Frankly about the main thing: why and how they go to the monastery. How I went to the monastery

Since it carries within itself the renunciation of a sinful life, the seal of being chosen, uniting forever with Christ and dedication to the service of God.

Monasticism is the destiny of the strong in spirit and body. If a person is unhappy in worldly life, escaping to a monastery will only aggravate his misfortunes.

It is possible to leave for a monastery only after breaking ties with the outside world, completely renouncing everything earthly and dedicating one's life to serving the Lord. One desire is not enough for this: the call and command of the heart make a person closer to monasticism. To do this, you need to work hard and prepare.

The path to the monastery begins with the knowledge of the depth of spiritual life.

Took monastic vows

Departure to the convent of women

How can a woman enter a monastery? This is a decision that the woman herself makes, but not without the help of a spiritual mentor and God's blessing.

Do not forget that people come to the monastery not to heal spiritual wounds received in the world from unhappy love, the death of loved ones, but to reunite with the Lord, with the cleansing of the soul from sins, with the understanding that all life now belongs to the service of Christ.

The monastery is happy to see everyone, but as long as there are problems in worldly life, the walls of the monastery will not be able to save, but can only worsen the situation. When leaving for a monastery, there should not be any attachments that delay in everyday life. If the willingness to surrender to the service of the Lord is strong, then the monastic life will also benefit the nun, peace will be found in daily labors, prayers and the feeling that the Lord is always there.

If people in the world behave irresponsibly - they want to leave their wife, leave their children, then there is no certainty that the monastic life will benefit such a lost soul.

Important! Responsibility is needed always and everywhere. You cannot run away from yourself. You need not go to the monastery, but come to the monastery, go towards a new day, a new dawn, where the Lord is waiting for you.

Leaving the monastery of men

How can a man go to a monastery? This decision is not easy. But the rules are the same as for women. It's just that in society, men have more responsibility for family, work, children.

Therefore, leaving for a monastery, but at the same time, drawing closer to God, you need to think about whether loved ones will not be left without support and a strong shoulder of a man.

There is no big difference between a man and a woman who want to enter a monastery. Everyone has their own reason for leaving the monastery. The only thing that unites the future monks is the imitation of the way of life of Christ.

Preparation for monastic life

Monk - translated from Greek means "lonely", and in Rus' they were called monks - from the word "other", "other". Monastic life is not a neglect of the world, its colors and admiration for life, but it is a renunciation of pernicious passions and sinfulness, of carnal pleasures and pleasures. Monasticism serves to restore the original purity and sinlessness with which Adam and Eve were endowed in Paradise.

Yes, this is a hard and difficult path, but the reward is great - imitation of the image of Christ, endless joy in God, the ability to accept with gratitude everything that the Lord sends. In addition, the monks are the first prayer books for the sinful world. As long as their prayer sounds, the world stands. This is the main job of the monks - to pray for the whole world.

As long as a man or woman lives in the world, but feels with all their heart that their place is in the monastery, they have time to prepare and make the right and final choice between worldly life and life in unity with God:

• First you need to be an Orthodox Christian;
• Attend the temple, but not formally, but penetrate the soul into the services and love them;
• Perform morning and evening prayer rule;
• Learn to observe fasting bodily and spiritual;
• Honor Orthodox holidays;
• Read spiritual literature, the lives of saints and be sure to get acquainted with books written by holy people that tell about monastic life, the history of monasticism;
• Find a spiritual mentor who will talk about true monasticism, dispel myths about life in a monastery, and give a blessing to serve God;
• Make a pilgrimage to several monasteries, be a worker, stay in obedience.

About Orthodox monasteries:

Who can enter the monastery

The impossibility of living without God leads a man or woman to the walls of the monastery. They do not run away from people, but go for salvation, for the inner need of repentance.

And yet there are obstacles to entering the monastery, not everyone can be blessed for monasticism.

Cannot be a monk or nun:

• Family man;
• A man or woman raising small children;
• Wanting to hide from unhappy love, difficulties, failures;
• The advanced age of a person becomes an obstacle for monasticism, because in the monastery they work hard and hard, and for this you need to have health. Yes, and it is difficult to change ingrained habits that will become an obstacle to monasticism.

If all this is not there and the intention to come to monasticism does not leave a person even for a minute, no one and nothing will certainly prevent him from renouncing the world and entering a monastery.

Absolutely different people go to the monastery: those who have achieved success in the world, educated, smart, beautiful. They go because the soul yearns for more.

Monasticism is open to everyone, but not everyone is fully prepared for it. Monasticism is a life without sorrows, in the sense that a person gets rid of worldly fuss and worries. But this life is much harder than the life of a family man. The family cross is difficult, but having run away from it to the monastery, disappointment awaits and relief does not come.

Advice! And yet, in order to set foot on the difficult path of monasticism, which belongs to a few, one must carefully and carefully consider it, so as not to look back later and not regret what happened.

Took monastic vows

How to deal with parents

Many parents in ancient Rus' and other Orthodox countries welcomed the desire of their children to become monks. Youths were prepared from childhood to accept monasticism. Such children were considered prayer books for the whole family.

But there were also deeply religious people who categorically opposed the ministry of their children in the monastic field. They wanted to see their children successful and prosperous in worldly life.

Children who have independently made the decision to live in a monastery are preparing their loved ones for such a serious choice. It is necessary to choose the right words and arguments that will be correctly perceived by parents and will not lead them into the sin of condemnation.

In turn, prudent parents will thoroughly study the choice of their child, delve into the essence and understanding of the whole issue, help and support a loved one in such an important undertaking.

It's just that the majority, out of ignorance of the essence of monasticism, perceive the desire of children to serve the Lord as something alien, unnatural. They begin to fall into despair and longing.

Parents are sad that there will be no grandchildren, that a son or daughter will not have all the usual worldly joys, which are considered to be the highest achievements for a person.

Advice! Monasticism is a worthy decision for a child, and the support of parents is an important component in the final approval of the correctness of choosing a future path in life.

On Raising Children in the Faith:

Time for reflection: worker and novice

To choose a monastery in which the future monk will remain, they make more than one trip to holy places. When visiting one monastery, it is difficult to determine that a person’s heart will remain here to serve God.

After staying in the monastery for a few weeks, a man or woman is assigned the role of a worker.

During this period, a person:

• prays a lot, confesses;
• works for the benefit of the monastery;
• gradually comprehends the basics of monastic life.

The worker lives at the monastery and eats here. At this stage, they look at him in the monastery, and if a person remains faithful to his vocation of monasticism, they offer to remain in the monastery as a novice - a person who is preparing to be tonsured a monk and undergoing a spiritual test in the monastery.

Important: obedience is a Christian virtue, a monastic vow, a test, the whole meaning of which comes down to the liberation of the soul, and not to slavery. The essence and importance of obedience must be understood and felt. Understand that everything is done for good, and not for torment. Fulfilling obedience, they understand that the elder, who is responsible for the future monk, cares about the salvation of his soul.

With unbearable trials, when the spirit weakens, you can always turn to your elder and tell about the difficulties. And unceasing prayer to God is the first helper in strengthening the spirit.

You can be a follower for many years. Whether a person is ready to accept monasticism is decided by the confessor. At the stage of obedience, there is still time to think about the future life.

The bishop or rector of the monastery performs the rite of monastic tonsure. After tonsure, there is no way back: moving away from passions, sorrows and embarrassments leads to an inextricable connection with God.

Important: do not rush, do not rush to become a monk. Impulsive impulses, inexperience, ardor are falsely taken as a true vocation to be a monk. And then a person begins to worry, despondency, melancholy, escapes from the monastery. Vows are given and no one can break them. And life turns to flour.

Therefore, the main instruction of the holy fathers is careful obedience and testing for a certain period of time, which will show the true intention to be called to monasticism.

Life in the monastery

In our 21st century, it has become possible for ordinary laity to approach and see the life of monks.

Pilgrimage trips to women's and men's monasteries are now being organized. The pilgrimage is designed for several days. The laity live at the monastery, in specially designated rooms for guests. Sometimes accommodation may be paid, but this is a symbolic price and the funds from it go to the maintenance of the monastery. Meals are free, according to the monastic charter, that is, lenten food.

But the laity do not live in the monastery as tourists, but join the life of monks. They pass obedience, work for the good of the monastery, pray and feel the grace of God with all their being. They get very tired, but the fatigue is pleasant, gracious, which brings peace to the soul and a sense of the closeness of God.

After such trips, many myths about the life of monks are dispelled:

1. There is strict discipline in the monastery, but it does not oppress the nuns and monks, but brings joy. In fasting, work and prayer they see the meaning of life.
2. No one forbids a monk to have books, listen to music, watch movies, communicate with friends, travel, but everything should be for the good of the soul.
3. The cells are not dull, as they show in feature films, there is a wardrobe, a bed, a table, a lot of icons - everything is very comfortable.

After tonsure, three vows are taken: chastity, non-possession, obedience:

• monastic chastity- this is celibacy, as a constituent element of striving for God; the concept of chastity as refraining from satisfying the lusts of the flesh also exists in the world, so the meaning of this vow in the context of monasticism is something else - finding God Himself;
• monastic obedience- cutting off one's will before everyone - elders, before every person, before Christ. Trust God boundlessly and be obedient to Him in everything. Accept with gratitude everything as it is. Such a life acquires a special inner world that is in direct contact with God and is not overshadowed by any external circumstances;
• Non-possession means renunciation of all earthly things. Monastic life renounces earthly blessings: a monk should not be addicted to anything. Refusing earthly riches, he gains lightness of spirit.

