3/7/2016
Deacon Aaron Taylor
Rating: 5,3|Votes: 3
St. Nazarius was first and foremost a solitary ascetic and afterwards a father of monks. When he re-established Valaam, he took care to reintroduce all three modes of monastic life: coenobitism, the skete life, and anchoretism. According to his Life, “He began the building of the Great Skete in the woods beyond the Monastery enclosure as well as other sketes, and encouraged anchorites—making himself the first example of eremitic life.” As a “monk’s monk,” St. Nazarius was different from many of the famous elders of subsequent decades.
