Potatoes “in uniform” in the monastery are jokingly called “in cassock” - after all, monks do not wear uniforms
Recently, I began to notice that when talking about products, dishes “monastic ...”, or “like a monastery ...”, people mean: “high-quality”, “real”, “delicious”. Honey, bread, lunch...
Observing it on purpose, it struck me that this trend is not only expanding, but is already being used by various product manufacturers, conscientious and not so good. Then the question arose: what is modern monastic food, monastic products? What stands behind the recognition of the consumer - the traditional respect for the religious way of life, which excludes deceit and laziness, or the absence of intelligible state quality guidelines, the same GOSTs, for example?
For answers to these questions, we turned to Father Micah, Hieromonk of the Holy Danilov Monastery. The path that led this remarkable man to the church was not easy.
Let's start with the fact that Father Mikhey was a paratrooper and knows the concept of "hot spot" firsthand. Already, while in the monastery, Father Mikhei performed difficult obediences: setting up a skete in the Ryazan region, organizing a monastery apiary, acting as a cellarer in the St. Danilov Monastery itself, and many others that I don’t know about.
As a result, we managed to build a picture of how a Russian Orthodox monastery lives today from questions and answers: what it produces, what it eats, whom and how it feeds.
AIF.RU: It is known that the vast majority of monasteries in Rus' were self-sufficient in the production, storage and distribution of products. The monasteries owned gardens, fields, orchards, ponds and apiaries. Also, since ancient times, the tradition of feeding monastic products not only to the brethren, but also to workers, pilgrims, students, and guests has been preserved. Is this tradition alive in St. Daniel's Monastery today?
O. Mikhey: From a century in Rus', monasteries were not only centers of spiritual life, but also economic ones. Not only did they feed themselves, but they also carried out selection work, grew new varieties of plants, searched for and found new ways to store and preserve food. For many hundreds of years, monasteries not only fed themselves, but also widely helped those in need. As in normal times, and especially in war years, during lean periods, during epidemics.
There is no other way in the monastery: today the economy of the St. Danilov Monastery feeds up to 900 people daily. We have a little over 80 brethren, almost 400 laity workers. And also pilgrims, guests of the monastery, those in need - every day the monastery kitchen, with God's help, provides food for all these people.
Most of the products we have are our own production. This is flour, from the monastic fields in the Ryazan region, and vegetables, and fruits, and honey. For the time being, we mainly buy fish, but we want to dig ponds in the same place, on the lands of the skete, and start raising fish. We keep cows - for butter, cottage cheese, milk. They don't eat meat in the monastery.
- How did the revival of the monastic economy begin?
— The revival of the monastic economy began from the moment it was handed over to the Church in 1983. Over the next five years, the monastery as a whole was restored, and the economy providing it began to function along with it. However, up to a truly independent structure that produces, preserves and nourishes – we are still just going to this all.
Until 1917, the monastery had vast lands, arable land, apiaries, and ponds. There were many good products. The monastery sold a lot, incl. in their own shops and stores. People have always loved them - both Muscovites and pilgrims. Then everything was destroyed, literally - to the ground.
But over the past 17 years, of course, a lot has been done. If you look back today, you see how much we, with God's help, have achieved! And we ourselves grow wheat on the monastery lands, grind flour, bake our famous muffin. And we grow and preserve all the vegetables we need: we preserve, sour, salt.
And now the monastery has more than one apiary - in the suburbs at the monastery farm, near Ryazan, near Anapa and from Altai, honey is also supplied from the apiaries of the Church of the Archangel Michael. Near Ryazan is the largest apiary. Now we have about 300 hives here, and during the season we manage to get more than 10 varieties of honey in apiaries. This is sweet clover, and linden, and buckwheat, and forest and field forbs honeys. Every new season, before the departure of the bees, special prayers are performed to consecrate the apiary, and the beekeepers receive a blessing for the upcoming work.
Honey is such a product - God's blessing. He should be treated that way. After all, if you put an apiary, for example, near the road, then there is nothing coming out of the exhaust pipes: both lead and all kinds of heavy metals. And the bees also collect all this and transfer it to honey. We are responsible before God for the fact that we have apiaries in good, ecologically clean places, and now we offer pure honey to people.
We love our people and want people to be healthy and beautiful and that children are born healthy. Beekeeping is a traditional Russian craft. Back in the 16th century, they said: "Russia is a country where honey flows." Almost every house was engaged in honey. It was also supplied abroad with wax. All Russian people ate honey. It is a necessary product for every person.
It is now customary for us to eat honey only when we are sick. Only this is wrong. Honey should be eaten three times a day: a spoonful in the morning, afternoon and evening. Honey contains everything the body needs, including vitamins. After all, honey is a natural product that people have been eating for centuries to improve their health. Warriors of the past on campaigns always had honey with them. Tasting it, they increased their strength before the upcoming battle.
They began to revive the tradition of monastic bread. People come for our pastries from all over Moscow and even from the Moscow region. A variety of pies, which are prepared according to old monastic recipes, are very popular. Made with soul - and people love it!
Our parishioners and guests of the monastery really appreciate the fact that we use recipes not only from our monastery, but also from other holy places: for example, we have yeast-free bread baked according to Athos recipes, we eat bread from sisters from the Serpukhov Convent.
- And all this is managed by a small brethren of St. Danilov Monastery?
— Of course not! Lay workers and volunteers help us. There are really few monks, especially those who know how to work on earth. Many came to the monastery from the cities, some are not able to do physical labor. But work in honey apiaries is called "sweet hard labor" ...
Not everyone knows how much work has to be done to get good products on the table and the monastery.
— Tell us, please, about the monastic food system. What products and dishes make up the monastic table for the brethren?
— We don’t come to the monastery to eat delicious food – we come to reach the Kingdom of Heaven through labor, prayers and obedience. The highest virtue is fasting, prayer, rejection of worldly temptations and obedience.
By the way, according to the monastic charter, there are about 200 fasting days a year. Fasts are divided into multi-day (Great, Petrovsky, Assumption and Christmas) and one-day (Wednesday, Friday of each week). It was during the days of abstinence from fast food that thousands of original, simple, accessible to the population dishes were developed in the monastery refectories.
The main difference between the monastic table and the worldly table is that we do not eat meat. In the monastery they eat vegetables, cereals, dairy products, pastries and fish, mushrooms. A lot of sauerkraut, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms are always prepared in the storerooms of the monastery.
The cellar supervises this, and the monk brothers and the laity workers do it. And it goes to the table for everyone without exception. According to the charter, the monks eat only twice a day: at lunch and at dinner. The cellar of the monastery especially makes sure that the meals are both tasty, varied and supportive - after all, the interval before meals is long, and no one sits idly by, everyone has their own housework - obedience.
The everyday menu usually consists of fish soup, if allowed on that day, pickle, vegetable, mushroom or milk soup, and fish with a side dish. For dessert - tea, compote or jelly, pies, cookies. The Sunday menu consists of fish borscht, fried fish with a side dish of mashed potatoes or rice with vegetables, fresh vegetables, cold cuts of fish and products from the monastery courtyard - cheese, sour cream and milk. On the holidays of Christmas and Easter, a festive menu is served at the meal.
We have Father Hermogenes - he was the cellar of the monastery for more than 10 years, so he even wrote a book about the monastery meal, "The Kitchen of Father Hermogenes." On this moment cellar in the monastery of Fr. Theognost. I was a cellarer for several years, and before that I carried out obedience in the construction of the skete, the restoration of the Church of the Archangel Michael, the care of apiaries, the bakery ...
Now I have an obedience - I offer monastic products for Muscovites, in a honey shop and 2 monastic stores "Monastyrsky honey" and "Monastic grocery store", where you can buy our products: honey, beekeeping products, honey jam, an assortment of fish, cereals, monastery pastries, yeast-free bread, pies, health products: alcohol-free balms, sbitni, teas, herbs.
And also I have an obedience in the department of making posters of spiritual and patriotic content by modern and classical artists.
— We thank you, father Mikhey for your attention and story. We wish you joy in your work!
Easter is still a couple of weeks away. And it's hard to get around the topic of lean food in a food blog. But I will not give advice on what and how to cook. And I’d better tell you how the monks ate before historical materialism. And a wonderful article from the magazine "Our Food" from 1893 will help me in this.
According to the latest statistics, the number of all monasteries in Rossiand extends to 684, namely: male - 484 and female - 200. Monastics are with them 6.813 males and 5.769 females; novices - 4.143, novices - 14.199.
In total, therefore, 31,000 monastics throughout Rossiyu at ee 110 milisingle population. In one Moscow provinceiand there are 32 monasteries - male and female. Next, go governoriand: Novgorod - 28 monasteries, Vladimirskaya - 17 monasteries, Vologda - 10 monasteries. Then in the rest of the provincesiyah the number of monasteries ranges from 1 to 5 and rarely up to 10 monasteries.
The monks are excellent hosts and monasticiI canteens are wide open for everyone who comes to the monastery. Wandering pilgrims, "pilgrims", while in the monastery, always get food at the expense of the monastery.As you know, the monks, having entered the monastery, refuse, by the way, and consumedii'm meat. In the East, due toiIn a warm climate, the monks subsist exclusively on plant foods. Tact, for example, on Athos, the usual menu of the monastery foodiI represent: boiled pumpkins or cucumbers, goatsiand cheese, watermelon - a table highly hostile to European stomachs.