And only with the Lord, when communication with Him becomes above all else - the rest, in principle, is not necessary and not important.

Watch a video on how to go to a monastery

When monks are asked: why do they go to the monastery, they answer: “They don’t go to the monastery, but they come.” Do not sorrow and misfortune force you to leave the world. The love of Christ calls to come to the monastery. Being a monk is a calling.
When a person seeks to serve the Lord and takes the tonsure, he voluntarily goes to suffer with Christ, is crucified with Him. And they don't come down from the cross, they take it down.
It is a great feat to be a real monk.
There were many monasteries before the revolution, more than 1200. In the 70s there were about 15 of them, now there are more than 500 in Russia. All of them have been opened in recent years. Our monastery is probably one of the first of its kind: it is not being restored, but is being built.
... The Svyato-Vvedensky Church was inactive for 50 years. One of the recently glorified ascetics of piety, Elder Leonty, who spent 25 years in prison, said that the time would come, this temple would be opened, and the whole world would know about it. That time has come. In 1989, when the future parishioners of the Vvedenskaya Church went on a hunger strike, demanding the return of the temple, they learned about the Holy Vvedenskaya Church not only in Russia - television, radio, newspapers, magazines here and abroad wrote a lot about it.
Two years of struggle for the temple - and now it is returned to believers. He then imagined a pitiful sight: the walls in huge holes were traces of driven logs, the temple was all wounded, as if after shelling, the windows were broken, the roof was leaking (instead of a roof made of tin - a tarpaulin painted with green paint). But the main thing was to start serving God, to start preaching, because for 70 years of godless power, the people were hungry and thirsty for spiritual food - the Word of God. At first, sermons were delivered both at the beginning and at the end of services. On Sunday evenings, all the people sang the Akathist to the Mother of God in a singsong voice, and then the priests went out to the pulpit, they were asked in writing and orally questions about faith and the salvation of the soul, to which answers were immediately given. This tradition continues to this day...
At the Holy Vvedensky Church, a small community was formed, several sisters, mostly singers. A petition was submitted to Archbishop Ambrose, he to His Holiness the Patriarch with a request to bless the convent at the church. On March 27, 1991, a new monastery appeared - the Holy Vvedensky Convent.
The monastery was a little over six months old when Vladyka Archbishop Ambrose of Ivanovo and Kineshma performed the first cassock tonsure. Vladyka would say to each sister loudly and drawlingly: “Our sister Catherine is cutting the hair of her head as a sign of complete obedience.” It was very solemn, beautiful, and all the laity, young and old, were drawn to see how it was all done. The sisters took off their headscarves, combed their long hair (and some had short hair - they had not yet grown out of the world). When Vladyka tonsured the sisters, it seemed as if he had taken a tree, uprooted it, and transplanted it from one place to another, more reliable place—handing over the sisters into the hands of God. Such vows were then performed in our monastery more than once.
235 nuns labor in the monastery. The sisters keep coming... When there were 100 people in our monastery, I had a dream: His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II comes to us and asks: “How many sisters do you have?” “About 100,” we say. “Are you still thinking of recruiting?” - "I would like another hundred" ... And then he blessed, crossed his hand and said: "God bless." This is a dream, but the number of our residents is growing.
Every day they ask. Both young and old. Many elderly people would like to end their lives in a monastery, and every time we explain that we have a large subsidiary farm, a lot of work, that they cannot do it. And the monastic charter is heavy: services in the temple are held every day in the morning and in the evening. In addition to the service, there are a lot of different obediences on the territory of the monastery and outside it, on the sketes, where there is a subsidiary farm: cows, goats, more than 200 beds of vegetables, potato fields. It is necessary to sow, plant, weed, harvest, preserve, preserve vegetables. And all this requires strength. We need to clothe all the mothers (and there is a lot of sewing work), to feed everyone (we have up to 300 people at the table every day). So the family is big, there are many worries.
Each monastery resembles a bee hive. Each bee in the hive does its job: some fly to reconnaissance, looking for nectar; other bees collect it; others in the hive put things in order; the fourth - guard. That is, each bee carries its own obedience, but in general there is one reward for all, all bees are loved and respected.
It is the same in the monastery, everyone has their own obedience, but in general a common cause is going on, there is prayer, service to the Lord, help to neighbors: in prisons, hospitals, schools. Spiritual activity is taking place. The goal of bees is to get honey, the goal of monastics is to acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit...
And the Lord does not leave us with His mercy. He blessed our monastery with the relics of the holy saints of God: St. Basil of Kineshma and Blessed Alexy of Elnat. Both of them labored for the Lord in our region, both suffered from the godless authorities.
In August 2000, St. Vasily Kineshma and Blessed. Alexy Elnatsky canonized as a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.
And one more consolation: since December 1998, a miracle has been happening in our monastery - icons are streaming myrrh. Already more than 12 thousand icons exude a blessed myrrh. Peace is the mercy of God, in a visible way the Lord confirms that He is with us.
The Lord blessed me to found a nunnery. Let this not confuse anyone: the history of the Church knows many examples when monks gave life to women's cloisters.
I am often asked: “How do you manage with so many sisters? Where is it easier - in a male monastery or in a female one? I always answer: “It’s easier in men. There is less resentment, jealousy, tears.” Novice novices bring with them a lot of worldly things, and monasticism is an angelic rank. “The light of the monks are Angels, and the light for people is the monastic life.” So we strive to get rid of everything worldly in ourselves and to acquire the spiritual.
Vocation
A monastery is not walls. The monastery is people. And the spirit in the monastery depends on what they will be. The holy fathers say that whoever wants to go to a monastery must have patience, not a cart, but a whole train. People of different ages, different upbringing, different education, characters gather in the monastery, they “grind” to each other, polished like sea pebbles. There were sharp corners and worn off. The pebble became even and smooth.
The monastery presents a great opportunity to learn spiritual virtues. You can bring your soul, your character to a perfect state, if, of course, you take this seriously. Then there will be no melancholy, despondency, despair in the soul: there will find peace and tranquility in the soul. In obedience, a person will find satisfaction and joy. He can become so accustomed to fulfilling any obedience with joy that there will be neither murmuring nor displeasure. By the sweat of his face he will work for the glory of God. And drops of sweat, according to the testimonies of the holy fathers, the angels of God will collect and carry to the Throne of the Lord in Heaven as drops of martyr's blood. Therefore, monasticism is considered a feat.
There are three types of asceticism to which the Lord Himself calls. The first feat is foolishness, when a person receives unceasing heartfelt prayer from the Lord as a gift, and, being reasonable, puts himself insane in front of everyone - foolishness. Everyone, seeing these oddities, scolds him and condemns him. This path is difficult, for the elite. The Monk Seraphim of Sarov says: “Out of a thousand holy fools, it is unlikely that there will be one not for his own sake, but for the sake of Christ.”
The second type of asceticism is wilderness living. A person goes to a deserted place: to the mountains, to the forest, to the steppe. You need to have a special disposition of the soul for this. In the desert there is an unceasing struggle, spiritual warfare, because the demons beat and beat the hermits incessantly. And they catch up with despondency, and despair, and melancholy. A true ascetic endures all this courageously, with patience and humility overcomes the great anger of demons. Without a calling, without a special providence of God, this feat cannot be carried out. If a person goes to the desert without spiritual preparation, he will not stay there for a long time. The demons will be kicked out in no time.
The third path, to which the Lord Himself calls, is monasticism. The monks are the soldiers of the army of Christ. We have many military units in our country, where soldiers constantly serve, monitor the inviolability of the borders of our Motherland. Their service is to ensure that the population slept peacefully. Monasteries are also a kind of frontier parts, the monks stand on the border of the invisible world. Warrior monks pray to the Lord to protect the people from the invisible enemy - the devil, from his attacks and wiles. Because the more monasteries there are in Russia, the better for her, for her people. The more active temples there are, the more prosperous and lively the souls of people will be. We live by the prayers of the saints, by the grace of God that descends upon us. The monastic prayer, constantly going to God, asks for heavenly support and grace for all the people.
In monasticism, a person leaves the world, sacrifices himself to the Lord and tries to live in purity.
Each person has his own calling. Not everyone can be doctors, artists, good singers, pilots. The Lord gives his own to each, calls each on his own path. In the same way, the Lord calls a person to monasticism.
Any monastery is the threshold of paradise. If a person lives holy, the Lord does not leave him, gives him strength, gives him strength and patience.
The key is obedience.
A monastery is a moral institution where the character of an Orthodox Christian is forged. The monastery has its own laws. The most important thing is obedience. Without obedience there is no salvation. It is necessary to obey the spiritual mentor, mothers, elders in rank. We must try to do our obedience work with love, but not be addicted to it. They will bless for something else: “Glory to God,” and go to do something new.
Usually in the monastery, the nuns must go through all the obediences. For what? To know the severity of obedience and to do indulgence to another. When I was ordained a hierodeacon at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, they sent me to the refectory for obedience. And I learned what a great burden to work there! It was necessary to get bread at 6 in the morning, prepare tables for breakfast for the workers, feed them, clear the table, prepare tables for the brethren's dinner (for 100 people), cut bread. At dinner, distribute a second to each, again put the tables in order, prepare everything for dinner, then clean up ... Evening prayers, and you come to the cell at 11 o'clock in the evening. You don't leave the refectory all day long. Moreover, you have to call the bakery to bring bread, get everything you need for dinner from the cellarer, make kvass (200 liters) every other day, and all day you need to feed everyone: both latecomers and visitors. And when my obedience was changed and another brother was appointed, I sympathized with him, I knew how hard it was. And then always after dinner he helped to collect the dishes, take them to the dishwasher.
In the old monasteries, the monks have already been hardened, they have spiritual experience, and they can set an example. And in our monastery everything is from the world, and to everyone who comes again, we say: “In our monastery they don’t swear, everyone tolerates each other. If you see flaws in another person, know that you see your own sins. To the clean everything is clean, and to the dirty everything is dirty.”
And the monastery has every opportunity to deal with its shortcomings: getting up at 6 o'clock, midnight service. The Divine Liturgy, the common meal, the obediences, the evening service, the evening prayers—all this sets a person up for spiritual life.
For 15 years I have lived in monasteries, and nowhere have I seen any of the brethren fall into despondency. But in women's monasteries this happens, and, I must say, often for no reason: if he finds it, that's all. Apparently, the female soul is more vulnerable, defenseless, and therefore is subjected to frequent temptations.
Be that as it may, each of the sisters works in her own obedience. Something is not going well, they will come to repent (after all, not everyone was accustomed to work), and things are going. Everyone has to work - the monastery lives on self-sufficiency. We ourselves dig beds, sow, field, harvest. As they say: as you stomp, so you slosh... For some, it is difficult at first: they lived in the world, secular songs and television programs still remained in their heads. They know many artists, singers, maybe they even liked to flaunt in secular clothes and make up before. But gradually they wean themselves from this, reconcile themselves. And if one of the young people in the courtyard starts a secular song, the older sisters will look at them so sternly that they fall silent.
And since prayer is common in the monastery, the Lord covers all shortcomings, which is why the holy fathers say: “Good, brethren, live together.”

