pranks in a large family. Parents can scold, but nothing more.
There was a funny incident with one worker. A worker is layman, socialitewho came to the monastery to work. He does not belong to the brethren of the monastery and does not have any obligations to the monastery, except for general church and general civil obligations (do not kill, do not steal, and more). At any moment the worker can leave, or, conversely, become a novice and follow the monastic path. So, one worker was put on the checkpoint of the monastery. A friend came to the governor and said: "What is your cheap parking in the monastery!" And it's generally free there! It turned out that this very employee was taking money from visitors for parking. Of course, he was severely reprimanded for this, but they did not kick him out.
The hardest part
When I only came to visit, the governor warned me that real life in the monastery is different from what is written in the lives and other books. Preparing me to take off my rose-colored glasses. That is, to some extent, I was warned about some negative things that might take place, but I was not ready for everything.
As in any other organization, there are, of course, very different people in the monastery. There were also those who tried to curry favor with their superiors, were conceited before the brethren, and so on. For example, once a hieromonk came to us, who was under a ban. This means that the ruling bishop temporarily (usually until repentance) forbade him to act as a punishment for some offense, but the priesthood itself was not removed. This father and I were the same age and at first became friends, communicated on spiritual topics. Once he even drew a kind caricature of me. I still keep it at home.
The closer it got to the lifting of the ban, the more I noticed that he was behaving with me more and more arrogantly. He was appointed assistant to the sacristan (the sacristan is responsible for all liturgical vestments), and I was a sexton, that is, during the performance of my duties I was directly subordinate to both the sacristan and his assistant. And here, too, it became noticeable how he began to treat me differently, but the apotheosis was his demand to turn to him on you after the ban was lifted from him.
For me, the most difficult not only in monastic life, but also in worldly life are subordination and labor discipline. In the monastery, it was absolutely impossible to communicate on equal terms with the fathers of higher rank or position. The hand of the authorities was visible always and everywhere. This is not only and not always the governor or the dean. It could be the same sacristan and anyone who is above you in the monastic hierarchy. Whatever happened, no later than an hour later they knew about it at the very top.
Although there were some among the brothers with whom I found a common language, despite not only the huge distance in the hierarchical structure, but also the considerable age difference. Once I came home on vacation and really wanted to get an appointment with the then Metropolitan of Minsk Filaret. I thought about my future fate and really wanted to consult with him. We often met when I was taking my first steps in the church, but I was not sure if he would remember me and accept me. It so happened that there were many venerable Minsk priests in the queue: rectors of large churches, archpriests. And then the Metropolitan comes out, points his hand at me and calls me into his office. Ahead of all abbots and archpriests!
He listened to me attentively, then talked at length about his monastic experience. I talked for a very long time. When I left the office, the whole line of archpriests and abbots looked at me very hard, and one abbot, who was familiar from the old days, took it and told me in front of everyone: "Well, you stayed there so long that you had to leave with panagia." ... Panagia is such an insignia worn by bishops and above. The line laughed, there was a relaxation of tension, but the secretary of the metropolitan then swore very much that I had taken the time of the metropolitan for so long.
Tourism and emigration
Months passed, and absolutely nothing happened to me in the monastery. I very much desired the tonsure, ordination and further service in the priesthood. I will not hide, I also had bishop's ambitions. If at the age of 14 I longed for ascetic monasticism and complete withdrawal from the world, then when I was 27 years old, one of the main motives for entering the monastery was the episcopal consecration. Even in my thoughts, I constantly imagined myself in the bishop's office and in the bishop's vestments. One of my main obediences in the monastery was working in the office of the governor. Documents for the ordination of some seminarians and other proteges (candidates for priesthood), as well as for monastic tonsure in our monastery, passed through the office.
