From the notes of Mikhail Vasilyevich Chikhachov

The autobiographical notes of Mikhail Vasilyevich Chikhachov record the following amazing appearance of Bishop Ignatius to Alexandra Vasilievna Zhandre on the 20th day after his death, May 19, 1867. This phenomenon has a deeply edifying meaning in essence and is important for characterizing the views of contemporaries on the personality of the deceased Saint. “Severe grief suppressed my entire being from the moment the news of the Lord’s death reached me. This grief was not inferior to prayer: prayer itself was dissolved in grief, unbearable, bitter. Neither day nor night the feeling of spiritual orphanhood did not leave my heart. Both soul and body were exhausted to the point of illness. Thus time passed until the 20th day after the death of the Lord. On this day I was preparing to partake of the Holy Mysteries in one of the women's monasteries in Moscow. The feeling of sadness was so strong that even during the Sacrament of Confession it did not leave me, and did not leave me during the entire liturgy. But at that moment, when the Lord vouchsafed me to receive the Holy Mysteries, suddenly a wonderful silence descended into my soul, and a living prayer in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ was felt in my heart. Just as suddenly, and for me, incomprehensibly, the sadness about the death of the Lord disappeared. Several minutes passed, during which I moved a few steps away from the Royal Doors and, without leaving the solea, stood, at the direction of the mother abbess, on the left choir directly opposite the icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God. There was a prayer in my heart, the thought froze in silence, and suddenly before my inner eyes, as if in the very heart, but right opposite me at the icon of the Assumption, near the bed on which the Queen of Heaven reclines, the face of the deceased Saint of beauty, glory, and indescribable light was depicted! The light illuminated the entire face from above, especially concentrating at the top of the head. And inside me, again in my heart, but also from the face, I heard a voice; a thought, a story, a ray of light was born; I felt the joy that permeated my entire being, and even without words, it somehow wonderfully conveyed to my inner man the following words of the Saint: “You see how good you feel today. But for me, without comparison, it’s always good, and therefore you shouldn’t grieve for me.” I saw and heard this clearly and distinctly, as if I had been honored to see the Lord and hear from him what was necessary orally. An unspeakable joy took hold of my entire soul and was reflected in a living imprint on my face so that those around me noticed. At the end of the liturgy, they began to serve a memorial service. And what a funeral service it was! In the ordinary sad funeral hymns I heard a wondrous song of spiritual triumph, unspeakable joy, endless bliss and life. It was a song of churching of the warrior of Christ who had again passed from the earthly, militant Church to the Heavenly Church of the righteous triumphant in the eternal glory. It seemed to me that it was Christ’s day, everything around me rejoiced on such a holiday, and a quiet prayer was happening in my heart. That evening (May 19) I went to bed: there was no sleep. Around midnight, in the complete silence of the night, from somewhere far away the sounds of a wondrous harmony of a thousand voices reached my ears. The sounds became closer and closer: the notes of church singing began to separate clearly, finally the words began to sound clearly... And this singing was so full of harmony that all attention, all life was involuntarily riveted to it... The thick bass hummed rhythmically, like the ringing of all Moscow bells on Easter night. And this roar smoothly merged with soft, velvety tenors, with silver scattered altos, and the whole choir seemed to be one voice - there was so much harmony in it! And the words stood out more and more clearly. I clearly heard: “The Divinely inspired adornment of the bishops, glory and praise to the monastics.” And at the same time, for me, an inexplicable announcement, without words, but completely clear and understandable, told my inner being that with this singing they were greeting Bishop Ignatius in the world of heavenly spirits. An involuntary fear seized me, and it also came to mind that the Lord taught not to listen to such visions and hearings, so as not to be subjected to delusion. I tried hard not to hear or listen, concentrating all my attention on the words of the Jesus Prayer, but the singing continued besides me, so the thought came to me whether they were actually singing somewhere in the surrounding area. I got out of bed, went to the window, opened it: everything was quiet, dawn was breaking in the east. When