VI. Судьба Шамордина. – С.М. Астафьева. – Открытие женской общины, освящение храма и утверждение С.М. начальницей общины. – Первый приезд старца Амвросия в новую обитель. – Болезнь м. Софии. – Пожар. – Икона Б.М. «Казанская»

So the little owners of Shamordin were gone and, it seemed, complete desolation awaited him. But, on the contrary, now its true meaning began to be revealed and some of the Elder’s orders, which had previously seemed strange, now became clear. M. Ambrosia, with the blessing of Father, before her death, made a spiritual will, which stated that she would leave the Shamordino farm as lifelong possession to her granddaughters, and in the event of their death, she wanted to establish a women’s community there, and put a small capital towards the maintenance of the sisters and the priest. So, with the death of the girls, a women’s community arose by itself, the first nuns of which were all those who lived under Mother Ambrosia and her granddaughters, pious and devoted people, up to 30 in number, who are still distinguished from others by the name “Klyucharevskys”. From then on, the Elder began to bother about building a church there, and it was then that all the prophetic foreknowledge of the Elder was revealed: the plan of the manor’s house just met all the requirements for the construction of a church there. When the church was ready, the Elder made an official presentation about its consecration and the opening of a women's community. At this time, a certain Sofya Mikhailovna Astafieva lived in the city of Kozelsk, deeply devoted to the Elder. Richly gifted by nature, she had a beautiful appearance, intelligence, energy, willpower and nobility of character; she was above the level of people of the same position as her and had great success in society. She had two brothers and two sisters. The younger sister was married, and the elder Maria had a quiet, concentrated character, enthusiastically indulged in poetry, abstract philosophy and religious mood, which is why she was burdened by life and its demands and ended up going to Anosin’s monastery in the 29th year of her life, where she indulged in ascetic deeds. Subsequently, she moved to the Kazan community where she ended her life. Both brothers were also in the monastery. First leader - Schema nun Sofia (Bolotova) The miraculous “Kazan” icon of the Mother of God, to whose name the monastery is dedicated Sofya Mikhailovna married a poor but well-named landowner, Andrei Nikolaevich Yankov, who was still young but sickly, and she soon became a widow, having a daughter, Nadezhda, from him. Sofya Mikhailovna loved to visit various elders and many of them mysteriously prophesied a monastic life for her. This is how she ended up in Optina Pustyn; Seeing Elder Ambrose, she realized with her sensitive soul that he was an elder of great spiritual power and sincerely, whole-heartedly entrusted her life to him, revealing at the same time her cherished desire to devote herself to monastic life. The elder, in turn, seeing the firmness of her intentions, subjected her to a severe test. He said that he would send an elderly gentleman to her room so that she could take a good look at him, since she would have to marry him. No thunderclap could have stunned her as much as this order from the Elder. But her strong nature did not know how to waver, and, having once entrusted herself to the Elder, she submitted to him without hesitation. This gentleman turned out to be a Kozelsky landowner, Nikolai Ivanovich Astafiev; he was a very good man, but extremely sickly and with a very difficult character. Life with him, out of sheer obedience to the Elder, was for her a preparatory school for renouncing her will. Soon Father made Sofya Mikhailovna the trustee of the newly established community, and her husband did not like her frequent trips to Shamordino. “Again you’re going to your manefacts!” he will say when he sees that she is getting ready to go somewhere. But despite this, he still donated a bell there and bequeathed to be buried in the new community, and indeed he died soon. Sofya Mikhailovna looked after him with true Christian patience, and considered it her sacred duty to do anything she could to calm and ease his suffering. Having become free, she took the widest part in the organization of the community and, having a practical mind and understanding in buildings and housekeeping, was the Elder’s most active assistant. On September 4, 1884, Father himself dressed her in monastic attire and presented her to the bishop for approval of Sofia Mikhailovna Astafieva, the manager of the new community, which was done. On October 1 of the same year, a new Kazan women's community was opened and a church in it was consecrated in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. By this time, the Elder had transferred some nuns from the Belevsky Monastery - his spiritual daughters - to his new monastery, entrusting them with the highest positions, in order to introduce proper monastic order here. To perform church services there, a priest, Fr. John of the Trinity, a widower of advanced years, who previously lived outside the state in the Kaluga Cross Monastery. He loved the place of his new ministry with all his soul, sincerely became attached to the monastery and warmly took to heart all its joys and sorrows. He was the type of priest of the good old days; in appearance he was sometimes stern, his character was hot and quick-tempered, but he was distinguished by his straightforwardness and had a very kind and sympathetic heart. He helped not only his relatives, but even his sisters, and always did it secretly. He did not like monks and was very reluctant to allow them to serve in the community’s church, but he had deep respect for the Elder and always treated him with respect; On major holidays, he put on all his orders and medals and went to Optina to congratulate the Elder. He lived peacefully with his sisters, and