Photo of Hieromonk Mitrofan, inhabitant of the Nilo-Stolobenskaya desert.

Hegumen Valerian (Golovchenko)

Father Valerian, where do you serve?

Ideally the monk must be in the monastery. But I belong to the so-called "parochial monasticism", i.e. I serve in the parish. Let us immediately recall that in the best book on monasticism, The Order of Monastic Tonsure, it is clearly stated: “Whether you abide in this monastery, or in a place where you will be told out of holy obedience.” Monks are assigned to live in a monastery, or where obedience is assigned - in parishes. As a rule, they are sent to places where it is difficult - to "problem" parishes, which, due to their disorder, will be very difficult for married clergy. After all, a married priest must, among other things, take care of his family. So I serve in a parish, but I live alone in a city apartment.

At what age did you take the tonsure, how did you come to this decision?

I took monastic vows when I was 25 years old. I accepted it quite consciously, not under the influence of any external circumstances. At the age of 21, after serving in the army and a year at the Polytechnic University, I entered the seminary. Even then I thought that, most likely, I would become a monk, I would choose the path of the black clergy.

Why do people become monks?

I'll tell you the main reason. It's the same for everyone: God called! This internal reason is so strong that you cannot do something else, otherwise you will cease to be yourself. I want to say that I never seriously regretted my chosen path. Yes, I have moments of weakness, in the end, I have a bad mood. It happens that I get tired of difficulties, piled problems. But with God's help I somehow overcome it!

But don’t monks experience deep disappointment, monastic life “by inertia”?

I didn't have that. I won’t sign for everyone, but most of them don’t. They say: "In order not to be disappointed, you should not be fascinated." Enough sober and balanced approach. And romantic impulses are not a reason to for life become a monk.

That's why they don't lure you into monks, they rather dissuade you from monasticism. When a young man expresses a desire to enter a monastery, the monks themselves dissuade him: “Where are you going! Go get married, have kids, do something useful in the world!” And they will be pretty tough to do it. This has its own meaning. They look at how consciously this decision is in a person, how firm he is in the desire to go this way. So that he can understand himself at the very beginning. Therefore, before monastic vows (the beginning of monasticism), a rather long probationary period is given - these are years obedience. Only in exceptional cases can a person be tonsured without a probationary period - if those who make the decision have known him for a long time, if he has been a parishioner of this monastery for most of his life.

But there are cases when young people are lured into monasticism, pushed towards monasticism and agitated to become monastics?

Let me tell you straight away: I don't think it's good. Instigating someone to take any action: whether it be monasticism, or the priesthood, or a change of job, a change of residence, the priest must use his power (and he, as a shepherd, has a certain power over his flock) with great responsibility for what he advises. He must think ten times whether he can answer for this person.

I did not call anyone to monasticism. And if I advised some person to think about taking holy orders, I still do not regret it. So I try to treat this issue with great reasoning. If someone decides that he really needs this monasticism, please. But calling someone to the monastery just like that, for the sake of free labor... It will turn out to be a "collective farm named after Jesus Christ", and not a monastery!

What percentage of monks leave the monastery? Were there any stretch marks in your memory?

In my memory, there has never been anything like this – renunciation of monasticism and removal of monastic vows. But there were departures from the monastery after several years of novitiate, and more than once. This practice is encouraged by the confessors of the monasteries - the person understood himself, realized that this was “not his”. But over the years of obedience, I acquired something for my soul. A novice has every right to leave, to marry if he wishes. There's nothing wrong with that, it's normal.

As for the departure of a tonsured monk from the monastery, yes, I had to deal with it. But, to be honest, in 18 years of ministry, I became aware of only a few such cases. I talked with these people, here I understand both the motivation that led me to monasticism and the motivation for leaving monasticism. These people are sincerely sorry, they are confused in themselves.

What is the motivation?

Well, a man went to monasticism without thinking, from external causes, from some kind of romanticism. In monasticism itself, I was seduced only by the external image, and not by the inner content of monasticism. And then, in the same way, he was seduced by romance and the outward brilliance of worldly joys.

We can say that I myself made a mistake when I became a monk. It can be said that those who tonsured him a monk were also mistaken. It's just that I think God doesn't make mistakes! And if He allowed a person to take monastic vows, then he probably had the opportunity to realize himself as a monk. And if a person did not use this opportunity, rejected it, then it is entirely on his conscience. It's my personal opinion.

Do you think it was better for him to stay and be a hypocrite for the rest of his life? Perhaps the reason for the negative attitude of some towards monasticism is precisely that they have repeatedly observed these "failed" who continue to live in the monastery?

Let's start with the fact that the monks just leave the world so that they are not "observed" like guinea pigs by those who have nothing else to do in life. People go to a monastery for the sake of correcting their souls, and this is a permanent process, not everything works out right away.

And why immediately "hypocrites"? To make it easier to explain, let me use an analogy. Monasticism can rightly be called the "spiritual guard" of the Church. And, just like in the troops, the guard is not only a beautiful uniform, “epaulettes and aiguillettes” (or “hoods and mantles”). You know, in the trenches, under the onslaught of the enemy, even the guards behave differently. Someone is fighting, and someone, out of fright, can hide at the bottom of the trench. Is he a hypocrite? About it talk well sitting in a warm chair.

Of course, there will be one or two who will leave the position, run to the rear (or leave the monastery). It would have been better for them not to go to the guard, but to cook somewhere in the wagon train. The work is also necessary and important. But after all, they themselves wanted feats, although they were warned that it would be difficult. Alas, the ascetics of them did not take place ...

But the one who, maybe, was scared at first, but eventually mastered himself, then he will fight with dignity. Therefore, do not rush to pass judgment on those who, as you think, are still negligent in their monastic life. Over time, they may well turn out to be real ascetics, saints. People are not born saints, they become saints. And even if someone does not succeed, he still has time before death. Until the very last breath.

But if the departure from monasticism took place, how is this regulated? How do they feel about it? Is this considered a perjury or an indelible disgrace?

It is immediately obvious that most of those who ask such questions are under the impression of secular literature and films, mostly Western ones. It seems to them that when a person leaves the monastery, this is a whole procedure, a procession. There is nothing like that. Comes and says: "I have decided to leave." They ask him if he thought well, did he think when he came here? But to hold, grab by the hand, no one will.

This is not treated with condemnation, but with sadness. It's a pity for a man - because he is confused in himself. What relationship does he have with the Church? Very often the Church is viewed as a public institution, as a structure, but the Church is a voluntary society. There are many people who do not belong to the Church in any way, or belong very formally. They live on their own. I'm not just talking about priests or monks, I'm talking about the laity as well. And the Church lives by its own rules, like every family or society. But no one will throw stones at the one who has left the monastery, they will not chase him with draculas, etc. How he will be perceived, in the status of a layman or in another way, is decided in each specific case.

Yes, it’s not very good that he left, but you need to remember that it will not be people who will judge him, but God. And the Church relies on God's will. May the Lord, as He knows, take care of this man and his salvation. Not to us, not to the Church, he made his vows, but to God. May God take care of him. He lived with us - it did not work out. Well, no one keeps you by force in the monastery. This must be remembered.

Is there a rite of passage?

And how do you imagine it? When shearing, four small strands of hair are cut off. And when they cut him back, two hefty monks hold his hands, dip his head in office glue, and glue his hair back?! Did you laugh? Me too.

In the late Middle Ages, there were impromptu attempts to give the "cutting" a certain ritual form. Fortunately, they did not take root, because from the theological point of view they have no basis.

When a person wants to leave, he gives up his monastic vestments. As a rule, these things are burned - this is how all obsolete consecrated objects are disposed of. And hardly anyone wants to wear it. This is the material aspect. In addition, there is the ecclesiastical legal aspect. In church documents, they make out that he simply is no longer so-and-so. Unstrapped please don't give yourself away for a clergyman or a monk. And that's it - he goes to himself calmly, where he wants.

