Magnificent paintings, frescoes, records of historical chronicles - all this is a medieval monastery. Those who want to touch the past and learn about the events of bygone days should start their journey precisely with the study, since they remember much more than the pages of annals.
Cultural and economic centers of the Middle Ages
During the Dark Ages, monastic communes begin to gain strength. For the first time they appear on the territory. Benedict of Nursia can be considered the progenitor of this movement. The largest medieval period is the monastery in Montecassino. This is a world with its own rules, in which each member of the commune had to contribute to the development of a common cause.
At that time, the medieval monastery was a huge complex of buildings. It included cells, libraries, refectories, cathedrals and outbuildings. The latter included barns, warehouses, animal pens.
Over time, the monasteries turned into the main centers of concentration of culture and economy of the Middle Ages. Here they kept a chronology of events, held debates, and evaluated the achievements of science. Such teachings as philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine developed and improved.
All physically hard work was provided to novices, peasants and ordinary monastic workers. Such settlements were great importance in the field of storage and accumulation of information. Libraries were replenished with new books, and old editions were constantly rewritten. Also, the monks themselves kept historical chronicles.
History of Russian Orthodox monasteries
Russian medieval monasteries appeared much later than European ones. Initially, hermit monks lived apart in deserted places. But Christianity quickly spread among the masses, so stationary churches became necessary. From the 15th century until the reign of Peter I, there was a widespread construction of temples. They were in almost every village, and large monasteries were built near cities or in holy places.
Peter I held a series church reforms which were continued by his successors. The common people reacted negatively new fashion to Western tradition. Therefore, already under Catherine II, the construction of Orthodox monasteries was resumed.
Most of these religious buildings did not become a place of pilgrimage for believers, but some Orthodox churches are known all over the world.
Miracles of myrrh-streaming
The banks of the Velikaya River and the Mirozhka River flowing into it. It was here many centuries ago that the Pskov Spaso-Preobrazhensky Mirozhsky Monastery appeared.
The location of the church made it vulnerable to frequent raids. She took all the blows first of all on herself. Constant robberies, fires haunted the monastery for many centuries. And with all this, fortress walls were never built around it. It is surprising that, despite all the troubles, he preserved the frescoes, which are still admired for their beauty.
For many centuries, the Mirozhsky Monastery kept a priceless miraculous icon Mother of God. In the 16th century, she became famous for the miracle of myrrh-streaming. Later, miracles of healing were attributed to her.
An entry was found in a collection kept in the library of the monastery. It is dated 1595 according to the modern calendar. It contained the story of the miraculous. As the record says: "Tears flowed like jets from the eyes of the Most Pure One."
Spiritual legacy
A few years ago, the monastery of Giurgevi Stupovi celebrated its birthday. And he was born neither more nor less, but eight centuries ago. This church became one of the first Orthodox in Montenegrin land.
The monastery survived many tragic days. During its centuries-old history, it was destroyed by fire 5 times. Eventually the monks left this place.
For a long period, the medieval monastery was in ruins. And only at the end of the 19th century, a project began to recreate this historical object. Not only architectural structures have been restored, but also monastic life.
There is a museum on the territory of the monastery. In it you can see fragments of surviving buildings and artifacts. Now the monastery of Giurgevi Stupovi lives a real life. Constant charity events and collections are held for the development of this monument of spirituality.
Past in the present
Today, Orthodox monasteries continue their active work. Despite the fact that the history of some has exceeded a thousand years, they continue to live according to the old way and do not seek to change anything.
The main occupations are farming and serving the Lord. The monks try to comprehend the world in accordance with the Bible and teach this to others. In their experience, they show that money and power are transitory. Even without them, you can live and be completely happy at the same time.
Unlike churches, monasteries do not have a parish; nevertheless, people willingly visit monks. Renouncing everything worldly, many of them receive a gift - the ability to heal diseases or help with a word.
Address: Switzerland, St. Gallen
Foundation date: according to legend, 613
Main attractions: monastery library
Coordinates: 47°25"24.9"N 9°22"38.8"E
Description of the monastery
One of the most interesting sights of the eastern part of Switzerland can rightfully be called the monastery of St. Gall.
