Is it possible to enter the monastery for a while? How to go to a convent in Diveevo: the life of nuns, advice for workers and pilgrims

The path of a monk is more difficult than the life of a layman. A person who has dedicated himself to God declares that he would like to imitate the angels on Earth. And the laity are guided by the way of being of monasticism, accepting it as an unattainable example. This is a very difficult path, and yet from time to time young (and not so young) are interested in how to go to a monastery. This is possible, although rarely done in a state of desperation. In this regard, confessors are experienced people and see who is not following the call of the heart, but out of pain.

Physically difficult

If a girl asks about joining a nunnery, this often means serious problems on the personal front. For example, her lover left her. But they don’t run away from life to the monastery; they come there to experience a completely different existence and try other difficulties. Many people are not capable of monasticism due to health reasons. Most monasteries require great hard work from their children, and in poor monasteries the food is very meager. Therefore, not everyone or everyone will be able to simply feel normal there.

The weak in spirit will not endure

Some people think that among monks and nuns one can avoid responsibility and hide from the worries of life. In fact, in a monastery many decisions will be made for you, but you probably won’t like it. A true monk learns obedience and disregard of his own will. But the weak cannot stand this test, it is for the strong. And the monks don’t have vacations; relatives come to see their loved one themselves.

Pilgrimage for dating

If what’s described doesn’t scare you, let’s talk about how to enter a monastery. You need to start by choosing a specific church institution. After that, go there as a pilgrim for several weeks. Please note that not all institutions allow you to live for free. Usually pilgrims work for the benefit of the monastery. There is a very large category of people who wander from monastery to monastery, but they do not want to leave them anywhere for more than a few weeks. If your boss likes you, you can stay as an employee.

Working for God

When a person works at a monastery in this position, they begin to look closely at him, looking for qualities in his character suitable for a monk. The worker or woman prays a lot, confesses and gets a taste of monastic life. Already at this stage, many refuse and no longer ask the question: “How to go to a monastery?” Workers usually eat locally, but if they have housing in the same city, they usually live at home. Sometimes they receive money, but more often they work for the glory of God.

Interim period

The next stage of initiation is novice or novice. In this position, a person is already closer to monasticism. He attends sibling meetings and spends more time in prayer. The novices live at the monastery and eat there. Monasteries, as a rule, need educated and young people. Therefore, if you are choosing between a university and a monastery, first get an education, and then you can think about spirituality. Only unmarried people without minor children are accepted into the monastery as novices.

Monasticism is a long wait

You can serve as a novice for many years. At this stage, you can still leave the monastery. And the decision to take monastic vows is made by the confessor, who decides whether the person is ready for monastic life. How to go to a monastery? It seems that the formulation of the question itself is incorrect. You can only come to the monastery. At the call of the heart, to God.

Mother George, on the day of our conversation with you, the Abbess of the Gornensky monastery is the Most Holy Theotokos Herself, and you are considered the viceroy and sit on an ordinary chair next to miraculous icon"Annunciation Holy Mother of God" What event and tradition is this connected with?

In our monastery we annually celebrate the great and joyful holiday of the Kissing, or the Meeting of the Mother of God and the righteous Elizabeth. It brings endless joy to all our sisters, because with this holiday the Mother of God Herself comes to us. Our monastery is located on the very land where the righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, lived. So, in 1871, Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) founded our monastery on the site of the visit of the Most Holy Theotokos to Her relative, Righteous Elizabeth. Here, “to the city of Judah,” or Mountain, came the Most Pure One Herself from Nazareth after the Archangel gospel. She shared with Her close relative the heavenly secret announced to Her about the coming birth of the Infant of God. The Mother of God lived with us, in the Mountain Country, for three months.

On the day of the holiday, we all meet the Most Holy Theotokos with bouquets at the holy spring, where She went with the righteous Elizabeth for some water. We cover the path from the source to our Kazan Church with grass and flowers.

Our celebration usually takes place on the sixth day after the Annunciation. And this year the Annunciation fell on Bright Week, so we moved the Feast of the Kiss to Saturday, April 10th. From the Trinity Cathedral of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem they brought us the miraculous icon of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. With a procession of the cross and the ringing of bells, we all went to our monastery. This religious procession symbolizes the journey of the Mother of God from Nazareth to the Mountain City. The day before, the sisters decorated icons with fresh flowers and collected floral carpets around the church in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

My abbot's place was taken out of the temple, and a very ordinary chair was prepared for me. And so the Mother of God stands in our church for all three months in a very beautiful pink robe, reaching to the floor. On Bright Week, we covered the icon with a pink robe, and not blue, as usual. The sisters skillfully sewed it like a monastic robe. The icon will remain with us for three months - until the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist.

All this time Mother of God- Abbess of our monastery. Everyone first takes Her blessing, and then they come up to me, a sinner. We all feel as if the Most Pure One Herself is standing here among us. I am nearby and ask all the time:

Mother of God, help! And for sisters in obedience, and for those who have poor health. And who can you talk some sense into...

And numerous pilgrims need to be consoled. And the Mother of God helps us all a lot.

Mother, still in school age In post-war Leningrad, you loved to read and sing akathists to the Mother of God. And recently you told pilgrims from St. Petersburg about how, as a teenage girl, you experienced during the Great Patriotic War blockade in the city on the Neva. What is this story about how your mother considered you dead, and the doctors sent you, all frostbitten and unconscious, to the death chamber of the city of Orekhovo-Zuyevo?

Everything I experienced in besieged Leningrad is preserved in my memory. During the war years, all the people there were hungry and cold. I was only 11 years old when our family was evacuated in 1942. My dear father has gone missing. After my birth, my mother searched for him for a long time and unsuccessfully, and in 1936 she remarried. My stepfather worked in the Hermitage and died of illness during the blockade. Mom was also very weak, and everyone around her considered her hopeless. One day, a close friend of hers came to our house and quietly took with her our grocery cards lying on the chest of drawers. All four food cards disappeared, and all that remained was one “children’s card”, according to which we received 125 grams of bread per day.

I was in the family eldest daughter. The younger sister Lidochka now lives in St. Petersburg, and Ninochka died. With God's help, we managed to cross Lake Ladoga, and then all of us, very weak, were put into old carriages, and we set off. On each railway station Doctors or orderlies visited the carriages to carry very weak or almost hopeless people on stretchers to first-aid posts to provide them with at least some help. The bodies of blockade survivors who died on the road were also taken away. My sister Ninochka and I were among them. This happened in Orekhovo-Zuevo, near Moscow. According to my mother, we girls lay motionless, and our bodies were severely frostbitten. I was unconscious and, of course, didn’t remember anything. The doctors put us two sisters on the same stretcher. Mom handed us over to them as if we were dead, because she couldn’t take us any further. That’s how I ended up in the dead room, but I don’t remember anything about how I was rescued from there. How I regained consciousness and how the doctors determined that I was alive, I cannot know. Maybe I moved or something...