In general, he will not be persuaded to stay. Just ask if he thought well.

One often hears the opinion that monks are those who have convinced themselves of something, inspired themselves with something because of a limitation in sleep or other needs, brought themselves to exhaustion and became easily suggestible?

The question is, aren't monastics idiots who "prayed and prayed" and "convinced themselves of something"? Long before the secular world tried to ask this question to the Church, the Holy Fathers answered it long ago. They have written entire volumes of books on delusion. charm, or seduction - this is when a person begins to wishful thinking. The Church long ago gave this phenomenon an unequivocal assessment as a distortion of spirituality, as a negative spiritual experience of some.

The monk sleeps as needed, as long as necessary to restore strength. And, if something similar arises with him from overwork, most likely, he will talk about it with his confessor. Or the brethren will notice that he is starting to act oddly and will return him to earth so that there are no voices or visions. What patristic theology calls divinity, is very different from mentally drawing "Cheburashki who has no friends."

For a Christian, God is a real-life Superpersonality, and not an "imaginary object." The Holy Fathers have always said: "Don't imagine, don't dream, don't turn on your fantasy." A thinking about God is a daily activity in the context of my relationship with God. Not obsession, not obsession. "Visions" are, as a rule, to a psychiatrist. We are fed up with the unhealthy mysticism of the TV screen, for us it is sure to be some kind of miracles and visions. Yes, in Christianity there is a place for both miracles and the revelation of God. But the Church treats this with great reasoning, always critically and skeptically checks everything in order to separate the wheat from the chaff.

It seems to many that the Church considers visions precisely as divine revelation. What do you say to that?

Well, first of all, revelations are not always visions. Personally, I have no experience of visions. Secondly, on the topic of personal mystical experience, the Church advises to communicate only with your confessor. About those people who had the experience of Divine revelation, we learn after their death. Because the people who spiritually younger, they simply won’t understand it, they won’t accommodate it. And those who spiritually older, they will hit you in the neck and say: “Why are you talking about this?”

My advice: stay away from a person who screams at all corners that he has visions. Similarly, if a doctor tells you that aliens have appeared to him and advised him to anoint you with a magic ointment "for all diseases." Most likely, you will be careful not to go to such a doctor, rightly suspecting that it was not aliens who appeared to him, but he had delirium tremens. You will go to a regular GP. If he cannot help, he will send you to the professor, but not to the psychic that the aliens appeared to. Sometimes you can meet "professors of spiritual life" (the Church calls them elders), but mostly you will meet with "district therapists".

What do monasteries live on, if not subsistence farming feeds them?

Today, there are few monasteries that live almost by subsistence farming. Monasteries are different, but the main source of income for the monastery is voluntary donations. One monastery stands in the middle of the capital, where believers often come and donate. And the other is in the wilderness, and it’s good if they have a well-wisher, a sponsor who helps them in any way he can.

Then, excuse me, the monks are beggars? Do they always ask?

No, not beggars. I know from experience. There is a very good term in mathematics: necessary and sufficient conditions. The Lord sends to man not what he wants, but opportune- that which is necessary for the good, that which does not cripple it, will not kill it. Exactly as much as needed. Well, for example, why do you need 50 loaves of bread now, which will blossom in you? One is enough for you.

You don't go to a monastery to make money. Funds are needed to support all this. Monks are not beggars. They have dedicated themselves to God, and God takes care of them... through people.

But about the fact that they do nothing. “What are you doing in the church? You don’t wave your hammer, they came, they read it - and that’s all ?! Remember this question, we will return to it later and answer in more detail. People who ask such questions themselves frankly admit that it is difficult for them to stand even for an hour in church and pray for their loved ones. Believers know that participation in worship (and not presence as a tourist) is hard even just physically. Prayer is hard! What can it be compared to? This is the cry of your heart. If you scream loudly, your throat will hurt. Praying for people is hard work! And who knows, maybe many of the skeptics and companions of this age, and even detractors of monasticism, are still alive only because somewhere some monks are praying for them.

According to most people, monks are stupid, lazy people who do nonsense and waste their lives?

No, I don't think so. I've had occasion to wonder why I'm doing this. And, probably, those people who thanked me for something are evidence of this.

Understand, a monk does not live for himself. Can you imagine that you will be constantly in limbo, you will constantly solve someone's questions? You will not live for yourself, as most people live. You will live for others: for the brethren of the monastery, for the parishioners. For those who come to you with questions, for advice. But not for yourself! You become not self-centered, but Christ-centered. And your love for Christ will be embodied in "and whoever comes to Me I will not cast out" (John 6:37).

People come to you with questions, and you waste time and energy on them. Yes, I have no time to be lazy. I do not suffer from a lack of work, neither physical nor mental. I always have a job. And there is always a lot of it.

If it's as hard as you say, does it make you want to do something easier? Live for yourself?

God entrusted me with this work, and I will not leave it! Of course, I am also a living person. And I, like any person, have grief, despondency. Only monks have temptations that are much more subtle.

What is the difference between the temptation of a layman and a monk? For a layman, temptations are like a blow with a log, like a knockout. You lost consciousness, but then moved away, came to your senses. And monks are pierced by a thin, sharp needle. There is no blood, there is no external injury, but internal hemorrhage leads to death! Therefore, monastic temptations are more subtle, penetrating deep inside.

There are periods of despondency, but they are resolved, thanks to the experience of those who have walked this path before me. But the desperation you mentioned never happened to me.

If monks want to help people, can they go to study as a doctor, or other professions where you need to help people, or help orphanages, nursing homes instead of “growing cabbage” in a monastery?

Yes, this is a common idea about what they do in the monastery, and about what is good. Probably, it is necessary to be defined in terms. We understand differently good, we interpret the same word in different ways. The point is that secular perception understands good How well-being- "good to receive." And for Orthodoxy good is, first of all, grace- "good to give." Even in the words themselves, this vector is visible - “towards oneself” or “away from oneself”. Therefore, when the world says “what is good”, it means the search for material wealth. Like, “helping the disabled means setting up a lot of houses for them.” I do not argue, this is also necessary. And it is better that these nursing homes do not exist - that the elderly people are not thrown out of their homes into nursing homes. The question is difficult...

And if I say that it will be a great blessing to “kill our pensioners so that they do not suffer”? I don't think so, but when we talk about "what is good and what is bad", we should always remember the ambiguous understanding of the good. The question is what do we take as a standard, according to what(or by To whom) we verify it good? Religious humanism, Christian in particular, verifies the good according to Christ. Based on the gospel experience: what would that gospel Christ, Whom I know not only from the book, but also from my own experience, say? What would He say, being next to me? Is “my good” in the spirit of the gospel?

And there is another standard - secular humanism. You know, after all, fascist concentration camps in Germany were considered a boon! Wars and many terrible atrocities were considered a boon! More recently, at party meetings they called: "Pests - to be shot!" And we, for the most part, enthusiastically approved of it. But the "benefits" of collectivization and dispossession result in victims of famines.

We help the disabled, the sick, the unfortunate, and the needy. But we help with reasoning! And the help that the world offers is often worse than deliberate harm.

Complex issue...

Yes, it's a difficult question. This is a separate question about humanism.

But often the help of the Church and monasticism is perceived only as spiritual nourishment, but what if a specific job is just “carrying out pots” in orphanages?

Believe me, there is also this. I will give an example: in one of the monasteries, there is a nursing home, and the monks take care of the old women, some of whom are out of their minds. Pots are taken out, diapers are changed. Or a monastery, in which an orphanage of 200 children, who are fully cared for by nuns. But monks who do specific things will not advertise in the newspaper about it, will not trumpet their charity at all corners.

And someone's opinion that they "do nothing" - they care little. You know, a person who wants to see good will see good, but a person who wants to see dirt will only see it. But I will tell you that even those who do not know how to do what the monks can do can take out the pots.

And what can monks do that is so special?

The monk devoted himself to prayer and communion with God. His business is to pray for the whole world, and for those who do not pray for themselves.

Many people think that monks are those who can’t do anything, don’t want to think, solve problems, and these people go either to the army or to the monastery?

It would be a great mistake to regard both the monasteries and the army as simply loser's haven. It is a pity that such an attitude towards their army has been formed in society. After all, it is not for nothing that they say: "Who does not want to feed his own army will feed someone else's." However, our conversation is not about the army. Although, in part, the analogy is appropriate. A society that has turned away from its roots, negatively and skeptically about its faith, easily becomes the prey of visiting occult "mahatmas", sectarian preachers and gypsy TV fortune-tellers. Which we are saddened to see.

What about losers... I think that there is a certain percentage of such people in monasteries and in any armies. But by no means do they set the tone there, determine the essence of what is happening. I know quite a lot of monks who, if they had not gone to the monastery, would have become successful businessmen in the world, perhaps millionaires. But they found something more important, higher for themselves. How can I tell a person about this touch to Eternity, if he has never thought about Eternity at all?

Remember, in the Gospel of Luke, how Martha "took care of a great treat" (Luke 10:38...42)? After all, Christ did not reproach Martha for the futility of her labors. I just noticed that what her sister Maria was doing at that time was much more important and necessary - just talk to God. Are we often able to put aside the daily fuss for the sake of this conversation, for the sake of prayer, communion with God? The monks left the world just for the sake of this, having chosen the touch of the Eternal as their life's work.

