The monastery is ... Stavropigial monastery - what does it mean?

An important property of Slavic culture are Orthodox churches and monasteries. They attract not only pilgrims who truly believe, but also tourists. The latter are interesting architecture, interior decoration of churches, the history of their existence.

General concept and meaning

The concept of "monastery" came with Christianity in Kievan Rus from Byzantium. This state arose on the basis of Greek culture. From the Greek "monastery" is a "solitary dwelling".

In it, monks observe a single charter. However, not everyone who came to the monastery becomes a monk. To begin with, it passes the test. If it ended successfully, a person is awarded a vigil. According to the rules established at the Ecumenical Council, regardless of the previous moral way of life, a person can enter monastic life for the correction (salvation) of the soul.

The meaning of the word "monastery" for many today means directly to the community of monastics.

The first Christian monasteries

The monastery is a certain place with its way of life. The first monasteries originated in Egypt and Palestine (4-5 centuries AD). Over time, monastic dwellings began to appear in Constantinople (the capital of Byzantium), which in the Russian chronicles is referred to as Tsargrad.

The first founders of monasticism in Russia are Antony and Theodosius, who created the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery.

Types of Christian monasteries

In Christianity there is a division into a female and a male monastery. What this means is easy to understand. The name depends on whether the female or male community lives and carries out activities under the church church. There are no mixed monasteries in Christianity.

Different types of monastic homes:

Abbey. Occurs in the Catholic (western) direction. Manages the abbot in the male community and the abbess in the women's community. Obeys the bishop, and sometimes the Pope personally.

The Lavra. This is the largest monastic dwelling of the Orthodox (eastern) direction. This kind of monastic dwelling is suitable exclusively for male communities.

Cinema. Dormitory monastery. This means that the organization has a community-wide charter, to which all its members are subordinate.

Compound. This is a dwelling removed from the monastery, which is located in the city or village. It is used to collect donations, receive pilgrims, farming.

Deserts. The dwelling, created in the traditions of Russian Orthodoxy, is built in a secluded place far from the monastery itself.

Skeet. This is the place for the life of a monk, who wished to become a hermit.

Most of the monastic houses are under the administration of the diocesan bishops. Such monasteries are called diocesan. Certain Orthodox monasteries may have the status of stauropegic.

Stavropegic Monastery

What this means will help to know the return to the Greek language. With a literal translation, "stavropegia" means "elevating the cross". It is appropriated not only to monasteries, but also to cathedrals, spiritual schools.

This status means that the monastery is directly subordinate to the patriarch or synod. The Stavropegial Monastery is a shrine in which the cross was planted by the patriarch himself. This is the highest status.

Due to the fact that the diocese of the Orthodox Church is divided into several branches, there are different lists of stavropegic churches. Depending on their subordination, they can refer to the Orthodox Church of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and so on. There are such shrines in other countries, such as Estonia, Italy, the United States, Germany.

Modern stauropegial monasteries

The largest number of similar monastic houses is represented in Moscow and the Moscow region.

List of men's homes in Moscow:

• Andreevsky;
• High-Petrovsky;
• Danilov;
• The Don;
• Zaikonospassky;
• Novospassky;
• Sretensky.

List of women's homes in Moscow:

• Alekseevsky;
• Theotokos-Christmas;
• Zachatievsky;
• Ioanno-Predtechensky;
• Pokrovsky;
• Troitsk-Odigitrievskaya desert.

When and where it is necessary to open a new stauropegic monastery? What does it mean? The decision on this issue is made solely by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

Forms of organization of monasticism

The monastery is the place of life of monks. Depending on what form of organization they have chosen, the monastery can be with a common hostel charter or in the form of a hermitage.

In the case of Christians, hermitage is a rather developed form of monasticism. Even Jesus Christ himself spent 40 days in the desert.

The first hermits left in the desert, persecuted by the Roman authorities in the 3rd century. Later such a form spread from Egypt to Palestine, Armenia, Gaul and Europe. In Western Christianity, asceticism has disappeared, it has survived only in the Orthodox direction. Among the hermits who dedicated themselves to asceticism and intensified prayers, there are both men and women. The most famous hermit is Mary of Egypt from Palestine, who lived in the 6th century.

Another form of organization of monasticism is called Cinovia.

Cinemas Charter

From Greek, the word means "living together", that is, a hostel.

The founder of the first cinematography is St. Pachomius, who created it in 318 in southern Egypt. As for the Russian Orthodox Church, the first community temple was created by Theodosius of Pechersky.

According to the general statute monks take from the cinema everything necessary for their existence. For example, food, clothes, shoes. They work free of charge, and all the results of their work belong to the cinema. The monk, including the abbot, does not have the right to have personal property, they can not perform acts of gift or inherit anything. They have no property right.

Rules of conduct in the monastery for the layman

The monastery is a special world. It takes time to understand all the intricacies of a monastic community. The pilgrims' misdeeds are usually treated with patience, but some rules are better to know when visiting a monastic dwelling.

What to look for in the behavior:

• When a pilgrim comes, we must ask for all blessings;
• Without a blessing you can not leave the monastery;
• All worldly sinful predilections should be left behind the walls of the monastery (alcohol, tobacco, foul language);
• Conversations should be conducted only about the spiritual, and the main words in communication are "forgive", "bless";
• You can eat only on a common meal;
• Sitting at the table for a meal, it is necessary to observe the order of precedence, sit silently and listen to reading.

To plunge into the world of peace and harmony, which is in the monastery, it is not necessary to know all the rules of the monastic order. It is enough to adhere to the usual norms of behavior, the observance of which includes respect for the elders, restraint.