Monastic Lenten recipes. What do monks eat full menu

Everyday life Russian medieval monastery Elena Vladimirovna Romanenko

Chapter 9 Monastic Meal

Monastic meal

Charter on deanery

Since ancient times, there has been a saying in Rus': “They don’t go to someone else’s monastery with their own charter.” The statutes of different cenobitic monasteries were indeed very different from each other. But despite all the differences, there were a number of common strict rules, which formed the basis of order in any cinema. These rules included a mandatory common meal: everyone from the abbot to the novice had to eat at a common meal and nothing, not even drinking water, do not keep them in your cells.

This rule greatly distinguished the monastery from a special monastery, where everyone ate separately, according to their personal income, and also from a suite, where the monks received food from the abbot, but each prepared their own food separately and ate in their own cells, with the exception of major holidays.

The rules of conduct at a common meal were also the same for all monks. The first and most important thing is to always remain satisfied with the proposed “food”: “whatever they put in, don’t grumble about it.” Food and drink were provided to everyone the same and in equal quantities. The monks began to eat only after the abbot “laid his hand on the food or drink.” Everyone sat silently and listened attentively to the reader, who, with the blessing of the abbot, read the lives of saints or the works of the holy fathers. For laughing and talking in the refectory at the Volokolamsk Monastery, they were punished with a penance of 50 bows or one day of dry eating. Only the abbot, the cellarer and the servants were allowed to speak at meals, and then only about what was necessary.

At the table, everyone looked in front of him, and not to the sides; he did not take anything from another brother and did not place his own in front of him, so as not to lead his neighbor into the sin of gluttony. Those who showed inappropriate curiosity or concern for another monk, according to the regulations of the Volokolamsk Monastery, were punished with one day of dry eating or a penance of fifty prostrations to the ground. The monk had to know “his content” (his measure) and “not ask,” and also “not ask for consolation (consolation, some kind of delicacy. - E.R.) or burnt eggs” (that which was burnt and was not served on the table). If the refector himself (serving at the meal) offered an addition or some additional dish, he was supposed to quietly and humbly answer: “God’s will, sir, and yours!” If the monk did not want more, he said: “I have enough, sir” (that is, enough for me, sir).

Even if the monk was sick and could not eat what all the brethren were eating, he did not dare to ask, but waited for the servant himself to ask him what he wanted. Hearing the question, the sick monk answered: “Give, for God’s sake, this or that.” If he didn’t want anything at all, then he said: “I don’t want anything, sir” ( RSL. Und. No. 52. L. 365).

The following situation could well have happened in the monastery: the minister, out of forgetfulness or wanting to test his brother’s patience, carried the monk around, that is, did not give him any food or drink. There are many such stories in ancient patericons; In a similar way, the elders tested the patience of not only novice monks, but also experienced ascetics. Reverend John Climacus observed in the monastery of St. John Savvait how the abbot called to him at the beginning of the meal the eighty-year-old elder Lawrence, white with gray hair. He approached and, bowing to the ground to the abbot, took the blessing. But when the elder stood up, the abbot did not say anything to him, and he remained standing in place. Lunch lasted an hour or two, and Elder Lavrenty still stood without answer or greeting. The Monk John Climacus writes in his “Ladder” that he was ashamed to even look at the elder. When lunch was over and everyone got up, the abbot released the elder ( Ladder. P. 30).

According to monastic rules, if a monk was surrounded at a meal, he had to sit humbly at the table and not ask for anything. And only in case of extreme hunger or thirst could he say to the employee: “They didn’t give me, sir” ( RSL. Und. No. 52. L. 365 vol.). But this is only as a last resort.

Monks were forbidden to be late for meals without a blessed reason. In the Volokolamsk monastery, those who were late were punished with a day of dry eating or bows, numbering 50. If a monk did not have time for prayer at mealtime for some worthy reason, then, upon entering, he stood silently and waited for the servants to set something for him. And if they didn’t, then he humbly chewed bread and salt and waited while all the brethren ate.

The most severe punishment was assigned to those who brought something of their own into the meal or, conversely, took it out, hiding it at lunch or dinner. A monk of the Volokolamsk monastery who came to the meal with his “essence” received a penance of one hundred prostrations to the ground. If one of the monks took something at a meal without the blessing of the abbot or cellarer and repented of it, then he did not dare to touch the shrine: eat the antidor, “the bread of the Mother of God,” the prosphora until he received forgiveness. If a monk was convicted of sin by other monks, he was punished with dry eating for five days. In case of repeated repetition of such a sin, the monk was expelled from the monastery or put in prison in iron shackles ( VMC. September. Stb. P. 12).

Apart from lunch and dinner, the monk was not allowed to eat or drink anything, not even berries in the forest or vegetables in the garden. If he was thirsty, a monk could, after asking the elder for a blessing, go to the refectory and drink water there. If after lunch or dinner a monk needed to visit another monk or elder in his cell, and he wanted to treat him to some “eating, or drink, or vegetable,” then the monk had to refuse such consolation: “I dare not, sir, compel me, for God’s sake.” The elders taught the newcomers that such hospitality is not brotherly love, but an enemy (demonic) attempt to lead the monk into sin; true monastic brotherly love consists in loving everyone equally and withdrawing from everyone ( RSL. Und. No. 52. L. 368 vol.).

It would seem a simple rule - eat only at a common meal. But from the lives of the saints it is clear how much strength the abbot needed to keep this order inviolable. In the Volokolamsk Monastery, those who were found guilty of such a sin were deprived of their shrines until they received forgiveness from the abbot. And having received forgiveness, the monk had to make a hundred prostrations in his cell in order to completely blot out the sin. If the monk did not repent, but was convicted by someone else, then the punishment increased threefold: the monk received penance of three hundred bows or “ate dry” for three days. If this happened again, he was expelled from the monastery.

However, there have been cases when gluttons were miraculously healed of sin. And this kind of punishment turned out to be the most effective. Two monks from the monastery of St. Paul of Obnor at one time left the monastery and labored for a long time in the monastery of a special charter. Then they returned to their monastery, but did not abandon their old habits. One day the monks decided to prepare food for themselves in their cell. One stayed to cook the pot, and the other went to the refectory to secretly get bread. When the second monk returned, he saw that his friend was lying on the floor, and foam was flowing from his mouth. The frightened monk instantly realized his sin and mentally appealed to the Monk Paul of Obnor, asking them to forgive. As proof of his repentance, he grabbed the ill-fated pot and, throwing it over the threshold, began kicking it with the words: “I will never do this again for the rest of my life” ( VMC. January. Stb. 547). Another monk of the same monastery was undergoing obedience in a kvass brewery and decided to prepare kvass for himself. Taking a bucket of wort, he carried it to his cell, but he had to walk past the tomb of St. Paul of Obnor. Here his arms and legs suddenly weakened, he screamed out of fear and began to beg the monk for forgiveness. He ran to his cell safe and sound, but without the bucket, and the next morning he repented to the abbot.

These stories ended happily, but another monk of the Obnorsky monastery - Mitrofan - remained crippled until the end of his life for secretly eating and drinking in his cell. One day, when Mitrofan was standing in church at a service, suddenly his arms and legs weakened, and he fell. The brethren served a prayer service to St. Paul and the Holy Trinity for his health, after which the monk felt better and was able to repent. As a result, he was able to move, but one arm and leg were never healed for the edification of the rest of the brethren ( Right there. Stb. 540).

In order to prevent idle curiosity, dissatisfaction and not to lead the monks to the sin of secret eating, the monks were not allowed to enter the refectory during the day without doing anything and blessing. At the refectory there were so-called shegnushi - pantries in which kvass and all sorts of foodstuffs were stored. At the appointed time, the monks gathered on the porch of the shegnushi to drink kvass, but long standing at the shegnushi or idle conversations were prohibited. In addition, it was also not allowed to enter the shegnusha itself. Shegnusha communicated with the refectory through a service passage, which was intended only for service workers. The monks entered the refectory either from the courtyard through the porch, or through the church doors, if the refectory was built at the church.

About meal time

Meal times probably varied among different monasteries. But imagine sample schedule You can have a meal at the Moscow Novospassky Monastery. This schedule was entirely determined by the divine service: the more significant the holiday, the earlier the meal began on that day. On Sundays and great holidays, lunch was served quite early - at the end of the third hour of the day (that is, around ten in the morning according to our calculation), since on these days, according to the rules, dinner was also allowed. On Saturdays, lunch began a little later - at the beginning of five o'clock in the afternoon (that is, at the beginning of twelve, if sunrise on that day was around seven in the morning). On major holidays, the meal took place at six o'clock in the afternoon, that is, around one o'clock in the afternoon (according to our calculation). On minor holidays or fast days, when there was only one meal, it was served in the middle of the day - at nine o'clock, that is, around four in the evening (according to our calculation) or even later. At the same time - at nine o'clock in the afternoon - lunch began during the Nativity Fast (in reality this meant about five or six in the evening) and during Peter's Fast (about two o'clock in the afternoon, if you count from sunrise).