Sister Ninochka did not survive, and she was buried in a mass grave in Orekhovo-Zuevo. I woke up in the hospital, where I spent about three months. My hands and feet were frostbitten, but the Lord arranged it so that my hands came away, but surgeons amputated the toes on my right foot. At first she rode in a stroller, and then she began to walk a little. All my thoughts in the hospital were only about my mother: is she alive and where is she? I wanted to see her so much.

- And you managed to find out something about her future fate? If yes, when did this happen?

In the hospital, I had no idea where my mother was in 1942-1943. And after meeting her I found out that she and her sister Lidochka had been evacuated to Krasnodar region, to Kuban, where they were also admitted to the hospital because they were very weakened.

Everywhere is the will and providence of God, and I always felt this above me. I remember how one day the head doctor came to our department and said that tomorrow forty people from among the blockade survivors would be discharged. I immediately started crying. All in anxiety: where will they send me? I want to see my mother, but no one knows where she is. And suddenly, that same evening, my mother’s letter arrives addressed to the head physician, where she asks if the girl Valya Shchukina is alive. From baptism I was called Valya. If the answer was positive, the mother asked to send her daughter to the address indicated on the envelope. But there was something wrong with him. They took me first to Tikhoretsk, and then to Krasnodar. I had to spend the night in Tikhoretsk in a children’s room, but in Krasnodar they didn’t know what to do with me and even wanted to send me to Orphanage.

Along the way, everyone pitied me, a child under the siege, and some even cried when they saw that I was limping. After all, my leg was in bandages and still hurt. Strangers They handed me a crust of bread. It's already outside summer sun, and on my head there is a winter hat, and on my left leg there is a felt boot. The Lord sent one woman who agreed to help me, a thin and reed-thin girl, find the village where my mother was staying. I could go on and on about how I searched for her for two weeks and finally found her. It was a very touching and joyful meeting.

However, our joy soon gave way to sadness and grief. Fascist troops invaded the places where my mother and I lived, and we in the Kuban suddenly found ourselves under occupation and hid with my mother in the basement. When the enemy force retreated, a typhus epidemic began. This terrible disease also struck our mother, and she was only 35 years old. She was buried in Kuban, and we, left alone with my sister Lidochka, became orphans. We managed to find one of our aunts who was evacuated from Valdai to the Kirov region. For some time we lived with my aunt in my mother’s homeland - in Valdai. But in reality there was nowhere to live there. Our aunt had to take Lidochka and me to an orphanage. Here they helped us find our other relatives - three aunts who lived in Leningrad. At that time I was already 14 years old. So my sister and I arrived in Leningrad to my mother’s my own sister- Matryona Stepanovna or “Aunt Mota,” as Lidochka and I then called this aunt of ours. She sheltered us, and we lived with her.

After these events, about a year has passed and you have already determined your path - you decided to devote yourself to monasticism. Who then influenced you in choosing this path?

I chose the monastic path of salvation as a teenager. The Lord led me to this choice when I was 15 years old. All our relatives, especially all my seven aunts, were believers. In addition to sisters, my mother also had two brothers. Of course, we all lived in difficult times: the authorities persecuted us for our faith in God. Our big family everyone was a believer. Some of my aunts also had a desire to become nuns, but either the revolution, the war, or some other unforeseen events prevented them from going to the monastery. My Aunt Matryona had a Bible, Gospel, Psalter and other books at home. Her girlfriends came to her on Sundays after the liturgy. And in the post-war years, people lived modestly, drank tea with bread and caviar, although it was squash. Adults gathered and asked me:

Valya, read, read to us. Today is such and such a holiday...

In addition to the Bible, my aunt also had several books “The Lives of the Saints” by St. Demetrius of Rostov. So I quietly read aloud the lives and other spiritual books. Auntie was very careful, so she tried to do everything so that none of the neighbors or strangers would see or know that she had church books. In those difficult times, it was impossible not only to have something sacred at home, but even to go to temples. Everything was persecuted.

In 1948, a theological seminary opened in the city, where the revered icon of the Mother of God “The Sign” was located. On Wednesdays, an akathist was always read here, so I loved going there too. At the seminary, Father Alexander Osipov delivered wonderful sermons. And in all the other temples I had a very good time. Here is our current dad His Holiness Patriarch Kirill - Father Mikhail Gundyaev - was an excellent preacher. He preached such sermons that you will listen to them. I also remember Father Alexander Medvedsky, Father Vasily Ermakov and some others. Their sermons had a strong effect not only on my soul.

I remember how I came to the seminary on the occasion of the Nativity of Christ. After the Divine Liturgy, Father Alexander Osipov preached a sermon that stuck with me:

Brothers and sisters, what a great and joyful holiday we have today! The Lord Himself became incarnate and came to earth. He was born in Bethlehem and lay in a wretched manger. And who warmed him with their breath? Animals, sheep. There was not even room for the Mother of God in the hotel. And the Magi brought their gifts to the Divine Infant. What will you and I bring to our Lord?..

Here I am standing in the temple thinking: “Lord, what will I bring to You? I am such a sinful person. I have nothing good. Dear God, I will bring myself to You. This will be my gift. Lord, take me as a sacrifice."

Many of my friends found life partners from among the guys who studied at the seminary and got married. And I stood at the icons and prayed:

God, I don't need anything. I really want to go to the monastery...

I made my choice after the heartfelt sermons of our priests, whom I heard in churches. Of course, you must have a calling to monastic life and know the purpose, why and for what a person goes to a monastery. And he goes for the sake of saving his soul and for the sake of salvation future life. Here, on this earth, everything will pass - joy, sorrow, and grief. And there, in heaven, you will live forever. What you earn is what you get there. That’s why my soul was kindled then:

Lord, I loved You! I want to come to You, O God, take me to the monastery!

But in the post-war years there were no monasteries in our country. And only then did I find out about one of them - Pyukhtitsky, in Estonia. This happened after the arrival of Abbess Rafaila from Pyukhtitsa to our city. Many mothers knew me in the Kazan and Vladimir cathedrals. They also knew my deepest desire. And then one day the altar girls happily told me:

Valya, Mother Superior Raphaila has arrived from Pyukhtitsy. So you bow down at her feet, talk to her with humility and ask to join her in the monastery.

