Female Monasticism in an Age of Challenge: The Convent of the Intercession in Suzdal (1700–1800)

Abstract

This study examines how the eighteenth-century assault on monastery property and privilege through secularization attempts affected female monasticism, using as a case study the Convent of the Intercession (or the Protection) of the Mother of God in Suzdal, one of the largest and wealthiest of female cloisters. To some degree, the Intercession convent resembled any large monastery, and hence conclusions about this particular convent may indicate larger patterns in other first-tier monastic institutions. Two avenues are explored: first, how the attempts to sequester church property by Peter the Great and subsequently Catherine II affected the economic position of female monasteries in general and the Convent of the Intercession in particular, and second, how attempts to prevent tonsures influenced both the number of monastics and their social estate. At the Intercession Convent, rationalizing measures under Peter and full-scale secularization under Catherine that sequestered large tracts of land and thousands of peasants resulted in steady decline in monastic assets and revenues. The expropriation of monastic wealth institutionally and economically preceded the final and formal sequestration by Catherine II in 1764. The decline in wealth also had consequences for the number of monastics and their social estate. Coupled with restrictions on tonsure and ultimately the closure of many monasteries, the number of monastics in the empire and at the Intercession Convent fell by about three-quarters over the course of the eighteenth century, causing widespread displacement. As a result of this contraction and a number of social forces, the estate profile of the convent changed as well; in the early eighteenth century large numbers of noblewomen lived at the convent, but by the end of the eighteenth century their number was negligible—they had been replaced by peasants and members of the clerical estate. Unwittingly, Peter’s attempts to reduce the number of monastics, in tandem with his selectivity in placement, meant that the nobility were essentially driven out of convent life, allowing for a greater influx of non-nobles. With the secularization of church lands in 1764, Catherine finished what Peter had not been able to do. Although the seizures brought hardship to many monasteries and destroyed complex and long-standing communities, they likely made convents less attractive to elites, which helped accelerate two important processes: the feminization of monasticism, and its democratization, which in turn helped strengthen the bond between the Church and the people, in particular, women. The flowering of monasticism, ironically, owes much to these secularizing rulers. Refs 71.