Rule of Elder Paisius

Your Eminence, God-elected and appointed archpastor and you, the most God-loving bishops, whom God appointed to shepherd His church in this Orthodox Christian Moldova land! I, the last servant of Your Eminences, standing before the sacred faces of Your Eminences and the entire cathedral and wishing to tell in this shortest and most unreasonable word about myself, the last one, about how all the brothers gathered about the name of Christ to me and to each other, and about our life, I beg Your Eminence to patiently listen to my story, imitating the benevolence and long-suffering of God, condescending with the wisdom given to you by God to my rudeness, a simple and ignorant person. In my youth I had great zeal and love for the monastic life and, leaving the world and everything in the world, I accepted the beginning of the monastic image in my fatherland - Little Russia. Then he felt jealous of wandering in order to serve God with greater convenience. Leaving my fatherland, I came to the famous Holy Mount Athos and settled under the Pantokrator monastery in a certain kaliva in silence, where I was honored to take on the mantle. When I was there for some time, one Romanian brother from Nemul, who, through the zeal of God, came to the Holy Mountain, began to force me with his strong requests to accept him as an apprentice, but I, seeing the weakness and foolishness of my soul, refused many times. However, then, on the one hand, seeing how he diligently begged me to accept him, and on the other hand, reasoning that Holy Scripture does not approve of a passionate person living on his own and forbids him to do so, I decided with that brother, as like-minded and unanimous, to choose the middle path of monastic life, that is, life with one or two brothers, since this path is approved and praised by both the Holy Scripture and the inspired fathers. Therefore, despising my weakness and foolishness, placing all hope in God for my and my brother’s correction, offering the Holy Scripture as an unerring guide to the salvation of myself and my brother, I dared to accept it, revealing to him from the Holy Scripture that it is not proper to have one’s own property, even the smallest thing, to do one’s own will or follow one’s own reasoning, but must, with the fear of God, according to one’s strength, perform obedience with soul and body. Obeying this teaching, the brother fulfilled it with all diligence. When I lived such a life unanimously with this brother, other brothers began to greatly disturb me with their pleas to accept them into obedience. But I refused for a long time, afraid to take upon myself such a burden of care for the souls of the brothers, which belongs to the dispassionate alone. Seeing their diligent prayer to accept them into obedience, he was distressed in heart and regretted them, not knowing what to do. Therefore, not being able to get rid of their diligent prayer, I began to accept those brothers one by one into obedience. Due to the increase in the number of brothers, we moved from that kaliva to the monastery of St. Constantine. When twelve brothers gathered there, I began to reason that our life from the middle path (that is, staying with one or two brothers), due to the multiplication of the brethren, changes to a common life, which, according to the definition of St. Basil the Great, should begin with no less than twelve brothers. Since we did not fit in the small hermitage of St. Constantine, then with the support of the lovers of Christ, and to a greater extent with the labors of the brothers, we rebuilt from the very foundation a more spacious hermitage of the holy prophet Elijah in order to accommodate us there, and we thought only with such a number of brothers to complete our lives. But when the construction of the monastery was completed and we saw that the number of brothers in this monastery began to increase even more, coming from the world, from these countries and from my fatherland, to the Holy Mountain and who had a zeal for such a life, so that in a few years the number of brothers increased to fifty (since I could in no way get rid of their pleas to accept them into obedience), I began to reason that the Holy Mountain, as a place, although holy, was very severe, will not contribute to an even greater strengthening of such a unanimous and like-minded assembly of brothers about the name of Christ, but due to extreme needs, without the satisfaction of which it is impossible for common life to take place, it will lead it over time to ruin. Therefore, I decided to move with all my brothers to this God-protected Orthodox land for the sake of greater strengthening of our common life. I revealed this thought many times to His Holiness Patriarch Seraphim, who, regretting our departure, wanted to establish our life in one Svyatogorsk monastery, called Simonopetra. However, even this good intention of His Holiness was not fulfilled by God, so we suffered considerable losses, since, being innocent of anything, we were forced by the creditors of that monastery to pay up to seven hundred leva. Reasoning