Somewhat later, I found out that the altar mothers had already met with the abbess before me and even bothered on my behalf. Mother Raphaila asked me a few questions, asked me about life, and I told her everything about myself. She, of course, began to tell me that the Pyukhtitsa Monastery - Holy place, he grew up with the blessing of John of Kronstadt, but his obedience is very difficult, there are few sisters, so I will have to do any, even backbreaking work: mowing, harrowing, chopping and sawing wood, working in the barnyard...

This did not scare me, and I say in response:

Mother, I will do everything for holy obedience. Take me to the monastery.

Our conversation ended with Mother Raphaila advising me to take a paycheck from work and come to the monastery. Inspired, I came home and immediately explained everything in a conversation to Aunt Mota, who did not approve of my going to the monastery:

You are still very weak and almost a child. Who will look after me in my old age, who will help Lidochka get back on her feet? Once you become more mature and stronger, then we’ll talk. In a monastery, you know, you have to work and do all kinds of work, even unloved ones.

- Before entering the monastery, did you already have some work experience or did you still study somewhere?

At that difficult time, I did not manage to finish school. Of course, I didn’t have either higher education. But then I already had a favorite thing to do. Before the monastery, I worked briefly at the Central Historical Archive, where I was hired as a restorer. Of course, I liked this profession, because it was within my strengths, and everything worked out for me at work. And before the archive, I worked for some time as an assistant in a canteen. True, I did not work there for long and was not even officially registered because I had not reached the age of majority. She ran all sorts of errands in the kitchen and stood at the serving counter. And there wasn’t enough cooked food for everyone back then. But I was allowed not only to eat myself, but also to even bring some of the food home. I admit, the head serving forced me to underweight each portion - up to thirty grams. And it was a burden to me. I realized that what was happening in the dining room was wrong, and I quickly left it.

So, your believing aunt Matryona, who asked you to read spiritual books to her, did not want to hear about your entry into the monastery?

Yes, at first she protested, but then she finally gave her blessing for the monastic path. I remember how, after the akathist in front of the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear,” I tearfully asked that everything would work out in my future destiny. I prayerfully asked the Mother of God to fulfill my desire and soften Aunt Matryona’s heart. In tears, I then told everything to the rector of the church on Okhta, Father Nikolai Fomichev, who also blessed me to go to the monastery. Knowing about my desire, Father Boris, Father Mikhail, Father Philofey advised me to go to Vyritsa to Elder Seraphim in order to find out the will of God through him.

- And what memories do you have from your meeting with St. Seraphim Vyritsky?

The Lord allowed me to visit him twice - in 1948 and at the beginning of 1949, shortly before his death. On my first visit, I remember over twenty people gathered near his house who wanted to get to the priest. While waiting, everyone sat peacefully on the grass, some reading and some writing. And he was already very weak then and did not accept anyone. Therefore, everyone wrote notes to him, and his cell attendant, Mother Seraphima, took all these messages with various requests to his cell.

I prayed and waited patiently for my turn. I was thinking about what to write to my father about. Unexpectedly, Mother Seraphima came up to me and asked why I had come to the priest. I was afraid to tell her about the monastery and only said that I had one serious question for it. Mother reminded me of what she told all the people: the priest does not accept anyone - and she left. But she reported about me, and the priest immediately decided to accept me.

Mother, the cell attendant, took me to him, and people suddenly began to grumble, why weren’t they accepted? Like, some even arrived before me and have been waiting since the evening, while others are trying to get a meeting with him for the second time. The waiting people began to grumble, and one woman reminded mother that she had even spent the night here.

When I crossed myself and timidly entered the cell, I saw the priest lying in his crib - so white and light. She knelt down in front of him, burst into tears, and couldn’t even utter any words. She asked him to pray. Father stroked me on the head, calmed me down, and then asked me to tell me about myself. I complied with his request. She didn’t even mention a word about the monastery. And when she fell silent, Father Seraphim turned to me:

What else can you say, baby?

Then I already said with tears that I have desire enter a monastery. It seemed to me then that the priest somehow immediately perked up and supported my decision:

Your path, baby, is here. This is your monastery! - and pointed to a photograph hanging on the wall. - The Mother of God chose you. Come with God!

He even predicted the place of my obedience - Pyukhtitsa. On black and white photography The cathedral was captured. I looked at the photo and immediately tears of joy appeared in my eyes. I managed to tell him that my aunt did not want to hear about my entry into the monastery. Father advised that Aunt Motya should come to him and he would have a heart-to-heart talk with her.

Auntie refused this proposal. And she categorically promised not to let me go anywhere and even threatened me with the police.

No and no! - she objected. - I rescued you from the orphanage, and you... First, bury me, and then you will go to the monastery. Otherwise, I won't let you go anywhere.

At first they didn’t want to let me go from work either. After all, in those days it was necessary to indicate the reason for dismissal and even tell where you were leaving the city or for what purpose. new job transfer or start where to study.

The second time I briefly visited Father Seraphim. I asked for his blessing to go to the monastery and my cousin Nina. Her mother Evdokia died tragically in Leningrad at the end of 1948, when she was returning from the All-Night Vigil from the Transfiguration Cathedral. The tram in which she was getting home suddenly caught fire and all the passengers jumped out of it in panic. Nina’s mother crashed on the asphalt and the doctors were unable to save her.

Father blessed us both to go to the monastery. And I again reminded him of my situation and that Aunt Matryona did not want to let me go.

Father Seraphim again told me, tearful, that my aunt would definitely come to him for a conversation.

I return home to Aunt Mota and cry, and she, looking at me, understood everything. She also burst into tears, but still at that time she already decided to go to the elder.

And then God’s mercy happened: my aunt arrived from Father Seraphim completely different - she softened. Of course, she cried, but she had already come to terms with my decision and also blessed me to enter the monastery:

Well, I won’t resist God’s will. If Father Seraphim blessed you, then get ready, Valya...

- You mentioned that it was difficult for you to quit your job in the archives. However, did you still leave this institution?