Many henchmen and candidates for monastic tonsure passed through me. Some, before my very eyes, went from layman to hieromonk and received assignments to parishes. With me, as I said, absolutely nothing happened! In general, it seemed to me that the governor, who was also my confessor, to some extent alienated me from himself. Before entering the monastery, we were friends and communicated. When I came to the monastery as a guest, he constantly took me with him on trips. When I arrived at the same monastery with my things, at first it seemed to me that the governor seemed to be replaced. "Don't confuse tourism and emigration," some of the brothers joked. Largely because of this, I decided to leave. If I had not felt that the governor had changed his attitude towards me, or if I had at least understood the reason for such changes, perhaps I would have stayed in the monastery. And so I felt unnecessary in this place.
From scratch
I had access to the Internet, I could consult very experienced clergymen on any questions. I told everything about myself: what I want, what I don’t want, what I feel, what I’m ready for, and what I don’t. Two priests advised me to leave.
I left with great disappointment, with a grudge against the governor.But I I do not regret anything and am very grateful to the monastery and the brethren for the experience gained.When I was leaving, the governor told me that he could have tonsured me into monasticism five times, but something was stopping him.
When I left, there was no fear. There was such a leap into the unknown, a sense of freedom. This is what happens when you finally make a decision that feels right.
I started my life completely from scratch. When I decided to leave the monastery, I had not only civilian clothes, but also money. There was nothing at all except a guitar, a microphone, an amplifier, and my personal library. I brought her with me from worldly life. These were mainly church books, but there were also secular ones. The first I agreed to sell through the monastery shop, the second I took to the city book market and sold there. So I got some money. Several friends also helped - they sent me money orders.
The abbot of the monastery gave money for a one-way ticket (we ended up made up. Vladyka is a most beautiful person and a good monk. Communicating with him even once every few years is a great joy).I had a choice where to go: either to Moscow, or to Minsk, where I lived, studied and worked for many years, or to Tbilisi, where I was born. I chose the latter option and within a few days I was on the ship that was taking me to Georgia.
Friends met me in Tbilisi. They also helped to rent an apartment and start a new life. Four months later, I returned to Russia, where I live permanently to this day. After long wanderings, I finally found my place right here. Today I have my own small business: I am an individual entrepreneur, I provide translation and interpretation services, as well as legal services. I remember the life of the monastery with warmth.
The abbess of the world-famous Orthodox monastery was convicted by the court of immorality and immorality. Before you - the monologue of the former sister of the monastery Nina Devyatkina. About how and why the sisters died, leaving a living space in the world.
Recently, it is customary either to speak well or not to speak at all about Orthodox churches and monasteries as about the dead. The Russian Orthodox Church in the mass consciousness is synonymous with morality and morality. And somehow it was forgotten that most of them are serving not saints, but people - with their interests, well-established characters and sins, if you will.
Leaving the world
The world seemed to dislike Nina from the very birth. In infancy, her mother abandoned her, only photographs remained from her father. At the age of 12, she fell ill with meningitis, which determined her ill health for the rest of her life. Then - an unsuccessful marriage, the death of his son and diseases of the musculoskeletal system. The latter were overpowered so that she was forced to leave the Medical Academy. IM Sechenov, where she worked as a surgical nurse. The disability pension was the only hope for life. But, alas, Devyatkina's misfortune coincided with the victorious march of Yeltsin's reforms. And Moscow at the beginning of the 90s stopped recognizing such patients as Nina as invalids. She was denied a disability pension. Live if you survive. But as?
Suddenly a mother turned up - a refusal - the son kicked out of the house. It is easier for two to fight than one, Nina reasoned and accepted the woman. But it soon became clear that you could not live on a meager pension in the capital, and Nina seriously thought about leaving the world.
Realizing that monasticism is not only spirituality, but also work, she wanted to be useful and in demand, and not a burden. To revive the beauty and splendor of Orthodox churches. To do this, I finished sewing courses, learned to weave lace and embroider with gold ...
Mother Nikona of Shamorda received her affectionately, and even though Nina lived in her labors, she would either help to pick the apples or clean them in the refectory, but without the usual conveniences - a room for 20 people with two tiers of beds - that place seemed to her like heaven on earth.
