How to find an elder. Perspicacious holy elders of our time, living now. Rely on the will of God - and everything will be fine
11.11.2014
HOW TO DISTINGUISH A REAL SPIRITUAL GUIDE FROM AN IMPOSTER?
Among parishioners of Orthodox churches you often hear: “And the elder said that we need to prepare for the Apocalypse. And he ordered Mary to give birth quickly, Ivan to take care of his mother... And the elder predicted... And the elders warned in the old days...” Everything indicates that today people are looking for “spiritual support”: the old Soviet ideals have collapsed, and people have new ones Not yet. Who are they, these “elders”, whose word enjoys such authority among church people, whose names are heard by every Orthodox Christian, whose memory is passed on with gratitude from generation to generation? And are there real elders now?
In preparing this material, I had to talk for a long time with many priests and laity. And, as one of my interlocutors said, “there is a division even among Orthodox priests - some love the elders, receive spiritual guidance from them, go to them, talk for a long time, and some love Lexuses and do not want to raise the bar of spiritual requirements for themselves, they believe that the real elders have all already died and there will be no others. Maybe it comes from lack of education, or maybe they are afraid of anything they don’t understand.”
It is worth considering that there is no definition of “elder”. In Orthodoxy, eldership is not the highest level of the hierarchical ladder. Eldership is a special kind of holiness that can be inherent in everyone. “At some point, the Lord lays His hand on a person with special power, which is the ability to see the fate and will of God. And a person becomes aware of the essence of time, able to see the past, present and future of both an individual person and the history of the country, the fate of the whole world. He receives the gift of seeing what is really going on in a person’s soul, what kind of battle is going on there,” Father Dmitry explains to me. “Only God can appoint an elder!”
And how this happens is not a question for us, sinners. On the one hand, Orthodoxy in Russia has a thousand-year history, and on the other... the majority of laymen, priests, and monks became believers only twenty to twenty-five years ago. Where can we compare with those who imbibed their faith with their mother’s milk and from early childhood walked the narrow path to the heights of hesychasm? Yes, the emergence of eldership as a special institution dates back to the 10th century, when, under the influence of hesychasm, a union of Orthodox monasteries arose on Mount Athos (Greece), which became the center of elder leadership. And today a council of elders gathers on Mount Athos, which will recognize the new elder or not.
In Rus', a similar role was played by the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (St. Anthony and Theodosius of the Pechersk, XI century), the Trinity-Sergius Lavra (St. Sergius of Radonezh, XIV century), Trans-Volga monasteries and hermitages (St. Nil of Sorsky, XV century). Eldership was then perceived as spiritual mentoring, a prominent representative of which was St. Paisiy Velichkovsky (1722-1794), who labored mainly in Moldavia, due to the oppression of monks at that time, but through his students had a great influence on the development of this institution in Russia in the 19th century. So one of the definitions is: “An elder (or old woman) is a spiritual teacher, revered for holiness during his lifetime. As a rule, monks become elders.”
In the photo: Valaam Island. Ladoga lake. Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam stauropegial monastery
Photo: Sergey Bergov. Photoxpress
“ELDERLY IS THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD”
Today, almost every Orthodox monastery has its own elder-mentor, who serves as an ideal for the brethren. “Eldership is a reputation, the unanimous opinion of the people of God about this or that person, and, of course, it is impossible to assign this title to someone. Therefore, there is no official list of elders,” explains priest Mikhail Prokopenko, an employee of the department of external church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. “It is noteworthy that even such an absolutely revered person as the recently deceased Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) was called an elder only once in official church documents - in the condolences sent by His Holiness the Patriarch on the occasion of his death.”
Our interlocutor talks about his meetings with the elder: “Archpriest Father Vladimir works in Petrozavodsk, who was ordained a priest back in 1963, now he serves in the Cathedral of the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky, is the confessor of the Petrozavodsk and Karelian diocese, people often talk about him They speak of him as an old man, wise and perspicacious. I know people whom Father Vladimir seriously helped in solving complex spiritual problems (alas, all our life problems have spiritual roots). I myself have been to Father Vladimir for confession more than once...
Usually, without even listening to the end, he bowed my head with his hand, covered my stole and read a prayer of permission. As one of my acquaintances said, Father Vladimir has listened to so many confessions in his life that he knows in advance everything that we are thinking of saying. Maybe so. But if Father Vladimir asked me about something or gave me some advice, it always turned out that he was talking about something that had nothing to do with me. Maybe that’s why I had an opinion of him as an eccentric good-natured guy. I did not see in him the old man whom I imagined from the stories of others. Perhaps my bias is to blame. The evil “genius skepticus” bends the space around me, like in a crooked mirror.”
In Orthodoxy, it is customary to ask Christ to reveal His holy will through the priest who is next to you, and through your prayer and faith is given to you! It is not for nothing that Christ, returning from Nazareth, where the skeptical residents of this glorious city asked each other in bewilderment, “Isn’t He the son of carpenters?” (Matthew 13:55), said: “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house. And he did not perform many miracles there because of their unbelief.” (Matt. 13:57-58).
In the photo: Elder Barsanuphius of Optina
ARE THERE ELDERS IN MODERN RUSSIA?
Father Dmitry told us that the mission of the elders on this earth is to see the hidden talent in a person, to see the path that God has prepared for a person, and “raise him so that he does not wallow in the dirt, put a person in the place where he can bring greatest benefit to the world." Agree that the world needs such people and that they are worth it for people to look for them and consult with them. Alexander Pavlov, editor of the Orthodox information bulletin “Rus-Front,” believes that “a true elder is a person who has succeeded in fulfilling the Law of Christ, whether he is young or old, whether he is a layman or a monk, whether in the priesthood or without it.
Fidelity to Christ, His teaching, church legislation, and the covenants of the Holy Fathers is the first and main sign of a true elder of Christ. If he remains obedient to the hierarchy, but the hierarchy has deviated into heresy, then he is not an elder, but a novice of the devil. And the true elders, such as St. Maximus the Confessor, did not hesitate to defend the Truth, even when the highest hierarchs of the Church retreated from it. The true eldership, according to the word of the Holy Fathers, will remain until the end of the century, but will be saved in the unknown.”
Father Vlasiy lives in the St. Paphnutievo Borovsky Monastery. He says about himself: “I am supposed to see and know from the Lord, but some people are embarrassed when I see their secrets...” The elders have abilities that an ordinary person cannot possess. Crowds of people thirsting for healing come to Father Blasius. And many people get it. They say that many drug addicts and alcoholics, after talking with him, take the path of healing.
WITH ONE ADVICE YOU CAN SOLVE COMPLEX LIFE ISSUES
On weekends and holidays, dozens of buses with pilgrims rush from the city to the nearest monasteries. Among them, of course, there are many ordinary tourists, whose goal is to look at the ancient monastery walls and personally see that the masters of the past laid the masonry smoothly, but the majority come for spiritual help.
Often in their lives people find themselves in situations where it is very difficult to make the right choice. Should I join the army or go to university? Should I marry Peter or Vasily? And, as a rule, we are talking about issues that can determine the entire future life of a person. Help is often needed in family matters: they learn how, for example, to return prodigal sons to the right path. Pilgrims seek advice from the wisest and most authoritative person in spiritual matters, who, of course, is the elder in the monastery.
Maybe the priest on duty, the schema-monk, will answer the suffering person, or maybe he will actually get to the elder. It is simply impossible to distinguish an old man from another person in black robes. Schema monks, for example, have a brightly distinctive robe, but... the schema monk may not be an elder. Near the Pskov-Pechersk Lavra sits a woman in the robes of a schema maiden, with a begging basket at her feet. To my question whether she was an old woman, the woman answered in the negative, saying that she could not give advice, she could only pray: “Tell me who I should pray for, and I will.”
“Few of the pilgrims realize their responsibility from the fact that they learned the will of God from the elder. Sometimes a lot of grief is brought by such a desire to quickly find out one’s fate and relieve oneself of the burden of choice,” explains Father Dmitry. - The elder said to one young man: “Come to the monastery, I will accept you.” But the young man decided to get married, but his first bride suddenly fell ill and died, the second died tragically...
Only then did he take monastic vows, accepting the advice and will of God. But these deaths could have been avoided. Or two girls came to the priest and asked for a blessing. One is going to a monastery, the second is getting married. The priest says, “I bless you, but on the contrary: you get married, and you go to a monastery.”
Pilgrims must be ready to accept any guidance to action. After all, they question their fate, and knowledge of fate is the readiness to follow it, whatever it may be. All the will of God. The elder only “has the right” to voice this to you. And if you receive advice, please follow it; consolation means stop crying and start acting; you have received a blessing for good deeds - do it. The elder differs from all of us in that he sincerely loves us - with the warmth of his soul he fills the emptiness of our wounded heart and soul, pure energy penetrates our entire body. A true elder through himself introduces a person to the Holy Spirit, saturates the soul with the spirit.
An atmosphere of love is what distinguishes a true elder. And the flowers around him grow better, the trees bear fruit more abundantly, animals come to his abode.
There are such people today, look around and you will see. Of those living today, they name the elder Archimandrite Andrian in the Pskov Caves; Elder Schema-Abbot Elijah (Nozdrin) of Optina (confessor of the Patriarch); Elder Schema-Archimandrite Ioannikis from the Ivanovo region; Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov); confessor of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra (since 2012 in a coma from an incurable disease); Archimandrite Naum (Bayborodin); Archimandrite Hilarion from Klyuchevskaya Hermitage in Mordovia; Elder George (Savva) from the Holy Spiritual Monastery... Sincere prayer at the graves of the elders also helps people. No wonder many elders said: “Shout louder than me, and I will hear!”
HOW TO GET TO A CONVERSATION WITH AN ELDER?
Usually, when a pilgrim comes to a monastery for the liturgy, he goes to confession with the priest on duty, but getting to the elder is not so easy. There are many of us, he is alone. We must not forget that this is an old man, well over sixty. It is physically difficult for him to simply listen to a large number of people in a day. Therefore, on the monastery’s website they usually write to call the monastery in advance and make an appointment.
While remaining orthodox in their faith, the Orthodox have always kept pace with scientific and technological progress. As you know, the first hydroelectric power station in Russia was built in the monastery of New Athos. So now, as a rule, monasteries have all modern means of communication. Call, email or Skype, find out, make an appointment. Indeed, thanks to modern means of communication, it can also be done in absentia.
The Valaam elder schema-abbot John, who lived the last years of his life in Finland, in New Valaam, communicated with his spiritual children, scattered by wars and revolutions all over the world, through mail. Today the book “Letters of the Elder of Valaam,” in secular terms, is an Orthodox bestseller that is worth reading and re-reading. There you can find answers to many questions that today, like many years ago, torment young people.
And here is how one of the great elders, our contemporary, Archimandrite John Krestyankin, a resident of the Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery, conducted the reception of pilgrims: “Immediately after the end of the liturgy, the reception began. In the altar, issues with the visiting clergy were resolved, in the choir the attendants who had arrived with the priests were waiting for their turn, local parishioners and visiting pilgrims were waiting in the church. The priest was leaving the church surrounded by many people when it was time for lunch. But even on the street belated questioners and curious people ran up, whose attention was attracted by the gathered crowd. And the curious, having become curious, found in the center of the crowd, first an attentive listener, and in the future a spiritual father.
Very soon, Father John acquired the apt description of “a fast train with all stops.” He walked in a very peculiar way, he did not walk, but glided like a bright ray, elusively, smoothly and quickly. If he was limited in time by some kind of obedience and ran past the hands stretched out to him for a blessing, then his pastoral conscience was not calm. And, having run, he often returned just as quickly and pattered
He asked: “Well, what do you have there?” And since there was no time to wait for an explanation of what the man came up with, the priest began to immediately answer the question that was not asked to him. At these moments, he, without meaning to, gave away his sacramental knowledge about man and his life.”
Often people, finding themselves in a difficult situation, seek advice from the wisest person in spiritual matters.
Photo: Sergey Pyatakov. RIA News"
YOUNG AGE AND FALSE ELDER
Many Orthodox books warn against “young age.”
Priest Vladimir Sokolov in his book “Young Age. Temptations and Reasons” notes that it is the psychology of the flock that gives rise to false eldership: “Not wanting to change, we want to shift responsibility for everything that happens to us to the shepherd. Such an escape from freedom and responsibility is sometimes expressed in a readiness to do anything... Such “obedience” is a form of idolatry, when through the violation of commandments there is a betrayal of God: the elder is revered more than God... The prerequisite for such readiness is the amazing openness and gullibility of the Russian person, his compliance and pliability, his tendency towards maximalism, towards sacrificial service. But such an open, naive and ready to sacrifice person can always become a victim of unscrupulous violence.”
It happens that a monk, or even a priest, suddenly decides that he has reached extraordinary spiritual heights and can now, from the height of his spiritual growth, give advice to others, look far into the future and past, and determine the present. From the Orthodox point of view, such a person simply “fell into delusion,” that is, he was seduced and imagined that he possessed such spiritual fruits as he actually did not have. Unfortunately, the activities of such a person are not at all harmless. People who follow the advice of a young man risk, instead of solving existing problems, getting new ones that are many times more difficult.
There are false elders, communication with whom is dangerous for mental health, and sometimes even for life. First of all, these are priests who imagine themselves to be elders. They can be distinguished by a group of their “admirers” who spread rumors of miracles everywhere, blindly worship their guru, and can be hit for disrespectful comments about him. If you ask around the fans, it turns out that their “teacher” constantly advises them on issues of family and sexual life, opportunities for making money (at the same time, he himself constantly needs finances for various things, and he does not hesitate to ask for and receive them).
Such false elders actually strive to rise above everyone, to have glory, to rule over others. This is why they encourage stories about themselves rather than suppress them. There were cases when they forced me to leave my family and children, to renounce my parents, to sell my house, giving money to the temple, to go to the taiga to build a temple, and in their requests they did not take into account the state of health of the flock. From the point of view of Orthodoxy, the main sin took possession of their souls - pride. And when someone opposes their advice, based on the laws of morality or simple sanity, the false elders do not shy away from cursing: “If you go against me, remember that my prayer is strong!”
Often these people create their own “church”, outside the subordination of the diocese. On the portals of some Orthodox dioceses there are warnings about those who took monastic vows, but left and founded their own church. For example, the former abbot Cyprian (Evgeniy Tsibulsky). For gross violations of pastoral activity and corruption of parishioners, Kiprian was excommunicated from the Church, banned from the priesthood and expelled from the monastery (Trinity-Sergius Lavra). In response, he attracted several dozen fanatics who revere him as a saint, and created a pseudo-Orthodox sect. Their methods are manipulation of consciousness, hypnosis, personality suppression techniques. The result is that people sell their apartments and give away their savings.
