Brief biography of the venerable elders of the Optina Hermitage. Secrets and wonders of the Optina Hermitage Description of the Monastery of the Optina Elders
Surrounded by forests, on the banks of the Zhizdra River, far from noisy cities, where Optina Pustyn is located, stands an old monastery which was of great importance before the Bolsheviks came to power.
Today, when the Orthodox Church in our country is experiencing a period of revival, attention to this ancient monastery is returning.
Numerous temples, closed during the Soviet era, became available to believers. Their magnificent architecture pleases everyone, regardless of religion. The realm of Faith, Hope and Love is being revived.
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Geographical location and place on the map
Optina Pustyn has the following GPRS coordinates: 54.053416, 35.831969. Located in the Kaluga region.
Pilgrimage trips from Moscow to the Holy places of Russia. can be found in the pilgrimage center "To the Origins".
The distance from the regional center is 79 kilometers, from the capital of Russia - 256 kilometers, from St. Petersburg - 935 km. And the shortest distance from the nearest town called Kozelsk is only 2000 meters.
Brief history of the monastery
People lived on the modern territory of the Kaluga region for a very long time. Archaeologists during the excavations found the sites of people of the Stone Age. Kozelsk is mentioned in chronicles as early as 1146.
The small town became famous for its unprecedented rebuff to the Tatar-Mongols in 1238. For seven weeks a huge army could not take Kozelsk. After his capture, the town was burned to the ground and turned into a wasteland, glorious warriors and residents were killed.
The history of the monastery begins much later. The exact date of foundation of the monastery is unknown, but in 1625 it already existed. A secluded, deserted place in the middle of the forest was chosen for the monastery by hermits. In the 17th century there were only monks' cells and a wooden church. At the same time, the Vvedensky Cathedral was built.
During the reign of Peter I, the monks were almost deprived of their livelihood, having taken away the mill, crossing the river, and forbade fishing. And then it was decided to close the monastery, however, it did not operate for only 2 years, the monastery was not empty for long.
Metropolitan of Moscow Platon
Metropolitan Platon of Moscow and Bishop Philaret of Kaluga played a huge role in the revival of the monastery.
It is important to know: the role of Father Avraamy, who was appointed rector of Optina Pustyn, is great. It was he who introduced into the monastery the way of life that lasted until the 20th century, the time of the closing of the monastery.
His concern for the material well-being of the monastery, the repair of dilapidated church buildings, and the attraction of believers from the surrounding area over the long years of his activity made the monastery famous not only in the Kaluga province, but also beyond its borders.
Moscow Metropolitan Filaret
The most important period in the life of Optina Pustyn was the time when Filaret became Metropolitan of Moscow. Despite the high spiritual dignity, Filaret loved a quiet, silent life, and therefore patronized the monastery, often visited it.
Note: under Filaret, a skete of John the Baptist was built a kilometer from the monastery, which became the place of life for all the elders of Optina Hermitage.
Many books have been written about eldership in Rus'. This unique, purely Russian phenomenon dates back to the time of Sergius of Radonezh. The elder, as a rule, is a priest - a monk who provides spiritual guidance and mentoring over people who come to the monastery. This guidance takes the form of conversations or advice, as well as in correspondence with spiritual children.
hermit elders
Filaret invited the first hermit elders to Optina Hermitage. Here this amazing phenomenon flourished the most, making the monastery the spiritual center of Russia.
Interesting fact: The monastery became famous not for architectural marvels, not for ancient icons, but for the great Optina elders.
For almost a century, a huge number of pilgrims have been striving to the Optina Monastery for advice, guidance, and spiritual help. Among the visitors to Optina there were many celebrities: N.V. Gogol, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, philosopher V.S. Solovyov, V.A. Zhukovsky, S.T. Aksakov, F.I. Tyutchev, P.I. Tchaikovsky, A.L. Chizhevsky and many others.
Monastery after the revolution and the USSR
After the October Revolution, the spiritual center of Russia was closed in 1918. There was an agricultural artel, a museum, a sawmill, a tannery, where the monks and elders worked, and secretly continued their religious activities. Pilgrims continued to visit the monastery.
A series of various organizations on the territory of the monastery was replaced by the Rest House. In 1939 a concentration camp was made here.. It accommodated more than five thousand Poles, who were shot at Katyn.
With the beginning of the Second World War, a hospital for the wounded was needed, the place for which they chose the Optina Monastery. Already three years after the start of the war, the hospital was converted into an NKVD camp intended for captured Soviet officers who returned from Germany to their homeland. In 1949, the camp was replaced by a military unit.
1987 - the year of the return of Optina Hermitage to the Russian Orthodox Church. The very first liturgy was served in June 1988 in the gate tower. There were many years of work to restore the holy monastery.
The current state of the monastery
Vvedensky Cathedral
Immediately after the transfer of the monastery to the church, its restoration began. Elder Elijah headed the work. It was not only about returning the churches to their original form, but also about the spiritual revival of the monastery, about the return of Optina to its significance as the most important center of Orthodoxy.
Today, there are 8 functioning churches in excellent condition on the territory. Restored, in addition to temples, and other buildings:
- Vvedensky Cathedral is the main temple of the monastery. The shrine with the holy relics of St. Ambrose is located in the northern limit, the shrine with the holy relics of Fr. Nectaria - in the refectory;
- The Vladimir temple was rebuilt on the site of a hospital church that had not been preserved. This temple is the tomb of seven great elders of the monastery: Leo, Macarius, Hilarion, Anatoly, Joseph, Barsanuphius, Anatoly;
- The skete where the Optina elders lived was also restored. But access to it is closed to everyone, except for monks who serve worship day and night;
- The infirmary tower is adjacent to the hospital building. Today, a hotel for pilgrims is open here.
But what about the elders? Are they in the monastery today?
This is interesting: Elder Elijah, who lived in the monastery for 20 years, is now a confessor His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', confessor of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and Optina Pustyn. Given the venerable age of the elder - he is 85 years old - and the burden of the affairs of the confessor, he is practically elusive and inaccessible to ordinary people.
But the glory of the monastery is still great. Pilgrims, believers, who want to become workers of the monastery, seek peace and meaning in life. Since July 14, 2018, Bishop Leonid of Mozhaisk has been the abbot of the monastery.
Optina Elders
The skete, built under Filaret, became the place where the Optina elders lived. This place became a source of grace for hundreds of people who came here for a century and a half.
Optina Elder Father Ambrose
There are many written testimonies, books, and memoirs about the 14 elders who lived in the skete in the 19th-20th centuries. A lot became known thanks to the archive of the monastery, which in 1928 was taken out by the poetess N. Pavlovich to the library. Lenin.
The elders were not only spiritual teachers of their parishioners. Many of them had the gift of foresight, healing. There are many documented cases of curing terminally ill patients by them.
Among all the Optina elders, Father Ambrose stands out for his ascetic life. The scale of spiritual guidance of Fr. Ambrose is amazed. Every day a crowd of people from all over Russia and from abroad gathered at his modest cell. In addition to personal conversations, Fr. Ambrose conducted extensive correspondence, while he was a very sick person.
In the diary of Ambrose kept records of how overwhelming the work of eldership was for him, about the lack of sufficient time for prayer, about the lack of strength to overcome the road to the monastery. For his service, Fr. Ambrose received a rare award - a golden pectoral cross.
Women's Shamorda Monastery
Father Ambrose became the founder of the women's monastery of Shamorda, which still exists today. Here the priest spent a lot of time, finding the solitude and peace he needed so much.
Father Nectarius
By the beginning of the revolution, three elders lived in the skete: Nektary, Nikon and Anatoly II. Their fate was different:
- O. Nectaria arrested in 1923, taken into custody, then demanded to leave the region. Father Nektary obeyed, he went to the Bryansk region and settled there with his spiritual son. Even in this distant village to Fr. Spiritual children came to Nektarios. He died in 1928 from illness. Seven years later, robbers arrived at the cemetery, wishing to find treasures and enrich themselves. Rupture the grave of the old man, they saw the incorruptible body;
- O. Nikon after the closing of the monastery, he worked hard, trying to provide food for the remaining monks. In 1924 he moved to Kozelsk and served in the Dormition Church. In 1927 Fr. Nikon was arrested and after a three-year imprisonment in the Kemperpunkt camp, in unbearable conditions for life, he was sent to the North, to Pinega. He died in 1931 of tuberculosis in the arms of an Optina monk at the age of 43;
- O. Anatoly Potapov continued his religious activities in Kozelsk and its environs, despite the Bolshevik ban on serving. He refused to leave and in 1923 he was arrested. There were several of them in the life of Fr. Anatoly II, as a result he was accused of counter-revolutionary activities and shot in 1938.
Thus ended the amazing age of eldership. A tradition has been interrupted, the revival of which will take a very long time.
Monastery in the spiritual life of Russia
One can appreciate the enormous significance in the life of Russia on the example of the influence of visiting the monastery on the worldview and work of three great writers - N.V. Gogol, L.N. Tolstoy and F.M. Dostoevsky:
- N.V. Gogol visited the monastery three times. The time of the first visit coincided with a deep spiritual crisis aggravated by illness. The writer, who has already written his best works, is tormented by doubts about the correctness of the chosen field. Gogol felt the vocation of a monk in himself, dreamed of living in Optina Pustyna, praying for the sins of people. The genius gift of the writer contradicted his religious beliefs. This was his tragedy. But the elders, many of whom were very educated people, and, of course, read his works, did everything possible so that the literary world would not lose the writer. Long conversations with Fr. Macarius, Fr. Porfiry and the monks of the monastery had a beneficial effect on Nikolai Vasilyevich. Father Porfiry subsequently carried on a lengthy correspondence with the writer, was his friend and mentor;
- Leo Tolstoy visited the monastery several times. One day he and his companions came here on foot. The relationship of the great writer with the church was complex. Even repeated conversations with Elder Ambrose did not return him to the bosom of Orthodoxy. But here's the strange thing: disagreeing with the elders on religious issues, the writer considered visiting the monastery a very important event in his life;
- In 1878, the great Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky lived here for some time. The writer's younger son, Alyosha, dearly beloved by his father, died of epilepsy. In the monastery, the writer met and talked with Fr. Ambrose, who became the prototype of the elder Zosima in the writer's last novel, The Brothers Karamazov.
What you must visit and see
The relics of Ambrose and Fr. Nectaria
Unfortunately, due to the tragic history of the monastery, there are almost no old buildings left on its territory. Everything had to be rebuilt, practically from ruins. And yet there are a lot of important shrines here, which will be useful and interesting to look at even for an unbeliever.