I had to familiarize myself withieat the monks on Valaam and eatiI eat nuns at the Novodevichy Convent in St. Petersburg.
Even before the trip to Valaam, one summer, in a suburban area, I met a crowd of pilgrims returning from Valaam. The pilgrims, the peasants, walked with long staffs in their hands and small knapsacks. Intrigued by them, I asked where they came from?
— From Valaam!
- Well? Okay there?
- Good good! At dinner, four dishes are served! ..
- Feed, so it's good?
- Enough!..
That same summer, I visited the Valaam Monastery and could check the impressions of a commoner regarding food.iI am a monk.
The staff of the Valaam Monastery consists of 150 monks and 150 novices. In addition, the monastery hires up to 200 workers for the production of various household work, mainly Chukhons and Korells.
The economy of the monastery is in a brilliant condition. During the spring and autumn ice drift, continuediFor several months, cut off from society, from Mipa, the monastery, of necessity, takes care to acquire all the food products, most of which it obtains by its own labor, and, moreover, in its own monastery, on its island.
In addition to the church service, the monks themselves plow the land, remove bread from the field, mow the grass, engage in gardening, etc. In the summer, during field work, there is often a “general obedienceie". For example, the whole monastery goes out to harvest bread, etc. In this case, the abbot addresses the monks in this form: “Obey to the holyie, bless you brotherime, fuck off!
Horticulture and horticulture flourish in the monasteries. Thanks to careful and tireless work, the monastery, in terms of the culture of garden plantsiand achieved amazing results. At the same time, notcIt is necessary to lose sight of the significant northern latitude of Valaam, as well as the harsh climate. For gardening and horticulture, the monastery has several gold and silver medals from various exhibitions. One of the medals was received for the cultivation of apples, of which some weigh from 3/4 to 1 pound. Melons reached 7 pounds, watermelons 20 pounds, and pumpkins 2 pounds.
Въ continuediyears the monastery spends for its foodiI have 10,000 pounds of grain, most of which he sows himself. The monastery has its own flour mill. There is especially a lot of bread in the summer, when there is a large influx of pilgrims. Vъ currentiFrom 10,000 to 15,000 pilgrims visit Valaam every year.
GrandeeiA vivid picture is presented by the temple feast of the monastery on June 29, when thousands of pilgrims flock. The pilgrims who arrived at Valaam live on a dependentiand the monastery and go to a common fraternal meal with the monks, which happens twice a day.
The monks eat vegetable and dairy foods. Tue Monday, Wednesday and Friday, food is cooked in vegetable oil, and on the rest of the days, in vegetable oil. Lunch - at 12 o'clock, dinner - at 8 o'clock. 4 dishes are served at dinner: 1) botvinya from garden vegetables, and on fasting days - potatoes with cucumbers, 2) cabbage soup with smelt or salted fish, 3) stew, 4) buckwheat porridge. Black rye bread - as much as you want. Monks in the cells are given a portioniI have tea, sugar and milk.
The monastic dining room is a vast hall, in which tables are arranged in three rows. Saints are depicted in the piers between the windows, in black monastic cassocks, with scrolls in their hands, on which various moral teachings are inscribed.iI. Long rows of tables can accommodate up to 500 people. For monastic hired workers there is a special roomie, in which there are two dining rooms: for Russians and Chukhon.
At the monks' meal, in the front corner, a place of honor is reserved for the father hegumen. To the table, on the left side, a bell is tied. By finishediand mass, monks, novices and "pilgrims" of various ranksiI go to the dining room: while the food is being served there, they stand at the door of the dining room. But then, at last, the door of the dining-room opened, and the audience, decorously, without haste, went to the tables. Everyone becomes anywhere; a merchant to stand next to a peasant, etc.
When all the places at the tables are occupied, there is silence, the father hegumen rings the bell, and the monks, turning to the icons, sing the pre-dinner prayers. After prayer - again quietly. The hegumen rings the bell again, the audience sits on the benches and starts the meal.
At dinner, young novices serve, who, however, have time to dine with everyone. Each diner is entitled to moreiare slices of bread. In tin bowls pour the monasteryiy kvass.
During fasting, the monks eat mainly vegetables and mushrooms. The monks prepare a huge amount of mushrooms for the purpose, because 1 tub daily is spent on their fasts. The food of the Valaam monks, however, is rather heavy for an unaccustomed Petersburg inhabitant.
There are up to 500 nuns in the Novodevichy Convent in St. Petersburg. In the summer, the monastery hires up to 100 gardeners and kaporok workers to work in the monastery gardens, and in the monastery priThere are 70 girls in Yuta, a total of about 700 people are fed with monastic bread.
Every industry is fediI am in charge of a nun, an experienced craftswoman in her chosen specialty. One nun is in charge of a bakery, another - kvass, a third - sir, a fourth - a kitchen, and so on. There is even a special bakery calledieat "pretzel", where pretzels are baked.
The monastery bakery is large. Two huge "Russian ovens", trimmed with tiles on the outside, can accommodate up to 50 loaves, which are baked on "pans", so that each loaf has a quadrangular shape.
In the middle of the bakery draws attention to itselfiIt is a huge monastery sourdough, in which two sacks of flour fit at once, i.e. about 20 pounds. Of course, it is very difficult to knead such a mass of dough: you have to resort to the help of a special “gate”, which is a very ingenious deviceie - to the monastery quarry. Imagine a pitcher standing on the floor, about 2 arshins high and aiabout 1 sazhen in diameter. From the middle of the bottom of the kneader a wooden beam rises up, which rests against the ceiling with its upper end.
From this beam in the bowl, in all directions, in different directionsipits, up, down, sideways, etc., there are wooden forks-mixers that reach almost to the very walls of the kneader. In addition, above the bowl itself, to the beam, on four sides, long levers are attached: holding the ends of these levers with your hands, you can walk around the bowl; from this gate, with the whole system of “mixers”, it will come in a circular motion, and the dough in the kneader will “knead” little by little.
Starting to “mix the dough”, usually 8 nuns walk around the kneader and turn the gate for 1 hour, first in one direction, and then in the other. 50 loaves come out of the kneader, each weighing 25 pounds. On parental Saturday, when there is a commemorationiFor the dead, the monastery bakes up to 2,000 prosphora. Bb bigie holidays of bread and kvass are exhibited at the monastery gates - for passers-by and pilgrims.
Monastic foodiIt is based mainly on plant foods with an addition of fish and dairy products. Vegetable food puts some imprint on health and physical fitness in general.ith body of nuns: most of them are pale-faced, many, as they say, have no blood on their faces; it informs their physiologyiand apathetic, passionless expressedie. However, the "cell" way of life of nuns also means a lot here.
Photo - Einar Erici (1885-1965)
CHARTER OF THE HOLY POKROVSK MEN'S MONASTERY
SOUTH SAKHALIN AND KURIL DIOCESE
CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
An Orthodox monastery is a Christian community that strictly lives according to the commandments of God, seeking spiritual perfection in the affairs of Christian life. The basis of the monastic spirit is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come and follow Me" (Matthew 19:21).
St. Basil the Great in one of his conversations gives a detailed description of the monastic life. “A monk,” he says, “must, first of all, acquire a non-possessive life, bodily solitude, a decent life, have a moderate voice and a modest word, food and drink that does not cause rebellion, eat in silence, be silent before elders, listen to the wise, to equal to have love, to give love-filled advice to inferiors; move away worthless, carnal and vain people, think more and speak less, do not be impudent in words, do not allow excesses in conversation, avoid laughter, adorn yourself with shame, downcast your eyes down, and lift up your soul to grief, do not answer contradictions with contradictions, be submissive ; work with your own hands, always remember death, rejoice with hope, endure sorrow, pray without ceasing, give thanks for everything, be humble before everyone, hate arrogance, be sober and keep your heart from evil thoughts ..., take care of the suffering, cry with them to admonish the disorderly, to console the faint-hearted, to serve the sick..., to take care of brotherly love.”
A monk should more fully and completely strive in his life to embody one of the main commandments of Christ - the commandment of love: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind; ...and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).
A monk creates love for God through unceasing prayers, talking with Him, confessing to Him his infirmities, sins, and glorifying His goodness and mercy to all. A monk accomplishes love for his neighbors in the patience of their shortcomings, in constant prayer in them, in various help and mercy towards them.
While the monks were only singles, the so-called anchorites, they were saved according to the rules given to them by their fathers and their mentors, but with the advent of monasteries and numerous brotherhoods, a Charter was required that could regulate monastic life in them and contribute to a better development of the monastic spirit.
The Monk Pachomius the Great, an ascetic of the 4th century, received such a cenobitic Rule from the Holy Angel, and it formed the basis of all the other monastic Rules: St. Anthony the Great, St. Basil the Great, St. Kiev-Pechersk Monastery and later became a model for all other Russian monasteries).
CHAPTER 1. DEVICE OF THE MONASTERY
1. The Intercession Monastery of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Kuril diocese is a cenobitic monastery. He is completely subordinate to the ruling
the bishop, who is the Holy Archimandrite of the monastery.
2. The names of His Holiness the Patriarch and the ruling bishop, with their titles, are daily raised at all monastic services.
3. The ruling bishop appoints the Vicar of the monastery, whose candidacy is approved by His Holiness the Patriarch and the Holy Synod .