I woke up in the morning, to my surprise, I remembered not only the chant I heard at night, but also the words themselves. The whole day, despite the many everyday activities that happened, I was under the extraordinary impression of what I heard. Words were recalled fragmentarily and inconsistently, although their general connection eluded memory. In the evening I was at the all-night vigil: it was Saturday - the eve of the resurrection of the sixth week of Easter: they sang the Easter canon. But neither these chants nor the harmonious choir of the Chudov singers reminded me of what I had heard the day before: no comparison could be made between the one and the other. Returning home, exhausted, tired, I went to bed. But again there was no sleep, and only as soon as the city noise began to subside, around midnight, familiar sounds again touched my ears, only this time they were closer, clearer, and the words were engraved in my memory with amazing consistency. An invisible choir sang slowly and sonorously: “A champion of Orthodoxy, a great worker and teacher of repentance and prayer, Divinely inspired adornment of the bishops, glory and praise to the monastics: with your writings you have made us all chaste. Spiritual tsevnitsa, new Chrysostom: pray to the Word of Christ God, Whom you bore in your heart, to grant us repentance before the end!” This time, despite the fact that I was intensely saying the Jesus Prayer, the singing did not dissipate my attention, and somehow, in an inexplicable way, my heartfelt prayer merged into the general harmony of the chant I heard, and my heart vividly felt and knew that it was a solemn song with which the inhabitants of heaven joyfully greeted the earthly and heavenly man, Bishop Ignatius, who had passed from earth to heaven. On the third night, from May 21 to 22, the same thing happened again, with the same sensations. This threefold repetition confirmed faith and did not leave any embarrassment, imprinting in the memory both the words of the “troparion” and the melody to which it was sung, as if a long-familiar prayer. The melody was similar to the chanting of the kontakions in the akathists. Afterwards they told me that this was the eighth voice, when I showed in my voice what kind of melody I heard.” People who knew her speak of Alexandra Vasilievna with deep respect, as a highly educated, deeply religious and impeccably truthful person. In view of this, and the heavenly glorification of St. Ignatius, certified by her testimony, in addition to its general edifying meaning, evokes reflection on the difficult life of Bishop Ignatius, his continuously intense feat of improvement, on his infinitely pure and clear childish faith in the land of promise, in the eternal joy of Communion with God. And having become acquainted with the behavior of A. V. Gendre, the reader involuntarily inclines in his soul to a sympathetic movement: according to your faith, may it be done to you, and may your hope not put you to shame, and Saint Ignatius is truly thought of as the heavenly forerunner of his disciples and admirers, begging the Lord God to grant them repentance before the end. No less important in its internal meaning is the wonderful dream about Bishop Ignatius conveyed by Sofia Snessoreva to M.V. Chikhachov, which coincides in time with the immediate days after the death of the Saint. The story about the dream of S. I. Snessoreva 2 is presented in the following form. “On the last meeting with the Reverend Ignatius, September 13, 1866, he said goodbye to me: “Sofia Ivanovna! I tell you, as a friend, as I say to myself: get ready for death - it is close. Do not worry about worldly things: one thing is needed - the salvation of the soul! Force yourself to think about death, worry about eternity! On April 30, 1867 (on the week of the Myrrh-Bearers), the Right Reverend Ignatius died in the Nikolaev Babaevsky Monastery. I went to his funeral, which took place on May 5th. The sad joy that I experienced at his tomb is inexpressible in words. – On Saturday, August 12, 1867, I slept poorly at night, and fell asleep in the morning. I see Vladyka Ignatius has come in a monastic robe, full of blooming youth, and looks at me with sadness and regret: “Think about death,” he says. – Don’t worry about earthly things! All this is just a dream, earthly life is just a dream! Everything that I have written in my books is all true! The time is near, cleanse yourself with repentance, prepare for the outcome. No matter how long you live here, it’s all just one moment, just a dream.” In response to my concern about my son, the Bishop said: “This is none of your business; his fate is in the hands of God! You are concerned about the transition to eternity.” Seeing my indifference to death and filled with compassion for my weaknesses, he began to beg me to turn