Less than a year later, she was transferred from a pilgrim to a novice and put on a cassock. The sisters were surprised: some have been waiting for this for three years. And Nina began to prepare herself for the tonsure even more diligently. Soon, as a specialist with the appropriate education, she was entrusted with monitoring the health of her sisters and embroidering with gold. The future has finally lost the traits of hopelessness and fear. But heaven turned into hell as soon as Nina had money.
In the monastery
The trouble came from whence it was not expected. My brother was killed in Moscow, and the one who gave birth to me came for consolation and advice. They know how to console people, and my mother very soon made the decision to go to a monastery too.
And the apartment in Yukhnov? Nina, who had already managed to wean herself from worldly concerns, rushed to Optina Hermitage to the old man Elijah, who had blessed her mother to become a monk, for advice.
For some reason he did not say: exchange it for housing closer to the monastery or rent it out to tenants. He advised to sell. M. Nikona said the same. And I sold. For 40 million non-denominated rubles (1996), which the treasurer of the monastery, Metropolitan Ambrose advised me to immediately exchange for new hundred-dollar bills.
What would any of us do with that amount? Of course I would have saved it for a rainy day. Nina decided so too. Only she took the money not to the savings bank, but to the monastery, believing that before the tonsure they would be preserved here better than in the world, and after the tonsure they would become completely unnecessary.
The package with money was almost snatched from the hands of the treasurer of the monastery, M. Ambrose. No receipt, no other piece of paper was given to me. I was surprised, but I didn't think about it - I believed them. And in vain. As I understand now, they need money, not people.
Insight did not come immediately
The sisters in the monastery hardly communicate, and it is not known how who lives. And as a nurse, I had the opportunity to see, talk, and compare. Once, during the service, the nun screamed wildly and lost consciousness. When I undressed it, I saw not the body, but the relics. It turned out that she had fasted and was not the first nun to die of hunger. At first I thought that the sisters themselves were overdoing it, but later I learned that they were blessed for such positions. You see, they are blessed to fast until death! At the same time, they are denied medical assistance. No, not doctors - spiritual fathers, but abbess. Among believers, nothing is done without a blessing, even a headache pill cannot be taken without permission. And people die, they go crazy. I could not save that nun, she was mentally moved. And how many of them, abandoned, buried in the monastery cemetery ?! I know at least a dozen of them. Grandma Eustolia, like me, sold her house, gave the money to the monastery and became unnecessary. At Epiphany, in a 30-degree frost, she was brought to the font. She jumped - stroke. They were not allowed to be treated. I got out myself. Yes, one day she slipped, fell, broke two ribs ... So she died in her cell - helpless, abandoned, hungry, although I know that she asked her confessor to bless her to leave the monastery. Yes, only very thick walls - unless someone hears ...
The nun Efrosinya (Katya Tikhonova) died from failure to provide timely assistance. Also a Muscovite. Picked off a mole - the inflammation went. Instead of being sent to the hospital, they smeared her with lamp oil. Until she died. They say that her apartment has already passed to the monastery. Two weeks ago they celebrated 40 days for the nun Nastya. She came to the monastery with me, having arrived from Azerbaijan. She was blessed to fast and starved to death in the street. The principles taught in the monastery "Obedience to death!" and "The end must be a martyr's!" work without breaks and days off and most often for those who have transferred their property to the monastery.
What, perhaps, the novice could have put up with, the nurse could not. "After all, I swore the Hippocratic oath and am obliged to help people anywhere and anytime. Close my eyes to the medieval ignorance of the spiritual fathers and abbess, who put prayers and fasting above medical and medicinal assistance, was beyond my strength."
