XVIII. The Monasteries

1. The monastery is a church institution, living and acting in which is a community of men or women, consisting of Orthodox Christians who voluntarily have chosen the monastic way of life for spiritual and moral perfection, confessing the Orthodox faith together.

2. The decision on the opening /abolition of monasteries shall belong to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and to the Holy Synod on the presentation from the diocesan bishop.
The monastery can be registered as a legal entity in the order established by the legislation of respective country.

3. Stavropegic monasteries shall be proclaimed as such by the decision of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod provided the canonical procedure is observed.

4. The stavropegic monasteries shall be under the supervision and canonical administration of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia or those Synodal institutions which shall be blessed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to exercise such supervision and administration.
By the decision of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod the stavropegic monasteries may have attached monasteries. The activity of the monastery attached to the stavropegic one shall be regulated by the statute of the stavropegic monastery to which this monastery is attached, and by its own civil statute.
The monasteries attached to the stavropegic ones shall be under the supervision and canonical administration of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia or of those Synodal institutions blessed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to exercise such supervision and administration.

5. The diocesan monasteries shall be under the supervision and canonical administration of the diocesan bishops.
In compliance with the resolution of the Holy Synod, the diocesan bishop may be appointed hiero-archimandrite of the historical or the largest monasteries in the diocese.
Hegumens of the diocesan monasteries, the hiero-archimandrite of which is the diocesan bishop, shall be called father superiors and shall be elevated to the rank of hegumen in accordance with the established order.

6. In the event that one, several or all inhabitants of the monastery withdraw from it, they shall have no right to the property and assets of the monastery and shall not make any claims to such.

7. Joining the monastery or withdrawing from it shall be executed by the decrees of the diocesan bishop on the presentation from the father superior /mother superior or the abbot.

8. The monasteries shall be governed and live in accordance with the provisions of the present Statute, the civil statute, the Regulations on Monasteries and Monasticism and their own statutes, which must be approved by the diocesan bishop.

9. The monasteries can have their own metochions. The metochion is a community of Orthodox Christians under the supervision of the monastery and located beyond its confines. The activities of the metochion shall be regulated by the statute of the monastery to which the metochion belongs and by its own civil statute. In the ecclesiastical-hierarchical/canonical order the metochion shall come under the diocesan bishop of the diocese in the territory of which it is located, and in administrative matters – under the same bishop as the monastery. In the event of the metochion being located in the territory of another diocese, the names of both the diocesan bishop and the bishop in the territory of whose diocese the metochion is located shall be commemorated during the divine services in the metochion church.

10. In the event the monastery takes a decision to withdraw from the hierarchical structure and jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church, this monastery shall no longer be recognized as belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church. This shall entail the cessation of the activity of the monastery as a religious organization of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the monastery shall be deprived of the right to the property that belonged to the monastery by the right of ownership, or use, or on any other legal basis, as well as the right to use the name and symbols of the Russian Orthodox Church in its designation.