The monks of the monastery have done a lot to restore spirituality to this holy place. This is felt by any person, regardless of faith, who is here.
So, what is worth visiting:
- Arriving at the monastery, you must definitely visit the service in the main Vvedensky Cathedral. Especially solemn services during church holidays, as well as on the Days of Remembrance of the great Optina elders. In the temple, you can venerate the relics of Fr. Ambrose and Fr. Nectaria, pray, just stand or light a candle at the miraculous icon of the Kazan Mother of God, which is located to the right of the altar;
Keep in mind: the territory of the skete is closed to visitors, but to pass the road along which the elders went to pray means to some extent to penetrate into their world.
Vladimirskaya Church
- Behind the Vvedensky Cathedral is the Vladimirskaya Church with a small blue dome with stars. Here are the relics of six great elders of Optina;
- Holy monastic springs are famous for numerous healings and miracles. Three sources of Optina are no exception:
- One of them, the most famous, is located on the territory of the monastery, in honor of Pafnuty Borovsky the Wonderworker;
- Source in honor of Fr. Ambrose is not far from the skete;
- The third source in honor of Sergius of Radonezh is hydrogen sulfide. It was recently rediscovered by monks. There is a bath here, immersion in the waters of which gives an extraordinary surge of strength.
From any source, it is worth not only drinking holy water, but also taking it home. Holy water will stand for a long time. It should be drunk in the morning after reading special prayer before taking holy water, or in case of illness of family members. But everything must be done with faith. And how many people have gained faith, thanks to a visit to Optina Hermitage, probably cannot be counted ...
Information for pilgrims and tourists
How to get there
By train or bus you can get from the capital to
Chapter first
Elders and soothsayers of Optina Hermitage
Historical digression
The ancient city of Kozelsk, known since the distant 1146, was noted in Russian history as a reliable barrier to the southern borders of the young Muscovite state from the devastating raids of the Crimean Tatars. For desperate resistance, he was wiped off the face of the earth by the troops of Batu. But restored by the inhabitants. Not far from it, on the high bank of the Zhizdra River, surrounded by a dense pine forest, stands the legendary monastery, which in the 19th century became the spiritual center of Russia and the school of Russian elders - Kozelskaya Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn.
Although reliable sources attribute the emergence of the monastery only to the end of the 16th century, local legends sound different. The legend, more like an adventure story, attributes the foundation of the local monastery to ... a desperate and formidable leader of the robbers who ruled in the dense Kozel forests in the first half of the 15th century. The name of the dashing ataman was Opt, and the cruel Kudeyar, a legendary and rather folklore personality, known from historical songs, went as his partners. Obviously, these places are not easy, because over time, the robber Opta sincerely repented of his atrocities, took the monastic tonsure under the name of Macarius and founded two deserts - two secluded monasteries. The “prudent robber” ended his journey in the Kozelskaya Optina desert, where three covenants were instituted and sacredly observed under him: strict monastic life, the persistence of poverty and the need to always and in everything "to hold the truth without any partiality." (Tradition also connects the name of Opta with the Bolkhovsky Optin Trinity Monastery, located seventy miles from Kozelsk, which until the middle of the 19th century had the official name "Makarieva Optina".)
The official history of the Optina Hermitage begins with the Kozelsk scribe books for 1628–1631. In them, the monastery is called the "sovereign's pilgrimage", in which "the Church of the Presentation of the Most Pure Mother of God is wooden" and "six cells, and in them the elders - the black priest Theodoret with his brother." And until the beginning of the 19th century, the ornate narrative of the history of Optina Hermitage differed little from the history of other Russian monasteries, which knew periods of oblivion, ruin and rebirth.
An event was the laying of the first stone church of the Entry into the Temple in 1689 Holy Mother of God funded by local philanthropists. Among the donors of the monastery are members of the royal family and eminent boyars. But the reign of the first Russian emperor bled the monastery bloodless.
Peter I, who needed a lot of money to equip the army, imposed a quitrent on the monasteries, and small monasteries and hermitages, like Optina, were closed because they could not pay the fee. The brethren from Optina Hermitage were transferred in 1724 to the Transfiguration Monastery in the city of Belev, Tula Province.
It would be so if the grass of oblivion overgrown Optina Hermitage, like many other monasteries, but in 1725, after the death of Peter I, an influential Optina philanthropist, stolnik Andrei Petrovich Shepelev, submits a petition to the Holy Synod for the restoration of the monastery. The petition was supported by the new Empress Catherine I, who ordered the Synod to restore Optina Hermitage on the same basis. Twelve Optina monks returned to restore the monastery.
"On the same grounds", in fact, meant - "with nothing." The monastery had neither land nor fish land and eked out a semi-beggarly existence. Of course, the surrounding boyars helped as best they could, but this was not enough.
A difficult, sometimes hopeless existence continued until the end of the 18th century. Then the Metropolitan of Moscow and Kaluga Platon (Levshin) visited Optina Hermitage and was fascinated by the beauty of nature that surrounded the monastery. After that, measures were taken to restore community life in Optina. The metropolitan appointed the experienced hieromonk Avraamy of the Pesnoshsky monastery as rector of the Optina Hermitage.
Abbot Abraham entered the history of Optina Hermitage as the founder of the future prosperity of the monastery. For twenty years he thoroughly equipped the monastery. Stone buildings appeared instead of dilapidated wooden ones. To the right of the Vvedensky Cathedral, a new stone cathedral in the name of the Kazan Mother of God and a slender three-tiered bell tower with adjoining outbuildings for monastic cells. A hospital was built with a temple attached to it, an orchard was planted. But, perhaps, the main thing - led by an experienced helmsman, Optina embarked on the path spiritual movement for the revival of genuine Orthodox tradition, at the origins of which was the famous Paisiy Velichkovsky.
"Life" by Paisiy Velichkovsky
The great elder, who restored the continuity of the spiritual continuity of the Christian tradition, revived the idea of the monastic path as a continuous feat of self-denial and sacrificial love not only for God, but also for people created in his “image and likeness”, deserves a separate story in this book.
The future elder was born on December 21, 1722 into a family of hereditary clergymen. He was named Peter in honor of Metropolitan Peter of Kyiv. He early began to prepare for monastic life, from a young age he established three rules for himself: do not condemn your neighbor, even if you saw him sinning with your own eyes; not hate anyone; Forgive offenses wholeheartedly. And for many years I was looking for a spiritual mentor. To no avail.
In those years, for those thirsting for spiritual experience, all roads led to Athos, which for many centuries remained the highest school of monasticism, the guardian of Orthodoxy and pure faith. Here, the founder of monasticism in Rus', St. Anthony of the Caves, began his monastic feat. The prayer tradition was carefully kept here. But the general crisis of Orthodoxy in the age of Enlightenment, which led to the secularization and deep decline of monasticism, which had half forgotten its origins and goals, also affected Athos. Much of the rich tradition has been lost. But libraries remained with inexhaustible spiritual wealth accumulated previous generations. It was to them that the young ascetic turned, resigned to his loneliness. In ancient manuscripts, Slavic and Greek, in patristic traditions, he found a broken chain of spiritual tradition, going deep into the Christian centuries, and traced it, studied it like a scribe. “Left like a sheep without a shepherd, I began to wander here and there, trying to find something useful for my soul, peace and enlightenment, and I did not find it. Not having found the guidance my soul desired, I settled for some time in a secluded cell and, relying on the will of God, began to read little by little the father's books. Reading these books, I saw, as in a mirror, where exactly I was supposed to start my poor monasticism, I realized what great grace of God I was deprived of ... "
Fortunately for him, in 1750 Athos was visited by the Moldavian schemamonk Vasily, from whom the future elder heard a precise definition of monastic life: “All monastic life is divided into three types: the first is society; the second is called the royal or middle way. When, having settled in two or three, they have common property, common food and clothing, common labor and needlework, common concern for their livelihood, and, rejecting their own will in everything, obey each other in the fear of God and love. The third type is a solitary hermitage, suitable only for perfect and holy men. Schemamonk Vasily tonsured the ascetic into a mantle with the name Paisios and advised him not to follow the path of loneliness.
From that moment, unexpectedly for Paisius, a small community gradually arises around him, and he gets the opportunity to put his book experience into practice. It was then that it turned out that the learned scribe has remarkable practicality. He managed to put all the knowledge gleaned from the patristic books into practice, creating monasteries that became a living link restoring the chain of spiritual succession.
Paisiy Velichkovsky spent seventeen years on Athos, creating the Ilyinsky Skete. When the number of brothers in the skete exceeded fifty, he made an attempt to move to a larger monastery, but the Turkish authorities asked too much for this. “Therefore,” wrote Paisius, “relying on the almighty God, glorified in every place of our dominion, we all moved together from the holy mountain to the Orthodox Moldavian land.” Here, in the monastery of Dragomirna, he managed to create the same special mood, which he himself defined as "one soul, one heart." This is where his translation work began. From Athos, he managed to bring the works of the holy fathers in ancient Greek, and he worked all night long, correcting Slavic translations. He understood that the living word is necessary not only for the monks, but also for the laity.
The outbreak of hostilities between Russia and Turkey forced the monks to look for a new monastery. In the end, Paisiy Velichkovsky settled in the Neamtsky Monastery, which became the largest spiritual and educational center of the Eastern Orthodox world. But even here, the storms of a new Russian-Turkish war overshadowed the last years of the life of Elder Paisios. He died on November 15, 1794 at the age of seventy-two.
In all the brotherhoods of disciples that surrounded Paisius, the best traditions of Egyptian, Palestinian, Athos and Russian monasticism were resurrected, and among them the experience of eldership as a special form of spiritual guidance. human soul entering the path of asceticism. The influence of Paisius Velichkovsky on the monastic life of Moldova and Russia in the 19th century cannot be overestimated. After the death of Paisius Velichkovsky, his disciples dispersed to many monasteries in Greece, Moldavia and Russia. More than a hundred monasteries and monasteries in Russia, in one way or another, owe their revival to his disciples. The most famous of them are Optina and Glinskaya Hermitage, Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Moscow monasteries.
The beginning of the spiritual heyday of Optina Pustyn
The movement for a return to the patristic heritage was supported by Metropolitan Platon (Levshin), who corresponded with Paisiy Velichkovsky and Bishop Filaret (Amfiteatrov) of Kaluga, the future Metropolitan of Kyiv. Thanks to the latter and the foundations laid by the labors of Abbot Avraamy, in the 1820s, the spiritual flowering of Optina Pustyn began.