about all this and fearing that there might be an extreme ruin of our life, which with God’s help, thanks to considerable labor and sweat, achieved such a unanimous stay together with each other, we held a council and all together unanimously and unanimously decided to move from the Holy Mountain to this Orthodox and God-protected Christian land in order to look for a suitable place for our life. Having made this decision, we left the Holy Mountain and came to this God-protected land, placing all our hope for the arrangement of our life on the common Provider and Creator of all, God, who, out of His greatest and ineffable mercy, breathed His grace into the hearts of the pious and Christ-loving, cross-bearing and imitating Christ in the mercy of our ruler, governor John Gregory Ioannovich, and our Most Reverend Great Master Cyrus Gabriel, Archbishop and Metropolitan of this God-protected land, and they, becoming like God in their mercy, gave us for our common life the beautiful monastery of Dragomirna, built of blessed memory by the Most Reverend Archbishop and Metropolitan of Sochava, Cyrus Anastasius Krimkovich. We attribute this event, first of all, to the special, ineffable Providence of God for our common life, as well as to the Christ-imitating mercy of the most pious governor and the Most Reverend Metropolitan, who served such Providence and the will of the Divine, and we consider this a great miracle for ourselves. For who among us could hope that we, the poor, the beggars and strangers, who had no place to lay our heads, would be given such a place and such a beautiful monastery with all its grounds, suitable for our community, and moreover, that it would also be delivered, freed forever from all ordinary tributes, what? the pious ruler approved the grant of his majesty's charter. Glory to the One Trinitarian God, who gave His Trinity Monastery to our community through the most pious governor and His Eminence the Metropolitan. We also thank our most pious, Christ-loving and most merciful ruler, Governor John Grigory Ioannovich, for this highest mercy of His Majesty shown to us, for which we must, until our last breath, pray to the great God in the mercy of His Majesty, may he grant him, the ruler of the power entrusted to him by God, according to His mercy and truth, according to His Divine will in this life, peace, health, longevity, victory over visible and invisible enemies, and in the future bliss for the wise and faithful management of the power entrusted to him by God, may he be worthy to receive, together with our pious lady Elena Domna, his God-loving children and the entire God-glorified family, the crown of the Kingdom of Heaven, which pious kings who have pleased God have. We also thank our Most Reverend Archbishop and Metropolitan, the Great Lord Cyrus Gabriel, with the God-loving bishops for their greatest mercy shown to us, for which in our unceasing weak prayers we wish that they, having fed the flock of Christ’s verbal sheep handed to them by God in the meadow of His Divine teachings, will be honored with future bliss from the Chief Shepherd (see 1 Pet. 5:4), the Great Bishop who passed through heaven (see Heb. 4:14), Christ, the Son of God, together with all the shepherds and teachers of the Holy Church, to receive the blessings prepared for those who love (see 1 Cor. 2:9) our God, “the angels desire to dwell in him” (1 Pet. 1:12). We also thank the noble gentlemen of the boyars for their mercies and all the benefactors of this holy monastery, praying to God that He will reward them with His merciful reward both in the present and in the future life with temporary and eternal benefits for their good deeds to us and this monastery. Having offered Your Eminence such a brief, ignorance-filled story about the beginning of our common life and about the reason for our exit from the Holy Mountain to this God-protected land, we, in addition, thanked our most pious and Christ-loving ruler, governor John Gregory Ioannovich, and our Most Reverend Great Master Cyrus Gabriel, appointed by God. archbishop and metropolitan of this Orthodox land, who, beyond our hopes, received us with love and kindness and gave us a wonderful monastery for our common life. In addition, we thanked the God-loving bishops of this God-protected land and the noble boyars, who in word and deed helped us in our extreme need and provide all kindness and assistance to our holy monastery. Now let’s get to the word about what kind of communal rite, according to the charter of the God-bearing fathers, this common life should, as far as possible, be observed and preserved, without transgressing or changing it. And since God has vouchsafed us, by the highest mercy of our most pious sovereign and His Eminence, our Metropolitan, to inherit such a monastery, which, as we hear, was created with that intention of blessed memory by Cyrus Anastasius, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Sochava, so that life in it would be common in everything, according to Scripture (see Ps. 133:1; Acts. 2:44), and not special, then we extremely desired to preserve