4. The ruling bishop, on the proposal of the Vicar of the monastery:
a) appoints the main officials of the monastery - assistant Viceroy,
confessor, treasurer, dean, housekeeper, sacristan and some others;
b) gives a blessing for initiation into the rank of hierodeacon and hieromonk
worthy persons from the brethren, as well as a blessing for monastic vows
ready for this novices;
c) bestow appropriate church awards on the most well-behaved
persons from among the monastics;
d) enrolls among the brethren those whom the Viceroy represents; dismisses persons
who grossly violate monastic discipline and maliciously go out of
obedience to commanding persons, not wanting to heed the voice of admonition.
5. The ruling bishop carries out general supervision of the monastery. With his
blessings The vicar leads the entire monastic life, including
economic.
6. A Spiritual Council should be formed to help the Viceroy.
7. The present Charter of the monastery provides for the linking of the way of spiritual
life not only with the achievement of their own goals - holiness and
the perfection of the monks, but also their bringing benefit to the people around them in the world, i.e.
spiritual and educational activities, charity and mercy.
CHAPTER 2. OFFICIALS OF THE MONASTERY
GORGEOUS
1. The viceroy carries out obedience in the monastery and conducts all monastic affairs
according to the blessing of his Rector, in connection with which he must know everything well
the needs of the monastery, in order to have constant care for everything.
2. The duty of the Viceroy is to maintain in every possible way high spiritual discipline and good order in the monastery; concern for the spiritual work and improvement of the monks; observation of the splendor and tiredness of divine services in monastic churches; taking care of the economy, the external condition of churches and other monastic buildings.
3. The vicar, as an official person and responsible for his monastery to the Rector-bishop, receives various visitors: pilgrims, foreign and domestic guests, employees of church and state institutions, guided by the good intentions and good judgment of the Church, which will serve for the good and benefit of his monastery .
4. The main concern of the Vicar is to take care of the spiritual state of his brethren, their diligence in prayer, in the worship of the monastery, their zeal in obedience and, especially, in striving for purity and holiness of life. The vicar constantly keeps in touch with the confessors of the monastery and monitors how often the brethren come to the Sacrament of Holy Confession and communion of the Holy Gifts of the Body and Blood of Christ.
5. The vicegerent, if health permits, leads all Sunday and festive monastic services, delivering teachings after them or entrusting them to other persons who are capable of this and have a holy order.
6. The vicegerent, cultivating the will of the monks, instilling humility in them, checks the fulfillment of the obediences assigned to each of the members of the monastery, and, if necessary, paternally makes comments, and even severe reprimands, up to penance, in order to admonish and correct the sinning brother , seeking in a prudent way from him recognition and repentance for the mistakes made.
7. In case of absence, illness or death of the Vicar, the Spiritual Council of the monastery, headed by the Father Assistant to the Vicar, enters into the temporary administration of his duties.
ASSISTANT GOVERNOR
1. The duty of the Assistant Viceroy is to provide comprehensive assistance to the Viceroy of the monastery in the conduct of monastic affairs, and in the absence of the Viceroy, the performance of his duties in accordance with the blessing.
2. The Viceroy's Assistant carries out the orders of the Viceroy to ensure the statutory life of the monastery and monitors the correct performance of their duties by officials.
3. All the officials of the monastery are subordinate to him. On serious violations of their duties, he reports to the Viceroy.
4. The Viceroy's Assistant has the right to keep in touch with government departments in matters related to the activities of the monastery, according to the Viceroy's blessing.
Confessor
1. The main duty of a confessor is the pastoral care of the brethren of the monastery, their spiritual condition. Performing the Sacrament of Repentance for them, he spiritually guides their lives, setting them on the path of soul salvation. The confessor, taking care of the brethren, in case of their illness or overload, may petition the Viceroy for a change or facilitation of obedience for individual monks.
2. The Confessor sees to it that all the inhabitants of the monastery regularly go to confession and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. For the monks, private conversations of the confessor will also be very useful, which will help them to better understand their monastic affairs.
3. The confessor visits his brethren, gets acquainted with the habitation of the monks, and in case of illness, he consoles and protects someone. In the field of view of the spiritual father is every brother of the monastery involved in obedience, exercising himself in reading spiritual books, in work and prayer, avoiding idleness, as the mother of all vices. The confessor must pay great attention to the obediences of the brethren of the monastery, observing and ascertaining their spiritual attitude towards them.
4. If for some reason the confessor fails to provide for all his spiritual children, an assistant may be assigned to him. In the case of monks evading obedience or negligent attitude towards them, the Confessor takes this behavior into account and admonishes him at a convenient time for him.
5. The confessor makes sure that each of the brethren of the monastery passes the Sacrament of Confession at least once a week, and if one of the brethren evades this, he informs the Viceroy about it.
6. The confessor is the closest mentor to the novice monks.
7. The fraternal confessor oversees the confession of the pilgrims of the monastery, directs their confessors.
8. The Confessor assists his children in assimilating the Charter of the monastery, inclines them to obedience and teaches humility before the elder brethren and especially before the Vicar, strengthening their authority in the monastery. In confession, he does not so much accept the complaints of the penitent monk against the brethren and the Vicar, but seeks to instruct him in patience and bearing his own cross of life.
The circle of questions and answers of the confessor and the brethren is purely spiritual, and it should not concern the outer and administrative side of the monastery, which belongs to the Vicar.
TREASURER
1. The duty of the treasurer is to carefully monitor the receipt and expenditure of the monastic treasury and to maintain income and expenditure books, in compliance with the rules of accountability. These books are annually presented by the Viceroy to higher spiritual authorities for review.
2. The treasurer also monitors the condition and movement of all other types of material assets of the monastery.
3. The treasurer maintains an archive of the most important monastic documents, both economic and financial.
4. The treasurer oversees the condition and storage of inventories of the monastery property and valuables coming to the monastery.
5. The Treasurer, with the blessing of the Assistant Viceroy, issues advance money to the steward and other persons sent for purchases, and requires a report from them.
6. In the last days of the month, or in case of need, the treasurer, in the presence of the assistant to the Viceroy or the dean and the accountant, opens the church mugs, counts the money and enters the total amount into the cash book.
7. The keys to the monastery mugs are kept in the treasury. A candlemaker, a shopkeeper, a prosphora seller, a librarian and an accountant are accountable to the treasurer.
AUDIENCE
1. The duty of the dean is to supervise the brethren of the monastery, their discipline and attitude towards their obediences, both in the church and in the monastery.
2. The Dean makes sure that complete silence and strict order are observed in the church during the service. For this, he appoints monks who ensure discipline in the temple.
3. In case of violations of discipline by any of the brethren, the dean's father gives instruction, admonishing him with a fraternal word.
4. The Reverend has the right to enter the cells of the brethren in order to know their everyday needs, as well as to keep order and cleanliness in them.
5. In order to preserve monastic discipline, the dean must take care that there are no strangers in the cells of the monastery - even close relatives, a meeting with whom can only be allowed in a reception room specially designated for this purpose, and then with the permission of the dean.
6. The dean places the monastic guests in the living rooms and takes care of them. The Reverend also takes care of the parishioners of the monastery. Through the inner clergy, he satisfies their spiritual needs.
7. The Reverend blesses those who have arrived at the monastery for food in the fraternal and common meal.
8. Under the control of the dean are gatekeepers, janitors, church watchmen, sellers of candles and prosphora, bell ringers.
9. The Dean may have an assistant (with the blessing of the Vicar), who, in his absence, performs the same functions.
10. It is the responsibility of the dean to constantly monitor the correct reading of the Liturgy, prayers and panikhidas of the Synodists and the notes and commemorations submitted by the laity.
11. Serious violations of discipline among the brethren report to the Vicar.
SACRISTAN
1. The duties of the sacristan include the management of church utensils, vestments, and all temple property, as well as their careful storage and use for their intended purpose.
2. The sacristan keeps an inventory of all church property and all vestry items, especially those newly received, with the establishment of an inventory number, indicating the source of receipt, age, price. If possible, the history of especially valuable temple relics, icons, and relics is included in the inventory. Valuables should be stored in a safe place. Without the blessing of the higher monastic authorities, THE INVENTIONS SHOULD NOT BE ISSUED TO ANYONE. Periodically introduce them for acquaintance to the Viceroy of the monastery, assistant to the Viceroy or treasurer.
3. The sacristy's keys must be kept by the sacristy.
4. The sacristan issues vestments for the clergy and ensures that things that require repair or washing are corrected and washed in a timely manner, and church utensils are regularly cleaned and wiped.
5. According to custom, the sacristan recloths the throne, brings the holy Antimins, as well as vessels into the Altar in vestments (epitrachel, handrails).
6. Vestments that have become unusable, covers, covers, towels, etc., upon consideration by the Viceroy or treasurer, are destroyed, for which an act is drawn up.
7. The sacristan oversees the illumination of the Altars and temples, and, especially, the cleanliness and order in the Altar, starting with the Throne, the Altar and ending with the sacristan's place.
8. Sextons, monastery tailors are subordinate to the sacristan.
9. The sacristan may have at his disposal one or two assistants, if necessary (with the blessing of the Viceroy).
The sacristan, with the blessing of the Viceroy, can acquire utensils with a subsequent report to the treasurer.
ECONOMY
1. The duty of the steward is to manage and supervise the economic and construction part of the monastery
2. He takes special care of churches, chapels, as the first shrines of the monastery. The housekeeper's care extends to the fraternal buildings, as well as to all utility rooms.
3. At the disposal of the steward are both monks engaged in monastic economic work, and hired workers, whom the steward accepts and appoints at the right time to carry out various types of work, coordinating their work plans with the Viceroy, with his blessing.