if, due to his temper, he sometimes did not restrain himself and raised his voice more than it should have, then, having calmed down, he always recognized his guilt and was the first to seek reconciliation. Most often he encountered sextons and churchwomen; sometimes they don’t please him in any way, he’ll flare up and yell at them a lot. But his anger has cooled down and he feels awkward in front of his offended sister; having taken out the prosphora for her, he will call her over, and giving the prosphora will affectionately say: “Here you go, I’m guessing you were offended; Well, let’s make peace!” One day, when he came to church on Sunday to serve the all-night vigil, he was very out of sorts: he grumbled at everyone, everything was not to his liking. During the singing of the stichera, he came out of the altar to burn incense; the sister who was the canonarch, moving from the right choir to the left, met him on the solea, uttering the chant: “The righteous are waiting for me.” Father John could not stand it and said after her in a low voice: “Well, of course, it’s just that you were missing there.” The singers thought this was very funny and laughed quietly; Fr. himself laughed. John, and from that moment his mood changed. All his similar antics were distinguished by good nature and were alien to any bile. Before his death, he became seriously ill and was taken to the Optina hospital, where he died, commanding that he be buried in the community. The consecration was performed by the Kaluga Bishop Vladimir himself; At the end of the service, he said an edifying word to the sisters, who by that time numbered about 70, entrusting them and the entire monastery to the protection of the Queen of Heaven. From that day on, a working, but peaceful life flowed, under the gracious shadow of the Queen of Heaven, under the leadership of the holy Elder, like a mother caring for her new child, and under the wise management of Abbess Sophia, who herself was the Elder’s first novice. All orders, regulations, times of worship, in short, everything in the monastery was arranged and introduced according to the instructions of the Elder - its main organizer. Whether it was necessary to assign some kind of obedience to the sister, or to release her to her homeland, or to transfer her to another cell, for all this the abbess first asked for the blessing of the Elder. Observing the general order and, in particular, the life of each sister, Mother Sophia tried to instill in them the proper concepts of monastic life, and in special cases of mental state, she sent them to the Elder himself, to whom the life and inner state of each sister was well known. So one day one of the sisters, accepted by the Elder into the monastery, began to be burdened by the poverty and difficulty of life and decided to leave the monastery. Having finally made up her mind, she packed some things from the evening so that as soon as the gates opened for matins, she would secretly leave the monastery. At about 10 pm, the nun with whom she lived sent her to the attic to remove the linen hanging there. The novice grumbled: “Mother, where am I going to climb into the attic at night, it’s so dark.” - “And you,” the nun answered her, don’t you know; that in a monastery all obedience must be performed without reservations.” There was nothing to do, I had to climb into the attic. Stumbling in the darkness, she fell from there, badly broken. She was ill for a long time and when she recovered she came to Optina to see Father. She had just entered his cell when the Elder said to her: “Repent, what thoughts did you have when you went to the attic?” “Sorry, Father,” answered the culprit, “the next morning I decided to secretly leave the monastery.” The priest said to this: “Well, it’s good that I hurt myself, otherwise I would have left, and if I had left, I would have seen a lot of sorrows and illnesses.” The novice asked for forgiveness, promising to endure everything, only adding: “It’s very difficult, Father, it’s difficult here in Shamordino, and it’s hungry, and it’s cramped, and there’s nothing there - just fences,” and the Elder said to her: “Wait, the time will come, there will be an abundance of everything in Shamordino, and many would want to be there, but not everyone will be given it, but only those who have W written on their foreheads, but you have it written.” “I don’t have anything written,” the novice contradicted. “It’s not written,” Father repeated, and at the same time began to draw the letter Sh on her forehead with a pencil. “It hurts me, Father,” she said. - “It’s necessary so that she remembers better.” Father loved his Shamordino very much, took care of everything and every little thing, consoled his sisters and never missed an opportunity to edify them. Sometimes Father would send something for the meal as a “consolation.” So one day they were sent pears. The head caterer calculated how much each should get and ordered it to be laid out on plates. The refectories, while laying out the pears, were tempted and ate several of them, and of course there weren’t enough pears. The eldest complained about them to Mother Superior, who made the perpetrators bow down. Father arrived in Shamordino at that time and when they told him, he treated the naughty girls with maternal tenderness and said: “Yes, I’d better send them some more.” Soon after this, the head gardener came to the Elder with a complaint that the sisters had robbed her of all the gooseberries at night. “What kind of nuns are these, just think,” she fumed, “they picked all the gooseberries,” and the Elder tried to calm her down, assuring her that it was probably the village children who did this. The gardener did not let up and even named names, but Father still seemed to not believe her, so he carried her off. When she left, Father called these sisters to him and ordered them to show their hands. My hands were all scratched up. They