the rite taught by him for common life, as the rank of our father and ktitor. But, having diligently searched for that rite everywhere and among the books donated by the ktitor (of which a small number are in the monastery), we did not find it, therefore, placing hope in God and in God on the prayers of Your Eminences and our blessed ktitor, having also examined the meaning of the Holy Scriptures and the communal rules taught by God of St. Basil the Great and other holy and spirit-bearing fathers, we want, upon completion of this study, to offer your To the Eminence and to the entire God-assembled and chosen spiritual council, the rite that befits common life is necessary for salvation and can be observed in this last time. And if in this cenobitic rite that we have written, anything turns out to be pleasing to God and in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, then we pray to Your Eminences and the entire spiritual consecrated council to approve this rite with the authority given to you by God, so that it is observed inviolably. If anything turns out to be contrary to God and the Holy Scriptures, then we beg you, like the sheep who are our shepherds, to correct them with a spirit of meekness (see Gal. 6, 1) our ignorance of the spiritual wisdom given to you by God and to guide us to the pasture of a godly communal order. So, first we want to tell Your Eminence and the entire consecrated cathedral not about the rite that we now want to establish in our community as new and not previously existing, but about the one that was previously established in our life, even on the Holy Mountain, and by the grace of God and through your powerful prayers, as far as possible to our weakness, is inviolably observed. 1. The first charter and order of our community, which we carefully observed both with a small and a large number of brothers and still observe by the grace of God, is as follows. Not a single brother should in any way have any movable or immovable property, even the smallest thing, and not call anything his own, but have in common everything sent by God for the organization of common life. For the sake of deanery, the abbot, seeing the need of each brother for food, clothing and other necessary things, must, like a father who, according to God, cares for his spiritual children, supply them, giving each what is necessary in accordance with his needs, so that each brother receives what is necessary by obedience and with the rejection of his will, and not by arbitrary choice. By the grace of Christ, we accepted this rite and charter as the root and foundation of our common life, knowing for sure that from this in brothers living together grows sincere love for God and neighbor, meekness, humility, peace, like-mindedness and cutting off their own will in everything. And such brothers can undergo obedience not for the sake of some temporary acquisition, not for the sake of glory, honor and bodily peace, and not for any other human consideration, but only for the sake of their salvation. And therefore, in them there can be “one heart and soul” (Acts 4:32), and worldly pride, hatred of one’s neighbor, envy, enmity, rancor and other evils have no place to lay their heads among brothers who move away from the possession of special property. For because of property in the common life, every malice is born, every crime of the commandments of God, and the one who dares to have some, even the slightest, personal acquisition in the common life becomes, according to the Great Basil, a second Judas, turning out to be a traitor to the truth, like Judas - the Lord. Seeing from the God-inspired writings of the God-bearing fathers that such evil and spiritual harm occur in common life due to the possession of special property, I was very horrified in my soul, lest such a soul-destroying illness would someday take root in our common life and lead it to complete desolation. Therefore, I was most diligent in making sure that every brother who enters into common life and gives himself up to obedience is especially explained, on the basis of Holy Scripture, that in no way should he have any property of his own until his last breath. All the brothers, unanimously obeying this teaching, follow it with great care, so that it never occurs to any of them to acquire anything for themselves personally, and all are content with what is sent from God and necessary for the maintenance of life. 2. The second order, which we, by the grace of Christ, established for this common life and which, we think, elevates all monastic life, is as follows. All the brothers, who have gathered in this community with one mind and one accord for the name of Christ, must first of all and most of all, according to the word of the fathers, acquire obedience, as the path that steadily leads to the Kingdom of Heaven. Having spat upon and discarded all his own will, reasoning and arbitrariness, he must with all diligence try to do and fulfill the will, judgment and commandments of his father, if they agree with the meaning of the Holy Scriptures, and according to his strength, soul and body and all his good will, serve until death with the fear of God and humility of the brethren, as the Lord Himself, and not people. 