4. The distribution of the time of the working brethren depends on the discretion of the Viceroy or assistant to the Viceroy, and the steward only ensures that everyone is conscientiously engaged in work at the appointed time.
5. The distribution of the time of hired workers depends on the discretion of the housekeeper himself, who assigns the necessary work, monitors the quality of their performance, and also pays their labor, coordinating it with the Viceroy.
6. Subordinate to the steward are: the cellar, the head of the workshops, the hotelier, all the monks working in the sector of the economy, drivers, electricians, masons, painters, carpenters and others.
7. If the steward finds it necessary and useful to carry out any improvements in the monastic economy, then he is given the right to present his considerations to the Viceroy, and after approval and blessing, he can begin to implement his plans.
The economy has a special monastic obedience - to carry out construction and household work at minimal cost, protecting the monastic treasury, carefully guarding and spending household materials.
8. The housekeeper, if desired and necessary, may have an assistant (with the blessing of the Viceroy).
9. The economy receives the right from the monastery to keep in touch with government departments in business matters, according to the blessing of the Viceroy.
10. Work in the monastic economy begins and ends according to the church - prayer.
CELLARER
1. The duties of the cellarer are to acquire the necessary food products, as well as to monitor their safety.
2. Under the supervision of the cellar is the monastery kitchen, food stores, prosphora and the refectory, in which cleanliness and tidiness must be observed.
5. The cellarer oversees that at the meal everything is always prepared according to the monastic Rule, so that the food left on the tables does not disappear.
4. Without a special blessing from the Viceroy, the cellarer should not release food to the monastic cells.
5. The cellarer takes care of the timely harvesting of vegetables and fruits for the winter period.
6. The following persons are subordinate to the cellar: refectory, cook, cellar and all kitchen workers.
7. In the absence of the cellarer, he is replaced in everything by his assistant - the refectory.
INSTALLER
1. The duties of the superintendent are to strictly observe the order of all church services, so that they are performed in accordance with the typicon and local monastic customs.
2. The setter monitors the daily readers, for the correct statutory administration of hours, troparia, kontakions, kathismas and other readings, which must be performed without errors, reverently, distinctly and artlessly.
3. The Ruler oversees the correct reading of the teachings in the temple and in the refectory and coordinates the book proposed for reading with the Viceroy.
4. The steward must draw up a schedule of church services a month in advance, which he must submit in advance to the Viceroy for approval.
5. Novice and little knowing readers should be taught the correct church reading by the usher.
6. The clerk must monitor the state of church liturgical books, and those that have become unusable must be restored in a timely manner or, with the blessing of the Viceroy, destroyed if they cannot be repaired.
7. In the obedience of the usher are: regent, canonarch, regular readers and singers.
8. The Ruler may have an assistant (with the blessing of the Viceroy), to whom he must transfer his knowledge and experience.
REGENT
1. The duties of the regent are to manage the monastery choir and to establish exemplary order in the kliros.
2. The choir should sing harmoniously and prayerfully, so that the singing touches, touches and brings spiritual benefit to all those who pray.
3. Neither the choir director nor the singers should allow jokes, laughter, quarrels, idle talk and noise on the kliros.
4. The regent instructs the canonarch to review the texts of the stichera in advance so that he can canon clearly and distinctly, making semantic stops between phrases.
5. The regent is obliged to systematically organize rehearsals of the choir, in which all singers must take part.
6. The regent submits to the steward and coordinates all divine services with him.
7. The list of chants is submitted to the Viceroy for approval.
SEXTON
1. The duties of a sexton require a very attentive attitude, since this obedience is associated with his presence in the Altar near the Holy See and the Altar, in which idle talk, laughter, jokes and everything obscene to this holy place are unacceptable. The sexton must come to the Altar in advance to prepare it for the service.
2. The sexton is obliged to attend the service, kindle the lamps and the censer, prepare prosphora, wine, water, warmth and other things related to the service.
3. The sexton has the duty to look after the cleanliness in the Altar and the temple; clean the censer, candlesticks, remove dust and cobwebs from windows, icons, look after carpets, pour water from the washbasin into a specially designated and arranged place, ventilate and sweep the Altar.
4. The sexton obeys the sacristan.
5. At the end of the service, the sexton carefully checks the Altar for fire safety. Usually the side doors of the Altar are unlocked and locked by the sexton himself.
CLERK
1. The duty of the clerk is to manage the entire clerical office of the monastery.
2. All written records of the monastery, including archives, must always be in perfect order and be properly registered.
3. Correspondence of the monastery with various organizations and individuals should be carried out carefully and not be delayed.
4. The clerk accepts monastic correspondence and presents it to the head of the office. He also deals with the issues of postal orders, parcels and draws them up properly.
5. The clerk may have an assistant (with the blessing of the Vicar) who delivers and receives all monastic correspondence at the post office.
BELL RINGER
1. The bell-ringer, with the blessing of the dean, at the appointed time produces the evangelism for the service.
2. Blagovest or trezvon is made in accordance with the Charter. The nature of the bells should correspond to the established traditions of church sounds.
3. The bell ringer should not allow unauthorized persons to enter the bell tower without special instructions and need.
4. With the help of the housekeeper service, he monitors the condition of the entire belfry.
LIBRARIAN
1. The responsibility of the librarian lies in the management of the monastery library, the acquisition of the necessary books, as well as other publications, the compilation of a catalog and card index.
2. The librarian issues books to the inhabitants of the monastery against receipt.
3. The position of a librarian requires a person experienced in spiritual work, who would lend out books, in accordance with the development and spiritual preparation of everyone who wants to take a book.
4. The librarian gives damaged books for restoration in a timely manner.
Supervises the book depository, monitors the internal regime in it and, especially, fire safety.
5. The video and audio libraries are part of the library, so turning on and viewing the VCR and listening to the audio recorder is the responsibility of the librarian.
6. The librarian, through the Governor or his assistant, specifies the time and order of the library and agrees with him on the circle of persons who have the right to use the library.
PROSFORNIC
1. The prosphora maker is responsible for the quality and timeliness of the production of prosphora,
especially liturgical ones.
2. Prosphora is baked from pure, fresh wheat flour of the highest grade.
3. The samprosphorist should live in purity and reverence, being in prayer, and especially while working in the prosphora, where extraneous conversations, laughter, jokes are unacceptable, as bread is baked for the Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist.
4. During the baking of the prosphora, all who take part in the baking of the prosphora should take turns reading aloud the 50th psalm.
5. The prosforist obeys the steward, receives flour and everything he needs from the cellarer.
6. The prosphora room is kept in proper cleanliness and order. He reports to the steward of the monastery about the repair work in the prosphoron.
MEAL
1. The trapeznik oversees the timely and high-quality preparation of food for the brethren in the cook's room and looks after the order during the meal.
2. While eating in the refectory, the life of the saints, the prologue, or something from the writings of the holy fathers is usually read.
3. The refectory attendant ensures that the rooms, tables and dishes are always kept clean in the refectory.
4. Sets the tables for the set meals of the brethren and then clears the dishes.
HOSPITAL
1. The duties of a sick person are to care for and supervise those who are being treated in the isolation ward of the monastery.
2. The sick person must be gentle, patient, compassionate and caring for the sick.
3 The sick-list provides the sick with food, drink, and medicines at the right time.
SHOP MANAGER
1. The duty of the head of any workshop (icon painting, sewing, carpentry, etc.) is to supervise the work carried out in it, as well as the workers.
2. Violations in work or abuses must be reported to the housekeeper.
3. It is forbidden to drink tea in workshops.
OFFICE MANAGER
1. The main duty of the head of the office is the diligent conduct of the personal correspondence of the Viceroy.
2. He is obliged to timely submit to the Viceroy the personal letters that have come to him, and, with his blessing, answer them, and respond to the rest of the correspondence through the clerk.
3. He is entrusted with keeping the minutes of the meetings of the Spiritual Council, their correct execution and saving.
4. Ensure that the monastics and novices of the monastery correspond only with the circle of persons of people determined by the Vicar. In cases of detection of a violation of correspondence by him, promptly report this to the Viceroy.
5. Specify in advance the agenda of the Spiritual Council and systematize the issues proposed for consideration at it.
CHAPTER 3. CONDITIONS FOR ADMISSION TO A MONASTERY
1. Who for the sake of God renounces the world and enters into monasticism, he embarks on the path of spiritual life. The motivation for it in a Christian appears as a result of his faith and inner striving for spiritual perfection, which is based on the renunciation of evil and the passions of the world, as the first condition for the salvation of the soul.
2. No previous moral way of life in the world prevents a Christian from entering a monastery for the purpose of saving his soul, as stated in canon 43 of the VI Ecumenical Council.
3. The following cannot be admitted to the monastery:
- persons under the age of majority;
- a husband with a living wife and a wife with a living husband; as well as parents with young children required by their guardianship;
- Monks who have taken tonsure in another monastery or in the world;
Spouses, sealed by a church marriage, can enter a monastery, provided that they take a blessing from the bishop for a new way of life and at the same time each enter their own monastery.
4. An applicant to the monastery must present a passport, a certificate of marital status, a military ID (or a certificate of exemption from military service), write an autobiography and submit a petition addressed to the Viceroy for admission to the monastery. It is advisable to submit a recommendation from a clergyman.
5. After submitting a petition to the brethren, the newcomer gets acquainted with the present Charter and passes the test for three years, and if he proves worthy, according to the decision of the Spiritual Council, the Vicar, with the blessing of the ruling bishop, tonsures him into the monastic rank.
