The monastic life in ancient rus

The ideal of the monastic life developed in Rus as early as the eleventh century. The monastic community tended not only towards personal perfection, but also towards the sanctification of the life of the people. The Rule of the monastic life demanded an absolute obedience to the Father Superior, who had to be not only an example of life for the monks, but also an educator who applied the Rule according to the measure of each.

The beginning of Russian monasticism knew the attempt to direct the life of the monk towards an Anthonite ideal: eremitical, completely separated from this world. But this attempt failed, despite the deep spirituality and ascetic life of St. Anthony (983-1073). He had lived for a long time on Mount Athos and returned to Kiev (only in 1028) to found the first Russian monastery there. He found several monks who had dug out caves in the cliffs of the Dnieper. St. Anthony occupied that of the priest Hilary (Hilarion), who was called to serve as a Metropolitan. St. Anthony didn't change his ideal of the monastic life during his lifetime and refused to become a superior for other monks. Each one lived in his own cave, and thus they formed only a group of hermits. He died in 1073, venerated by all.

Saint Theodosius, who became the Father Superior of the Monastery of the Caves in 1057, introduced the Studite Rule into the abbey.

This remained the general rule for most Russian monasteries. The Studite Rule (brought from Constantinople) deals with the life of the monk and the services celebrated in the monastery. St. Theodosius introduced many changes. He instituted four categories of monks: the aspirants, who still wore secular clothing; the associates without vows, who were dressed as monks; those who had pronounced the little vows; and those who had pronounced the great vows.

His monastery soon became a source of bishops and missionaries who went to evangelize the most distant regions. The first national Chronicles were composed at the Laura of the Caves in Kiev; it was there that copies were made of liturgical books and of the Holy Scriptures and that the sciences and the arts were taught. The monastery was the centre of the art of Russian icons, which had as its patron Saint Alypius, a monk of Kiev. Byzantine monks introduced the art of fresco. The Laura of Kiev produced a number of very important canonized saints, and its importance for Kievan Rus was truly exceptional.

Saint Theodosius died in 1074, and in 1097 his body was found intact. He was canonized in 1108 and he remained one of the most venerated saints in Russia. His "Life", written by the monk Nestor the Chronicler and reproduced in hundreds of copies, was the most popular book with Russian people.

From two spiritual ways of the monastic life represented by St. Anthony: strict ascetic and completely detached from the interests of this world, and by St. Theodosius: strict ascetic but full of love to people, their needs and sufferings, the Russian people chose the second one. The organizer of the Laura of Kiev remains the ideal monk who united an austere and blameless life with the work of educating his contemporaries.