If a person’s actions contain proven violations of the Criminal Code, such as fraud, hidden or overt propaganda of religious and national intolerance, theft of funds, harm to health (there are many cases when a sick person was advised to throw away crutches, stop taking medications, refuse surgery - and in As a result, the person died without medical care), then the Investigative Committee or the Prosecutor’s Office deals with the false elders. But for “replacing sound church teaching with pride, demonic delusion and malice” - the judgment is only of God, but not of the world.
As the clergy themselves aptly note, “to have the glory of an elder, to call oneself an elder and to be an elder are completely different things. Everything is learned by way of life. “A believer should not deliver the weak into the hands of the strong.”
HOW DO YOU BECOME AN ELDER?
Nowadays many books are available, many biographies of elders, those who, with their lives and deeds, remained in the memory of people, descriptions of miracles that happen to people after communicating with elders...
The story of Elder Barsanuphius of Optina is of considerable interest. Being successful in the military field, he rose to the rank of colonel and stood out among his colleagues only for his reluctance to marry, attend balls and the fact that he spent a lot of time in prayer. At the age of forty-six he entered a monastery. According to the review of the Monk Nektarios, “from a brilliant military man, in one night, by the will of God, he became a great old man.” Elder Barsanuphius possessed all the gifts inherent in the Optina elders: insight, miracle-working, the ability to cast out unclean spirits, and heal diseases. He was honored with true prophecies about paradise. He was seen at prayer illuminated by an unearthly light. After his death, he appeared to the Optina monks several times.
The holy fool John Vasilyevich Koreisha was revered by many contemporaries as a clairvoyant, soothsayer and blessed one, but was not canonized. He spent over 47 years in hospitals as a mentally ill person (in the memoirs of contemporaries it slips that he was convicted by officials for exposing thieves, swindlers among officials and embezzlers), but they also went to a psychiatric clinic for advice. Immortalized in the works of Russian classical literature by F.M. Dostoevsky, A.N. Ostrovsky, N.S. Leskov and L.N. Tolstoy.
There is a book by Elder Ephraim of Philothesky “My Life with Elder Joseph”, in which page by page it is revealed how a person becomes an Orthodox elder. A young successful Greek entrepreneur suddenly begins to feel burdened by his activities; he is overcome by only one desire - to become a monk on Mount Athos. But he is a business person, so he approaches his aspiration with business practicality. Before becoming a monk forever, he decides to test himself and goes far into the mountains for several months, where he lives in a cave, like the famous hermits of the past. And only after this, having established himself in his aspirations, he comes to Athos, becomes a monk, a student of an experienced Athonite elder. And step by step he rises up in his chosen spiritual field.
From the outside, for secular people, far from religion, a person’s spiritual growth may be hardly noticeable. Well, a person leads an ascetic life, lives in unbearable conditions of a cell or cave, where the sun scorches him in the summer and the cold kills him in the winter. It turns out that the monks also have their own ladder, along which they climb up step by step. In the book of the abbot of the Sinai monastery (VI century), the Monk John Climacus, “The Ladder, or Spiritual Tablets,” the essence of each step to which a monk must rise in his spiritual work is revealed in detail.
In one of the chapters, Rev.
John Climacus tells about a man named Isidore, who decided to rise in his spiritual growth to at least the first step. The abbot of the monastery, who received Isidore, noticed that he was treacherous, harsh, angry, proud and recommended that Isidore “first of all learn obedience.” Isidore spent seven years overcoming this first monastic step. Over the years he has changed so much that Rev. John Climacus respectfully calls him nothing less than “the great Isidore,” and writes further: “...Come out from among them and separate yourself, and do not touch the uncleanness of the world, says the Lord... (2 Cor. 6:17). For which layman has ever performed miracles? Who raised the dead? Who cast out the demons? - Nobody. All these are the victorious honors of the monks, and the world cannot accommodate them; if he could, then why would there be monasticism and removal from the world?
Authors:
Non-random accidents
The story of how memories of schema-nun Maria (Stetskaya) came to me could itself become a plot for a story. There were so many unexpected encounters in this story, and what I call “non-random coincidences,” but, in fact, are manifestations of God’s Providence in our lives.
This story began with one leisurely evening conversation in the cell of the monastery hotel. The conversation turned to modern life, about how few elders and especially old women remained in Rus'. During the godless years, the continuity of eldership was interrupted, and almost all monasteries were closed. Of the women's monasteries, only Pyukhtitsky remained. And how difficult it is now to find a spiritual leader! In general, the elders have disappeared.
Suddenly one of the sisters softly objected:
– You’re looking in the wrong place. There are both elders and elders now, but they hide their spiritual height. You need to look for an old man or old woman not in geographical space, but in spiritual space.
- What does it mean?
For many years, no one knew how a nun from central Russia ended up in the Far East. And only at the end of her life did she sparingly, restrainedly mention this miraculous phenomenon, when she was questioned by numerous children.
They also accidentally learned about mother’s life before her tonsure. She was so modest that they even learned about her fate at the front in fits and starts. Let’s say Natalya sees warm boots on her mother’s feet in the summer heat and asks why she is dressed so warmly. And mother reluctantly explains that she caught a cold in her feet at the crossing during the war, and now the old cold is making itself felt.
Meeting my mother
I received many letters from Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in which they sincerely, with love, talked about mother. The children described how the very appearance of their mother affected them: simplicity, silence, no exaltation, a calm, quiet voice... The gaze of her blue-gray eyes seemed to look straight into the soul.
Servant of God Tatiana writes: “The first thing I saw in her appearance was her eyes. They looked at me with such love! Love poured out of them like a bright stream. And I found myself in this endless stream, a shower of love, and felt as if I was safe, under the warm protection of my mother. I stood in a kind of blissful stupor, and forgot all the questions I had prepared. And I thought: why would I ask about something, because everything is clear as it is. There is God, and everything is from Him, and everything is in His will.”
One of my mother’s close children, Natalya Ivanovna, at the time she met the old woman, worked at a technical school in Komsomolsk-on-Amur as the head of a department and taught mechanical engineering technology. At that moment, the situation at work was tense.
Natalya Ivanovna began to go to church, to help in the church after the service, and this church quickly became home to her. And so in May 1998, as usual, on Sunday, she came to the service. And after the service they asked her to clean the candlesticks. Suddenly he sees: a crowd of people has gathered around some nun, and everyone is joyfully repeating: “Mother has arrived, Mother has arrived!” And Natalya Ivanovna was unfamiliar with her. So she wanted to go up to this mother, get acquainted, but she had to obey. She moves away from the candlesticks, but she can’t get through the crowd to her mother. He comes back and cleans the candlesticks again. And so on several times.
Only once again Natalya Ivanovna raises her head - and mother Maria is standing right in front of her. He looks intently, carefully, eye to eye. Natalya Ivanovna was struck by an electric shock, it was such a concentrated, clear, precise look. It seemed that mother saw everything that was and was in her, Natalya Ivanovna.
Smiling, Mother Maria asked where Natalya worked and who she worked for. And then suddenly she said:
– Pray when you go to work.
Then the priest took mother away, and at parting she repeated these words again:
– Don’t forget to pray when you go to work.
That's what Natalya Ivanovna did. And - miraculously everything worked out at work. The situation has completely changed, and it has become very pleasant to work. So mother saw in spirit all her troubles at work and helped her cope with them.
Natalya Ivanovna became the spiritual child of Schema-nun Maria and was cared for by the elder for 8 years, until her death in 2006.
Prayer book
Mother was a prayer book. Once Natalya witnessed her prayer. There was a conversation about some incident, and Mother Maria, turning away, prayed for the person in trouble. Natalya recalls that she was amazed by this short prayer: Mother addressed the Mother of God as if She were standing nearby. Schema-nun Maria prayed for all her children and felt in her spirit when they were feeling bad. The children felt the old woman’s prayer. Through her prayer, everything in life improved and fell into place. Mother’s prayer helped in difficult life circumstances.
- I want to confess my sin, father! Do you remember when you came to my garden and brought that wonderful mother with you? But at that time I was going through difficult times, I felt great despondency. And he decided to commit suicide. Hang myself. I had already climbed into the attic and made a noose, I was about to put this noose around my neck - I heard some noise in the area. Someone stranger is walking. Okay, I think I'll have time to hang myself. Now I’ll see who’s walking there, and then I’ll hang myself.
I went out, and there was my mother. I talked to her. And after the conversation, my soul felt so good! All sorrows have gone somewhere! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, my favorite gladioli are blooming! Fine! What, I think, did you decide to hang yourself, what kind of clouding of reason did you experience?! I went and took off the rope. And so I continue to live. And gradually, life circumstances changed for the better. I have come to repent of attempting suicide. Forgive the sin, father! Maybe some kind of penance...
The story of the rector of the temple in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Abbot P.
“I want to say that I am a skeptical person by nature, so you don’t have to fear any exaggerations on my part in assessing the personality of Mother Mary. We will talk exclusively about “what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and what our hands have touched” (1 John 1-1).
So, perhaps, I’ll start with the hands, that is, with the history of our acquaintance with her. I received my first parish in the year of the millennium of the Baptism of Rus' (1988). Arriving on it in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, I found there a small residential building converted into a church in a rather deplorable condition.
At one of the upcoming services, he called on parishioners to make donations to repair the building. My call did not have much effect, either due to the poverty of the small flock, or because people wanted to first take a closer look at the new priest. I must say that my predecessor left them plenty of reasons for mistrust. And I myself, as you will see below, was far from apostolic non-covetousness.
One day, at Vespers, I notice in the church an unfamiliar old woman in a dark gray cloak and a large black scarf, several layers wrapped around her head. A string of some ridiculous convex goggles, similar to flying or welding goggles, is stretched over it. Shifted to the forehead, they produce a rather comical impression.
But I’m not laughing, since my parishioners, having clearly forgotten about prayer, surrounded this “pilot” and endlessly shoved some pieces of paper into her hands and pockets. During the censing, I am convinced that these are memorial notes and money. There is no limit to my inner indignation: “How so! The mugs stand empty, the old plaster is crumbling on your head, and here, without the abbot’s blessing, some stray dares to take away the last of it! And even during the service!”
I barely waited for the end of the all-night vigil, but before I could even open my mouth, the old woman herself came up to me with a bundle in her hands.
“Here,” he says, “father, you serve in the church... Accept it from us, Muscovites, for the glory of the Most Pure One.” (Mother lived in the capital for many years).
I turned away the edge of the newspaper and saw blue brocade vestments, the likes of which I didn’t even dare to dream of back then.
“No,” I answer, “I won’t accept.” What are you doing here in my service? Or is it not customary in Moscow to be blessed by a priest when collecting donations in a church?!
She bowed and left, leaving the bundle on the funeral table.
The next day, on the occasion of the patronal feast, after the Liturgy, a meal was served in the courtyard, to which I ordered our guest to be invited as well. I sit with the clergyman at one end of the table, and she at the other. I glance at her involuntarily: the characteristic ascetic pallor of her face with an olive tint and her eyes are somehow unusual. Much later I realized that this is how dispassion looks...
Mother did not pay any attention to me and, as it seemed to me at first, she was telling neighbors in a low voice about visiting some parishes, simultaneously giving characteristics to the pastors who served in them in approximately the following way: “The priest there is very good, but why is he so... He does this and that, because it’s not supposed to be that way, it’s a sin...” Well, I think it’s not getting any easier hour by hour, now the clergy will also discuss it publicly...
But suddenly it hit me like an electric shock - she was exposing my secret sins! Well, yes, I did this myself yesterday, and this is about me, and this too!
After the meal, I approached Mother with the words: “Excuse me, I see you are a difficult person...” I invited her to my cell, and then a direct and impartial conversation began.
It turned out that Mother knows everything about me, knows more than I do myself. By the way, she asked:
- Father, why are your hands so red?
- How are the red ones? – I’m surprised, – ordinary hands, they’ve always been like that.
- No, red ones. True, they are not like those of one elder, who secretly opens mugs and carries things home from the temple... His ones are literally burning with fire, up to the elbows, and yours - only until now, and so reddish. Maybe there is something wrong with the documents somewhere, or maybe you spent something extra on yourself?
Well, of course it was a sin. Not only did I decorate the church, some of the church funds were also used for personal needs, for home furnishings, for the comfort of the flesh...
In general, it wasn’t just my hands that had to turn red.
Mother also told how she opened this parish in the 60s, during the Khrushchev persecutions, at the behest of the Mother of God Herself. She appeared to her
in a sleepy vision and said: “There is such a city - Komsomolsk-on-Amur. You must open a temple there in honor of My Assumption.”
When my mother woke up and looked at the map, she gasped: almost ten thousand kilometers from Moscow! I doubted whether it was some kind of charm? After this, her paralysis soon broke, and the Mother of God came twice more, repeating: “Go!” And when I decided to go, I got to my feet.”
The story of the parishioners of the temple in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary
“The modern parish of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the late 60s by the will of the Blessed Virgin Mary herself. Mother Maria came to our city to fulfill the order of the Mother of God together with her sister. Arriving, they met believing women and prayed at the home of one of them.
The Lord advised me to buy a house for a temple. And here are four women: Yulia Ivanovna Begovatkina, Valentina Mitrofanovna Makarova, Evgenia Ivanovna Zhuravleva, Maria Konstantinovna Shish - with their own funds they bought a house on Lermontov Street, 83a. The authorities did not like this, and they convened a comrades' court. But at the trial, the people stood up for the believers, saying: “Let the grandmothers pray.”
The whole world was rebuilding the house into a church. Liturgical texts, akathists, and memorial services were copied by hand. Church utensils were made from scrap materials. Priests from Khabarovsk came to care for the believers, serve, and confess: Hieromonk Anatoly, Abbot Seraphim, Archpriest Dimitri.
Mother Mary helped in the construction of the temple both with prayer and with funds donated by believers. She regularly came to Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and for 18 years she cared for the Church of the Assumption and all the believers of this city. We traveled from Komsomolsk-on-Amur and to her place in Orel. Once, with the blessing of the rector of the church, one of the four women who collected money to buy a house for the church, the future schema-nun Eulogia, went to her mother in Orel to get the shroud of the Most Holy Theotokos.
We ordered a shroud from a church workshop. When it was ready, they brought it to the temple to bless it. The priest who blessed the shroud said that it was as if the Mother of God herself had blessed it, the fragrance from it was so strong. The Shroud was carefully packed, and Mother Maria and her companion went to the station to take a train to Moscow, and from there to fly to the Far East by plane.