Thus began the "war" of the novice with the abbess, before which Nina no longer felt awe: entering all the doors, she saw that the life of the monastic authorities was sharply different from the miserable existence of the sisters. The same mother Nikona receives medical assistance on time, and the meals are hearty, and instead of hard work - sleep and rest in a cell, more reminiscent of a three-room apartment: with a shower, a bath, a toilet, a refrigerator; and her garden, and the chicken coop ... For the fact that the novice knocked out medicines and annoyed the abbess with requests to bless one nun or another for treatment, she was finally banned from acting as a nurse. And when Nina dared to suggest to Mother Nikona, instead of exhausting work in the gardens, organize a workshop where she would teach women to sew and embroidery - the primordial monastic art that glorified more than one Orthodox church - she fell out of favor altogether. The next day, Nina was sent to the stockyard and vegetable garden. This is with her intervertebral hernia. The day began according to the "calendar" - at 12 o'clock at night. Until half past three in the morning - service, an hour and a half for sleep, and at 5 in the morning - wake up and work, work with two breaks for a meager meal, where even cabbage and potatoes are considered a delicacy.
And I began to doubt. It cannot be that there is no limit in obedience. Where can I find the answer? Of course, in Holy Scripture. I took up the knowledge of God - something that, by the way, is completely absent in the monastery. And when I compared what is written in the books and what is in life, I realized that this is not heaven, but hell. And our spiritual mentors are very far from the doctrine that they preach. The Great Faith turned into some kind of sectarianism, where people are put in the position of criminals who can save their souls only by killing the body, where they are frightened with the world and the end of the world so that the light becomes more terrible than death ...
By that time, Nina was almost physically destroyed: her right leg and arms were taken away. Sometimes the pressure dropped so low that her heart stopped, and she dreamed that she was dying. But neither Mother Nikon nor the monastery confessor Father Polycarp gave a blessing for treatment. She was advised to fast, referring to the Lord: "God endured and commanded us." She had no other choice but to leave the monastery so as not to die. But for a believer, even the right to life must be blessed. And Nina snatched it away from the abbess, driving the latter almost to frenzy with her questions and suggestions. "I am excluding you from the sisterhood!" - declared M. Nikona, which translated into the mundane language meant: live if you can survive.
Return to the world
They calculated correctly: she herself could not. Nina fled from the monastery secretly with the novice Seraphima. Rather, she did not run away - she crawled away, since the novice actually dragged her on herself. Where? To an abandoned village ten kilometers from the village of Shamordino. But how to live on? And Nina remembered about the money. “And you prove that you gave them,” they will answer her in the monastery.
I was shocked, realizing that they would not return the money to me in dollars - there is no proof - and asked for my 40 million rubles.
Either the monastic authorities were frightened, or merciful, but they gave her 500 rubles a month. Crumbs that were barely enough for the medicine. But Devyatkina did not lose heart. I helped the locals as much as I could, for this I received food from them.
They probably expected that I would not last long. But the Lord helped me, I began to get better. To be honest: I didn't need anything else. If they had given me at least ten thousand at once to buy some country house, I would not have asked for more. But they refused. And then Ambrose's mother said at all: "Write to the mother's name with a request for financial assistance in the amount of 500 rubles, otherwise you won't get anything at all." I wrote, but where to go, went out into the street, sat on a tree stump and thought: that's all. Material aid is voluntary. Today - given, tomorrow - no, and remember what your name was. But God didn’t leave me, he gave me an idea how to do it. I ran back, asked for my statement to finish writing the main thing. The treasurer was no longer there, and I added: "... to pay off the debt."
On the basis of this document, two months later, Nina will finally guess to submit an application to the court, which will rule in her favor and oblige the monastery to pay the remaining amount. However, for some reason, without indexing. And then there will be a second court, which will confirm: "... Devyatkina did not create normal conditions for living in the Kazan St. Amvrosievskaya desert, she suffered serious moral suffering." And the Kozelsky District Court, chaired by N. Stepanov, will decide: to recover the debt indexation from the monastery, and from Mother Superior Nikona - compensation for moral damage in the amount of 25 thousand rubles.
