Holy Transfiguration New Valamo Monastery During the Administration of the Finnish Orthodox Church by Archbishop Paul (Olmari)
The article provides an overview of little-studied aspects of the inner life of the Holy Transfiguration New Valamo Monastery in the second half of the 20th century. Te New Valamo Monastery was founded in 1939 by the monks of Holy Transfiguration Valaam Monastery, who were forced to leave the island of Valaam in connection with its transfer from Finland to the Soviet Union following the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940. Te second primate of the Finnish Orthodox Church, Archbishop Paul (Olmari), who received his monastic formation on Old Valaam, had a special role in the life of the monastery in the new conditions and the preservation of monastic life there. The involvement of young Finnish-speaking residents, the normalization of financial and economic life, the construction of the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral, the modification of the monastic charter, the transformation of the monastery into the largest Orthodox spiritual and educational centre in Scandinavia - all of this became possible thanks to the efforts of Archbishop Paul. Te main sources for this article are unexplored materials from the State Archives of the Russian Federation and the Archive of the New Valamo Monastery