The train was about to leave. Someone opened the back door of the carriage for them, and they entered and stood at the conductor's compartment. The guide was surprised to see the mothers, but allowed them to go. A strong fragrance came from the shroud. Some passengers found this fragrance unbearable, they began to be indignant and close the doors to the compartment, unable to withstand the grace of the presence of the shrine.
In the morning we arrived in Moscow and boarded a bus to get to the airport. The same story repeated itself there. When we arrived at the airport, it turned out that landing had already ended and the plane was already taxiing to the runway. The mothers began to pray, and the plane was delayed. They were asked to board a bus and were taken to the plane.
When we went to the ramp, we saw the surprised faces of the passengers in all the windows. People expected to see some important people, because of whom the flight was delayed. But instead they saw two elderly, village-looking women. And when the mothers entered the cabin of the plane, the fragrance spread around again.”
The shroud was brought to the temple just on the eve of the patronal feast - the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The last time Schema-nun Maria came to Komsomolsk-on-Amur was in 2000, when she was already 78 years old. In such venerable years, she traveled across the country to the Far East to her favorite temple, to her children. Mother died in 2006, at the age of 84, and was buried in the city of Orel at the Afanasyevsky cemetery, next to the convent.
This time we are talking with Metropolitan Longinus of Saratov and Volsk about elders and eldership. We all need the help of spiritually experienced people in our Christian lives. How can you get this help? Is it necessary to look for a “real elder” for this? In general, the elders - who are they, do they exist today? And what danger can be hidden behind the desire to communicate only with the elders, without paying attention to the opportunities that our church life and visiting the parish church provide?
- Vladyka, what is eldership?— Eldership is a special phenomenon that arose in monasticism and previously related only to monastic life. But in Russia in the 19th century, the elders went beyond the gates of the monasteries - or, more precisely, the world came to the monastery to the elders.
In general, an elder is the confessor of the brethren or sisters of the monastery. The fact is that living in a monastery implies spiritual guidance, the novice revealing his thoughts to the elder - the confessor, the abbot. This is the only way to learn science from sciences—spiritual work. In general, monasticism is something we learn from each other. And although there are many wonderful books about monasticism that preserve its spirit, they still cannot replace live communication and the transfer of personal experience of struggling with one’s passions. Actually, this struggle is the goal and basis of monastic feat. That is why tradition is so important in monasticism, which is passed on “acceptably to each other” (there is such a Slavic word): from the elders to the younger, from those who have lived in the monastery for a long time to the newcomers.
Eldership assumes that the elder completely guides the beginner in spiritual life. Ideally, a person should not have any thoughts or wishes hidden from a spiritual mentor. He must trust all his actions to the elder, and do everything he does only with blessing. It is in such self-denial and obedience that the monastic tradition is passed on.
In the 19th century, thanks to the activities of the disciples of the remarkable ascetic, St. Paisius Velichkovsky, monasticism flourished in Russia, and one of the centers of the revival of monastic work became Optina Pustyn, which was later known throughout Russia as a monastery. In modern Romania there is the Neametsky monastery, which also became famous thanks to the works of Elder Paisius and his associates. And to this day, the word “elder” exists in the Romanian language, it is not translated. The elder is the abbot of the monastery, the elder is the abbess, the house in which the abbot or abbess lives is the elder.
In the 19th century in Russia, it turned out that lay pilgrims, ranging from simple peasants to famous educated people, began to come to the confessors of Optina Pustyn for confession or for advice on everyday issues. These are the Kireyevsky brothers, and the circle that subsequently formed around the Optina elder Macarius and was engaged in translations of patristic literature into Russian. This is N.V. Gogol, and F.M. Dostoevsky, and L.N. Tolstoy... Although Lev Nikolaevich was the greatest confusion and detractor of the Orthodox Church, nevertheless, he was drawn to the elders. After all, his famous departure from Yasnaya Polyana was not just a departure to Ostapovo station. There his relatives and admirers detained him, because they did not want him to reach his final goal. And he went specifically to Optina Pustyn... This very listing of the names of very famous people who left a deep mark in the history of Russian culture, literature, philosophy, suggests that the phenomenon of old age was of interest to the widest circle of society.
And in other Local Churches, eldership developed in a similar way. In the early 1990s, I had the opportunity to visit the confessor Elder Cleopa (Ilie), well-known throughout Romania, a man of unusual depth, an amazing ascetic for our time. He survived imprisonment and lived in the forest for a long time in the 1940s and 50s, hiding from the authorities during the persecution of the Church in communist Romania. By the 1990s, he was revered throughout the country as one of the greatest elders.
I came to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra when the well-known Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov), a wonderful confessor, a real old man, was still able to do so. Thanks to the book of Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) “Unholy Saints”, Father John (Krestyankin) became known, without exaggeration, to all of Russia - but even before that the whole Church knew him. These elders were unusually loving people, patient, gentle in their interactions with those who came - and very demanding of themselves. This is a very important criterion.
And today there are many people (as a rule, these are monastic confessors) who not only fulfill their monastic obedience, but also help people who come to them from the world. In the akathist to St. Sergius there is a poetic comparison: “a vessel full of grace and overflowing.” This is probably how you can characterize every elder.
- This is a very beautiful characteristic. But in the philistine consciousness, an elder is, first of all, a perspicacious person. Just now you were talking about your meeting with the amazing Romanian elder Cleopas, and I really wanted to ask you: “Did he reveal something to you?”
-You know, yes. There were three of us. And when he was informed that three hieromonks had come - students from Russia, he said: “Oh, the metropolitans are coming, let them through.” And two of us are indeed already metropolitans, the third is an archbishop...
But of course I'm joking. I think it was just a joke on his part. But seriously speaking, the most unnecessary thing in the Christian life is the search for insight. Under no circumstances should you strive for this. With this “demand for a miracle,” and a miracle on the go (if they go to the “elder” by bus), we profane everything - we profane faith, eldership as a phenomenon, and Christianity itself in general.
The elder is precisely a spiritual mentor. But any spiritual father must still know the person and be close to him for some time. A remarkable example of an elder of our time is, of course, the Monk Paisius the Svyatogorets, who spiritually cared for the convent in Suroti, now one of the best, most comfortable monasteries in Greece.
Therefore, when someone from the outside comes to an elder - real or simply known as such - and demands an immediate miracle and insights: “Come on, tell me my whole life, and what should I do next,” this is actually blasphemy. Not a single spiritually experienced person will succumb to such requests or claims and, most likely, will quietly and peacefully let such a visitor go home, telling him a few words of consolation. Where such sentiments begin to play along, there is no real spiritual life, no true eldership, and there never has been.
-Are there any elders at all these days?
- I think yes. Even today there are spiritually experienced people in monasteries and parishes. Without them it would be very difficult for the Church. But here you need to be very careful, do everything carefully and with reasoning. And we must be very careful of the type of relationship that is now widespread, including with God, which is expressed in the words: “You are for me, I am for you.”
“Nevertheless, many look for elders precisely in order to receive some special advice, guidance...
- There is a wonderful passage in “The Soulful Teachings of Abba Dorotheus.” Abba Dorotheos cites the words of Scripture: “Salvation is in much counsel,” but emphasizes: not in “council with many,” but “in much counsel” with an experienced person. But here, unfortunately, they like to do this: “Well, I was with such and such an elder, now let’s go to another elder, then to another one.” This is, of course, completely wrong. If we saw a spiritually experienced person and were able to stay near him, this is sometimes more important than long speeches. From the lives of many saints, we know that people, even just watching them from afar, were edified by this more than by words. There are such cases in the lives of St. Sergius of Radonezh, John of Rila, and many other saints. Because a person who has fulfilled God’s commandments and has been granted God’s grace is so different from those around him that he himself serves as an edification. But, I repeat, especially today, in our days, it seems wrong to me to go and look for the elder. At best, it will not bring any benefit. And, of course, an absolutely monstrous practice - when they pack buses for a “trip to the elder.” It's just business.
- As a rule, such trips are still made without blessing...
- No one can prohibit anyone from doing anything. We are free people, we live in a free country - I sat down and went wherever I wanted. Therefore, we - bishops, clergy - do not so much as “forbid” or “not bless,” but we try to explain that spiritual life does not consist in traveling from one elder to another.
You know, sometimes some people have a disdainful attitude towards ordinary priests, like: “I visited the elder - yes! And in our church - what kind of priests are they? They have a wife, children, and in general they are still boys...” Such neglect is essentially a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is poured out on every priest at the moment of ordination and gives him the power to “bind and decide.”
- Vladyka, you reminded us of Elder Paisius the Holy Mountain. I think that he still ministers to people through his books. Perhaps this is how modern man should seek spiritual guidance?
“I think a modern person needs to go to church, participate in the sacraments, read spiritual literature, including books by those people who were spiritually experienced and enjoyed the favor of their flock during their lifetime. And the Lord will send in due time everything that is necessary—a good confessor, a good church community. And if this is necessary for a person, he will take him to some monastery. And there he will meet a monk, perhaps not a famous one, not one of those to whom “spiritual tourists” go in busloads, but one who can give advice - which this particular person needs, and precisely at this time. And if a person hears this advice and implements it, he will receive the greatest benefit that can be obtained.
Newspaper “Orthodox Faith” No. 12 (608)
The book contains interesting facts from the life of Orthodox ascetics, when, through the hidden gift of the elder’s foresight, God’s Providence miraculously manifested itself in the fate of a particular person. These are those moments when you especially clearly feel the caring presence of God, when God reveals His will to us and shows concern for our salvation, speaks to us through their lips, when through the loving heart of an elder the Lord inconspicuously touches the hearts of many who are near Him.
* * *
by liters company.
Elders of our time
Through the gaps
“The higher the ascetic stands on spiritual
stairs, the more difficult it is to write about him..."
The Optina fathers are humble. They preserve Optina monastic traditions. Praising a monk is the same as tripping a runner. While they are alive, everyone strives, but we judge a person’s holiness after his death. I read a good statement about this from the holy fathers: “Just before the harvest, hail can destroy the grapes, and a righteous person [can] sin before death. Therefore, do not rush to praise anyone.” I read and imagine large and fragrant bunches of grapes filled with juice. But there may be hail or snow...
This is probably why the Optina tale is passed on from mouth to mouth. They asked the elder, Father Elijah: “Father, is it true that all the Optina fathers are seers and miracle workers?” To which the elder replied with a smile: “I don’t know about seers, but definitely everyone is a miracle worker.”
Does this joke mean that there are no more elders in the monasteries? Thank God we didn’t die out! The Lord comforts His people, but these miracles are hidden, given out of need. In line for confession, a resident of Kozelsk, Elena, tells me how her neighbor recently stood in this line. I came to Abbot N with my grief: my son was missing. After listening to his sobbing mother, he went to the altar, prayed for a long time, and when he returned, he said: “Don’t cry, he’ll be back in a couple of days.” And indeed, on the second day the son appeared.
At obedience in the hotel, the servant of God Nadezhda told me about the same priest, how he persuaded one no longer very young woman to stay in the monastery. She did not listen to the persuasion, and the priest said: “What are you going to do there in the world, you will suffer, and even with a child.” It was completely unclear about the child, but it became clear when the woman was seduced and abandoned with the child by a visiting fellow, and she really suffered a lot.
The recognized elder of the Optina Hermitage is Father Eli (in the world Alexei Afanasyevich Nozdrin). When a person is still ascetic, it is better not to talk about his exploits and spiritual growth. But Father Iliy is an all-Russian elder, everyone knows about his insight. Therefore, his children and simple pilgrims share their experiences and experiences of meeting with the elder openly - they do not hide the lamp under a bushel...
The first story about the Optina elder Elijah was told to me at a joint obedience in the fraternal refectory of the Optina Hermitage by pilgrim Olga: “I wanted to ask the elder whether God’s will for my monasticism was, but I just couldn’t talk to him. And here I was standing after the service, suddenly the people began to move, pouring in after the elder who had come out. Someone wants to ask a question, someone wants to ask for prayers, someone just wants to be blessed. Well, I think I shouldn’t approach the old man.
And suddenly the people push me right behind the priest. Without thinking twice, I ask loudly: “Father, Father Eli! Will I be a nun? And the priest, without looking back, answers: “Yes, you will be a nun. You will definitely be a nun!” And he leaves, accompanied by the people. And I stay and feel how mistrust covers me, followed by despondency. The old man didn’t even look at me. I might as well have asked if I would be an astronaut.
In despondency I trudge towards the fraternal refectory. I stand and cry. There are still pilgrims standing nearby. Someone is waiting for their spiritual father. Someone is waiting for the elder. I stand without any hope. And suddenly Father Eli appears. Hands with notes immediately reach out to him, people vying with each other to ask questions. But the priest comes right up to me. He looks at me carefully and asks: “Well, have you already chosen a monastery where you want to live?”
At this point the narrator’s eyes become moistened - the priest consoled her! Although he did not look when asked, he sees a lot with spiritual vision. Hotel Elena shares with me: “How true is the proverb: “What we have, we don’t keep; when we lose, we cry”! Here was our Optina elder Father Elijah nearby - we did not fully appreciate this. If you come up sometimes, you will be blessed. And sometimes you look: how many people surrounded the priest - and you pass by, you think: you need to take care of the elder, not to annoy him again. And now he has gone far away - he is the confessor of the Patriarch himself - so how can you wait for his arrival! Like a red sun!”
We just grieved that the elder doesn’t come to Optina very often anymore, so he came. And they were blessed and gave the notes. I climb the stairs of the pilgrimage hotel, and Schema-Abbot Ily comes down to meet me. Two more sisters are standing on the stairs - like me, they are almost jumping for joy.
Father blessed us, talked a little with each of us, and in his hands he had spiritual books - just three. He gave it to one sister, another, and I’m next. And I stand and think: “I already have such a book.” Only yesterday Archdeacon Father Iliodor gave it to me.” Father Eli looked at me carefully, smiled... and did not give me the book. And from below a new pilgrim is already rising. He gave it to her.
Well, I think the priest sees everything! How I want to know more about him! If only someone else would tell about him!
The next day I go to Kaluga on business, return late and miss the bus. I called my spiritual father and explained that I was late. He answers me that there is an Optina car in Kaluga. Now he’ll go back to the monastery and they’ll capture me.
And here I am sitting next to the driver Sergei, still a young boy. Despite his youth, he has been working at the monastery for several years, now as a foreman at one of the monastery’s many construction sites. And it turns out that he is the child of Father Elijah.
- Brother, tell me at least a little about the old man! - I ask.