6. The period of probation can also be shortened depending on the moral stability and benevolence of the newcomer, and also if the person being tonsured was known for his pious life before entering the monastery: these include students of seminaries, students of theological academies, widowed priests and others.
CHAPTER 4
1. A novice, first of all, must carefully read and assimilate the monastic Rules, so that at the very first steps of his stay in the monastery he does not violate the order and discipline established in it.
2. The novice gives a signature that he undertakes to sacredly fulfill everything set forth in this Charter; in case of violation of the above Charter, he is subject to an appropriate penalty from the administration of the monastery for the purpose of admonishment and repentance, and in case of persistent disobedience, he can be removed from the monastery.
3. A novice must strive in every possible way for spiritual life, as the first goal of his calling, leaving secular habits, remembering the instruction of St. Basil the Great to beginner monks: “Have a modest gait, do not speak loudly, observe good manners in conversation, eat and drink reverently, remain silent in front of the elders, be attentive to the wise, obedient and in command, have unhypocritical love for equals and lesser ones, move away from evil speak little, carefully collect knowledge, do not talk too much, do not be quick to laugh, adorn yourself with modesty.
4. In relation to the Vicar and the inhabitants of the monastery, the novice must show humble respect.
5. A novice, when meeting with the Viceroy, as well as with brethren in holy orders, should take a blessing; greetings to other inhabitants can be expressed with a waist bow.
6. Entering someone else's cell should be with the Jesus Prayer and only when the answer is received: "Amen."
7. After the evening rule, all idle conversations and walks are prohibited, the brethren in silence disperse to their cells and get ready for bed, reading spiritual literature is allowed until 24.00, as well as needlework.
8. It is not allowed for the brethren to independently establish a cell rule for themselves, and also to create it at night.
9. It is fitting to unquestioningly obey the Vicar, the rulers of the monastery, remembering that Christ Himself said about Himself: “For I came down from Heaven not to do My will, but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 6:38).
10. Diligent and diligent obedience for the beginners is a guarantee of their future spiritual growth and salvation.
11. Avoid self-will: do nothing without the blessing of superiors, even if it seems to be laudable, so as not to fall into temptation, pride and charm.
12. It is not customary for monastics to discuss or criticize the orders of the Vicar of the monastery, but, on the contrary, to fulfill them with prayer and humility.
13. If a brother does not agree with the orders of those in charge, he, with meekness and in private, may well express his opinion to the one who gave this order at his further discretion.
14. A novice and monastic should be in constant peace and love with all the brethren of the monastery, trying to be friendly and helpful with everyone.
15. No one should take to his cell any thing, even the most necessary, without the blessing of elders, remembering that any such acquisition without blessing is theft.
16. Monastics should not bring unnecessary things into the cell, fall into the sin of misbehavior. The best decoration of the monastic cell are the holy icons and books of Holy Scripture, as well as the creations of the holy fathers. A monk's cell contains the bare minimum of everything that cannot be dispensed with in it. The cell should be red not by things, but by the spirit of faith and prayer of the monk living in it. Secular and purely worldly things and belongings should not have a place in the cell.
17. Monks and novices are prohibited from drinking tea and eating in the cell, as well as bringing food products into the cell.
16. It is forbidden for the brethren to have tape recorders, cameras, refrigerators, musical instruments in their cells.
19. It is indecent for monastics or novices to speak loudly, laugh and behave freely.
20. Chastity or purity of soul consists not only in keeping oneself from vicious deeds and deeds, but also from impure thoughts as the first reasons for sin.
21. Everywhere and always it is proper for a monk to refrain from idle talk, remembering the words of the Lord: “I tell you that for every idle word that people say, they will give an answer on the Day of Judgment: for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” ( Matthew 12:36).
22. Smoking, drinking alcohol and foul language in the monastery should not even be named in it, that is, it is categorically forbidden, and violation of this ancient rule entails serious punishment, up to expulsion from the monastery.
CHAPTER 5. ABOUT SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE
1. Each monastic and novice should be under special spiritual guidance - a fraternal confessor, who should reveal his spiritual state - perplexity, doubt, difficulty, temptation and receive guidance and spiritual support from him.
2. Each of the brethren of the monastery should open his thoughts to the fraternal confessor as often as possible, but at least once a week.
3. For spiritual knowledge and growth, every monastic should, as a rule, read several chapters of Holy Scripture with great attention every day, and also diligently read the works of the Holy Fathers and other soul-beneficial literature, finding in it spiritual food and consolation.
4. A monastic without a spiritual father should not undertake anything in the spiritual work of salvation according to his own thought and will; for example, to impose a fast on oneself in excess of the prescribed by the Charter, or something else, so as not to fall into delusion and not damage one's salvation.
5. If any misunderstanding or quarrel occurs between the brothers, it is necessary to hasten to extinguish them by mutual forgiveness and humility, and immediately restore peace and love, remembering the covenant of Holy Scripture: “Let not the sun go down in your anger” (Eph. 4, 28 ).
6. A brother who violates monastic discipline may be subject to spiritual punishment through the imposition of penance, which should be viewed not as a punishing scourge, but as a necessary medicine that heals spiritual illnesses and infirmities.
7. If the sick consider doctors to be benefactors, although they give them bitter medicine, so the sinning monk should look at the penances that are given to him and accept them as good medicine and a sign of mercy for the salvation of the soul (St. Basil the Great, rule 52 ).
8. Every sinner is given penance according to his spiritual constitution and his infirmity. Just as it is impossible to treat bodily diseases with the same medicine, so spiritual forgiveness should be of a diverse nature: “Just as there is no one healing for bodily ailments, so there is no one for spiritual ones,” says St. Isaac the Syrian.
9. As a correction, the following measures can be used: removal from the fraternal meal for one or more days; fasting all week; transfer from one obedience to another, more difficult; bowing down; excommunication for a certain period from communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ; removal of the hood and cassock; transfer from a cell to another, less convenient, as well as others that the Vicar deems necessary to apply.
CHAPTER 6. ABOUT CHURCH SERVICE
1. The most important moment of church life is the church service, the general prayerful vigil, and therefore participation in these should be the primary concern and aspiration of all those living in the monastery.
2. Evasion or careless attitude to temple prayer, to this most sacred matter, should be considered an important violation of the order of the spiritual life of the monastery.
3. The purpose of frequent long prayer is to acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit in your heart by acquiring the habit of unceasing and living remembrance of God.
4. For the purpose of the magnificent celebration of divine services in the monastery, the dean, together with the steward, draw up a schedule of church services for a month in advance, indicating the names of the clergy, readers, sextons, canonarchs who take part in them, notify them of this obedience. All schedules for the temple and the monastery are signed by the Viceroy. Unauthorized violation or change of the schedule of services is not allowed.
5. Half an hour before the start of the morning service, the wake-up caller goes around all the cells with a bell and raises the brethren to prayer.
6. Each of the monastics should try to come to church without delay, before the start of the service. No one should also leave the temple before the end of the service, unless there is an urgent matter of obedience. The Dean reports to the Viceroy about the most malicious violators.
7. Weekly hieromonks and deacons arrive at the service early, at least 15 minutes before the start, dress and prepare everything necessary for the celebration of the service.
8. Some of the monks, by virtue of their special obedience in the monastery, cannot attend divine services daily, for which they receive a blessing from the Vicar. Such obedience is imputed to them in the same way as prayer in the temple.
9. Clergymen who read and sing in church must do their work with unflagging attention, without haste, "with fear and trembling" and without violating the monastic Rule.
10. On the way to and from the church, one should not stop with strangers and enter into conversations with them, and if anyone is asked about something, then one should limit oneself to a short answer.
11. In church, you can’t talk, look around, but be concentrated, listen to God, worship and yourself.
12. In view of the fact that monastic churches are visited not only by monastics, but also by pilgrims, special rites of worship and Sacraments can be performed for them - prayers, panikhidas, akathists, unctions, but weddings in the monastery should not be performed.
13. In special cases, with the blessing of the Vicar, it is possible to perform the rite of Baptism.
14. Priests, under no pretext, should take money for their needs, but give them to the monastic treasury.
15. On all days when the All-Night Vigil is performed, the brethren should be in the temple in the prescribed clothes: monastics - in cassocks, mantles and klobuks (cassocks can be removed in warm weather); monks - in cassocks and hoods; novices - in cassocks (if there is a blessing of the Viceroy for wearing it). Hoods are removed only at set times of the service.
16. Clothing should be clean and simple. The color of monastic clothes is always black and no other. For work, it can be gray, brown or otherwise, but not bright. Wearing clothes of a different color is allowed only to the Viceroy and the priestly monk with the rank of abbot with the blessing of the Viceroy.
17. If one of the brethren falls ill and cannot come to the service, he must warn about this in advance through someone or himself, the assistant to the Viceroy or the dean.
18. Priests are allowed to sit in the Altar only during the reading of the Apostle, Parimial icathism. In all other cases, it is necessary to ask for the blessings of the Viceroy. Deacons can sit in the Altar only if they feel unwell, with the permission of the Vicar.
CHAPTER 7
1. In simple days the beginning of the morning meal at 12.00. Before this, 5 minutes before this, the refectory strikes the bell 12 times and the brethren gather in the refectory. The meal begins and ends with the established prayer. In the absence of the Vicar on it, the weekly hieromonk blesses the food.
