10. Валаамский Игумен Назарий

During the administration of the Sarov desert, Abbot Nifont lived in it in retirement, Abbot Nazarius, a virtuous man who loved to live a solitary, deserted, silent life. At the desire to live in the desert, he left the Abbess and lived in the desert three miles from the monastery, where he labored, spending time in prayer and serving as an example of a virtuous life for the brethren. In his desert cell, pleasing God with the feat of perfect hermitage, he, in admiration of the spirit, said, following Saint Basil the Great: “O solitary life, the house of heavenly teaching and divine understanding; school, where God is everything we learn. Desert, a paradise of sweetness, where the fragrant flowers of love either glow with a fiery color, or shine with snow-like purity; with them there is peace and silence; Those who live in the lowlands remain unmoved by the wind. There the incense of perfect mortification, not only of the flesh, but also, what is more glorious, of the will itself, and the censer of constant prayer, incessantly burns with the fire of Divine love; there the various flowers of virtue, shining with various ornaments, flourish with the grace of unfading beauty. O desert, delight of the souls of saints, paradise of inexhaustible sweetness! You are a furnace, in which the Holy Fathers quench the power of the burning flame with prayer, and with the burning of faith they extinguish the raging flame around them, in which both arrows and shackles burn, but the chained do not burn out, only the bonds of sin are resolved and the soul is raised to the singing of divine praises, crying out: You have enlarged my mouth. I will devour a sacrifice of praise for you.” Hegumen Nazariy was born in the Tambov province in the village of Anosovo, 15 versts from the city of Kadoma, from his father with the name Kodrat, and the title of clerk, and his mother Mavra. In the world his name was Nikolai. Having loved God, he left the world at a very young age. He came to the Sarov hermitage in 1752 under the fifth Builder, Hieromonk Isaac. He was tonsured a monk on September 23, 1760, in Astrakhan, by the local Bishop Methodius. Ordained as Hierodeacon there and in the same year on October 22; and in 1765 he again returned to the Sarov Hermitage. The reason that prompted Elder Nazarius to be in Astrakhan should be nothing other than his spiritual respect for the high life of the aforementioned Saint Methodius, who himself wanted to move to the Sarov Hermitage to retire, as can be seen from the Archpastor’s handwritten letters kept in this hermitage. Father Nazarius was consecrated as hieromonk on December 6, 1776, by His Grace Jerome, Bishop of Vladimir. In 1781, by decree of the Holy Synod, it was demanded in St. Petersburg, where in 1782, by the conviction of His Grace Metropolitan Gabriel, he was appointed Builder to the Valaam Monastery to establish a hostel and order there according to the rules and example of the Sarov monastery 18. Through his vigilant care, the Valaam monastery was, as it were, revived from desolation and multiplied by brotherhood. Before Elder Nazarius entered there, there were: a Builder, one monk, two white priests, but by accident, they all drowned. Why did only Nazarius himself officiate for about a year? In May 1785, Nazarius was awarded the rank of Hegumen. He introduced strict church service order to the monastery and acquired land from the Tsar's bounty for its permanent maintenance. One day Father Nazarius happened to be in St. Petersburg on monastic business; He walked along the Vyborg side with another old man similar to him. At this time, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich went beyond the Neva River, where, seeing them in very wretched rags, he asked: where are you from and what kind of elders are they? And having learned from the answer that one of them was Abbot Nazarius, he personally thanked him for the successful restoration of the Valaam Monastery, for he had already heard a lot of good things about the elder Abbot, famous for his spiritual experience and care for the good of the monastery. Abbot Nazarius established three types of life in the Valaam monastery: communal, monastic and desert. The fame of this spread even beyond the borders of Russia, so that from the Athos Mountains, prompted by sacred curiosity, many came to worship the Valaam wonderworkers Sergius and Herman and looked with surprise at the structure of this monastery, which others even preferred to the Athos monasteries. This elder, worthy of blessed memory, Hegumen Nazarius, had a special gift of insight and foresight, so that he sometimes recognized human thoughts, characters and inclinations without testing, and encouraged everyone who came to correct the shortcomings that he insightfully noticed in him. Managing the Valaam monastery, Father Nazarius, while working on the construction of the monastery and various cells for the residence of the brethren, according to the differences in the above three kinds of monastic life, which he introduced on Valaam, managed to visit different cities and provinces according to times and needs. During his stay in the monastery, he had a hermit’s cell, into which he retired for whole weeks. In 1792 and 1793, by the will of the Empress, the Holy Synod sent from among the Valaam brethren - disciples of Nazarene - Hieromonk Joasaph, at the same time promoted to Archimandrite, and Monk Herman with up to 10 other people to preach the word of God to America. Archimandrite Joasaph, with Apostolic zeal, engaged in preaching the word of God to the wild tribes of America, appeared many times and to many of them in a dream, encouraging them to go to the island of Kodiak, where a refuge for missionary monks was set up, and accept the Christian faith and baptism there, assuring them that he would not stop giving them colds in their dreams, until they converted to Christianity and are being baptized. And the labors of Joasaph 19 were crowned with the desired success. In addition to those sent to America, the Valaam monastery was famous for many men experienced in monastic life, and it owes this glory to Elder Nazarius, who arranged everything in it gracefully and in order, as the Apostle Paul never commanded. Finally, Abbot Nazariy in 1801, at his request, was dismissed from the Superiorship to retire. Taking advantage of his freedom from official labor, he lived in the desert not far from the monastery, where his only occupation was prayer and handicrafts. But circumstances forced Elder Nazarius to leave his desert cell and the Valaam monastery. In 1804, in the month of March, he was dismissed, at his request, by His Grace Metropolitan Ambrose to the Sarov Monastery for permanent residence and with his disciple Hieromonk Hilarion. Upon arrival in this desert, for greater silence, he built himself a cell in the forest, on the Sarovka River, and lived in solitude for about five years, talking with the one God and, for his humble heart, becoming a true lamp and spiritual joy for the brethren, who demanded spiritual edification from him. Instructing the brethren near him to spiritual life by example and instructive words, Elder Nazarius did not leave the God-loving souls at a distance from him without consolation and edification. So he wrote to one nun: “Great height is humility! noble dignity and honor - humility! There is no one who is humbler, nor worse in Christ, but more glorious according to the testimony of the truth. I am not in the light, I am all dark; I lack humility, I am all vain and useless and not daring towards Christ. Nothing is as useful as self-reproach: from self-reproach comes self-knowledge; from self-knowledge - meekness. Self-reproach: “I am a villain, lazy, a parasite, a robber: - I plunder my own spiritual salvation; Look, I’m sinning in deed, word and thought, and I’m offending everyone.” From this rooting self-knowledge will be born. Collect your mind and heart into one, close your eyes, raise your mental eyes to the Lord. “O sweetest and dearest Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God! I am a great sinner; but I too am unforgettable in Your mercy; and Your grace and fatherly charity are pouring on me! Am I worthy to be remembered before You? From which tenderness and meekness are born. If anyone reproaches you in any way, bow to the ground before him. “Yes, that’s truly who I am, I’ve sinned, I’m guilty, I’ve gone mad, I ask for forgiveness.” If tears, tenderness, spiritual joy, or love from people come to you, then fall before God and pray: “O Sweetest, Dearest Jesus! Am I worth the fact that you sent me joy and tears? I am unworthy before You of such tenderness; I didn’t deserve you in any way. Can such Your grace fit in such a vile vessel? I don’t know how to preserve this, I’ll lose it; send to the one who deserves You; - and I am worth sorrow and boredom, so that everyone does not love me, but grant me to love everyone; bear sorrows and misfortunes with patience.” And God will send more for such humility. Otherwise, we, like small children, will rejoice at tenderness, grab an armful of hay more than ourselves, and get lost: so tenderness will soon leave us. And when sorrow, sadness, despondency come, fall before God and pray: “Lord! this is my share, my part; I deserve only this; This is the only thing I deserve from You. Grant me, Lord, that I may be meek, humble, silent; Don’t leave me, teach me – my Savior: I am Your creation.” And sorrows and misfortunes are like receiving gifts and gifts from the Sweetest Jesus. “I want,” He says, “that My faithful disciples may remain in sorrows and adversities.” And do not be discouraged in your sins; sinners, until they have called the Sweetest Jesus, remain sinners, but once they have called, they are no longer sinners. As a child becomes stained, he cries; he will beat his mother, and then kiss him, put on a white shirt: so we too, cry out to Him: “We have become defiled, wash us; You, Savior, cleanse: - let me confess my iniquity, and You have forsaken the wickedness of my heart.” The Lord rejoices over nothing more than the repentance of a sinner. The Irmos is sung: strong tristats, Be born of the Virgin... Strong tristats are three parts of the soul. Come into this: furious, lustful and verbal. We must use fury against demons, be angry at our flesh, at our passions; but we act against our neighbor and murmur against God; but grumble and create boldness. An ungrateful person is worse than a robber. There is no worse person on earth than an ungrateful person. The lustful part is the loving part, it must be first towards God: with all your strength and with all your mind; and we are occupied by sweets, passions and all sorts of whims, unhealthy addictions. And the verbal part is autocratic, god-like. Intelligence is in the head, love is in the heart; and this part is verbal, lofty, and should be exalted, and should be considered base - to submit to the enemy, or to be enslaved to some passion. Be proud over demons; but with us this was taken over by high pride of contempt, contempt, humiliation of one’s neighbor, and envy. Grief can be watchful, punitive, and from