ssian monastery was founded at Kiev (_c._ 1050) by a
monk from Mount Athos. The monastic institute had a great development in
Russia, and at the present day there are in the Russian empire some 400
monasteries of men and 100 of women, many of which support hospitals,
almshouses and schools. In the other Slavonic lands there are a
considerable number of monasteries, as also in Greece itself, while in the
Turkish dominions there are no fewer than 100 Greek monasteries. The
monasteries are of three kinds: _cenobia_ proper, wherein full monastic
common life, with personal poverty, is observed; others called
_idiorrhythmic_, wherein the monks are allowed the use of their private
means and lead a generally mitigated and free kind of monastic life; and
the _lauras_, wherein the life is semi-eremitical. Greek and Slavonic monks
wear a black habit. The visits of Western scholars in modern times to Greek
monasteries in search of MSS.--notably to St Catherine's on Mount Sinai,
and to Mount Athos--has directed much attention to contemporary Greek
monachism, and the accounts of these expeditions commonly contain
descriptions, more or less sympathetic and intelligent, of the present-day
life of Greek monks. The first such account was Robert Curzon's in parts
iii. (1834) and iv. (1837) of the _Monasteries of the Levant_; the most
recent in English is Athelstan Riley's _Athos_ (1887). The life is mainly
given up to devotional contemplative exercises; the church services are of
extreme length; intellectual study is little cultivated; manual labour has
almost disappeared; there are many hermits on Athos (_q.v._).

The ecclesiastical importance of the monks in the various branches of the
Orthodox Church lies in this, that as bishops must be celibate, whereas the
parochial clergy must be married, the bishops are all recruited from the
monks. But besides this they have been a strong spiritual and religious
influence, as is recognized even by those who have scant sympathy with
monastic ideals (see Harnack, _What is Christianity?_ Lect. xiii., end).

Outside the Orthodox Church are some small congregations of Uniat
Basilians. Besides Grottaferrata, there are Catholic Basilian monasteries
in Poland, Hungary, Galicia, Rumania; and among the Melchites or Uniat
Syrians.

There have been Basilian nuns from the beginning, St Macrina, St Basil's
sister, having established a nunnery which was under his direction. The
nuns are devoted to a purely con