Monasticism is not a backup plan
There is a strange, pervasive delusion among newcomers to Christianity that becoming a monk or a nun is some sort of an escape from hardships of our world. You may hear them say things like “I'll live for myself, and if nothing works out, I can always go to a monastery.” This view is fundamentally incorrect and deeply disrespectful to the greatest spiritual act.
Monks and nuns are not people who have “escaped” from life. On the contrary, they are people who possess tremendous spiritual strength and courage to consciously renounce the world and wage the most difficult and important war - the war against their own passions. They are not running away from something, but toward Something - toward God.
🌼 🌼 🌼 🌼
-Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
This delusion often arises from the idea that our modern world puts way too many distractions and roadblocks in a life of a Christian, so a person leaving the worldly life to become a monk must be fleeing from them, right? NO! What our world actually offers is a distraction from our sins! Just watch a youtube video to silence your guilty conscience after you sinned, consume more media so you don't have to think about what you did, get some money, lose some money, drown your thoughts in bottles of alcohol. Monastics do not have this option. When they sin, they are left alone with the guilt and realization of their sinful nature.
Monks and nuns are the strongest among Christians. They didn't chose this path out of fear or because they failed in life. They chose it out of a consuming love for God, a love so strong that it compelled them to leave everything else behind to win the ultimate battle for their soul and intercede for the world.
-Saint Ambrose of Optina
There is a strange, pervasive delusion among newcomers to Christianity that becoming a monk or a nun is some sort of an escape from hardships of our world. You may hear them say things like “I'll live for myself, and if nothing works out, I can always go to a monastery.” This view is fundamentally incorrect and deeply disrespectful to the greatest spiritual act.
Monks and nuns are not people who have “escaped” from life. On the contrary, they are people who possess tremendous spiritual strength and courage to consciously renounce the world and wage the most difficult and important war - the war against their own passions. They are not running away from something, but toward Something - toward God.
Do not seek peace and physical comfort in a monastery: if you seek these things, do not enter a monastery. A monastery is a healing place for souls, not a hotel for the pleasures of the flesh.
Do not think, do not dream that monasticism is a removal from the sorrows of public life. No! Monasticism is the acceptance of the most difficult, the most painful sorrows.
-Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
This delusion often arises from the idea that our modern world puts way too many distractions and roadblocks in a life of a Christian, so a person leaving the worldly life to become a monk must be fleeing from them, right? NO! What our world actually offers is a distraction from our sins! Just watch a youtube video to silence your guilty conscience after you sinned, consume more media so you don't have to think about what you did, get some money, lose some money, drown your thoughts in bottles of alcohol. Monastics do not have this option. When they sin, they are left alone with the guilt and realization of their sinful nature.
Monks and nuns are the strongest among Christians. They didn't chose this path out of fear or because they failed in life. They chose it out of a consuming love for God, a love so strong that it compelled them to leave everything else behind to win the ultimate battle for their soul and intercede for the world.
It is unfair for some to interpret that entering a monastery is a sign of cowardice, a fear of struggle, whereas those who enter a monastery must engage in battle with the enemy with courage, faith, and hope in God's mercy and help.
-Saint Ambrose of Optina
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ortho autism ☧
There was a mass shooting at a church in Minneapolis killing 2 and injuring 17 people. Please pray for the victims, the children who died were 8 and 10 years of age. A 12-year-old girl named Sophia is in extremely critical condition.
