Valaam Monastery

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Valaam in winter

The Valaam Monastery, or Valamo Monastery is a stauropegic Orthodox monastery in Karelia, which is a part of the territory fought over by the Soviet Union and Finland before the end of World War II.

It is not clear when the monastery was founded on Valaam, the largest island in Lake Ladoga, itself being the largest lake in Europe. As the cloister is not mentioned in documents before the 16th century, different dates - from 10th to 15th centuries - have been expounded. Whatever the truth may be, the Valaam monastery was a western outpost of Eastern Orthodoxy against the heathens and, later, against the Catholic Christianity of Tavastia, Savonia and (Swedish) Karelia.

The power struggle between Russians and Swedes pushed the border eastwards in the 16th century; in 1578 monks and novices were beaten to death by the (then) Lutheran Swedes. The monastery was desolate between 1611 and 1715 after another attack, 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 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.

New Valamo monastery in Heinävesi, Finland.

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 Konevsky and Petsamo monastries, it is 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.

Monastery cathedral domes

Since the original Valaam Monastery was restored in 1989, it has been enjoying the personal patronage of Patriarch Alexey II, who frequented the cloiser when a child. The monastery, whose buildings were meticulously restored, 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 who tour the world to raise money for the on-going restoration of the buildings. Some of their music can be heard at the monastery's website.