2. In holidays, when the rite of "Panagia" is performed, the beginning of the fraternal meal immediately after the end of the service and the arrival of the brethren in the refectory, which also begins and ends with the established prayer. Food is blessed by the Viceroy, in his absence - by the assistant of the Viceroy or the weekly hieromonk.
3. The evening meal begins immediately after the end of the service and the arrival of the brethren in the refectory. In the absence of the Viceroy, the weekly hieromonk blesses the food. 5 minutes before the end of the service, the ringer strikes the bell 12 times.
4. On the days when the all-night vigil is performed, the brethren arrive at the refectory in the prescribed clothes: monks in cassocks and klobuks, monks in cassocks.
5. A weekly hieromonk and hierodeacon always arrives at the refectory in a cassock, mantle and hood.
6. The meal in the monastery is a continuation of the divine service and is of a sacred nature and requires the monk to have a sacred attitude towards it.
7. It is forbidden to talk and laugh at the meal. If someone is missing something on the table, let him call the trapper with a gesture.
If the Viceroy needs to clarify something, then the right brother should quietly come up and give an answer to the Viceroy.
8. Late entry into the refectory or exit from it before the end of the meal without the blessing of the Viceroy is recognized as a violation of discipline and is reprehensible.
9. No one should take food in the cell, except for those who are allowed by the Viceroy or the Dean, as they are unable to come to the common meal due to illness or for some good reason.
10. A monastic should humbly eat the food served and not say: “This is not tasty, this is harmful to me.” He can then express his wishes and sorrows on this occasion to the spiritual father or the steward, without spreading them further.
11. For a special, dietary meal, a monastic must take a blessing from the Viceroy or confessor.
12. The brethren of the monastery are forbidden to eat food in a common meal, as well as being in it, if this is not related to his obedience.
13. The abbot of the monastery has the right to have a separate meal and a separate kitchen. He can invite to his table whoever he wants from the brethren, as well as the guests who have arrived.
CHAPTER 8
1. The bell ringing in the monastery is performed at the time specified by the Charter
and moments of service and is assigned to the senior bell ringer, who makes the ringing
either by himself or through his assistants.
2. Bell ringing relies:
a) in the morning 15 minutes before the start of the service - 12 strokes of the small bell;
b) before the start of the refectory - 12 strokes on a small bell;
c) at the end of the morning meal on the eve of the all-night vigil, the bell is struck 12 times;
d) at the meeting of the Bishop - a festive ringing;
e) before the beginning of the liturgy and in all cases provided for by the Charter.
CHAPTER 9
1. The time remaining from church services and obedience should be spent by monastics in their cell very prudently and carefully, with the desire to acquire as much benefit as possible, and mainly spiritual, avoiding any indulgence of their passions,
2. Such useful cell activities can be:
a) cell rule according to the Charter and the blessing of the confessor;
b) reading spiritual books with an extract from them of the most lively and edifying places for monks;
c) exercise in spiritual reading, the study of the Church Slavonic language, the Church Charter and preparation for the church service;
d) needlework for the benefit of the monastery and for one's own needs with the blessing of the confessor;
e) cleaning the cell, cleaning and repairing clothes, shoes, etc.
3. The monk's favorite reference book should be the Holy Bible with interpretations on it.
4. The brethren's cell clothes should be clean, simple, without pretense of luxury.
“Vanity and bitterness come from luxurious clothes,” says Isaac Sirin.
5. In case of a serious illness, a monk can go to a doctor by leaving the monastery, having previously taken a blessing from his superiors. The monk uses the medical service of the monastery hospital in case of a sudden illness.
6. Prayer in the cell, reading the Psalter and especially the Holy Gospel - extinguish many passions of the soul and body.
7. Private contemplation elevates, sanctifies the mind and purifies the heart, brings peace to the soul.
8. The mind, according to the teachings of the holy fathers, should never be idle.
CHAPTER 10. ABOUT EXTERNAL VISITORS AND MUTUAL VISITS TO CELLS
1. Reception in the cells of external visitors is allowed only with the blessing of the monastic authorities, and during the daytime hours.
2. Female persons are not allowed in the cell under any circumstances. If a monastic needs to see close relatives, then they are received not in the cell, but in a specially appointed reception room of the monastery (monastic hotel) with a blessing.
3. Without the blessing of the Vicar, no one has the right to leave any of the outsiders in his cell for the night, and also none of the brethren has the right to spend the night in someone else's cell of his monastery.
4. Monastics and novices do not have the right to enter into communication with visitors to the monastery and relatives without receiving the blessing of the Viceroy, his assistant or dean.
5. The brethren, with the blessing of the confessor, may visit each other in their cells for spiritual conversation or to help the sick and the elderly, but not for empty talk and fun.
6. After the evening rule, the monk must remain in his cell, except for those special cases when he calls the spiritual authorities or needs to visit the sick, etc., having received the blessing of the assistant of the Viceroy or the dean for this.
CHAPTER 11 CONDITIONS OF ABSENCE FROM THE MONASTERY
1. Exit from the monastery can be twofold: out of obedience, out of official necessity, at the request of those who have a respectful personal need for it.
2. If any of the monastics needs to leave during the daytime hours (before the beginning of the evening service) for a short time from the monastery, then for this it is necessary to have the verbal permission of the Viceroy, and in his absence - his assistant or dean. When traveling home, to other cities or villages, even for the most insignificant period, one must write a petition addressed to the Viceroy indicating the reason, the exact address of one's trip and the time of return.
3. Regular vacations do not correspond to the monastic way of life, therefore leaving the monastery for a long period is carried out only when absolutely necessary (for emergency treatment, illness or death of relatives and other cases), as well as for business trips. But in each individual case, the Viceroy has a special judgment on this, so that the time spent by the brother outside the walls of the monastery does not harm him spiritually.
4. Those sent in view of special need for obedience in the city or other places outside the walls of the monastery must immediately return to the monastery after the end of this obedience.
5. Monks in holy orders, released outside the walls of the monastery, do not have the right to serve as priests without the permission of the ruling bishop of the area where they are
arrived and where they wish to serve.
6. The brethren of the monastery are forbidden to visit the monastery hotel without the blessing of the Viceroy, his assistant or dean.
7. Monastics should by all means avoid leaving their monastery, even for the shortest time, remembering that the walls and the spirit of the monastery are the best defense against various temptations and temptations. Every monk, having been in the world, returns to his cell spiritually worse than he came out of it: this is what the holy ascetics teach.
8. Let us force ourselves, brethren, to acquire the good habit of patiently staying in a monastery, leaving it only when absolutely necessary. St. Anthony the Great once said about this: “Like fish, remaining on land, die, so monks, staying with worldly people, outside the monastery, lose their disposition towards silence. As a fish tends to the sea, so we must strive to our cells, so that, slowing down outside of it, we do not forget about internal storage ”(Alphabetic Paterik).
CHAPTER 12. SPIRITUAL CATHEDRAL
1. To help the Vicar, the Spiritual Council of the monastery should be formed,
which includes:
- Viceroy;
- Deputy Viceroy;
- confessor;
- treasurer;
- dean;
- economy;
- sacristan;
- cellar;
- head of the office;
as well as, if necessary, other persons of the monastery with the blessing of the Viceroy.
2. After listening to the opinion of the brethren, the Viceroy must discuss everything himself and do what he finds more useful.
3. The brethren should offer their opinions to them with all humble submission, not daring to defend with perseverance what they have thought up.
4. Decide the last decision is the will of the Viceroy, which he considers more salutary, and everyone must submit to him.
5. No one in the monastery should follow his own will or impudently enter into a dispute with the Viceroy regarding his orders for the monastery. Anyone who dares to do so must be subject to the prescribed measures of correction.
6. Let the Viceroy himself do everything with the fear of God and with the observance of the truth, remembering that he will certainly give an account of all his judgments to God, the Most Righteous Judge.
7. If it is necessary to do something insignificant in favor of the monastery, then the Vicar can only use the advice of the elder brothers, as it is written: “do nothing without advice, and when you do, do not repent” (Sir, 32, 21).
8. The head of the chancellery specifies the issues submitted for decision by the Spiritual Council in advance through the Viceroy and reads them in an orderly manner before the Council.
9. The Spiritual Council meets as needed, but at least 4 times a year, its decisions come into force after the approval of the minutes of the meeting by the Viceroy.
CHAPTER 13
1. Human infirmities are so great that the most beneficial institutions for others remain fruitless, or not always and not in everything fruitful. Either due to weakening of attention, now due to corruption, now due to enemy temptation, falls often occur in violation of not only monastic rules, but also the Divine commandments.
Therefore, it is necessary to use measures of correction and admonition, so that if it becomes necessary to expel someone, expel him in the confidence that there is no more hope for his correction.
2. The rules that apply to the correction of the fallen constitute the rules of punishment or penance.
3. The judge of all is the Abbot of the monastery, he alone has the right to punish any of the brethren.
4. The remaining officials, to whom the Charter prescribes the supervision of the brethren, must make corrections to the sinner up to 3 times, and if he does not correct himself, then report this to the Viceroy.
5. If such officials do not care about the correction of the brethren and do not report violations to the Viceroy, then they themselves must be punished.
CHAPTER 14. CONDITIONS FOR REMOVAL FROM THE MONASTERY
1. Monks who have betrayed their vows and begun to live shamefully, defaming the Holy Church and their monastery, after repeated exhortations and disciplinary sanctions, are removed from the monastery as unfit for monastic life and as bringing temptation to the environment of monastics.