In monasteries there were always two meals at different times. The monks and the abbot ate at the first, the cellarer, the reader and all the servants who served the monks at meals ate at the second (last) one: the large porter, the “lesser porters”, the cup-keeper (the monk in charge of drinks and the cellar), the collar (a kind of clerk; the one who “managed affairs”), as well as the monks who were late for the meal. Weak or sick monks ate in their cells or in the hospital during their first meal. Large and smaller porters brought food to them, and specially assigned servants served them in hospitals. If the sick monk wanted to taste something else during the day, then, with the blessing of the abbot and the cathedral elders, he was served by a large porter: taking food from the under-cellar and drink from the cup-bearer, he brought it to the sick person. Also, the bearer, with the permission of the abbot, carried food to those monks who, for some reason, did not have enough food at the common meal.

During the second meal, those servants who were responsible for preparing food also had lunch and dinner: the podkelarnik (assistant cellarer), who was in charge of the warehouse of kitchen utensils and the tent from which food was distributed to part of the brethren - apparently, the “second shift” and for guests; “cooking vytchiki” (howl - share, area; vytchik - the one who is responsible for a certain part of the cooking process); shtevar (we can definitely say that he cooked jelly, maybe also cabbage soup?); podchashnik (assistant of the cup maker); refectories. All these servicemen ate in the closet. Separately, the last meal was served for the laity, servants, monastery artisans, and Cossacks, who were served by the refectories. In addition, in the monastery refectories, according to general rule of all monasteries, they always fed the poor. There was even such a thing as “recorded beggars,” that is, those who were assigned and regularly fed at the monastery. In the 16th century, in the Volokolamsk monastery, from 20 to 50–60 “recorded beggars” or “as many as God will send” passing by were fed daily.

Refectory interior

In monasteries they liked to set up refectory chambers at churches. This was convenient: warm air from the basement of the refectory was supplied to the church and heated it. Such a church was called warm, “winter”, and all monastic services were usually held in it. winter time of the year. In the 16th century, in rich monasteries, stone single-pillar refectories were built: cylindrical vaults rested on a large pillar in the center of the chamber. One of the first such refectories at the church was established in the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery in 1519. It was a rectangle, the eastern wall of which separated the church and the refectory. In this wall there was a door through which the monks, after church service, could immediately go to lunch. An iconostasis was always installed on the eastern wall, so that the refectory itself was like a church, and some services, as we saw above, took place in it. In the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, in the iconostasis of the refectory there was a Deesis, to the left and right of the door there were local icons, and above the door there was a large cross “The Crucifixion of the Lord”, on a pillar there was an image of Hodegetria with saints and saints (according to the inventory of 1601). A large copper chandelier hung in front of the Deesis, and a stand-up candle stood in front of the local icons. The lighting in the rather large chamber was so poor. In the refectory there were tables, decorated with tablecloths (regular days and holidays had their own tablecloths), and benches. According to some researchers, six people sat at each table in the Kirillovsky refectory, since some dishes were prepared and served specifically for six people: on Easter, “six eggs in brine,” they baked “brother’s six bread” ( Shablova. About the meal. P. 27).

The quality of the dishes used at meals depended on the wealth of the monastery. They liked to paint wooden utensils: plates, brotins, ladles; spoons and ladle handles were decorated with carvings. The monastery inventories list spoons and ladles of different shapes: spoons - onion (similar in shape to a turnip, resembled a flattened ball decorated with cuttings from a fish tooth, “podder”); ladles - burl (made from burl - a growth on a birch), onion, elm ( elm is one of the most flexible trees; in addition to utensils, rims, runners, etc. were made from it), “shadrovye”, “small Tver”, “tin”, copper, “with which yeast is scooped”, “skortsy” (skobkari) - ladles, hollowed out from the rhizome of a tree and covered with drying oil. In the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery, monks ate from birch plates and dishes; kvass was poured into ladles into stavets (stavets - a cup similar to a glass, a cylindrical “vessel with a flat bottom” - see: Zabelin. P. 90) or bratina (bratina is a large cup in the shape of a tub with an overhead lid). Stops (large metal glasses without handles, widening towards the top) were also used for drinking. Varivo was served in “rassolniki” (deep dish with a lid), “suddah”, “on mise”; drinking - in “copper yandova” (yandova - a copper vessel, tinned inside, with a handle and a stigma), bowls.

Favorite dishes

An invariable dish of the monastery diet was cabbage soup, which was eaten almost every day: both on fasting and non-fasting days (except for days of dry eating), on holidays. Shchi was cooked from fresh white cabbage, “borscht” (that is, with borscht - pickled beets), with sorrel (sorrel), seasoned with pepper, and served with eggs on Easter and other holidays. Sometimes cabbage soup was replaced by tavranchug - a special soup made from fish or turnips, or "ushnoye" - fish soup.

If the statute allowed two “cooked foods,” then the second “cooked food” was usually porridge. The monastic table is aptly characterized by the old Russian proverb - “cabbage soup and porridge are our food.” Porridge could be replaced by another “food”: “broken peas” or “gyzheny” peas (pea grounds), cabbage, pea or sour noodles. The meal was most varied on non-fasting days and holidays.

The most important and favorite product was, of course, fish. The fish table of rich monasteries was very diverse. In 1601, in the glaciers of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery, barrels of “sudochin, hazel, pike,” salmon, black caviar were stored; “long sturgeons” from the Volga and Shekhon sturgeons (from the Sheksna River) also lay here. In the dryers above the glaciers there was a supply of dried and dried fish: “bream, ulcer, pike, sterlet”, salmon, many bunches of elm (red fish tendon), small and smelt, and “I pray for Zaozersk”.

In the everyday life of the Novospassky Monastery, salmon, white fish, sturgeon, beluga, stellate sturgeon, pike, pike perch, sushi, sterlet, black and red caviar - whitefish are mentioned. Sterlet in this monastery was considered a “common fish”; it was served mainly to monastery servants and wanderers ( CHOOIDR. 1890. Book. 2. S. 2).

Fish dishes were also very varied, but the favorite was fried fresh fish, which was served in frying pans on great holidays. In addition, the fish was baked on racks, boiled and served with broth, mustard and horseradish. Freshly salted fish was a rare treat and was served only a few times a year, even in such a rich monastery as Joseph-Volotsky. The favorite fish dish of the monks of the Kirillo-Belozersk monastery was “krushki”. The cellarer's notes specifically mark the days when “the krusha live on the brethren.” It is difficult to say what this dish was, but judging by the fact that the word “krushkiy” in the old Russian language means brittle, crispy, apparently it was thinly cut fish, fried until crispy. When the “crushes” were fried, they were covered with canvas, apparently to protect them from splashes of boiling oil.

Among the fish dishes in the monastery everyday books, “sturgeon heads”, fried bream “with body with broth and pepper”, “ladozhina with vinegar”, pies with vyaziga, “loaves” with fish, black caviar with onions and red with pepper are also mentioned. In the Novospassky Monastery they cooked several types of porridge with fish: porridge with pieces of salmon, porridge with smelt, porridge “with vandyshi” (small fish), porridge “with head” (with heads and cartilaginous parts of fish), porridge “with navels”, “ porridge on my ear" ( CHOOIDR. 1890. Book. 2. P. 2).

The monastic table was significantly diversified by various types of pies (with cheese, cabbage, carrots, peas, porridge, mushrooms), loaves (broken with carrots, turnips), rolls, pancakes, pancakes, “brushwoods”.

The favorite drink in monasteries was traditionally kvass; on holidays it was drunk at lunch and dinner and before Compline. In addition, in the Volokolamsk monastery, starting from the Presentation and until the very feast of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary (October 1), the brethren were allowed to drink kvass at noon (except for the first and Holy weeks, as well as the fast days of Great Lent). On Candlemas, according to folk signs, the sun turns towards summer, the day lengthens significantly, so the brethren received permission for an additional cup of kvass. “And from Intercession to Sretenievo days at noon they don’t drink kvass, pnezh (since. - E.R.) the day is short,” says the everyday life book of the Volokolamsk Monastery ( Gorsky. P. 394).

