Biography of Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov), compiled by his closest students in 1881

Remember your mentors, who spoke the word of God to you: looking at the end of their lives, imitate their faith. (Heb. 13:7). Chapter I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII 12 years have passed since the peaceful death of the ever-memorable Saint-monk of the Russian Church of the 19th century, His Eminence Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov. His time is still close to us, many of his contemporaries, followers, disciples are still alive, and meanwhile the bright personality of the holy saint of God who reposed in a holy manner already stands high above us, shining brightly upon us with the light of his Christian virtues, the exploits of his strictly monastic life and his ascetic writings. The beauty of monasticism of our century, the Saint is an active teacher of monks and not only in his writings, but throughout his entire life, he presents a wondrous picture of self-sacrifice, close to confession, a person’s struggle with passions, sorrows, illnesses, a picture of life, which, with the help and action of God’s abundant grace, was crowned with victory, attracting to the ascetic many rare gifts of the Holy Spirit. Following with reverence this long-suffering and many-sorrowful march of the ascetic towards spiritual success and clearly contemplating the special guidance of God's Providence in his entire life, you involuntarily feel a living knowledge of faith in the paternal care of God, our Creator and Savior for us, and you are imbued with the desire to imitate, to the best of your ability, this contemporary example of Christian perfection. Providing the future biographer with a detailed and thorough assessment of the fruitful activity of the unforgettable Saint, we, at the present moment, decided to offer only a brief biography of the late Bishop Ignatius, compiled according to the notes of his closest students and his brother Peter Alexandrovich Brianchaninov, deeply devoted to him in spiritual matters, who shared with him the solitude of the last years of his life in retirement in Nikolo-Babaevsky Monastery and enjoyed the complete trust and love of both the blessed Saint and his companion, his friend from his early years of youth to deep old age, the Sergius Hermitage, Schemamonk Mikhail Chikhachov, with whom he began his monastic feat and with him went through it all the way to the episcopacy, a friend, before whom the Saint did not hide any of the events of his life, and, finally, most importantly: they were guided by their own narratives archpastor-monk about his weaknesses, struggles, sorrows, feelings and grace-filled sensations, which he set out in his works. All works in general, and especially spiritual and moral ones, have the property that they quite accurately express the inner life of their authors. Thus, the essays provide abundant material for the biographer to outline the characteristics of a person, this essential part of the biography; but in order to accurately depict the life of the Most Reverend Ignatius, one must oneself study and experience something that he studied and experienced. The study here is so little accessible, the experiments are so exceptional that they depend least of all on a person’s own efforts and will. Whoever, by the Providence of God, is placed on a similar road and is partly introduced into the crucible of such trials, only he can know all the peculiarities of such experiments and from this side more correctly evaluate the activity of their representative. The biographies of especially remarkable or advanced people are distinguished by the fact that they predominantly show one side from which the activities of these persons are especially manifested, which distinguishes them with sharp, characteristic features and concentrates all attention on itself: it is, as it were, the front side of all their activities, hiding behind itself all the others. In the biographies of such individuals, it is necessary to grasp this feature and carry it out completely from the beginning to the end of the life story; then it will have characteristic endurance. In this regard, the life of the Most Reverend Ignatius has a special advantage: it represents such a distinctive side that completely sets his personality apart from other spiritual figures contemporary to him. This side of his life consists of complete self-sacrifice for the sake of the exact fulfillment of the Gospel commandments in a secret monastic spiritual feat, which served as the subject of a new, ascetic-theological teaching in our spiritual literature - the teaching about the internal perfection of man in the monastic life and his relationship to other spiritual beings, influencing him both from the inner man and from the external, or physical. This is the feature that distinguishes His Eminence Ignatius from other spiritual writers of our time - a sharp feature, but not clearly seen or correctly distinguished by everyone. His Grace Ignatius was chosen to serve God from his mother’s womb. Such an election - the lot of very rare and deliberate servants of God - was foreshadowed by the following circumstance. The Right Reverend's parents were married in early youth. At the beginning of their marriage, they had two children, but their parents did not console themselves for long; both children died in the first days of infancy, and the young couple remained childless for a long time. In deep sadness about their prolonged childlessness, the young couple turned to the only help - Heavenly help. They undertook a journey to the surrounding holy places in order to obtain a solution to their infertility through fervent prayers and charity. The pious enterprise was crowned with