He agrees. And he tells me about his meetings with the elder.
At first, Seryozha did not always turn to the elder for a blessing. So I passed my license and started driving – without a blessing. “Why,” he thinks, “worry the old man about trifles, you never know how many worries he has! If you don’t report everything, they say you’ve become a driver!”
And Father Eli came from Greece and gives icons to everyone. And everyone is different. He will look at the person and go through the icons and take out one.
Sergei blessed the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Seryozha stepped aside and grumbled: “I have Nikolai Ugodnik at home! It would be better if Father gave me some other icon!” He turns the icon over, and on the reverse side is the driver’s prayer!
And standing next to him is an older man, it’s clear that this is his first time in Optina. He holds an icon of the healer Panteleimon in his hands and asks Sergei: “I just recently started going to church. Do you know what this icon is?” And Seryozha asks: “Are you, excuse me, in good health?” "Yes you! I'm seriously ill. To be honest, my illness brought me to church.” Sergei explained to him that people turn to the holy healer Panteleimon when they are sick.
And here’s what’s interesting: while Sergei kept the icon his father gave him in his car, the traffic police never stopped him.
And then I decided to take the icon home so that it would not fade in the sun. As soon as he took it away, his license was taken away for four months for violation. I didn’t understand how I violated it like that. Now he only drives with an icon - the priest’s blessing.
After this incident, he began to make all serious decisions only with the blessing of the elder - his spiritual father. I wanted to buy an old KamAZ. I saved money for a long time and got into debt. I also found a suitable KamAZ. I checked it – it’s still a good car! I went to the elder to be blessed. But the elder does not bless - without explanation. Well, what should I do, Sergey listened, and didn’t buy. Even though I was upset. But it turns out that he was upset in vain. It turns out there were some unnoticeable but serious problems with the car. And a week later the KamAZ broke down, in Seryozha’s words, “into the trash.”
And one day Sergei came to his spiritual father, and he said to him: “Well, my traveler, are you traveling?” “No,” Sergei replies, “there’s nowhere to go from the monastery.” The old man just smiled. Seryozha returns to Optina, and he is immediately sent to Voronezh, to Tikhon Zadonsky, the Voronezh miracle worker. I just recently returned. And I went to Kaluga. This is where we met him.
“Tell me something else,” I ask.
Sergei thinks for a moment:
- Well, I was going to get married several years ago. My fiancee announced that she wants to learn to act. He will go, they say, to deliver documents. You need to pay money. Well, I helped her with money. Conducted. I am waiting. And I was just starting to work for my father at a construction site. It was necessary to go load sand. And we were chosen in such a way that all the guys were healthy, tall, and I was the youngest, the shortest and thinnest.
And so Father Eli gave his blessing so that they could send me to load this sand. I still grumbled in my heart: well, I think my father has found someone to choose! But I went, of course. And so I’m driving - and I see my girlfriend with someone else. We had an explanation, after which we parted. Which I don’t regret at all now. She married this other man and is expecting a child. But I work in a monastery. Maybe I’ll move here completely. But I wanted to get married...
Well, we'll be there soon. Do you see how they passed the road unnoticed while talking? What else can I tell you - finally?
Just imagine, a recent incident: I’m working at a construction site, the concrete mixer is roaring with all its might. Father Eli arrives. Father never drives his car through the gate.
- Why doesn’t he move in?
- Well, how? He is very humble. He doesn't want to be like a boss. He always gets out of the car and starts opening the gate himself. He will greet everyone and bow to everyone. So this time he gets out of the car and approaches the gate. I opened one leaf of the heavy iron gate, and he began to open the second. And then he blessed me and asked: “Do you hear how they knock on the cross - knock-knock?”
I answer: “What are they knocking on, father, on what cross!” I can hardly hear your voice!” He smiled and walked away. And what do you think? Five minutes later I’m going to see Father John for some construction work, who’s not far away, about twenty meters away. And he beats a copper cross into his cell. And knocks - knock-knock. How it could be heard at such a distance, under the roar of a concrete mixer, I can’t imagine. Well, yes, the old man has a different hearing, not the same as you and I. Understand?
...I returned to Optina and the next day, after my obedience, I went into a bookstore. I see an interesting book by Archimandrite Rafail Karelin, “On the Path from Time to Eternity.” I bought this book, came to my cell, opened it to the first page I came across and read: “The higher an ascetic stands on the spiritual ladder, the more difficult it is to write about him... Because the spiritual sees the spiritual, but the spiritual does not see the spiritual. Only through some gaps can a person come into contact with the inner world of an ascetic as with a revelation of grace...”
Yes, only through some gaps...
Olga Rozhneva
Stories about Elder Elijah
Schema-Archimandrite Iliy (Alexey Afanasyevich Nozdrin) was born in 1932 in the village of Stanovoy Kolodez, Oryol district, Oryol region. He studied at the Serpukhov Mechanical College. He began his spiritual education at the Saratov Seminary, and after its closure he transferred to St. Petersburg. There he accepted the monastic rank. He was a resident of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery and served on Mount Athos. At the end of the 80s he returned to Russia, where he became the confessor of Optina Pustyn. Now he is the confessor of Patriarch Kirill and is in Peredelkino, at the courtyard of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
To Father Elijah in Optina
For the first time I heard the name of the Optina Elder Elijah in the Vysotsky Monastery in the city of Serpukhov. Here is how it was. I went to confession to the abbot of the monastery, Father Kirill, who listened to my words for a long time and carefully, and then said: “A spirit-bearing elder would answer you best. I'm afraid of hurting. I don't have that kind of spiritual experience. There is an old man - Father Eli in Optina Pustyn, go to him. I don’t know if you can get through: a lot of people are flocking to him.”
No sooner said than done. Here I am in Optina - standing in the Kazan Cathedral, standing in awe, listening to the sonorous sounds of two monastic choirs standing on the left and right choirs. Some of the singing fraternity have such a strong and thick bass that inside me, where the soul is supposed to be, something begins to tremble. One pilgrim pointed, at my request, to Father Elijah. I imagined him completely differently. A hero, like Ilya Muromets, and he has a similar name. And here? “There is no appearance or greatness in him.” Short, frail, long gray beard. The service is over. Father Elijah was surrounded by such a dense crowd of people that one could only wonder how he was not knocked down and trampled.
Then for me, just going to the temple, it was a wonder - ugh, how uncultured, how unpolite, what fanaticism - to attack an elderly person like that! At that time, I did not really understand the difference between an old man and an old man of prayer - a hero of the Spirit.
Stay nearby and listen to what the pilgrims are saying and asking the elder. So much grief - you'll go crazy!
An overweight aunt with a blackened face from the misfortune that has befallen her clings to Elijah’s father: “Father, the son of a man killed. There will be a trial soon. Pray! I do not know what to do!" An old woman with tear-stained eyes, faded from pain, cries out: “Father, my daughter-in-law has cancer, the lump on her head is as big as a fist, three small children will be left without a mother, pray for us, dear, we are dying!” From all sides it sounds like a groan: “Father! Father! Father!
After everything I had heard, my questions with which I came to Father Elijah seemed insignificant to me and somehow cleared up in my head by themselves.
The second time I saw Father Elijah was when I arrived in Optina among the same new Christians as me. We were brought one by one to the priest for a blessing. I don’t know what he said to my predecessors, but his word hit me not in the forehead, but right in the eye. I ran up to the priest, cupped my palms and bravely, as if on a general’s parade ground, barked: “Servant of God so and so.” Father Eli looked at me tiredly and said in a weak voice: “Yes... We know the Russian language...”
Blood rushed to my face - I realized with particular clarity the meaning of the familiar Russian words that we use many times a day. “Really, well, what kind of servant of God are you? You are a slave of sin and vice,” as if from the outside I thought about myself in the second person.
Father immediately denounced me: he told me, in secret, the sad truth about me. He took pity on me, said it in an inoffensive manner, with bitterness, as if internally lamenting that I was such a good-for-nothing.
The third meeting with Father Elijah took place in the fraternal building, behind closed doors. There were three of us pilgrims, and each of us could talk relatively calmly with the priest. I had prepared in advance words in my mind about my internal troubles and everyday troubles, which at that period of my life particularly overwhelmed me, giving rise to icy despondency and indifference to everything in my soul. I wanted to ask the priest for his holy prayers (after all, the prayer of a strong man can do a lot) and find out how to live further. When my turn came, I, embarrassed by my physical superiority, knelt before Father Elijah and unexpectedly said to myself: “Father, increase my faith!”
“Faith?” – the priest intoned. I was surprised. Then he smiled well, so affectionately that he immediately warmed my heart. Words and time have lost their meaning. Everything except one thing has lost its meaning - to stand like this for the rest of your life next to your father on your knees, and bask in his rays - in Greek his name means Sun. How long did it last? Maybe ten minutes, maybe an eternity. From that day on, I began to more vividly understand the words of the Apostle - “cover with love,” having experienced the warmth of true love.
Father Eli! Please pray to God for us sinners!
Grishin, M. Russian Bulletin from 09/04/2003.
“Where can I find the old man?”
Father Vladimir is a Moscow deacon, a spiritual friend of Father Iliodor, a child of the elder, schema-abbot Elijah. For five years he was an Optina novice. According to him, it was a good school that gave him an inner core for the rest of his life.
I ask you to tell me about the elder, and a familiar melody already sounds inside, and I know that I will hear something interesting. And Father Vladimir, indeed, tells me stories about the elder, which, with his permission, I pass on.
This story happened quite a long time ago. Father Vladimir was not yet a deacon at that time. And he was far from the church. And he was a young businessman. He was engaged in the construction business. And so his affairs began to go worse and worse. All sorts of sorrows and trials came. It became so difficult that he didn’t even know how to survive such difficult and confusing life circumstances. And then one of my believing friends advised: “You need to turn to the elder. If you follow his advice, your whole life will improve. And the old man will also pray for you. Everything will be fine with you, you will live better than before.”
Volodya had no idea how this was better than before. Will business be better? Will competitors disappear? Will there be any problems?
Now Father Deacon is sitting behind the wheel, and the main thing for him is spiritual life, life according to the commandments. And then he did not know how to get out of the impasse in life. But the words about the old man sank deeply into my soul. Vladimir had no idea where to look for this old man. The sorrows continued, and from time to time he sighed: “It’s completely unbearable... Eh, if only I could find the old man...”
One evening Volodya was driving a car through the city, and suddenly his soul became so heavy that he pulled up to the side of the road, put his head on the steering wheel and remained sitting there. Suddenly he hears someone knocking on the window. He raises his head and sees a priest in a cassock with a cross on his chest and asks him for a ride.
Volodya perked up:
- Father!
- Yes! I am he!
- Father, I’ll give you a lift, of course! But I have problems. I'm looking for an old man...
- An old man? Well, then you need to go to Optina. Now please give me a lift to Yasenevo. There is the Optina Compound. And tomorrow, if you want, we’ll go together to Optina. Want?
And it turns out it was Father Simon. Now he is already an abbot, but then he was a young Optina hieromonk. The next day they left.
They arrived in Optina, and Volodya found himself in the monastery for the first time. We arrived late at night. They arrived at the monastery and entered a large cell. And there are two-tier bunks. There are a lot of people. Some pray, some sleep and snore. “Fathers of light, where did I end up?” - Volodya thinks. I was very tired from the road. He asked his neighbors to wake him up early - and passed out.
He wakes up, opens his eyes and cannot understand where he is. It's already light. There are empty bunks around, and no one. He looks at his watch – it’s eleven. And I was late for work! I was very upset. I slept through everything...
Volodya walked along the well-trodden path to the monastery. Walks without raising his head. He hears the snow creaking under his feet - someone is coming towards him. I raised my despondent head with difficulty - and this was some old monk walking with a stick. He stopped and said to Volodya: “Happy holiday!” Happy Sunday! Why are you sad?
And Volodya is so depressed that he answers with difficulty:
- Hello, father. Do you know where I can find the elder?
- An old man? No, I do not know. What happened to you?
Volodya perked up a little. I was glad that at least someone was interested in his problems. He thinks: “How good it is that I met an old monk! Although he is not an old man, he has seen life. Maybe the Lord sent it to me. Maybe he can advise me on something..."
He began to talk. And the monk listens, and so attentively. He nods his head. So, you know, he listens well. Not everyone knows how to listen. Sometimes you tell a story and realize that the person is only pretending to listen to you out of politeness. But he doesn’t need your problems, he has enough of his own. Or, sometimes, he listens and just waits for you to close your mouth so that he can tell you his smart thoughts. And this old monk listened as if Volodya were his own son. And all his troubles are pain for him too. This old monk just wanted to tell everything that lay like a stone in his soul. I explained everything to him. All the problems. So, they say, and so, father, it’s completely unbearable, I don’t know how to continue to live. And the monk listened carefully and said:
-Have you even eaten today?
- What kind of food did you eat there, father! They didn't wake me up! I was late for work too. And I didn’t meet the old man! You see, there are no elders anywhere!
“I understand, there are no elders, only old men.” Let's go to the refectory together.
And let's go. Volodya only feels that his mood has changed dramatically. He raised his head and looked around - beautiful! It's snowing! The snowdrifts are white, the snow is snow-white, this doesn’t happen in Moscow. Sparkles in the sun. The air is clean, the frost is light. The sun is in the blue sky. Fine! Somewhere the bells are ringing, and there is such grace in the air that it is impossible not to enjoy life, that it is time to tumble in the snow. An old monk walks with him with his wand, smiling to himself. Before they had time to walk fifty meters, a crowd of people met them. Volodya looks - they all run to the old monk to be blessed. So joyful. “Father, father!” - they babble. Volodya has already been pushed aside. Everyone wants to ask the monk something. Volodya looked and looked, and then asked one elderly pilgrim:
- Excuse me, but are all the old monks greeted here with such a crowd?
- Why are you saying that there? What kind of old monks? Do you know who this old monk is? But this is an old man!
- How is the old man?!
- Yes, I’m telling you that this is the famous elder of Optina, schema-abbot Iliy.
Why are you so stupid!
Volodya even sat down:
- How so, old man?! And he said that there are no elders, only old men! And I didn’t even ask him my questions. There was an opportunity - and I missed it!
Here, from the crowd of pilgrims, the same monk, who turned out to be an old man, gets out and waves his hand at Volodya - calling him to follow him. Everyone immediately paid attention to him and began pushing him in the back:
- Go quickly, Father is calling!
They came with the elder to the refectory. Volodya and the novices were imprisoned. But he can’t really eat, he’s worried. Moreover, I reached into my jacket and into my breast pocket for my phone, but the usual bag that contained my driver’s license was not there.