Monastery of Saint Gall from a bird's eye view
This majestic and, to be honest, a bit gloomy building, which is sure to attract the attention of lovers of ancient monuments of history and culture, is located in the Swiss city of St. Gallen. This small town, by modern standards, is the capital of one of the many cantons of Switzerland and is proud of its coat of arms, with a formidable bear depicted on it, on the neck of which a collar of pure gold is worn.
By the way, a guide conducting excursions in Switzerland will definitely tell the group that the coat of arms of St. Gallen is closely related to its main attraction, the monastery of St. Gall, and to be extremely precise, then with Saint Gall himself. According to an ancient legend, during one of the journeys of St. Gallus, a bear attacked his camp: the saint was not at a loss and simply called the bear, who, as if spellbound, approached the fire and threw dry branches into it. The fire flared up even stronger, warming the tired traveler, and the bear, as a reward for obedience, the saint gave most their stocks of grain.
General plan of the monastery
Nowadays, you can always meet tourists near the monastery: the thing is that this monastery and its interesting story known far beyond the borders of the European country. The most priceless treasure on our planet is kept behind the walls of the monastery of St. Gall. No, these are not gold bars or tiaras adorned with countless precious stones: the monastery stores the knowledge accumulated by mankind over a long period of time. In the building that every inhabitant of the capital of the canton is proud of, which, by the way, has the same name as the city - St. Gallen, there is a unique library of its kind.
According to the unanimous opinion of historians, this Swiss library is considered one of the oldest collections of books in the world. For this reason, the monastery of St. Gall, with its annexes and, of course, the library, was included in the legendary UNESCO World Heritage List. This library attracts travelers like a magnet, and there is nothing surprising in this: priceless copies of books that are more than 1000 years old are kept outside the walls of the monastery. It is interesting that out of more than 170,000 books and folios, only 50,000 are available for inspection. This is due to the fact that many books, due to their age, need a constant microclimate. In the hall, where 50,000 books are displayed on the shelves, you can also admire ... the real mummies brought by archaeologists from Egypt. People whose bodies were embalmed and eventually ended up in the library of the monastery of St. Gall died almost 3,000 (!) years ago.
monastery cathedral
Monastery of Saint Gall history
Surprisingly, the monastery of St. Gall at one time was considered the largest and most famous among similar Benedictine monasteries in the whole Old World! Naturally, like many architectural monuments throughout its history, the monastery was rebuilt more than once. No wonder, because even the city, in the center of which the building rises, was founded in the 7th century. Tradition says that the founder of the monastery is Saint Gall himself, who performed many miracles. It was this saint who built a cell in the town in the year 613, where he could live modestly and pray to God. Based on official documents, which, despite the inexorable passage of time, miraculously survived in the library, experts argue that the founder of the monastery of St. Gall is not the saint himself, but a certain Otmar, who is mentioned in ancient manuscripts as the rector of the sacred structure.
The monastery of St. Gall has gained popularity not only in its own town, but also far beyond its borders. Thousands of pilgrims went to him, many of whom were wealthy people and could afford large donations. Thanks to these donations, the monastery of St. Gall for a record short time becomes a kind of religious center, influencing not only St. Gallen, but also the surrounding area.
Wealth, calculated not only in spiritual texts and traditions, but also in gold, allows the monastery in the 9th century to rewrite various religious texts and publish interpretations of the Bible. It was at that time, or rather in the year 820, and the legendary library of the monastery of St. Gall was founded. All this became possible because the monastery of the city of St. Gallen in 818 began to report directly to the emperor. Numerous uprisings more than once exposed the monastery to the threat of complete destruction: even the indigenous inhabitants of the city in which it was actually located tried to destroy the architectural structure, which has unlimited power. In the middle of the 15th century, considered a turning point for all of Switzerland, the city of St. Gallen and the monastery of St. Gall were assigned to the Swiss Union. It is interesting that they were assigned separately, as if they were talking about different territorial units.
The abbot of the monastery of St. Gall was also a politician: he refused to obey the Swiss Union and, despite the fact that the building was officially part of it, maintained close ties and fulfilled all the requirements of the Roman Empire. However, this state of affairs did not last long: the Reformation passed a law in 1525 providing for the dissolution of the monastery. For a little over thirty years, the monastery of St. Gall experienced difficult times, but already at the end of the 16th century, the building, once built on the site of a monastic cell, becomes ... the center of the principality!