How do you see your ministry, how does it benefit society?

I serve God and people. God does not need anything, He needs everything. He gave me this life so that I could learn something by serving Him. There are a lot of people around me who constantly need me for something, for whom I will sacrifice my time, health, and many others. If necessary, I will sacrifice my life. Believe me, these are not empty words.

What will happen if women are allowed on Athos?

And what will happen if a gypsy camp is allowed into your apartment? Athos will cease to be Athos, as well as your apartment will cease to be your apartment. Well, there must be somewhere a place where rules apply? What happens if women are allowed in the men's room? And what will happen if a corps de ballet is released on the football field during the match?

I also have a door, not armored, but with a lock - just so as not to roam. What should someone do in my apartment? What should women do on Athos? Take a look?

And if everyone suddenly becomes a monk en masse, then there will be no people in the world?

No, they won't.

Actually, such a question nipadetski strikes with the power of thought! It is immediately clear that for those who set it, not only the cerebral cortex works, but also its wood itself ...

And if everyone en masse goes to the fire department? There will be no fires, but there will be no medicine either.

The percentage of monasticism fluctuates within certain limits. And in the era of church prosperity, and in the era of persecution, their number is approximately the same. Therefore, in large quantities - will not!

I must say about the common mistake of people asking such questions. I don't know where they saw so many monks, where their monks so scared. There aren't many monks! There are statistics on the ROC website that indicate the number of monasteries and the number of monks - there are not many of them. Compared to the total number of inhabitants, there are only a few monks! If we compare how many students of theological seminaries go to the monastery in the process of studying, or sometime after its completion, then the proportion of 80/20 is clearly traced. Of the seminarians, 80% get married, 20% go to monasticism. And the percentage of those who are disappointed is very small. After all, as I have already said, they give quite a long time to think before becoming a monk.

You are constantly considering going into monasticism for external reasons, but I tell you that people come to monasticism because God has called. I'm not saying they are the best or the worst, they are what they are. And there will be no mass departure to the monastery.

In monasticism they do not hide, as in a hole. In monasticism they climb like a rock.

How can monks give up the natural sexual need that humans cannot live without? Do they just have a natural physiology?

With a lot of hard work. If you try to give up this without giving up many other things, nothing will come of it. The refusal of monastics from intimate life cannot be considered in isolation from the entire monastic asceticism. Chastity is achieved only in the context of the entire ascetic feat. Many books have been written about this. I won't say it's easy. At the same time, please note that the monks are normal healthy people, not socio-, not sex-, not psychopathological. Not impotent, not perverts. People come to monasticism with very different temperaments and different physical strengths.

There is a very simple and at the same time very difficult ascetic practice - when you avoid it. Over time, you rebuild your thinking, consciousness, you are not obsessed with sex. The task is not just to abstain, but to get rid of the sexual attitude to the world. When you don't see people as sex objects. In a normal healthy person, there is no sexual attraction to close relatives. It's a bit like when you perceive all people as close relatives. The physiology of the monks is the same as that of all people. But the monks have centuries of ascetic experience, experience in curbing the desires of their flesh. This is not just "libido sublimation". Everything is much simpler and more complicated ...

Are there homosexuals among the monks?

No more than among doctors or the military, or trolley bus drivers.

Is it possible today that not a single interview is complete without a mention of pederasts? It seems that society can no longer live without "this topic", like "Watson without a pipe" (from a joke).

And how do you feel about it?

I to this I don't belong!

The attitude of the Church to this is unequivocally biblical - negative, as to sin.

I'll be honest, I don't know anything about homosexuality, I'm just not interested. I try not to mess with them. I don't care, it's their sins. For me, even thinking about it is disgusting, I have enough of my own sins.

I am a sinful person and I am disgusted with such people. But when I accepted repentance from such people, I had a completely different feeling - for me there was no person dearer than a repentant sinner! Whatever sins he had, not only homosexuality. For example, I also do not like flayers - those who enjoy the suffering of living beings. For me, this is disgusting, and when a person repents of this, I am incredibly happy for him.

But in monasteries this should not be?!

You understand that people do not come to the monastery from the moon. Until recently, it was embarrassing to talk about it, but now it has become fashionable. Turn on the TV, flip through a few channels, and you will definitely be shown pederasts. They show films and programs where this topic is in the spotlight. How should I be "tolerant" to this? Do you agree that this is great and normal? No, I reserve the right to "intolerance".

Believe me, as a practicing priest who has taken many confessions, I know what it is and what it leads to. Nothing good. Yes, if somewhere in the monasteries it is, it's bad. As in any family, relationships can be normal and abnormal. And already the family gets rid or does not get rid of these sins and vices.

Why do monasteries, despite the vow of non-acquisition, have property, sometimes even a large one?

Yet again, necessary and sufficient. The monks have their own household, the monks build cells. Monastic property and the personal property of monks are by no means a luxury. Monastic cells - the same hostel, where does the "big property" come from? Watch movies, read idle fables - and let's look for "monastic treasures"!

But the monks know much better than other people that they will not take anything material with them to the grave. Because they remember it every day. By the way, “ancient monastic things” are valuable precisely for their history, as a memory of past owners.

Actually, I already answered this question in my story "The Greedy Monk".

Monks have the property that allows them to devote more time to prayer. This is "prosperity for grace," as paradoxical as it sounds. It is not "for itself".

What do you think monks should just not go anywhere and wait for God to feed them? Will it fall into your mouth? The words of Christ about not having to worry about material things, adapting for the modern user, can be rephrased as follows: “do not bother with material goods.” This is how monks live!

Modern society is obsessed with consumerism. All social life is built on this principle today. Many people live only by buying something, and then buying something new in return, and so on. The monks are trying to get out of this consumer whirlwind. For example, I have furniture that is three years younger than me, but I brought it to normal so that it was not shabby. And when a person changes furniture, a car, an apartment every year, he simply has not decided on his desires and needs.

When you know exactly what you need, it becomes much easier, it helps to live.

In preparation for the interview, one of my colleagues, a journalist, said: “What can a monk answer if his whole life is built on one big lie?”

I just feel sorry for such a disbelieving person. People who do not believe in anything want to see around them the same unfortunate and disillusioned as they are. It's easier for them. When you see a pious person, you can try to imitate him at least in some way. And you can say that this does not happen. A wicked man would very much like there to be no decent people. Because the very presence of decent people exposes the untruth of his life, makes his existence unbearable. So they live according to the principle "you die today, and I tomorrow."

Today, some only do what they show to the whole world on the Internet contents of their stomachs, which climbs from all sides. Being unable to do something good, to bring something good into this world, day and night they simply throw dirt on everything, polluting and poisoning everything around them.

I myself am not a perfect person, with my passions. There are things that I do not hide, but do not advertise. But I want to try to be better tomorrow than today.

How can monks withdraw from the world when thousands of people need nourishment?

Believe me, the one who seeks nourishment will always receive it even from those who have left the world. But those who just want to kill time in idle chatter are really worth running away from. For their own good!

I didn’t run far at all - I don’t live in a monastery, I serve in a parish, I work with people, I conduct youth conversations. You can learn about all these activities if you wish.

But in monasteries such work is not carried out, is it?

Some do, some don't. And this is their right. You know, there are talkers, and there are silent people. Someone to be a missionary, and someone a hermit. Do not look at monastic work so one-sidedly. In general, when someone says “only this way and nothing else” - stay away from this person.

The manner of doing is different. The form can change, but only to the extent that it implies the same content.

Can a monk use an expensive telephone, a car, occupy a large living space, buy expensive products?

It is possible, but it is not good. I have already said: necessary and sufficient.

The system must be adequate to the user.

What is the salary of a monk, who do you turn to in case of need?

When I was in the seminary, they paid me some small money, they gave me monastic clothes. Since I serve in a parish, the parish council pays me, like any priest, a salary. Similarly, in a monastery, the monastery council pays the monk a salary depending on where the person works and what his needs are. All this is done with deliberation.

This question has never bothered me. In principle, "sometimes thick, sometimes empty." I can say that I have attentive parishioners who will always help me. I have many friends. If it's going to be really tight, I'll ask them. Mom and dad are pensioners. We also help each other.

If I wanted to earn money, I would not become a monk. I have enough, because I understood exactly what and how much I need for my needs. People suffer from a lack of money because they do not understand their needs. Many things are bought only because it is prestigious, because “everyone has”, cult, etc. And the monks use the necessary. And if a monk has many missionary trips, if he needs a car, the Lord sends.

Speaking of cars. Why don't monks, when they are given an expensive car, sell it and don't give money to the poor? Or buy an expensive car with the donated money?

If a monk was presented with an expensive car, and he sold and distributed the money to the poor, you will not hear about it in the news. There are many such cases, trust me. It's just not in the gospel tradition to advertise it.

Further. Imagine that a monk is given a cheap old rusty car. As a result, the monk must be retrained from a monk into an auto mechanic, who will tinker for hours in this junk. After all, he needs a car not for street racing, but for trips to the sick, dying, for missionary work, for the fulfillment of the monastery's economic assignments. And here the car seems to be, but it is not! Do you think a monk would be more useful that way?

Sell ​​and give away? Somewhere I already heard it! It seems that one not the best gospel character has already offered to sell myrrh and do good to all the poor (John 12:3...6). Say that too much reasoning? Is it really easier, as Sharikov said: “What is there to think? Take everything and share! Tried - didn't work. Money will go to the benefit of a person when he is ready.