Bishop Filaret (Amfiteatrov), who often lived for a long time and with pleasure in Optina Hermitage, in 1821 came up with a bright idea to arrange a skete for monks of high spiritual experience next to the monastery. Optina Desert, located at the edge of a pine forest, cut off from the world by the Zhizdra River, was an excellent place for a contemplative hermit life. Moreover, the beginning of hermitage had already been laid here - schemamonk Ioanniky at the beginning of the 19th century lived in the depths of the monastery forest in a small apiary. Six years after his death, with the blessing of Metropolitan Filaret, the construction of a skete was begun, which would provide an opportunity for a more strict silent life and spiritually strengthen the monastery itself.
Among the founders of the monastery, created in the name of the first desert-dweller, St. John the Baptist, near the walls of Optina Hermitage, were the famous ascetics of the Paisiev school, the Putilov brothers - Moses and Anthony. Father Moses was the first head of the Optina skete, and when in 1825 he was appointed rector of the Optina Hermitage, Anthony became the head of the skete. The Forerunner Skete became the heart of the Optina Hermitage.
It was Abbot Moses who, in 1829, invited schemamonk Leo, a follower of Paisiy Velichkovsky's undertakings, to the skete with six disciples. Thus, the foundations of the Optina eldership were laid, which for a century determined the spiritual life of the monastery and glorified it throughout Russia. A galaxy of Optina elders, successively replacing each other until the 20s of the twentieth century, wrote a new page in the history of Russian Orthodox Church. New and not immediately accepted and understood by everyone.
The Phenomenon of Elderhood
In everyday human communication, there are no analogues to the relationship between the elder and the disciples. These relationships are based on the boundless, boundless, absolute trust of the student to his teacher. Accustomed to living by the dictates of the mind, but not the heart, they can rarely trust someone like that, at least immediately. But this is only one side of the relationship between the elder and the disciple. There is another - the elder's immense responsibility for the fate of the soul entrusted to him. An elder is not only a teacher and mentor, to whom one can open one's soul, cry out grief, from whom one can receive advice and blessing in a difficult or hopeless situation. By the way, all the Optina elders had rich life experience and worldly wisdom. The elder is always a seer, reading in the souls of people who come to him and seeing the future. “Do as you please,” Father Macarius, the successor of Elder Leo, usually told his visitors. “But see that something like this doesn’t happen to you ...” Life showed that he always warned not in vain.
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, who made extensive use of special literature when working on the novel The Brothers Karamazov, described this phenomenon in it in this way. “An elder is one who takes your soul, your will into his soul and into his will. Having chosen an elder, you renounce your will and give it to him in complete obedience, with complete self-renunciation. This temptation, this terrible school of life, the one who condemns himself accepts voluntarily in the hope, after a long temptation, to conquer himself, to master himself so that he can finally achieve, through obedience to his whole life, already perfect freedom, that is, freedom from himself, that is, to avoid the fate of those who lived all their lives, but did not find themselves in themselves. This invention, that is, eldership, is not theoretical, but derived in the East from practice, which in our time is already a thousand years old. The obligations to the elder are not the same as the ordinary “obedience” that has always been in our Russian monasteries. Here the eternal confession of all those who labor on the elder and the indestructible bond between the one who bound and the bound are recognized. They say, for example, that once, in ancient times Christianity, one such novice, not fulfilling some obedience entrusted to him by the elder, left him from the monastery and came to another country, from Syria to Egypt. There, after long and great deeds, he was finally able to endure torture and martyrdom for the faith. When the church was burying his body, already honoring him as a saint, then suddenly, at the exclamation of the deacon: "Catechumens, come out," the coffin with the body of the martyr lying in it broke off and was vomited out of the temple, and so on up to three times. And finally they only learned that this holy martyr broke his obedience and left his elder, and therefore, without the permission of the elder, he could not be forgiven, even despite his great deeds. But when the called elder allowed his obedience, then only his burial could take place. Of course , all this is just an ancient legend, but here is a recent true story: one of our modern monks was fleeing on Athos, and suddenly his elder ordered him to leave Athos, which he loved as a shrine, as a quiet haven, to his depths, and go first to Jerusalem to worship holy places, and then back to Russia, to the north, to Siberia: “There is a place for you, not here.” The monk, stricken and heartbroken, appeared in Constantinople to the Ecumenical Patriarch and begged to be allowed his obedience, and now the Ecumenical Vladyka answered him that not only he, the Ecumenical Patriarch, could not resolve it, but there was none on the whole earth, and it could not be like that. the power that could resolve it from obedience, once already imposed by the elder, except only the power of the same elder who imposed it. Thus, eldership is endowed with power in known cases boundless and incomprehensible. That is why in many monasteries our eldership was met with almost persecution. Meanwhile, the elders immediately began to be highly respected among the people. For example, both common people and the most noble people flocked to the elders, in order to expose themselves before them, confess their doubts, their sins, their sufferings and ask for advice and guidance. Seeing this, the opponents of the elders shouted, along with other accusations, that here the sacrament of confession was arbitrarily and frivolously humiliated, although the uninterrupted confession of one’s soul to an elder by his novice or secular is not at all performed as a sacrament. It ended, however, with the fact that the elders held on ... "
The elder receives a special gift - to guide souls to salvation and heal them from passions. Reasoning is placed by the holy fathers above all other gifts. “Not everyone who is old in years is already capable of leadership, but who has entered dispassion and accepted the gift of reasoning,” wrote the elder Peter of Damascus.
Eldership as a special spiritual union, according to the definition of Elder Ambrose, consists in a sincere spiritual attitude and obedience of spiritual children to their spiritual father or elder. This spiritual attitude consists not only in confession before Holy Communion, but mainly in the frequent, even daily, confession to the elder of deeds, thoughts, and all the slightest passionate movements of thought and heart, as well as in receiving advice and blessings for any actions, combined with a sincere, firm determination to carry out everything that the elder indicates.
Obedience to the elder - cutting off one's own will - is not a constraint on freedom, but a constraint on the arbitrariness of the fallen human mind, which does not understand the all-good, all-perfect will of God. Moral Christian freedom does not consist in self-will, but in self-restraint.
The gift of eldership is evidence of the highest degree of spiritual perfection. But a terrible, unforgivable sin in the Church is the unauthorized imitation of this gift, the sin of "false eldership", which spread in the pre-revolutionary years. (Apparently, the great Russian writer Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy fell into this sin in his old age).
Having a special gift of compassionate, sacrificial love, the elders perceive other people's sorrows and falls as their own. They are Christian comforting prophets.
The golden age of eldership
Under Father Macarius, the experience of eldership becomes an integral part of the spiritual tradition of Russian culture. Father Macarius creates a monastery library, establishes a publishing house in Optina, involving the best church and secular minds in the preparation of publications and translations from Greek. Over time, the Optina library has more than thirty thousand volumes. Essentially, all the monastic income went to the library. Not only theological works were collected, but also ancient philosophical, natural science, and medical writings.
Until the middle of the 19th century, most of the translations of Paisius Velichkovsky remained in manuscript, until finally they were published in Optina. Through the diligence of Elder Macarius and his assistants, the Greek and Slavic works of the holy fathers were translated and published, which contained the necessary advice and guidance for the elders and their students. The reading of patristic books was considered by the elders to be the first occupation of a monk in his free time from worship, and gradually it became obligatory for all the brethren. The revelation of thoughts was introduced - the daily confession of one's thoughts and feelings as an essential condition for achieving spiritual perfection. At the head of everything, the elders put humility as an essence Christian life.
The beginning of the 1840s can be considered the time of the complete establishment of eldership. The brothers Kireevsky, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol and many other representatives of the intelligentsia came to Optina Pustyn for spiritual experience.
The legend about the mysterious and forever lost message of Elder Macarius to his descendants has been preserved. Once in the summer there was a terrible storm, as described in the monastery chronicle: “A terrible cloud came in at three in the afternoon with lightning and thunderclaps from the southwest at 20 degrees Celsius. It broke out into a terrible storm with heavy rain and hail. From this storm, destruction occurred in many places in the Kozelsk district, especially in the Optina Hermitage.<…>And in the monastery forest, up to two thousand of the thickest pines are broken and uprooted. Terrible storm! Nobody remembered this one." After the bad weather, Elder Macarius, together with the brethren, removed the fallen trees and planted new ones in their place. It was said that the landings between the skete and the monastery were wedge-shaped and served as a kind of encrypted letter to the future, which was intended to be read last old man. So, at least, it was passed down in Optina from generation to generation and it was not allowed to destroy not only trees, but also bushes. But this mystery remained unsolved: in the early 20s of the last century, after the closure of the monastery, the reserved plantings were sawn out, and the last Optina Elder Nektary ended his life in exile.
After the death of Elder Macarius, six volumes of his letters were published - a treasure of wisdom and many years of experience.
Under Father Ambrose, a disciple of the elders Leo and Macarius, the golden age of Optina Pustyn begins.
Thousands of people, including Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov, Konstantin Nikolaevich Leontiev, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, found support and consolation from him. “Here, involuntarily, a person looks into himself and humbles himself, remembers his evil and shudders. All the desires that people live by seem so petty, and one wants so much to forget them and get away from everything, and it will become sad that one loves something that is so unworthy of love, ”wrote Evgeny Nikolaevich Poselyanin.
All the elders continued the great tradition. No wonder the Optina eldership was compared to a mighty tree with strong roots and strong, fruitful branches. But, having become a part of Russian culture, Optina also shared the tragic fate of Russia.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a prophecy about the fate of Elder Joseph in Russia was recorded: “There will be a storm, and the Russian ship will be broken. Yes, it will be, but after all, people are saved on chips and debris. Not everyone, not everyone will die.<…>And there will be calm<…>there will be a great miracle of God, yes. And all the chips and fragments, by the will of God and His power, will gather and unite, and the ship will be recreated in its beauty, and will go on its course, intended by God. So it will be, a miracle revealed to all.
The time of the prophecies that come true
It is difficult to say whether we have survived to the calm or not yet, but Optina Pustyn could not stand the storm, although it tried to stay afloat for several years. Here is a very brief chronicle of the events of those years.
Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR dated January 10 (23), 1918 Optina Pustyn was closed. Before the revolution, there were about three hundred monks in Optina.
In 1919, the Optina brethren, headed by Archimandrite Isaac, created an agricultural artel. By this time, more than five dozen monks were forcibly mobilized for military service. The first arrests begin.
In 1923 the artel was abolished. All churches are closed, except Kazan (it will be closed in a year, in 1924). The Optina Pustyn museum is being created in the skete. The monastic buildings are transferred to the hostel for employees of the local state farm, lumber mill and museum, to the office of the museum and the orphanage.
In 1928, the museum was closed, the library of the monastery - rare books, copies of Optina editions, as well as the entire manuscript department - were transported to the Lenin State Library in Moscow (now the State Russian Library).