asked for forgiveness, and Father spoke to them for a long time, strictly ordering them never to take a single berry without a blessing, saying that Adam and Eve lost paradise for just one apple. The funds in the monastery were quite meager, and the number of people increased and new buildings had to be built. In order to better know where and how to build what, in the summer of 1885 the Elder himself came to his monastery. The joy of the sisters was indescribable; it was a general rejoicing, a bright holiday. No one suspected that sorrows were in store for them. On the second day of Father’s stay in Shamordino, Mother Sophia suddenly felt unwell and had a slight stroke. Alarmed and preoccupied, the Elder hurried to the sick woman, and then on the same day he left back to Optina. The premature departure of the Elder and the sudden illness of Mother Superior plunged the sisters into sadness and despondency, and meanwhile a new test was being prepared. The next day, the sisters noticed some kind of light and were horrified to see that the hotel was on fire. Confused, they were afraid to frighten the sick Mother and did not dare to call; Meanwhile, the flames were increasing, the wind was blowing directly at the monastery, and water had to be taken from under a steep mountain. M. Sophia, hearing the confusion and noticing the alarmed faces of the sisters, began to ask questions, but, seeing the illuminated monastery through the window, she guessed what was the matter. She ordered the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God to be immediately taken out, and with the help of the sisters she went out to the church (adjacent to her premises) and began to pray, while strengthening the faint-hearted sisters. Only St. the icon was taken out, the flame turned towards the forest. The danger passed and soon the fire stopped, and the next day a thanksgiving prayer was served. This incident forced Mother to take care of installing a water supply system. The story of the revered icon of the Kazan Mother of God, to whose name the monastery and the church are dedicated, is as follows: when M. Ambrosia was still living in the Belevsky Monastery, a woman came to her, brought the icon of the Kazan Mother of God and asked to take it as a pawn, and to give her 10 rubles, since she was dying of hunger. M. Ambrosia gave her 10 rubles. and took the icon. A lot of time passed, no one came for the icon, so it remained with M. Ambrosia. One day another woman comes and asks to show her what icons they have in their cell, telling her that her hand hurts a lot and the other day she had a dream that she was praying in front of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God and heard a voice: “Take oil from the lamp of this icon, which is in the Belevsky Monastery, anoint your sore hand and you will receive healing.” The woman explained that she went to all the cells, but could not find such an icon. They took her to the cell of Mother Ambrose and she saw the icon of the Queen of Heaven, left by a woman for 10 rubles, and clasped her hands, shouting: “Here she is, Mother Queen of Heaven, the same one that I saw in a dream,” and fell to her knees in front of the icon. They gave her some oil from the lamp and she left. After some time, he comes again and brings with him a bottle of wooden oil for the lamp in front of the icon of the Queen of Heaven, in gratitude for the healing received. Since then, M. Ambrosia ordered the unquenchable lamp to be lit, for which she always bought oil for 10 rubles. in memory of what the Queen of Heaven pleased for 10 rubles. live in her cell. One day all the oil came out, and at that time there was not a penny of money. M. Ambrosia mourned and sat down to light the stove, as she usually did when she was upset about something. Throwing wood chips, she says to one of the cell girls: “There are old letters on the closet, bring them, I’ll use them to set fire to the wood.” The cell room handed over an armful, and M. Ambrosia began throwing one at a time into the oven. Suddenly she came across an unopened envelope. Having opened the package, M. Ambrosia cried out with joy and surprise: “Sisters, sisters, look, the Queen of Heaven has performed a miracle!” There were 10 rubles in the envelope. From then on, they began to especially honor this icon, and Elder Ambrose more than once told the sisters, pointing to it, that it was miraculous. When Mother Ambrose died and Father, fearing that her son (the father of her granddaughters) might take this icon from Shamordin along with other things, sent Fr. Anatoly, ordering him to take the icon to Rudnovo as soon as possible, from where it was then taken even further to the newly purchased farm of Preobrazhenskoye, where it remained until the danger had passed, and then solemnly returned to Shamordino. When Father came to inspect Shamordino for the first time, entering the hall he prayed for a long time in front of this icon and, turning to the sisters, repeated once again: “Keep this icon - it is miraculous!” Soon after the opening of the community, an icon of St. Nicholas was brought there from Przemysl. The Icon of the Kazan Mother of God was already in first place, and the manager Feodor Feodorovich Telegin had an exact list of it in his apartment. After serving a prayer service, the Przemysl clergy went to Feodor Feodorovich for a snack. The deacon really liked the list and out loud gave it his preference. In the evening there was an all-night vigil; they sang the magnification, the deacon had to speak in litany, but he was silent. A few minutes later he set off, but was pale and trembling. Afterwards he reported that after singing the magnification, he looked at the icon and almost fell: such bright rays emanated from it that he could not see anything except them. When they told this to Father, he said: “No one with anything on their conscience can bear the gaze of the Queen of Heaven from this icon.”