Have you really lost it?!
After the meal, one novice comes up to Volodya and says:
- Father Eli is calling you.
He brings Volodya to the elder. All the questions Volodya had prepared flew out of his head with excitement. I could only mumble:
- Father, how will I get home?!
And he fell silent. He doesn’t know what to say about his license: lost it, dropped it? Maybe they are lying on the bunks in the cell? And schema-abbot Ily says to him:
– Are you talking about rights, or what? It's okay, you'll find it. You left them at home, they are in your pocket in another suit. And you really may not get home. Take your car to a workshop and let them take a good look at it. And further. Then you need to return to Optina, live here - work, pray. Now let me bless you on the way. Guardian Angel!
Volodya came out of the refectory. The soul is so light! And the questions all seemed so small and unnecessary. And most importantly, I really wanted to live in Optina!
When the car was looked at in the workshop, it turned out that there was indeed a serious problem. And there could even be an accident.
Volodya is driving home without documents; halfway there is a traffic police post. I slowed down. The road is deserted, and he looks: a traffic cop is coming towards him, twirling his baton. He looks at Volodya so cheerfully, he almost winks. Volodya starts to slow down and thinks: “Okay, that’s it.” As soon as the traffic cop began to raise his baton, his cell phone rang in his pocket. He immediately turned in the other direction, took out his phone and stood talking. Volodya drove on.
And he got there so quickly, as if the Angels had carried the car along with the driver. And at home, as the elder said, I found the documents. They were in the pocket of another suit.
And Volodya’s problems resolved themselves. Well, not themselves, of course. Although the elder did not say anything special to him, he did not read morals, but he helped. He simply prayed for Volodya. "The prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much..."
Vladimir's life became completely different. Five years of obedience in Optina, and now he serves as a deacon. Apparently, with God's help, he will soon be ordained as a priest.
This is how Volodin’s search for the elder ended.
Father Vladimir knows many of the children of his spiritual father, schema-abbot Elijah. In particular, I knew one businessman and his driver, about whom we will talk further.
This businessman was not doing well. And then one day he managed, apparently by the grace of God, to turn to Optina, to the elder, for help. Through the prayers of Father Elijah, things began to improve. The growth of material well-being was obvious. To celebrate, the businessman comes to the priest:
- Father, things are going well! I want to thank the Lord! I want to do charity work! What good thing could I do? Father, Father Eli, maybe I can donate something to you?
- I do not need anything. And if you want to do a good deed, to thank the Lord, then help one church in need. True, he’s not in Optina, but I’ll give you the address.
– What are we talking about, dear father?! Of course I'll help! Give me the address and I’ll donate tomorrow!
A month passes, then another, and he either has no time, or is reluctant to go somewhere, and then he seems to already feel sorry for the money. And everything is drawn to Optina. He will stand at the liturgy, confess, and receive communion. His heart will light up again. Things are going well. Approach the elder for blessing:
- Father, I want to donate something, do a good deed! Who should I help?
- Well, if you want to do a good deed, help the shelter. They really need it.
- Yes, I’ll go to this shelter tomorrow! Yes, I will help them like that! I can buy spiritual books! Toys! Fruits! Otherwise I’ll donate the icons!
A month passes, another - I forgot about the shelter. And the address was lost somewhere.
This happened more than once. And one day the elder answered him in a strange way. He told the priest:
- What good deed can I do? I’ll donate the icons to someone! Tomorrow!
Lots of icons!
And schema-abbot Iliy, instead of, as usual, giving some address:
- Yes, now you can buy at least one icon and donate it.
- Why just one?! Yes, tomorrow I will buy and donate a lot of icons!
- No, now you should at least have time for one.
A businessman came out of the temple, got into the car and said to the driver:
- Some priest is strange today. I tell him that I want to buy and donate a lot of icons. And he answers me about one icon. They say so that I have time to donate at least one. Very strange. Okay, let's buy one. Should I buy it now? Okay, go go to the store and buy one icon.
And the driver, a believer, was usually always meek. And then suddenly he didn’t agree:
“I won’t go, the elder blessed you to buy it, you can buy it yourself.”
- Well, what nonsense! Why are you all conspiring today, or what, to argue with me?
He got out of the car, went out, bought an icon, and drove home. They pass by a temple. It is clear that the temple is in need of renovation.
- It’s immediately obvious that the temple is poor. So I’ll donate to him.
The businessman took the icon from the car and took it to the temple. Returned. They move on. We just haven’t driven a kilometer when he says to the driver:
– I’m somehow tired today. Stop the car, I'll rest a little.
He got out of the car and lay down on the grass. And he died.
...I listen to this short story and remain silent. Then I say: “Still, the elder did not abandon him, did not turn away. I probably prayed for him. So he did a good deed before his death. The robber, too, only had time to say: remember me, Lord, when you come into Your kingdom.” Father Deacon nods his head and answers sadly: “Yes, it is so, of course. The judgments of God are a vast abyss. But we must always remember: everyone is promised forgiveness of confessed sins. But none of us are promised tomorrow.”
Olga Rozhneva
"Don't go to Moscow"
It is believed that the prayer of Elder Elijah has special power. They say that one day an intelligence officer who was mortally wounded in Chechnya and spent five months unconscious in various hospitals was brought to his monastery. Schema-abbot Iliy prayed over the officer - and he opened his eyes, consciousness returned to him. After this, recovery began.
Governor of the Volgograd Region Anatoly Brovko: “Elder Eli is endowed with the gift of clairvoyance. About a year ago I visited him, and the conversation turned to where to live and work. Iliy told me not to leave for Moscow or anywhere else from Volgograd, adding that he would come to us next year, after a significant event in the life of the region, in my life.” According to Anatoly Brovko, these words became a kind of prophecy. He assumed the post of head of the region in January next year. And Elder Elijah indeed later visited the Volgograd region.
Notes about Elder Nikolai Guryanov from Zalit Island
On August 24, 2002, at the age of 93, the famous elder, mitred Archpriest Nikolai Guryanov, died.
Nikolai Alekseevich Guryanov was born in 1909 into a merchant family in the village of Chudskie Zahody, Gdov district, St. Petersburg province. Since childhood he served at the altar. In 1926 he graduated from the Gatchina Pedagogical College, in 1929 from the Leningrad Pedagogical Institute. In 1929–1931 he taught mathematics, physics and biology at school and served as a psalm-reader in Tosno, Leningrad region. In 1929 he was secretly ordained a priest. In 1931, when the persecution of the Church began, he was arrested. He was imprisoned in the Kresty prison in Leningrad, in a camp near Kiev and in exile in Syktyvkar. In 1942 he was released, after which he served in parishes in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. In 1958 he was transferred to the Pskov diocese and appointed rector of the Church of St. Nicholas on the island of Zalita.
Elder Nicholas was granted many gifts of the Holy Spirit, among them the gifts of clairvoyance, healing, and miracles. From all over Russia, believers came to the elder to the island of Zalita, in need of spiritual advice and the elder’s prayerful help.
Stories about the old man
I first visited Father Nicholas in 1971, the day after the memory of the apostles Peter and Paul, whose church stood on the island next to Zalita.
There were six of us (by today all of them had already died). We were just going to a holiday, not knowing anything at that time either about the eldership of Father Nikolai or about his foresight. We spent the first day in Samolva, and then boarded a “rocket” and sailed to the island. There were priests among us. When we arrived on the island of Zalita, the priest greeted us properly. The priests immediately came up for the blessing, and Father Nikolai invited everyone to the festive table. We ate and talked about something.
Every now and then I was distracted and looked around, fortunately, from my place I could see Father Nikolai, but he could not see me. On the wall I saw a portrait of a man very similar to him. I sit, look at it and think: “Aha, that means this is the priest in his youth.” And Father Nikolai at this time was talking to the priests on a completely different topic. And suddenly he turns to me and says: “And this is my brother!”
I immediately realized that with Father Nikolai I couldn’t think about anything idle: everything would be heard, even the most secret thoughts. From that moment on, I began to perceive Father as a very great, insightful priest.
Later there was a long break, I didn’t go to see him for a long time: I was embarrassed that suddenly the priest would reveal all my sins and expose him...
But then big troubles befell me, big troubles came one after another. And then I went to Father Nikolai, although I was afraid to even approach him. Father received me very graciously and resolved literally all the issues because of which I suffered so much.
And later, when a complex, intractable question arose, I immediately went to the island: in the summer on a boat, and in the winter on ice.
There was such kindness coming from the priest that tears involuntarily flowed from my eyes. He would say, it used to be: “Darling, what have you got there?” You tell him, and he will always reassure: “All glory to God! Everything will be fine. The Lord will help..."
The power of Father Nikolai's prayers was greatly appreciated by us. Until his death, we turned to him on all issues, asking for advice and prayers. Now I have a big gap in this. After all, many problems arise, the resolution of which there is no one to consult with. And there was no need to even ask the priest about anything: he already knew everything about everyone.
One woman told me how stunned she was when the priest immediately upon meeting her said: “How did you come in such a carriage, having bought such expensive gasoline?” It turned out that, indeed, they were driving to Nikolai’s father in their own very expensive minibus and refueling with expensive gasoline. And what he said to her next – it all came together absolutely.
I myself am from Estonia, from Tartu. Somehow, when the children grew up, I decided to return to my mother, who lived alone. I kept these thoughts to myself, slowly mulling them over. One day I had to go to Father Nikolai with other questions. I approach him with a piece of paper on which the problems are outlined, and the priest suddenly immediately says: “Don’t go anywhere. Pskov is a good city, the people here are good.” But I didn’t even think about this departure at that moment. Father himself resolved my old thoughts.
When my daddy, priest Vasily Borin, died, I came to Father Nikolai with this grief. And the priest sang “Eternal Memory,” and then said that my daddy could have lived longer if he hadn’t gotten sick. I didn’t tell my father anything about his illness...
One day my son became seriously ill. He had third degree scoliosis, and he was facing a very difficult operation, the outcome of which was unknown. Of course, I went to Father Nikolai for a blessing, especially since my fifteen-year-old son said that he would not lie down on the operating table until I went to see my father. When I arrived, the priest firmly said: “It is imperative to have an operation. Everything will be fine". And indeed, the operation was successful and safe. (But at the same time, the same operation was performed on one girl, and she died.)
My sister went to see him for three years and was dying of illness. And the priest supported her and sometimes suggested something with subtle hints. Shortly before my sister’s death, the priest showed her a jasmine bush and said: “Angelinushka! But the jasmine is fading...” She did not understand the hidden prediction then. She arrived a month later and saw the priest running to the pier, his cassock fluttering, running and shouting: “Angelinushka, I came to meet you.” Three months later she died...
And before that, the following also happened. We had one perspicacious old woman, Anastasia. She always predicted everything through some symbolism, allegorically, so you wouldn’t understand it right away. I remember that she, for example, called the road a towel. And somehow this Nastenka sang “Holy God” in our family. But we already knew that this meant someone’s death, and we were wary. Later they asked the priest if our mother was going to die? “You can’t even kill her with a stake,” answered the priest. My mom is still alive.
And the old woman also added a completely mysterious phrase: “Perforation of the head and neck.” This was in 1969 or 1970. We didn't understand anything at all. Everything became clear a year later, when Angelina underwent craniotomy, and literally a month before her death, her goiter was operated on...
One day I came to my father in the bitter cold to resolve my issues. He, of course, decided everything, gave his blessing, and suddenly began to persuade him to leave immediately: “Hurry, go quickly! Hurry, hurry home!” I was even slightly offended that they seemed to be chasing me, and it was so cold outside, almost forty degrees. But what can you do, I went. And now I’m already going down to the lake to wander on foot across the ice to the mainland blackening on the horizon, when suddenly a car stops next to me: “Get in!” I say: “I don’t have that kind of money.” - “Sit down, we’ll take you there.” - “Okay, at least take me to Tolba.” - “Sit down, we are going to Pskov and we will take you there!” It was then that I understood why the priest was rushing me...
One day my children and I came to the priest to find out where they should go. I wanted to ask my father’s blessing for my son to go to music school, but Father Nikolai said: “Drawing is better than music.” My son was very happy, but somehow I didn’t believe in such a turn of events. But three years later, my son underwent a complex operation, after which he was only able to enter an art school and began to draw beautifully...
In general, he loved animals very much. One day my late sister came to my father with her friend. They stopped near the fence, as always. They are waiting for Father Nikolai to come out. Finally he appeared and from the door began to loudly ask: “Don’t crush the frogs! Don’t crush the frogs!” My sister and her friend began to look around, and they themselves thought: “Where could there be frogs here? There are none on this island at all.” And on the way back, sailing across the lake in a “rocket,” my sister’s friend admitted: “Father remembered my childhood sin. When we were still kids, we put on hunting boots and crushed frogs mercilessly...”
I would also like to say that Father Nikolai communicated with people simply, sweetly, and was accessible to everyone - both scientists and commoners.
In total, I was received by the priest thirty-six times. I always went with difficult questions. True, lately no one has been allowed in. Having arrived a month before his death, when Father Nikolai was already in bed, we simply stood by the fence, opposite the window, silently prayed, but we still received help, and very, very much.
Rely on the will of God - and everything will be fine
I came to this region in 1991 and since then I have been helping Father Georgy Ushakov here, at his parish near Pskov. A year after my arrival, the priest suggested that I go to one perspicacious elder and at the same time asked: “Aren’t you afraid? He sees right through people." I had never really had to deal with visionary people before, but I answered: “No, I don’t think I’m afraid. I confessed."
We went on September 1, 1992. It was a beautiful sunny day. We arrived at the place safely. At that time there was no big pilgrimage to Father Nikolai, and we found ourselves near his house alone. Hesitantly, we sat down on a bench under a large chestnut tree. And suddenly a curtain moved in the window, a beard flashed, and Father Nikolai looked out. The curtain fell again.
Some time passed - the door opened and the priest came out onto the porch. He hummed a song about Jerusalem, which I later often heard from him. Then, for some reason, Father Nikolai read a poem from a chemistry course about aldehyde. He looked at us like that, without blessing us yet, and said something to me in Estonian, after which Father George laughed: “Aha, I didn’t guess, I didn’t guess!” It’s cold, it’s cold...” Then Father Nikolai looked at me again and said a phrase in German: “Study, study, just don’t work.” We just burst out laughing. It was just spot on! Firstly, my mother is really German, and secondly, my character is such that I prefer to read and study something than to do physical work. In addition, I was once very interested in chemistry, and did various experiments in this area.
That day, the priest took us to the temple, read prayers there, and I was even honored to confess to Father Nikolai. This is certainly a special memory that will last a lifetime.