success: the fruit of the prayers of the grieving spouses was a son, named Demetrius, in honor of one of the first miracle workers of Vologda - St. Demetrius of Prilutsky. Thus, obviously, the infertility of the young Brianchaninovs was a dispensation of God’s Providence, so that the firstborn born after infertility, requested by prayer, would subsequently become a zealous doer of it and an experienced mentor. Baby Dimitri was born on February 6, 1807 in the village. Pokrovsky 2, which was the family estate of his father and is located in the Gryazovets district of the Vologda province. The future monk had the happy fate of spending his childhood in the solitude of rural life, in close contact with nature, which, thus, became his first mentor. She instilled in him a penchant for solitude: the boy often loved to stay under the shade of the ancient trees of the vast garden and there, alone, he plunged into quiet thoughts, the content of which, no doubt, was borrowed from the surrounding nature. Majestic and silent, she early began to influence him with her inspiring images: she inspired his childish soul, still untainted by everyday pettiness, with other, more sublime aspirations, which a desert life is full of, she delighted his heart with more lively, pure feelings, which only solitude can provide. The boy early learned to understand this silent voice of nature and distinguish it from the noise of everyday life. The phenomena of home life did not have an impressionable effect on him - he went deeper into himself and, among the elegant secular surroundings, seemed like a pet of the desert. A spark of Divine love fell into his pure heart. It was reflected in him by an unconscious attraction to monasticism, to its high ideals, with which his native land is so full, and a special disposition towards everything sacred and truly beautiful, as far as it is accessible to childhood. From this early time in her life, her future path was already determined. The youth was spiritually separated from the world. Such a mood of young Dimitri could not count on sympathy from his parents. His father Alexander Semenovich Brianchaninov, a descendant of the ancient nobles Brianchaninov, a very well-known and revered family in Vologda, was a secular man in the full sense of the word. A page of the time of Emperor Pavel Petrovich, he had an unusually developed taste for grace in the home and represented the perfect type of the modern advanced Russian landowner. Having inherited a significant estate from his parents, he had to exhaust most of it to pay huge debts, after which he was left with about 400 souls of peasants and the picturesque village of Pokrovskoye, which had long been the seat of his ancestors, the homeland of the future Saint. His wife, the mother of the Most Reverend Ignatius, Sofia Afanasyevna, also came from the Brianchaninov surname 3 and, as a woman of remarkable education, very pious, remembering that her husband is the head, she submitted to her husband’s influence in everything, sharing his views and concepts. Alexander Semenovich was rightly considered one of the leading educated landowners of his time and loved education, 4 and therefore he tried to give his children, if possible, a thorough education in order to prepare them as true sons of the fatherland, devoted to the throne, faithful to Orthodoxy. Giving such an education, he was not a stranger to the ambition to see, subsequently, his sons occupying honorary positions in the public service. This trait of his parent could not hide from the insight of young Demetrius, a trait completely opposite to the intentions and aspirations of the young man, and here was the beginning of the internal struggle, the beginning of suffering and trials, which later became the lot of the entire life of the deceased Lord. All the children in the Brianchaninov family, brothers and sisters of Dimitri Alexandrovich, were brought up together, bound by mutual friendship, but everyone was aware of Dimitri’s primacy, and they were aware not only because he was the eldest, but because of the special, higher, so to speak, turn of his mind and character, because of his moral superiority. Enjoying constant respect from his brothers and sisters and surpassing all of them in scientific abilities and other talents, Dimitri Alexandrovich did not reveal the slightest exaltation or boasting. The beginnings of monastic humility were expressed in his behavior and way of thinking at that time; in morality and intelligence he was incomparably above his years, and this is the reason why his brothers and sisters even treated him with some reverence, and he, in turn, conveyed to them his moral qualities. With age, Dimitri Alexandrovich's religious mood became more noticeable: it manifested itself in a special disposition to prayer and reading books of spiritual and moral content. He loved to attend church often, and at home he used to pray often during the day, not limited to set times - morning and evening. His prayer was not like a lesson of reading, often hasty and mechanical, which is so common among children; he became accustomed to attentive prayer, which begins with reverent standing and unhurried pronunciation of the words of prayer, and he became so successful in it that even in childhood he enjoyed its blessed fruits. Learning to pray carefully, he treated everything sacred with reverence, instilling this reverence in his other brothers and sisters; I always read the Gospel with tenderness, reflecting on what I read. His favorite book was “The School of Piety” in five volumes, an ancient edition. This book, containing a brief summary of the deeds of the saints and selected sayings of them, was very consistent with the mood of the youth, or rather, it tuned his spirit, allowing the holy