ЧЕРНЕЦТВО ЙОРДАНСЬКОГО І БОГОСЛОВСЬКОГО ЖІНОЧИХ МОНАСТИРІВ МІСТА КИЄВА В ДРУГІЙ ПОЛОВИНІ XVIII СТОЛІТТЯ

Abstract

The article deals with the social composition of Yordanskyi and Bohoslovskyi convents in the second half of the 18th century before the secularization reform of 1786–1788. This topic has not found comprehensive coverage in historiography, as researchers of the history of these monasteries have paid more attention to the founding, coexistence of monasteries, their architectural features. The study is based on an analysis of archival documents from the funds of the Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine (Kyiv) (TSDIAK), on the information about nuns of Kyiv convents in 1777, which was published in the journal «Kyiv Antiquity», and on the work of previous scholars who described the monastic community of these monasteries. The study describes the dynamics of changes in the number of nuns: from 1757 to 1779–1780 the number of women decreased, but later until 1786 there was a reverse trend. The number of nuns in the Bohoslovskyi convent was higher than in 1757, but before the secularization reform, the Yordanskyi convent still outnumbered. It is determined that the average age of nuns was 51 and 52 years, as of 1779 most nuns belonged to the age range of 41–50 years. It is found the majority of the women came from the Left and Right Bank Ukraine, cases of living of representatives of other regions were isolated. The number of nuns of cossack and peasant origin was bigger than townswomen, nuns of noble origin as well as women who were priest widows or daughters. Violations of the norms and rules of monastic life by some nuns were considered, including escape, drunkenness, leaving the territory of the monastery without the consent of superioress, meetings with men. Cases of children living with nuns caused by the death of their parents are mentioned.