3. The abbot, knowing for sure that he will be tortured for the souls of his brothers on the day of the terrible second coming of Christ, must diligently study the Holy Scriptures and the teachings of the spiritual fathers, and without their testimony he should not offer the teaching of the brethren, nor the commandments to teach or establish anything, but he must, according to the meaning of the Holy Scriptures and the teaching of the holy fathers, often teach and instruct the brethren, reveal the will of God and according to the reason of the commandments of Christ, to assign monastic obedience to the brothers, fearing and trembling to offer them anything from himself, and not according to the reason of Scripture, knowing for sure that the Holy Scripture and the teaching of the holy fathers, both for himself and for the brethren, are a mentor and a faithful guide to salvation. The rector, presenting to the entire cathedral an image of humility and an all-consensual and like-minded union of spiritual love, must begin and do every work not on his own, without advice, but by gathering together the brothers who are most skilled in spiritual reasoning and in consultation with them, studying the Scriptures, so that nothing will be contrary to God, the Divine commandments and the Scriptures - this is how one should begin and do many important things. If some necessary matter arises, which must be announced before the whole council, then it is appropriate, having gathered the whole council, with the knowledge of the whole council and general consideration, to begin and do such a thing. So between brothers there can be constant peace, like-mindedness and an indestructible union of spiritual love. 4. the conciliar rule of the Holy Eastern Church: Vespers, Compline, Midnight Office, Matins, the Hours and the Divine Liturgy, as well as all-night vigils with readings on all the Lord’s, Theotokos and great saints’ feasts, and on lesser feasts – polyeleos and doxology, also with readings, and all other church rites and adherence to the conciliar Rule, as we are accustomed to on the Holy Mountain Athos, must be done in this monastery of ours in everything, without any retreat, without omission, without any haste, in due time. The patrons and benefactors of the holy monastery must be strictly remembered at divine services] according to the order and Charter of the Holy Church, both living and deceased. The leader and all the brothers, each according to their rank, must always be in the cathedral church rule in robes, cassocks and hoods, and no one should ever deviate from this, except for a blessed reason, for example, because of an illness or due to necessary obedience. If one of the brothers does not follow the church rule, the abbot must ask him about this in the refectory in front of all the brethren, and if he does not provide a blessed reason, the abbot, with his usual spiritual verbal instruction, must give such a brother the appropriate penance - to bow throughout the meal or not eat that day. 5. The rector and all the brethren must gather every day in the refectory and all together eat for the glory of God the food and drink sent by God, common to all, not discrediting the monastic vow, strictly observing the general Charter of the Holy Church on permission and non-permission 2. At the meal, the brothers must sit according to their rank in robes, cassocks and hoods, eat their food with great and extreme silence and fear of God, listening to the reading, which must be in the refectory every day without fail, from the lives of the saints, from paternal and instructive books according to the Church Rule. And on all Sundays throughout the year, on the Lord's great holidays, on the days of celebrated saints, and if possible, even better, then every day there must certainly be a Panagia 3. The entire order of meals in our hostel must be performed according to the Svyatogorsk custom, and in no way will either the abbot or the brothers be allowed to eat in cells, except in case of illness or extreme old age, and let everyone eat one common food. If one of the brothers has a sick stomach and he cannot eat common food, he, according to the teaching of the holy fathers and according to the reasoning of the abbot, should be given food that is useful to him in such extreme need, however, he should also take it together with all the brothers in the refectory, and not in the cell. 6. According to the tradition of the holy fathers, brothers should remain in cells with the fear of God, preferring mental prayer to any feat - as the love of God and the source of virtues - artistically performed in the heart with the mind, as many God-bearing fathers teach about it: Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Simeon, Metropolitan of Thessalonica, Saint Callistos, Patriarch of Constantinople, Saint Hesychius of Jerusalem, Saint Simeon the New Theologian, Saint John Climacus, Saint Maximus the Confessor, Saint Gregory of