No sex please, we're monks

Despite the spartan life, the brotherhood is growing fast.

- Heinavesi

Early starts, strict routines and discipline: more and more young men in Finland are being drawn to the rigours of monastic life and its conservative values.

In such a secular and progressive country, where experts had expected the young to be less religious, Christianity has been gaining ground among young men at least.

Inside the dazzling white Valamo monastery, the country's only Eastern Orthodox abbey, the day begins at 6am with prayers, followed by breakfast and chores.

Life here is much as it has been for hundreds of years.

But despite the spartan life, the brotherhood has been growing fast, expanding from around 10 monks to 18 in a few years.

Covid was a turning point, Archimandrite Father Michael said.

"After that, we started to see a huge increase in interest." He regularly receives e-mails from young men who want to discuss the faith and, occasionally, wish to become a novice.

"I think it is maybe the quite uncertain times we are living in.

People want to have something steady, something to stand on," he said.

The number of Finns identifying as Christian has been declining for decades.