Beggars often do not want to work on principle, they have shovel allergy. Here you will take an average homeless person from the street, buy him an apartment, give him all the material benefits. What will happen after a while? In a week the apartment will become a hangout, all the money will be spent on dubious entertainment. All this will not work for him if he himself is not mentally prepared for such a “gift from above”. Therefore, everything should be done with reason.

I conducted an experiment several times: a person asks for bread, I say, come with me to the supermarket, I will buy you not only bread, but food for several days. Guess where they send me? Because they ask either for cash for their “watchers”, or for a bottle. After all, they asked for food and drinking is not a priority. So the “share everything” method doesn’t work!

There is such a good rule that will help you serve on the street with reason. Just take a look around. Surely needy people live in your yard, house, front door. Take a specific person and help him, just like that. This will be your charity, and not indulgence in begging.

Why, instead of being someone creating something, did the monks close themselves? After all, even psychologists can give spiritual consolation, and monks could become them?

The entire first part of the question shows that for a person good is only material. I have already spoken about this - we understand the word differently good.

And secondly, about psychologists. To paraphrase the words of one of Steven Seagal's movie heroes, I will answer: "Let's just say, I'm also a psychologist." But the question of spiritual consolation primarily concerns not all monasticism, but monastic priests.

The ministry of a priest includes psychological help, although it does not dwell on it. I will not explain in detail the difference between psychotherapy and spirituality. Speaking figuratively, spirituality is like a cube, and psychotherapy is just a square. Psychotherapy, psychology is only a kind of flat projection, only a small image of understanding what the human soul really is.

There is a more obvious difference between psychologists and priests. Going to an appointment with a psychologist, you carefully examine the contents of your wallet for how many minutes of professional activity you are able to pay. And pre-think your questions and specify the problems - just in order not to waste time and, accordingly, money for nothing. When communicating with a priest, this, alas, is not required! After all, he promised to deal with your problems not to Hippocrates, but to God Himself. Here they come sometimes just chat, not knowing what they want and are looking for, absolutely not considering either their own or other people's time.

A priest simply does not have the moral right to refuse consolation to a wounded, starving soul. This is why you have to devote all your time to it. Practically all my life. This is the cross of the priesthood, that part of the Cross of Christ, the image of which we see on the chest of the clergyman.

Why did monks hide themselves in monasteries from the world?

Monasteries are different. There are hermits, and there are missionary monasteries. Here you need to understand one thing: if the parish church is made for the needs of the parishioners, then in the monastery church all the parishioners are guests who were allowed to participate in the worship of the monastic community. This begs the question, what right do you have to deprive them of the opportunity to unite in communities, and to live together and pray in seclusion? The monks allowed the laity to be present at the service, but did not allow them to go to their cells. This is for the same reason why we do not let everyone into our apartments.

You know loneliness is not as scary as forced intercourse. A modern person often suffers from the fact that he simply has no time even to think, to be alone with himself, to talk with God. The monks go into seclusion just for this - to talk with God.

But the activities of the monasteries are closed. Should everything be open?

If you want openness, start with yourself - report in the newspaper what you do at home. If there are any crimes in the monastery, then it is the business of law enforcement agencies to monitor this. If there are church offenses, the church hierarchy monitors this.

Everyone has the right to personal space and freedom. The monks also have them, only they use them in their own way.

Then why do monks comment on the events of modern life?

Monks have a view of this world from the outside.

Does the world often not ask their opinion?

Not certainly in that way. First they ask, and then they say: “Why are you interfering!”

The world is looking for the view of an outside observer, the view of someone who is outside the system of consumer values. Monastics can give an answer about how and what they see in the world. Of course, this opinion can be very subjective - after all, monks are people, not earthly angels. They may not know any aspects or nuances of worldly life, etc. However, this same answer can be quite objective, due to the knowledge of human souls. For virtues and piety, as well as vices and sin, are the same in all ages. Here are the questions that people come with, they are very often repeated, although people consider their problems to be unique.

Monasteries are a kind of accumulator of the spiritual experience of the Church. It is for this experience that they turn there.

The pace of life is increasing every day. I have already said that modern man simply has no time to stop and think. The flow of information falls upon people today with the roar of Niagara Falls. And in the whirlwind of these splashes, a person snatches out particulars without perceiving the whole. It is for a view from the outside, for an assessment of the holistic picture of what is happening, they turn to the monks.

Can monks use computers or anything else technological?

Since when has it become a sin to be a comprehensively educated and literate person? The presence of a secular education is not an indispensable condition for monasticism, but a high intellectual level has been demanded by the Church in all ages. By themselves, education and erudition do not make a person good or evil. But, you see, a literate person is capable of more than an ignoramus. The only question is whether he will use his knowledge for the good.

Back in the years of my youth, Soviet consciousness tossed between fables about the "stupid priest" and enthusiastic legends about "seminary education." So until the end, you see, and did not have time to decide ...

Today is exactly the same. “They don’t know how to use the Internet!”?! And then: “Oh, they use the Internet!” Whatever you do, you won't please! After all, the question is not how, A For what you use it. After all, you can also cut bread with a knife, but you can also cut people. Everything must be used for the spiritual benefit of one's own and others.

Do you play computer games?

Once! Moreover, I have already become computer game character- one of the heroes of the famous game series bears my name, the other is a 3D model of my appearance.

How do you feel about communication on the Internet, blogs, online communities?

Personally, I always prefer live communication to a computer. On the Internet, I prefer offline communication (correspondence by e-mail) - it is more reasoned. Live magazines and blogs amaze with an abundance of ambition, ignorance and banal illiteracy. Although there are pleasant exceptions.

However, encyclopedic information for me is always preferable to someone else's. fabrications. Regarding Odnoklassniki, etc. - I have more than enough real friendship with those I know than playing friendship with those I don't know. By the way, for whom is information collected about the details of the biography of "classmates" and other "VKontakte"?

In a world where the sinner cannot hide, neither can the righteous...

Do you go to the cinema? Watch TV?

I watch mostly those films and programs that serve me missionary bridges. I need to know what people are talking about in order to build a conversation from it. In order not to look like an alien who does not know who our president is, etc. You can, of course, live without it, but it will be difficult to communicate with people in an accessible form. However, some topics in the mass media, I still will never study.

Why do you think people think that there are a lot of monks?

Already explained. Partly because monasticism is a thorn in the eye for them. This is where xenophobia kicks in. Man sees not like him. This irritates him wildly, he cannot understand him, he is afraid of him, and he sees monks everywhere (Jews, fascists, Chekists, homosexuals - underline as necessary).

A monk is walking down the street, and already he becomes the object of close observation. I can say for myself, if I go into a store in monastic robes, everyone immediately becomes keenly interested in the contents of my shopping basket. Moreover, whatever they see there, everything will annoy them. If I buy myself rotten potatoes, they will say: “This is what they eat!” If I buy myself some delicacies: “Here, they are snickering!” Although I buy simple products - the same as everyone else.

“Can you do it? Buy white bread! After all, now is the post ?! All at once become such experts in fasting! Many perceive fasting as a diet, and accordingly reason. For 70 years, many traditions have been interrupted. And people, not knowing where to get exactly the church teaching about faith, began to think hard. Unfortunately, d For many, religion has become a set of rituals and taboos, and not a living communion with God..

I always insist on the conscious performance of rituals. On a free self-prohibition on something, as your conscious will. On reasonable self-restraint, and by no means on the simple performance of some kind of ritual. Everything must be done in a meaningful way.

What gives you confidence in choosing a path?

The word "gives" can be interpreted in two ways. What reinforces my confidence? Or what does it lead to this certainty?

I am strengthened by the fact that so many people have passed this path with dignity, I know about many of them firsthand - from direct communication. I live in it, I live in it - it's natural. All this is confirmed by my constant monastic practice, which I do not control myself, I also consult with the confessor, I do not pull myself out by the hair. Constantly I verify myself. You know, any precise device needs to be verified - compared with the standard.

Second question: why? It may sound trite, but “I want to live my life in such a way that it would not be painful and insulting for the aimlessly lived years”. I have already helped many people as much as I could. I brought something good. I also know about the bad things that I brought into this world, and I want to correct it, if possible. I want to correct myself. My whole life is just an entrance exam to Eternity...

Why did you agree to the interview?

I don't need to advertise. I am already quite well known from books, publications, television programs, from conversations with young people in the Ioninsky Monastery and from my parish service. After all, there is my site website, where everything I wrote is laid out.

I agreed only because my good friend asked me to give this interview. I suggested that he go to a monastery - the monks there are better than me. But he insisted that I be the one to answer these questions. Moreover, speaking in a worldly way, I spend my time and energy for free, instead of, as you say, caring for the sick, sleeping, lounging, contemplating some visions and other things that you can think of.

How do you feel about attacks on monasticism and frequent negative attacks on monasticism?

I take it very simply. Any answers to "uncomfortable" questions are missionary way. And the path of the missionary lies between two well-known quotations from the New Testament. On the one hand: “Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who requires you to give an account of your hope with meekness and reverence” (1 Pet. 3:15). And the other side of this path: “Do not give anything holy to dogs, and do not cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample it under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces” (Matt. 7:6).

If a person, not knowing something, being skeptical about something, asks sincerely in order to find out, I am ready to spend all my time to explain it to him. What if a person asks in the style of a police investigator who is not interested in your answer ... He is not waiting for your answer, he is waiting for you started to get confused. I will not talk to such a person - this is a waste of time, both mine and his. So when someone asks me about something, I allow myself to ask a few questions to find out how interested the person is in the answer, whether he is listening to me or not.

