Historical and demographic portrait of the hermits in the second half of 18th century (on the example of the women of the Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral of Ladino)

An attempt to present a historical and demographic portrait of the hermits of early modern times was made on the example of the women of the Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral of Ladino. The materials of the act, monastic office work, fiction, folk oral creativity and ego-documents create conditions for disclosing the quantitative correlation, names, geography of origin, class, age, family background, the reasons for feminist-religious marginalization, the peculiarities of entering into the monastic order and partial penetration into the inner world of everyday life, experiences, suffering, life searches for individuals. As a result of the research, the differences between novices and nuns, the period of coming into the monastery and the adoption of the "mantle," voluntary or forced confinement, the choice of the degree of piousness, life in the world or a monastery were revealed.