Глава XV. Отношения старца Макария к мирским посетителям

With the same holy love and with the same sincere benevolence as the monastics, the elder Father Fr. Macarius and to worldly visitors who sought spiritual benefits from him. Among such visitors there were many in intelligence, education and position in the world of very important persons. Thus, the pious Count Alexander Petrovich Tolstoy, the former chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, and Konstantin Karlovich Zederholm, who served under him as an official of special assignments (later hieromonk of the Optina skete, Father Clement), often visited Elder Macarius; Senator Pyotr Ivanovich Solomon with his family; the famous writer-philosopher Ivan Vasilyevich Kireevsky, who sent another famous writer, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, to Elder Macarius. On his first visit to Optina Pustyn, in the summer, Gogol, according to the story of an Optina old-timer, the former rector of the Optina monastery, Archimandrite Dosifei 108, lived at the monastery hotel for three weeks. During all this time, he visited the elder every day and talked with him for a long time. For his part, the elder, visiting hotels almost every day in the afternoon, went into the room in which Gogol was located. It is also reliably known that Father Fr. Macarius, from a Christian point of view, did not approve of his secular literary activity and advised him to leave writing of this kind and begin a new life in Christ, according to the commandments of the Gospel. And Gogol agreed in everything, taking to heart the instructions of Elder Macarius. During the stay of this venerable guest in Optina Pustyn, he was invited, among other things, of course, with the blessing of Elder Macarius, to read the book of St. John Climacus. Having read it, Gogol spoke about it like this: “What deep psychology!” It was heard that upon his return from Optina to Moscow, his spiritual mood completely changed. He not only stopped writing in a ridiculous tone, but also regretted what he had previously written, and even expressed a desire, if possible, to destroy all his secular literary works. But for such a turn of Gogol’s in his outlook on life, intelligent peace-lovers declared him to have lost his mind. And since Ivan Vasilyevich Kireyevsky attracted him to Elder Macarius, the same smart people treated Kireyevsky unfavorably. After that, Gogol came to Optina two more times to visit Father Fr. Macarius and during his stay at the monastery hotel he diligently attended church services in the monastery. In 1851, on September 8, the spiritual writer Andrei Nikolaevich Muravyov, known for his piety, visited Optina Pustyn and stayed in the monastery for about two days, visiting the monastery. In addition to these named persons, a lot of people of all classes visited Optina and Elder Macarius: nobles, merchants, townspeople and peasants of both sexes, and at all times; but the crowd of people in the monastery was especially large during fasting, and mainly during the Dormition Fast, when the confessors barely had time to confess those who came to confession, and several hundred people received communion in the monastery every day. The elder himself, as mentioned above, did not confess, but only received those who came to him to reveal their thoughts and receive the necessary advice from him. And he received men in his cell at all times from early morning until late evening; and went out to the women outside the gate; in the last years of his life, he received them in the outer cell, which was attached for this purpose to his building, with an exit to the outside. This cell was always called, as it is now called, a hut. The elder had no partiality towards visitors. Relatives from the laity and monastics also visited him; but he treated them the same as other visitors. The loving old man received everyone, as stated above, with great love and kindred sympathy; he truly listened to everyone with amazing patience and meekness, trying, if possible, to satisfy all their needs. And this - every day, and not just for one year, but for more than 20 years, the dea taught, showing everyone the right path to salvation; so that in this way, invisible to his humble soul, the promise of God would be fulfilled over him: Whoever does and teaches, he will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:19). But if the elder treated his visitors so sympathetically, then the visitors truly revered him, and especially the common people. A touching picture presented itself to the eyes of the observer when he, a humble and gracious old man, walked along the path from the monastery to the hotel. “Father, dear! - this is how a sick peasant woman cried, for example, - I’ve been sick for so many years, I can’t put my hands to anything; but our business is rural, there is a lot of work; help me for Christ’s sake!” And holding on to the old man’s feet, she shed them with tears, without leaving him, like the Canaanite wife. What did the humble old man answer her, to whom at that moment hundreds of glances of the visitors accompanying him turned? “What are you doing, mother? - he said, - the Lord is with you! Get up, for God's sake, get up. I am a sinful person, I don’t know anything, I can’t do anything. There are doctors for this, but what about me?” “You are mine, my father! - the sick woman continued to scream, without retreating from the elder, - I will not leave you. Pray for me, a sinner. God will hear you. Order the butter and holy water to be brought out. You helped so-and-so. Do not reject me, a sinner.” The elder takes her aside, gives her spiritual instruction, and blesses her; and then, if he has not yet gone far from his cell, he orders the cell attendant to give her holy water or oil from the lamp that glowed unquenchably in front of his cell’s Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. And this oil always acted beneficially through the mercy of Him who placed it in the heart of the sick woman to turn with such living faith to His humble servant. Or so the aforementioned skete hieromonk Fr. Leonid Kavelin: “I once returned from the monastery to the monastery. On the road, an old village woman, who had walked three hundred miles with her sick daughter, asks me: “Father, spiritual father! How can I see Father Macarius? For God's sake, tell him, dear. I’ve been waiting for him since early mass.” The elder, as was known, walked