Just think about these words: the abbess of the world-famous monastery, associated with people only with morality and ethics, is actually accused of immorality and immorality! Nonsense? Or a pattern? In any case, this suggests that it is time to get rid of the feeling of guilt imposed on us by the clergy for the lawlessness in relation to churches during the years of Soviet power, which involuntarily closes society's eyes to the lawlessness that is happening today, already within the walls of churches and monasteries. Religion is religion, and people are people, and human rights, as you know, are prioritized over any religion. By the way, the Christian Nina Devyatkina came to the same conclusion, seeking the truth now from the regional administration, the Prosecutor General's Office and the spiritual fathers of Optina Pustyn. What is significant: everyone tried to get away from solving the problems posed by Nina. Either they were afraid of something, or they themselves were involved in what.
When I turned to the head of the Kozelsk administration with a request to evict me from the territory of the monastery, where I was forced to return a year ago due to lack of housing, he explained to me that, having the residence permit of the monastery, I was not a member of a secular society and had lost the right of a citizen of Russia. since I am nowhere listed, I am not listed and already absent from the list of living people! It turns out that a monastery is a state within a state. I had to turn to the governor with a request to grant me refugee status in order to have at least some protection against arbitrariness both on the part of the monastery and on the part of the administration.
If the issue of housing is not resolved before winter, Nina will be doomed to death. In a statement addressed to the governor, she wrote: "If I die, I will leave a posthumous note accusing me of refusing any assistance from the administration." There is no answer yet. As there is none from the Prosecutor General's Office, where Nina wrote about the high mortality rate among the inhabitants of the Shamordinsky monastery.
There is no use in turning to spiritual fathers. Vladyka Alexy said: "Be humble." O. Elijah admonished: "A monk must be blind and deaf." And Father Paphnutii, her confessor, after listening to Devyatkina's story, was surprised: "What truth are you looking for? There she is - all gone to heaven."
However, Nina herself does not give up and cherishes the hope of meeting with true Orthodox Christians.
And in Shamordin the nuns will remember me for a long time, - smiles Nina. - And the point here is not in the court, which I won - very few people will know about this: it is forbidden to communicate with the locals who could tell the monastery about this, watch TV, listen to the radio, but there are no newspapers there. But the veil remained, which I embroidered with gold. It is laid on great holidays. Here it is - in the photo. By the way, the monastery makes money from this: a picture of a cross on my bedspread costs five rubles. They say they are selling well. And I bought it. For memory. There should be at least one good memory of the monastery ...
Since it bears in itself a renunciation of sinful life, the seal of the chosen one, the union with Christ forever and dedication to serve God.
Monasticism is the lot of the strong in spirit and in body. If a person is unhappy in worldly life, running to a monastery will only aggravate his misfortunes.
It is possible to go to a monastery only by severing ties with the outside world, completely renouncing everything earthly and devoting his life to serving the Lord. Desire for this is not enough: the call and command of the heart make a person closer to monasticism. For this you need to work hard and prepare.
The path to the monastery begins with the knowledge of the depth of spiritual life.
Tonsured a monk
Leaving for the monastery of women
How can a woman go to a monastery? This is a decision that the woman herself makes, but not without the help of a spiritual guide and God's blessing.
Do not forget that they come to the monastery not to heal the spiritual wounds received in the world from unhappy love, the death of loved ones, but to reunite with the Lord, with the cleansing of the soul from sins, with the understanding that all life now belongs to the service of Christ.
They are glad to see everyone in the monastery, but as long as problems remain in worldly life, the walls of the monastery will not be able to save, but can only worsen the situation. When leaving for a monastery, there should not be any attachments that hold back in everyday life. If the readiness to surrender to the service of the Lord is strong, then the monastic life will benefit the nun, peace will be found in daily labors, prayers and the feeling that the Lord is always there.
If people in the world behave irresponsibly - they want to leave their wife, leave their children, then there is no certainty that monastic life will benefit such a lost soul.
Important! Responsibility is needed always and everywhere. You can't run away from yourself. You need not go to a monastery, but come to the monastery, go towards a new day, a new dawn, where the Lord is waiting for you.
Leaving for the monastery of men
How can a man go to a monastery? This decision is not easy. But the rules are the same as for women. It's just that in society, men's shoulders have more responsibility for family, work, children.
