...This chapter assesses how the outbreak of war and then revolution subjected all Orthodox monastic communities in the Russian empire to a confluence of economic, social, and political challenges that ultimately led to their dissolution. While this outcome is not surprising given the ideology...

...This chapter evaluates how the Convent of the Exaltation of the Cross remained above all a religious community which provided “a bridge or meeting point between heaven and Earth” and a “locus par excellence of encounter with the divine.” As with other Russian Orthodox monastic communities...