to repentance and feel the fear of death: “You are blind, you see nothing, and therefore are not afraid, but I will open your eyes and show you the torment of death.” I began to die. Oh, what a horror! My body became alien and insignificant to me, as if it were not mine, all my life “transferred” to my forehead and eyes; my vision and mind saw what really is, and not what seems to us in this life. This life is a dream, just a dream! All the benefits and deprivations of this life do not exist when the moment of awakening comes with death. There are no things, no friends - one vast space, and all this space is filled with terrible creatures, incomprehensible to our earthly blindness; the unclean swarm around us in different forms, surround us and hold us. They also have a body, but it’s thin, like some kind of mucus, terrible! They climbed on me, clung to me, pulled me by the eyes, pulled my thoughts in different directions, did not allow me to catch my breath, so as not to allow me to call on God for help. I wanted to pray, I wanted to sign myself with the sign of the cross, I wanted to get rid of this torment with tears to God, by pronouncing the name of Jesus Christ, to distance these terrible creatures from myself, but I had neither words nor strength. And these terrible ones shouted at me that now it was too late, there was no prayer after death! My whole body grew stiff, my head was motionless, only my eyes saw everything and my spirit felt everything in my brain. With the help of some supernatural force, I raised my hand a little, it didn’t reach my forehead, but in the air I made the sign of the cross, then the terrible ones crouched. I tried not with my lips and tongue, which did not belong to me, but with my spirit to praise the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; then the terrible ones burned like a hot iron and shouted at me: “Don’t you dare pronounce this Name, now it’s too late”! The torment is indescribable! Just take a minute to catch your breath! But my vision, mind and breathing endured inexpressible torment because these terrible monsters clung to me and dragged them in different directions, so as not to give me the opportunity to pronounce the name of the Savior. Oh, what suffering is this! – Again the voice of Bishop Ignatius: “Pray unceasingly, everything that is written in my books is true. Give up earthly cares, only take care of your soul.” And with these words, he began to walk away from me through the air in a somehow steep manner, higher and higher above the ground. His appearance changed and turned into light. He was joined by a whole host of the same bright creatures, and everything seemed to be on the steps of an inexplicable, inexpressible staircase. As he ascended, the Lord became unearthly, like everyone who joined him in different forms, taking on an inexpressibly beautiful, sun-like light. Looking at them and rising in spirit behind this endless strip of light, I no longer paid attention to the monsters that were raging around me at that time in order to attract my attention with new torments. The bright hosts also had bodies, but they looked like wondrous, radiant rays, before which our sun is nothing. These hosts were of different types and light, and the higher the level, the brighter it was. The Reverend Ignatius rose higher and higher. But now he is surrounded by a host of radiant saints, he himself lost his earthly appearance and became just as radiant. My vision did not reach higher than this level. From this height, Bishop Ignatius still looked at me, full of compassion. Suddenly, without remembering myself, I broke free from the power of the monsters holding me and shouted: “Rest, Lord, the soul of Your departed servant, the Most Reverend Ignatius, and through his holy prayers save and have mercy on me, a sinner!” Instantly all the horrors disappeared, there was silence and peace. I woke up in a severe shock. I was never afraid of anything and always willingly stayed alone in the house, but after this dream for several days I felt such horror that I was unable to survive solitude. For many days I felt an extraordinary feeling in the middle of my forehead: not pain, but some special tension, as if my whole life had gathered in one place. During this dream, I learned that when my mind concentrates on the thought of God, on the name of Jesus Christ, the terrible creatures instantly disappear; but as soon as the thought was entertained, at that very moment demons surrounded me to prevent my thought from turning to God and the Jesus Prayer” 3. Sokolov L. Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov. Part 1. Kiev, 1915. pp. 332–337. Sofya Ivanovna Snessoreva (1823–1904), spiritual writer, proofread the books of St. Ignatius. Ed. Notes of M. V. Chikhachov. pp. 154–161. Manuscript [Note. L. Sokolova ] ||