The brotherhood of the Valamo Monastery is open to adult male members of the Orthodox Church who have no worldly ties – for example, dependent children. Physical and especially mental health should also be in good condition, as each applicant for the brotherhood is expected to make a significant effort and be able to adapt to the demands of a close, regulated and regular community life.
There are many reasons for applying to the monastery and they are personal. However, the most important prerequisite for choosing monastic life is a sincere monastic vocation – a desire to live a Christian life of struggle in community, following the will of God.
Those interested in monastic life can contact the monastery's abbot, Archimandrite Mikael, in writing. However, it is important for all those planning to enter a monastery to remember that, alongside monastic life, the Orthodox also have another equally demanding and respected way of living in accordance with Christian ideals to choose from: marriage.
The long road to ordination
A person planning to enter a monastery first becomes familiar with monastic life by diligently performing various obedience tasks as an obedience brother, or novice. When the novice has adapted well to the monastery's lifestyle, he receives a blessing from the abbot to begin wearing the undercassock, belt, and headdress called a skufia, which are part of the monk's attire. A year or two after entering the monastery, the novice can officially apply for membership in the brotherhood. The entire brotherhood votes among itself on membership. After becoming a full member of the brotherhood, the novice has the right to vote in the brotherhood meetings.
When it is determined that the novice has a firm conviction to commit himself 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 rassophore monk, in which case he is clothed in an outer cassock and a veiled headdress, a klobuk. The tonsuring to monkhood then takes place at a time deemed convenient by the abbot. When taking the final monastic vows, the monk promises to live the rest of his life in celibacy, obedience and without personal property. In connection with the tonsuring, the monk receives a new name, a prayer rope and a flowing robe, or mantle, used in church services.
