Monasticism in the Modern World
The modern era brought Orthodox monasticism both catastrophe and unexpected recovery. This section treats the great suppressions — Ottoman decline, the secularizations of the Russian state, and above all the Soviet attempt to destroy monasticism outright — and the recoveries that followed, culminating in the twentieth-century Athonite renewal; then it surveys monasticism today across Athos, the convents, and the diaspora, with a sober assessment of the enduring vocation and its present condition.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox
Overview
Persecution and Revival traces the modern trial of monasticism: the pressures of the Ottoman centuries, the restrictions of Peter the Great and Catherine II’s secularization of 1764, the near-total destruction of Russian monasticism under the Soviets, and the recoveries — the nineteenth-century revival, the reopening after 1988, and the Athonite renewal that reversed a long decline on the Holy Mountain. Monasticism Today surveys the present: the flourishing of Athos and the great traditional centers, the convents and women’s monasticism, the spread of Orthodox monasteries into the Western diaspora and the new lands, the challenges of rebuilding a nearly-broken tradition, and an honest assessment of the vocation’s enduring place.
Files
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| persecution-and-revival.md | The Ottoman and Soviet suppressions and the recoveries; the twentieth-century Athonite renewal |
| monasticism-today.md | Monasticism now — Athos, the convents, the diaspora, the new foundations; the enduring vocation; assessment |
See Also
- Athos, the Monastic Republic — the center of the modern renewal
- Possessors and Non-Possessors — the Paisian revival that preceded the modern flowering
- Martyrdom and Monasticism — the new martyrs of the modern persecutions