Kvass was prepared in several varieties. In the Volokolamsk Monastery, barley and oat kvass were used as the most popular kvass, on more solemn days - “sychenaya” - from syty (sweet wort, which was prepared from flour and malt) and honey. There was also “treacle kvass”, which was served on great holidays. Molasses kvass was made from pure, unheated honey - gravity flowing down from the honeycomb. Monastic kvass was valued not only as a tasty, but also an extremely “energy” drink, necessary to maintain strength. Thus, on days of extended services (on the twelfth holidays and days with an all-night vigil), priests, deacons, headmen (choir monks) and the usher received additional bowls of honey kvass “in the cellar,” and psalm-readers received “fake kvass.” The same kvass was given to large ministers and sick brethren in hospitals. The rest of the brethren received “similar cups.” “Good” kvass was a consolation on holidays. So, on the holidays of the Dormition, St. Kirill of Belozersky, the Introduction, on the days of the king’s angels and members royal family at lunch an additional health bowl was given for the birthday boy with honey kvass ( Shablova. About the meal. P. 31).

Honey kvass was fermented in two ways: 1) with hops and yeast; 2) simple soft roll ( Right there. P. 41. Note. 23). In the first case, the result was intoxicated kvass, in the second - regular kvass. In those monasteries where “drunken” drinking was prohibited, kvass was fermented with kalach. “Domostroy” tells recipes for preparing a variety of kvass, including ordinary honey: “And honey kvass is simple: take four molasses of honey; strain it cleanly with a sieve, and put it in a measure (vessel - E.R.), and ferment it with a simple soft roll, without yeast, and when it sours, pour it into barrels” ( Right there. P. 42. Approx. 23).

In 1550, the Council of the Hundred Heads prohibited the preparation of intoxicating kvass and the holding of hot wine in monasteries, but this rule was often violated. Thus, in the 17th century, some Solovetsky monks, contrary to the ancient rules of the monastery, used to take out kvass from the refectory and ferment it with yeast in their cells. Things got to the point that in 1637, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich sent a special letter to the Solovetsky abbot demanding that he eradicate this harmful custom ( Dositheus. T. 3. P. 270). In those monasteries where intoxicating drinks were allowed (sometimes by special order of the bishop), intoxicating mead and beer were prepared. In the 17th century, Athanasius, Archbishop of Kholmogory and Vazhsky, allowed the Krasnogorsk monastery to brew five brews of beer a year for the brethren and “honor” of visiting leaders and noble people: the first - for the feast of the Nativity of Christ, the second - for the great ritual, the third - for Easter, the fourth - for Trinity Day and the fifth - for the patronal feast Georgian icon The Most Holy Theotokos, but the monastery, as before and in the future, was not allowed to buy wine ( Description of the Krasnogorsk Monastery. P. 31).

According to the ancient statutes of the Joseph-Volotsky, Kirillo-Belozersky, Nilo-Sorsky, Korniliev-Komelsky monasteries, in these monasteries “drinking, which had drunkenness, did not hold anyone.” However, in the 16th century, in the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery, the covenant of its founder was no longer fulfilled, according to the twelve, great and big holidays the brethren regularly received the cup of wine.

Special Note

Russian monks never consumed meat. According to ancient regulations, even bringing meat into the monastery territory or cooking it in the monastery kitchen was strictly prohibited. How strict this rule was is confirmed by a miracle from the Life of St. Paphnutius of Borovsky, which happened to the famous icon painter Dionysius. He was invited along with his retinue to paint a new stone church in the monastery. The icon painters lived in a village not far from the monastery. Since they were worldly people, the Monk Paphnutius ordered them not to bring any of their food to the monastery. One day, the icon painters forgot about the saint’s commandment and, going to the monastery to work, took with them a leg of lamb stuffed with eggs. In the evening they sat down to dinner, Dionysius ate first. It is not difficult to imagine his state when he saw worms in the leg of lamb instead of eggs. The leg was thrown to the dogs behind the monastery, but after this meal the artist became seriously ill. His whole body was covered with scabs, so that he could not move. Realizing his sin, Dionysius repented before the monk. He, having given the icon painter an admonition not to violate the monastery rules in the future, ordered the beater to be struck and the brethren to be summoned to a holy prayer service. Dionysius wiped his entire body with blessed water and, exhausted after the service, fell asleep. He woke up completely healthy ( Life of Paphnutius Borovsky. P. 125). The lay people who worked for the monastery were fed meat dishes on non-fasting days, when there was hard work. In the Kirillov Monastery they were given meat “for a kopeck” (in total there were 51 days a year when meat-eating was allowed - see: Shablova. About the meal. P. 27). But if in the 16th century meat was cooked and eaten outside the monastery, then in the 17th century this prohibition was no longer in effect, and lay monastic people could eat meat at the second monastic meal.

Bread shops, cookhouses, kvass factories

Preparing “food” in large monasteries with numerous brethren and pilgrims was a labor-intensive and complex task. Therefore, hot food was prepared only once - for lunch. If there was supposed to be dinner on that day, then the stew left over from dinner was put in the oven on the coals and served warm for dinner.

Many monks, novices and all kinds of monastic servants worked in the cookhouses and bakeries of the monasteries. Obedience here was considered the most difficult, and if the monk endured it patiently, without grumbling, then this work in the eyes of the abbot and the brethren was worthy of the deepest respect. Before his death, the Monk Daniel of Pereyaslavl called his disciple Cassian to him and, handing him two of his hair shirts, ordered them to be handed over to the monastery cooks - the monk Eustratius and the monk Irinarch. Explaining his choice, the monk said: “You yourself know the virtues of Eustratius. From the time he took monastic vows, he achieved perfect obedience, fasted and prayed without laziness, and went through all the monastery services without complaining, and most of all, the cook service.” And then the abbot told how at one time he wanted to change Eustratia’s obedience, but he fell at his feet and begged him not to change anything and not to deprive him of great spiritual benefit. The Monk Daniel was surprised at such zeal and left Eustratius in the cookhouse. Now, before his death, he asked Cassian to convey to the new abbot Hilarion his order not to transfer Eustratius to another service. Another monastery cook, Irinarh, according to the abbot, worked just as hard, following the example of Eustratius. Giving his hair shirts for them, the monk said: “I hope that they will pray to God for me, a sinner, and for their prayers, the merciful and humane Christ Our God will forgive me many of my sins” ( Smirnov. pp. 70–71).

The refectory, together with the adjacent kitchens, bakeries, glaciers, barns, drying rooms and all kinds of tents, formed a separate city on the territory of a large monastery. Under the refectory of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery there were famous bakeries. Their dimensions were almost the same as that of the refectory itself: in length - seven fathoms and half a fathom, and across - seven fathoms and a half. Here they baked bread in two large ovens consisting of three “kvashons”. 500 kilograms of flour were dissolved in each kneading bowl, the fermentation was covered with canvas sewn into four panels and allowed to rise, then three kneading bowls were dissolved in the fourth ( Nikolsky. P. 191. Note. 2). The bread bins contained fourteen canvas scrolls in which flour was sifted, and twelve pairs of mittens. Apparently, the same number of people were involved in the process of baking bread. The bakery contained all the necessary utensils: a copper cauldron in which water was heated, two “scrapers with which to scrape a kneading bowl”, a scraper, a chisel, a spade, a mowing knife, which was used to pluck a splinter to light a fire in the oven, copper washstands with tubs, a Kumgan (a copper washstand in the form of a jug, with a spout, a handle and a lid), an ice pick (they went to the lake with the pick to get water; it was an iron pointed tool with a tube at the top that was attached to the handle). The grain store was in charge of the “grain elders”; they lived not far from the refectory, in three cells near the barns, where rye flour was stored ( Nikolsky. P. 195). One of the elders gave the workers scrolls and mittens. The cooks were housed in a separate room; they had at their disposal a cauldron, a copper frying pan in which jelly was cooked, and two kumgans. Not far from the bakery, near the monastery wall overlooking the lake, there was a small tent in which water was heated when it was necessary to set up the kneading bowl. Next to the bakery, under the refectory, there was a tent where the already baked bread was stored.

The large bakery of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery was built along with the refectory in 1519, but very soon its capacity became insufficient, and then several more bakeries were set up in the lower tier of the Church of the Transfiguration, where they baked prosphora and rolls, as well as cookies and pies. It was not by chance that the Church of the Transfiguration was chosen for these purposes. It is located near the fortress wall facing the lake; “small gates” were built on the wall, through which water flowed through gutters into the bakery.

The basement of the Church of the Transfiguration consisted of two rooms: in the first large tent cookies, rolls and prosphora were baked, in the second - pies. Attached to the part of the room where the prosphora were made, there was also a small tent where the prosphora was stored in winter. And adjacent to the church porch near the fortress wall was another tent in which rolls were kept. On its top floor lived the elders who were in charge of the kalachnaya, and there was also a closet where crackers were stored. There was a barn against the wall in which flour was sifted. The bakeries contained a variety of kitchen utensils: sieves for sifting flour, “hooks” for removing pancakes from the oil, long frying pans, “cloth bowls in which a circle of rolls are cooked” (nasovs are armlets worn during cooking; aprons, work clothes) , scraper buckets, aspen boxes.