Sinai, Peter of Damascus, Saint Nile of Sinai and Saint Diadochos, Bishop of Photikie - all of them, as well as other God-bearing holy fathers, teach this spiritual work, that is, mental prayer. And more time should be devoted to it, and after it, engage in the singing of psalms and moderate reading of the Old and New Testaments, instructive and patristic books. Everyone, according to his strength, must always have the memory of death, of his sins, of the Last Judgment of God, of eternal torment, of the Kingdom of Heaven and self-reproach, both in his cell and in every place, in every work, and in the handicraft or craft assigned to him by the abbot, but not to sit idle in the cell, for idleness teaches the monk all kinds of evil, and from untimely exits from cells and useless conversations must be run away and turned away, as if from a deadly poison. 7. The abbot, for the sake of testing in humility, true obedience and cutting off all his will and reasoning (which is the ladder that raises novices to the Kingdom of Heaven), must for a certain time send the brothers to the kitchen, bakery, cellar and refectory and, more simply, to all obediences within the monastery, without using monastic workers for such obediences. And the brothers, looking at the hero and finisher of faith Jesus (see Heb. 12:2), Who showed Himself the image of obedience and true humility when He washed the feet of the disciples, should not refuse what seems to them the very last obedience, believing that it will bring about the Kingdom of Heaven, if they, with humility and fear of God, serve the brothers not as people, but as God Himself. The abbot must assign monastery workers to tasks that are impossible for the brothers to do without distraction of mind, without leaving the monastery and without remaining silent. 8. The abbot himself must have equal love for all brothers, as for his spiritual children close to the Lord, and must also very carefully ensure that the brothers have equally true and unfeigned spiritual love for each other as a sign of Christ’s discipleship. Exceptional love and friendship that is special in the community, as the cause of suspicion and envy and the destroyer of true love, he must try in every possible way to eradicate from the community. He should, in a fatherly, long-suffering manner, endure all the weaknesses and failures of his weak children with the hope of their correction and true repentance, and correct the weak with the spirit of meekness, always instructing with words what is useful, and not remove them from the community because of their spiritual weakness, especially if it does not cause harm to others. People living spontaneously, following their own will and reasoning, rejecting the good yoke of obedience and bringing harm to society with such their evil example should not be tolerated in any way, but after sufficient spiritual verbal instruction and teaching (in private, with two or three brothers and before the council) those who are in the same or even worse dispensation and do not want to correct themselves should, although with many tears, regret and mental pain, be expelled and cut off from the common the bodies of the brotherhood, like members damaged by a destructive illness, so that others are not damaged by such a stifling illness. And he must accept those who have come to their senses and turned to true repentance with joy, like a loving father, and show them all mercy and compassion and forgive their sins, having spiritual joy with all the brothers about their conversion. 9. To manage the estates and monastic workers, the abbot must have a brother experienced in everything, capable of managing these affairs well without transgressing the commandments of God and without ruining his soul, so that the abbot himself, being free from everything, can with greater convenience engage in spiritual care for the spiritual salvation of the brothers and for all church and communal deanery. Also, in the spiritual care of the brothers, the abbot must have an assistant who is experienced in the mind of a spiritual brother, and during his absence for the sake of general monastic needs, he must leave him with the brothers in his place for the sake of deanery and spiritual guidance of the brothers. The abbot, wishing to go somewhere for a general monastic need and stay there for a while, must gather the entire council of brothers into the church and, having kissed the holy icons and taking a prayer for the journey from the priest, announce his intention to the whole cathedral and humbly pray to the entire fraternal council to pray for him to God, so that he can return to them healthily and safely, and thus all the brothers Having asked for forgiveness and given everyone your blessing, hit the road. Having returned from the journey with God's help, do not immediately go to the cell, but, having gathered all the brothers, first go to church and, in front of the whole cathedral, having given due thanks to God for the fact that he was preserved on the road through the prayers of the brothers, thank the brothers for their prayers, tell