It was difficult and difficult for me to leave the archive, but then I finally left my workplace. When I submitted my resignation from work and announced that I was leaving Leningrad, they didn’t want to let me go anywhere. The main reason was my aunt's disagreement. She managed to report to my superiors that I was going to the monastery and asked not to give me a settlement. Then I even had to fool around a little. But the Lord arranged it in such a way that the director of the archive went somewhere for three days on a business trip and his deputy remained behind. And at this time, I think a miracle happened. I began to ask my other aunt Irina, who did not oppose my going to the monastery:

Dear Aunt Ira, help. I need to go with me to the archive and prove to the management and all the employees that I am not going to any monastery, but am going to take care of an elderly and very sick grandmother, who asked me to look after her.

Yes, I even had to go through deception. Well, we arrived at the archive in the morning, and all the employees gathered there and started asking me:

Where are you, Valya, going to go? To a monastery? Your aunt visited us and told us about this.

And I even assumed such foolishness:

Moreover, I ask the employees about the monastery and tell them about the reasons for leaving the city almost seriously. And so everyone believed that I was leaving Leningrad for the purpose of caring for my seriously ill grandmother. Aunt Irina, without blinking an eye, confirmed all my words. She even put her signature on my resignation letter, assuring me that I was not leaving for a monastery, but was leaving to live with a seriously ill person.

That's how I received the calculation in the archive. Of course, when I had already entered the Pukhtitsky Monastery, everyone in the archive knew where I was. However, it was already too late to change anything.

So the Lord granted that in the spring of 1949 I came to the Assumption Pyukhtitsa Monastery. She came not alone, but with her cousin Ninochka, who became nun Arsenia there.

You went to this monastery with the blessing and prayers of St. Seraphim Vyritsky, but the Holy City of Jerusalem was prophesied to you by priest Nikolai Guryanov as the place of your further service?

I really loved the Pukhtitsa Monastery. The place where it stands was chosen by the Queen of Heaven Herself, and it was built with the blessing righteous John Kronstadt. Our monastery was never closed even during Soviet times. At the monastery I helped Abbess Varvara, served as a cell attendant, directed the choir, and was treasurer...

One day, Father Nikolai Guryanov, whom I met back in 1955 in Lithuania, came to us in Pyukhtitsa. Mother Superior gave her blessing to show the priest our workshops. So I go ahead and show them to my dear guest. And one of the sisters admitted to the priest that she felt very happy before leaving for Jerusalem. Immediately she asked him who would be the abbess there, in the Holy Land? After all, there has been no abbess in Gorny for five years. And he allegedly pointed at me behind my back and quietly said that “Pyukhtitsa Abbess Georgiy” would be there. I didn’t see or hear anything about it, and only later did my sisters tell me about it.

Long before 1991, Father prophesied to me the Holy City of Jerusalem. I remember that more than once in my presence he suddenly began to quietly sing “Jerusalem, Jerusalem...”. He also blessed me in a special way for the abbot’s cross.

I came to see him once in 1990. From his house, he invited me to the temple to pray to the Mother of God. We venerated the Hodegetria icon of the Mother of God, and then he took my hand and led me, timid, to the altar. I was surprised: why is he leading me to the altar? And there is no service in the temple, and, then, I am a nun, not a monk... But still I took off my shoes, entered the altar, began to cross myself, and when I made the third bow, he from behind, unnoticed by me, took out a large the cross and put it on my back. And I feel like I can’t get up with him full height. That’s how I stood in a bow with a metal cross on my back. Then he took off this cross and lifted me up:

Georgiyushka, this is your cross. Jerusalem Cross. Carry it. And the Lord will help you.

Only later did I understand that he meant the abbot’s cross.

- And when and under what circumstances did you obey? older sister on Karpovka?

Before arriving in Jerusalem, I was a nun in Pyukhtitsy, and I was sent to restore the St. Petersburg Ioannovsky Monastery on Karpovka.

Here is how it was. In 1989, the late His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, then still a metropolitan, invited Mother Varvara and me to his Moscow apartment for lunch. Here he offered to organize a courtyard for our Pukhtitsky Monastery in the city on the Neva and handed over the keys to the temple on Karpovka, which now belongs to the Ioannovsky Monastery. The relics of Righteous John of Kronstadt rest in it.

Mother Varvara and I immediately set off by night train from Moscow to St. Petersburg. We found a temple in Karpovka, and when we went inside, we saw desolation and ruin. It was just a barn, and we had no idea how to start cleaning it out. We learned from people that at one time there were civil defense courses in the temple. Then he for a long time was abandoned. And the temple was supposed to be consecrated in two weeks!

Fifteen sisters immediately came from Pyukhtitsa to work at Karpovka. All my relatives, long-time St. Petersburg acquaintances, as well as students of the theological seminary, who were sent to us in shifts by its rector, Father Vladimir Sorokin, helped.

We cleaned the columns, took out several vehicles of various garbage, including several hundred gas masks, many old desks and even telephone booths. And when they cleared the floor of debris, we saw such a beautiful mosaic that everyone was surprised. A broken crystal chandelier was also discovered, but it was never restored. And there was no need to even lay carpets on this mosaic floor, it was so well preserved. We all worked day and night, so in two weeks we managed to prepare for the consecration of the temple. The temple itself was decorated inside and out with flowers given to us.

- In this temple, did you later find the grave of Righteous John of Kronstadt?

His grave was found in the lower temple. For a long time we kissed there in one place, marked with a small cross. We thought that our dear father lay there. And so we somehow cleared the floor, took out the old furniture that was there, tore off the boards and removed the linoleum. Suddenly, in one place they discovered a concrete part of the floor. We remembered the story of one parishioner that in Soviet times here they tried to open the grave of Father John. However, one of those who were sent to do this, they say, lost his mind, and his partner unexpectedly died. After these incidents, they ordered that this burial place be filled with concrete. It was in that place that we placed the tomb of our dear father.

- When did you receive the obedience to work in the Holy Land?

I had to leave for Jerusalem on March 27, 1991 by order of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy. One day that year he called me on Christmas and asked how we were doing with repairs and restoration in the monastery courtyard on Karpovka. I told in detail how the roof was repaired, how the domes and crosses were installed, how the upper church began to be restored. We then hurried to restore the chambers of Righteous John of Kronstadt. She said on the phone that we would be happy to meet His Holiness during the upcoming Lent. And suddenly I hear on the phone:

God bless George's mother. Fine. And now you need to work in the Holy Land, in Jerusalem. There you will need to raise Gornensky convent. Your mission will be to receive pilgrims. Therefore, everything will need to be repaired there and the monastery restored.

I immediately responded:

My Holiness, I can’t do it. My character is not the same.

She immediately began suggesting the names of other mothers as possible candidates.