From the 16th to the 18th century, the monastery of St. Gall, using its influence, is constantly enriched. In the middle of the eighteenth century, the abbot decides to rebuild the monastery. It was supposed to have a facade and interior decoration that fully met the fashion of that era. Designing the monastery in the popular baroque style was entrusted to two architects: Johann Beer and Peter Toumba. These were last years the heyday of the monastery of St. Gall: in France in 1789, a revolution took place that stirred up all of Europe. All the lands belonging to it are taken away from the monastery and completely deprived of power. After the emergence of the Swiss canton of St. Gallen with the capital of the same name, the monastery is dissolved, its former splendor, grandeur and influence remain in the past.
Monastery of St. Gall in our time
Nowadays, a tourist who has arrived in the small but cozy town of St. Gallen can see a neat building with a strict facade. As mentioned above, despite the fact that the monastery was rebuilt in the 18th century in the Baroque style, it still looks a little gloomy.
Now it is a cathedral church, divided into two parts by a rotunda. The traveler will be interested to know that the eastern crypt is the only element that remains from a building dating back as far as the 9th century! Everything else in the monastery of St. Gall is a "remake" of the 18th century. By the way, according to legend, Saint Gall himself was buried in this crypt, but his grave has not yet been found, which means that this information cannot be called reliable. But the grave of the first abbot of the monastery Otmar remained untouched, the remains of his successors lie near it.
In the church, which will surely interest travelers with its interior decoration in the Rococo style, services continue to this day. Parishioners can offer their prayers to God near the lattice, which is trimmed with gold, and some parts of it are painted turquoise. By the way, this lattice at one time performed a certain function: it separated ordinary mortals from the premises where the monks lived and prayed (by the way, rather non-poor monks).
Sports ground on the territory of the monastery
There is nothing surprising in the fact that the most popular place among tourists is the western wing. The outbuilding, which houses the world-famous library. One has only to imagine that among its collection there are almost 500 books written even before the Savior came to our world. The library is also proud of its dictionary, thanks to which it is possible to translate many words and sayings from Latin into German. This dictionary was created by masters (and earlier books were published exclusively by masters), back in 790. This fact suggests that the oldest German book is stored in a small Swiss town. Still not recovering from what he saw in the library, the tourist immediately finds himself in the lapidarium, which is also located in the western wing. In it, on shelves made of strong wood, there are priceless finds discovered during archaeological expeditions. No less interesting will be the huge collection of paintings that do not hang on the walls, but also stand on special shelves. In the same wing there is also the residence of the bishop, in which you can still see the remains of the former grandeur and wealth of the monastery of St. Gall.
Monastery Library
A traveler who decides to visit the monastery of St. Gall should strictly follow the rules that are detailed in special guidebooks. In addition, it must be remembered that the church is still active and parishioners turn to God in it. It would not be superfluous to have information that the main .... cantonal court is sitting in the northern wing, the work of which is better not to interfere. The monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland is open to visitors from 9 am to 6 pm. During services, tourists are not allowed into the temple. The famous library can be visited from 10 am to 5 pm, the ticket price is low: 7 Swiss francs. As in many developed European countries, access to historical and architectural monuments is free for children, and the elderly and teenagers have the right to a discount.
It was founded in 613 by St. Gall, an Irish student of St. Columban. Karl Martell appointed Othmar as abbot, who founded an influential art school in the monastery. Manuscripts made and illustrated by St. Gallen monks (many of whom were originally from Britain and Ireland) were highly valued throughout Europe.
Under Abbot Waldo of Reichenau (740-814), a monastery library was founded, one of the richest in Europe; during the invasion of the Hungarians in 924-933. the books were taken to Reichenau. At the request of Charlemagne, Pope Adrian I sent the best singers to St. Gallen, who taught the monks the technique of Gregorian chant.
In 1006, the brethren registered the outbreak of supernova SN 1006.