I am for a constructive dialogue, and for this you need to immediately define the concepts. I don't like those who just sprinkle with filth, who don't want to know anything and just "mark the territory" with their wickedness. He doesn't care what to mock, what to throw mud at. Is there really nothing left in their souls but dirt? Are they really no longer able to bring something good and positive into this world? Although in relation to them, even the very secular Internet advises “do not feed the trolls”! I just feel sorry for these people. It is a pity that they spend their lives on this, forgetting that ours is not so long. I think the older they are, the more they will understand that it is not worth spending your life on this.

I am for dialogue with everyone, for normal human communication. I do not at all consider anyone lower or worse than me, even if we stand on different life positions, adhere to different points of view, views. Although I reserve the right to refuse communication. But these are people, and as a Christian, I must treat them with love. Without persuading myself I want to remember all the time that Christ was crucified for them, even if they still don’t know anything about it...

Interviewed.

What makes Russian women become nuns

Today, on the wave of patriotism, we are becoming more and more pious - at least outwardly. And what about women's monasticism - our attitude towards him and him towards us? Who and why become nuns? Does God have a trial period, otherwise the desire will suddenly pass? And is it possible to return to the world if it has passed?

Under the USSR, the explanatory dictionary interpreted monasticism as “a form of passive protest against the inhuman conditions of life, as a gesture of despair and disbelief in the possibility of changing these conditions,” which originated under the autocracy. Then, at the word “nun”, it seemed only an elderly granny, who never got rid of the prejudices of the past. Today, those who go to the monastery look very different.

For example, romantic young ladies, "bookish" girls who drew their ideas about monasteries from novels and films. Muscovite Larisa Garina in 2006 observed obedience in the Spanish monastery of barefoot Carmelites (one of the most strict, with a vow of silence), prepared to take a vow and assured that only love for God brought her to these walls. “It’s hard for a week without sex,” Larisa assured, “but all my life it’s normal!” Today Larisa is happy, married, mother of two children. Youth for that and youth to experiment.

A significant contingent is represented by girls with problems, who initially enter the monastery only for a while. 25-year-old Alina 7 years ago, at 18, became addicted to drugs. “My parents sent me to a monastery for 9 months,” she recalls. - This is a special monastery, there were 15 novices like me. It was hard to get up before dawn in the morning, to pray all day long and poking around in the garden, to sleep hard... Some tried to escape, went to the field to find some grass in order to “kill themselves” at least with something. After some time, the body seems to be cleared. And a little later, enlightenment comes. I remember this state well: how the veil falls from my eyes! I completely came to my senses, reconsidered my life - and my parents took me away.

“The monastery is also a kind of rehabilitation center for people who are “lost”: drinkers, the homeless,” Father Pavel, confessor of the Bogorodnichno-Albazinsky St. Nicholas Convent, confirms Alina’s words. “The lost ones live and work in the monastery and try to start a normal life.

Among those who went to the monasteries there are many well-known people. For example, the younger sister of actress Maria Shukshina Olga, daughter of Lydia and Vasily Shukshina. At first, Olga followed in the footsteps of her parents and starred in several films, but she soon realized that she was uncomfortable in this environment. The young woman found the meaning of life in God, she lived at an Orthodox monastery in the Ivanovo region, where her sick son was brought up for some time. Olga bore "obedience" - in addition to prayers, she baked bread and helped with the monastic household.

In 1993, the actress Ekaterina Vasilyeva left the stage and went to the monastery. In 1996, the actress returned to the world and to the cinema and explained the reason for her departure: “I lied, drank, divorced my husbands, had abortions ...” Vasilyeva’s husband, playwright Mikhail Roshchin, after a divorce from whom she left the world, assured that the monastery cured his ex-wife of alcohol addiction: “In whatever clinics she was not treated, nothing helped. But she met a priest, Father Vladimir, and he helped her recover. I think she sincerely became a believer, otherwise nothing would have happened.”

In 2008, People's Artist of Russia Lyubov Strizhenova (mother of Alexander Strizhenov) changed her worldly life to a monastery, waiting for her grandchildren to grow up. Strizhenova went to the Alatyr Monastery in Chuvashia.

The famous actress Irina Muravyova does not hide her desire to hide in the monastery: “What most often leads to the temple? Illnesses, sufferings, mental anguish... So I was brought to God by sorrow and a aching emptiness inside. But the confessor of the actress does not yet allow her to leave the stage.

I go to the courtyard of the Novospassky Monastery in the near Moscow region, known for receiving novices and also providing shelter for women victims of domestic violence. Moreover, the monastery itself is male.

I inform the priest that I came to consult about the 20-year-old niece Lisa - they say, she wants to go to the monastery and does not listen to any persuasion.

Father, Father Vladimir, reassures:

- You bring her. We won't take it, but we'll certainly talk. It must have been unrequited love. Age disposes ... She must not go to the monastery! One cannot come to God out of grief and despair, whether it is unrequited love or something else. People come to the monastery only out of conscious love for God. Ask Mother George, she came to the sisterhood 15 years ago, although everything was fine with her - both work and a full house.

The sister, and now mother, named after St. George in the monastery, was called differently in the world. Despite the black robes and lack of makeup, she looks 38-40 years old.

“I came at 45,” my mother smiles slyly, “and now I’m 61 years old.

Either an enlightened look gives such an effect, or a relaxed, kind face ... I wonder what brought her to God?

- Do you have a goal in life? Mother answers a question with a question. - And what is she like?

“Well, to live happily, to love children and loved ones, to bring benefits to society ...” I try to formulate.

Mother George nods her head: “Okay, why?”

And no matter how hard I try to find an explanation for my seemingly noble goals, I always get into a dead end: really, why? It turns out that it seems like my goals are not high, but vain. Minor chores - all to live comfortably, so that neither conscience nor poverty disturbs.

“As long as you don’t realize the purpose of your earthly life, there is nothing to do in the monastery,” Matushka George sums up, and Father Vladimir smiles approvingly. - I came when suddenly one fine morning I realized what I live for. And I woke up with a clear understanding of where to go. She didn’t even come to the monastery, she brought her legs herself. She left everything without a second thought.

And have you ever regretted it?

“This is such a state when you clearly see your path,” mother smiles. There is no place for doubts and regrets. And bring your Lisa, we'll talk to her, tell her that she doesn't need to give up the worldly fuss - it's still too early. Going to a monastery just because of troubles in your personal life is not good! Yes, and from the young flesh there will still be temptations, it will not be up to prayer. But it is imperative to talk: otherwise, if stubborn, what kind of sect can lure.

- You don’t take young people in general, do you? But who are these women? I point to a group of women in black robes working on a household plot. Some of them seem young.

“There are those who are waiting to be tonsured,” the priest explains, “but they have been novice here for a long time, they have already tested their love for the Lord. In general, up to the age of 30, the rector usually does not give a blessing to a woman. There are those who simply carry obedience, they can always leave. And there are those who escaped from their monster husband, they live over there, some with children, - the priest points to a detached log house. We will shelter everyone, but in order to live somehow, you have to work in the monastic household.

— And there are those who, on principle, are not taken as nuns?

“Contraindications are about the same as for driving,” the priest smiles, pointing at his car with his finger. - Epilepsy, mental disorders and a drunken mind.

But from what kind of happiness can one be drawn to a monastery, if one cannot be from grief and disappointment? My conversations with those who were just going to the monastery or visited, but returned to the world, show that such thoughts do not come from a good life.

Muscovite Elena had an adult daughter in a terrible accident. While they fought for her life in intensive care, she vowed that she would go to the monastery if the girl survived. But the daughter could not be saved. A year after the tragedy, Elena admits that sometimes it seems to her that her daughter died in order to save her from monasticism. Because Elena is glad that she did not have to fulfill her promise and give up worldly life. Now the orphaned mother reproaches herself for not formulating her thought differently then: let her daughter survive, and we will live a full life together and enjoy it.

32-year-old Saratov resident Elena admits that a year ago she wanted to go to the monastery, depression was caused by serious complications after the operation. Today Lena is happy that there were kind people who managed to dissuade her:

“My confessor, as well as relatives, friends, and psychologists kept me from this step. I came across a good father, he listened to me and said: you have a family - this is the most important thing! And he advised me to turn to an Orthodox psychologist. Today I understand that my desire to enter a monastery was only an attempt to escape from reality and had nothing to do with the true desire to come to God.

“The desire of girls to enter a monastery is most often an attempt at self-realization in this way,” confirms Ellada Pakalenko, a psychologist with a rare “Orthodox” specialization. She is one of the few professionals who work specifically with "monasticism" - those who want to get away from worldly life, but have doubts. They come to Hellas themselves, sometimes they bring relatives who are unable to dissuade their relatives from such a step on their own. It was Pakalenko who helped Lena from Saratov avoid the monastery cell. Hellas knows what she is talking about: at the age of 20 she herself went to the Donetsk monastery as a novice.

Ellas Pakalenko. Photo: from personal archive

“In general, the general flight to monasteries is always accompanied by an economic crisis, genocide and overpopulation,” says Hellas. “If we turn to history, it is clear that mass exoduses of lay people always occur against the background and as a result of a sick society. And the mass exodus of women is a sure sign of pressure on them. This happens when women cease to cope with the task assigned to them and want to throw off the burden of responsibility by trusting God. And in our country, from time immemorial, girls are brought up with very high standards: she must be a wife, and a mother, and a beauty, and educated, and be able to feed her children. And the boys grow up irresponsible, feeling that they themselves are happiness and a gift for any woman.