Mother George, today I have only one candidate - yours. You will stay in Gorny as long as you can. Prepare your replacement there. Your dedication will take place at the Yelokhovsky Cathedral in Moscow on March 24, and three days later we will fly to the Holy Land.

As a nun, I could not refuse the obedience that His Holiness the Patriarch entrusted to me.

- So, Father Nikolai Guryanov’s prediction regarding Jerusalem came true?

Yes, it turns out so. I did not yet know about this obedience that His Holiness would give me, but a few months before, the priest, through people, gave me two envelopes to Karpovka. On the first one it was written: “Abbess Georgiy,” and in it lay only a small old cross. And that's it - no message. After some time I received another envelope from him. It contained several thousand rubles. Then I realized that it was money for the road to the Holy Land. Exactly the amount required - three thousand. After all, I was then the eldest sister at Karpovka, and not the abbess. And on these two envelopes, by the hand of Father Nikolai Guryanov, it was written not “Mother Georgia,” but “Abbess Georgia,” which surprised me then.

A few weeks before leaving for the Holy Land, on behalf of His Holiness the Patriarch, I visited the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery. Then in the winter I was able to miraculously get to Zalit Island and say goodbye to my father. And it happened like this. On frosty days there were ice floes on the lake, and it was impossible to get to the island by boat. Having learned about my desire, Father Barnabas, who was then acting as a steward, asked for a blessing to leave for a few minutes. At this time, it turns out, he called the flight control military unit. And then he returned with good news: seven of us would be taken to Zalit Island by military helicopter. In those years, the monastery had good connections with the military. We took off, were in the air for a short time, and during landing I saw through the window how the priest was standing on the porch and was already waving his hand at us in a friendly manner. When I met him, tears came to my eyes, and I began to tell him everything that in the Holy Land it would be necessary not only to restore the monastery, but also to be there... a “diplomat.” I'm afraid, I say, my mind is not enough for this matter. And in response I hear these comforting words:

Don’t be afraid, Georgiyushka, both intelligence and health - you have enough of everything.

I told my father about one thing, and he told me about another:

What a lucky girl you are, Georgiyushka, you are going to the Holy Sepulcher and to your saint - George! He meant Lydda or Lot - the homeland of St. George the Victorious.

And he consoled me like this:

It would be nice, Georgiyushka, to always remain in the Holy Land. But I want you to sit on it and... die!

That's how he consoled me. And at parting, I asked the priest to pray. Through the prayers of dear Father Nikolai Guryanov, I always received a lot of help, and everything somehow worked out in our Gornenskaya monastery, then and now.

- How did you find the Gorny Monastery when you arrived in the Holy Land and what activities awaited you there as abbess?

When I arrived at the Gorny Monastery, there had been no abbess there for five years. The monastery has not been renovated since its foundation. All the houses where the sisters lived were old, and many of them had almost no amenities. Some buildings have fallen into disrepair. There is no fence around the monastery territory, no running water, no telephones. Yes, there wasn’t much. For example, good hotels for pilgrims.

Of course, I also saw the unfinished walls of the majestic cathedral. It began to be built back in 1910, and it was erected with money from the imperial family and donations from ordinary Russian people. Its first builders decided to locate the cathedral on high point so that it can be seen from afar. It was difficult to get to it - all the roads were overgrown. And you won’t pass and you won’t pass. Trees have already grown inside the temple itself, and various bushes have also taken root on the walls. That’s when we had to cut it all down.

In 1997, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy visited us on an archpastoral visit. He blessed the resumption of construction of the cathedral. All construction work was completed only in October 2007 and the cathedral was dedicated to All Saints who shone in the Russian land. First Divine Liturgy in this cathedral the current Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill performed. Many, many guests took part in the opening celebration of the cathedral. All of them were received with love by our sisters.

Probably, from among the pilgrims and laborers, those who are going to stay in your monastery forever come to you? What do you say to them in response to their heart?

First of all, I say that without a special calling it is very difficult to live in a monastery. But many people do just that: some come to the monastery to live, while others come to be saved. These are different things. Those who go just to live in it enter the monastery without a calling. In this case, they don’t like the cell, and they cannot obey. They are picky about everything, even meals - and that’s not the same for them. Other reasons are also put forward. And those who go to the monastery by calling - for the sake of the Lord and for the salvation of their souls - they will endure everything in the monastery. They feel good always and everywhere. No matter where they are sent or where they are placed. No matter what cell they were assigned to and no matter who they lived there with. Receiving any obedience, they say only one word: “Bless!” - that's all. They know the purpose of their life, they know why they came, they know why they want to live in a monastery.

At the beginning of our conversation, you noted that for three months you would sit in the church not in the abbot’s place, but on an ordinary chair next to the miraculous icon of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the right side of this icon is another miraculous image - the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Can I hear from you the legend that is associated in the monastery with this miraculous icon?

Everyone in the monastery began to grieve, cry and ask the Mother of God for help. Since the temple was consecrated in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the sisters began to read an akathist to the Kazan Icon. One, two, three - a total of 12 akathists were read in a row. And suddenly, on the 12th akathist, a miracle happened: the icon hanging on the wall came down from the wall and walked around the temple on its own. The sisters heard a voice saying that all troubles in the monastery would stop and it would be protected from the epidemic. And from that time on, the terrible disease really went away.

Now, on all holidays dedicated to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, during the all-night vigil, after the first hour, we begin to read 12 akathists. As a sign of gratitude to the Mother of God for delivering the sisters of the monastery from fatal disease. In our monastery, holidays in honor of the Kazan Icon are celebrated with great solemnity. The sisters carry out a great feat of prayer. They feel the gracious help and presence of God’s grace emanating from this icon. She also helps me carry the abbot’s cross.

- How heavy is your abbot’s cross in the Holy Land?

Of course, it is heavier here in the Holy Land than, say, in Russia, Ukraine or Belarus, where the abbot or abbess are complete masters in their monasteries. And here we are subordinate to the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem. Without his blessing, I myself have no right to do anything: not to go anywhere, not to receive anyone - workers and even pilgrims. We receive orders from the mission that must be carried out. And we must accept all this and work.

I carry my Jerusalem cross with God’s help. I also fulfill the obedience of the late His Holiness Patriarch Alexy: to receive pilgrims with love. Thank God, there are many, many of them now. Of course, in our several old hotels, where there used to be almshouses, there are no such rooms as in the city. Pilgrims had never stopped at the Gorny Monastery before; only sisters lived there. We have to listen to everything from the sisters and the pilgrims. After all, the abbess has to be responsible for everything that happens in the monastery - for every sister, for workers and for pilgrims. Well, sometimes it happens that I get worried or tired from work. However, the Lord and the Mother of God always help me. Thank God for everything!