Starting from the X century, the monastery "" St. Galla entered into political rivalry with the monastery in Reichenau. By the 13th century, the abbots of St. Gallen not only won this confrontation, but also achieved recognition as independent sovereigns within the Holy Roman Empire. In subsequent years, the cultural and political significance of the monastery steadily declined, until in 1712 the Swiss militia entered St. Gallen, who took with them a significant part of the monastery's treasures. In 1755-1768. the medieval buildings of the abbey were demolished and grandiose temples in the Baroque style grew in their place.
Despite the losses, the monastery library of medieval manuscripts now has 160,000 items and is still reputed to be one of the most complete in Europe. One of the most curious exhibits is the Plan of St. Gall, drawn up in the beginning. 9th century and representing an idealized picture of a medieval monastery (this is the only architectural plan that has survived from the early Middle Ages).
Tatyana Solomatina
Rock Monasteries of Southeast Europe
Hello dear readers! Have you ever seen a monastery in a rock? Believe me, you will definitely enjoy a trip to such places. The feeling of unreality and spiritual uplift accompany all tourists already on the way to the Shrines.
Read about the most ancient rock monasteries in Southeast Europe. Perhaps someone would like to see them with their own eyes.
The rock monasteries of Europe use natural mountain formations in an unusual way. Their design uses caves and cavities in the rocky slopes of the mountains, created by erosion or made by human hands. The austere interior was ideally suited and served as stone cells for the reclusive life of the monks. Southeast Europe is extremely rich in such monasteries.
In some monastic complexes, the grottoes were converted into chapels, while in others, luxurious temples were built near the caves inhabited by monks. The inner walls of the monasteries in the rock are covered with colorful frescoes, originally from the Middle Ages. They represent the most common scenes from the life of Christ, Saints or portraits of the founders of monasteries. This type of work can be seen, among others, in the complex of temples in Ivanovo (Bulgaria).
There are monasteries and churches of varying degrees of preservation in Moldova, Turkey, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Georgia. Each of them is an interesting object of religious architecture that attracts many tourists. Which of them ended up on the list of the most beautiful and most important rock monasteries in Europe? Perhaps they will become interesting idea for the next vacation.
Montenegro: Ostrog Monastery
The monastery "Ostrog" in the rock is the most visited, as well as one of the largest attractions in Montenegro. The monastery was built and founded in the 17th century by St. Vasily Ostrozhsky. It is located in the Zeta Valley and is divided into the Lower part, located about an hour away, and the Upper part, in which the church itself is located.
Pilgrims and tourists come here not only because of the magnificent interior of the monastery and breathtaking scenery, but also because of the relics of the founder, which are considered miraculous, located here.
Official site: http://manastirostrog.com/
81400 Niksic
PO Box 16
+382 68330336
Turkey: Panagia Sumela Monastery
Panagia Sumela is the Orthodox monastery of St. Virgin Mary. It is located in the Trabzon region and is located at an altitude of 1200 meters above sea level on the slope of Mount Mela. Sumela consists of a series of rooms and chapels located in a huge cave in the rock. They are protected from the outside world by a high-rise building built in the 18th century, which contains more modern monastic cells and guest rooms.
Official website: http://www.muze.gov.tr/en
AltIndere Mahallesi, AltIndere Vadisi
61750 Macka/Trabzon
Georgia: David Gareji Monastery Complex
The complex of monasteries of the Georgian Orthodox Church is located in the southeastern part of Georgia, 30 km from Tbilisi, on the border with Azerbaijan. It consists of 19 medieval monasteries with 5,000 cells for monks. The oldest monastery is the Lavra, founded by the Christian monk David Gareji. You can visit the cave in the rock where he lived, and the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, where the tomb of the founder is now located.
The David Gareji monastery complex is also famous for its frescoes of the 13th century. The oldest of them is located in the main chapel of the Udabno monastery.
David Gareji Monastery, Rustavi-Jandara 12th km.
Georgia: Vardzia Monastery Complex
Vardzia is not just a monastery in the rock, but a whole rock city. Its location on a hillside made it invisible to enemies. The city, built in the 12th century by Queen Tamara, is now the main attraction of the Javakheti region.
The monastery complex itself consists of over 250 rooms on 13 levels. Having visited the rock monastery, one should not lose sight of the Church of the Assumption, which is best preserved in it. Its walls are covered with 12th-century frescoes depicting scenes from the New Testament and portraits of Queen Tamara. From the church, a dark tunnel leads to a spring called Tamara's Tears. To explore the tunnels of the monastery, you need to take a flashlight with you.