Later, I began to go to the priest with various important questions and for blessings. We had a girl with hydrocephalus - the late baby Seraphim. We were very afraid that this disease could recur in our other children, and therefore before their birth we went to see Father Nikolai. So, we went when she was still alive, and the priest suddenly unexpectedly advised us to name the next baby Seraphim. We say: “So we already have Seraphim.” Father Nikolai hesitated a little, and then delicately said: “So what! This is Seraphim, and he will be Seraphim.” That's what they called...
Before Ermolai’s birth, the priest ordered him to be baptized immediately: “Then he will live.” We asked the priest to pray so that at the birth of the child the priest would be on site. And so it happened. Three hours later, the newborn baby was baptized, but he really turned out to be sick...
Although we only had a long conversation with him, but on other trips the priest always significantly helped us in all our problems and misunderstandings. Of course, all of us, due to some foolishness of ours, are trying first of all to solve our everyday problems. And it should be noted that the priest never spoke about material topics: about property and so on. He spoke only about spiritual things, solved problems of the soul, but otherwise advised: “Rely on the will of God - and everything will be fine”...
Basically, we asked for his prayers, and perhaps many more years will pass before we fully realize what kind of prayer book we have lost. After all, everything was taken for granted then: that an old man lived nearby, that you could always turn to him and live behind him as if behind a stone wall. It seemed eternal and unshakable, and we, like children, simply accepted this grace without thinking. Only now, with time, do you see how merciful the Lord is, having given us the priceless gift of communicating with such an extraordinary old man - a righteous man and a man of prayer.
Andrey Protsenko, August 2003
The elder attached great importance to prayer for the dead. He was imbued with a very special compassion for them. I think that it was in him the result of an experienced knowledge of what awaits a person beyond the grave. When they asked him whether to hold a funeral service for someone about whom it was unknown whether he had been baptized, the elder answered without hesitation: “Serve the funeral service, perform the funeral service.”
One day my father told me to pray for my deceased, unbaptized father. My father had a difficult, difficult character and a restless soul, constantly looking for something. He left us when my sister and I were in fifth grade. Since then, I have had virtually no relationship with him and even avoided meeting him. His death was tragic and premature; he died at the age of forty-seven. After his death, the question arose before me: should I pray for him or not? And if you pray, then how? This was at the very beginning of my church journey; I had just started going to church regularly. And then I immediately found myself faced with such a difficult life question. After much thought and hesitation, I decided to refrain from praying for him, since I considered myself spiritually weak for such a serious matter. “It’s unknown,” I thought, “what consequences this might have for me. What do I understand about this?
But after some time, an event occurred that made me change my mind. This happened after my father appeared to me at night, in a dream. I saw him sitting with his back to me, so that I could not see his face. His head was hung low. He was silent and cried almost silently about something. I felt that he, abandoned by everyone, was endlessly alone, defenseless, and that without words, without turning his face to me, he was asking me for something. It seemed that his indescribable grief knew no bounds. And the worst thing was that he was not even able to explain anything to me. I had never seen him like this in my life. I still remember how in my sleep I shuddered with inexpressible pity for him. This pity was unlike the ordinary pity one feels for a suffering person. During his lifetime, I never felt anything like this for him, or for anyone else at all. It was a completely unfamiliar feeling.
I woke up in a cold sweat from what I saw and then for a long time I could not forget this short appearance of my dead father. Intellectually, I understood that my father was asking for prayer, at least some kind. But, frankly speaking, I didn’t have the strength to do it. I was so shocked by this dream that for some time I remained in a daze, constrained by what was revealed to me through it. I was aware that through him I not only received news about my father, but also touched the secret of the other world, the reality of hellish torment. Based on my father's condition, I received an experienced understanding of what a person experiences when he finds himself beyond the visible world. After such discoveries, the attitude towards life and what happens in it radically changes. Everything that previously seemed important and significant in it loses its meaning and appears in a completely different light. You clearly begin to see that your existence mostly consists of vain things and in no way determine its innermost essence, that is, your fate in eternity. But before that, I took all these trifles seriously and in the implementation of my insignificant and wretched plans and intentions I believed the only meaning of all my life activities.
So, stunned and depressed by what I saw, I did not pray for my father. I needed time to digest what was revealed to me. But it was somewhat selfish, since my father was waiting for my reaction. And after some time, the dream repeated itself with its original strength and penetration. I’m ashamed to admit, but even after it, without knowing why, I remained inactive. It took a third phenomenon, exactly repeating the previous two, for me to finally begin to ask God for my father in my home prayer.
And then what usually happens in such cases happened. Gradually, the sharpness and depth of what I experienced in the dream was forgotten, erased by the worries of the day, and my prayer grew cold. Ultimately, after several years, I finally abandoned my prayer without even noticing how it happened.
At this very moment of forgetting my prayer duty, the all-knowing and all-penetrating elder overtook me. At the end of the next meeting, he unexpectedly turned to me with the question: “Are you praying for your father?” There was an alarming note in his voice. I immediately vividly remembered all the posthumous events that connected my father and me with special ties. Father asked with such subtext, as if he knew the secret of these meetings of ours. It was as if he was slightly reproaching me for leaving prayer for my parent after everything that had happened. I began to ask specific questions about how to properly commemorate my father. Having given me the necessary instructions on this, the elder sent me away in peace.
The elder's foresight, as demonstrated in the case just described, is an endless topic. A lot has already been said about it, and we can talk about it for a very long time. In order not to overload my story and not overtire the reader's attention, I will cite two typical cases.
Once, when I had just started visiting Father Nikolai, I happened to visit him together with another young man, whose name was Konstantin. He received us at church. Father first talked with me, and then with my traveling companion. The conversations, as always, were short. The elder knew how to say in a nutshell the most important thing, to outline in a few expressions his life program for many years to come. There was no one else there except the two of us. While Father Nikolai was talking in a low voice with Konstantin, I walked around the icons in the temple. Approaching the last image, I accidentally heard the last words spoken by the elder to his interlocutor. The priest blessed him on the monastic path and advised him to go to Optina Hermitage, which had just opened. At the end of the conversation, the elder went to the altar, took out a towel and presented it as parting words to the future monk. I stood nearby and watched with interest as the elder lovingly handed a towel to Konstantin and how he reverently accepted it. Everything was done silently, without words.
Nothing special seemed to happen. However, there was something mysterious about all this. There is silence all around, only the saints look at us from the icons, and in this silence there are the silent movements of the elder, sending his child on a monastic feat. Behind all this simplicity it was impossible not to sense the solemnity and responsibility of the moment being experienced.
Indulging in the contemplation of this deeply edifying and meaningful picture, I completely forgot about myself. And suddenly the priest turned in my direction and said: “And Vladislav wants it too.” I must admit, having heard these words and coming out of my contemplative state, I was even a little offended by the elder. I thought that at such a high moment he suspected in me envy of Konstantin and slight annoyance that, unlike him, I was leaving without a gift. But there was no shadow of this feeling in me. Therefore, I began, as best I could, to dissuade Father Nikolai from this. However, the elder, not paying attention to my protest, went to the altar a second time and came out with a new towel in his hands. A few moments later it was in my hands. I had no choice but to accept it and thank the priest for the attention he showed me.
I didn’t attach much importance to all this at the time. I naively believed that the elder’s action was explained by his delicacy and reluctance to offend me. Maybe I would have completely forgotten about this episode if it weren’t for the towel that I have kept with me ever since. And only twenty years later, when I myself, with the blessing of the priest, was tonsured a monk, I again remembered all the smallest details of that memorable meeting. And only after this the true, undisguised meaning of the gift made then was revealed to me: the elder was not being delicate with them, as it seemed to me then, for he was generally alien to secularism in behavior, but was expressing his attitude towards my monastic future.
Remembering all this now, I am amazed not only that the elder, even when I was not even thinking about the priesthood, saw me in monastic guise. What is also surprising is the form in which he put his prediction. He did not tell me about this directly then, so as not to embarrass me, a married man, and not to deprive me of the joys of family life. He expressed this so that later, when the time came, without any doubts and hesitations, which did not leave me even when he spoke quite definitely about tonsure, I perceived my new path as the will of God.
The second incident that I remember was of a completely different kind. Not only the whole life of a person was revealed to the priest, but also his inner state at the moment of his arrival on the island. And if it was necessary, he knew how to make appropriate “adjustments” to it and improve the spiritual well-being of the Christian who came to him.
I remember that on one of my visits to Zalit, I arrived there in a state of acute apocalyptic psychopathy, which arose in me, as it seemed to me, under the influence of the moral degradation of the world around me that I observed. This psychopathy, being a form of mental illness, has nothing in common with a truly Christian expectation of the end of human history. There is no doubt that Christian activity among individual ascetics will not lose its value and significance, its spiritual power, even with general retreat and the approach of the end. For the spiritual balance in a person, which makes him capable of inner creation, in general is determined only by the extent to which he abides in God. In this regard, the example of St. John the Theologian, who contemplated the terrible pictures of the last days of humanity and never tired of repeating: “Children, love one another.” Therefore, a decline in spiritual strength occurs in a Christian not at all because he has acquired a penetrating view of the surrounding reality. It is evidence of a person’s spiritual insecurity, the lack of grace-filled support from above.
It was in such an apocalyptic depression that I once came to the elder. Moreover, this condition did not seem to me like something that should be gotten rid of as an illness. It seemed to me that at present this depression, to one degree or another, is inherent in everyone and that it could not be otherwise. It never occurred to me to ask the elder a question on this topic. Everything here seemed so clear and understandable to me.
After the conversation, I heard the priest’s unexpected question: “Do you know how old I am?” And, without waiting for my answer, he said: “I’m ninety without one, and then I want another forty.” Guessing what topic the elder touched on, I expressed my bewilderment: “But this is a lot.” “No,” objected Father Nikolai, “not much, that’s what I want.”
I can’t say that these words made a special impression on me then. I just took them, as they say, into consideration. But then the following happened: more and more often they began to emerge in my consciousness and began to gradually lead me out of the captivity of that very hidden depression with which I arrived on the island. I clearly felt their healing power. In a short time, my natural inspiration and efficiency were restored, and soon there was no trace left of the illness that had gripped me. And subsequently, a clear understanding of the spiritual causes of this common disease in our time came. This is how the elder reacted to the internal state of those who turned to him.
Father attached great importance to the Jesus Prayer in his spiritual life. Without a doubt, he himself was the secret doer of it, and therefore he experienced the great benefits of it. Many confessors do not recommend doing it, because they believe that it is unsafe to do it without spiritual guidance and outside supervision, and that otherwise this activity can result in serious consequences for a person. And since at present there are no such leaders left, then, consequently, in their opinion, it is better not to expose oneself to risk and to adhere to commonly used prayer sequences: canons, akathists, psalms, etc.
Father Nikolai never openly condemned this opinion, not because he agreed with it. Father generally avoided in every possible way what gave rise to disagreements and strife, since the spirit of argument was deeply alien to him. Father believed that disagreements and divisions in church society are not always eliminated by openly declaring one’s views, and are not always healed by directly declaring one’s position. He saw that such methods often do not extinguish, but only add fuel to the fire, only fan the fire of the resulting discord. Therefore, being a practitioner of the unceasing Jesus Prayer, he never imposed his spiritual experience on anyone.
The fact that the elder considered this prayer in modern conditions to be almost the only means that unerringly puts and keeps a person on the path of salvation became an obvious truth to me after one of my visits to the island. That time, going to the elder, I thought that, guided by the fear of taking the wrong step and straying from the path destined for me, I was constantly asking him about my earthly path. Of course, this is a very important moment in spiritual life, which is its necessary condition. But it seemed to me that at the same time I somehow cared little, or rather, did not care at all, about keeping my soul in the right order at the same time. Therefore, when I found myself on the island and discussed the questions I had prepared with the elder, at the end of the meeting with him I asked him what kind of work best puts a person on the path of salvation.
I remember well the priest’s reaction to my question. After listening to me, he became very serious. Turning his face to the altar, the elder slowly crossed himself three times and bowed. Then, turning to me, he firmly said: “Say the Jesus Prayer.”
The meaning of these words was clear to me. The Jesus Prayer cannot be taught theoretically; it must be taught through experience and action, and then the Lord Himself will give the prayer to the one praying. In this regard, Father Nikolai completely trusted the leadership of God and believed that the one who does it in simplicity and humility of heart is out of spiritual danger. The main thing is not to make it a spiritual “exercise” for the acquisition of certain grace-filled gifts, but to look for in it, first of all, a contrite and repentant beginning. This is precisely the direct and immediate meaning of the words of this prayer. And without it, the ascetic is unlikely to be able to resist all the wiles of the devil and acquire the necessary purity of mind and heart. Only through her does an Orthodox Christian enter into blissful union with Christ, and it is from her that the longed-for spirit of salvation is born in him.
Father Nikolai considered the Jesus Prayer to be the first and main tool in spiritual life, given by the Church for all times, and for our time in particular. It came to my mind how one of my parishioners asked the elder through me for a blessing to study at a music school for her seven-year-old daughter. The priest’s answer left us all in amazement. “Tell her,” he said, “let her better say the Jesus Prayer.” He sent such a blessing to a foolish girl in a village where no one had any idea what it was.
“Say the Jesus Prayer”—with these words, said firmly and immutably in response to my question, it seems to me that the elder left his spiritual testament to all those who are zealous for their salvation and seeking spiritual perfection in the modern world.
Of all the amazing and unusual gifts of grace for our time with which the Lord adorned His faithful servant - the Zalitsky recluse and ascetic - two of them are perhaps the most amazing. This is his love and humility.
“I blessed you, and now you bless me,” I once heard a command from the priest after the usual blessing received on the threshold of his cell. I looked at him with considerable surprise. “Perhaps in this way he accuses me of being too edifying?” - flashed through my mind. With an impenetrable face, the elder stood at the door of the house and with his immobility made it clear to me that he would not let me pass the threshold of the cell until I did what I was told. I was completely confused and bewildered. What was to be done? Bless the elder? It would be easier for me if my hand withered away than to decide on this. Persist? This means being left without an invitation to enter the house and without subsequent conversation. After hesitating indecision, I gathered up my courage and, like a person who is about to enter icy water, hastily made a blessing movement with my hand. And only after that we entered the senets.
Then I puzzled for a long time about what all this meant, until I found the answer in one patristic book. It said: “If you hear that some elder honors his neighbor above himself, then know that he has already achieved great perfection, for this is what perfection consists of: to prefer one’s neighbor to oneself.” After these words, I realized that the priest’s unusual act was both an expression of his humility and a teaching of a spiritual lesson to his child. In a word, this was a kind of imitation of Christ, who washed the feet of His disciples.