WITH Abbess Georgia (Shchukina)
talked

A person who wants to devote all of himself and his life to God chooses monasticism. Often women make such a choice, but do not know how to do it, how to go to a monastery as a woman. First, you need to find out as many details as possible about monastic life, obediences, and test the strength of your decision.

You cannot strive to go to a convent just because you have not been able to find a reliable life partner in the world and start a family.

Often lonely people devote their lives to serving their neighbors, creating orphanages and shelters, and conducting active social activities. This is their calling and the meaning of life. And it is still unknown what kind of monk(-inya) they would have made.

Often people who have lost their neighbors have also lost themselves. Life for them has stopped at one point; apart from it, nothing else exists. This condition sometimes becomes the reason that a woman seriously thinks about entering a nunnery. But this is a mistake. You won’t be able to run away from yourself and your problems, even by hiding behind the monastery walls.

Sooner or later, depression caused by the death or loss of a loved one passes, interest in life and joy from communicating with people return. And then the monastery walls become cramped, the quiet and monotonous life becomes unbearably boring. If this happens before taking monastic vows, it is a great success. A person returns to the world and leads the lifestyle for which he feels an internal need.

There are two reasons why you can go to a monastery:

1. A burning desire to become a monk (-frost). At the same time, it is necessary to be clearly aware of all the difficulties that await along this path. Otherwise, when faced with phenomena that do not correspond to your concepts of holiness and spirituality, you can be severely disappointed and thereby harm yourself.
2. Deep sincere repentance for the sins committed and the desire to certainly correct them, giving all of oneself and one’s life to the service of God.

Only this can serve as an impetus for taking the monastic path and make you think about how to get into a monastery.

Interesting! When is it celebrated according to the Orthodox church calendar?

Sometimes people who are financially unsettled or suffering various diseases, are looking for peace for their tormented soul behind the monastery fence, hoping that their life’s difficulties will be resolved here. But they will also be uncomfortable in the monastic monastery, because things are not sweet here either. There are many difficulties, it is necessary to bear obedience. Without an inner core and trust in God, you cannot survive here.

If you are still seriously thinking about how to get to the monastery, firstly, you need to see and live in at least several places. Each monastery has its own characteristics. You need to find the one where you like it most.

In order to finally go to a monastery, you need to live in it for some time as a worker. Almost every monastery needs workers. You will be only welcome if you decide to help a little.

It is not necessary to go to obedience to a nunnery. You can also work with men. Women's hard-working hands are also very much needed there, especially in large monasteries, where there is an endless stream of pilgrims who need to be fed, accommodated for the night, and so on.

In the men's monastery, female laborers, as a rule, find permanent confessors from among the brethren. The clergyman, having learned about the ardent desire of the believer(s) to devote himself to the monastic path, will tell you how to get to the monastery, and will also help you find a suitable monastery, give a blessing and will support you in every possible way.

The monks often visit neighboring convents as confessors for the sisters, and are well acquainted with the abbess, dean and other persons from the administrative level. Therefore, if a woman comes with a blessing from her confessor, who is also well known here, she will be accepted without problems.

Attention! How to get into a nunnery to live in order to work for the glory of God and decide on your life purpose, it is better to immediately consult with your confessor.

Works for the glory of God

Life in any monastic monastery will be beneficial, even if a woman, especially with a child, does not plan to stay here for the rest of her life. In the morning, all the sisters go to the Midnight Office, then the Liturgy, if obedience allows.

At the end of the day - evening service, after which in many monasteries they make a religious procession around the main temple of the monastery. A quiet and measured life, without fuss, gossip and noise coming from TV screens.

What to do in the monastery. The sisters are in obedience from morning to evening, and, accordingly, the worker(s) as well. There is always a lot of work.

New arrivals are usually sent to the most difficult obediences:

• garden,
• kitchen,
• cellar,
• barnyard,
• cleaning the area.

The kitchen always needs extra work force to peel potatoes or fish for everyone living and arriving at the monastery. In the summer, the hot spot for obedience is the vegetable garden, which needs tending, harvesting, and so on. In winter, you need to sort through the vegetables in the cellar, separating the rotten ones from the whole ones so that they too do not spoil.

And finally, the most difficult obedience in the monastery for new arrivals is the cowshed or barnyard. Because you need to carry heavy buckets, inhale the “aroma” of manure, always be dirty and change into clean clothes only late in the evening, while it is not always possible to wash off the unpleasant smell.

In the evening, barely alive from fatigue, the newly arrived servants of God return to their cells - rooms allocated for them to stay in the monastery hotel or residential building. In a few hours, one of the sisters will walk along the corridor, holding a bell in her hands. His ringing voice will call everyone to morning prayers and will notify you of the beginning of a new day.

Acceptance as a Sister

If you show yourself well in obedience, Mother Superior accepts you as one of the monastery sisters. Now the scarf on your head needs to be tied in a special way, covering your forehead. This means that you have taken the first step on the path of renunciation of the world and you are allowed less freedom in behavior. A novice cannot leave the walls of the monastery without a blessing, otherwise she will be deprived of the right to be here for violating the rules.

Each of the sisters participates in the reading of the 24-hour psalter. As a rule, new recruits have the most difficult hours of the night. It is not customary to refuse obediences that Mother Superior blesses.

It is believed that the monastery is a school of humility. Therefore, you need to prove yourself well from the very beginning. If the novice successfully withstood everything severe trials, which she got at the beginning, and did not leave the monastery path, most likely, she will turn out to be a good nun.

Monastic vows are very strict, and frivolity here must be completely excluded. If the church allows a woman to divorce her husband, then in monasticism this is not even close. A nun who renounced her vows and went into the world, and even got married there, still remains under monastic vows. The church considers her a nun living in sin. According to canonical rules, monastic vows are given once and for all.

Previously, people in the monastery prepared for tonsure for many years, overcoming the temptations of monastic life. A novice, being in the monastery for a long time, had the opportunity to take monastic vows with full confidence or go back into the world, realizing that his place was there. Only those who, after many years, were not disappointed in their choice were tonsured.

Now in many monastic monasteries they give at most three years for this. Such monasticism does not always last long. Many leave this path, return to the world, even get married, but rarely find that illusory happiness, the pursuit of which took them away from the protection of the Mother of God.