Food was prepared in a kitchen located next to the refectory. IN late XVI centuries in the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, in addition to the main kitchen, there was also a food room, a Streltsy room, a princess room, a living room (food was prepared in it for guests), etc. The kitchens were headed by the cook elders who lived nearby. In the large cookhouse of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery, six boiler rooms and ovens were installed. The boilers hung over the fireplaces on iron chains; in addition, large iron tagans (a hoop on legs) were placed on the fireplaces - stands for the boilers. Stored in the kitchen a large number of utensils: “ladles”, iron grates for baking fish, large and “small kettles”, ladles, knives and work clothes. Food was apparently prepared in special “service duckweeds.” The functional variety of kitchen utensils is striking; there were several types of knives alone: ​​“onion mowers”, “cabbage axes”, “kleniks” for cutting fish (knives with a short and wide blade, slightly curved towards the butt), “large knives, and they cut with noodles and fish."

The kitchen utensils warehouse contained more than a dozen knives, axes, copper frying pans, copper baking trays with bowls (straps), several dozen “birch plates” and “luxury dishes”, “stavas”, “wooden dish stands”, a washstand, a tub, a hand iron pepper mill, “tableware”, salt shakers, “tin picklers”, copper milk pot. The main supply of cereals and fish needed for the needs of the cook was in the dryer: “several hemp seed, peas, barley, buckwheat and millet, five “sagging” sturgeon, 250 ulcer seams, one hundred bunches of elm, dried moly loskovo (mol - small fish; sometimes also called dried smelt; the mentioned fish was caught in an area called Loza-Altushevo. - E.R.) ten quarters, five quarters I pray for Belozersk" ( Nikolsky. P. 222. Approx. 1).

Kvass was prepared in a special room - a kvass brewery. The ancient kvass brewery of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery has survived to this day: “In the middle of the roof... there is a tent, square in plan and hollow inside, which serves as a conductor for steam and smoke accumulating in the building from the kvass hearth. At the top this tent ended with a pipe quadrangular in plan, and at the bottom it rested on a closed vault with two formworks on each wall" ( Nikolsky. P. 226).

In the middle of the kvass brewery there was a copper boiler (it could hold 300 buckets) and three large vats: one vat contained 20 grains of malt (grain that was allowed to germinate in heat and dampness, which gave it a sweet taste), the other two contained wort, and three large troughs were placed under the vats. Behind the kvasshouse there was a barn where the wort was chilled; there were five vats and six troughs. And near the cookhouse there was a three-story building, the lower part of which was adapted for a kvass glacier, where they kept “kvass about the Zhitnaya brothers.” In the Kirillov Monastery there were five more stone glaciers, in which kvass was cooled in the summer, fish and various products were stored. In one glacier they kept kvass: “medvenoy” (honey), molasses, sycheny, oatmeal, “polyan kvass”. Various ladles, feet, yandovs, a copper ladle, “with which the yeast is scooped,” a copper cauldron for 12 buckets, “and they cook their food in it,” and a small copper “pot, in which they heat molasses for pancakes,” were also kept here. In the other three glaciers they kept fish, over one of them there was a tent where honey and molasses were stored, and in the fifth cellar - sour cream, milk, eggs and cow butter.

Cooking in monasteries, like any task, was necessarily sanctified by prayer. Early in the morning, before Matins, the cook and the baker came to the church and bowed to the ground three times in front of the Royal Doors. After this, they asked the ecclesiarch for fire, he lit a “spear” from the lamp in the altar of the temple and passed it on to the cook and the baker. And already from this “honest fire” the logs were lit in the ovens of the cookhouse and bakery, so that everyone who ate the food would receive Divine grace and sanctification along with it. It is no coincidence that preparing a meal has always been a purely monastic obedience; worldly people in this matter could only be assistants.

Monasteries were especially reverent about baking bread. This process is described in detail in the Studio Charter. In Russian monasteries everything was most likely done in exactly the same way. Since the prosphora had to be baked for the liturgy, and the bread for lunch, they started baking bread very early. At the very beginning of Matins, after the Six Psalms, the kutnik, having made a prostration near the abbot, went to gather the brethren for obedience in the bakery. First he approached the monks standing on right side church, then crossed to the other side. Everyone gathered in the center of the temple in front of the Royal Doors and went to be blessed by the abbot. Having bowed to the ground, they said: “Bless, pray for us, holy father.” The abbot answered: “God will save,” and the monks went to the bakery. Here, while kneading the dough, they sang psalms, the canon and other prayers required at matins. In addition, in Russian monasteries they also read a special prayer “when kneading dough for bread in the monastery” ( Prilutsky. P. 355). Having placed the dough, the monks went to the church, where they continued to pray with the rest of the brethren, but the senior monk remained in the bakery to monitor how the dough was rising. After the service, he walked around the cells of the monks who were kneading dough, and they again gathered in the bakery to bake bread ( Pentkovsky. P. 387). Perhaps, thanks to these prayers, the bread baked in the monastery was especially tasty, and the monastery kvass cured the most incredible diseases.

Meal order

When the brethren, singing Psalm 144, entered the refectory, everything was already ready: the necessary utensils were on the tables, on a separate big table, also called a “meal,” there were warm bread, salt shakers and drink. The abbot blessed the meal with the cross and read the prayer: “Christ our God, bless the food and drink of your servant, now and ever, and forever and ever.” After this, everyone sat down, and the priest, standing up, blessed the reading of the lives of the saints: “Blessed is our God always, and now, and ever, and unto ages of ages.” The reader answered: “Amen” - and began to read. This custom has long existed in all monasteries so that the monks listen to what they read with much more pleasure than they eat food and drink, so that “a mind can be seen that is not preoccupied with bodily pleasures, but is more amused by the words of the Lord” ( Basil the Great. P. 254).

Having received the blessing, the servants brought the brew and placed it on the refectory table. The cellarer and the cup-maker approached the abbot and took turns bowing before him, asking for a blessing to distribute the brew. Then the cellarer personally brought the abbot some brew in a vessel, and a cup of drink (honey or kvass). The rest of the servants distributed the same brew to the brethren, and the cup-bearer brought drink to everyone. After everything was distributed, the minister closest to the abbot handed him a spoon, and the cellarer said: “Lord bless,” the abbot struck the “candea” (a metal vessel like a small bowl on a leg with a tray, used as a bell).

The monks stood up, and the priest read the prayers required before meals: “Our Father,” “Glory, even now,” “Lord have mercy” (twice), “Lord bless.” At the end of the prayers, the abbot blessed the food and drink: “Christ God, bless the food and drink of your servant, now and ever, and forever and ever.” Everyone sat down and started eating, but only after the abbot began to eat. Each “brashno” required a separate blessing, so during a meal the “candeya” was usually struck “three times”: the first time after bringing in the brew, the second time after bringing in the second food - sochiva, the third time - at the end of the meal. After each call, everyone prayed, as before eating the brew.

If there was “consolation” at the meal - a cup of intoxicating drink, then the cellarer before eating it would say: “Lord bless.” The monks stood up, holding bowls in front of them. The abbot blessed, and the monks, mentally saying the Jesus Prayer, drank them. At the end of the meal, the cellarer said a prayer: “For the prayers of the saints, our fathers (modern pronunciation of the prayer: “Through the prayers of the saints, our fathers...” - E.R.), Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.” The abbot struck the “candea”, the reader stopped reading, made three prostrations before the abbot and, taking the blessing, left. The abbot, taking the “Bread of the Mother of God,” handed it over to the deacon to perform the rite of raising the Panagia. After eating the “Bread,” the abbot read prayers of thanksgiving: “Blessed is God, who has mercy on us and nourishes us with His rich gifts, with His grace and love for mankind always, now and ever, and forever and ever.” The brethren answered: “Amen.” The abbot thanked the servants for the meal: “God will forgive and have mercy on those who served us.” The brethren bowed to the ground before the abbot and dispersed to their cells, without lingering in the refectory.

