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The Holy Mountains Lavra near the city of Sviatohirsk, Ukraine.

A lavra or laura (Greek: Λαύρα; Cyrillic: Ла́вра) is a type of monastery consisting of a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center. It is erected within the Orthodox and other Eastern Christian traditions. The term is also used by some Roman Catholic communities.^[1] The term in Greek initially meant a narrow lane or an alley in a city.^[2][3]

History

From the fifth century the Greek term laura could refer specifically to the semi-eremitical monastic settlements of the Judean desert, where lauras were very numerous. The first lauras of Palestine were founded by St. Chariton (born 3rd century, died ca. 350): the Laura of Pharan (northeast of Jerusalem), the Laura of Douka (west of Jericho) and Souka Laura or Old Laura in the area of the Tekoa Valley.^[4][5]

Saint Euthymius the Great (377-473) founded one of the early lauras in fifth-century Palestine.^[6] The Lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified (†532) in the Kidron Valley (known in Arabic as Mar Saba), is one of the most ancient and almost continuously functioning monasteries in the Christian Church.

Saint Gerasimus established a similar system in the Jordan Valley in the middle of the fifth century, with 70 cells surrounding a cenobium and with monks progressing into the cells after time spent in the cenobium. Weekdays were spent in the cells, accompanied only by a rush mat, a small amount of food and palm blades with which to make ropes and baskets. On Saturdays the monks would bring their handiwork to the cenobium and receive communion together, returning to their cells on Sunday evening. Cells were left open, and those in need could take whatever they wished from a cell if it were found empty. The lavra had a priest, the lavra's contact with the outside world, and at least two ordained deacons.

Some modern Coptic authors, and they alone, already apply the specific Greek term lavra to even earlier monastic settlements from the Nitrean desert and even attribute the writing down of the formal rules of a lavra to the Egyptian sanctified monk Macarius the Great in AD 330.^{[citation needed]} Unless proven otherwise by future scholarship, this opinion seems to be theirs alone.

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.^[7]

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

The largest and the most important Russian Orthodox monasteries have been called lavras and became subordinated directly to the Patriarch of Moscow. In 1721 they became subordinated to the Holy Synod.

List of lavras

• 
  Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople:
  
  • 
    Megisti Lavra, Mount Athos (10th century): the Great Lavra
  
  


• 
  Georgian Orthodox Church:
  
  • 
    David Gareja Lavra (since 1505)^{[citation needed]}
    
  
  


• 
  Church of Greece:
  
  • Agia Lavra
  
  


• 
  Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem:
  
  • 
    Lavra of St. Sabbas (Mar Saba) (532)
  
  


• 
  Polish Orthodox Church:
  
  • 
    Supraśl Lavra (since 1505)^{[citation needed]}
    
  
  


• 
  Romanian Orthodox Church:
  
  • 
    Neamț Lavra (since 15th century)
  
  


• 
  Russian Orthodox Church:
  
  
  
  • 
    Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra (since 1744) Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra
  
  
  • 
    Alexander Nevsky Lavra (since 1797) St. Alexander Nevsky Lavra
  
  
  
  


• 
  Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church:
  
  • 
    Univ Lavra (since 1898) Univ Holy Dormition Lavra of the Studite Rite
  
  


• 
  Ukrainian Orthodox Church:
  
  
  
  • 
    Kiev Pechersk Lavra (since 1051) Kiev Caves Lavra
  
  
  • 
    Pochayiv Lavra (since 1833) Pochayiv-Dormition Lavra
  
  
  • 
    Holy Mountains Lavra (since 2004)
  
  
  
  

See also

• Cenobitic monasticism


• Hermitage


• Skete

References

Sources

• 
  Parry, Ken; David Melling, eds. (1999). The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity. Malden, MA.: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-23203-6.
  


• 
  Lewin, Ariel (2005). The Archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine. Getty Trust Publications. ISBN 0-89236-800-4.
  

External links

• 
  (in English) The Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra
  


• Photo of "Holy Mountain" (Sviatogorskaya) Lavra in Ukraine


• 
   Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Laura". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.