In 1929, all Optina hieromonks, led by Archimandrite Isaac, were arrested. Many died in camps, exiles or were shot.
With a bitter sigh, Orthodox Russia repeated after Anna Akhmatova: “And I won’t be in Optina anymore ...”
There were few of them, Optina elders, fourteen in a hundred years.
Rev. Leonid, in the schema Leo (in the world Lev Danilovich Nagolkin) (1768 - October 11/24, 1841).
Rev. Hieroschemamonk Macarius of Optina (in the world Mikhail Nikolaevich Ivanov) (1788 - September 7/20, 1860).
Reverend Schema-Archimandrite Moses, rector and elder of Optina Hermitage (in the world Timofey Ivanovich Putilov) (1782 - June 16/29, 1862).
Rev. Schemagumen Anthony (in the world Alexander Ivanovich Putilov) (1795 - August 7/20, 1865).
Venerable Hieroschemamonk Hilarion of Optina (in the world Rodion Nikitich Ponomarev) (1805 - September 18/October 1, 1873).
Rev. Ambrose of Optina (in the world Alexander Mikhailovich Grenkov) (1812 - October 10/23, 1891).
Venerable Hieroschemamonk Anatoly the Elder, head of the Optina skete (in the world Alexei Moiseevich Zertsalov) (1824 - January 25/February 7, 1894).
Venerable Schema-Archimandrite Isaac I of Optina (in the world Ivan Ivanovich Antimonov) (1810 - August 22/September 4, 1894).
Rev. Hieroschemamonk Joseph of Optinsky, head of the skete and confessor (in the world Ivan Efimovich Litovkin) (1837 - May 9/22, 1911).
Reverend Schema-Archimandrite Barsanuphius of Optina (in the world Pavel Ivanovich Plikhankov) (1845 - April 1/14, 1913).
Venerable Hieroschemamonk Anatoly the Younger, Optinsky (Alexander Alekseevich Potapov) (? - July 30/August 12, 1922).
Venerable Hieroschemamonk Nectarius of Optina (in the world Nikolay Vasilyevich Tikhonov) (1853 - April 29/May 12, 1928).
Rev. Hieromonk Nikon of Optina, Confessor (in the world Nikolai Mitrofanovich Belyaev) (1888 - June 25/July 8, 1931).
Venerable Archimandrite Isaac II of Optina, Hieromartyr (in the world Ivan Nikolaevich Bobrikov) (1865 - December 26/January 8, 1938).
Thanks to them, the chain of traditions of spiritual experience was uninterrupted.
On November 17, 1987, Optina Hermitage was returned to the Church, the monastery was reopened, the churches were restored and consecrated.
Brief chronograph of current events:
June 6-9, 1988 - glorification by the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Ambrose of Optina.
November 16, 1988 - the miracle of the myrrh-streaming of the icons of the Kazan Mother of God and the Monk Ambrose of Optina on the eve of the first anniversary of the return of the monastery of the church, during the all-night vigil.
December 26, 1994 - the opening of the tombs and the discovery of the holy relics of the elders Moses and Anthony, buried under a bushel in the Kazan Cathedral.
February 14, 1995 - the opening of the tomb and the acquisition of the holy relics of the elder Isaac I, buried under a bushel in the Kazan Cathedral.
July 26-27, 1996 - canonization in the face of the locally venerated saints of the Optina Elders: Leo, Macarius, Moses, Anthony, Hilarion, Isaac I, Anatoly (Zertsalov), Joseph, Barsanuphius, Anatoly (Potapov), Nectarius, Nikon, Isaac II with the establishment General Cathedral celebration on October 11 (24).
July 10, 1998 - the acquisition of the relics of the venerable elders: Ambrose, Leo, Macarius, Hilarion, Anatoly (Zertsalov), Varsanuphiy, Anatoly (Potapov).
October 23, 1998 - the transfer of the newly acquired holy relics of the seven reverend elders to the temple-tomb.
Since 2000, the church-wide veneration of the Cathedral of the Optina Elders began.
Will the revival of the old walls lead to the revival of the old great traditions? Wait and see. The elders, in any case, promised.
From the book Elderhood in Rus' author Ignatius NunEldership in Optina Hermitage ... truth without humility is blind<...>What a light shines when we humble ourselves and peace settles in our hearts! Love everyone, even if you were not loved; do not seek love from others, but love them yourself<...>All<...>I attribute to will and Providence
From the book Optina were. Essays and stories from the history of the Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage author (Afanasiev) Monk LazarusIn 1887, Archimandrite Isaac, rector of the Holy Vvedensky Monastery Optina Pustyn, on May 7, 1887, received a letter from St.
From the book Mind on the Path to Truth author Kireevsky Ivan Vasilievich From the book Russian ascetics of the 19th century author Poselyanin EvgenyARCHIMANDRIT MOESES, Rector of the Optina Hermitage "Fellow the monastery and gather the brethren." Every deed will justify itself. (The saying of Fr. Moses) High with its marvelous humility, instructive harmony, constant burning of the spirit and daily self-compulsion to fulfill
From the book Optina Paterik author author unknownHieroschemmonk Macarius, Elder of the Optina Desert I. IN THE WORLD AND THE DESERT and was born near Kaluga, in the village of his parents, Zheleznyaki (near the Lavrentiev Monastery), 1788, November 20.
From the book Optina Pustyn and her time by the authorARCHIMANDRITE ISAACY, Rector of the Optina Hermitage Archimandrite Isaakiy came from hereditary honorary citizens, from a wealthy merchant, who lived in Kursk, the Antimonovs' house and was born approximately in 1809. The Antimonovs traded in cattle and kept at the mercy of
From the book Lectures on Pastoral Theology the author Maslov JohnEldership in Optina Hermitage A feature of the inner life of Optina Hermitage was its eldership, which appeared in it at the end of the 1820s and constituted its glory throughout the 19th century. It was thanks to eldership that Optina Pustyn became a spiritual hospital for souls,
From the author's bookThe influence of Optina Pustyn on representatives of Russian culture "Historically, Optina Pustyn turned out to be the place where the Russian intelligentsia met with the Church. And they met not at some disputes or "official" services, but with the very depth of faith
From the author's bookChapter III. Ascetics of piety at Optina Hermitage After one of his pilgrimages to Optina Hermitage, the great Russian writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol remarked:
From the author's bookLiterature about Optina Hermitage 1. [Agapit (Belovidov), archimandrite]. Biography of the Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Macarius. M., 1996.2. Agapit (Belovidov), Schema-Archimandrite. Biography in Bose of the late Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose with a portrait and a facsimile: At 2 o'clock.
From the author's bookChapter III. History of the Optina Hermitage. Archimandrite Moses Optina Pustyn is located a few miles from Kozelsk, Kaluga province. It is located on the banks of the fast river Zhizdra, which cuts it off from the rest of the world, and is surrounded by a wild forest. Optina
From the author's bookSignificance of Optina Hermitage Significance of Optina Hermitage is very great in the spiritual life of Russia. She is the best representative of that spiritual renaissance that arose at the end? 18th century in Russia. Located at the edge of a wild pine forest, cut off from the world
From the author's bookThe history of the emergence of Optina Pustyn When Optina arose is not exactly known. According to legend, it was founded in ancient times by the repentant robber Opta. During the persecution of the monasteries, it was closed. Optina was restored again in 1821. But it begins to flourish with
From the author's bookChapter IV. Founding of the Skete of Optina Pustyn. Hegumen Anthony. Founding of the skete of Optina Pustyn. 1821 Heart of Optina Hermitage - m? Stom, where? the pulse of her life was beating, from where came that grace-filled power that sanctified the life of the inhabitants of the monastery - there was a famous Optina
From the author's book From the author's bookShepherding of the rector of Optina Hermitage, Schema-Archimandrite Moses Optina Hermitage was a spiritual hospital for souls tormented by sin, lost or not found the meaning of life, grieving and suffering, seeking admonition, consolation, spiritual support, as well as permission
In the age of the triumph of self-will and individualism, as we knowXIXcentury, there was a place in Russia where a special spiritual work was passed from teacher to student - eldership, in everything opposite to the spirit of the times. This place is Optina Pustyn.
The first is "The Humble Lion" (1768-1841)
Reverend Leo (Nagolkin)
Commemorated 11/24 October.
Hieroschemamonk Leo, who is considered the first of the elders, was called the "Humble Lion". In 1797 Lev Nagolkin, a merchant employee, became a novice, in 1801 he was tonsured with the name Leonid.
The laborious path of the ascetic begins, during which Leonid changed several monasteries.
Useful materials
He returned in 1829, already a schemer, Leo. Since that time, the 61-year-old Fr. Leo is a fraternal confessor. He had to constantly endure persecution: he was evicted from his cell, forbidden to wear a schema, and denunciations were written. And at the same time, to Fr. People flowed to the lion. Several volumes of his miracles have been recorded - from clairvoyance to exorcism.
From the teachings:
Elder Macarius (1788-1860)
Reverend Macarius (Ivanov)
O. Macarius (Mikhail Ivanov), a poor nobleman, went to monasticism almost from childhood. He came to the monastery already as a monk, took monastic vows for 22 years. Fr. Macarius considered himself the spiritual son of Fr. Leo, but Fr. Leo saw him rather as a friend and companion.
In 1841, Fr. Macarius replaced Fr. Leo in seniority. Macarius, a lover of silence, was burdened by the incessant need to talk with people who came, to answer a huge number of letters. But Father Macarius humbly submitted to the will of God. Apparently, therefore, this quiet monk, who never dreamed of himself, performed many miracles. Most famous are the miracles of casting out demons who cannot bear humility.
From the teachings:
"There is humility - everything is there; there is no humility - there is nothing."
Schema-Archimandrite Moses (1782–1862)
Reverend Moses (Putilov)
Elder Moses (worldly name Timofei Putilov) took the tonsure at the Svensk male monastery. In 1820, Fr. Moses was invited to the monastery at Optina Hermitage, and soon, unexpectedly for him, he was appointed rector of the monastery.
During his term as abbess, churches, a hotel, and many outbuildings were built. Contemporaries recall that more than once the abbot began construction with literally 15 rubles. But the time came for settlements with the workers, the purchase of materials - and a philanthropist would always appear who “accidentally” wanted to donate exactly the right amount. At the same time, the monastery fed the poor, received pilgrims, and the hand of the giver did not fail.
From the teachings:
“If you pray from your heart for salvation, even if it is not enough, you will be saved.”