Fasts and holidays

The monastic meal, as we said above, is most closely connected with worship. The number and composition of dishes and meals during the day - all this depended on what symbol this day was marked in the liturgical charter. If a great holiday happened on Wednesday or Friday, then it was allowed to eat fish, oil and wine (where intoxicating drinks were allowed). On the average holiday there was permission for wine, oil and noun. If a small holiday with praise happened on a fast day, then they did not eat fish, but only food cooked with oil and wine. There were also such small holidays on which only wine was allowed at the meal, and the food was cooked “without sweetness” - without butter. This is how this charter was actually embodied in the everyday life of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. On the twelfth holidays there was always a dinner with fish, even if this day fell on Wednesday or Friday. On a great holiday, for example, in memory of St. John the Theologian (September 26), fish and rolls were also served, but if it coincided with Wednesday or Friday, then dinner was canceled, although fish was left at lunch. On the feasts of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Savvatius of Solovetsky, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, St. Alexis of Moscow, and on the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, the brethren ate fish. But, again, if the holiday fell on a fast day, then there was only lunch, and for lunch they no longer served fresh fish, but real fish. In memory of St. Paul of Obnorsky, the rules for the meal were the same as on the feast of St. Savvaty of Solovetsky, but on a fast day they no longer served meat, but caviar (that is, the holiday was rated an order of magnitude lower).

Most days of the Orthodox calendar are considered fasting: Wednesday, Friday (with the exception of continuous weeks - those weeks when fasting is canceled), and in monasteries there is also Monday, as well as four long fasts: Great (seven weeks before Easter), Nativity or Filippov ( from November 15 to December 24), Petrov or Apostolsky (begins a week after Trinity and ends on July 11) and Assumption (from August 1 to 14). In addition, the holidays of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, the Beheading of John the Baptist and Epiphany Eve (Epiphany Eve) also belong to fast days. Each post has its own charter, but in different monasteries it acquired its own characteristics.

Monastic food, according to the rules, was supposed to be simple and inexpensive. It is clear from the monastery dining rooms that the food was quite varied and as healthy as possible, such as to restore strength even during the most exhausting fast. Moreover, it was necessary to take into account that not everyone can eat the same food, so equivalent food was offered for exchange. For example, milk porridge or milk could be exchanged for eggs, turnips for cucumbers, etc. Duplication of dishes was not allowed at meals: if loaves were served, then rolls were canceled.

In the monasteries they ate once or twice a day. According to the general rule, on fasting days - Monday, Wednesday and Friday - there was only lunch; there was no dinner even on the fasting days of Pentecost.

The usual Lenten lunch of a monk of the Volokolamsk monastery consisted of half of soft bread for a brother and two boiled dishes without oil: cabbage soup with white cabbage or borscht and porridge (instead of porridge they sometimes served “broken peas” or “tsizhenoy peas,” that is, pea grounds), or “porridge on the ear”, the second dish could be replaced with cucumbers. Before Compline, the monks of the Volokolamsk Monastery gathered to drink kvass at Shegnusha. However, according to the charter of the Monk Cornelius of Komel, the monks of his monastery were not allowed to drink kvass on fasting days either after lunch or before Mephimon; These days, everyone except the sick drank only water. If on a fast day there was a big or small holiday with a glorification, then cabbage soup with butter was served with cabbage soup: cabbage or noodles, or “chicken peas” and, in addition, a quarter of a kalach as a festive dish (if they were fed noodles, then kalachi were not served ).

On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday there were two meals: lunch and dinner. The ration of food varied greatly depending on whose health or funeral food fell on that day (on fasting days food was not served). In the Volokolamsk Monastery, the sterns were also divided into several ranks: sovereign large, medium, small. When they fed for the health or repose of the sovereign, the monks had on the table fresh fried fish, two boils with butter, two fish dishes with “broth” and mustard, white rolls “in moderation” (that is, unlimited), pies of two types: some with egg and pepper, others with cheese - and two pancakes with honey per brother.

If the food was average (princely, boyar or great people), then the monks were entitled to two boils with butter, three types of fish dishes (one serving for two), pies with cheese, pancakes with honey, excessive rolls and honey kvass. If the food was less, then the brothers dined on one stew with butter (for example, cabbage soup), two fish dishes, pies and rolls beyond measure, and drank sychen kvass at this dinner. In the books of the cellarer of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, large and large feeds are mentioned “with krushki” (in krushki). The large forum corresponded in importance to the Volokolamsk average; it was held on the days of remembrance of especially revered saints (for example, St. Sergius Radonezh), for the repose of boyars and princes, on special memorial Saturdays, and a big one with krushki was usually held on twelve holidays. So, on September 1, on the feast of St. Simeon the Stylite, there was food in the monastery for Prince Semyon Ivanovich Belsky. The brethren served kalachi, fish with additives, a cup of boiled kvass and a cup of barley kvass. On the memorial Saturday of Dmitrov, the large meal consisted of rolls, two types of pies, large fried fish served in frying pans, and two types of kvass: honey and bark. On Meat Saturday, in addition to feeding the brethren, alms were also given to the monastery workers who worked in numerous yards: people were given three bowls of poluyan kvass (probably barley kvass mixed halfway with rye or oatmeal) and a “digest” of honey. On the feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God, they served a large meal with krusks; on this day, kvass was served better than on September 1: one bowl of honey kvass, the other of bark kvass ( RNB. Cyrus. - Bel. No. 84/1322. L. 46–46 vol.).

At dinner on a non-fasting day, at a fraternal meal, cabbage soup and milk were served; this dish could always be replaced with three eggs or porridge, or kvass; We drank barley kvass at dinner. On Sundays, the monastic table differed in the variety and abundance of dishes from other non-fasting days. For lunch they served a quarter of bread, cabbage soup with white cabbage or borscht, or kislitsa with garlic or onions; with cabbage soup there were two eggs or “broken cows” (loaf - wheat bread with milk, butter and eggs) or lisni (possibly puff pastries) - one for four brothers, or loaves of fish - one for two brothers; The second dish for the Sunday meal was scrambled eggs (then eggs for cabbage soup were abolished) and milk porridge (if the monk wished, he could replace it with the same two eggs); instead of loaves and foxes, rolls were sometimes served.

IN Orthodox calendar There are two twelfth holidays when strict fasting is observed - the holidays of the Exaltation of the Cross and the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. On the Exaltation at the Volokolamsk Monastery they served a quarter of bread, cabbage soup with fresh white cabbage, carrots or turnips with butter (they could be replaced with cucumbers), a quarter of kalach and honey kvass. If the holiday fell on Saturday or Sunday, then the charter allowed dinner and the food was somewhat more varied. At the Kirillo-Belozersk monastery, during the festive lunch, the brethren ate rolls, cabbage soup with pepper, noodles, caviar and a cup of honey kvass. On this day, dinner was served, at which the monks received rolls or white bread, cabbage soup and a stab of honey kvass.

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One day we arrived at a Tibetan monastery right before lunch. First we entered the monastery kitchen, then observed what and how the monks eat. The photo result is in front of you.

Characters: cook, his assistants, heater, monks. Time: lunchtime. The action takes place in the city, in a monastery.

Monastic kitchen

An appetizing sizzling sound can be heard from pots, vats, cauldrons and frying pans. The aroma of vegetable stew wafts.

The cook and assistants walk from boiler to boiler. They are finishing preparations for dinner.

The cook pours out from a giant vat what constitutes the monks' lunch today. This is empty steamed rice (without salt and oil) and spicy vegetable stew.

On the sidelines are products that were not used.

The stoker heats up what was previously cooked.

They put all the food in special dishes, and washed all the vats in which it was prepared.

All kitchen workers wash their hands. Ready for lunch!

The kitchen remains empty.

Great Monastery Square

The cooks carried the pots of food into the square and covered them with rags to prevent dust. On the left are trays of rice, on the right are pots of vegetables. Are waiting. For the first five minutes there is no one.

The monks appear. They carry their own dishes in their hands: a plate, a large bowl or even a saucepan.

They line up.

You get generous portions of rice.

Then the stewed vegetables are placed on the same plate (and sometimes on a second one).

They move away from the “distribution point”.

Back on the square

Monks move in groups or alone.

Some have already received their portion of food, others are just heading to the tables. In addition to the plates, everyone has Chinese chopsticks in their hands.

The monks are seated as they wish. Someone chooses the steps in front of the temple.

Someone sits down at the entrance to the temple.

Someone is sitting right in the square.

Some people eat on the go.

Those who have already eaten can come up for more or chat with friends.

Lunch is a time for casual conversations.

Those who are late also get their portion of rice and stewed vegetables - there is enough for everyone.

Epilogue

Lunch ended and the service began: the monks could be heard chanting mantras in unison.

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I I always thought that monastic food was bread and water. But one day I found myself in the monastery refectory - and my opinion completely changed. More delicious Lenten dishes I've never tried it in my life. What's the secret?