Some, having realized over time that their entry into the monastic path was a mistake, continue to “pull the strap,” but without joy and inspiration. They secretly run outside the monastery gates to take a breath of some air of “freedom”, and often fall into despondency and other sins.

Attention! Only with God's help can one overcome all the difficulties that await those who enter a nunnery for obedience.

In monastic (novitiate) life, sooner or later a critical moment comes. In the world, having a family, difficult times can be overcome quite painlessly with the support of family and friends. Here you are left alone with your problems and have only God as your helper. If you don’t pray, it will be very difficult to stay in the holy monastery.

Obedience with a child

Most of the women who came to obedience have children. Is it possible for such women to become nuns? Some of them have already raised children, given them education, housing, and got them married.

And then, having finished all their earthly affairs, they thought about how to go to a monastery and devote the rest of their lives to God. Accordingly, such novices are no longer young. But this does not prevent them from working equally with young sisters in monastic obediences.

If a woman decides to go to a monastery with a small child, if she has minor children in her care, then according to the monastery charter, she will not be accepted as one of the sisters of the monastic monastery. She, of course, can come to stay for a while and work for the glory of God. This is not forbidden to anyone. But then you need to return to your most important responsibilities - caring for children and raising them in a Christian spirit.

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Let's sum it up

You can come to the monastery and work together with your children, go to services with them, and nourish your soul with Divine grace. Returning to the world, such a child will retain in his soul the memories of these bright, joyful days filled with work and prayer.

To go to a monastery, desire alone is not enough. You need to stock up on patience, humility, tune in to difficulties and temptations, and not wait for an easy and have a nice life within the monastery walls.

People go to the monastery various reasons. Some people are driven there by the general unsettled state of the world. Others have a religious upbringing, and they tend to consider the path of a monk to be the best for a person. Women quite often make this decision due to problems in their personal lives. For me everything was a little different. Questions of faith have always occupied me, and one day... But first things first.

My parents are doctors, my father is a surgeon, my mother is an obstetrician-gynecologist, and I also graduated from medical school. But I never became a doctor; I was fascinated by photography. I worked a lot for glossy magazines and was quite successful. What I liked most then was filming and traveling.

My boyfriend was interested in Buddhism and infected me with it. We traveled a lot around India and China. It was interesting, but I didn’t dive headlong into faith. I was looking for answers to questions that worried me. And I didn’t find it. Then I became interested in qigong - a kind of Chinese gymnastics. But over time, this hobby also passed. I wanted something stronger and more exciting.

One day, my friend and I were on our way to filming and accidentally stopped to spend the night in an Orthodox monastery. Unexpectedly, I was offered to replace the local cook. I love these types of challenges! I agreed and worked in the kitchen for two weeks. This is how Orthodoxy came into my life. I started going to the temple near my house regularly. After the first confession I felt great, it went so calmly. I became interested in religious books, studied the biographies of saints, observed fasts... I plunged into this world headlong and one day I realized that I wanted more. I decided to go to a monastery. Everyone, including the priest, dissuaded me, but the elder I went to blessed me with obedience.

I arrived at the monastery wet from head to toe, cold and hungry. It was hard on my soul, after all, it’s not every day that you change your life so dramatically. I'm like anyone normal person, I hoped that they would feed me, calm me down and, most importantly, listen to me. But instead, I was forbidden to talk to the nuns and sent to bed without dinner. I was upset, of course, but rules are rules, especially since we were talking about one of the strictest monasteries in Russia.

The abbess had a personal chef. She hypocritically complained that because of diabetes she was forced to eat salmon with asparagus, and not our gray crackers

Special zone

The monastery was ruled by a strong, powerful and, as it turned out, very influential woman. During the first meeting, she was friendly, smiling, and told by what laws life in the monastery follows. She clarified that she should be called mother, the others - sisters. Then it seemed that she treated me with maternal condescension. I believed that everyone living in the monastery was one big family. But alas...

It was a realm of meaningless restrictions. At the table you were not allowed to touch food without permission, you couldn’t ask for more, or eat something else until everyone had finished the soup. The oddities didn't just apply to the meals. We were forbidden to be friends. What’s more, we didn’t even have the right to talk to each other. Believe it or not, this was considered fornication. Gradually I realized: everything was arranged this way so that the sisters could not discuss the abbess and the monastic way of life. Mother was afraid of a riot.
I tried to practice humility. When something scared me, I thought that my faith was simply weak and that no one was to blame.

Further more. I noticed that during meals, someone is always scolded. For the most insignificant reasons (“I took the scissors and forgot to give them back”) or without them at all. You must understand that, according to church regulations, such conversations should take place face to face: your mentor not only scolds, but
and listens, offers help, teaches not to give in to temptations. In our case, everything turned into harsh public showdowns.

There is such a practice - “thoughts”. It is customary for monks to write down all their doubts and fears on paper and give them to their confessor, who does not even have to live in the same monastery. We wrote our thoughts, of course, to the abbess. The first time I did this, my mother read my letter at a common meal. Like, “listen to what fools we have here.” Directly under the “anecdote of the week” section. I almost burst into tears in front of everyone.

We ate what parishioners or nearby stores donated. As a rule, we were fed expired food. Mother gave everything that was produced at the monastery to higher-ranking clergy.

Sometimes the abbess ordered us to eat with a teaspoon. The meal time was limited - only 20 minutes. How much can you eat there during this time? I've lost a lot of weight

Be a novice

Gradually, life in the monastery began to remind me of hard labor, and I no longer remembered any spirituality. At five in the morning, getting up, hygiene procedures, excuse me, in a basin (showers are prohibited, this is a pleasure), then a meal, prayer and hard work until late at night, then more prayers.

It is clear that monasticism is not a resort. But the feeling of being constantly broken doesn’t seem normal either. It is impossible to doubt the correctness of obedience; neither can we admit the idea that the abbess is unjustifiably cruel.

Denunciations were encouraged here. In the form of those very “thoughts”. Instead of talking about the secret, one should have complained about others. I couldn’t tell lies, for which I was repeatedly punished. Punishment in the monastery is a public reprimand with the participation of all the sisters. They accused the victim of imaginary sins, and then the abbess deprived her of the sacrament. The most terrible punishment was considered to be exile to a monastery in a remote village. I loved these links. There it was possible to take a little break from the monstrous psychological pressure and take a breath. I couldn’t voluntarily ask to go to the monastery - I would immediately be suspected of a terrible conspiracy. However, I often felt guilty, so I regularly went into the wilderness.