As for the father’s love, everyone who came to his island felt it. Everything here was permeated with it. For the elder lived here according to his own special laws, like a blessed baby, as if the reality around him was powerless to change anything in his attitude towards God and man.
She really couldn’t do anything about the love that was firmly established in his soul. Despite the fact that today's world brings nothing into the human soul except embitterment and bitterness, and selfishness becomes the rule and norm of existence, the elder tirelessly instilled in his children that in their relations with their neighbors they should be guided only by love, only mercy, only compassion. He even taught to treat his enemies in a Christian way.
Not only the world, but also the current church reality is also becoming poorer in love, and the further it goes, the more and more it is conquered by the worldly spirit. These processes, which the Savior warned about through His conversation with the apostles, give rise even in sincerely believing people to isolation from each other, alienation, isolation and, as a defensive reaction to everything that happens around them, the desire to live only in their own interests. One way or another, I, a priest, and now a monk, constantly caught myself in the fact that, moving around in the world, I, a sinner, was captured by this spirit and, imperceptibly for myself, was losing the norms of the Gospel life. And so, getting to the island, every time I found myself in an atmosphere of love, where I was faced with a completely different attitude towards a person, where I heard a voice that returned me to what I had fallen away from and what a Christian should never lose. Here, next to the elder, I was filled with his love for people and, at least for a short time, I came to life in soul and heart for God and man.
Wonderful, unforgettable island! How much light, goodness and genuine love of Christ you brought into the darkness of the surrounding reality! Yes, he was, perhaps, that small island in the ocean of human lies and untruths, which meekly, humbly and invariably radiated the light and warmth of Divine Truth into the world.
Hieromonk Nestor, www.zalit.ru
About Elder Jonah
Many Orthodox believers and not only believers know about the elder hieromonk Father Jonah, a disciple of the holy Venerable Kuksha of Odessa. Father Jonah is an amazing old man who was known to everyone for a long time as one of the monks and confessor of the Odessa Assumption Monastery.
Many people came to Odessa from all over the world to meet him, receive his blessing, ask for advice and ask for prayer.
Memories of the Servant of God Elena
Once upon a time, when it was possible to approach the priest freely, I had a conflict at work with management. And they pressed me so hard that I decided to complain to my superiors. On the way to work I stopped at a monastery. Father met me on the threshold of the temple with the words: “Where do you want the reward? Here on earth, or in the Kingdom of Heaven? I was taken aback. And Father Jonah told me to immediately go to work, not to complain to anyone, and as a boss, the higher management would give me a dressing down and he would blame me for everything, without making excuses, to ask for forgiveness. So I did. It was hard. I got sick. And during the illness, the boss was removed. It was loud and smelled very bad. Yes, the priest is very simple and has no theological education, but the Lord reveals to him many secrets...
One day I doubted whether I should turn to my father for help? So he came out of the altar and said: “Decide for yourself whether you need my help or not.”
My Guardian Angel brought me to him
Life brought me closer to God at the very moment when, as it seemed to me, it ceased to have meaning for me.
At that time I lived in Odessa and heard about the amazing old man, how he helps people in all their sorrows and sorrows, and also that he has the gift of expelling the demon that has entered a person. Before this, I had never seen Father Jonah before, and perhaps I never would have, because I still believe that my Guardian Angel led me to him.
I remember this day clearly. I wanted to leave, I was overcome by fear, but some force was able to hold me. For the first time in my life, I approached Father Jonah and stood about three meters from him, and it was then that I felt the spirit of holiness for the first time. There were many people who cried, who screamed, who struggled from his father's embrace, who prayed. I stood silently in one place and waited for my turn to come, for Father Jonah to touch me with his hand. Something began to change, my fear subsided, the feelings raging in my soul calmed down. And my turn came. Father pressed me close to him and whispered something very quietly. In just a short moment, my whole life flashed before me and a feeling of deep peace came. Father let me go and baptized me, but I didn’t want to leave. Tears flowed from my eyes, and as if an epiphany had come, I realized that I really wanted to live.
Soon I was already standing at confession to begin Holy Communion. Life began to take on a different meaning, filled with happiness and joy. Thank God I'm alive! For me it was a miracle, a second birth. Thank God that there are such prayer books among people on earth as Father Jonah. Every time we come to the service, we wait with bated breath for Father Jonah to come out of the altar, so that we can even look at him or touch him, and we believe that his prayers are miraculous.
Parishioner of the Holy Dormition Monastery, Irina.
What should I do, Father Jonah?
I have often witnessed people’s conversations with Father Jonah, when they ask him for advice in a difficult situation, for hints... And this has happened to me more than once while communicating with him.
For example, a woman comes and asks for advice: “What should we do, Father Jonah? This is such a difficult situation, there is a conflict in the family, they can’t divide the inheritance, and the relatives will all quarrel very soon...” and describes in every detail what even Not every good lawyer can work with a psychologist to figure things out.
Jonah will listen, look attentively, bless, say that he needs to pray... And then it seems completely out of place to tell all sorts of stories: how he got tired on a tractor when he was young, the pedal was broken and his leg hurt badly after work, and that one righteous old woman told yesterday how she dreamed of Angels, so white and beautiful, and the Most Holy Theotokos smiling next to them...
Those who communicated with Father Jonah for the first time were a little lost in such cases, since they usually expected clear answers and point-by-point recommendations, and not these stories mixed with a call to give up everything and only think about God... But at the same time, they listened anyway listened to him and suddenly began to understand what to do. Moreover, clearly understand in all details what the right thing to do is. Sometimes you could even see how they were already eager to immediately run and do what they understood, and it was already difficult for them to listen to what Jonah was telling...
I have seen such cases more than once. Next to the old man, when you are nearby, it is somehow light, easy... I don’t even know how to describe this state. And at such moments of communication with him, all the confused thoughts are unraveled and the exciting problems suddenly cease to be problems...
Advice from Father John Peasantkin
It was as if from his very birth Father John Krestyankin was sent from above to become a preacher of God.
He was born in the Oryol province into a simple family and already at the age of six he wanted to become a priest, and after 30 years he became one. At the end of the 1950s in Moscow, in the Izmailovo Church of the Nativity, he baptized 50 people a day, and for this, as well as for his faith and way of thinking, he was sentenced to several years in the camps. There he continued to instruct people. Even the guards respected the priest: they allowed him not to have his hair cut and did not take away the only thing he had - the Bible.
After his release from the camps, Father John Krestyankin served in the Pskov and Ryazan dioceses, in 1966 he took monastic vows and became a monk of the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersky Monastery.
Every day pilgrims from all over the country came to him for advice, consolation, and help. Among his spiritual students are famous politicians and actors, but their names are not advertised.
It is known that Boris Yeltsin also visited him. On May 2, 2000, before the first inauguration, Vladimir Putin came to the elder and spoke with Father John in his cell for more than an hour.
Father John sometimes gave advice that seemed strange, but time showed he was right. One day, a woman with a three-year-old child in her arms rushed to Father John: “Father, give your blessing for the operation, the doctors require it urgently, in Moscow.” Father John stopped and firmly told her: “No way. He will die on the operating table. Pray, treat him, but do not perform surgery under any circumstances. He will recover." And he baptized the baby. The child recovered.
Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), a spiritual disciple of Father John, tells about another case. In the 90s, Muscovite Valentina Pavlovna asked Archimandrite Tikhon to ask Father John for a blessing to remove cataracts at the Fedorov Institute. Father John’s answer was surprising: “No, under no circumstances. Just not now, let time pass..."
He wrote about this to her in a letter, adding that she should have the operation a month after the vacation. “If she has an operation now, she will die,” he sadly told Archimandrite Tikhon.
Father Tikhon, on the advice of Father John, went to the woman, persuaded her to go to Crimea on vacation, and ordered a trip. But she did not listen and underwent surgery, during which she suffered a severe stroke and complete paralysis.
– Why don’t you listen to me? – Father John almost cried. – After all, if I insist on something, it means I know!
He ordered Father Tikhon to take the spare Holy Gifts from the church to his cell and, as soon as Valentina came to her senses, immediately confess and give communion. The woman came to her senses. She was confessed and given communion, after which she died.
The wife of the poet Bulat Okudzhava, Olga, recalls that once she, having arrived at the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery to visit Father John, complained in a conversation with the elder that her husband was not baptized and was indifferent to the faith. Father said: “You will baptize him yourself.” Surprised, Olga asked the elder how this was possible if he did not want to be baptized, and his name was not Orthodox. To which Father John replied: “You will call him Ivan...”
Fifteen years after that meeting, Bulat Okudzhava, dying in Paris, unexpectedly asked to be baptized. It was already too late to call the priest. Olga herself decided to baptize Bulat (her spiritual mentor, Father Alexy, taught her this ritual). I asked my husband what to call him. He answered: “Ivan.”
Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov told the following incident in the program of the Spas TV channel on 02/03/2009: “One woman turned to me with the following: “Father John told me to tell you that if you find at least one human bone, you need to carry out the order of its burial.” Literally after some time (three or four weeks), my friend, an artist, when I was in his studio, turned to me with a request: “Here I have a skull, I once drew it, now I don’t need it. I don’t know what to do with it, maybe you’ll take it?” And I immediately remembered the words of Father John. I made a box. He took him to the Lyonozovskoe cemetery, read the funeral service in full and buried this man’s head according to all the rules. It turns out that Father John gave me a command within a month. The Lord revealed it to him. And there were many such cases..."
Every day, immediately after the liturgy, Father John began the reception and continued it, with short breaks for meals, until late in the evening, and sometimes even after midnight. He did not walk around the monastery, but almost ran - however, lingering near everyone who sought his attention, and for this they called him with good humor “a fast train with all the stops.” When the priest was in a hurry, not having time to ask questions and talk for a long time, he sometimes immediately began to answer a question that had been prepared but had not yet been asked to him, and thereby involuntarily revealed his amazing insight.
When the uproar arose regarding the introduction of the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), he, 91 years old, overcoming illness, spoke in front of a television camera with an appeal to the Orthodox not to be afraid of innovations and not to cause panic. Shortly before his death, Father John called Archimandrite Tikhon and said: “Well, I’ll die soon. So work hard, write what you remember and want to say about me. Otherwise, then you will still write and you may come up with something that will happen, like poor Father Nikolai, who “resurrected cats” and other fables. And then I’ll look through everything myself and I’ll be at peace...”
And Archimandrite Tikhon managed to write memoirs about his confessor.
Mother Zipporah
In the world, Daria Nikolaevna Shnyakina (nee Senyakina), was born into a peasant family, in the village of Glukhovo, Gavrilovsky district, Tambov province, on March 19, 1896, old style. Her father, Nikolai Alekseevich, a middle peasant, and her mother, Matrona Gerasimovna, were hardworking, honest, religious people, but illiterate. Of the thirteen children born to them, only three survived: Daria, her brother Vasily and Pavel (the first brother was subsequently killed in the 1914 war, the second during dispossession in the early 30s).
Mother, at the end of her life (and she lived one hundred and one years) recalled: “We lived well with our parents, went to church..., an icon on the gate..., there were monks in my father’s family: one was a monk, and the other lived like a monk, he knew everything …. My mother’s family included three nuns and one monk.” Daria's grandfather, peasant Alexei, traveled a lot to holy places. In 1903 he brought a rosary to his granddaughter. Mother also recalled how the nuns who lived in Glukhov at the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God in Glukhov taught her the Jesus Prayer: while teaching her how to sew and weave, they said that while working she should say the prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”...
In the third year of the war, Daria's brother Vasily died a heroic death on the battlefield. Soon his father died; at that time he was only forty-five years old. Feeling the approach of death, he lit a candle and, squeezing it in his cold hands, said: “Hold me... I'll die now". Daria turned twenty years old. Her father, while he was alive, did not marry her off, because he knew that she did not want it. She wanted to take monastic vows.
This truly narrow and rocky path was long for Mother Zipporah! The Lord, who created an abode in her heart, did not leave her. She loved the Lord and knew that he is the one who truly loves Him, who fulfills His commandments.
When, after the death of her father, in 1916, a young fellow villager, Dmitry Shnyakin, a believer who had been in Sarov and Diveyevo, wooed her, Daria’s mother blessed this marriage. The girl resignedly obeyed. She joined a large, wealthy family. The father-in-law, the headman of the village temple, had four sons and a daughter and a large farm. He did not allow his children to separate from him after marriage - and so five daughters-in-law, five young women, gathered in the house. Daria became the eldest daughter-in-law, who, according to her rank, was supposed to monitor everything, manage everything - in a word, a housekeeper. Mother recalled that at that time she “had no time to take off her bast shoes, let alone rest.” She coped with everything, and everyone was happy with her. And I wasn’t tired at all. The Lord gave strength, as she constantly remembered Him.
In 1933, my mother suffered a terrible dispossession of kulaks, which was accompanied by the murder of her relatives; her house was dismantled piece by piece. The father-in-law and mother-in-law were exiled to Solovki. Before dispossession, in the period from 1917 to 1928, Daria had four daughters: Alexandra, Paraskeva, Lydia and Julia. Winter came, there was nowhere to live. Daria and her children were received by the poor widow Agafya, who lived on the edge of the village and was unsociable. Even before dispossession, Daria’s husband left for Bolokhovo, in the Tula province, to build a mine in the hope of earning money and moving his family. In Bolokhov, I must say, things didn’t get much easier for the family. The same poverty in everything. They lived for a long time in a walk-through room, six of them slept on the floor, neighbors stepped over them. My father most often got odd jobs: either knocking together shields for snow retention on the railroad, chopping wood at a bakery, or working as a stoker. Alexandra and Paraskeva also worked where they could. Daria’s mother, Matrona Gerasimovna, came here to Bolokhovo, lived for two months and died. In 1937, the family was given a separate room in a communal apartment, which made things at least a little more convenient.
In 1946, after the death of her husband, mother and her daughters moved to a small town in the Tula region, Kireevsk, and, not yet being a nun, left all care for earthly things. Her daughters had grown up and could now take care of her very little needs. Once in Kireevsk, mother was praying alone, and suddenly Angels appeared and began to walk around her, performing some kind of ritual. When they began to dress her in monastic robes, she realized that this was tonsure. Soon Daria moved to the Lavra and here, in confession, she spoke about her wonderful tonsure as a monk. Then she was blessed to be tonsured into the mantle, which was performed here in the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra; on October 20, 1967, she was named Dosithea. This happened so unnoticed that the mother’s daughters did not immediately find out about it. And in December 1989, Bishop Serapion, Metropolitan of Tula and Belevsky, tonsured Mother Dosithea into the schema with the name Zipporah.