Therefore, leaving for a monastery, but at the same time, drawing closer to God, you need to think about whether your loved ones will be left without the support and strong shoulder of a man.
There is no big difference between a man and a woman who want to go to a monastery. Everyone has their own reason for leaving the monastery. The only thing that unites future monks is imitation of the way of life of Christ.
Preparing for monastic life
Monk - translated from Greek means "lonely", and in Russia they were called monks - from the word "other", "other". Monastic life is not a disregard for the world, its colors and admiration for life, but it is a renunciation of harmful passions and sinfulness, of carnal pleasures and pleasures. Monasticism serves to restore the original purity and sinlessness with which Adam and Eve were endowed in paradise.
Yes, this is a difficult and difficult path, but the reward is great - imitation of the image of Christ, endless joy in God, the ability to accept with gratitude everything that the Lord sends. In addition, monks are the first prayer books for a sinful world. As long as their prayer sounds, the world stands. This is the main job of monks - to pray for the whole world.
While a man or woman lives in the world, but with all their souls feel that their place is in the monastery, they have time to prepare and make the right and final choice between worldly life and life in unity with God:
- First you need to be an Orthodox Christian;
- To visit the temple, but not formally, but to be imbued with the soul in the services and love them;
- Perform the morning and evening prayer rule;
- Learn to observe fasting both bodily and spiritually;
- To honor Orthodox holidays;
- Read spiritual literature, the lives of saints and be sure to get acquainted with books written by saints that tell about monastic life, the history of monasticism;
- Find a spiritual mentor who will tell you about true monasticism, dispel myths about life in a monastery, and give a blessing to serve God;
- Make a pilgrimage to several monasteries, be a laborer, stay in obedience.
About Orthodox monasteries:
Who can enter the monastery
The inability to live without God leads a man or woman to the walls of the monastery. They do not run away from people, but go after salvation, after the inner need for repentance.
And yet there are obstacles to entering the monastery, not everyone can be blessed for monasticism.
Cannot be a monk or nun:
- Family man;
- Man or woman raising small children;
- Who wants to hide from unhappy love, difficulties, failures;
- The advanced age of a person becomes an obstacle to monasticism, because in the monastery they work hard and hard, and for this one must have health. Yes, and it is difficult to change the ingrained habits that will become an obstacle to monasticism.
If all this does not exist and the intention to come to monasticism does not leave a person for a minute, of course, no one and nothing will prevent him from renouncing the world and going to a monastery.
Absolutely different people go to the monastery: those who have achieved success in the world, educated, smart, beautiful. They go because the soul longs for more.
Monasticism is open to everyone, but not everyone is fully prepared for it. Monasticism is a life without sorrows, in the understanding that a person gets rid of worldly vanity and worries. But this life is much more difficult than the life of a family man. The family cross is difficult, but having escaped from it to the monastery, he expects disappointment and relief does not come.
Advice! And yet, in order to set foot on the difficult path of monasticism, which belongs to a few, one must carefully and carefully consider, so as not to look back and regret what happened later.
Tonsured a monk
How to be with parents
Many parents in antiquity in Russia and other Orthodox countries welcomed the desire of their children to become monks. The youths were prepared from childhood to accept monasticism. Such children were considered prayer books for the whole family.
But there were also deeply religious people who categorically opposed the ministry of their children in the monastic field. They wanted to see their children successful and prosperous in worldly life.
Children who have made their own decision to live in a monastery prepare their loved ones for such a serious choice. You should choose the right words and arguments that will be perceived by parents correctly and will not lead them into the sin of condemnation.
In turn, prudent parents will thoroughly study the choice of their child, delve into the essence and understanding of the whole issue, help and support a loved one in such an important undertaking.
It's just that the majority of ignorance of the essence of monasticism perceive the desire of children to serve the Lord as something alien, unnatural. They begin to fall into despair and melancholy.
Parents are sad that there will be no grandchildren, that a son or daughter will not have all the usual worldly joys, which are considered to be the highest achievements for a person.
Advice! Monasticism is a worthy decision of a child, and parental support is an important component in the final confirmation of the correct choice of the future path in life.
On raising children in faith:
Time for Reflection: Worker and Novice
To choose a monastery in which the future monk will stay, they make more than one trip to holy places. When visiting one monastery, it is difficult to determine that a person's heart will remain here to serve God.
Remaining in the monastery for several weeks, a man or woman is assigned the role of a worker.
During this period, a person:
- prays a lot, confesses;
- works for the good of the monastery;
- little by little comprehends the basics of monastic life.
The laborer lives at the monastery and eats here. At this stage, they look closely at him in the monastery, and if a person remains faithful to his vocation of monasticism, they are offered to stay in the monastery as a novice - a person preparing for tonsure as a monk and undergoing a spiritual test in the monastery.
Important: obedience is a Christian virtue, a monastic vow, a test, the whole meaning of which is reduced to the liberation of the soul, and not to slavery. The essence and importance of obedience must be understood and felt. Understand that everything is done for good, and not for torment. Fulfilling obedience, they understand that the elder, who is responsible for the future monk, cares about the salvation of his soul.
During overwhelming trials, when the spirit weakens, you can always turn to your elder and tell about the difficulties. And unceasing prayer to God is the first helper in strengthening the spirit.
You can be a novice for many years. Whether a person is ready to take monasticism is up to the confessor. At the stage of obedience, there is still time to think about the future life.
The bishop or abbot of the monastery performs the rite of monastic tonsure. After the tonsure there is no turning back: moving away from passions, sorrows and embarrassment leads to an inextricable connection with God.
It is important: do not rush, do not rush to become a monk. Impulsive impulses, inexperience, fervor are falsely taken for a true calling to be a monk. And then the person begins to worry, despondency, melancholy, escapes from the monastery. Vows are made and no one can take them off. And life turns into torment.
Therefore, the main instruction of the holy fathers is careful obedience and testing for a certain period of time, which will show the true intention to be called to monasticism.
Monastery life
In our 21st century, it has become possible for ordinary laity to approach and see the life of monks.
Pilgrimage trips to women's and men's monasteries are now being organized. The pilgrimage is designed for several days. Lay people live at the monastery, in specially designated rooms for guests. Sometimes accommodation can be paid, but this is a symbolic price and the funds from it go to the maintenance of the monastery. Food is free, according to the monastery charter, that is, the food is lean.
But the laity do not live in the monastery as tourists, but join the life of the monks. They pass obedience, work for the good of the monastery, pray and with all their nature feel the grace of God. They get tired very much, but the tiredness is pleasant, gracious, which brings peace to the soul and a feeling of God's closeness.
After such trips, many myths about the life of monks are dispelled:
- There is strict discipline in the monastery, but it does not oppress the nuns and monks, but brings joy. They see the meaning of life in fasting, work and prayer.
- No one forbids a monk to have books, listen to music, watch movies, communicate with friends, travel, but everything should be for the good of the soul.
- The cells are not dull, as shown in feature films, there is a wardrobe, a bed, a table, a lot of icons - everything is very cozy.
After the tonsure, three vows are taken: chastity, non-covetousness, obedience:
- Monastic chastity - This is celibacy, as a constituent element of striving for God; the concept of chastity as refraining from satisfying the lusts of the flesh also exists in the world, therefore the meaning of this vow in the context of monasticism is something else - the acquisition of God Himself;
- Monastic obedience - cutting off one's will in front of everyone - elders, before every person, before Christ. To trust God infinitely and be obedient to Him in everything. Accept with gratitude everything as it is. Such a life acquires a special inner world, directly in contact with God and is not overshadowed by any external circumstances;
- Non-covetousness means the rejection of everything earthly. Monastic life renounces earthly goods: a monk should not be addicted to anything. Refusing earthly riches, he gains lightness of spirit.
And only with the Lord, when communication with Him becomes above all - the rest, in principle, is not necessary and not important.
See a video on how to enter a monastery