The monks of the St. Panteleimon Monastery, on Mount Athos, always welcome pilgrims cordially. The law of hospitality is strictly observed here - first feed, then ask questions. However, no one will bother you with questions even after dinner: everyone, they believe, has their own path to the temple.
We were not at all surprised by the modesty of the meal: bread, buckwheat porridge, seasoned with stewed vegetables, pea soup with herbs (for which worldly life you won’t even look at it and you certainly won’t even covet it), baked potatoes with sauerkraut, fresh cucumbers and kvass. There were also olives (by the way, as they explained to us, they can be eaten with pits) and dry red wine (on the bottom of the mug). But the taste of these dishes... It amazed us! The most appropriate word in this case is “unearthly.” I asked one of the monks about this. He silently raised his eyes to the sky and quietly, without the slightest hint of didacticism or edification, answered: “It is important with what thoughts, not to mention words, a person begins preparing food and the meal itself. This is what is written about this in Kiev. Pechersk Patericon": "It was given to one old man to see how the same food differed: those who blasphemed food ate uncleanness, those who praised it ate honey. But when you eat or drink, glorify God, because he who blasphemes harms himself.”
The sauerkraut came with carrots, beets and aromatic dill seeds. It was they who gave the winter preparation familiar to us, Russians, an amazing taste. And, as the monks said, such cabbage is very useful for good stomach function. Above the mounds of cabbage, laid out in simple aluminum bowls, towered a glistening soaked apple. Several of these apples must be placed in each tub when sauerkraut is sauerkraut. They also give it a special aroma.

Meat delicacies and baked goods are not for Athonite monks. In their opinion, gluttony is a dangerous trait that entails bodily illnesses and various mental illnesses. Fatty foods “salt the soul,” and sauces and canned food “thin the body.” For Athonite monks, eating is a spiritual process, somewhat of a ritual act. Prayer - while preparing a particular dish (in this case it will definitely succeed), a short prayer before sitting down at the table, prayer after eating food. And the very setting of the spacious and bright refectory, the walls and ceiling of which are painted with paintings of biblical scenes, turns a modest monastic dinner into a festive feast and feast for the soul. “In the same way, a layman’s kitchen,” the monk told me, “should not be a place of family squabbles and political discussions, but only a refectory.”

Most recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Goritsky Resurrection Convent, which opened in 1999. Sisters Yulia and Nadezhda carried out obedience in the monastery refectory. They were young, each of them hardly looked like they were a little over twenty, but they managed with kitchen utensils confidently and without fuss. New items of technological progress, such as mixers and vegetable cutters, have bypassed these holy places. The nuns do everything themselves: they knead the dough in large vats with their hands, and churn the butter with hand buttermilk. And the monastic meal is prepared not on gas in a non-stick cookware, but on a wood-burning stove, in cast iron pots. That’s why, the nuns say, it turns out more tasty, rich and aromatic.
I watched the youngest Nadezhda shredding cabbage and admired: the strips were very thin, one to one, as if each one had been measured out. She lightly salted it, sprinkled it with vegetable oil, put a flower of thawed cranberry beads and dill sprigs on top - not a dish, but a picture, it’s a pity to even eat it, and put it aside with the words; “Let the cabbage give juice, then you can put it on the table.”
I heard somewhere that monks should not arrange their meals beautifully, so I asked Sister Nadezhda about this. “Well,” she answered, “God cannot be against beauty, as long as it comes from a pure heart, does not become an end in itself and does not lead to bitterness if something does not work out. I actually noticed,” she added, “ "that I began to cook very well here, although I never studied it, and I have not yet accumulated much worldly culinary wisdom. It’s just that when you have peace in your soul and love for the world and those who live in it, everything you do turns out well."
As she spoke, she was cutting up a herring to prepare a jellied herring made from salted herring, chopped with mushrooms. The nun had soaked dried white mushrooms in cold water beforehand and now put them on the fire. After they were cooked, I passed them through a meat grinder and mixed them with finely chopped herring fillets. I added black pepper and chopped onion to the minced meat and... started painting a new culinary still life. I shaped the prepared minced meat into a herring, carefully placed the head and tail, placed small sprigs of dill, parsley, and small jugs of boiled carrots around it and filled everything with mushroom broth mixed with swollen gelatin. The result was a lake with delicious fish inside. “You can,” she said, seeing my delighted look, “decorate your dish as you wish.” And it is not necessary to cook it using dried mushrooms. It’s just that my sisters and I collected so many of them over the summer and fall... And if you don’t have dried ones, take regular champignons. Although, in my opinion, not a single mushroom grown in captivity can compare with forest mushrooms. They give off such a spirit!.. It must be said that the dinner for which Sister Nadezhda prepared her “culinary masterpieces” was not festive, and among the guests only a few travelers like me, who were real It’s a stretch to call them pilgrims. But here everyone is accepted and they don’t ask how strong your faith is: if you came, it means your soul is asking.
In addition to the aspic, Nadezhda prepared several more unusual mushroom dishes. For example, mushroom cheese, caviar and some incredibly tasty cold appetizer. Dried mushrooms for it are soaked in water for an hour, and then boiled in salted water until tender. They, as the nuns said, can be replaced with fresh ones: champignons or oyster mushrooms. In this case, just boil the mushrooms, chop them finely, mix with chopped onions, add salt if necessary and pour over the sauce. It is prepared from grated horseradish, diluted with a small amount of strong bread kvass and mushroom broth. The dish is not spicy, but only with a slight aftertaste of horseradish, which should not overwhelm the taste of the mushrooms.
Among the cold appetizers on the table there was also boiled beets in a spicy sauce made from boiled egg yolks, grated horseradish and vegetable oil. This dish was familiar to me, but this was the first time I tried boiled beans fried in oil - very tasty. The dish, as my sisters told me, is simple to prepare, but takes quite a long time. The beans must first be soaked in water for 6-10 hours, then boiled in salted water until tender, but not boiled, drained in a colander, lightly dried in the fresh air and only then fried in vegetable oil until golden brown. A couple of minutes before it’s ready, add sautéed onions to the cauldron, add salt, season to taste and remove from heat. The beans are served cold.
While Nadezhda was conjuring (although this word is not very suitable for a nun) over cold dishes, Yulia was preparing the first and second. For starters there was monastery borscht with beans and kalya (soup cooked in cucumber brine) with fish. For the main course - pilaf with vegetables and raisins, lean cabbage rolls, pumpkin perepecha - something like a pumpkin casserole with rice: pumpkin and rice for this dish are first boiled separately from each other, then mixed, and separately beaten whites and yolks are added to the minced meat and put everything in a greased form. It turns out something between baked goods and a main course. For dessert, the sisters prepared a pie with apples and pies with poppy seeds and honey - makovniki. And although the dough was kneaded without using butter, it turned out fluffy, tender, and the filling... Baking with poppy seeds is generally my weakness.
As you can see, the nuns had a meal and treated the pilgrims without any meat at all. But believe me, we didn’t even notice it. On fasting days, the number of dishes on the table, as the nuns said, decreases, fish, eggs, and dairy products disappear. But the meal does not become less tasty and, of course, remains just as satisfying.
Saying goodbye to the hospitable sisters, I asked: have they heard about the Angel Curls jam? They say that the Virgin Mary gave this recipe to the abbess of one of the Spanish monasteries on the night before Christmas. Pumpkin fibers (in which the seeds are hidden) are boiled in sugar syrup along with pureed hazelnuts. “No,” said the nuns, “we haven’t heard, but we also make jam from pumpkin fibers, which most housewives simply throw away. You just need to separate the fibers from the pulp and seeds, dry them slightly (air-dry). Prepare sugar syrup, pour it over the fibers, leave for a day, and then cook like our jams - for five minutes: 3-4 times for five to seven minutes, (It is important after each cooking to completely cool the jam and only then put it back on the fire.)" Try to cook it too Eating monastery cuisine at home Perhaps then the upcoming Lent will not seem so bland and difficult.

Mushroom cheese

Wash the mushrooms, cover completely with water, add salt and cook until tender for 20 minutes. Drain the water, drain the mushrooms in a colander, pass through a meat grinder, add butter and mix with cheese. Place the resulting mass on clean gauze, roll into a ball and place under a press for an hour. Transfer the cheese cake to a plate, cut into slices, sprinkle with herbs and serve.

Kalya with fish

Wash the fish, cut into portions, add water (2 liters), add roots, Bay leaf, pepper, salt and cook for 15 minutes. Place the salmon pieces in a separate dish, strain the broth, add sauerkraut and cook for 5-7 minutes. Finely chop the onion, place in a frying pan and sauté in oil for 3 minutes. Add diced cucumbers and cook for another 5 minutes, add flour, stir and lightly fry. Place the prepared dressing in the soup, bring to a boil, add fish, cucumber pickle and cook for 10 minutes. Serve with a slice of lemon on each plate and sprinkle with herbs.