narratives and sayings of spirit-bearing men to act on him themselves, without the mediation of extraneous explanations. Dimitri Alexandrovich's abilities were very versatile: in addition to the established studies in the sciences, he practiced with great success in calligraphy, drawing, musical singing and even music, moreover, on the most difficult instrument, the violin. Having learned his lessons very quickly, he spent his free hours on reading and various written exercises, in which his literary talent also began to show. His mentors at this time were professors from the Vologda Seminary and gymnasium teachers. The home teacher was a seminary student named Levitsky, who lived in the Brianchaninov family. He also taught the Law of God. Levitsky was distinguished by his remarkable good behavior and thorough knowledge of his subject. He was so good at introducing his student to the basic truths of theology that Dimitri Alexandrovich retained a grateful memory of him until the end of his life. Dimitri Alexandrovich's life in his parents' house continued until he was 16 years old; This first period of life was already difficult for him spiritually in that the external and internal conditions of life in his parents’ house did not allow the opportunity to reveal to anyone the cherished desires and goals that filled his soul at that time. In conclusion of the description of the childhood period of the author of “Ascetic Experiences,” it is very edifying to cite his own story about this childhood. This is how touchingly he speaks about himself in the article “My Cry”: “My childhood was filled with sorrows. Here I see Your hand, my God! I had no one to open my heart to; I began to pour it out before my God, I began to read the Gospel and the lives of Your saints. A veil, occasionally pierced, lay for me on the Gospel; but Your Pimens, Your Sisoi and Macarii made a wonderful impression on me. The thought that often soared to God through prayer and reading began little by little to bring peace and tranquility to my soul. When I was a fifteen-year-old youth, an indescribable silence filled my mind and heart. But I didn’t understand it - I believed that this was the ordinary state of all people” 5. At the end of the summer of 1822, when Dimitri Alexandrovich was sixteen years old, his parent took him to St. Petersburg to enroll in the Main Engineering School, where he was prepared by home study. Dear, near Shlisselburg, the father suddenly turned to his son with the following question: “Where would you like to join the service?” Struck by such unprecedented frankness of his father, the son no longer wanted to hide from him his heartfelt secret, which he had not yet revealed to anyone; first he asked him for a promise not to be angry if he didn’t like the answer; then, with firmness of will and the strength of a completely sincere feeling, he said that he wanted to become a monk. The son's decisive answer apparently had no effect on the father; he either did not give it any significance on the basis of the youth of the person who answered, or did not want to object due to the seeming unrealizability of the desire, which was completely at odds with the plans he had made for the future of his son. In St. Petersburg, Dimitri Alexandrovich brilliantly passed the entrance exam 6. His handsome appearance and excellent training in the sciences attracted the special attention of His Highness Nikolai Pavlovich, who was then the inspector general of engineers, to the young Brianchaninov. The Grand Duke ordered Brianchaninov to appear at the Anichkov Palace, where he introduced him to his wife, Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna, and recommended him as being well prepared not only for the sciences required at the engineering school, but also knowing even Latin and Greek. Her Highness was pleased to order Brianchaninov to be enrolled as Her pensioner. Having become Emperor, Nikolai Pavlovich and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna continued to show their gracious favor to Brianchaninov. After passing the exam, Dimitri Alexandrovich was enrolled in the conductor company of the Main Engineering School, and his active service began to be counted from the day he took the oath on January 19, 1823. Success in science 7, excellent behavior and the location of the Grand Duke put him in first place among his fellow cadets: by the end of 1823, with a transfer to the upper conductor class, he was appointed sergeant major of the conductor company; in 1824 he was transferred from the cadet classes to the lower officer class (which is now the Nikolaev Engineering Academy) and on December 13 he was promoted to ensign engineer. Dimitri Alexandrovich's rare mental abilities and moral qualities attracted professors and teachers of the school to him; they all treated him with special favor, giving clear preference over other pupils. Along with his service and educational activities, Dimitri Alexandrovich also had success in secular society with his personal merits. Family connections brought him into the house of the then president of the Academy of Arts, Olenin 8. There, at literary evenings, he became a favorite reader, and his poetic and literary talents in general gained him the attention of the then celebrities of the literary world: Gnedich, Krylov, Batyushkov and Pushkin. Such a society, of course, had a beneficial influence on the literary development of the future writer. Until the end of his life, Right Reverend Ignatius spoke sympathetically about the advice that some of these individuals gave him at that time. The described circle of social acquaintances, to which the well-connected aunt of Dimitri Aleksandrovich A. M. Sukharev belonged, only externally influenced the life of the young man, whose inner