Valaam Monastery

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Domes of the monastery from a distance
A liturgical feast with procession (around 1890)
The cathedral of the Valaam monastery

The Valaam Monastery ( Russian Валаамский монастырь, Finnish. Valamon luostari ) is an Orthodox monastery on the island of Valaam in Lake Ladoga in Karelia in Russia , about 80 km north of Saint Petersburg . From 1812 to 1940 it belonged to Finland and was the most important monastery there. It has been used again since 1989.

history

Time of origin

The date of the founding of the monastery is not known. The legend stated that the apostle Andrew was the founder. He is said to have erected a stone cross on the rock in a pagan place. Legend has it that the cross became the first stone of the foundation of the monastery.

The monastery may have been founded around 1329. It was first mentioned in the 16th century. The monastery was in an exposed western location in the former tsarist Russia on the border with Sweden.

1678-1917

In 1678 many monks died as a result of Swedish attacks. The monastery was devastated in attacks between 1611 and 1715 and burned to the ground.

Valaam Monastery was restored in the 18th century and came under the rule of the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812 . In the 19th century, the monastery temporarily housed over 3,000 monks.

1917-1940

In 1917 Finland and the Orthodox Church of Finland gained independence from the Russian Orthodox Church , recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople . The monastery became the most important of the Finnish Orthodox Church. The liturgical language was changed from Church Slavonic to Finnish and the liturgical calendar from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar . The changes led to violent disputes that lasted for decades in the monastic community of Valaam.

In the winter war of 1940 the monastery was evacuated. The 150 monks fled west and settled in Heinävesi , Finland , where they founded the existing monastery Uusi Valamo (New Valaam) . After the evacuation of the monasteries konevsky and Pechenga Uusi Valamo is the only monastery of the Orthodox Church of Finland. From 1941 to 1944, during the German occupation, there were attempts to restore the monastery building of Old Valaam.

After the Soviet reconquest in 1944, the island served as a military base and the monastery as a home for the disabled, warehouse and officers' mess. The monastery garden served the Red Army as a firing range, icons as targets.

Since 1989

In 1989 the Valaam monastery was re-established on the old site with the help of 100 monks, it is under the patronage of the Russian Patriarch Alexius II , who had visited the monastery for a long time as a child. The monastery regained legal ownership of the island and went into a state of spiritual seclusion. Many of the secular islanders who have now settled here have left the island after unsuccessful trials against the monastery. The monastery is stauropegial .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Geoffrey Parker (ed.): Weltbild Atlas zur Weltgeschichte. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1998, p. 41.
  2. ↑ Hubert Jedin , Jochen Martin : Atlas for Church History. Herder, Freiburg 1987, p. 81.
  3. ^ A b Friedrich Schmidt: Expulsion from charity . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of July 30, 2016, p. 3 ( online , accessed July 31, 2016).

Web links

Commons : Valaam Monastery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 61 ° 23 ′ 20 ″  N , 30 ° 56 ′ 49 ″  E