Stuffed cabbage rolls with mushrooms

Wash the rice, add one and a half glasses of water and cook until half cooked (about 10 minutes). Wash the mushrooms, chop them, fry in oil (1 tablespoon) for 10 minutes. Chop the onion and sauté in oil (1 tablespoon) until golden brown, combine with mushrooms and rice, add salt, pepper and stir. Disassemble the cabbage into leaves, blanch in boiling water for 3-4 minutes and drain in a colander. Place a tablespoon of filling on each sheet and roll up the cabbage roll. Place the cabbage rolls in a greased fireproof dish (1 tablespoon), sprinkle oil (1 tablespoon) on top and simmer over low heat, covered, for 15 minutes. Serve sprinkled with herbs.

Makovnik

Knead the dough: dissolve sugar in warm water, add yeast, flour (1 tbsp), mix and place in a boiling place. When the dough rises (15 minutes), add salt, vegetable oil (2 tablespoons), the rest of the flour and knead the dough. Knead until it doesn't stick to your hands. Place the dough in the pan, cover with a lid and let rise (45 minutes). Place poppy seeds in a gauze bag and rinse. Melt honey in a water bath. Add the washed poppy seeds, stir and continue cooking, stirring, for 8-10 minutes. Cool. Roll out the dough thinly, spread the poppy seed filling over the entire surface, roll into a roll and place on a greased baking sheet (1 tablespoon), grease the top with the remaining oil and place in an oven preheated to 200 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes.

Vladimir Suprumenko

Lent is one of the strictest fasts in the church calendar. This year it will last until mid-April. Why do many people gain weight during fasting? How to not limit your food intake, but at the same time fast? On what days of the week can you afford butter, squid and how to cook meatless dumplings? The AP correspondent received an invitation to lunch at the Annunciation Church of Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia. ABOUT the right attitude to abstinence - from the first-hand lips of the nuns of the convent.

Monastic lunch

The nuns greet the third morning of Lent without breakfast, allowing themselves only a little prosvira - consecrated bread. For lunch, lean borscht, without meat, boiled buckwheat, black bread and pickles - tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms with onions and tea.

“We usually have dinner with what’s left from lunch,” shares nun Nila (Semernya), who runs the monastery.

The refrigerator in the monastery kitchen contains mostly canned vegetables. “Sometimes there is both cheese and meat here,” Nun Nila smiles. Now there will be no savory products in the church for almost two months, until Easter.

— The principle of cooking during fasting is very simple: cook the same soups, but do not put meat in them, prepare the same dishes, but without prohibited foods - dairy, eggs. It's actually very tasty! — assures the manager of the monastery.

This year, the patriarch blessed people to eat fish on Saturday and Sunday; in the past, fish was on the menu only on Sunday. Sunflower oil is excluded on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The most strict restrictions The first 3-4 days of Lent and its last, Holy Week, differ. Ascetic monks these days lead a particularly ascetic lifestyle and diet - they only include prosvira and holy water on the menu. Assistant manager of Blagoveshchensk women's temple nun Susanna, who has been observing Lent for 18 years in a row, now refuses hot food and doesn’t even drink tea - she eats jacket potatoes, boiled beets, vegetables. Mother is 66 years old; her annual abstinence has made her tastes unpretentious. “I don’t remember the last time I ate sausage, although I used to love it very much. I thought I would never be able to get out of the habit of it, so I bought it with my last penny. And then, when I accepted monasticism, apparently, the grace of God descended,” she says. However, priests are also tempted.

“The first week you really want to eat something. Especially after Pancake week, pancakes with sour cream. The body’s reconstruction takes a long and difficult time, but God helps with prayer,” admits nun Nila.

Maybe some candy

Many people are mistaken when they perceive fasting as a diet. “This is a very wrong approach. Fasting is not preparation for the beach season, but a means of helping in the fight against our passions,” admonishes nun Nila. By the way, this year the rules of abstinence are a little softer.

— The Patriarch blessed us to eat fish on Saturday and Sunday; last year fish was on the menu only on Sunday. Sunflower oil is excluded on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, notes the temple manager.

Therefore, the weekend for those observing fasting turns into a festival of the belly: they prepare dishes stewed with butter, baked in the oven and fried. And it is precisely during dietary restrictions that nuns, on the contrary, often gain kilograms. “Because there are practically no proteins on the menu, more carbohydrates,” explains nun Nila. Appetite increases during Lent - often people pour not a plate of low-calorie borscht, but two. Moreover, there are no portion prohibitions in food for Orthodox Christians.

— We had more than 50 jars of pickles prepared for the winter. We will eat 15 of them during Lent,” the monastery manager calculates.

Also, nutritious foods are not prohibited during fasting: cereals, pasta and even sweets. In the Church of Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia, caramel is preferred for tea.

Who may not fast

“It’s better to eat meat than to eat your neighbor. Fasting is not about food, but about the soul,” Nun Nila deduces the main rule. Beginners in the monastery are advised not to fast without the blessing of the priest and to choose less a long period abstinence. In total, Orthodox Christians have four multi-day fasts a year - in addition to the Great Fast, the Assumption Fast, the Rozhdestven Fast and the Petrov Fast. It’s better to start with the Assumption Fast, it lasts two weeks. Laymen can fast without limiting themselves to food. “Make it a rule to quit smoking during Lent, it will be much more difficult. Or don’t quarrel with your neighbor: always say hello and smile to her, no matter what scandal you might be in. This is a great spiritual work!” - Mother notes.

“You need to limit your entertainment, not go to restaurants, spend more time with your family, pray for the departed and your neighbors, repent of your sins, pay attention to your neighbor - help those in need, visit the sick,” advises the assistant to the temple manager, nun Susanna.

Even deeply religious people can afford not to abstain during fasting in special cases - if illness or profession does not allow excluding certain foods. “These are hospital workers who are on duty around the clock, truck drivers. If the driver denies himself food, he will become dizzy and an emergency situation will be created. It’s better to fulfill your duties, on which people’s lives depend,” says nun Nila. Fasting cannot be forced, which is why Christian families can cook according to the usual recipes for children.

— In ancient times, babies were even weaned during Lent. Now children from the age of seven receive communion and confession; it is advisable that from this year they observe fasting,” notes Mother Susanna.

Interestingly, Lent today has gone beyond Christian culture. It is often observed by secular people as well. “Everyone has a Christian soul, but some keep it as if in a cage. They say: “I don’t believe it.” We all believe! Something happens, we say: “Lord!” If a person fasts, it is for a reason. Over time, in small steps, he will come to God. Many come to him already in adulthood,” Mother Susanna is sure.

Those who are fasting are allowed shrimp and chocolate.

It is a myth that during the long period of Lent, Christians become tired of monotonous food. “We once made a list of dishes for Lent, and after seven weeks we still didn’t have time to cook them all!” - Mother Susanna surprises. The list of Lenten recipes includes borscht, cabbage soup with sauerkraut and fresh cabbage, rassolnik, and all kinds of soups with different grains. In the spring, the nunnery places okroshka on the table.

“We cook it in sparkling water, add grated loba, potatoes, fresh cucumbers, onions and mayonnaise sauce, which does not contain eggs,” says nun Susanna.

Fasting is not preparation for the beach season, but a means of helping in the fight against our passions.

There is a wide choice of salads: you can cut vinaigrette, Lenten Olivier (without sausage), and on fish days - “Herring under a fur coat”. Vegetables are baked, fried with soy meat, stuffed. “We stuff peppers with rice or millet with carrots and onions, and we use the same principle to prepare cabbage rolls,” Nun Nila gives an example. There are a lot of baked goods on the Lenten menu. The dough is prepared in water, without eggs and milk. “To make it soft, you need to add a little vegetable oil,” the nun shares gastronomic subtleties. And you can cook dumplings and pies with cabbage, potatoes, mushrooms and berries.

Sweets include honey, jam, dried fruit, any Lenten baked goods, and even chocolate. Drinks include compotes, fruit drinks, juices, jelly, kvass. Some exotic dishes for our table can also be called lean - for example, tofu cheese or shrimp. “But the table should be simple, moderate. It is better to avoid expensive dishes and give alms,” notes Nun Nila.

Dumplings with radish

— Once we were preparing dumplings with black radish. The radish needs to be grated on a fine grater and soaked in water several times to remove the bitterness. Then salt it and add butter to the filling. The dumplings turn out juicy and tasty,” says Mother Susanna.

Everyone who, while living in a monastery, visited the monastery refectory, is surprised at how delicious the food is there, although the products are the simplest. To the question, what is the secret?

The monks themselves unanimously answer: “There are no secrets here, it’s just that when you cook and when you eat, you need to pray.” But still there are some general principles, which are observed in most monasteries, following the instructions of the holy fathers.

