"retreat"

[Svitlana Kobets]

It's quite interesting that for all the emphasis that Orthodox Christianity
makes on 'sobornost',' Russian does not have a term which would render
adequately the meaning of 'retreat'. Ukrainian, for that matter, does not
have such a term either. In Russian we find 'uedinenie', 'otshel'nichestvo,'
'palomnichestvo', which in Ukrainian stand for 'usamitnennia,'(1,2) and
'palomnytstvo'. All these Russian and Ukrainian nouns indicate that the
devout person retreats from the society in order to be alone, to spend time
in prayer and meditation. As far as I know in Russian Orthodoxy there have
been no tradition of educational activities other than preaching/ listening
to the preacherings during the church service. Retreats as educational
activities did not exist in Orthodox Christian traditions. Yet there exists
an educational paradigm of sorts. In pursuit of godly life, bliss, etc.,
ascetics would go into hermetic or monastic seclusion and eventually (in the
best case scenario) would achieve sanctity. After that they would become an
attraction for pilgrims. The first two terms cover the activities of the
prospective teacher/master/educator/saint, while the last one points to
those who would go to partake in the saint's blessedness, bliss, and
knowledge of the divine truths. There were other 'educational' paradigms as
well: we know that it was a usual thing for the literate members of the
congregation to read religious literature (Bible, Lives of Saints,
apocrypha, Q&A) for the illiterate ones. I guess the interpreters of the
Revelation fall into this category as well (Dostoievsky's Liebiadkin, for
example). Another paradigm, I can think of, is that of wandering
ascetics/monks, Skovoroda being the best known case in Ukraine/Imperial
Russia. This paradigm (saints/ascetics returning to the society in order to
share their bliss) emerged in Early Christianity and for a while was quite
popular (e.g. St. Serapion the Sendonite). As far as I know, nowadays in the
Former Soviet States seminars, retreats, and other educational activities
are provided for Protestant Christian congregations by Western missionaries.


Svitlana Kobets

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------