How to take a monastic vows?

The adoption of monastic vows is one of the mysterious rites, during which a person takes for life monkhood and for life gives a promise to fulfill certain vows. In return, the Lord rewards a person with extraordinary grace, which can immediately be felt.

In the Orthodox religion, monasticism is divided into three different degrees, namely Riasofor, mantle (minor schema) and schema (great schema). The monastic vows of monasticism in each case will have its own form and features.

Has tonsured in riasofore

In order to receive the tonsure in the rassophore, certain prayers are read. There is a tonsure of hair, and then a person gets a new name and no longer has the right to respond to the former. A person receives life from a pure face, but the rite is a kind of promise before the Lord that all vows will be kept. After that, a black robe is worn on a man , and he must constantly be in dark monastic robes.

Stages of the rite

The tonsure of the Rassophore was not a concept of monasticism. And this is completely logical, because the adoption of this rank does not provide for the imposition of any vows. Acceptance of the rank includes the recitation by the rector of several prayers, in which he addresses the Lord with a specific request, namely, "be worthy in the angelic simil". Then there is a haircut, as well as vestments in the robe, these actions are not accompanied by certain prayers. After these actions are performed, another specific prayer is read over the person, in which the application for grace is expressed. After the service, the monk is to meet his spiritual parent, he is led by the abbot of the monastery with prayer. More important and solemn is the service when taking tonsure in a small schema.

He tonsured into a small schema

The next stage is initiation into a small schema, or into a mantle. There are also certain rules and vows here. The ryasofor must accept before God a celibacy, as well as obedience and non-celibacy. Then a haircut takes place, and a person again acquires a new name, indicating that he has moved on to another new stage in his life, now he will constantly be in grace. For anyone who seriously decided to connect their lives with the Lord and perform monastic tonsure, the rite is mandatory.

Closure Features

The service can be performed at the end of the liturgy. But in most cases a separate service is assigned for such a vigil to hold all the honors. Initiation begins with a chant.

When a hymn occurs, the cut must be clothed in a long white shirt. At the same time he needs to crawl on the stomach to the center from the threshold of the temple, while helping himself with his feet can not. He must be accompanied by two older monks, who during the process will cover him with their robes. The process stops in the very center of the temple, the cut must be lying face down while folding his arms crosswise. The pastor of the temple should address him with certain words, glorifying the all-merciful Lord. At the end of these words the abbot must touch the veiled, this is a definite sign that a person can stand up.

If you take into account the Syrian traditions, then in their language the monk is translated as a person who constantly cries. He can cry about himself, and more about the sinfulness of every person in this world.

In accordance with this view of the monk, there are the following thoughts of Isaac:
"What other occupation can a monk have in his cell, except crying?" Can he find time for another thought besides crying? "A monk's stay away from human joy, where he understands that his calling is crying. Even the very meaning of his name speaks of this, because his heart must be filled with bitterness. And all the saints went this way, settling in peace with weeping. That is why the monk's eyes are always filled with tears, this is his joy and there is, that very crying. If he is without him, then his heart aches and suffers. And this crying is caused by a simple spectacle, when the mortified person lies before you with his own sins, can not this cause pity? After all, the soul is killed, and this fate is unbearable.

After the vows are lifted to his feet, the rector of the church is obliged to ask him a whole series of questions in order to clarify why he is here, what he needs and so on. To his questions he demands a clear and truthful answer. All his words must be pronounced clearly and confidently. After the abbot has received all the answers, he should remind that now all the saints, led by the Lord, are present here, and they are listening to the words spoken. Then the rector of the church is obliged to ask a whole series of questions, these questions speak about the honesty, readiness and truthfulness of the spoken words, the person has the last chance to refuse. The rector must be firmly convinced of the voluntariness of the action, since such a decision must be made by the individual himself. Such a long conversation is necessary for a person to come to this not on someone's will, because in history there are cases when tonsured was forced. Such cases are a gross violation, they completely destroy the whole idea, and also are a grave sin in relation to one's neighbor.

He tonsured into the great schema

The process of tonsuring into the great schema is quite similar to other tonsures, but it has a difference. First of all, the service has a more solemn character and its own special severity.

To perform the service of monastic vows is entitled only to the priest-monk, other holy fathers do not have this right. But before the ceremony, you need to get a blessing from the bishop.

The monastic vows in the nunnery is performed by the Mother Superior, but with a preliminary blessing.

Preparing for monastic vows

Accept monastic tonsure due to some feeling of feeling is impossible. There is a certain time and a number of necessary actions behind this service. In a modern church ordinance, certain degrees are prescribed, which ultimately lead to monastic vows. These steps are labor, obedience and monasticism. After these stages, a person can think about taking tonsure.

Who is a "laborer"?