about the mercy of God shown to him for the common benefit of the brotherhood, for which he was absent, and then go to his cell. About the acceptance of brothers into monasticism, about the hospital, about the host, about crafts 10. When a brother is brought from the world into monasticism by God, the abbot must first of all privately examine his conscience and sufficiently reveal to such a brother, on the basis of Scripture, the essence of monastic common life and according to God’s obedience, to the point of death, cutting off and mortifying his will and reasoning, and if he sees in him a true, and not feigned, desire for monasticism and divine zeal, then before the whole council of brothers, again revealing to him the essence of common living monasticism and obedience, accept this brother into common life and obedience and not immediately tonsure him into monasticism, but after keeping him in training in worldly clothing for the time established by the rules: for some three years, and for others six months, depending on the fruit of obedience. After this, tonsure one into monasticism - one in a cassock, and another in a mantle - and join the brethren. If, having kept him in the trial for a set time, he does not see true obedience in everything and the cutting off of the will in him, even after three years of trial he should not be tonsured, but released into the world, so that there will be no embarrassment to the general life from such arbitrators. 11. If it happens that a brother coming from the world to monasticism brings some property to the monastery, the abbot must store such property in the common monastic storeroom and not waste it until this brother is tonsured into monasticism, but after tonsure he can spend it on the general needs of the monastery and brothers. If someone who is under trial before tonsure regrets his departure from the world and wants to return from the monastery to the world or go to another monastery, such a person must be released, giving him intact all the property he brought to the monastery, so that there will be no monastery for such a brother because of this embarrassment. 12. A hospital must certainly be established in the monastery for the sake of brothers suffering from various diseases, so that the sick person will have special care and have food, drink and all peace. In it, the abbot must appoint an experienced brother who could, with spiritual reasoning, serve the sick and, if one were found, would have at least some experience in the art of medicine. Serving the sick with reason, he must give each of them suitable food, useful for their illness, and drink and give them peace in everything, serving them with the fear of God as the Lord Himself, so that the one who serves has a reward from the Lord, who said: “I was sick, and you visited Me” (Matthew 25:36), and the sick, finding proper peace for themselves in everything, thanked God and received from Him a reward for that one endures illness with thanksgiving. 13. The abbot must ensure that there are various crafts in the monastery, and especially those without which it is impossible for human life to settle, and distribute them among the brethren, and teach those who cannot teach them, so that, thanks to the fact that the brothers themselves engage in such crafts for the common benefit, the entire community of brothers can satisfy their necessary needs without confusion and avoid inappropriate exit into the world for the sake of these needs and the mental harm that follows from this exit. 14. It is necessary that two hospices be established: one inside the monastery, for honest spiritual and lay persons coming to the monastery, and the other outside the monastery, so that those who come to the monastery find proper peace and service for themselves - inside the monastery, and for their livestock - outside the monastery. And in this service the abbot must appoint experienced brothers who are capable of serving the pilgrims with spiritual discernment, so that they themselves may receive rewards from God for their reasonable service to the pilgrims, and the entire community, seeing how the pilgrims receive the food and service due to them, will remain without confusion or any anxiety. The abbot must have God-spiritual love for his spiritual brethren, and for all those who come to the monastery, the poor, the sick, who have nowhere to lay their heads, according to the commandments of God, show the same love, receive with love some in the hospice, others in the hospital, according to his strength, take care of their bodily needs and, according to the capabilities of the monastery, having provided them with what they need for the journey, let them go in peace. All these and other communal rules of the holy fathers, both in the Holy Mount Athos, we preserved according to our strength, and here, as far as possible, by the grace of Christ in our life they are preserved, only we do not yet have ready-made hosts for receiving those who come to the monastery, as well as a sufficient number of cells for the repose of the brothers, and we are in great cramped