Turkey: Selime Monastery in Cappadocia
Selime Monastery is located in the Ihlara Valley in southern Cappadocia. Carved into the rock by monks in the 12th century, it houses a cathedral-sized church. Inside the church there are two rows of columns that divide the entire space into three parts. The monastery is open to the public: you can walk along its mysterious passages and corridors. From the holes in the rock, tourists observe an unusually beautiful panorama of the Ihlara valley. The surrounding landscapes are reminiscent of scenes from " Star Wars».
Bulgaria: Cave churches in Ivanovo
The complex in Ivanovo is a group of churches, chapels and monasteries in the rock. He gained his fame thanks to the icons of the 13th century. The best preserved temple of the Mother of God with frescoes depicting the Passion of Christ. The first buildings in the monastery complex date back to the 12th century. In the Middle Ages, it included more than 40 monasteries and 200 utility rooms. They were inhabited by monks until the 17th century. Today the monastery complex in Ivanovo is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Official page: http://www.museumruse.com/expositions/ivanovo_bg.htm
7088 Ivanovo, Bulgaria
+359 82 825 002
Bulgaria: Aladzha Monastery Complex
Aladzha is a complex of rock buildings. Located just 3 km from popular resort Golden Sands and includes two churches, chapels, crypts, and numerous outbuildings: kitchens, cells and a cattle shed. Two levels of rooms are carved into the 40-meter rock and connected by an external staircase. The entrance to the complex costs 5 lev, for this money you can visit the nearby catacombs and an exhibition dedicated to archaeological finds around the monastery.
Complex page: http://www.bulgariamonasteries.com/aladja_manastir.html
Golden Sands Reserve, Varna, Bulgaria
+359 52 355 460
Bulgaria: Basarbovsky Monastery
One of the few monasteries in Bulgaria that has been completely restored. The Basarbovsky Monastery is located in the valley of the Rusenki Lom River, 10 km from the city of Ruse. In the complex you can see a church with a beautiful icon of the patron saint of the monastery, numerous cells in the rock and utility rooms. Next to it is a complex of churches in Ivanovo.
Moldova: Old Orhei Monastery
Moldova is a small but still little known and mysterious country between Ukraine and Romania. The Reut River in the village of Old Orhei creates a picturesque canyon. On a hill overlooking the valley, there is a church with a blue dome. A tunnel is laid from it, which leads to an underground monastery in the rock. In addition to this unusually beautiful monastery in Old Orhei, it is worth visiting the beautiful waterfalls, the way to which only the locals know.
Ukraine: Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv
The Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Caves Monastery, is a huge complex of Orthodox monasteries located on the Dnieper. It consists of more than 80 buildings: secular and spiritual. The golden domes create a dreamlike atmosphere and make the river valley sparkle. Many of the buildings have an underground network of corridors and caves that were inhabited by monks as early as the 11th century, and some of them have been converted into chapels and temples.
Official site: https://lavra.ua/
Kyiv, Ukraine, 01015, Lavrska street, 15
380 44 255 1105
Crimea: Inkerman cave monastery
The Inkerman cave monastery is part of a group of Orthodox monasteries located near the city of Inkerman in the western Crimea. The first hermit caves here date back to the 10th century, there were about two hundred of them then. In the 19th century they were adapted for a monastery. Now tourists can visit the rock chapel, the Church of the Holy Trinity, the monastery of St. Clement at the Monastery Rock.
Sevastopol, 3rd Bastionnaya st., 25,
Crimea: Assumption Monastery
It is also known as the Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It was founded in the 8th century, pilgrims were attracted by the icon of the Mother of God located here. For a long time, the Assumption Monastery was the center of Orthodoxy in the Crimea. In the 19th century, a number of churches were built and new caves were created in the rock. Currently, tourists can only visit half of the monastery. In the second part there is a monastery, the cells of which are closed to the layman.
Crimea, Bakhchisarai, st. Mariampol, 1
Rock monasteries are two in one: the call of the Orthodox soul and the music of architecture, frozen in stone. Whether it is the creation of human hands, or natural forces, caves and grottoes have become an excellent "host" for monastic complexes. Although not all of them are active, and not all of them have been preserved in their original form, but they are worth seeing, if only because they are magnificent! In addition to architectural beauty, they give us religious relics of distant centuries: beautiful frescoes and icons.
