Lavra

History

Byzantine laura/lavra

From the fifth century the Greek term laura could refer specifically to the semi-

Saint Euthymius the Great (377–473) founded one of the early lauras in fifth-century Palestine.^[7] The Lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified (†532) in the Kidron Valley (known in Syriac as Mar Saba), is one of the most ancient and almost continuously functioning monasteries in the Christian Church.

The Great Lavra founded by Athanasius the Athonite in 963 is the oldest monastery on Mount Athos in Greece.

Coptic tradition

Some modern

Their claim is that the lavrite style of living has its origins in the early fourth century, by equating the creation of the first lavras with the founding of a settlement of cells in the Nitrean desert at a site known as Nitria, named for the nearby town of the same name (near Alexandria in Egypt). It was a community of 600 hermits who lived scattered over the area, reliant on the town of Nitria for bread, but with their own priest and church.^[8]

Russian lavras

The largest and the most important

• Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople:
  • Great Lavra, Mount Athos (10th century):
• Georgian Orthodox Church:
  • David Gareja monastery complex (since 1505)^{[citation needed]}
• Church of Greece:
  • Agia Lavra (since 961)
• Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem
  :
  • Mar Saba (532)
• Polish Orthodox Church:
  • Supraśl Orthodox Monastery (since 1505)^{[citation needed]}
• Romanian Orthodox Church:
  • Neamț Monastery (since 15th century)
• Russian Orthodox Church:
  • Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (since 1744)
  • Alexander Nevsky Lavra (since 1797)
• Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church:
  • Pochaiv Lavra (since mid-18th century^[9])
  • Univ Lavra (since 1898)
• Ukrainian Orthodox Church:
  • Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (since 1051)
  • Pochaiv Lavra (since 1833)
  • Sviatohirsk Lavra (since 2004)

See also

• Cenobitic monasticism
• Hermitage
• Skete

References