Before the pandemic, around 160,000 tourists visited the only Orthodox Christian monastery in Finland every year. 

Mostly from Europe and Russia, they flocked to the Valamo monastery in Heinavesi for the peaceful surroundings in nature and because it houses the country's largest whiskey distillery.

But once lockdowns hit, the tourists stopped coming, reducing its $3.5 million annual revenue by a third.

So, the monks turned to an unexpected trade to make up the shortfall – forestry.

The monastery is surrounded by a forest the monks bought during World War II, when they were forced to leave their original home on an island in Ladoga, Europe's largest lake. They have been selling wood from the plot to top up their account – cutting over the pandemic the amount of trees they would usually have felled in four years.

Professionals helped to plant replacement saplings, according to Raimo Asikainen, a forestry expert who has worked with the monks for seven years.

"If the monks were doing this, it would have taken all week," he said jokingly, because, he said, the monks must spend as much time praying as working.

Video editor: Pedro Duarte.