conditions and therefore we cannot yet have the all-perfect order that should be observed in common life. But to the extent possible, since the Lord gives us a helping hand, by the grace of Christ we adhere to it, until the Lord fulfills this need of ours with His ineffable Providence (just as He arranges for us everything else necessary to support our life), so that every brother, after the labors of church rule and various obediences, for the sake of mental work and physical feat, as well as peace, has his own separate cell as quiet and calm refuge - why there can be a better spiritual order and prosperity in the brethren, and a better deanery can be established in every matter. We showed this order and the structure of our community, although not with all the details, so as not to disturb your prudence with our unreasonableness, to Your Eminence and the entire God-chosen council and, if there is the will of God and something serves for the benefit of the soul, we pray to your Eminences with the entire God-chosen council with your God-given authority and charter to approve this. If this is inconsistent with Scripture and contrary to the salvation of souls, then let it be what pleases God and is in accordance with Holy Scripture. 15. At the same time, we also pray to your Eminences and the entire spiritual council that the female sex be prohibited from entering the monastery by your God-given authority, except in cases of a common disaster for Christians, which happens during times of war and strife. We also pray that the monastery, even before the monastery, was created by our all-blessed ktitor in honor of three saints: Enoch, Elijah and John the Theologian, never in any way be excommunicated or separated from the monastery; and may the rector and the entire cathedral determine and settle in the skete out of obedience, abandoning their will, brothers who regularly observe the rites and rules of the community, and may they receive everything necessary to support life from the community; Any wandering monks and those who have their own special property will in no way be allowed to live there, so that this does not cause general embarrassment to the cathedral. The brothers, directed by the council to live there out of obedience, must always perform the church rule according to the rules, and the Divine Liturgy for the sake of commemorating the patrons and benefactors. 16. We also pray to our Most Reverend Great Master, Archbishop and Metropolitan, that, if God wills, when spring comes, with his God-given authority he commands the monastery workers to move to the monastery site 4 and that there, with the blessing of his Eminence, to the church, created with the help of God, for the sake of the people living on the site and the monastery workers, a lay priest will be appointed, who would listen to their Christian needs and serve the salvation of their souls, so that the monastery would not experience any concern about this and the entire council of brothers in the monastery and monastery would have a quiet and silent life. 17. And I, the last, with my entire cathedral, pray to our Most Reverend Great Master, the archbishop and metropolitan, the God-loving bishops and the entire consecrated cathedral, that in our community this order will be firmly and unshakably established and that after the death of one rector, another from the outside will not be sent to the position of rector. But, according to the unanimous, unanimous election of the entire council, on the advice of the dying rector and with the blessing of the Most Reverend Metropolitan, a brother must be chosen from the society of brothers and appointed 5, who in spiritual intelligence, in knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and communal rules, as well as in obedience and cutting off his own will and reasoning, in love, meekness, humility and in all virtues surpasses the rest of the brethren, can himself, in word and deed, set an example for the benefit of the brothers, is honored with the rank of the priesthood and, since our society consists of three peoples, knows three languages well: Greek, Slavic and Moldavian - or at least, for the sake of necessity, two: Moldavian and Slavic, so that the entire community of brothers in spiritual needs will always find ready spiritual healing from him. If such a leader is elected by the general decision of the entire council from the same cenobitic cathedral and installed with the blessing of the Metropolitan, then the entire cenobitic meeting in the Lord and the life of the brothers can, by the grace of Christ, remain indestructible and well-governed, like a ship skillfully steered by a skillful helmsman. If, from the outside, and not from the council of brothers, some leader is appointed who has not in fact acquired complete poverty, obedience, cutting off his own will and reasoning, has not suffered reproaches and dishonor in common life, does not know the essence of Scripture and communal regulations, and also has his own special property and has accepted leadership not with the intention of laying down his life for