The Valaam Monastery (russian: Валаамский монастырь; Finnish version: ''Valamo Monastery'') is a

stauropegic A stauropegion, also spelled stavropegion (from el, σταυροπήγιον from σταυρός ''stauros'' "cross" and πήγνυμι ''pegnumi'' "to affirm"), is a monastery or a parish which depends directly on the primate or on the Holy Syn ...

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

monastery in Russian Karelia, located on

Valaam Valaam ( Russian: Валаам or Валаамский архипелаг, also known by the Finnish name Valamo) is an archipelago in the northern portion of Lake Ladoga, lying within the Republic of Karelia, Russian Federation. The total area ...

, the largest island in Lake Ladoga, the largest lake in Europe.

History

It is not clear when the monastery was founded, as the cloister is not mentioned in documents before the 16th century. Dates from the 10th to the 15th centuries having been suggested. According to one tradition, the monastery was founded by a 10th-century Greek monk,

Sergius of Valaam Saint Sergius of Valaam () was a Greek monk and wonderworker credited with bringing Orthodox Christianity to Karelian and Finnish people. Conflicting church traditions place him possibly as early as the 10th century or as late as the 14th. His f ...

, and his Karelian companion,

Herman of Valaam Herman of Valaam (russian: Герман Валаамский) is a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. Herman of Valaam together with Sergius of Valaam are considered to be the founders of the Valaam Monastery. The exact time of the monastery es ...

. Heikki Kirkinen inclines to date the foundation of the monastery to the 12th century. Contemporary historians consider even this date too early. According to the scholarly consensus, the monastery was founded at some point towards the end of the 14th century. John H. Lind and Michael C. Paul date the founding to between 1389 and 1393 based on various sources, including the "Tale of the Valaamo Monastery," a sixteenth-century manuscript, which has the monastery founded during the archiepiscopate of Ioann II of Novgorod. The monastery was a northern outpost of the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

against pagans and, later, a western outpost against the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

from Tavastia, Savonia and Karelia Province. The power struggle between

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

ns and Swedes pushed the border eastwards in the 16th century; in 1578 the monastery was attacked and numerous monks and novices were killed by the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

Swedes. The monastery was left desolate between 1611 and 1715 after another attack by the Swedes, with buildings being burned to the ground and the Karelian border between Russia and Sweden being drawn through Lake Ladoga. In the 18th century the monastery was magnificently restored, and in 1812 it came under the Russian

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecess ...

. In 1917,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

became independent, and the

Finnish Orthodox Church The Orthodox Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen ortodoksinen kirkko, lit=Finnish Orthodox Church; sv, Ortodoxa kyrkan i Finland, lit=Orthodox Church in Finland; ) is an autonomous Eastern Orthodox archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Const ...

became autonomous under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople; previously, it had been a part of the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

. Valaam was the most important monastery of the Finnish Orthodox Church. The liturgic language was changed from Church Slavonic to

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

and the liturgic calendar from the Julian to the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...

. These changes led to bitter decades-long disputes in the monastic community of Valaam. New Valamo Monastery main church

The territory was fought over by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Due to the

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

, the monastery was evacuated in 1940, when 150 monks settled in

Heinävesi Heinävesi () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Savonlinna, Varka ...

. This community still exists as New Valamo Monastery in

. Having received evacuees from the

Konevsky Monastery Konevsky Monastery (russian: Рождество-Богородичный Коневский монастырь (as it is written on the seal of the monastery), fi, Konevitsan Jumalansynnyttäjän syntymän luostari) is a Russian Orthodox monastery ...

and

Pechenga Monastery The Pechenga Monastery (russian: Печенгский монастырь; fi, Petsamon luostari) was for many centuries the northernmost monastery in the world. It was founded in 1533 at the influx of the Pechenga River into the Barents Sea, 135& ...

, it is now the only monastery of the Finnish Orthodox Church, alongside the Lintula Holy Trinity Convent located just 14 km away. From 1941 to 1944, during the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

, an attempt was made to restore the monastery buildings at Old Valaam, but later the island served as a Soviet military base. Since the original Valaam Monastery was bequeathed back to the Orthodox Church in 1989, it has been enjoying the personal patronage of

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow Patriarch Alexy II (or Alexius II, russian: link=no, Патриарх Алексий II; secular name Aleksei Mikhailovich Ridiger russian: link=no, Алексе́й Миха́йлович Ри́дигер; 23 February 1929 – 5 December ...

, who frequented the cloister as a child. The monastery, whose buildings have been meticulously restored, has gained significant legal power over the island in a push to return to a state of spiritual seclusion. After years of fruitless legal proceedings with the monastery, many residents of the island chose to leave, though a few still remain. The present Father Superior of the community is Bishop Pankraty (Zherdev) of Troitsk.

Valaam chant

The monastery of Valaam has a unique tradition of singing, called the Valaam chant, that combines some features of

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

and

Znamenny chant Znamenny Chant (russian: знаменное пение, знаменный распев) is a singing tradition used by some in the Russian Eastern Orthodox Church. Znamenny Chant is a unison, melismatic liturgical singing that has its own spec ...

s. As in Byzantine chant, the singing is always in 2-parts, comprising a melody and an

ison Ison, ISON or variant, may refer to: Geography * Isön, a small island in lake Storsjön, Jämtland, Sweden People First name / given name *Ison (rapper), stage name of Ison Glasgow, a Swedish rapper of American origin Last name / family name * Dav ...

, but, as in Znamenny chant, the scale structure is always diatonic. The

ornamentation An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...

is simplified in comparison with Byzantine chant, and the melodies are more similar to that of ancient Znamenny Chant, at the edge of being considered a local variety of this tradition. This relative simplicity became one of the reasons for the experimental introduction of Valaam chanting in various parishes across Russia by the end of 20th century. The monastery has a professional five-strong male-voice choir which tours the world to raise money for the ongoing restoration of the buildings. Some of its music can be heard at the monastery's website.Music page
valaam.ru; accessed 5 May 2016.

2016 fire

On the morning of 1 May 2016, Pascha (Orthodox Easter Sunday), a blaze covering 800 square metres erupted on the monastery's property, inside the “Winter Hotel", a national heritage site constructed in the 1850s. Belonging to the Valaam monastery, the building is located immediately adjacent to the monastery's main cathedral. Emergency services reported no casualties from the incident. File:Валаам. Воскресенский скит.jpg, Voskresensky Skete File:The Skete of All Saints on the Valamo.jpg, All Saints Skete File:Valaam monastery. Spaso-Preobrazhensky cathedral. Main view.jpg, The katholikon File:Валаам - Гефсиманский скит.jpg, Gefsimanskiy Skete File:Валаам. Никольский скит-3.jpg, Nikolsky Skete File:Ильинский скит вблизи.jpg, The rebuilt Saint Prophet Elias Skete on Lembos Island, ca. 10 km to the east of the main monastery File:The Skit of Smolensky on the Valaam (Valamo),.jpg, Smolensky Skete

References

External links

The Valaam Monastery
– Official website (Russian and English language)
The New Valamo Monastery in Finland
– Official website

{{Coord, 61, 23, 20, N, 30, 56, 49, E, region:RU_type:landmark_scale:50000, display=title Russian Orthodox monasteries in Russia Winter War Buildings and structures in the Republic of Karelia History of Karelia Eastern Orthodox pilgrimage sites Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in the Republic of Karelia