2. A monk removed from a monastery leaves his monastic robes.
3. If any monk who was removed from the monastery or who voluntarily left it later, having known his fall, returns and asks to return to the monastery, such a one can, after considering his case, be accepted, but already in the category of newcomers.
4. From those who have been removed or arbitrarily left the monastery and again wished to return to it, a written promise should be required to continue to lead a life in accordance with the Gospel and the monastic Rule.
5. In the event of the death of a monk, all his property, according to the inventory, is transferred to the warehouse and is the common property of the monastery.
CONCLUSION
This monastic Rule, as a guide for monastic life, must be fulfilled with prayer and zeal, to the best of our ability, for the sake of salvation and spiritual growth.
BY THE PRAYERS OF OUR HOLY FATHERS, LORD JESUS CHRIST, OUR GOD, HAVE PARTY ON US. AMEN.
Despite the fact that modern Old Believer calendars contain precise indications regarding fasting and fasting days of the year, the true Old Russian traditions of eating and fasting are still little known. Today we will talk about fasting in the monasteries of the Russian Church before the church schism, and on the basis of old documents we will reconstruct now forgotten monastic dishes.
Small home charter
The dietary guidelines of the modern Old Believer calendars of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, the Russian Old Orthodox Church, the Old Orthodox Pomeranian Church relate to the use of certain types of products on the days of the church year. Attention is concentrated mainly on five parameters of the meal:
fast food;
fish food;
food with oil;
food without oil(meaning without vegetable oil);
xerophagy(today this refers to uncooked food, fresh vegetables or fruits).
It is believed that all these instructions are taken from " Small house charter”- a book compiled in the 19th century and which became a kind of collection of statutory instructions regarding fasting, meals and cell prayer. And although there is an opinion that the “Small House Rule” unites a certain amount of pre-schism church tradition, including the customs of ancient Russian monasteries and parish churches, in fact, its instructions go back mainly to one book - Typikon (“Church Eye”), published in 1641 under Patriarch Joseph and, according to legend, connected with the ancient charter of the Jerusalem monastery. It should be noted that the New Believer charter in terms of fasting does not differ in any way from the Old Believer. They are completely identical because they have the same source.
Pea slurry
However, neither in the "Small House Rule", nor even more so in the modern Old Believer calendars, can one find information directly related to the food tradition of pre-schismatic Rus'. What did ordinary people eat in Rus' on holidays and fasts, what did the clergy, and what did the boyars eat? What dishes were served in numerous monasteries? Almost nothing is known about this, and studies and documents that talk about it are not widely available. Small remarks, occasionally published in popular historical literature, provide very modest information on this topic and are mainly limited to general words about the piety of ancient Rus'. Usually in such cases they quote, oddly enough, foreigners. Thus, speaking of the diet of Great Lent, one usually recalls the writings of the archdeacon Paul of Aleppo who visited from Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch, at the invitation of Patriarch Nikon, Moscow in 1654-1656:
“In this post, we endured great torment with him, imitating them (Russians - approx. ed.) Against our will, especially in food: we did not find any other food, except for a smear similar to boiled peas and beans, because in this post, in general, it’s completely do not eat oil. For this reason, we experienced indescribable agony.”
Also, information sometimes slips that in northern monasteries, like Solovetsky, “dry” (dried fish) was allowed during Great Lent, because there was absolutely no bread in those places, and the monks were forced to eat fish. However, due to the lack of widely known and published historical documents, information about "sushi", like any other fish used in the Great and Assumption Lent, is criticized by some zealots. According to such authors, the Studite Charter, which indeed allowed the repeated consumption of fish during Great Lent (not only on the Annunciation, but also on the day of the 40 martyrs, the acquisition of the head of St. John the Forerunner, St. Alexis, the man of God, the righteous Lazarus and some others) has not been used in Rus' for a long time. They note that even centuries before the church schism, the ban on fish in monastic institutions fully met the requirements of modern church calendars, and during Great Lent, indeed, the main dish was pea mash, mentioned by Paul of Aleppo.
Secrets of the monastery habitants
Unfortunately, it so happened that there is no full-fledged research work devoted to the daily meal in ancient Rus', both monastic and parish, in different strata, different classes of the population. In order to compile such a study, you need to study dozens, if not hundreds of documents. To a greater extent, the documents of the monasteries have survived to this day. These are various kinds of inventories, daily routines and charters. It takes years to study all that have survived, so let's try to see what lies on the surface. On the website of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, in the section "The main collection of the library of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra", we find the "Obykhodnik" of 1645. It contains not only liturgical instructions, but also food. We find there an indication of the food charter of the first Saturday of Great Lent:
« Boiled with butter for the brethren, and dry rubbed in a sour brew, and not fish. And we drink the wine set for the glory of God, if two cups are received. Likewise, in the evening, two bowls. In the evening shchi and dry peas mixed with a lot of butter».
What conclusions can be drawn from this? Sushi (dried fish), apparently, was consumed not only in the regions extreme north, where “there is no bread at all”, but also, as we see, in the central monastery of the Russian state. The indication “dry land, not fish” clearly means that in other places (which are not indicated) fresh fish was allowed, and the indication was made in order to avoid mistakes in cooking according to the monastery charter of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Unfortunately, “sush” (dried fish), popular before the schism, is not mentioned at all in church calendars today, although you can buy it in most Russian grocery stores. You can also pay attention to the solid number of bowls of wine consumed in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.
In the "Obikhodnik" of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery there are not so many indications of a domestic nature. But there are other "Obikhodniki", with a more detailed description of household charters. One of them belongs to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery.
This document is well known and was even published by the Indrik publishing house in 2002. This "Obikhodnik" gives a detailed description of almost every day of Great Lent, as well as other days of the church year. Skip the liturgical instructions, let us look at the refectory regulations of this famous monastery concerning the second week of Great Lent.
On Monday: On that day, the brethren eat brotherly bread, retka, kvass, in bowls in large water, cabbage crumbled with horseradish, oatmeal, turnips, or mushrooms or milk mushrooms with garlic. And on which days the brethren are dry-eating, then there is no serving and a bowl of kvass.
On Tuesday: The brethren eat in tables for a quarter of brotherly bread, crackers, borscht shti with juice, kvass from a smaller cellar in large bowls, peas or porridge juicy. If on this Tuesday or on any other days of Great Lent the Finding of the head of Ivan the Baptist, or the 40th martyr, or new saints: Euphemia of Novgorod, Demetrius of Prilutsky, Alexei Metropolitan, Macarius Kolyazinsky, Jonah Metropolitan, then eat white bread, barley kvass in large bowls , shti, in a bowl, lips in juice or cabbage are heated with butter, grated peas with butter, caviar or korowai, porridge juicy or pea noodles with pepper, chetsu serving.
On Wednesday: Eat dry food: broth bread, retka, kvass, in large bowls water, cabbage with horseradish, oatmeal, turnips or mushrooms or milk mushrooms with garlic.
On Thursday: Eat in the tables for a quarter of bratskoy bread, shti borsch juicy, crackers, bratskoy kvass, peas or porridge juicy.
At five: Eat dry food: bracket bread, kvass, in large bowls, water, cabbage with horseradish in bowls, oatmeal, turnips or mushrooms with garlic.
On Saturday: They serve as a cathedral for Tsar Ivan, for his burial for the brethren of food: white bread, a bowl of fake kvass, shti with pepper, tavranchyug sturgeon or porridge with salmon, grated peas with butter, caviar or korovai, pies, but if there are korovai, otherwise there are no pies . They make food for people. In dinner, brotherly bread, shti, kvass in large bowls from a smaller cellar, at the rate of kvass.
In the 2nd week of fasting: Eat white bread, shti, in a bowl of barley kvass, in bowls, lips in juice or cabbage greta with butter, grated peas with butter, caviar or korowai, porridge or Gorokhov's lopsha with pepper. On the same day, in dinner, brack bread, shti, a bowl of kvass yachnovo in large bowls, kvass in staves.
What's interestnigwe seeabout the pre-schism monastic life, in terms of modern cliches?
Firstly, although the Kirillov Monastery belongs to the northern monasteries, there was bread at the meal of the monks. And there was no lack of it. On holidays, instead of rye, white bread or pies were served, the filling of which depended on the charter of the day.
Secondly. The monastic meal was very varied not only on fast days, but even on the most strict fast. On the harsh days of “dry eating”, a sufficient selection of dishes was offered: “bratsky bread, retka, kvass, in large bowls, water, cabbage with horseradish, oatmeal, turnips or mushrooms or milk mushrooms with garlic.” This, by the way, partly refutes the story of Archdeacon Pavel of Allepsky about the extreme severity and unbearability of the Russian fast.
On festive, fast days in the Cyril Monastery there was the following list of dishes. The first dish consisted of ear soup (soup), borscht or cabbage soup, cabbage soup with pepper, cabbage soup with pepper and eggs; tavranchuga (stew): fish and turnip. Second course: cereals, peas, pea flour noodles, mushrooms: salted, dried, in their own juice. A special article was a variety of fresh, dried, salted, dried fish, the quality of which was incomparably higher than modern; black and red caviar, kalachi, pies with various fillings: berry, vegetable, mushroom and fish; pancakes, milk, cheese, etc.