Schiegumen Anthony (1795 - 1865)
Reverend Anthony (Putilov)
Commemoration 7/20 August
Elder Anthony, in the world Alexander Putilov - brother of Fr. Moses. . Since childhood, dreaming of monasticism, he secretly left his parents to join his brother in the skete. When about. Moses became the abbot of the monastery, Anthony headed the skete hostel. Quite young in comparison with the elderly and experienced brethren, the rector acquired universal love. Seeing the senile infirmity of the inhabitants, he often performed all the obediences alone.
Since 1836, Fr. Anthony was seriously ill. Almost no one guessed that his legs up to the knees were covered with bleeding ulcers. Despite the illness, Fr. Anthony helped his brother a lot in matters of construction, and for some time he himself was rector at the monastery of St. Nicholas city of Maloyaroslavets.
From the teachings:
“Do not impose any vows and rules on yourself without the approval of your spiritual father, with whose advice one bow will bring you more benefit than a thousand self-made bows.”
Hieroschemamonk Hilarion (1805–1873), missionary and confessor
Reverend Hilarion (Ponomarev)
Commemorated September 18/October 1
Elder Hilarion in the world is Rodion Ponomarev. From childhood, her mother said that Rodion would be a monk. The attraction to the spiritual manifested itself from his youth: Rodion became interested in missionary work among the Old Believers, even created a brotherhood. But this did not satisfy him. At the age of 34, Rodion became a novice, a cell-attendant of Father Macarius, under whose guidance his spiritual growth proceeded. Father Hilarion was distinguished by wisdom, insight, but most importantly - deep humility.
From the teachings:
“If you feel that anger has seized you, remain silent and do not say anything until your heart is calmed by unceasing prayer and self-reproach”
Father Ambrose (1812-1891)
Saint Ambrose (Grenkov)
Memory: October 10/23, June 27/July 10
Father Ambrose, in the world Alexander Grenkov, the son of a clerk, graduated from the seminary. Lively and cheerful, the young man had many friends. Only a dangerous illness in 1835 turned Alexander to monastic life, but he took tonsure only in 1842. In 1845 he became a hieromonk.
Soon about. Ambrose was given the cross of a serious illness. I had to leave the staff, and the main thing for the priest was the obedience of the confessor.
K o. Hundreds of people flocked to Ambrose. Sometimes a few words were enough for despondency to recede, strength to appear. Many miracles of insight and healing are known. Father Ambrose founded a convent in Shamordino.
From the teachings:
“Life is easier - the best. Don't break your head. Pray to God. The Lord will arrange everything."
Elder Anatoly (1824-1894)
Reverend Anatoly (Zertsalov)
Memory: June 27/July 10
Hieroschemamonk Anatoly (Aleksey Zertsalov), the son of a priest, graduated from the seminary, but pursued a secular career as an official. The young man survived the coup during his illness. Having made a vow to become a monk if he received healing, he soon recovered. In 1853 he came to Optina and was a novice for 9 years. In 1862, Alexy took the tonsure with the name Anatoly. He became his spiritual father. Rev. Ambrose.
In 1873, Fr. Anatoly became rector of the St. John the Baptist Skete and a fraternal confessor. Elder Ambrose spoke of his spiritual son as a great man of prayer.
From the teachings:
“We are obliged to love everyone, but to be loved, we do not dare to demand.”
Schemaarchimandrite Isaac (1810-1894)
Schema-Archimandrite Isaac (Antimonov)
Father Isaac, in the world Ivan Antimonov - the son of a merchant, first came to Optina as a young man. Elder Leo then predicted the monastic path for him. But until the age of 37, Ivan, obedient to his father, conducted trading business. In 1847, the desire for monasticism turned out to be stronger. Ivan took the tonsure at the age of 44 with the name Isaac. Out of humility, the monk evaded the priesthood for a long time, and became a hieromonk at the insistence of his confessor.
Fr. Isaac rector after Fr. Moses. Under Isaac, all the construction work begun by his predecessor was completed, and his own candle factory appeared. Fr. Isaac himself did not undertake a single thing without the blessing of Fr. Ambrose. After his death, Fr. Isaac soon abandoned his abbotship and accepted the schema.
From the teachings:
“Love God and your neighbors, love the Church of God, in church service, in prayer, seek not earthly but heavenly blessings”
Elder Joseph (1837-1911)
Reverend Joseph (Litovkin)
Hieroschemamonk Joseph (Litovkin), in the world John - from peasants, was an orphan, he began to work early. It was hard, but the young man remained kind, merciful, honest. One pious merchant offered Ivan to marry his daughter. But the young man chose monasticism.
In 1861 Ivan became novice and cell-attendant of Fr. Ambrose, took tonsure with the name Joseph. So o. Ambrose, he lived 30 years. Spiritual gifts Fr. Joseph were great, although he hid them. It is known about the repeated appearances of the Mother of God to him. After the death of Fr. Ambrose, Hieromonk Joseph served as a fraternal confessor for 20 years.
From the teachings:
“If you see the error of your neighbor that you would like to correct, if it violates your peace of mind and irritates you, then you also sin ... You can’t correct the error with error - it is corrected with meekness.”
Elder Barsanuphius (1845-1913)
Venerable Barsanuphius (Plikhankov)
Father Varsonofy (Plikhankov), in the world - Pavel, came to monasticism already a mature man. Born into a wealthy family, he had a brilliant military career, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. The spiritual upheaval began with a meeting with Elder Ambrose, who directly predicted monasticism for Paul. After 2 years, Paul during his illness had a vision of heavenly light. In one night former life became impossible.
In 1892 he came to Optina, became Elder Nectarios' cell attendant, and in 1900 he was tonsured with the name Barsanuphius. In 1907-1912. Father Varsonofy was the head of the skete, then he was appointed rector of the Spaso-Golutvinsky monastery. And numerous pilgrims came here to visit him. The miracles of healing performed by him are also known.
From the teachings:
“One cannot learn to fulfill the commandments of God without labor, and this labor is three-part—prayer, fasting, and sobriety.”
Elder Anatoly "Junior" (1855-1922)
Reverend Anatoly (Potapov)
In the world of Anatoly bore the name of Alexander, was born in the family of a merchant, was engaged in trade. He dreamed of becoming a monk, but his mother was against it. Only in 1885 did Alexander become a novice. Carried the obedience of a cell-attendant to the elders Ambrose and Joseph. In 1895 Alexander became a monk Anatoly.
His spiritual growth turned out to be very fast. Even without a holy order, he shows the gift of clairvoyance, often calls the people who came to their sins. When in 1906 Fr. Anatoly becomes a hieromonk, the number of visitors to him increases many times.
After 1917, attempts began to close the monastery. Fr. Anatoly.
Interesting fact
On July 29, 1922, the priest was about to be arrested. O. Anatoly asked for one more day. When the Chekists reappeared at the monastery on July 30, the elder had already passed away.
From the teachings:
“Live simply, according to your conscience, always remember what the Lord sees, and don’t pay attention to the rest!”
The last elder Nectarios (1853-1928)
Venerable Nektarios (Tikhonov)
Hieroschemamonk Nektarios (Tikhonov) is the last fraternal confessor. His worldly name is Nikolai Tikhonov. He came from a poor family, was left an orphan early, worked. One merchant, who loved Nikolai for diligence and honesty, decided to marry his daughter to him. For a blessing on marriage, the young man went to Optina. But after meeting with Rev. Ambrose, he stayed in the monastery. In 1887, he took the tonsure with the estate of Nektariy.
Nectarios quickly grew spiritually, but he hid his talents with foolishness. In 1912 the brethren chose him as confessor.
In 1923 the authorities closed the monastery. O. Nektariy was arrested, then released, but demanded to leave. His haven was with. Hills of the Bryansk region. Spiritual children came here. There is evidence that Patriarch Tikhon addressed the priest.
From the teachings:
“You ask which way to go to God. Walk the path of humility!”
Reverend Nikon (1888-1931)
Reverend Nikon
Hieromonk Nikon (Belyaev), in the world Nikolai Belyaev, went to the monastery in 1907. The pious family did not interfere with him, although the young man studied at the university and a good future awaited him. In 1915, Nikolai was tonsured with the name Nikon, and two years later he became a hieromonk.
Fr. Nikon fell on the post-revolutionary period. Several times (1919, 1920) he was arrested. In 1923, after the closing of the monastery, the rector, Fr. Isaac, blessed Fr. Nikon to receive the people. This had to be done in Kozelsk. Here about. Nikon was arrested in 1927 and exiled to the North. In exile, he died of tuberculosis.
From the teachings:
“We must love every person, seeing in him the image of God, despite his vices. You can’t keep people away from you with coldness.”
Archimandrite Isaac (1865-1938)
Archimandrite Isaac II (Bobrakov)
Isaac (Bobrakov), Ivan in the world, the son of peasant parents, came to the monastery at the age of 19. The holy fool who was here said:
“Bow at his feet, this will be the last Archimandrite of Optina!”
The prophecy alarmed Ivan - he did not at all strive to be someone significant, he wanted to live by work and prayer. Ivan did not even dare to take the vows for 14 years, until 1898. In 1913, the brethren elected him rector.
In 1923 the monastery was closed, the remaining brethren gathered in Kozelsk, in the church of St. George. Here all the monks were arrested in 1929, many were exiled. Father Isaac was arrested several times, 1937 was the year of the last arrest. The archimandrite was shot on the feast of the Cathedral of the Most Holy Theotokos in 1938.
Day of Remembrance
Icons
Cathedral of the Optina Elders
In 2000, after canonization, icons appear, which depict all 14 Optina reverends.
In the upper part of the icon is a monastery, above which is the image of the Most Holy Theotokos. In the center of the icon are usually presented prpp. Leo and Ambrose. In the hand of Rev. Lion - a scroll: "Brethren, let us take care of the salvation of our souls ...". Rev. Ambrose also holds a scroll with the words "Love Above All...". An open book is sometimes written in the hand of Elder Macarius, in it are his famous words: "There is humility - everything is there ...".
There is also a variant of the icon, where the elders Ambrose and Macarius hold two scrolls with one prophecy: on the scroll, Fr. Ambrose - the words "Russia will still be reborn", on the scroll of Fr. Macarius - "... And in Optina there will be seven lamps." The elders stand on the sides of St. Lion holding an icon of the Mother of God.
Recognizable among reverend elder Moses: he holds the temple, a reminder of the significance of the temple building work. Other elders are represented holding scrolls of their writings, and the venerable confessors and martyrs are represented with crosses.
Variants of the robes of the monks are also different: as a rule, this is a schema, but there are also icons depicting them in ordinary monastic clothes.
How do the venerable fathers help those who pray to them
Optina elders during their lifetime spiritually nourished people on the path to salvation, and continue to do so to this day. They are praying:
- about the strengthening of faith;
- about the gift of repentance;
- about choosing a life path;
- about mental and physical health.