Perhaps you managed to visit some monastery in the rock? Share your impressions in the section "Journeys of readers". How to do it, wrote. There is an article on the blog, if you are interested in rock monasteries, then the information will be useful to you.
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On this I say goodbye to you, until we meet again!
Tatyana Solomatina
Monasteries in the Middle Ages were well-fortified church centers. They served as fortresses, collection points for church taxes, spreading the influence of the church. The high walls protected the monks and church property from being plundered during enemy attacks and during civil conflicts.
The monasteries enriched the Church. Firstly, they owned vast lands, with serfs assigned to them. Up to 40% of serfs in Russia belonged to monasteries. And the clergy exploited them mercilessly. To be a serf at a monastery was considered among ordinary people, one of the most difficult fates, not much different from hard labor. Therefore, peasant riots often broke out on the lands that belonged to the monasteries. Therefore, during October revolution, the peasants happily destroyed monasteries and church exploiters, along with churches.
“... The most ruinous for the peasants was corvee: work on the land of the owner took the time necessary to cultivate their own plot. In church and monastery lands, this form of duties was especially actively spread. In 1590, Patriarch Job introduced corvee in all the patriarchal lands. His example was immediately followed by the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. In 1591, the largest landowner - the Joseph-Volotsky Monastery - transferred all the peasants to corvée: "And which villages were on quitrent, and now they plowed for the monastery." Own peasant plowing has been steadily declining. Statistics on the economic books of monasteries shows that if in the 50-60s. in the monastic estates of the central districts, the average size of a plot per peasant household was equal to 8 quarters, then by 1600 it decreased to 5 quarters (candidate of historical science A. G. Mankov). The peasants responded with uprisings ... "
“... The history of unrest in the Antoniev-Siysky Monastery is curious. The king donated 22 previously independent villages to the monastery. The peasants soon felt the difference between freedom and slavery. To begin with, the monastic authorities "taught them to imati by force tribute and quitrent three times": instead of 2 rubles, 26 altyns and 4 money, 6 rubles each, 26 altyns and 4 money. “Yes, in addition to tribute and dues for monastic labors, they had 3 people from a bipod for every summer”, “yes, on top of that, they, the peasants, made the product” - they plowed the land and mowed hay for the monastery. Finally, the monks “confiscated the best arable lands and hay meadows and brought them to their monastery lands,” “and from other peasants they, the elders, took away the villages with bread and hay, and yards were broken and transported, and from their villages the peasants from that abbot violence, with wives and children fled from the yards.
But not all peasants were ready to flee from their land. In 1607, the abbot of the monastery submitted a petition to the tsar:
“The monastic peasants have become strong to him, the abbot, they don’t listen to our letters, they don’t pay tribute and dues and third-grade bread to the monastery, as other monastic peasants pay, and they don’t make monastic products, and in no way does he, the abbot and the brethren they listen, and in that he, the hegumen, suffer great losses.
Shuisky already had enough problems with Bolotnikov and False Dmitry II, so in 1609 the monastery began to solve its problems itself, organizing punitive expeditions. Elder Theodosius with the monastery servants killed the peasant Nikita Kryukov, “and everyone took the remnants of the stomach [property] to the monastery.” Elder Roman "with many people, they have peasants, they put out doors from huts and broke stoves." The peasants, in turn, killed several monks. The victory remained with the monastery ... "
Back in the fifteenth century, when in Russia, there was a struggle in the church environment between the “non-possessors” led by Nil Sorsky and the “Josephites”, supporters of Joseph of Polotsk, the non-possessor monk Vassian Patrikeev spoke of the then monks:
“Instead of eating from our needlework and labor, we wander around the cities and look into the hands of the rich, obsequiously please them in order to beg from them a village or a village, silver or some kind of cattle. The Lord commanded to distribute to the poor, and we, overcome by the love of money and greed, insult our poor brothers living in the villages in various ways, impose on them interest for interest, without mercy we take away their property, we take away a cow or a horse from a villager, we torture our brothers with scourges. .
Secondly, according to church laws, all the property of people who had gone into monks became the property of the Church.
