Holy Myrrhbearers Monastery
Monastic Vocation
What Are the Stages of Monastic Life?
A woman considering monastic life begins by visiting monasteries to find a community that feels like a good fit for her. After one or more visits, she can ask the Abbess for a blessing to stay on as a postulant to test her vocation.
Postulant
The postulant stage is the first formal step toward becoming a nun. During this time, a woman begins living the daily life of the monastery, joining the sisters in prayer, worship, work, meals, and community life. She wears her own clothes, with a kerchief given to her by the monastery.
She has not yet made monastic vows, so this remains a time of prayer and discernment. With guidance from the Abbess and the sisters, the postulant learns the rhythms and responsibilities of monastic life while considering whether she is called to continue to the next stage as a novice.
Novice
The novice stage is the next step in monastic life, when a woman begins a deeper period of spiritual formation and preparation. She takes on a fuller role within the monastery, following its daily rhythm of prayer, worship, work, and community life while learning more about the responsibilities of becoming a nun. She starts to wear a habit (podryassnik) and headcovering (apostlenik), and is called Sister.
A novice has not yet made her monastic vows. This stage gives her time to grow in faith, obedience, and commitment while continuing to discern her calling under the guidance of the Abbess and the monastic community.
Ryassafore Nun
The Ryassafore stage marks a deeper commitment to monastic life. At this stage, a nun takes initial vows and is formally clothed in the ryassa, or monastic robe. She continues growing into the life of prayer, obedience, service, and community, and to be called Sister.
A Ryassafore nun has made a serious commitment to the monastic path but has not yet taken the full vows associated with the Great Schema. She continues her spiritual formation under the guidance of the Abbess while taking on greater responsibilities within the monastery.
Schema Nun
By being tonsured to the Schema, a woman chooses to live as a nun for the remainder of her life in obedience, chastity, poverty and stability. She is instructed again during the service about the meaning of the life of an Orthodox nun and asked questions clearly concerning her will to live this life in obedience to the call of Christ, to her abbess and to all of her sisters, accepting all that will come for the rest of her life as from God's hand.
To all of this she responds "Yes." Prayers and tonsure are followed by being clothed in the monastic habit or Schema which for us means the mantia, or the monastic cloak. She is now called Mother and given a new name. This final stage is also called life profession.
Tonsure at Holy Myrrhbearers
Monastery
On June 5, 2007, our Sister Eugenia was tonsured a Schema Nun and given the name Mother Katherine. Father Juvenaly from St. Tikhon's Monastery in South Canaan, our Trustees, and many guests joined us on this joyous day. Mother Katherine is our shepherdess, and we think she was secretly hoping to receive a sheepskin (the early form of the Schema given by fourth-century monastics in the Egyptian desert), in place of her mantia... May Christ bless His servant!
