Firebird Videos, Audios & Books
St. Innocent Monastic Community
Redford, Michigan

IV. VIDEOS in Russian

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VR-14. KONYEVITS MEN'S MONASTERY
 
VHS Videotape     30 mins.    Made in Russia in 1994.   
ISBN 1-881211-36-3    
PRICE: $19.95

DESCRIPTION:

This video depicts the history and present-day life at the newly re-opened Nativity of the Birth-Giver of God -- Konyevits Men's Monastery, founded in 1393 on a remote island in Lake Ladoga, northeast of St. Petersburg.  Quite a number of monasteries had existed on islands in this lake, including the very famous Valaam Monastery (from which St. Herman and the other missionaries came to America/Alaska in 1794), and a number of these monasteries have been given back to the Church and re-opened since 1991.  There is much physical and spiritual struggle by just a handful of brothers and volunteers to rebuild the once magnificent "gardens of the Mother of God."

Conveyed here is the peace and tranquility of a small, isolated monastery in the northern wilderness.  There is lovely singing by the monastery brethren.

This is one of a number of videos made since 1991 (available from us, on this web site), documenting the revitalization of monastic life in Russia, and depicting current life in monasteries.  For Orthodoxy, the vitality of monastic life has always been an index of the overall spiritual level, and the rapid growth of monasteries in Russia in the 1990's, with large numbers of young people flocking to the monasteries (and seminaries) is a very hopeful sign for the continuing spiritual resurgence of the Faith in Russia.

[Russian production.]