Report by Abbess Alexandra (Zharin) “Practical fulfillment of monastic vows in modern conditions”translated

Practical fulfillment of monastic vows in modern conditions At the beginning of my message, let me quote the words of the blessed Patriarch Alexy I (Simansky): “Let everything change around us - we must remain the same as we were hundreds of years ago. Let our immutability and insubordination to the spirit of the times symbolize the eternity of the Church. We are happy to see that we are still surrounded by the same thing in the Church that we saw from childhood, that our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers lived with. We must learn to preserve the past in spite of the present. This is our strength, this is our truth.” Monastic vows have remained unchanged for centuries, sanctified by sweat, prayer, fasting and, in general, by the superhuman efforts of all reverend fathers and mothers, starting from St. Anthony the Great to the ascetics of the 20th century, whose witnesses have survived to this day.

In each generation of ascetics, the preservation of monastic vows and the monastic way of life itself was subjected to many different tests and temptations of the enemy of the human race, who tries to create obstacles for the monks even from the circumstances of the outside world, which, it would seem, do not intersect in any way with the life of those who have completely devoted themselves to God.

Citizens of Heaven, monks, are certainly and...