Life in the Monastery

The monk's primary task is the practice of prayerful life. Its most visible part consists of common daily Divine Services. All members of the brotherhood participate in the Divine Services according to their service turns, either as co-prayers, altar servers (ponomari), readers, singers, deacons, or priests.

Work also forms an important part of the ascetic struggle. The Igumen assigns specific tasks to each brother, which are called obedience tasks. All work tasks are of equal value in the monastery, and their obedient performance is equated with prayer. One may even be absent from a Divine Service due to an obedience task.

The brotherhood's work week is six days long. However, Divine Services are attended every day of the week. From Monday to Saturday, days begin with the Midnight Office and Matins at 6:00 AM. On Sundays, one can rest longer, as the Third Hour and Liturgy only begin at 9:00 AM. Obedience tasks begin after breakfast and continue long into the afternoon after a communal lunch eaten at 11:00 AM. From 4:00 PM onwards, the brotherhood has the opportunity to enjoy dinner before the evening service begins at 6:00 PM. The last service of the day ends by 7:30 PM on weekdays, and about an hour later on Saturdays. After that, the ascetic has free time, which can be used for reading, outdoor activities, or rest. Silence on the monastery hill begins no later than 10:00 PM. Members of the brotherhood go to bed according to their own rhythm.

Major ecclesiastical feasts can cause significant deviations from the weekly and daily rhythm. Short trips – such as pilgrimages and annual visits to relatives and friends – are also possible with the Igumen's blessing or permission.

The Path to Monastic Life

Adult male members of the Orthodox Church who do not have worldly ties – for example, dependent children – can apply to the brotherhood of Valamo Monastery. Physical and especially mental health should also be in good condition, as every applicant to the brotherhood is required to have both a significant work contribution and the ability to adapt to the demands of a close-knit, regulated, and regular communal life.

There are many reasons for seeking to enter a monastery, and they are personal. However, the most important prerequisite for choosing monastic life is a sincere monastic calling – a desire to live an ascetic Christian life in community, following God's will.

Those interested in monastic life can contact the monastery's abbot, Archimandrite Mikael, in writing. However, it is important for all those intending to enter the monastery to remember that alongside monastic asceticism, an Orthodox Christian also has another equally demanding and respected way to live according to Christian ideals: marriage.

The Long Path to Ordination

One who intends to enter the monastery first familiarizes himself with monastic life by diligently performing various obedience tasks as an obedience brother, or novice. When the obedience brother has adapted well to the monastic way of life, he receives a blessing from the monastery's abbot to begin wearing the monastic under-cassock, belt, and head covering called a skufia. A year or two after entering the monastery, the obedience brother can officially apply for membership in the brotherhood. The entire brotherhood votes among themselves on membership. After becoming a full member of the brotherhood, the obedience brother has voting rights in brotherhood meetings.

When it is determined that the obedience brother has a firm conviction to commit to monastic life for the rest of his life, and when he has been accepted as an official voting member of the brotherhood, he can be tonsured as a rason-wearer (or 'robe-bearer' monk), at which point he is clothed in an outer cassock and a veiled head covering, the klobuk. The tonsure as a monk then takes place at a time deemed appropriate by the Igumen. When making his final monastic vows, the one being tonsured as a monk promises to live the rest of his life in celibacy, obedience, and without personal possessions. During the tonsure, the monk receives a new name, a prayer rope, and a flowing monastic cloak (or 'mantle') used in Divine Services.

Degrees of Monasticism

Novice
A novice is a man practicing ascetic life in the monastery who has not yet made a permanent vow to reside in the monastery. A novice is also called a postulant. The Igumen blesses the novice with the right to wear an under-cassock after about a year of monastic asceticism.

Rassophore Monk
A Rassophore monk is a monastic resident who has been tonsured to the first degree of monasticism. When tonsured as a Rassophore monk, no actual monastic vows are yet pronounced aloud, but by becoming tonsured, one commits to living according to them. A Rassophore monk may wear an outer cassock and a veiled head covering called a klobuk, in addition to the under-cassock, belt, and skufia worn by a novice.

Monk
A monk is an ascetic who has made the vows of humility, poverty, and chastity belonging to monastic tonsure. As a sign of the tonsure, the monk is given a new name and dressed in a long, trailing church robe called a mandyas. A monk ordained as a priest is called a hieromonk; a monk ordained as a deacon is called a hierodeacon.

Schema-monk
In the Slavic tradition, a schema-monk is usually an elderly and spiritually advanced monk who has been tonsured to dedicate himself to severe asceticism, known as the Great Schema. A schema-monk is exempt from all communal duties, such as common divine services, work, and meals, and is free to create a daily schedule devoted solely to prayer. The schema-monk's attire includes a hooded garment worn over the cassock, which depicts, among other things, the instruments used in Christ's torture and texts from the psalms.

Archimandrite is a title that can be granted to the head of a monastery, the Igumen, or to a distinguished hieromonk. The rank of Archimandrite corresponds to the rank of archpriest granted to a parish priest, although in divine services, according to the general Orthodox liturgical order, archimandrites precede archpriests.

In addition to archimandrites, the monastic clergy includes readers, subdeacons, hierodeacons, archdeacons, and hieromonks. In the Orthodox Church, those ordained to the episcopate are also monks.

Besides the brotherhood, visiting parish clergy, including readers, deacons, and priests, also wear the cassock in the monastery. The monastic clergy and parish clergy are distinguished in the church by the fact that parish priests do not wear a veiled klobuk. Additionally, monastic residents usually wear a leather belt with their under-cassock. Thus, not everyone dressed in a black cassock is a monastic resident.

The Brotherhood Today

The number of the Valamo brotherhood was long around ten members on average, but in recent years the number of the brotherhood has grown and is approaching twenty. The average age of the brotherhood is about 45 years.

Members of the brotherhood live in houses built on the shore of Lake Juojärvi in 1979, which have a total of 16 modestly furnished single rooms, or cells. The public does not have access to the brotherhood's residential buildings. In recent years, as the brotherhood has grown, some members have also lived in the so-called old monastic house, which is mainly used by monastery volunteers.

In addition to being an ascetic life, monastic life is traditionally also called angelic life. Its ultimate purpose is the salvation of the ascetic's soul. In practice, ascetic life is an alternation of work, prayer, and rest.

Members of the Brotherhood

Archimandrite Mikael, head of the monastery

Archimandrite Herman

Hieromonk Johannes

Hieromonk Aleksanteri, baker of church bread, church property manager

Hieromonk Viktor, IT manager, Store manager

Hieromonk Rafael, monastery secretary, head of publications, agricultural work

Archdeacon Jaakob, divine services coordinator

Hierodeacon Siluan, archivist, assistant to the church property manager, beekeeper

Schema-monk Antoni

Monk Alexander, sacristan

Monk Nasari, winery manager

Monk Joona, guide, brotherhood foreman

Monk Sofroni, head guide, assistant store manager

Rassophore Monk Lavrenti, candle factory manager

Novice Mattias, volunteer coordinator

Novice Dimitri

Novice Elia

Novice Aleksei

Contact information

Driving directions and transport connections

Invoicing addresses and bank details
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Visiting hours

Valamo Monastery is open year-round. Services' visiting hours vary by season.

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Life in the Monastery