Summary

The Middle Ages still remains little known and complicated period in the history of Ukraine. The most important political act became appearing of Ancient Rus. The official adoption and extension of Christianity, consolidation of Ukrainian statehood and other acts encourage growth of international authority of ancient state.

The Ukrainian monkhood found themselves in complicated social and political medieval circumstances. The process of monasteries appearing turn out to be not a simple phenomenon. The creators of monasteries were impropriateors and clergymen, monks and some monks-anahorets and even locals. Very often high social and property status of the founders was the cause of property differentiation of Ukrainian monasteries.

Being under foreign domination Ukrainian monasteries took special place in society. Except important spiritual mission monks promoted new writing in Ukrainian society, founded schools, hospitals, developed education, culture, art, social ethics, Christian traditions, new customs, tendencies of production, give social help and support of the population and many other important elements of social being.

Special social status of monkhood and the activity of medieval monasteries attracted attention of many authors. The first prompts of scientific comprehension of monkhood phenomenon were made in the nineteenth century by M.Matsievskyi, M. Kossak, Y. Golovatskyi, I. Vagylevych, A.

History of Ukrainian medieval monkhood is represented by native and foreign chronicles, various groups of archeological monuments and materials, historical investigations that serve for important scientific researches.

Ukrainian medieval monkhood experienced periods of rapid development and spiritual decay. National state was lost and it led to complete isolation of monasteries from National Church. During the period of Polish supremacy under the influence of military, social and political events, real position of different social classes, including monarchism, was formed. Decay and suspension oh Halician metropolicy and local eparchy influenced greatly prospects, significance and development of monastic life. It led to dissipation and isolation of monasteries and monastic life, because of that most Halician monastic settlements did not adhere to strict typicon's rules but existed autonomously. Customs, traditions and regulations of monastic communities were transmitted from generation to generation in an oral form.

Many monastic communities in Halychyna were situated in archaic caves which at the time of appearance and spreading of monkhood were free. Different forms of monastic life, such as anachorets, hesychasm, played a very important role in the process of settling of medieval monasteries. Small places where only one single person could hide and find shelter were characterized by simple, primitive order and living conditions, practicing great austerity and mortifications. Detailed and proper investigation of cells informed us about peculiarities of lives of medieval monkhood. A large number of small, tiny cells of anachorets gradually became larger, number of members of monastic communities increased and turned into monastery establishments.

During the XI-XVI centuries medieval cloistral constructions faced durable and noticeable evolution which took place at the time of difficult military and political events that happened in Ukraine of that time social, economic and production achievements. From short-termed earthen monastic cells with poor furniture and primitive fireside they were gradually transformed in comfortable and lasting multistage wooden buildings with the tiled stoves and other applicable conditions for living corresponding to the charter's articles of Typikon.

The collected data and archaeological materials during long investigations for centuries of religious residential sites of not only the Galician lands but other regions as well allow researchers to classify monastic residential buildings according to variety of features being characteristic for common accommodation. Residential buildings of the medieval Ukrainian monkhood were marked by simplicity of inner interior, poor household inventory and certain characteristics that distinguished them from common accommodation.

Close neighbourhood of monastic dwellings with urban and rural areas contributed to the mutual linking and mutual enrichment of secular and religious

traditions that became an important and effective factor to gradual increase among the local population of Christian culture, education, new outlook establishment, new qualitative development of public infrastructure.

Real social plan of the Galician monkhood contributed to uprise and parallel existence in monasteries of keliot, kinovit, idiorhythmic and other organizational forms that often occurred on traditional peculiarities of anachoretism, hermitage, hesychasm, caves, retreat being sometimes closely interlaced with local folk traditions, etc.

In the late Middle Ages many Galician monasteries also appeared in a complex intertwining of secular and clerical authority for the right to rule over the monasteries that affected negatively the monastic life.

Despite difficult living conditions and development conditions many medieval monasteries of Galicia became popular sacred places and well-known centers of spiritual culture, sculptural art, iconography, writing, education, publishing, technical inventions, manufacture, crafts, etc.

Comprehensive study of medieval monk sites that are simultaneously known for written data and archaeological materials received very important significance. The best example can be the Krekhiv cave monastery. It really helped to record on the monument given in written sources data, to analyze and compare with other historical monuments, and with other data of Typicon.

The results of complex scientific researches of monasteries using different historical sources, toponymical data and other disciplines on the basis of inductive, deductive, comparative and other methods gave ability to see the culture of medieval monks in the process of its development but to establish basic forms of existence of medieval Ukrainian monkhood, to open new unknown pages of historical past of medieval monkhood and to complete and to enrich little known period of history of Ukrainian nation.