The history of the Black Sea Mary Magdalene Black Sea desert in the activities of the abbesses

Abstract

At the present stage of the development of historical science in Russia, the interest in the role of the Church in the life of society remains unchanged. Much attention is paid to the history of individual monasteries and the activities of the clergy in the field of public service; their contribution to socio-political and spiritual life of the country is studied. The interest in the history of monasteries is primarily due to the fact that throughout the history of Russia, after the adoption of Christianity, they acted as one of the most important social and political institutions of the state and society. In Russian historiography, there are few studies devoted to the nuns of monasteries, but the existing ones are addressed to the nuns of noble origin or the abbesses of the oldest female monasteries. The current situation is explained by the state of the source base and the specifics of the problem being raised. The activities of women in the system of church organization of the Russian Orthodox Church were poorly reflected in any written sources. Since the personalities of the abbesses are considered the key figure of the monastery, when analyzing the history of the Black Sea Mary Magdalene Convent, the article focuses on the role of the abbesses in the development of the monastic economy, charitable and educational activities. Based on this, the authors of the article, based on the collected extensive archival material and the material of the Caucasian Diocesan Gazette, analyzed the contribution of individual abbesses to the development of the Black Sea Convent. The authors substantiate the conclusion that unlike the well-known closeness of traditional Russian Orthodox monasteries in Central Russia, Caucasian monasteries remained open to the world even at the beginning of the XX century, which was a great merit of their abbesses and the diocesan leadership of the Caucasian (Stavropol) diocese.

Keywords

• north caucasus
• caucasian (stavropol) diocese
• abbesses of the black sea mary magdalene female desert
• female monasticism