Firstly, you cannot eat your fill; food should not burden your stomach. You should leave the meal with a slight feeling of hunger, which, by the way, is absolutely correct, since according to all the laws of our nature, satiety occurs half an hour after eating.

Secondly, whenever possible, food should be plant-based and devoid of any spices. As they explained to us at the Solovetsky Monastery, “there is a fine line between satisfying the feeling of hunger and pleasing the whims of the flesh. A monk needs to learn to distinguish between it well. It is no coincidence that gluttony or guttural rage is the first tool of the devil with which he approaches the heart of a monk, suggesting that this is the only joy left to him from the world."

To avoid such temptations, monks adhere to simple rules: food should be simple, nutritious, healthy and contain essential vitamins. Food serves to satiate and maintain strength, nothing more.

Brest Nativity of the Virgin Monastery

Lenten brine cookies

1 glass of brine (preferably from canned tomatoes), 1 tsp. soda, three-quarters of a glass of vegetable oil, three-quarters of a glass of sugar, 1 packet (11 g) of vanilla sugar, flour.

Mix brine, vegetable oil and sugar, add vanilla sugar and flour. The dough should be dense enough so that it can be rolled out into a layer 1 cm thick. Cut out cookies with a cookie cutter and bake in a well-heated oven until golden brown.

Oatmeal jelly (lenten jellied meat)

500 g oatmeal, 3 crusts of rye (yeast) bread, salt, sugar - to taste.

Pour oatmeal warm water so that they are completely covered. Place the bread crusts in the pan and place in a warm place for a day, stirring occasionally. Strain through cheesecloth, add 0.5 liters of water, salt, sugar. Place over low heat, stirring constantly, bring to a boil, leave for 5 minutes after boiling. Remove from heat, pour into bowls, and let harden.

Lenten gingerbread

4 cups flour, 2 cups sugar. One glass of raisins, finely chopped walnuts, vegetable oil and dried fruit decoction, 25 g ground cinnamon, 2 tablespoons vinegar, 2 teaspoons soda, salt to taste.

Grind sugar, salt and cinnamon thoroughly with vegetable oil. Add raisins minced through a meat grinder and chopped walnuts. Dilute with a decoction of dried fruits and add soda. Then gradually add flour, add vinegar and stir. Pour the dough into a greased and floured pan and place in the oven. Bake at 170ºC for 50-60 minutes.

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Recipes for Lenten dishes:

• Lenten recipes- Orthodox fasts and holidays
• Life without oil (Lent recipes)- Victoria Sverdlova
• Lenten recipes: breakfasts
• Lenten recipes: salads and snacks- Boring Garden
• Recipes for Lenten dishes: Lenten soups
• Recipes for Lenten dishes: main courses- Nina Borisova, Maxim Syrnikov
• Lenten recipes: baked goods and desserts- Nina Borisova
• Lenten recipes: drinks during fasting- Maxim Syrnikov, Nina Borisova
• - Alexey Reutovsky
• The history of Russian cuisine: in Russia we are doomed to eat porridge- Maxim Syrnikov
• Special dishes of Lent: crosses, larks, ladders, grouse- Maxim Syrnikov
• Kolivo: Athonite recipe- Boring Garden
• Fruit table- Pravoslavie.Ru
• Recipes for the Nativity Fast: lentil soup, bread salad, green soup, squid stew, eggplant, avocado appetizer, solyanka with squid and cuba, couscous, kozinaki, toast with apples, etc. - Ekaterina Savostyanova
• Recipes for the New Year- Ekaterina Savostyanova
• Maslenitsa: 10 best recipes- Orthodoxy and peace
• How I made the ancient Roman sauce garum(with photographs and comments) - culinary reconstruction - Maxim Stepanenko

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Trinity-Sergius Lavra

Millet porridge with pumpkin

1 liter of water, 100 grams of pumpkin, a glass of millet.

Sort the millet and rinse. Grate the pumpkin, add water and cook for half an hour. After this, add millet, salt, sugar and cook until tender.

Celery salad

600 g celery root, 200 g each carrot and apple, 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Grate the root, add grated carrots, apple, sprinkle with lemon juice - so that the apple does not darken. Season with vegetable oil.

Trinity Seraphim-Diveevo Convent

Bishop's cutlets

Half a loaf of white bread, 3-4 onions, a glass of peeled walnuts (they replace meat and fish), two potatoes, a clove of garlic.

Pass all other ingredients through a meat grinder. Add garlic, salt, ground pepper.

There is no need to add oil to the minced meat, because... When frying, colettes absorb oil very well.

Do not skimp on breadcrumbs; they form a crust during frying, which prevents the cutlets from falling apart. Make the colettes small and thick so that you can turn them over later.

I think you can experiment: add a can of canned beans or mushrooms to the minced meat, or double the proportion of potatoes.

Pyukhtitsky Assumption Convent

Pea porridge

500 g peas, 2 - 4 onions, vegetable oil, salt to taste.

Place the peas in a large saucepan, wash thoroughly in cold water and add 1.5 liters of water. Leave for 1 hour, then put on high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, carefully skim off foam and cook until tender, stirring frequently. Cooking time depends on the variety and quality of peas and can range from 45 minutes to 2-3 hours. The peas should boil down: turn into a homogeneous mass, like puree. Add salt to taste, add finely chopped onion fried in vegetable oil and arrange on plates, sprinkling fried onion rings on top. Pea porridge can be cooled in the form, then cut into pieces and served as a cold appetizer.

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky stauropegial monastery

Lentils with beets

500 g green lentils, 1 large beetroot, vegetable oil, salt and spices to taste.

Wash the lentils and pour cold water and bring to a boil over high heat. Skim off the foam, reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 40 minutes, adding salt. Peel the raw beets and grate them on a coarse grater. Place the beets in the pan with the lentils and cook for 5 minutes. Add chopped garlic and spices - ground black pepper, turmeric, garam masala. Remove from heat and leave for 30-60 minutes. You can add vegetable oil. It turns out to be a very tasty dish with a borscht flavor.

Tea in Solovetsky style

Mix three types of tea in equal proportions - black, green and red (hibiscus). Take a herbal mixture - mint, lemon balm, oregano, thyme, cloudberry, a little chamomile and mix in equal quantities. The herbal collection can amount to one-quarter to one-tenth of the tea.

It is better to first put the herbs in boiling water, wait 5 minutes, and then add the tea mixture. Wait 5 minutes again and strain through a colander. This tea can be stored and heated.

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery

Valaam cabbage soup (with mushrooms)

A handful of dried mushrooms, 4 potatoes, 250-300 g of white cabbage, 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 bay leaf, salt and pepper to taste.

Soak dried mushrooms in the evening cool water. In the morning, strain the water through a fine sieve or cheesecloth into a separate container (do not pour it out, we will need it later). Wash the mushrooms, cut into slices and place in boiling salted water. Cook for 1 hour until done. Chop the onion into small cubes, cut the carrots into thin strips and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. Add diced potatoes and thinly shredded cabbage to the pan. After 10 minutes, add the prepared carrots and onions and cook for another 15 minutes. The cabbage should not be overcooked, but remain slightly crispy. Shortly before it is ready, add a bay leaf to the soup and pour in the reserved mushroom infusion. Pour into bowls and season with black pepper to taste.

Potato salad

3-4 potatoes, 1 carrot, 200 g frozen green beans, 100 g frozen green peas, 10 olives, 1 onion, several sprigs of dill and parsley, salt to taste, unrefined sunflower oil.

Boil carrots and potatoes in their skins, cool, peel and cut into cubes. Steam the green beans and green pea. Combine potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, sliced ​​pitted olives and diced onion in a large bowl. Sprinkle with finely chopped herbs - parsley and (or) dill and pour over sunflower oil. Add salt to taste and mix gently.

500 g buckwheat, 1 large carrot, 1 onion, 300 g frozen green beans, 2 tbsp. l. tomato puree (you can use crushed tomatoes in their own juice), 1 tbsp. l. flour, vegetable oil, chopped herbs, salt to taste.

Cook crumbly buckwheat porridge. While the porridge is cooking, prepare the vegetable part of the dish. To do this, finely chop the carrots, cut the onions into small cubes and fry in a deep frying pan in sunflower oil until golden brown. Boil green beans in a small amount of salted water for 5 minutes from the moment of boiling, drain the broth and transfer the beans to the frying pan with the rest of the vegetables. In a dry frying pan small size Add flour and fry lightly. Add vegetable oil, tomato puree and mix, not allowing lumps to form. Dilute with hot water until sour cream thickens, heat to a boil and pour into a frying pan with vegetables. Cook for a few minutes, add salt if necessary. Place buckwheat porridge and vegetables into plates, sprinkle with chopped herbs and serve immediately.

Alexey Reutovsky