THE OLD RUSSIAN MONASTERY AS A CULTURAL PHENOMENON (Drevnerusskii monastyr kak fenomen kultury)

The article is dedicated to the old Russian monastic culture which is of millennium history. The Russian monastery was the place of religious ascetic life and the center of creative activity in architecture, painting, book-learning, songs, ringing the bell, farming etc. at the same time. Monasteries were destroyed in the Soviet time, and they have been reviving now. They continue to play an importanat role in the Orthodox and Catholic tradition.