The word "laborer" appeared already in modern Christianity, before it was not used. A person who voluntarily visits a monastery and works there for good is considered to be a laborer. As you know, help in the monastery is always needed, and the believer does a very right and good deed. It can even be a family man who comes for a certain time, and then again begins his worldly affairs. Some come here on vacation. Such a visit does not mean that a person is going to become a monk, because he may have children and other circumstances. But such actions are called labor for good, therefore a person takes away with him a certain grace that will help him to survive in a cruel world. But the worker can also stay here permanently. That is, a person will begin to prepare himself for monastic life, that is, he must work not only physically, but also mentally. And after a while, such a worker can be transferred to another status, and he will continue to work on himself.

It often happens that a worker and a novice have the same responsibilities, perhaps even carry out certain tasks together. But, despite such, so to speak, close cooperation, these two classes have a huge difference. The most common worldly man is a laborer. Yes, he came to the monastery to help. And, of course, in the future he can become a monk and more, but at the moment he is considered a guest of the monastery and nothing more. But the novice is already one of the members of the monastery community, he has his right to vote, so to speak, and lives on general terms with everyone, but he has a probationary period that must be passed with dignity. According to the monks, labor is not always an obligatory stage, it is the prerogative of worldly people who simply want to help the monastery. If a person has precisely decided that he will devote his life to the service of God, then he can begin with novitiate.

A monastic monastic vows has the same sequence. A rite is performed either in a women's monastery or in a women's congregation.

Obedience

There are also several forms for obedience. Here everything is simple: either a person wears a robe or not. A common novice must walk in worldly clothing, but at the same time she must hide the body and be dark shades. In the second case, you can wear cassock, but the person must have already been tonsured, and then he will already belong to the class of Rassophore. This rite of monastic vows is one of the types of obedience, because a person does not give vows, so already with a new name it is necessary to prepare for the next stage. Surprisingly this type of obedience in the Orthodox documentation is given modest attention. Therefore, many of their rights and obligations are not completely understood. It is clearly stated that the abandonment of the monastery is no longer possible, and will be a canonical crime. Based on this rule, it turns out that a person still takes on some promises and obligations. So, for example, for someone who performed monastic tonsure, leaving the walls of the monastery and going into the worldly life is a grave enough sin. But with such formulations sometimes there are not all agree. But still they must be respected if a person really wants to approach God.

Thus, if the novice is not sure that he is ready to remain in the monastery forever, then he needs to think very carefully about the acceptance of a new rank and, possibly, for some time to be a regular novice. After all, a novice can leave the monastery walls at any time, and at the same time there will be no sin on his soul, no need to rush into decisions. Is it important to follow the monastic vows?

The history of the rite

If we take into account the modern rules, then among the monastic vows also distinguish three stages, namely the riasofore, the small schema (mantle) and the great schema. All these three ranks came to Orthodoxy from Byzantine practice. Often it happens that the tonsure is simply bypassed in the rassophore, and the ordinary novice immediately takes the mantle. If you turn your attention to the monastery Mount Athos, then there are also its own characteristics, for example, tonsure in the mantle is not performed here, it simply does not exist, but is tonsured into a great schema. But in the Russian Church tonsure in the great schema is quite a rare phenomenon. As you know, this rank is received only by monks, most often they are already in old age and, perhaps, even have serious health problems.

If you dig deeper into history, you can understand that initially the division into some degree or rank was completely absent. You could take monasticism with the help of a certain act, this decision was taken once and for life. And such a long time to think and try to live a monastic life was not given. But already in the 9th century the very division into a small and great schema appeared. The first mention of this custom was found in the records of Theodore Studit, and this innovation aroused indignation, thus it was said: "Do not give the so-called small schema, and then the great, for one image, like baptism, as was the custom in Holy fathers. " But this rule spread very quickly in Russia, and many began to use it, conducting rituals of tonsure. Mention of this new rule was noticed in the Monk Theodosius of the Caves, and he wrote his narrative with the words of Nestor the Chronicler.
During the life of Theodosius, such a rule was already fully extended, all the above-mentioned ranks existed and, of course, services of tonsure were carried out. But in those days, for example, the great schema was not considered a special rank, it could be achieved by every monk if desired. Therefore, with a certain spiritual growth, the monk was bestowed this title. But already in the 12th century the attitude towards this rank was changed somewhat, it was considered that it is honorable, and not all deserve the dedication, therefore, the monastic vow was intended only for the sick and sick monks.

How to congratulate with a tonsure?

Congratulations on monastic vows may have a free character. Usually one desires to receive the special mercy of the Lord. Also, when naming a new name, the story of that saint, in whose honor the person was named, can be told. The solemn prayers are pronounced. You can congratulate yourself in your own words.

A special stage in the life of each novice is the monastic tonsure. The photo of this secret operation, its stages, testify to the fact that a person, giving up numerous worldly goods, receives much more - a love for the Lord and his inexhaustible grace.