Valaam, April 15, 2021
Photo: valaam.ru
On Friday, April 9, His Grace Bishop Pankraty of Troitsk, the abbot of the ancient Valaam Monastery, tonsured four more men into the angelic monastic life. It is fitting that the tonsures occurred on Friday of the Week of the Veneration of the Precious Cross, as the new monks pledged to ever bear their cross in the asceticism of the monastic life.
The tonsures took place, according to Valaam tradition, in the lower cathedral Church of Sts Sergius and Herman, named in honor of the founders of the holy habitation, reports the site of Valaam Monastery.
In addition to the brothers, many residents of the island came to offer their prayers for the newly tonsured monks, who were named in honor of St. Herman of Valaam, the Apostle Nathanael, Hieromartyr Anthim of Sarai, and Hiero-Confessor Vassian of Tambov.
Photo: valaam.ru
At the end of the service, Bp. Pankraty offered a word of exhortation to the new monks
“I think I won’t be mistaken if I say that for you, as for everyone who desires to serve the Lord in the monastic order, this day is the happiest, most long-awaited, and important. I have performed many tonsures and I always see this gleam of joy and hope on the faces of those who receive it,” the abbot said.
“The main thing in the monastic life is the state of the soul, spiritual work, the struggle with the passions, the desire to always be with Christ,” His Grace emphasized, calling on the new monks to place themselves before the face of God every day, every hour, and every minute.
He continued:
Therefore, try now to live your inner spiritual life with special attention; to understand that everything we do here—all the hours-long services, all the rules, all the prayers, all our labors, even all our communication with each other—is all directed to one goal: that we may be cleansed, that we may become better than we were, that we may justify this highest honor and trust that the holy Church and the Lord Himself because, as it is said in the rite of the tonsure, “a monk should be a lamp of the world.”
Though the new brothers have varied backgrounds, they are nevertheless united by “a sincere desire to devote themselves entirely to the service of God, to remain in a monastery and a life of fasting even to death, to crucify themselves to the world and sinful passions, to be faithful to the Gospel and monastic vows even to the point of blood, to imprint in their hearts the constant invocation of the sweetest name of Christ.”
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, Parler, MeWe, and Gab!