Monastery Vvedenskaya Mother of God Optina Pustyn: history, location
The time of foundation of Optina Pustyn is not exactly known, modern scientists speak of the XIII, XIV, or even XVI century. The versions of the name also differ. According to one of them, it comes from the name of one of the first inhabitants, the former robber of Opta, who performed the feat of repentance here.
Optina Pustyn
A more common and solid version - “optiny” in Rus' was called monasteries of mixed composition, where both monks and nuns lived. Such monasteries often sprang up spontaneously where ascetics settled. The "Optin" monastery could also appear as a result of ruin, when the inhabitants of the monastery moved to another. In this case, a mixed community could form. This often happened in Rus', for example, during the Mongol yoke.
Interesting fact
The ban on "optina" monasteries began to operate only from the end of the 15th century.
Information about the history of the monastery XVI-XVII centuries. minimal, since the 18th century. she completely missed it. Prosperity and fame come from the XIX century. with the rise of the senile service here.
Now Optina Pustyn is a stauropegial monastery 4 km from the town of Kozelsk.
The heart of the monastery is the Cathedral of the Entrance into the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, restored after the destruction of the Soviet years. There are now 8 temples in total, 4 of which are always open to pilgrims. In addition to Vvedensky - Kazan, Vladimir and Preobrazhensky.
Other churches are located on the territory of the monastery, pilgrimage hotels, in the monastery cemetery. Some of them are closed to the laity, in others services are not held every day. The chapel on the graves of Hieromonk Vasily and the monks Ferapont and Trofim, who were killed on Easter 1993, enjoys special reverence.
On Easter night, three inhabitants of Optina Hermitage were killed: Hieromonk Vasily (Roslyakov) and monks Ferapont (Pushkarev) and Trofim (Tatarnikov).
There is also a skete of St. John the Baptist, where from the 19th century. the beginning of eldership. Now it is closed to pilgrims, but the laity can visit the cell of St. Ambrose. Four times a year, a liturgy is also performed, the so-called "open" liturgy, with the participation of pilgrims. It happens on the days of St. John the Baptist and on Bright Monday. The number of brethren in the skete is about 10 people.
Convent address: Kaluga region, the village of Optina Pustyn, near the town of Kozelsk.
The thoughts of the elders about spiritual life are contained in their letters, which were carefully collected by admirers and then published. Each of these collections consists of several volumes.
About the Christian life
“Not only we sinners, but also the saints themselves are not able to help those who themselves do not try to correct their own. Strive in bitterness to rely on God's help and you will be saved, and the Lord will help you in everything ”(St. Lev).
“Whoever has a bad heart should not despair, because with God's help a man can fix his heart. You just need to carefully monitor yourself and not miss the opportunity to be useful to your neighbor, often open up to the elder and do all possible alms. This, of course, cannot be done suddenly, but the Lord is longsuffering. He only ends a person’s life when he sees him ready for the transition to eternity, or when he sees no hope for his correction” (St. Ambrose).
“A sure sign of the mortification of the soul is the avoidance of church services. A person who grows cold towards God, first of all, begins to avoid going to church, at first he tries to come to the service later, and then completely stops attending the temple of God. (St. Barsanuphius)
On Patience of Sorrows and Sickness
“We do not know the fate of God, He does everything for the good; we are attached to the local blessings, and He wants to give us the future blessings of the local short illnesses ”(St. Macarius)
“Bodily illnesses are sent to a person from God, not always for sin as a punishment, but sometimes by goodwill for liberation or to protect us from spiritual ailments, which are much more dangerous than bodily ones” (St. Anthony).
Predictions about Russia and the end times
The turn of the XIX-XX centuries. was a time of anticipation of the coming upheavals. The elders also talked about it.
“There will be a storm. The Russian ship will be broken. But after all, even on chips and debris, people are saved. And yet, not everyone will die. We must pray, we must all repent and pray fervently. And what happens after the storm? After the storm, there is calm. But that ship is no longer there, it is broken, everything is lost! ... Not so, the great miracle of God will be revealed, yes ... And all the chips and fragments, by the will of God and His power, will gather and unite, and the ship will be recreated in its beauty and will go its own way, God intended . So this will be a miracle that is obvious to everyone ”(St. Anatoly II (junior), February 1917)
“And yet this is not the end! Russia will be saved. Lots of pain, lots of pain. All of Russia will become a prison, and one must beg the Lord for forgiveness a lot. Repent of sins and be afraid to commit even the slightest sin, but try to do good, even the smallest. After all, even the wing of a fly has weight, but God has accurate scales. And when the smallest thing outweighs goodness, then God will show His mercy over Russia ”(archim. Iskaakiy, the last abbot of the monastery, was shot in 1938)
“If even a few faithful Orthodox remain in Russia, God will have mercy on her” (St. Nektarios of Optina)
Optina and intelligentsia
In the XIX - early XX century. representatives of the educated class often went to the monastery. The Kireevsky brothers, philosopher Konstantin Leontiev (later monk Kliment), N.V. Gogol, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, P.I. Khomyakov, historian S.M. Soloviev, Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov (known as a poet under the pseudonym "K.R.") and many others.
The monastery then played a missionary role for the intelligentsia. Since the 18th century torn off from their native roots, the representatives of the intellectual elite who received a European education were in a spiritual vacuum. Spiritual searches led to the spread of occult practices, passion for Freemasonry. The example of living holiness shown by the Optina elders often turned the whole world of the Russian intellectual upside down.
This happened to N.V. Gogol, K.N. Leontiev, F.M. Dostoevsky. But there were also many of those for whom the meeting with the elder did not change anything. About L.N. Tolstoy, who came to St. Ambrose, the elder said with contrition: “What a proud man!”
Are there elders now?
The elder ministry could not be revived quickly after many years of atheism. Therefore, the word "old man" is now used with great caution. Nevertheless, confessors are now known in the Church, whose gifts are comparable to those of the ascetics of the past. Among them, according to many, is the confessor of the brethren of Optina Pustyn, Fr. Eli (Nozdrin). Father Iliy is also the confessor of Patriarch Kirill.
Who are they, Optina elders? Ascetics of the distant past? Then why is it so effective to address them as if they were alive? Perhaps because for the saints there are no boundaries of either time or space. Their senile service is not over and continues. Or maybe it's still being transmitted. From teacher to student.
Optina Pustyn occupies a special place in our spiritual culture. About the phenomenon of this monastery, about its elders, their precepts and lessons - our conversation with one of the first inhabitants of the Optina Hermitage revived in 1988, the rector of her Moscow metochion - the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Yasenevo, the press secretary of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism Archimandrite Melchizedek (Artyukhin).Brotherhood of Saints
Father Melchizedek, why exactly here, in Optina Hermitage, did the phenomenon of eldership arise? What is unique about this monastery?
About Optina Hermitage historian G.P. Fedotov once said that Sarov and Optina Pustyn are the two hottest bonfires around which all of Russia warmed up. Elder Barsanuphius of Optinsky, formerly a colonel of the headquarters of the imperial army, served in Kazan, and he had a few months left before being promoted to general - and suddenly he left everything to become a monk. Having lived in Optina Hermitage, he wrote the following lines in spiritual insight:
The skies are clearer here and their azure is purer ...
Wearing a worldly yoke and making mournful
thorny path of life
I was able to see a glimpse of paradise.
Such is the spiritual situation in Optina Hermitage.
About what is amazing about Optina, one of our historians said this: many monasteries had their ascetics - this is Reverend Sergius, and the Monk Nikon, and the elder Seraphim of Sarov, but in Optina there were not only saints - there was a holy brotherhood. It was a unique center of spirituality - a whole monastery!
Bishop Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), our greatest archpastor, who was a student of Elder Leo, wrote the following words about the rector of Optina Hermitage, Archimandrite Moses: in Russia". This is the assessment of an outstanding archpastor.
Once a lit candle flared up with many lamps. Elders Leo and Macarius were at the same time. At the same time - two elders! Saint Ambrose was the spiritual child of the Elders Leo and Macarius. Elder Ambrose of Optina's disciples were Elders Joseph, Barsanuphius, and Nektary. And further, further, further... And it ended in 1938 with the execution of the last rector, Archimandrite Isaac (Bobrakov). It turns out that for about 100 years there has been an uninterrupted chain of holy people. And the uniqueness of Optina Pustyn lies in the fact that it became famous not for individuals, but here a whole holy monastic brotherhood was created.
Yes, there were problems, temptations, not everything went so smoothly, but the most important thing is that for 100 years these lamps did not stop.
The fact that there was a special providence of God over the monastery is evidenced by the fact that there was not a single miraculous icons, no miraculous relics, no special shrines that would attract pilgrims. They reached out to Optina Hermitage for eldership and God-wise advice. It was the elders who became the glory of the monastery, a life-giving spiritual spring. Elder Barsanuphius of Optina once said:
Your sadness will easily disappear,
And you will see in complete amazement
Another country shining distance,
The land of the living, the land of promise.
The land of the living, the land of promise.
And how would you interpret these words about Optina Hermitage: “the land of the living”?
Why alive? Death can come much earlier than the heart stops, than the kidneys fail, the brain ceases to function - death can come when faith and love leave life. And vice versa, when a person lives by faith and spirit, even if he lies like a log, paralyzed, but his head works, his heart works, such a person is more alive than all the living.
In Optina Hermitage there was a blind and paralyzed monk Karp. The brothers took care of him. And there was such a custom in the monastery: on great holidays, the brethren came to sing church hymns, and one day one of them saw him in such an unfortunate state and in spiritual compassion said: “Father Karp, what an unfortunate person you are! You all lie and lie!” “Am I unhappy?! I am not unhappy. Even though I’m lying down, I’m looking at God.” Once this monk said to the elder Ambrose: “Here, I feel so sorry for Father Karp ... I worry about him: an unfortunate man, lying, and even blind. We need to take better care of him." Elder Ambrose answered him: “Karp is even blind, but sees the light” - that is, there is such a powerful state of the human soul that overcomes suffering and bears the cross with gratitude. There was a whole country of such people. The land of the living, the land of promise.
“Nothing is looked for by a Russian person like shrines”
Why, then, with such anger did they take up arms against the holy ascetics in the 20th century? Yes, already in the 19th century, the Church and its saints were, to put it mildly, not in honor among many educated people ... They looked for shortcomings, watched for mistakes and falls ...
The whole essence of the negative attitude towards the Church is explained by Dostoevsky. He once said: “A Russian person rejoices in nothing as much as the fall of a righteous man, and says: “Ah-ah! If such pillars, if such lamps have fallen, then what to ask of us, ordinary people? If such people could not resist, then what are we, ordinary people?” And by the fall of the righteous they justify their sin and their ungodly life.”
