Women's monasteries. Pokrovsky Women's Monastery

There is an opinion that the monastery goes from hopelessness. A person is overtaken by despair from unhappy love, financial problems or any other difficulties, and he decides to renounce the world, to leave, to 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 turning to the consideration of women's monasteries, let's look at what is a monastery? Such words as "monk", "monasticism", "monastery", have one basis. They all originated from the Greek word "monos", in the meaning of "one". Accordingly, the "monk" is a person who lives in solitude.

How did the first male and female monasteries arise? The history of their appearance is quite interesting. Some people preferred to live in seclusion, fencing themselves off from the outside world so that no one disturbed them to reflect on God's covenants, to hear them, to live by His laws. Over time, they found like-minded people, students, began to create certain communities. Gradually such communities, united by interests, way of life and ideas, became larger. There was a joint farming.

Usually both male and female monasteries are located behind high walls. The person who comes there sees nothing but the faces of his brothers and sisters. In fact, the monastery is a kind of saving island among storms of worldly problems.

Female Intercession Monastery

The Holy Virgin Protection Convent was founded by the Princess of Kyiv Alexandra Romanova. In the 30s of the XIX century she moved there to live with some sisters. This woman invested all her resources and resources to establish a life in the monastery. The town of the nunnery included a hospital, a parish 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. By 1941, workers lived there. Also on the territory of the monastery there was a book depository, nurseries, a printing house.

In October 1941, monastic life revived in the monastery. An ambulance was organized here, the doctors of which saved lives of many people during the occupation. They issued certificates to people about incurable diseases, thereby saving them from exporting to Germany for hard labor.

Now the Pokrovsky monastery is one of the main sights of Kiev, people come here not only from Ukraine, but also from abroad.

The Holy Iveron Convent

This monastery is quite young, its history began in 1997 when, with the blessing of Donetsk and Mariupol Metropolitan Hilarion, a stone was laid in the wasteland near the airport for the construction of the temple.

The first to enter the women's Iversky monastery were the sisters of the Holy Kasperovo monastery, headed by the elder nun Ambrose. It was not easy to settle the monastery, but thanks to the daily prayers of sisters, labor and perseverance, skillful leadership, the economy gradually improved.

Monastic life goes on long-standing Orthodox traditions. Nuns work on land, growing vegetables and fruits. The whole territory of the monastery is buried in greenery and flowers. In addition to the garden, the sisters work in the refectory, in the temple in obedience, in the choir and in the prosphoron.

In the monastery there is a good tradition - reading the Psalms about the living and the dead. This, according to the sisters, and drives away evil, and enlightens the person.

Vvedensky nunnery

It was founded in 1904. It is located in the center of the city of Chernivtsi. Its founder, Anna Brislavskaya, was the widow of a colonel. Wishing to spend the rest of her life praying for her deceased husband, she purchased a plot of land and erected a cell for beggars and old people, as well as two churches.

Now on the territory of the monastery are two refectory, Holy Trinity Cathedral with an underground temple, monastic cells, a building in which are located workshops and offices, a boiler room with a warehouse and other business premises. The temple houses the relics of the holy Yosemite martyrs, the New Kukshi, the oak cross consecrated in Jerusalem and much more. Every day, it is managed by daily services.

Monastery at Pokrovskaya Gate

The Stavropegial Women's Monastery was founded in 1635 by the Moscow Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, but initially it was male. Before the monastery on this site there was the Pokrovskaya parish church. Until 1929 the monastery went through many things: perestroika, the erection of a new bell tower, repeated re-consecration. In 1929 it was closed. They broke the park of culture in the place of the cemetery that was nearby. The buildings of the monastery were adapted to state institutions, there were located a gymnasium, a printing house, a library.

In 1994, the Holy Synod decided to resume the monastery's activities. In recent years, the monastery has been practically restored by joint efforts. The former abbess of the monastery, the blessed Matrona, helps all those who turn to her for help through prayer. The doors of the monastery are open daily for everyone who wants to visit it.

How to become nuns?

How do women's monasteries prepare nuns? First of all, a novice, willing to devote herself to monasticism, undergoes a kind of probationary period that lasts for 3-5 years (depending on the spiritual education available). The abbess of the monastery monitors the performance of the obedience entrusted to her sister, judges her willingness to take vows, and then writes a petition to the ruling bishop. By his blessing, the confessor of the monastery makes tonsure.

There are three stages of monastic vows :

• Tonsured in his robe;
• Tonsured into the mantle or little scourge;
• Tonsured in the Great Highness.

The first degree of monasticism consists in tonsure in cassock. The sisters receive the cassock herself, a new name may be offered, but she does not give monastic vows. During the tonsure, vows of obedience, chastity, renunciation of the external world are accepted into the mantle. A nun can become a woman of at least 30 years of age, fully aware of the consequences of her actions.