Orthodox Christianity
Orthodox shooting victim released from hospital after miraculous recovery
Sophia, who was shot in the head during the attack, had a bullet lodged in her brain, requiring the removal of the left half of her skull to relieve pressure. She is the last survivor of the incident to be released from the hospital, which left two students…
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Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery in Zvenigorod! 3️⃣
Founded in 1398 on Mount Storozha near the confluence of the Storozhka River and the Moskva River, not far from the town of Zvenigorod. Saint Savva, a disciple and spiritual follower of Sergius of Radonezh, came to these lands at the invitation of Prince Yuri Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod, the second son of Dmitry Donskoy. The prince, who ruled one of the most powerful and wealthy principalities at the time, needed a spiritual mentor and wanted to create his own princely cloister, which would become the spiritual and cultural center of his lands🍷
During 17th century, the Romanov family chose the monastery as their country residence, appreciating its beauty, strategic location, and the patronage of Saint Savva, whom Alexei Mikhailovich particularly venerated as his personal heavenly protector. During this period, the monastery was radically rebuilt and fortified. The monastery was granted the status of a lavra and became the first monastery in Russia whose charter was based on the strict rules of Mount Athos. Under Alexei Mikhailovich, the monastery became the site for the signing of important state documents, such as the tsar's decree of 1654 on the creation of Russia's first postal line connecting Moscow with the western borders🤔
In 1919, the relics of Saint Savva were desecrated and removed as part of the campaign to "combat religious opium." The monastery itself was closed in 1920. Its territory subsequently housed a museum, a sanatorium, and military units. In 1941, during WW2, Zvenigorod was on the front line, and the monastery walls became a fortified defense point, leading to damage to some of the buildings. In the post-war years, various secular institutions were located here.
After the fall of USSR, the place underwent large-scale restoration works and now is once again an active monastery!🥰
#yapping
Founded in 1398 on Mount Storozha near the confluence of the Storozhka River and the Moskva River, not far from the town of Zvenigorod. Saint Savva, a disciple and spiritual follower of Sergius of Radonezh, came to these lands at the invitation of Prince Yuri Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod, the second son of Dmitry Donskoy. The prince, who ruled one of the most powerful and wealthy principalities at the time, needed a spiritual mentor and wanted to create his own princely cloister, which would become the spiritual and cultural center of his lands
During 17th century, the Romanov family chose the monastery as their country residence, appreciating its beauty, strategic location, and the patronage of Saint Savva, whom Alexei Mikhailovich particularly venerated as his personal heavenly protector. During this period, the monastery was radically rebuilt and fortified. The monastery was granted the status of a lavra and became the first monastery in Russia whose charter was based on the strict rules of Mount Athos. Under Alexei Mikhailovich, the monastery became the site for the signing of important state documents, such as the tsar's decree of 1654 on the creation of Russia's first postal line connecting Moscow with the western borders
In 1919, the relics of Saint Savva were desecrated and removed as part of the campaign to "combat religious opium." The monastery itself was closed in 1920. Its territory subsequently housed a museum, a sanatorium, and military units. In 1941, during WW2, Zvenigorod was on the front line, and the monastery walls became a fortified defense point, leading to damage to some of the buildings. In the post-war years, various secular institutions were located here.
After the fall of USSR, the place underwent large-scale restoration works and now is once again an active monastery!
#yapping
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In the events of the war with France in 1812, during the advance of French troops toward Moscow, Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepson and Viceroy of Italy, approached Zvenigorod with a 24,000-strong detachment. The French troops entered the monastery and started looting it. When Prince Eugene lay down and fell asleep that evening, he saw an old man in long black monastic robes enter the room and approach him with a menacing gaze in the moonlight. The man ordered him not to touch the sanctuary.
Frightened by the vision, the prince gave orders in the morning that the main forces of his detachment should not enter the monastery, while he himself entered the cathedral and saw, at the tomb of Saint Savva, the image of the one who had appeared to him at night. Recognizing whose image it was, he reverently bowed before the saint's relics and recorded what had happened in his notebook. Then the prince ordered the cathedral to be locked, sealed it with his seal, and posted a guard of thirty men at the doors of the church.
Frightened by the vision, the prince gave orders in the morning that the main forces of his detachment should not enter the monastery, while he himself entered the cathedral and saw, at the tomb of Saint Savva, the image of the one who had appeared to him at night. Recognizing whose image it was, he reverently bowed before the saint's relics and recorded what had happened in his notebook. Then the prince ordered the cathedral to be locked, sealed it with his seal, and posted a guard of thirty men at the doors of the church.