On March 25, a tonsure ceremony took place at the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery. Following the akathist service to Venerable Seraphim of Sarov at the Trinity Cathedral, Metropolitan Georgiy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas carried out the tonsure of two sisters. He chose to keep their baptismal names of Mariam and Ludmila.

Metropolitan Georgiy presented the newly tonsured nuns to Hegumenia Sergiya, their spiritual mother, greeting them and offering them the words of advice: “By the grace of God, the Lord predestined you to be included among the ranks of the sisters in the fourth lot of the Mother of God who stay under the protection veil of the Queen of Heaven and the prayerful intercession of our venerable and God-bearing father Seraphim, the wonderworker of Sarov. All of us desire to live according to the monastery typikon, that is the life-giving source and spiritual reinforcement helping to take on our monastic ascent with due diligence and spiritual zeal.”

According to the monastery rule, the newly tonsured sisters will stay in the church and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ at every liturgy.