Moscow, September 3, 2010
On September 1, the fourth meeting of the Moscow Patriarchate committee on monasteries and monastic life met at the St. Sergius Lavra. Presiding was Archbishop Theognost of Sergiev Posad, Superior of the St. Serius Lavra, and head of the commission.
Also participating were Moscow Patriarchate Chancellor Metropolitan Varsonofy of Saransk and Mordovia, head of the Department of Religious Education and Catechism of the Moscow Patriarchate Bishop Mercury of Zaraisk, Superior of the Holy Transfiguration Valaam Monastery Bishop Pankraty of Troitsk, Bishop Markell of Beltsk and Felesht, as well as various abbots and abbots of monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church.
At the were discussed meeting documents presented to the committee concerning the following subjects: criteria for the opening of monasteries, tonsures outside of monasteries, service by monks in convents and parishes, entrance into monasteries, preparation for monastic tonsure, and cases of monastics leaving monasteries and monasticism. Members of the commission reviewed the historical and canonical information presented on monasticism and the responsibilities of an abbot.
Next year, the commission will continue its thesis, "The state of monasteries and monasticism in the Russian Orthodox Church," and "Rules of the monastery," with the participation of a broad circle of ecclesiastical and secular experts. In the words of Archbishop Theognost, the "State of the monasteries" should become a sort of "monastic constitution" for the creation of conditions for further renewal of monastic life in the Russian Orthodox Church.