An Orthodox psychologist is sure that going to a monastery replaces unfulfilled love for a woman:

– As practice shows, girls who go to the monastery are not at all from churched families, but emotionally closed, with low self-esteem and weak sexuality, believing that only within the walls of the monastery will they be “understood”. They do not understand that this is not a way out, and even more so, it is not good for God. The monastery is also not the best place for pacifying the flesh: girls with normal sexuality, who try to suppress it in this way, will have a hard time in the monastery. In the sense that they will not find the peace they are waiting for there.

Pakalenko says that she visited many monasteries, talked with novices and nuns, and can say for sure that she brings yesterday's carefree girls to cells. These are bad relationships with parents, especially with the mother, low self-esteem and perfectionism.

- In one monastery, I saw such nuns that Hollywood is resting! Ella recalls. - Tall, slender girls of model appearance. It turned out, and the truth - yesterday's models, kept women of rich people. And they have such a challenge both in their eyes and in their speeches: “I feel better here!”. For young people, a monastery is always an escape from problems, from failures. An attempt to "change coordinates" in one's own life, so that they would be treated differently. This is not bad, but this is not about true faith, but about the fact that these girls do not have other tools to change their lives - do not lose heart, work, study, love. This is about weakness and lack of will to live, and not at all about love for God. Good confessors dissuade such people. But all sorts of sects, on the contrary, seek and lure. Sects always need fresh blood from the disappointed, desperate, morally unstable. And they always lure precisely by the fact that they promise chosenness: "We are special, we are different, we are higher."

Hellas tells about her own way to the monastery walls. It was in her native Donetsk, she was 20, she was a stately and beautiful girl, enjoyed the increased attention of men, for which she was constantly reproached in a strict family. At some point, she wanted a pause - inner silence, in order to know herself. And she fled to the convent. Since then, 20 years have passed, and Hellas assures that there is a way back from the monastery. Although it is definitely not easy.

“I know what it’s like to live in a monastery as a novice, and then realize that it’s not yours, and leave from there and return to these walls only as a specialist - a “dissuader” from the monastery. Now I am 40, I teach people to believe in God and keep his commandments, and not to fence themselves off from the outside world simply because they don’t have the strength to get what they want, to resist violence, evil, pain.

Hellas recalls that at the monastery, in addition to novices and nuns, there were also just women with children who had nowhere to go. All the inhabitants of the monastery walls had their own stories, but no one was immediately taken to the vows. It was necessary to stay in the monastery from six months and, if the desire persisted, ask for the blessings of the abbess. Mostly they were simple women, without special requests and education.

An expert on Orthodox ethics and psychology, Natalya Lyaskovskaya, admits that since the onset of the crisis, there have been more women who want to retire from the world. And he identifies 5 main types of "candidates for nuns."

Natalya Lyaskovskaya. Photo: from personal archive

1. Today, most often students of monasteries become nuns. There are many shelters in Russia where orphans who have lost their parents, children from dysfunctional families find protection, care and care. These girls grow up in nunneries under the care of sisters in Christ, who not only take care of the physical health of their pupils, but also spiritually - they treat children with the love that they were deprived of. After graduating from high school, they can leave the walls of the monastery, find their place in society, which is not difficult with the acquired skills. However, girls often stay in their native monastery for the rest of their lives, take tonsure and, in turn, work in orphanages, nursing homes, hospitals (by obedience), schools - and at monasteries there are musical, artistic, and pottery, and other schools, not only general education and parochial. These girls cannot imagine life without a monastery, outside of monasticism.

2. The second common reason why adult girls and women come to the monastery is a great misfortune suffered in the world: the loss of a child, the death of loved ones, the betrayal of a husband, etc. They are accepted for obedience, if for a long time the woman still wants to become a nun and the Mother Superior sees: she will become a nun, she will be tonsured. But most often such women gradually come to their senses, gain spiritual strength in the monastery and return to the world.

4. There is another category of women over whom our monasteries are increasingly taking care of. These are women who failed to integrate into the social model of society or for some reason thrown to the sidelines of life: for example, those who lost their homes due to the fault of black realtors, expelled from home by children, drinkers, struggling with other addictions. They live in a monastery, feed on it, work according to their strength, but they rarely make nuns. It is necessary to go through a long spiritual path in order for the monastic spirit to kindle in such a person.

5. Sometimes there are exotic reasons: for example, I know one nun who went to a monastery (apart from her sincere inclination towards the monastic way of life) because of the unique library that the monastery she chose had at her disposal. In one of the Siberian monasteries there is a Negro girl, she came to Russia specifically to become a nun and “live in silence”: in her homeland she had to live in a Negro ghetto, where there was terrible noise day and night. The girl received holy baptism and for four years now she has been tonsured as a nun.

Father Alexei Yandush-Rumyantsev. Photo: from personal archive

And Father Alexei Yandushev-Rumyantsev, prefect for academic and scientific work at the Higher Catholic Theological Seminary in St. Petersburg, explained true female monasticism to me this way:

“The church sees a special blessing in women choosing the monastic path — as always, when her children devote themselves to prayer and spiritual achievement for the world and for all of humanity, for this is love for one’s neighbor. Today, as in all previous eras, starting from the early Middle Ages, among the people who devoted their entire lives to serving God and prayer, the majority were women. The experience of our life suggests that, being delicate and defenseless by nature, women are actually often stronger and incomparably more selfless personalities than men. It affects their life choices as well.”

Many unchurched people are perplexed by the fact that young healthy guys or girls, who have their whole life ahead of them, go to the monastery. It has been firmly established in society since Soviet times that the monastery is the end of all life. But the monks themselves, smiling, answer: "This is not the end, this is just the beginning."

It is believed that most often people leave the monastery out of great grief. But then it is not clear why a person should doom himself to even greater suffering in the monastery walls? Meanwhile, everyone, monks and laity, understand that there is peace behind the walls of the monastery. There are no worries here that burden us in the world: you don’t need to go to worldly work every day, cook, children don’t distract you, most importantly, you don’t need to worry about how to feed your family, how much money to save, and how much you can spend. No need to endlessly go shopping and buy food, clothes, furniture, building materials. After all, doing all this, we live the precious minutes of our lives, although we can spend them on something much more important.

In the monastery, life goes on like in one big family: everyone does their job conscientiously. The needs of the monks are very modest, therefore, it does not take as much time and effort to provide themselves with everything necessary as it takes for the laity. Thanks to this, the monks have more free time for prayer, participation in divine services, reflections on their spiritual life. Undoubtedly, the monastic life is very difficult, full of difficulties and worries, but at the same time, it provides an opportunity for close communion with God, and this is a great joy for which people go to the monastery.

Hwhat is monasticism

Monasticism is voluntary martyrdom, taking on the cross and carrying it meekly until the end of life. St. John of the Ladder says that a monk is a warrior of Christ, waging an unceasing spiritual battle with his passions for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.

A person who wishes to take monastic vows makes 3 vows:

1. Vow of obedience or renunciation of one's will. He undertakes to obey the hegumen or abbess and the spiritual father, who from now on will guide the monastic in spiritual life.

2. Vow of chastity or celibacy - renunciation of married life for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.

3. Vow of non-possession. The monks, having nothing in their property, except for personal belongings, live in the monastery and care only about the welfare of the monastery, and not about personal needs.

Even in the Ancient Church there were holy ascetics who devoted their lives to the feat of prayer: they left into the wilderness, shut themselves up in pillars and ceaselessly offered up prayers to the Lord. The ascetics did not want to live next to the pagans and fulfill the laws of the pagan rulers. For example, it was obligatory for all Romans to visit the terrible spectacles in the Colosseum. How could Christians go and watch how wild beasts torture their poor brothers in faith? Many fled to deserted places from persecution and lived here all their lives.

When Christianity spread throughout Europe, pagan customs and mores still remained in society. It was distressing that the licentiousness of morals was observed in the Christian society itself. Striving for the ideals of Christian life, a huge number of believers preferred life in communities with strict rules - the first monasteries - to a "Christian" society.

The difference between the spiritual state of society and the gospel commandments is still very great, and there are still many who want to follow the narrow path of monastic asceticism after Christ.

What do monks do

Today, life in the monastery is different from what it was in ancient times. In addition to daily prayer, monasteries are actively engaged in educational and social work, building temples and cells, in addition, many of them are subsistence farming. Growing crops, embroidering baptismal sets for boys with their own hands, making candles, scarves, rosaries and much more in workshops and factories, they sell their products, and build temples with the proceeds. Monastics can find work in the monastery according to any ability and specialty. This is singing, and the sale of church utensils, and social projects, and publishing, construction, education, medicine, and much more.

Marriage or monasticism - ways to salvation

The life of marriage is also full of difficulties, so we should not think of marriage as something unworthy of the most able and active Christians. If you live in marriage according to the gospel commandments, then such a life can be even more difficult than in a monastery. Perhaps a mother who raised four children could do serious work in the monastery and help dozens of the destitute. But she devoted the best years of her life to her children: she had no days off, no breaks, taking care of her large family. In turn, the father of the family could move mountains with at least a little personal time, but he is busy from morning to evening at work to feed the family and put the children on their feet. In addition to constant concern for children, the Orthodox family is also called upon to become a model of Christian life and an example for many non-church families, and this is not an easy task.

Undoubtedly, monasticism is a feat, just like Christian marriage, and only the person himself decides which way he will go to salvation.