around the hotels from two in the afternoon. “What do you need it for, mother?” – I asked her. “My daughter is sick, my father,” she answered. - This is the third year since I gave her away in marriage. God blessed: the husband was caught well, he loves, he takes care of him - there is no point in angering God - but he withers and withers for no reason. And they tried it for doctors, showed it to them, and went on pilgrimages - God forbids there to be a way... Couldn’t the breadwinner, Father Makar, help with anything? Our summers were with him. Well? Those who went with grief returned with joy; the patients recovered. Go, they tell me, Stepanida. He is such a compassionate person - he accepts everyone, he is happy to help everyone. So I trudged, my breadwinner, with my daughter. Tell him, dear, about us, do such a favor.” “Yes, you should,” I say, “wait at the hotel.” “Oh, my father,” the old woman answered with sorrow, “there are a lot of people there, they’ve been waiting since morning. I'm afraid you won't get through. Others wait three days.” And indeed, some lived at the hotel not only for three days, but for whole weeks, waiting for the opportunity to talk with the elder for several hours. It is undoubtedly known that everyone who faithfully accepted and followed the advice of the elder, who had the grace-filled gift of spiritual reasoning, received through him not only spiritual benefit, but also physical health and prosperity in their everyday affairs. There were a great many examples of this at one time, some of which have already been given above, and some will be discussed further. There were, however, also visitors who stumbled over the stone of unbelief and left the elder without taking advantage of his advice. Others came to him, having previously formed a kind of high concept about him. The wisdom of the earth imagined, for example, that the elder was a man with extensive scientific knowledge and that as soon as one introduced himself to him, one could hear a stream of speeches from his lips. It goes without saying that having formed such an idea about him, they remained completely unsatisfied when they saw before them a simple, humble old man, who not only did not bombard those who came to him with words, but sometimes even with those who were truly in need and mourning, suffering from a preoccupation of the spirit, was barely able to carry on a short conversation. There were also those who came to the elder out of sheer curiosity and during a conversation with him were more like those who had come to teach him rather than those who wanted to hear something useful from him. The elder, who devoted himself entirely to serving his neighbors and not wanting to offend anyone, received them, although at times he complained to his close disciples that such visitors only took away his precious time, which did not belong to him. “Father! - they once remarked to him after the departure of such a gentleman, “it seems he taught you more?” “Well,” answered the humble old man, “thanks to him.” He understood me better than you. What good can be learned from me, a sinner? And he knows a lot – he knows everything.” It happened that one of these curious people, not understanding why believers were visiting the elder, began to dispute what he said in response to his co-questioner. Then, except for rare and special cases (that is, if the conversation was not about objects of faith), the elder immediately stopped or, more accurately, shortened the conversation, saying: “As you know; you, of course, know this better than me, I am an unlearned person.” And then he either fell silent altogether, or continued the conversation about some extraneous subjects, which he jokingly called, both in oral conversation and in writing, “tryn-bryn.” In general, the humble elder, not liking contradictions and so-called cleverness in those who treated him spiritually, equally did not like to enter into disputes with anyone or about anything, and especially with educated and learned people, but contrary to the teachings of the Holy Church, based on the apostolic word: We are not imams of this custom (1 Cor. 11:16) and on the fatherly word: “In there is no humility in dispute.” However, many of these, as they themselves later admitted, not having time or not being able to use the spiritual wisdom of the elder, took advantage of his vision alone, for, as was already noted above, he attracted everyone to himself with love, like an iron magnet, he was all filled with goodness, all overflowing with mercy. But it was necessary to hear with what animation, warmth and compassion he conducted a conversation with those who sincerely asked him about mental illnesses or their sorrows. Seeing the sincerity and real need of those who turned to him for help, the elder forgot everything - his weak bodily strength, the necessary rest, letters that required an answer, and even food. And although he often came out of such a conversation extremely exhausted, barely able to catch his breath, he was cheerful in spirit, saying to his disciples’ remark that he was not sparing himself at all: “What should I do? Sorry for the poor thing. If you only knew how many sorrows he has! But the soul is softened by them, and there is a sincere desire to get to the true one.” Those who came to Elder Macarius after their short stay in the monastery, in order to receive a blessing from him on their way back, he was in the habit of supplying, especially the poor, with signs of his fatherly attention - crosses, icons, belts, several portions of monastery bread for the journey, etc. It happened more than once that the monks close to the elder, with his blessing, carried these things outside the gates of the monastery and returned with full I cried with my eyes, seeing the faith with which these visible signs of fatherly love and attention of the gracious old man were accepted. For those around Father Fr. Macarius was very noticeable that the Providence of God, directing to him those who truly needed his spiritual help, also pointed out to them the nearest means of receiving real help from the wise old man. Others, on the contrary, even visiting him several times, did not know how to receive spiritual benefit from him; whereas the means to this were the simplest. It was necessary first to discard thoughts that were more than inappropriate for spiritual needs - “I’m afraid to disturb the old man, I don’t know how