in 16th- and 17th-century Russia, a category of the population that was feudally dependent on the monasteries. The detenyshi included homeless children who had grown up in the monastery and hired laborers whose social conditions were similar. Detenyshi did not have their own plowland; the majority of them tilled land belonging to the monastery, while others engaged in handicrafts, for which they received wages. Detenyshi were often dependent debtors.