In addition, according to the decisions of the Stoglavy Cathedral, in some cases other indulgences were allowed in the monasteries:
Yes, in great and honest monasteries, princes and boyars and commanding people great and infirmities or in old age are cut, and they give in exchange great and patrimonial villages according to their souls and their parents in an eternal commemoration, and therefore, for infirmity and for old age, laws are not supposed to be refectory walking and cell eating; put them to rest after reasoning with food and drink, about such keep kvass sweet, and stale, and sour - whoever demands what, and the food is the same, or they radiate their own peace, or send from their parents and do not torture them about it.
Third. Important role kvass played in the monastery meal. It was served on almost all fasting days, not to mention fast days. Even on Holy Saturday, at sunset, the brethren gave counterfeit kvass and ukrukha (buns) at a rate of “strength for the sake of the body, and not for lust and satiety of the stomach.” Everyday kvass are called: ordinary, fraternal. As researcher T. I. Shablova writes, fraternal kvass probably means the simplest and most inexpensive oat and rye kvass. Festive kvass were of 4 varieties: honey (honey, honey), counterfeit (barley, mixed in half with honey), barley (barley, wheat) and semi-yan (probably barley, mixed with oatmeal or rye). Kvass was served in bowls or staves (glass-like vessels) with a volume of about 150 grams. Today, kvass and mead have practically disappeared from church life and have become secular drinks.
Fourth. In the middle of the weeks of Great Lent, on revered holidays, caviar was supplied. In the charter of the Kirillov Monastery, such holidays were: "heads of Ivan the Baptist, or 40 martyrs, or new saints: Euthymius of Novgorod, Demetrius of Prilutsky, Alexei Metropolitan, Macarius Kolyazinsky, Metropolitan Jonah." Also, caviar was supplied on Palm Sunday along with fish. Rudiments of this ancient tradition can be observed in some Old Believer parishes, in which it is allowed to cook fish “if the rector blesses” on patronal holidays.
Fifth. On all Saturdays of Great Lent (except Great Saturday, which, in fact, does not apply to Fortecost), fish was supplied to the Cyril Monastery. There are also indications about fish in the charter of Palm Sunday:
Food for the brethren: white bread, frying pans with ear or shti with pepper, fake kvass, two fish, pancakes with honey, similar bowls. On the same day, in dinner, brotherly bread, shti, to the extent of barley kvass in large bowls, two fish, topping.
The fish table was timed, as a rule, for funeral fodder: Saturdays 1 and 2 - for Tsar Ivan the Terrible, 3 and 5 - for Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich (son of John IV and Anastasia Romanovna), and 4th - for Abbot Christopher (3- hegumen of the monastery, disciple of St. Cyril). In addition, on the 1st Sunday of Great Lent there was a healthy fodder for the king, also with fish. In total, according to the Cyril Charter, fish was supplied 8 times during Great Lent.
Tavranchuk. Recipe
One of the most interesting and mysterious dishes mentioned in the "Obikhodnik" of the Kirillov Monastery is called "tavranchuk". Soviet historian V.V. Pokhlebkin(1923-2000) talks about this dish like this:
“Tavranchuks are both meat and fish, because the meaning of this dish is not in its nutritional composition, but in the method of preparation. It is more correct to call it taganchuk - something that is cooked in a tagan, that is, in a ceramic, clay pan-bowl, in a crucible. Tavranchuks were cooked in pots, in a Russian oven, with long languishing. The liquid environment was minimal: a little water for fish, sometimes half a glass of milk, onions, roots - parsley, dill; for meat - a glass of kvass, onions, pickles and the same spicy herbs. The fish was chosen differently: pike perch, pike, perch, carp; meat - mostly lamb brisket.
The pot was placed in the oven, and as soon as it warmed up (after a few minutes), it was poured over with beaten eggs (for fish tavranchuks) or, in addition, a rag was tied around the throat of the pot, which was covered with dough. Then the tavranchuk, sealed in this way, was placed in a heated oven for several hours to languish. The elimination of the Russian stove, first in cities and then in rural areas, led to the disappearance of tavranchuk as a dish, because in other conditions, in a different way, this dish did not turn out tasty».
In the "Obikhodnik" of the Cyril Monastery, tavranchuk is mentioned quite often. But interestingly, it was prepared for the Saturday meals of Great Lent as one of the options for a fish dish: “ tavranchyug sturgeon or porridge with salmon". Under the monastery tavranchuk, one must understand fish tavranchuk, without meat, sour cream and other products that can be used only on fast days. Here are the main ingredients of tavranchuk, a dish very popular in the monastic diet of the 17th century.
It is better to wash and soak salted milk mushrooms before cooking, because a sufficient amount is already present in pickles. Also, parsley root, celery root, black pepper, currant or bay leaf, onion are used as ingredients, depending on desire and taste.
All this is cut into cubes.
Prepared products are stacked in layers in a pot or cauldron, and then placed in a Russian oven, as an option - in an oven at a temperature of 170 degrees and languish for several hours. Some recipes suggest pouring additional water or kvass. Others advise languishing in their own juice, adding vegetable oil.
There are many tavranchuk recipes on the net with the indicated proportions of products, which, however, differ significantly from each other and not all of them are equally good. Much depends on the amount of liquid, temperature and languishing time in the oven. However, with due skill, experience and, most importantly, desire, you can try a real monastic dish that our ancestors ate in the 15th-17th centuries.
11.03.2014 The labors of the brethren of the monastery 27 056
Great Lent continues. Over the next 40 days, Orthodox Christians should not only abstain from food of animal origin and moderate entertainment, but also work on themselves, trying to cleanse their souls of all filth.
The spiritual component of Great Lent in the monasteries is put in the first place - the cult of food does not exist there. Maybe that's why the monks often call Lenten time blessed, and the laity - difficult.
AND main difficulty- gastronomy. On pasta, cereals and vegetables, excluding fish (except for a few days of church holidays, they don’t eat it either), it’s really not easy for many to hold out for almost two months ...
- Every day we get about 600 liters of milk and 600 - 700 eggs, - says Vladimir. – In non-fasting times, most of these products immediately go to the table - we send them to the Central Estate, to sketes, we make cottage cheese, sour cream, and cook cheese. In Lent, the picture changes: we send milk, cottage cheese, sour cream and eggs, as usual, only to the local kindergarten, school and military unit stationed on Valaam, and also donate to needy local residents. Everything else goes to storage and processing - cheese preparation.
We start making cottage cheese and sour cream for the needs of the monastery two weeks before Easter.
The monastery has potato, beet, carrot fields, gardens, and its own fish farm. In addition, in summer and autumn, with the help of pilgrims who come to Valaam to work hard, we actively harvest forest gifts - mushrooms and berries. The monastery buys cereals and flour, squids allowed in fasting (they are neither fish nor meat) - too. From such a variety of products, you can cook a lot of delicious healthy food. Meat in the monastery is not eaten at all - neither on fasting days, nor on fast days. It is replaced by fish: in non-fasting times, fish soup is prepared from it, broth for vegetable soups, fried, steamed, boiled, smoked. But smoked fish is served on the table only on holidays...
In the first three days of Great Lent, according to the charter, dry food is prescribed. Later, vegetable oil is consumed on all days except Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
In order to somehow diversify the lenten menu, we add squid dishes - soup, salad, gravy or just fry it to vegetable dishes, cereals and everyone's favorite potato pancakes (a little flour and semolina are put in them instead of eggs). But, before you cook anything from squid meat, it must be properly processed.
I take carcasses slightly melted, but with ice, pour boiling water for half a minute, drain. I repeat this procedure twice, and then I wash the carcasses under the stream cold water. Then I boil water, add some salt and cook the squid for about two minutes. Now he is ready to make, for example, soup out of it: I put potatoes, browned carrots with onions, salt, spices in a saucepan, and five minutes before the end - chopped squid. At the very last minute, I add chopped greens and just a little bit of garlic - for flavor.
It is easy to make a salad from squid by mixing cooled and chopped meat and boiled rice in equal proportions. I also cut fresh cucumber, greens into the salad, put olives and season with vegetable oil.
A tasty and nutritious dish is stuffed squid: I fry carrots and onions, add greens, rice or mashed potatoes, mix everything and stuff the carcass. It is better to stab the wide part with a toothpick so that the filling does not come out. I do not use browned carrots with onions for the filling - I leave a little, put them in a saucepan, put the stuffed squids there, add spices and cook for five to seven minutes. Sprinkle with herbs before serving.
You can also cook zrazy with mushrooms. To do this, crush the boiled, well drained potatoes (the mashed potatoes should turn out to be a little dry), add about a tablespoon of semolina, flour to it and let the mixture cool slightly. Fry mushrooms with onions (thawed or soaked if dried), add herbs and also wait until the mixture cools down. Then small cakes are molded from the puree, and in the middle of each a small depression is made, into which the minced mushroom is placed. It needs to be completely covered with the edges of the cake - you get something like a potato cutlet, only with a filling. Roll the cutlet in breadcrumbs and fry in a pan on both sides.
We usually drink tea with honey, jam or mousse - this is useful. The mousse is prepared very simply: defrost the berries, pass through a blender and add a little sugar. For dessert, you can bake a sweet gingerbread: take about 150 g of water, 100 g of honey, 100 g of sugar, cinnamon and vanilla to taste and heat to a temperature of 75 degrees. On this basis, adding flour and vegetable oil, knead the dough in a consistency similar to pancake. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, cover a baking sheet with parchment, put the mass on it and bake for 40 minutes. It turns out very tasty.
By spring, the immune system in people usually weakens, so during Lent we make sure that there are always dried fruits, honey, and nuts on the table.
Victoria Morozova,