But the same Dostoevsky writes: a Russian person searches for nothing so much as a shrine and a saint, in order to find her and him and bow; and says: “I have untruth, I have sin, I have iniquity, but this truth, this holiness, this purity, this holiness must be somewhere?” - seek her and worship her.
And, by the way, Peter I once said: “To justify one’s sins by referring to others’ is like washing oneself with mud.”
Therefore, people were drawn to Optina: because there really were ascetics, and not one or two, but a whole brotherhood.
About Elder Ambrose, Leo Tolstoy said an amazing thing: “This almost paralyzed man, always ill and lying on his bed, who could hardly cross himself, received dozens and hundreds of visitors a day, barely saying something for the benefit of the soul, and people were drawn to him. from all over Russia, and it seems to me that this man has done more for the spiritual life of Russia than all her life improvers. Leo Tolstoy visited Optina several times. Toward the end of his life, he was with his sister, a resident of the Shamorda monastery, nun Maria, and told her: “You know, Mashka, I would agree to go to Optina Hermitage and become a simple novice there - (count, world-famous writer!) - and perform there any menial work, but only on one condition: that these monks do not force me to pray!”
That is, the hardest work is spiritual work. Anything is easier: to unload the wagons... just don't pray.
After all, almost all the pillars of our literature came here ...
Even if we just list those who revolved around Optina, we will understand its significance. How many writers alone came here! Gogol was twice in Optina - in 1850 and in 1851; Dostoevsky in 1876 is the best-selling writer, the most widely read writer, translated into many languages of the world. And what an amazing inner vision of a person he has! In his book The Brothers Karamazov, Optina Pustyn is recognizable: what he saw here, he depicted in this novel. But, of course, Elder Zosima is not Elder Ambrose, but for the first time the world was positively acquainted with monastic life and eldership from the inside thanks to Dostoevsky. His visit to Optina Hermitage played a significant role in his life, in his attitude to faith, Orthodoxy and monasticism in general.
Peter and Ivan Kireevsky, Aksakov, Turgenev, philosopher Soloviev, writer Poselyanin, Sergei Nilus, Alexei Tolstoy, the Royal Family, Elisaveta Feodorovna, Konstantin Romanov - they were all in Optina Hermitage. Of our contemporaries - Rasputin, Soloukhin, Belov, Solzhenitsyn ...
Came as President Russian Federation, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ...
Was it in 2010?
Yes. In 2010, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, during his tenure as President, was in Kozelsk and awarded Kozelsk the title of City of Military Glory, then he visited both Optina Pustyn and Predtechensky Skete.
When the skete did not know what to give him, they brought Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev to the cell of the elder Ambrose and said: “Here in this cell, in this place lived this great person". And the head of the skete, Father Tikhon, presented him with a beautifully designed prayer of the Optina Elders, and said: “Do you want me to read it to you?” And he read a prayer, to which Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev remarked: “What a comprehensive prayer!”
In this prayer there is some kind of simplicity, wisdom, which is understandable to everyone, and where it is simple, there are a hundred angels. How many times we gave it to various directors of brick factories, heads of printing houses, doctors, military men, and everyone was very grateful! And many of the leaders I visited saw it on the wall or on a table under glass. It is written in the Spirit and by the Spirit.
Why was this amazing prayer born in Optina?
Because Optina Pustyn is a golden cup into which all the best, spiritual wine of Russia was poured. Saints have been to many monasteries, but the holy brotherhood is only here. The elders lived by God, breathed God, and among the elders God was in the first place, and when God is in the first place, then everything else is in its place. Then the mind and heart are enlightened, and from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks such divinely inspired prayers.
God listens to the obedient
Why is it so important for us to know and keep the experience of the elders?
Because whoever is his own adviser is his own enemy. Father John (Krestyankin) told me: "Read the books of the Optina Elders: in them you will find answers to all your spiritual questions." After all, it is important for us to have the opinion of the holy fathers and apply it in this or that situation, and not act from our own mind. The works of the elders, their letters, testimonies about their lives have remained - now much has already been published, and salvation, as you know, is in much advice.
How do you see the phenomenon of eldership?
On the grave monument of many people one could write the following words: they lived and did not know what they lived for. The Optina elders knew what they were living for. They knew maybe little, but they knew almost everything about the main thing, and this knowledge about the main thing is spiritual genius. What is eldership? This is spiritual genius. What is genius? - This is 90% labor and 10% overshadowing. It didn't all come out of nowhere. God listens to the obedient. Each of the elders at one time was a student. It is better to be called a student of a student than to collect the useless fruits of self-will. And for this apprenticeship, for sincere obedience, the Lord gave them gifts that they themselves later shared: the gift of healing, the gift of vision of spiritual life... as if they had this gift - they led the person, not seeing God's will for him.)
Elder Ambrose used to hesitate to answer the question put to him: “But I still can’t hear.” That is, each of the Optina elders sought to hear the will of God. Each of them was obedient. And God listens to the obedient.
Did Elder Ambrose have Saint Leo as his teacher?
Elder Leo, who called him a chimera, an empty flower, but this was already a feature of the elder Leo. He loved him infinitely and rebuked him for spiritual benefit, knowing that he could bear it.
“For a monk, reproach and moralizing are like brushes for rusty iron,” said Elder Ambrose. Because of love, Elder Leo did this. “And he diligently removed the rust from me,” recalled Elder Ambrose.
And which of the Optina elders is closest to you?
Probably Leo, Macarius, Ambrose, Barsanuphius. But by nature, all the same, probably Barsanuphius and Leo.
Understand what you live for
Father Melchizedek, you were one of the first inhabitants of the Optina Hermitage, which was revived in 1988. Have you been here before?
In 1984. I was in seminary at the time. And then the weekend fell - November 7 and 8. Once I heard that there is such a Vvedenskaya Optina desert ... And I went there with a friend. At the Kiev railway station, we met with two more students who had the same thought. Then two of these four in 1988 became residents of the Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage - Hieromonk Feofilakt (Bezukladnikov), who is now archimandrite and viceroy New Jerusalem Monastery, and I.
Adid the Optina elders say anything about the future revival of Russia?
The elder Anatoly of Optinsky had a prophecy: “The ship will be broken, but they are saved on the wreckage and chips. But it will not be so with Russia: by the will of God, the ship will again gather in all its glory and go on its own, God-set course. Russia will rise and be materially poor, but rich in spirit, and there will still be seven pillars and seven lamps in Optina.”
Why does the flow of pilgrims to monasteries not stop now?
Ivan Ilyin said: “In the soul of a person, the craving for the shrine is inescapable.” And Dostoevsky determined this for centuries, writing: “If a Russian person does not understand why he should live, he will not even want to live, and will rather destroy himself, even if there is only bread around.” Therefore, people are not looking for bread, but looking for meaning. There are two important days in a person's life: the day when he was born, and the day when he realized why he was born. And people sometimes live as if they would never have to die, and die as if they would never have to live. But let me remind you: who is his own adviser, he is his own enemy, it is better to be called a student of a student. Therefore, they were looking for guidance so as not to break firewood. For example, F.M. Dostoevsky in 1876, after the death of his son Alexei, traveled hundreds of miles from St. Petersburg to Optina!
Optina Pustyn is a kind of spiritual focus, from contact with which the spirit ignites, as if under a magnifying glass. Elder Anatoly Optinsky said: do not fight off the Optina Hermitage; how many she has made and how many more she will make celestials!
With Archimandrite Melchizedek (Artyukhin)
interviewed by Nikita Filatov
The Kaluga region is famous for its many shrines. The most famous is the history of which begins in the XIV century. In the 19th century, the monastery became a real penitentiary for the Russian intelligentsia. Wise confessors - - healed the ailments of the nobles here, comforting all the pilgrims with love, regardless of their rank and position.
Where is Optina Pustyn
The monastery is located two kilometers from Kozelsk, on the shore. They say that after spending several days in these places, a person changes, peace comes in his soul. Hundreds of people come here every day. This is one of the most revered and prayed places of Orthodox Rus'. About where Optina Pustyn is located, people think in moments of despondency, when they are seized by a feeling of hopelessness. You can get to these places by train. From Tupik station to the monastery two kilometers.
background
What used to be where Optina Pustyn is today? The story tells about the Vyatichi tribe who once lived here. The city itself is mentioned for the first time in the annals of 1146. In 1238 it was taken by the Tatars. The battle went on for a month and a half. Almost all the inhabitants of Kozelsk were killed, and the two-year-old Prince Vasily, according to legend, drowned in blood.
At the beginning of the 15th century, the city passed to Lithuania. After 50 years, the city became part of the Moscow principality. The founding date of Optina Pustyn is unknown. But there is an assumption that earlier the monastery was common for monks and nuns.
Wholesale
Optina Pustyn is a monastery located in the Kaluga region. The desert in the old days was called the places of secluded monastic settlements. Optina is a word that comes from the name of a repentant robber. Little is known about this man.
The robber Opta was a formidable leader of a large gang. It is industrial in a dense forest, where the city of Kozelsk is now located. Once, for unknown reasons, the inveterate robber left his gang and accepted. In monasticism, he received the name Macarius. That is why the desert in the 14th-15th centuries was called Makaryevskaya. Where the founder of the monastery is buried is unknown. Besides, this story is just one of the legends. There are many blank spots in the history of Optina Pustyn.
Other versions about the founding of the monastery
There are various assumptions about who founded Optina Pustyn. According to one version, it was built in the depths of a dense forest thanks to Prince Vladimir the Brave and his heirs. These places were not suitable for arable farming; in the XIV century they did not belong to anyone. And therefore, according to another version, once unknown hermits appeared here. They chose the most remote place for their spiritual exploits, far from the settlements. These are the versions about the emergence of Optina Pustyn. The history of the monastery is presented below.
18th century
Peter's reforms did not have the best effect on the fate of the monastery. The monastery had to pay dues to the state. Funds were needed for the construction of a new capital and the war with the Swedes. By the second decade of the 18th century, the monastery was in distress. In 1724 it was abolished. The wooden buildings that were on its territory fell into disrepair.
Restoration began in 1741. Here they built a wooden bell tower and a new temple with two aisles. In 1764, by order of Catherine the Great, the monastery was included in the number of provincial monasteries of the Krutitsy diocese. Five years later, the construction of the cathedral church was completed. According to historical documents, in the seventies there were only two monks here.
The position of Optina Hermitage began to change towards the end of the 18th century, when the Metropolitan of Moscow paid attention to the monastery. Already in 1797 there were 12 monks here. In 1799, the monastery became part of the Kaluga diocese.
