Everything about The Valaam Monastery totally explained
The
Valaam Monastery, or
Valamo Monastery is a
stauropegic Orthodox monastery in Russian
Karelia, located on
Valaam, the largest island in
Lake Ladoga, the largest lake in Europe.
It isn't clear when the monastery was founded. As the cloister isn't mentioned in documents before the 16th century, different dates - from 10th to 15th centuries - have been expounded. According to one tradition, the monastery was founded by a 10th century Greek monk,
Sergius, and his Karelian companion,
Herman. 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 monstery founded during the archiepiscopate of
Ioann II of Novgorod.
Whatever the truth may be, the Valaam monastery was a northern outpost of
Eastern Orthodoxy against
the heathens and, later, a western outpost against Catholic Christianity from
Tavastia,
Savonia and
(Swedish) Karelia.
The power struggle between
Russians 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 Swedes. The monastery was desolate between
1611 and
1715 after another attack of the Swedes, the buildings being burnt 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.
In
1917,
Finland became independent, and the
Finnish Orthodox Church became autonomous under the
Orthodox Church of Constantinople, as previously it had been a part of the
Russian Orthodox Church. Valaam (Valamo) was the most important monastery of the Finnish Orthodox Church. The liturgic language was changed from
Church Slavonic to
Finnish, and the liturgic calendar from the
Julian to the
Gregorian calendar. These changes led to bitter decade-long disputes in the monastic community of Valaam.
The territory was fought over by the
Soviet Union and
Finland during
World War II. Due to the
Winter War, the monastery
was again evacuated in
1940, when 150 monks settled in
Heinävesi in
Finland. This community still exists as
New Valamo Monastery in
Heinävesi. Having received evacuees from the
Konevitsa monastery and
Petsamo monastery, it's now the only monastery of the Finnish Orthodox Church. From
1941 to
1944, during the
Continuation War, 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 Alexey II, who frequented the cloister when 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 monastery has a professional five-strong male-voice choir which tours the world to raise money for the on-going restoration of the buildings. Some of its music can be heard at the monastery's website.
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