demons - humbling. When a person does not submit or humble himself, then Providence, or God’s punishment, betrays him to temptation. There is a path that enlightens, and purifies, and connects with God Himself - when a person himself searches, tries, cuts off his will - and the Lord enlightens him. Cleansing – sorrows, misfortunes, illnesses, exiles; all the martyrs are on a purifying path; and the one who unites - on him the perfection of holiness - is still here united by mental prayer. Let us pray in spirit, and let us also pray in mind. Take a look at the words of the Apostle Paul: I would rather speak five words with my mind than a thousand with my tongue. I can’t describe how happy we are that we were honored to speak these five words. What a joy! “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Imagine: Lord! Who am I calling? Creator, Creator of everything, Whom all powers tremble; – Jesus Christ, Son of God! You poured out Your blood for me, saved me, came down to earth; - Christ - he was obedient even to death, death on the cross; have mercy on me, a sinner, and forgive me for being guilty of everything.” Repel all thoughts that attack you - in the name of Jesus. Preposition, combination, addition, captivity. First the excuse will come - a small thought like a baby: it only bothers you, but cannot harm you. As soon as you start arguing with him, this combination, already a young man, can hit you; and if you agreed with him - this build is already a husband - he can kill you even to death; and there captivity is passion. Just as a saucepan is boiling over a fire, no insect can get into the hot pot; and when it cools down, flies and every reptile will fall down: so our heart, even if it burns towards God, is pure from passion and thoughts. King David says: My heart is not lifted up, my eyes are lifted up lower, I walk lower in the great, lower in the wondrous than me. Even if I did not humble myself, but lifted up my soul, like what was given to my mother, so reward my soul (Psalm 130). Come up, what are these words? I can't picture it! He says: great was I a Prophet and wonderful was I a King; but I did not become arrogant, and my mind and heart were not occupied with this. And may the Lord grant that I may be clinging to You like a child to its mother—not being offended when punished, and not being exalted when rewarded. For God's sake, study, try, desert doves! What does desert mean? - Conscience is not shameful; a mind purified by prayer, do not lose fasting; but fasting with prayer does not waste any labor. Blessed are you who plant gardens in your soul! How good and how beautiful the life of the brethren together is! I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m indebted to everyone and I’m to blame for everyone: is it possible to be offended by anyone after this? And we love three or four very much - what a small thing that is! trifle! It is better to love everyone in the world; I have kind simplicity, the gates of the heart are open to everyone; and although someone is not happy with me, I am happy with him. Monk means solitary; monk - different attire, and character, and custom, and different life. Chernets - a black dress, mourning for the soul, one must cry day and night. For three years I did not know sorrow, and I became so accustomed to fasting, to the unspeakable depression of the flesh, that I thought that was all virtue. How three sisters came to me: - despondency, boredom, sadness; That’s when I realized it, and didn’t know how to treat them. He became exhausted, - then he learned, saying: my dear guests! You are welcome, please, I will treat you; I’ll light a candle, we’ll pray, we’ll cry, we’ll sing, and I’ll cry out: “God be merciful to me, a sinner! Having created me, Lord, have mercy: without number of sinners, Lord forgive me! How will I look towards Your goodness? What start will I make with confession? Lady Mother of God! remember your servant!” My guests are running, and I say: mothers, stay a while! No, you won’t catch up! When the ardent spirit comes to you to pray a lot, then pray a little and put on your rosary; and when you are lazy: then it is really useful to pray until you sweat. And when you need to go to your mother, pray: Lord, bless me to go to my mother, teach me so that she will listen to me as a sinner, and say: “Mother, this is what I desire, but do not do it according to my will, but according to your will.” And if you need to talk to your sister, raise your mind to the Lord: bless me, my Savior, to talk to my sister, and teach me, and so that she will accept words from me, a sinner. Otherwise you do everything with your own strength. Here I was, driving to you, completely drowned; but, having begun to drown, the mind and heart gathered together: “O Sweetest, O Dearest, Most Gracious Lord!” If you want, save me, but if you don’t, I’ll go to the bottom, but I won’t be separated from You!” Then he fell into the abyss, and, fortunately, as he flew, he managed to say on the fly: “Oh, Lord!...But how did he remember such a name, why should there be anything here? Not like falling into an abyss, but like landing on a soft bed.... If melancholy comes, as if God has abandoned him, read this Psalm: alive in the help of the Most High..., you will reach this word: I am with him in sorrow, I will destroy him, believe that the Lord will not abandon him!” If we cry about sins, like slaves; and if out of gratitude, they are like sons. From the sick, the Lord requires only prayer with humility, with patience, with thanksgiving. How the Sweetest, your Savior in heavenly