Proshora baking

Dear friends!

Did you know that to bake phosphorus one could use the flour of the highest grade only?

The wheat of special sort was grown at Lavra’s household areas but not all of them were adapted for those types of agricultural works. The most favorable soils were in Dymer household, however, Lavra often bought cereals from its subjects, who grew them on Lavra’s lands. Thus, monastery often paid money for “pigs sold in prosphorous obedience”.

The novices of proshora baking “service” did not eat meat at all. In view of this, Fr. Herman, the supervisor of Lavra’s storehouses, received a warrant from the Ecclesiastical Council, according to which he was to ensure the issuance of “additional amount of oil for the novices in prosphorous obedience”. It was a monthly 4 quarts of hemp oil. If the usual monthly portion was 6 quarts, then each novice of proshora baking “service” had the right to receive 10 quarts (more than 12 liters) of oil.

This choice of diet by the novices who baked proshorus for Lavra in the 1780s was obviously conditioned by the “moral code” of their obedience. They had to fast and prey like the icon painter.

Natalia Lytvyn

Captions to the illustrations:
1. View of prosphora baking “service” and Printing House of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Early 20th century. (From the collection of the National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”)
2. Proshorus