And thirdly, those who went to the monastery themselves turned into free laborers, meekly serving the church authorities, earning money for the church treasury. At the same time, without demanding anything for himself personally, being content with a modest cell and bad food.
Back in the Middle Ages Russian Orthodox Church was "built into" the state system of execution of punishment. Often accused of heresy, blasphemy and other religious crimes were sent to monasteries under strict supervision. Political prisoners were often exiled to monasteries, both in Europe and in Russia.
For example, Peter the Great sent his wife Evdokia Lopukhina to the Intercession Monastery, 11 years after the wedding.
The oldest and most famous monastic prisons were located in the Solovetsky and Spaso-Evfimevsky monasteries. Dangerous state criminals were traditionally exiled to the first, the second was originally intended for keeping the mentally ill and those in heresy, but then prisoners accused of state crimes were also sent to it.
The remoteness of the Solovetsky Monastery from the habitable places and the inaccessibility made it an ideal place of confinement. Initially, the casemates were located in the fortress walls and towers of the monastery. Often these were cells without windows, in which one could stand, bending over, or lie on a short trestle bed with legs crossed. It is interesting that in 1786 the archimandrite of the monastery, where 16 prisoners were kept (15 of them - for life), did not know about the reason for the imprisonment of seven. The decree on the conclusion of such persons was usually laconic - "for important guilt to the content until the death of the stomach."
Among the prisoners of the monastery were priests accused of drunkenness and blasphemy, and various sectarians, and former officers who, in their drunkenness, spoke unflatteringly about the moral qualities of the next empress, and major dignitaries who plotted coup d'état, and “truth-seekers” who wrote complaints against government officials. The French nobleman de Tournelle spent five years in this prison on an unknown charge. The youngest prisoner went to prison at the age of 11 on charges of murder, he had to spend 15 years in prison.
The regime in the monastery prison was distinguished by extreme cruelty. The power of the abbot not only over the prisoners, but also over the soldiers guarding them was practically uncontrollable. In 1835, the complaints of the prisoners “leaked” behind the monastery walls, and an audit led by the gendarmerie colonel Ozeretskovsky arrived in Solovki. Even the gendarme, who had seen everyone in his lifetime, was forced to admit that "many prisoners suffer punishments that greatly exceed the extent of their guilt." As a result of the audit, three prisoners were released, 15 were sent to military service, two were transferred from cells to cells, one was accepted as a novice, and a blind prisoner was sent to the “mainland” to the hospital.
"Prison Corner" - the place where the cells of the prisoners of the Solovetsky Monastery were mainly concentrated. The Spinning Tower is visible in the distance.
But even after the revision, the regime in the prison was not eased. The prisoners were fed poorly, they were forbidden any connection with the will, they were not given writing materials and books, except for religious ones, and for violations of the rules of behavior they were subjected to corporal punishment or put on a chain. Particularly cruel treatment was given to those whose religious beliefs did not coincide with official Orthodoxy. Even sincere repentance and the conversion to Orthodoxy of such prisoners did not guarantee their release. Some "heresy" prisoners spent their entire conscious life in this prison.
As fortified centers in which there were many educated people, monasteries became centers of religious culture. Monks worked there as scribes of religious books needed for conducting services. After all, the printing press had not yet appeared, and each book was written by hand, often with rich ornamentation.
The monks also kept historical chronicles. True, their content was often changed, for the sake of the authorities, forged and rewritten.
The oldest manuscripts about the history of Russia are of monastic origin, although there are no originals left, there are only "lists" - copies from them. How reliable they are, scientists are still arguing. In any case, we have no other written information about what happened in the Middle Ages.
Over time, the oldest and most influential churches and monasteries in the Middle Ages were transformed into full-fledged educational institutions.
The central place in the medieval monastery was occupied by the church, around which there were household and residential buildings. There was a common refectory (dining room), a bedroom for monks, a library, a repository of books and manuscripts. A hospital was usually located in the eastern part of the monastery, and rooms for guests and pilgrims were located in the north. Any traveler could apply here for shelter, the charter of the monastery obliged to accept him. In the western and southern parts of the monastery there were barns, stables, a barn and a poultry yard.
Today's monasteries largely continue the traditions of the Middle Ages.