Many novices took strong tranquilizers. There is something strange about the fact that approximately a third of the monastery's inhabitants are mentally ill. The nuns’ hysterics were “treated” by visits to an Orthodox psychiatrist, a friend of the abbess. She prescribed powerful medicines that turned people into vegetables.

Many people ask how the monastery deals with sexual temptation. When you are constantly under severe psychological pressure and work from morning to night in the kitchen or in the barn, desires do not arise.

The way back

I lived in the monastery for seven years. After a series of intrigues and denunciations, shortly before the proposed tonsure, my nerves gave way. I miscalculated, took a lethal dose of medicine and ended up in the hospital. I lay there for a couple of days and realized that I would not return back. It was a difficult decision. The novices are afraid to leave the monastery: they are told that this is a betrayal of God. They frighten with a terrible punishment - illness or sudden death loved ones.

On the way home, I stopped with my confessor. After listening to me, he advised me to repent and take the blame upon myself. Most likely, he knew about what was happening in the monastery, but was friends with the abbess.

Gradually I returned to worldly life. After for long years After spending time in isolation, it is very difficult to get used to the huge noisy world again. At first it seemed to me that everyone was looking at me. That I am committing one sin after another, and all around there are atrocities going on. Thanks to my parents and friends who helped me in every way possible. I truly freed myself when I wrote about my experience on the Internet. Gradually I posted my story on LiveJournal. It became excellent psychotherapy, I received a lot of feedback and realized that I was not alone.

After about a year of monastic life, my periods disappeared. This was the case with other novices as well. The body simply could not withstand the load, it began to fail

As a result, my sketches formed the book “Confession of a Former Novice.” When it came out, reactions varied. To my surprise, many novices, nuns and even monks supported me. “That’s how it is,” they said. Of course, there were those who condemned. The number of articles in which I appear either as an “editorial fiction” or as an “ungrateful monster” has exceeded a hundred. But I was ready for this. In the end, people have the right to their point of view, and my opinion is not the ultimate truth.

Time has passed, and now I know for sure that the problem is not with me, the system is to blame. It's not about religion, it's about the people who interpret it in such a perverted way. And one more thing: thanks to this experience, I realized that you should always trust your feelings and not try to see white in black. He's not there.

Another road

These women once got tired of the bustle of the world and decided to change everything. Not all of them became nuns, but the lives of each are now closely connected withchurch.

Olga Gobzeva. The star of the films “Operation Trust” and “Portrait of the Artist’s Wife” took monastic vows in 1992. Today Mother Olga is the abbess of the Elisabeth Convent.

Amanda Perez. A few years ago, the famous Spanish model left the catwalk without regrets and entered a monastery. Not going to return.

Ekaterina Vasilyeva. In the 90s, the actress (“Crazy” Baba") left cinema and serves as a bell ringer in a church. Occasionally he appears in TV series with his daughter Maria Spivak.

Photo: Facebook; Cinema concern "Mosfilm"; Persona Stars; VOSTOCK Photo

It happens that you can hear from women of all ages that they have decided to go to a monastery. Some say this as a joke, others seriously think about how to get into a nunnery to live, and some, especially girls, having parted with their loved one and considering that life is over, decide to go to a monastery, as if to spite everyone. And also in church circles you can hear stories about some negligent mother leading an immoral lifestyle, who abandoned her children and went to a monastery, now living there for her own pleasure with everything ready for her.

But is it so easy to get into the monastery, and is life “with everything ready” so carefree? Of course not. Getting into the monastery is quite difficult, because it will be necessary to prove not only to yourself, but also to other nuns that the decision was not made spontaneously, that all the pros and cons have been weighed, that the woman is ready for such a vitally important act. Only in the old days was it possible to imprison a person in a monastery without the will of the person himself, but now he will have to go through a long difficult path on his own in order to take monastic vows.

Required qualities

Go to a monastery - what is needed for this? A lot is needed, first of all you need to have a number of qualities, namely:

In addition, it should be borne in mind that nuns are constantly engaged in hard physical labor to earn their living, so it is very desirable to have good physical health and endurance. You will also have to observe fasts and stand at services, which in the monastery last for several hours in a row. . Therefore, in addition to physical, you also need to have spiritual strength. Each person must first decide for himself whether he can withstand such a life, because removing the monastic rank is very problematic.

How to start preparing for monasticism

So, how can a woman go to a monastery? If the decision is made firmly, you can begin to prepare for monastic life. First, you need to begin the life of a churchgoer - regularly attend church services, confess, take communion, observe fasts, and try to follow the commandments. You can, with the blessing of the priest, serve in the temple - clean candlesticks, wash floors and windows, help in the refectory and perform any other assigned work.

It will be necessary to resolve all issues related to worldly affairs - determine who will look after the apartment or house (often future nuns simply sell their real estate and invest in equipping the monastery), resolve any legal issues, place pets, if any, in reliable hands. Next, you need to talk to your spiritual mentor, tell about your intention. The priest will help you choose a monastery and prepare for monastic life. It is imperative to receive the blessing of your confessor to leave life in the world.

Trip to the monastery

So, preparation completed, the blessing has been received, the monastery has been chosen. Now you should go there to talk with Mother Superior. She will talk about the features of life in the chosen monastery, about traditions and living conditions. You should have the necessary documents with you:

• Passport.
• A short autobiography.
• Marriage certificate or death certificate of spouse (if available).
• Request for admission to the monastery.

You should know that tonsure is permitted only to persons who have reached thirty years of age. If a woman has minor children, she will need to present a certificate of guardianship over them responsible persons(sometimes they may also require characteristics for guardians). You need to know that in this case the confessor may not give a blessing for monastic life and the abbess will advise you to stay in the world and raise your children. Stay in the monastery, having in the world minor child, is possible only in exceptional cases. The same applies to situations where a woman has elderly parents who need care.

Mandatory deposit Money not required, but you can bring a voluntary donation.

What awaits in the monastery

It is impossible to take monastic vows immediately upon arrival at the monastery. Typically, a probationary period of three to five years is established. At this time the woman will take a closer look to monastic life and will be able to understand whether she is ready to finally leave the world and stay in the monastery. Before taking monastic vows, a woman goes through several stages of monastic life.

These are all the answers to the questions of how to go to a monastery, what is needed for this. If a woman is not frightened by the upcoming difficulties, the desire to serve God and her neighbor is still strong, and leaving for a monastery is a decided matter, perhaps this is her path, after all, as experienced priests say, it is not people who accept people into the monastery, but the Lord himself.