to approach him, etc.”; and then directly announce to the elder that, they say, I want to talk to you about my spiritual needs; but, seeing that you have so little free time, I ask you to set an hour when you can receive and listen to me. It is impossible not to notice that difficulties in having a useful conversation with the elder were incomparably less common with people of the middle class and common people, and more often with people of the so-called high society, or, in today’s terms, intelligent people. The first, led by simple faith, always came to the elder with their needs, even in the presence of a large crowd of people, waiting with amazing patience for hours on end either on the porch of his cell, or on the path leading from the monastery to the hotel, or in the hotel itself. Seeing the elder, they bowed to the humble servant of God to the face of the earth and, seeing his fatherly love and compassion, directly, without reservations, revealed their heart wounds or sorrows to him, asking for advice and admonition, and, according to the grace of God given to the elder, they left him healed and comforted, glorifying God and His good and faithful servant. The elder, no doubt, did not like wanderers, nor did they like wanderers who presented themselves as holy fools or blessed ones, who with vague hints predicted their future for some and thereby only led them into confusion, without delivering significant spiritual benefit. Only one blessed contemporary of the elder, a certain Vasily Petrovich Braguzin 109, enjoyed his love and even respect; since he was truly a servant of God. From time to time he visited Optina Pustyn and was in spiritual communion with all the Optina spiritual elders. The schismatics came to Elder Macarius, and were often sent by the highest spiritual authorities to admonish them. The elder received them all with usual humility, but did not enter into debate with them; and for this purpose he sent them to his cell attendant, Fr. Hilarion, who, having lived in peace in the city of Balashov, Saratov province, among schismatics, was well acquainted with the schism and often entered into debates with them. The elder only pointed out Fr. Hilarion places from the works of St. fathers, serving to refute schismatic errors. As a result of this, these schismatics, having learned the truth of the right faith, turned to Orthodoxy. About reasonable measures to combat schismatics, Elder Macarius wrote the following to one person: “Wanting to trust the judgment of some people and your own, you ask my opinion on how best to deal with our schismatics: with strict measures or lenient ones? It seems to me that strict measures will not bring any benefit, but will harden them more, and equally, very weak and lenient measures cannot convert them into the bowels of the Orthodox Church; but one must stick to the middle and use necessary, prudent and strong measures to persuade. In case of resistance and violence, do not extend severity to everyone, but to their main teachers and mentors. The question is: who will convince them? Parish priests are uncomfortable in their positions, and not everyone may have the gift and ability to persuade. It would seem that it is necessary to elect special people for this task, like a mission, with an official assigned to them, so that schismatics cannot complain about oppression and coercion. On the part of the government, the danger is that sometimes ill-intentioned officials, under the guise of religious tolerance, can provide patronage and protection. This can cause great harm. His Grace Jacob of Saratov acted on the schismatics with condescension and love, but also with strong conviction, so successfully that with God’s help many thousands of them turned from the schism to the Church.” Elder Macarius’s idea that special missionary priests were needed to convince schismatics of the truth of Orthodoxy was realized in practice several years after his death. Now in the Kaluga diocese there are special priests who are well acquainted with the schism, who travel to the villages where schismatics live to convince them. Elder Macarius was sometimes visited by followers of Western Christian religions. He treated all of them condescendingly, with the desire to convert them to Orthodoxy. Let us note, by the way, that he pointed to the decline of faith and indifference to the statutes of St. as the main moral ailment of the society contemporary to the elder. Orthodox Church. There was only one, and perhaps the only, case when the elder treated an Armenian who visited him with great severity. He came to the elder, like all visitors, to ask him for advice. He was a rich and well-educated man. The elder, as usual, received him kindly, sat down next to him on the sofa and began to talk cheerfully and affably at first about ordinary matters. But when, during a conversation of greater importance, the guest asked: “Can I...?” - the elder, turning a look of bewilderment at him, asked: “Who are you?” He replied: “I am Armenian.” As if struck by lightning, the old man jumped three or four steps away from the visitor. Then, instantly stopping and sternly fixing his eyes on the stranger, he, as if frightened, spoke hastily and with anger: “Why did you come to me? What do you need from me? Out, out! I am Orthodox and have no contact with Armenians.” And the uninvited guest was immediately escorted out. It is not known what the reason was for such unfriendly treatment of Elder Macarius towards the Armenian. Perhaps the reason he acted this way with the stranger was that all the heterodox Christians who came to him announced in advance who they were; but this one, perhaps even with some evil thought, did not do this, which led the elder astray, arousing in his heart a feeling of grief and righteous indignation. In general, as noted above, the elder treated non-Orthodox Christians lovingly. Despite all this, he forbade commemorating the dead of them in Orthodox churches. So, for example, he wrote to one person: “German Lutherans and Catholics who died in their faith cannot be remembered at the proskomedia. They had no living communion with our Church: then how can we dare to join them to the Church after death? The rules prohibit commemorating heretics" 110. He died on March 31, 1900. This blessed one is mentioned in the biography of the Optina elder Leonid, in the schema of Leo. Letters from Elder Macarius to the nuns. Part 4 Letter 189.