19th century
In the national history, Optina Pustyn is of considerable importance. This monastery is a vivid example of the process of spiritual revival that took place at the end of the 18th century. It is located at the edge of a pine forest, cut off from the world by Zhizdra. This is an excellent place for a contemplative hermit life, a spiritual oasis. They say that the elders of Optina Hermitage have the gift of healing.
At the beginning of the century, the construction of a three-tiered bell tower began. Outbuildings for cells were attached to it on both sides. Construction was completed in 1804. Three years later, the construction of the Kazan Church began, a little later - a hospital church with six cells. Adviser Kamynin allocated funds for the material for construction.
The temples were consecrated in 1811. Ten years later, a skete was set up here. Hermits lived in it, that is, people who spent many years in absolute seclusion. The elder was in charge of the spiritual life of the monastery. From all corners of Russia, people who aspired to life in harmony with God reached out to Optina Hermitage. The monastery became the spiritual center of the country. After donations began to arrive, lands, a mill, and stone buildings appeared here.
20th century
In 1918 the monastery was closed. For several years, a rest house was located on its territory. For some time there was a dance floor on the graves of the elders in the Soviet years. And in 1939, these holy places, by order of Beria, were transformed into a concentration camp. Several thousand Polish officers were kept here, most of them were sent to Katyn and shot.
At the beginning of the Second World War, a hospital was located in the monastery, then - a check-filtration camp of the NKVD. The government transferred Optina Pustyn to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1987. Restoration began in 1990.
The burial places of the elders were found with great difficulty. The devastation in the nineties here was so depressing that the locals did not believe that Optina Pustyn could be revived.
Architectural ensemble
main temple monastery - Vvedensky Cathedral. It was founded in 1750. The largest temple on the territory of the monastery is the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, built in 1811. In the 2000s, the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord was erected.
On the territory of the monastery there are also: a church in honor of St. Mary of Egypt, a bell tower, a chapel, a gate church, a wooden belfry, a fraternal refectory, as well as a bakery, abbot's, library, cell buildings. Some buildings appeared in the XIX century. For example, the cell of Elder Ambrose is located in a wooden hut, which is over 150 years old. However, the oldest building in Optina Hermitage is the Vvedensky Cathedral.
In Moscow and St. Petersburg there are churches related to the monastery. This is the courtyard of the Holy Vvedensky Monastery of Optina Hermitage in Yasenevo (Temple of Peter and Paul) and the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Vasilyevsky Island.
Elders
Optina Hermitage is, first of all, its elders. There are only fourteen of them today. What is the essence of eldership? Among the monks, a more experienced one is chosen, who becomes the spiritual father of all the brethren. He also becomes a mentor for the laity who come here. Between the Kazan Church and the Vvedensky Cathedral there is a necropolis. Priests are buried here. And it is in this part of the desert that the graves of the Optina elders are located. However, they are empty - the relics of the saints have been transferred to shrines.
Each of the elders became famous for something. Nectarius was a soothsayer. Leo is a healer. The most famous was the third Elder of Optina Hermitage - Ambrose. Not so long ago, his cell was restored in the skete. The entry for the laity is closed here.
Hieroschemamonk Ambrose
He was canonized in 1988. Saint Ambrose, in the world Alexander Mikhailovich Grenkov, possessed a phenomenal memory, wrote and spoke fluently in five foreign languages. From childhood he was distinguished by extraordinary abilities, but in his youth he became very ill and then made a vow to God: if I survive, I will take the veil as a monk. Alexander Grenkov recovered. For his ministry, he chose Optina Hermitage.
The Monk Ambrose knew how to speak with everyone in his language: to help an illiterate peasant woman, to give advice to a wealthy landowner. This man communicated with Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Conversations with the elder took place in a special room. The furnishings of this room today are completely preserved. Asceticism reigns in it, although the elder here received not only famous writers, but also representatives of the Romanov royal family.
Leo Tolstoy visited Optina Pustyn six times. For the first time - in 1878. Between Ambrose and Tolstoy then a long, difficult conversation took place. After the writer's departure, the elder said: "I'm already very proud." There is evidence that Tolstoy came here just before his death, wanted to visit Ambrose, but did not dare to enter the skete.
Fyodor Dostoevsky came to Optina Pustyn after a heavy loss - the death of his little son. The writer could not understand why God needed the death of an angelic boy. He suffered a lot. Arriving at the monastery, Fyodor Mikhailovich had a long conversation with Elder Ambrose. According to eyewitnesses, he left his cell a completely different person. Elder Ambrose is the prototype of Zosima from the novel The Brothers Karamazov.
Hieroschemamonk Leo
In the world he was called Lev Danilovich Nagolkin. The future Optina Elder was born in 1768. He came from the bourgeois class, in his youth he served as a clerk for a wealthy merchant. In 1797 Nagolkin became a monk. After 20 years, he arrived in Optina Hermitage, where he founded the eldership. Among his spiritual children was Saint Ambrose, which was mentioned above.
Hieroschemamonk Macarius
Mikhail Nikolaevich Ivanov, such is the worldly name of this elder, was born in 1788 into a noble family. At the age of 14, he entered the service of an accountant. A few years later he received the post of head of the counting expedition. After the death of his father, Ivanov left the service and went to the monastery. Since 1834 he was in the Optina Hermitage. Thanks to this elder, a whole school of translators and publishers of spiritual literature was created.
Archimandrite Barsanuphius
The future clergyman, in the world, Pavel Plikhankov, was born in Samara in 1845, into a merchant family. He graduated from a military gymnasium, after which he made a good career. He rose to the rank of colonel. However, unexpectedly for relatives and colleagues, Plikhankov submitted a letter of resignation in the 70s. He arrived in Optina Pustyn in 1891. In 1907 he was elevated to the rank of hegumen. Five years later, the Monk Barsanuphius was appointed rector of the Staro-Golutvinsky monastery.
The elder was in Optina Hermitage just at the time when Leo Tolstoy arrived there. As already mentioned, the writer visited these places on the eve of his death. Upon learning of this, Barsanuphius went to the railway station in order to admonish Tolstoy before his death and help him come to terms with the church. But he was not allowed to see the dying writer.
Nektarios Optina
Born in Yelets in 1853. The family was poor, his father worked at a mill, he died early. Soon the mother also passed away. The boy was left an orphan. At the age of eleven, he entered the service of the merchant shop, six years later he received the position of junior clerk.
At the age of twenty, Nikolai went on foot to Optina Pustyn. Here he was received by the elder Ambrose. They talked for a long time, but about what, Nectarius later did not tell anyone like that. In March 1887 he was tonsured into the robe. Seven years later, he was ordained a hierodeacon.
Two years before the outbreak of the First World War, the brothers elected Nectarius an elder. After the advent of Soviet power, the monastery was closed. The Monk Nectarios was arrested. He spent three years in prison. It is known that after his return he lived in the village of Ulyanovo, Kaluga region. He died in 1928.
Optina elders - who are they, why did people from different parts of the country try to get "an appointment" with them? These are people who have a certain spiritual vision.
Such vision, according to the monks of Optina Hermitage, is possessed by Schema-Archimandrite Iliy (Aleksey Nozdrin). Now he lives in Peredelkino, is the personal confessor of the Patriarch of Moscow Kirill. When the elder was in Optina Hermitage, people continuously came to him. He didn't accept everyone. But if a person was lucky enough to talk with Elder Eli, he could get completely unexpected advice from him. For example, leave a business, adopt a child from an orphanage, or even go to a monastery.
Alexei Afanasyevich Nozdrin - that was his name in the world. He was born in 1932 into a peasant family. In 1949 he graduated from high school. While serving in the army, he joined the Komsomol, but when he returned home, he repented of his act and burned the Komsomol ticket.
In 1958, Nozdrin graduated from a technical school in the Moscow region. Then he worked at a factory in the city of Kamyshin. There was only one temple, which the future clergyman visited. Nozdrin, on the advice of his confessor, graduated from the Leningrad Theological Academy. In 1966 he was tonsured a monk. In the late eighties, he was sent to Optina Pustyn, where at that time the restoration of the monastery began.
1993 tragedy
On Easter in Optina Hermitage, three clergymen were killed near the belfry. Hieromonk Vasily and the monks Trofim and Ferapont became victims of a ritual crime. The killer crept up behind them and stabbed them in the back. He was quickly detained, during the investigation he was declared insane and placed in a closed hospital.
The murdered monks became new martyrs. In 2004, the book "Red Easter" by Nina Pavlova was published, dedicated to the victims of a crazy sectarian-Satanist (three sixes were scrawled on the dagger with which he struck).
For the mothers of the fathers of Optina Hermitage, the reckoning of their sons as martyrs did not become a consolation. Two of them were tonsured after this tragedy. Father Vasily's mother said before the tonsure: "I want to meet my son after death." The monks are buried on the territory of the monastery. A bell tower was later built on their graves. This place is said to have extraordinary healing power.
workers
Many who come to Optina Pustyn stay here for a while. They are accommodated and fed for free. But on condition: they are obliged to work and attend all services. They say that staying in these holy places heals the soul.
Among the workers are representatives of various professions. For everyone, the conditions for staying in Optina Pustyn are the same. Wake up at five in the morning. The service takes about four hours a day. The rest of the time you have to work. The workers are accommodated in a special hotel, several people live in each room. In order to settle, you need a passport and work clothes. Everything else, if necessary, is given out in the monastery.
The monastery is on full self-sufficiency. The laborers work together with the monks. Subsidiary farm of this monastery is one of the largest agricultural enterprises in the Kaluga region. Each of the workers has some profession in the world. In the monastery, they try to offer them work that is familiar to them. Veterinarians take care of animals. Artists paint icons.
In the summer, the brothers go out for sowing. But even here they are not exempted from worship - a special mobile temple leaves with them.
The workers have almost no free time. They must observe the strict rules of the monastery. However, some have lived here for years. There are those who do not leave at all, they are preparing for monasticism.
Around the monastery
Today, a whole village has lined up around the monastery. In the nineties, a small house in the vicinity of the monastery could be bought for only 50 thousand rubles. Today, prices have risen by about twenty times. Among the residents of nearby villages, there are many who have bought houses here solely because of the proximity of Optina Pustyn. Many villagers welcome those wishing to visit the famous monastery. The cost of renting housing is low - from 300 rubles per bed.
Optina deserts are surrounded by forest, village and healing springs. Six hundred meters from the monastery is the spring of Pafnutiy Borovsky, which has long been considered healing. Thousands of pilgrims come here every year. It is said that the spring really cures ailments.