Jerusalem, in the unflickering light, will lead you to the Heavenly Father and say: “Heavenly Father! these are the fruits of My suffering.” There will be a holiday for us! It is impossible to say what honor we will have. And you write all my words on the tablets of your heart, in an unforgettable memory. Seek the highest, where Christ is.... philosophize on the high, not on the earth; do it while there is daylight, so that darkness will not overtake you. A God-loving person needs nothing but God: if he gains God, he is sufficient. One Saint always cried: “My peace, heavenly peace! where can I find you?.. only in the cross, but in Christ!” Filled with venerable days, and completely exhausted in his bodily strength, he reposed by the will of God into eternal rest on February 23, 1809, at the 72nd year of his life. His body was buried at the altar of the warm church; A monument was erected above him with the following inscription: Nazarius is ashes here, soul in heaven; And it will be unforgettable in sensitive hearts, In which he contained sacred those talents, Before which worldly adamants are nothing. Rest in peace here, Father, without sorrow and weeping, Until the day of reward comes for everyone. Alas! Hegumen Nazarius closed his lips, from which honey-flowing streams of humble words had previously poured out; those from whom we drew the sweetest myrrh of teaching no longer move. One nun, his spiritual daughter, expressed her grief at the loss of Elder Nazarius in the following lamentable song: “Alas! Our lamp has gone out, illuminating us in the darkness of sinners; We have lost our comforter, who comforted many of us in despondency and exhaustion.” “Let us rejoice in our souls, sisters and brothers. How short is the time of our days!” “Wake up, wake up, my sinful soul, from the sleep of your sins; do not remain in the ditch of hellish eternal torment.” “Leave me alone, leave me alone from your bad deeds, you crazy man; your deeds are plunging you into hell.” "Oh! The name of the hellish mortal gates is terrible, it is more terrible to dwell in them. Those who commit sin drown there in tears.” “O sea, sea on hellish shores! the prince of darkness is imprisoned in you; he fears and trembles at your waves.” “O jaws of vile sin! Who will they spare? They swallowed up the proud angels from heaven." “All-evil sin drowned the entire first world, burned five hailstones, and bound the devil to its father.” “Father is the morning glory, pride is the mother of sin; and sin gave birth to the daughter death. About death, death! if you are a fierce one! For those who are curious, we offer here a copy of the letter given by the Most Reverend Gabriel to the Valaam monastery, on the occasion of the summoning of Father Nazarius to this monastery, for the establishment of a monastic life in it, following the example of the desert life of Sarov. Humble Gabriel Metropolitan of Nova Grad and St. Petersburg. The most merciful God, concerned about the salvation of every person, confirmed to us of his love for mankind by appearing in this world in the flesh, so that he would bring everyone to the knowledge of saving truth. With such assurance, various means are arranged for the disposition and strength of each means, in order to remove a person from temptations, and make his will inclined to the assistance of his grace. And as if he were the most zealous in the course of the virtuous path, he also wavered from temptations, he prepared places corresponding to their location, so that with greater convenience and grace they could raise their thoughts to the Throne of His Majesty, and unite their spirit with Him. Such is the island of Valaam on Lake Ladoga, formerly called Nevo; its removal from the shores brings those who live on it complete solitude from the rumors of everyday life. This is testified by the holy fathers Sergius and Herman, Alexander Svirsky, Kirill Beloezersky, Savvaty, and other monks who sowed the monastery, who either began or accomplished the feat and shone with the holiness of life. It was narrated about them in the life of the Venerable Savvatius of Solovetsky, as if they had a very active life, striving day and night in good will, and they got food from the labor of their hands. We, having such a cloud of witnesses, see by the Providence of the Savior of the world that this island was arranged for the sojourn of monastics, and taking care of our duty to save them, in order to restore the villages of the Saints in it, and thereby bring a pleasing sacrifice to the Savior of the world Jesus Christ, we establish, so that the rules kept in the Sarov desert are always contained in it immutably. For this reason, and by calling from this Sarov desert the Honest Father Hieromonk Nazarius, who knows about his exploits and zeal to establish monastics in a saving life: we entrust these rules to him, for continuous storage in the Valaam monastery, and confirm them with this letter, sealed and signed by our hand. We bend our hearts to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from Him every nation in heaven and on earth is named, may He grant them, according to their riches, to be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man, may Christ indwell faith in their hearts, until they can understand the love of Christ that transcends the mind and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, may it guard their hearts and understandings according to your wealth in Christ Jesus. Amen. In 1799, Joasaph was consecrated Bishop of Kodiak; but he did not reach his diocese, and ended his life by being shipwrecked.