life developed independently, regardless of family and social ties. Dimitri Alexandrovich, even in the noise of metropolitan life, remained faithful to his spiritual aspirations, which he experienced in the solitude of his distant homeland: he always sought living, experienced knowledge in religion and, guarded by grace, did not succumb to either the corrupting influence of alien teachings or the lures of secular pleasures. This is the detail with which he himself, in the above-mentioned article “My Cry,” describes his state of mind at that time: “I entered military and academic service not by my own choice and desire. Then I did not dare, I did not know how to desire anything, because I had not yet found the Truth, had not yet seen It clearly in order to desire It! Human sciences, inventions of the fallen human mind, became the subject of my attention: I rushed towards them with all the strength of my soul; vague religious activities and feelings remained on the sidelines. Almost two years passed in earthly pursuits; Some kind of terrible emptiness was born and has already grown in my soul, hunger appeared, an unbearable longing for God appeared. I began to mourn my negligence, to mourn the oblivion to which I betrayed faith, to mourn the sweet silence that I lost, to mourn the emptiness that I acquired, which burdened me, terrified me, filling me with a feeling of orphanhood, deprivation of life! And for sure - it was the languor of a soul that had moved away from its true life, God. I remember: I’m walking through the streets of St. Petersburg in a cadet’s uniform, and tears are streaming from my eyes... My concepts were already more mature, I was looking for definition in religion. Unaccountable religious feelings did not satisfy me; I wanted to see what was true, clear, the Truth. At that time, various religious ideas occupied and worried the northern capital, bickering and fighting among themselves. Neither side pleased my heart; it did not trust them, it feared them. In stern thoughts, I took off my cadet's uniform and put on the officer's uniform. I regretted the cadet’s uniform: in it, when coming to the church of God, I could stand in a crowd of soldiers, in a crowd of common people, pray and cry to my heart’s content. The young man had no time for fun, no time for entertainment! The world did not present anything attractive to me: I was so cold towards it, as if the world had no temptations at all! It’s as if they didn’t exist for me: my mind was completely immersed in science and at the same time burned with the desire to find out where the true faith lies, where the true teaching about it lies, alien to errors, both dogmatic and moral” 9. The beginning of spiritual activity, when it is undertaken with a specific purpose and becomes predominant, in order to then become completely exceptional, is usually accompanied by an internal battle of thoughts and passionate feelings. This battle is so strong that there is no way to resist it on your own; you need help from Above. Dimitri Alexandrovich turned to prayer, doing it internally, carefully and incessantly. Such prayer, forming an inner monk, adjusts all of a person’s spiritual activity according to itself, but such prayer must be properly learned, which is the subject of monastic spiritual activity. He practiced mental prayer, and practiced it so diligently that it happened spontaneously for him. “It would happen in the evening,” he later told about himself, “you would lie down in bed and, raising your head from the pillow, you would begin to read a prayer, and so, without changing your position, without stopping your prayer, you would get up in the morning to go to services, to classes.” Thus, being a monk by heart and having already experienced the grace-filled effect of prayer in the 16th year of his life, this devout young man could not be content with the custom established at the school - only once a year to begin the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion, but needed more frequent reinforcement of himself with this spiritual food, therefore, to satisfy his desire, he turned to the teacher of the law and the confessor of the school. Such an unusual phenomenon among youth caused the surprise of the confessor, especially when the confessor said that “we are struggling with many sinful thoughts.” Without making a distinction between “sinful thoughts” and “political plans,” Fr. Archpriest 10 considered it his duty to bring this circumstance to the attention of the school authorities. The head of the school, Lieutenant General Count Sivers 11, subjected the accused young man to a formal interrogation about the meaning of the thoughts that he himself recognized as “sinful.” The German authorities 12, not understanding the meaning of this expression, began to keep an eye on Brianchaninov. The imprudence of the confessor plunged Brianchaninov into grave responsibility before his superiors and brought him to a painful state; he was forced to choose another confessor. Therefore, Brianchaninov turned to the monks of the Valaam metochion, began to go there every Saturday and Sunday for confession and Holy Communion and, taught by experience, tried to do this secretly from the school authorities. In this sacred task, he was joined by his schoolmate Chikhachov, one of the nobles of the Pskov province, who entered the school at the same time with him and was very beloved by the Sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich. Dimitri Aleksandrovich became attached to Chikhachov with the most sincere friendship, despite the dissimilarity of their characters: the first was serious, thoughtful, concentrated in himself, the other was a merry fellow, a talker, with his soul wide open. Chikhachov devoted himself to Brianchaninov more like