the brothers (see John 15:13), but with in order only to give peace to himself and to increase his property, then how can such a flock of the verbal sheep of Christ well and diligently feed in the pasture of the word of God and the Divine commandments and faithfully steer the ship of common life, when he himself has not yet been guided by anyone according to God? And the fraternal council, which has gathered voluntarily for the sake of its salvation for a common life in the Lord, how can it submit to such a mentor? And if it ever happened that a leader was placed over the brethren by force, without a conciliar election, then this would lead to nothing other than the complete and complete dispersion of the fraternity and the ruin of common life. Therefore, we again pray to your Eminence to approve by your God-given authority that the leader be elected from the council of brothers, and not sent from outside, for we do not know of any other more serious reason for the desolation of common life than this. Unless in the entire assembly of brothers there is not a single brother who could, in word, deed, and example, be a mentor for the brethren to salvation, and in another place there would be such a father who knew the essence of the Holy Scriptures and communal statutes, acquired complete non-acquisitiveness, mortification of his will and reasoning in obedience to his spiritual father in common life and could, according to the word of Scripture, well shepherd the flock of Christ (see 1 Pet. 5:2). But even such a father, in the event of such an extreme need, may he be made a leader over the brethren only with the voluntary will of the entire council, with the blessing of His Eminence the Metropolitan, and first of all, let him, according to his very Christian and monastic conscience, before the entire council, promise to God in no way until his death not to have or acquire any of his movable property in the common life, but together with the brethren, to have all the necessary things sent from God for the organization of the common life general. If such a leader is placed in this way over the communal brethren, then we believe that by the grace of Christ there will also be no desolation of common life. Therefore, we think that the ktitor of this sacred monastery of blessed memory, who established a common life in it, therefore commanded and confirmed with terrible oaths the prohibition to appoint an abbot to this monastery from another monastery, so that, as we think, the desolation of the common life would not occur. Therefore, we pray to your Eminences: confirm this humble prayer of ours and the blessed ktitor’s law with your God-given authority, so that this will be firmly and unshakably held in our common life, so that this common life itself, by the grace of Christ and your many powerful prayers, will constantly remain intact and indestructible. 18. And again we pray to your Eminences and the entire spiritual consecrated cathedral: confirm with your God-given authority that this monastery will never be subordinate to anyone (about which we also found a terrible oath of blessed memory by the ktitor of this holy monastery), since this will result in complete ruin of the common life. And if the monastery is not subordinate to anyone, then the common fraternal life in it can, by the grace of Christ, remain indestructible and unshakable. Having offered this rite of our common life and humble prayer for our needs in the shortest form to your Eminence and the entire consecrated cathedral, we rely on the divinely inspired spiritual reasoning of your Eminence and the entire consecrated cathedral, which the Holy Spirit, always invisibly present at the meeting of Orthodox bishops and other clergy, will breathe into you; and as you command us to observe the order in our community: either to observe this, which we have observed until now and are observing (although we have not written and declared everything to your love for God, but only about what we considered most necessary), or as you command and as is most pleasing to God and necessary for salvation - so let it be. Or if, in addition to the rite that we adhere to until now, something is established and added by your love for God, then we, as from God, accept and kiss it, obeying in everything, like sheep, our shepherds appointed by God, and we remain obedient novices to your Eminence and the entire consecrated spiritual council. The last of the hieromonks, Paisius, with all his brethren in Christ. Cyrus is a contraction of the Greek word κύριος (kyrios), which means “lord.” Respectful treatment. This refers to allowing and not allowing certain foods. This refers to a special rite performed in monasteries after the liturgy during a meal - the rite of Panagia. From the Greek Μετοχίου - monastery courtyard, a village belonging to a monastery. This means: appointed abbot. The Charter was drawn up by the Monk Paisius after his relocation with the brotherhood to the Dragomirna Monastery and submitted for consideration and approval to the Moldavian Metropolitan and his Synod. You might be interested in: