There is an opinion that people go to the monastery from hopelessness. A person is overtaken by despair from unhappy love, financial problems or any other difficulties, and he decides to renounce the world, leave, hide from prying eyes. But is it? Not at all. In this article, we will look at some women's monasteries in which strong people live their lives, called to serve God.
Definition
Before we turn to convents, let's understand what a monastery is? Words such as "monk", "monasticism", "monastery" have one stem. All of them come from the Greek word "monos", which means "one". Accordingly, a "monk" is a person living in seclusion.
How did the first male and female monasteries appear? The history of their appearance is quite interesting. Some people preferred to live in solitude, fenced off from the outside world so that no one would interfere with them to think about God's precepts, hear them, and live according to His laws. Over time, they found like-minded people, students, and certain communities began to form. Gradually, such communities, united by interests, in a waylife and ideas, became more. There was a joint household.
Usually both male and female monasteries are behind high walls. A person who comes there sees nothing but the faces of his brothers and sisters. In fact, the monastery is a kind of saving island amid the storm of everyday problems.
The Women's Intercession Monastery
The Holy Intercession Convent was founded by Princess Alexandra Romanova of Kyiv. In the 30s of the 19th century, she moved there to live with some sisters. This woman has invested all her strength and means to establish life in the monastery. The nunnery town included a hospital, a parochial school for girls, a shelter for orphans, poor children, blind and terminally ill people, and much more.
With the advent of Soviet power, the monastery was closed and looted, many icons were destroyed, the church was beheaded. Until 1941 workers lived there. Also on the territory of the monastery there was a book depository, a nursery, a printing house.
In October 1941, monastic life was revived in the monastery. An outpatient clinic was organized here, the doctors of which saved the lives of many people during the occupation. They gave people certificates of incurable diseases, thereby saving them from being taken to Germany for hard labor.
Now the Intercession Monastery for Women is one of the main attractions of Kyiv, people come here not only from Ukraine, but also from abroad.
Holy Iberian Convent
This monastery is quite young, its history began in 1997, when, with the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion of Donetsk and Mariupol, a stone was laid in a wasteland near the airport for the construction of the temple.
The sisters of the St. Kasperovsky Monastery were the first to settle in the Iversky Women's Monastery, headed by the elder nun Ambrose. It was not easy to settle in the monastery, but thanks to the daily prayers of the sisters, hard work and perseverance, and skillful leadership, the economy was gradually getting better.
Monastic life follows old Orthodox traditions. The nuns work on the land, growing vegetables and fruits. The entire territory of the monastery is buried in greenery and flowers. In addition to the garden, the sisters work in the refectory, in the church on obediences, on the kliros and in the prosphora.
There is a good tradition in the monastery - the reading of the Ps alter about the living and the dead. This, according to the sisters, drives away evil and enlightens a person.
Vvedensky Convent
It was founded in 1904. Located in the center of the city of Chernivtsi. Its founder, Anna Brislavskaya, was the widow of a colonel. Wanting to spend the rest of her life in prayers for her dead husband, she acquired a plot of land and built cells for the poor and old people, as well as two churches.
Now there are two refectories on the territory of the monastery, the Holy Trinity Cathedral with an underground church, monastic cells, a building that houses workshops and offices, a boiler room with a warehouse and other utility rooms. Templecontains the relics of the holy Yosemite martyrs, Kuksha the New, the oak cross consecrated in Jerusalem, and much more. It handles daily services.
Monastery near Pokrovskaya Zastava
The stauropegial convent was founded in 1635 by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich of Moscow, but initially it was for men. Before the monastery, there was the Intercession parish church on this site. Until 1929, the monastery went through a lot: reconstruction, construction of a new bell tower, repeated re-consecration. In 1929 it was closed. On the site of the cemetery, which was nearby, a park of culture was laid out. The buildings of the monastery were adapted for state institutions, they housed a gym, a printing house, a library.
In 1994, the Holy Synod decided to resume the activities of the monastery. In recent years, through joint efforts, the monastery has been practically restored. The former abbess of the monastery, Blessed Matrona, helps everyone who turns to her for help through prayer. The doors of the monastery are open daily for everyone to visit it.
How do they become nuns?
How do convents prepare nuns? First of all, a novice who wants to devote herself to monasticism goes through a kind of probationary period, which lasts for 3-5 years (depending on the existing spiritual education). The abbess of the monastery monitors the fulfillment of the obedience entrusted to her sister, judges her readiness to take vows, after which she writes a petition to the chief ruling bishop. According to himblessing, the confessor of the monastery takes the tonsure.
There are three levels of monastic vows:
- shorn in a cassock;
- tonsured into a mantle or a little schema;
- monastic vows.
The first degree of monasticism is to be tonsured in a cassock. The sister is given the cassock itself, a new name may be proposed, but she does not take monastic vows. During tonsure, vows of obedience, chastity, and renunciation of the outside world are taken into the mantle. A nun can become a woman at least 30 years old, fully aware of all the consequences of her act.
