Last modified on Wednesday May 25, 2005 at 6:25 PM UTC
Adjoining Russicum is the ―
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Fifteen minutes by bus from the Piazza San Pietro, this small Russian monastery for women has as its primary scope the pursuit of a life of contemplation, liturgy and prayer according to the grand tradition of Eastern Christian monasticism.
It was established by the Congregation for the Eastern Churches with the encouragement of Pope Pius XII according to a project presented by the then secretary of the Congregation, Cardinal Tisserant.
Like the cathedral in Moscow and several other Russian churches throughout the world, the monastery is dedicated to the Mother of God as manifested in the Mystery of her "Uspenie", or Dormition (lit. "falling asleep"), according to the Eastern Christian tradition and the "Assumption" according to the Western Christian tradition, thus the name (in Italian) of this foundation is Monastero russo Uspenskij (the Russian Monastery of the Dormition).
There is an attractive little chapel dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos and arranged according to the Russian liturgical usage. The language of prayer is Church Slavonic; the languages of the members of the community are Russian, and some Italian and English.
See also the Web site of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Milan (in Italian) and follow the links to the official Web pages of the Holy Metropolia of Milan (in English).