The revival of the monasteries’ and convents’ social work practice: lost experience in retrospective and current trends

The article is devoted to considering the social role of Orthodox monasteries and convents in Russia in the past and at the present stage. The author describes the social work (social service) tradition in the monasteries and convents, analyzes the scope of their social assistance to people and state in the past, identifies the problems of reviving the social service practice at the current stage as well as suggests the possible ways of overcoming these problems.