End of introductory fragment.
* * *
The given introductory fragment of the book Holy Seers. The hidden gift of clairvoyance, prediction and prophecy of the saints of God (A. V. Fomin, 2013) provided by our book partner -
Fr. Vladimir Vorobyov, rector of the Orthodox St. Tikhon's Humanitarian University. He spoke about the elders with whom he was personally acquainted. After the lecture, Father Vladimir answered questions about confessors and elders.
What to do if, despite great respect and gratitude to your confessor, there is no mutual understanding with him, and there is a desire to move to another confessor to whom you feel great closeness. It is not right?
What does it mean that there is no mutual understanding with your confessor? It can be different. It happens that people have such different temperaments and moods that they simply do not understand each other. This happens quite often in life. Confessors are, for the most part, not holy people, very good people, but not saints, so the kind of mutual understanding that one would like to achieve may not be achieved. With holy people this is always easier, because with holy people their temperament and character fade into the background, and grace acts more powerfully. So, this may be the case, and it may be that with another priest it is easier to establish contact and mutual understanding.
I think that in a number of cases you can openly tell your confessor about this and, with your blessing, you can move on to the priest with whom you have contact. After all, relationships with a confessor are very important for a person’s spiritual life. If it doesn’t work out with this confessor, but it might work out with another, then you can’t proceed from some formal prohibitions that you can’t change your confessor (and this is a common opinion among us), it seems to me that you can’t proceed from such prohibitions.
But the fact is that the confessor accuses you of some shortcomings, of some passions. It happens that the confessor is very busy, he does not have enough time or energy. And you take it personally: my confessor treats me badly. And if a person, for such reasons, goes to another confessor, then this is a big mistake.
If you ask your confessor: “Father, I don’t find mutual understanding with you, but with the other priest I have complete contact. Give your blessing to leave,” and he will say: “Of course, go quickly!” - this is not a very suitable way to solve the issue. In such cases, they usually seek some kind of arbitration advice. If you manage to find a spiritual person, an elder (now there are very few such elders), but you need to find a third person who can understand and consult with him on what to do. So as not to rely on your passions, your passionate spiritual movements, so as not to be based on them, otherwise there may be a big mistake. Communication with your confessor is very important. If you are very grateful to him, if he is very respected by you, if the Lord once brought you to him, then it is not just like that. And it’s impossible to break this connection just like that, because something has become difficult. Difficulties do not mean that you have to immediately move on to someone else, with whom it may or may not be easier. So you shouldn’t rush in such things, but you need to be very careful.
But in principle, I think that such cases happen, and this is quite natural. And you can solve them.
Father, why did you go to different elders? Maybe there was something you weren't happy with? Did the elders have friends?
I think elders can have friends. Why not. Saints had friends, even Christ had friends.
Why did I go to the elders? You know, I haven't traveled much. I could well have visited many more contemporary elders. I was able to visit Bishop Afanasy (Sakharov). I still can’t forgive myself for not going to see him. I could visit many more wonderful elders. But I was always ashamed, I thought: “I have a spiritual father, he tells me everything, I don’t have questions that I could also ask the elder, why will I distract the elder and burden myself?” That's why I didn't go. And now I am very sorry, because if there is an opportunity to see a holy person, then never miss this opportunity. This is the most precious thing in life. Even just seeing him, looking at him, standing next to him is the most precious experience that will put everything else in its place in your soul and life. That’s why I went to the elders whenever possible. But I asked Father Vsevolod: “Can I go to Father Tavrion?” He blessed: “Yes, yes, go.” He never showed any jealousy and didn’t think that I wanted to leave him.
I have not yet spoken about Father Tikhon Pelikh, whom Father Arkady and I also knew closely. He was also a wonderful old man. I had to communicate closely with him for a long time during the life of Father Vsevolod.
I think, if there is such an opportunity, then you need to go to the elders, only these should be real elders. There is no need to obey frivolous curiosity and act according to the principle: where the people go, there I will go. It's not necessary. But if it is known that there is such a holy person, then it would be good to see him.
How did you manage to meet the people you are talking about now? Did you somehow look for them? Where can we find elders now?
For example, I saw the recently glorified elder Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Romantsov). This is Elder Glinsky, he spent his last years in Sukhumi. He was a great old man, now he has been canonized in Ukraine. How did I see him? Very simple. In the summer we went to the Caucasus on a trip, at the end we crossed the pass and went down to Sukhumi, and naturally came to the temple, and Father Seraphim stood in the temple and confessed. That's how I saw him.
I came to Father Tikhon when I was studying at the seminary and could not get to Father Vsevolod. And Father Tikhon was then serving in Sergiev Posad and it was possible to get to him. And I started going to him.
I don’t even remember how we got to Father Seraphim (Tyapochkin), on purpose or while passing through. But I heard about him from my close friends and decided to go to him. I didn’t have any questions for him. I arrived, and my friends, his spiritual children, happened to be there. Then still young Natasha, now Mother Natalya Boyarintseva, took me to Father Seraphim and said: “Father, here is Volodya. We've known each other for a long time." He looks at me and says: “He will be a priest, a priest.” She says: “Volodya gave me spiritual books to read.” “Well, even more so.”
Of course, it was memorable and meant a lot to me. But I didn’t have any questions, I didn’t ask anything. But, of course, such communication is remembered for a lifetime.
And today, who do you recommend turning to among the elders? Very necessary.
And today I don’t know who to turn to. Many people turn to Father Elijah. Father Eli is a wonderful father. But he is very sick and now it has become difficult to get to him. Many now name some other elders. But I don't know them. It so happened that now I don’t know anyone. That's why I can't send it to someone.
Should one treat a confessor as an elder? Is it necessary to seek the advice of elders if there is a confessor? And in what cases?
No, you don’t need to treat your confessor as an elder if he is not an elder. You need to treat him as a confessor. This is very difficult and it is important to learn how to do it. A confessor, although he is not an elder, is given to a person by God. And in our time, finding a real confessor is also not at all easy. If the Lord leads you to a real confessor, if you can become a real spiritual child, then this is God’s greatest gift. If you have the right attitude towards your confessor, then the Lord will show you the spiritual path through him and, perhaps, will reveal the will of God through him, although he does not have the gift of clairvoyance. But it will be revealed to you, according to your faith, this happens very often.
It depends exactly on how you treat him. One must treat a confessor with love for Christ’s sake, and not with partiality. Treating a confessor with partiality is a sin. This is not only futile, but also very dangerous. Some choose as their confessors those priests who for some reason they like best. Sometimes they choose the young and handsome, or for some other reason. It is not right. The relationship with your confessor should be spiritual, not emotional.
You need to treat your confessor with trust, selflessly, i.e. don't expect to get anything from him. I don't mean money or gifts. Often we want to be in a special position in church: if I am closer to the priest, I will come and be the main one or the main one. This is also self-interest. Relationships should be selfless. You need to treat your confessor with humility. The task of a confessor is, first of all, to show us our sins and shortcomings. It means hurting us. This can only be done when a person comes with trust and humility. So you come to the doctor, the doctor says: “You need an injection or surgery.” And you believe him, and out of obedience you begin to suffer and suffer - they prick you, cut you, perform unpleasant procedures, because you believe the doctor and believe that he is doing this for your health. You should treat your confessor the same way. So the doctor says: “You know, you have a serious illness.” Now they even tell the patient that he has cancer. Who enjoys this? Suddenly they tell you that you have cancer. But the confessor also says: “You know, you have pride. You don’t know how to behave, you’re behaving boorishly.” This is unpleasant to hear. But the confessor must tell us this. And we must accept this with gratitude, with trust, with the desire to improve. Then it will be a real relationship.
And when you like to be stroked on the head, this is not a spiritual attitude, this is self-interest. We want the priest to only console, encourage and never make any comments, but as soon as he says something unpleasant, then the priest is bad. “Father has gone bad,” you hear this very often. Father used to be good, but now he has gone bad.
If there is a confessor, then thank God. But if there is an opportunity to get to a holy man, to an elder, then I think a real confessor will not mind, he will definitely send you to him.
It happens that even a very good confessor finds it difficult to answer some question or give some advice. It is really difficult to say whether to marry this man or not. They come up very often: “Father, bless me to get married.” "For whom?" "Here's to this one." You think: “Oh, Lord have mercy! What will happen from such a marriage! And everything is already set up for them, they have already agreed on the wedding. And the priest is in a very difficult position. And it happens that the priest cannot stand his temper and follows the lead of his spiritual children. He doesn't say what he has to say, he just can't refuse. This is bad. To be a priest, for your information, is very difficult. It's hard to hurt a person, it's hard to tell people something they don't want to hear.
What should a spiritual child do in the event of the death of his confessor? My friend says that there cannot be several real confessors. And now she doesn’t have a confessor, she goes to different churches. The idea that a confessor is no longer needed seems strange and wrong to me. Is it correct?
I think you are absolutely right. A person may have several confessors throughout his life. I had several very good confessors.
When should you go to the elder, and when to your parish priest?
The parish priest is the third category of priests. They are completely different. A confessor is one thing, a parish priest is another. Not every parish priest can be a confessor. A confessor is a spiritual father, the person to whom your heart is open, who knows you, who constantly prays for you and suffers from your illnesses. He will stand before God for you. He takes responsibility for you, he doesn’t just tell you: “You can’t do this,” he painfully searches for the right path for you. And the parish priest may not be interested in you at all. These are different things. Therefore, who is better to go to? It's better to go to someone who cares about you more seriously.
If you have the opportunity to go to an elder, a real elder, then that’s good.
If there is no spiritual father, but a serious issue needs to be resolved, who can you turn to for spiritual advice?
To a spiritual person, to a spiritual priest. You need to look for the most experienced one. You need to pray, you need to ask around so that you can be shown a sensible, experienced confessor who can give advice, and you can go to him. If suddenly no one is around you... I remember asking my elder, what to do if there is absolutely no one to go to, as, for example, during persecution. He said this: “Pray better and then start doing what your conscience tells you, try to renounce all passions and think about what to do according to your conscience. And start doing it. And pray. If something works out, it means God’s will is there. But if you pray, start doing something and nothing works out, then God’s will is not there.” The idea is very simple - if you sincerely, from the bottom of your heart, with contrition, with repentance, with humility, pray, ask and try, then the Lord will definitely show you. It will simply indicate the circumstances of life. It will not leave you in a disastrous state. We think that everyone has died, I am the only one left and will die. No, the Lord will not leave.
How to get to the elder who is currently receiving? And how not to make a mistake. Usually they talk about people who have already died. This is very interesting, but I need advice now. There is no one to turn to. There have already been sorrows from wrong advice.
This problem has always been and always will be. I can only tell you one thing from my own experience. When I was young, I also heard a lot about various elders and saints. These were the years of Soviet power. And there was no one around me. For many years I did not have any confessor and I did not know where to go. I was a believer, but I didn’t even know which temple to go to. We were very intimidated in those days. And our parents scared us, they said: “If you go to church now, they will kick you out of school, from the university, and maybe they’ll put you in jail.” So we were afraid, we didn’t trust the priests, because there were informants among them. From a young age I began to pray: Lord: “Give me a spiritual father.” And then he also asked, as I now understand, very boldly: “Show me an old man from whom I can find out Your will. I want to do according to Your will. Who should I ask? And I shared the spiritual father and the elder. And I prayed for so many years, and only then, after dozens of years, I realized that the Lord literally fulfilled my request. I had both a spiritual father and an elder who wrote to me: “This is the will of God.” And the Lord did not give me just any old man, but exactly the one I asked for, who revealed the will of God to me.
God is merciful. If we search and ask with all our hearts, if we ask for good, if we want to do truly well, to arrange our lives spiritually, then the Lord will definitely answer. Maybe not right away. Maybe you need to pray, work hard. But there is no need to doubt this for a single minute. But if you have such a desire, I am deeply convinced that the Lord will not leave it unanswered.
It's not easy, and rightly so, it's not easy. If it were easy, we wouldn't value it. There is a saying: “What comes easily is worth little.”
Is it possible to go to the elders and have the desire to confess to the elder? Because they are great prayer leaders.
This question is posed a little frivolously in my opinion. Such a good desire may be good, but you no longer understand what an elder is.
An elder, in the sense in which we spoke today, is, first of all, a very tortured person. We once told Father John Krestyankin: “Father, there is absolutely no time to pray.” And he answers: “What kind of prayer is that? You talk and talk all day, and then you can only make one bow for tomorrow. No prayer." There is no time or energy left. The elders are exhausted to the last extreme, the elders do not confess, they have no time to confess. They answer briefly and quickly if you get to them. And to confess - to your confessors.
How to find out the will of God. I can't get married?
We need to pray. You need to look for the will of God, ask around.
Are there elders in Russia now like Seraphim of Sarov or the Optina elders?
I don’t think anyone can answer this question. Because people understood who St. Seraphim of Sarov was many years after his death. He was canonized only 70 years later. And then by the direct will of Sovereign Nicholas II, and the Synod was against canonization. Now, when the whole world honors St. Seraphim, when so many miracles have happened, now we know who he is.
There is an image: to see a mountain, you need to move far enough away, but it is not visible up close. Being close to an elder, very often you do not understand who is in front of you. It is known that elders have very difficult cell attendants or cell attendants who do not understand who is in front of them. And they literally torture their elders. And then time passes and it turns out that this is what a saint he was. God does not immediately reveal the holiness and greatness of such ascetics. Maybe time will pass and we will find out that we lived next to a great saint - Father John Krestyankin, for example. Or someone else. But now it is impossible to answer this question.
Does every Christian need a spiritual director?
I think that everyone should have a spiritual director. Another thing is that not every person wants this. If a person does not want to, then it is impossible to force such leadership on him. He simply will not obey, he will not want anyone to control him or command him. He is a free citizen of a free country! And if a person sincerely seeks spiritual life, then a leader is needed.
What did the elders say or advise when a person has sorrows: poverty, difficulties in his personal life, problems with people around him? When sorrows press from all sides. Humanly speaking, there is no need to expect improvements.
They always said: be patient, humble yourself and pray.
Do elders have a hierarchy?
Hierarchy is when you are the director, you are the deputy director, and you are the head of the department.
There is no such hierarchy among elders. But, of course, there are greater and less great elders.
If you cannot fulfill a blessing, how terrible is this sin?
It happens in different ways, depending on what kind of blessing it is. Actually, the real blessing is one that can be fulfilled.
