Icon 2
From The Golden Age of Russian Literature
Revision as of 16:27, 25 April 2009 by Susanna Merrill (talk | contribs) (New page: Orthodox clergy are divided into the “white clergy,” or married priests, or “black clergy,” those who have taken monastic vows. A priest had to either marry or take vows. The bla...)
Orthodox clergy are divided into the “white clergy,” or married priests, or “black clergy,” those who have taken monastic vows. A priest had to either marry or take vows. The black clergy was rather more respected than the white, and had greater ecclesiastical privileges: only monks could become bishops, for instance. The Russian countryside is full of walled monasteries like this one.
Monks wore black robes, with a distinctive tall hat:
(photograph by Maksim Dmitriev, 1897)
