Monastic Rules of the Sarov Monastery as the Main Source of the Worship Tradition of Valaam

Abstract

Sarov monastery have played an important part in the history of the Russian Church, its monastic rules have had a considerable influence on the Russian monkhood in the Synodal Age and have become a model for many Russian monasteries. For two centuries of existence of the Sarov monastery several decades of its monks had been sent to different monasteries all over Russia for organization of the monastic life. The Valaam monastery was one of the first, which monastic commune were resumed by the hieromonk sent from Sarov saint Nazarij (Kondratjev) in 1782-1801 yr. In that case he based on the monastic rules of his home monastery, which copy of was the monastic rules of Valaam. A researcher of worship traditions faces the issue what the future “North Afon” had inherited from the worship rules of the Sarov monastery. First, it is necessary to discover the origin of the Sarov monastic rules and its importance for the Russian monkhood. Then, while considering the Sarov worship tradition in turn, you’ll be able to reveal elements which will occur on Valaam. The influence of the Sarov worship rules can be seen in the general daily routine, including daily circle of services, in the accomplishment of monk’s private prayers in the church together, in availability of two options of the All-night Vigil fulfillment, in the special service to the Mother of God on Sundays before Liturgy and in vigilant reciting of Psalter on the first week of Lent. The present article is the type of overview and it gives researcher a possibility to choose a subject for deeper study.