a son to his father than like a brother to his brother: such was the influence of Dimitri Alexandrovich on his comrade. The very first acquaintance of these two young comrades is full of tenderness and a truly Christian character. Once, in friendly conversations, Dimitri Alexandrovich interrupted Chikhachov’s cheerful chatter, telling him: “Be a Christian!” “I have never been a Tatar,” his comrade objected to him. “So,” said the first, “yes, we need to fulfill this word with deeds and delve more diligently into it.” From that time on, both of them went to the monks in the courtyard, confessed and received communion, prayed, were edified by soul-saving conversations, and labored. This is how Chikhachov himself describes these walks in his notes, where he frankly says what effect they had on him: “One Saturday I heard an invitation from a friend of mine to go to the priest. - "For what?" “Yes, it is my custom to confess and on Sunday to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ; watch and don’t fall behind.” My poor little head was then in amazement and great confusion. Fear and horror: what and how, I’m not ready, I can’t! “It’s not your business, but the confessor’s,” the comrade answers bravely and draws you along with him with his love. Youth and health, and all the external circumstances and the whole situation, and besides, the internal strong uprising of passions and habits, enraged by opposition to them, terribly worried the soul, and could it have resisted with its weakness if there had not been an invisible force that supported it from above? “And with all this, if I had not had such a friend, who admonished me with his prudence, and always laid down his life for me, and shared every grief with me, I would not have survived in this field - the field of voluntary martyrdom and confession.” The monks of the Valaam metochion lovingly received young people, because they saw in them a sincere desire for God and a desire for the path of salvation, but they, as people without a scientific education, primarily limited to external feats, could not fully satisfy their spiritual needs, which is why they advised the young people to turn to the monks of the Nevsky Lavra for spiritual edification. Some disciples of the elders Fr. were staying there at that time. Theodora 13 and Fr. Leonid 14, men experienced in spiritual life, who received monastic education: the first from the famous elder Paisius Velichkovsky, archimandrite of the Moldavian Nyametsky monastery, and the second from his disciples. These were: monk Aaron, monks Chariton, Ioannikios and others. Young people have become go to these monks; through them they met the Lavra confessor, Fr. Athanasius, who, with his truly fatherly, loving behavior, supported their living desire for Christian piety. The young people rejoiced to find true mentors who understood their spiritual needs and could use them abundantly. They intensified their zeal for deeds of piety, increased their visits to the monks, and enjoyed the Lavra’s services, which made a good impression on them because it was more majestic and longer than at the Valaam courtyard. They conferred with the monks, as with spiritual fathers, about everything related to internal monastic work, confessed their thoughts, learned how to protect themselves from passions, sinful habits and stumbling blocks, which books to use from the writings of the Holy Fathers, etc. Good monks, especially Fr. Ioannikiy and confessor Fr. Athanasius, shared with the monk-loving and wise-minded young men everything that was the property of their many years of spiritual experience. Dimitri Alexandrovich often surprised them with his questions, which concerned aspects of spiritual life that indicate a fairly mature spiritual age. Such close friendship with the monks had a corresponding effect. Dimitri Alexandrovich became a complete ascetic in his soul, surrounded himself with the works of the Holy Fathers, mainly of ascetic content, which, re-reading with greed, he deepened even more into self-contemplation and apparently lost interest in secular society. In his Lamentations he says this about himself: “Before the eyes of the mind there were already the boundaries of human knowledge in the highest definitive sciences. Having come to the limits of this, I asked the sciences: what do you give as property to a person? Man is eternal, and his property must be eternal. Show me this eternal property, this sure wealth, which I could take with me beyond the grave! The sciences were silent. For a satisfactory answer, for an answer that is essential and vital, I turn to faith. But where are you hiding, true and holy faith? I could not recognize you in fanaticism, which was not imprinted with gospel meekness; he breathed with fervor and exaltation! I could not recognize you as a self-willed teaching, separating from the Church, forming its own new system, vainly and arrogantly proclaiming the acquisition of a new true Christian faith, eighteen centuries after the incarnation of God the Word. Oh! in what painful bewilderment my soul floated!.. And I often began to beg God with tears, so that He would not give me over as a sacrifice to error, so that He would show me the right path along which I could direct an invisible procession to Him with my mind and heart. Suddenly a thought appears to me... my heart is drawn to her, as if into the arms of a friend. This thought inspired us to study faith in the sources - in the writings of the Holy Fathers. “Their holiness,” she told me, “vouches for their loyalty: elect them as leaders.” I obey. I find a way to receive the works of the holy saints of God, I begin to read them greedily and study them deeply. Having read some, I take on others, read, re-read, study. What first of all struck me in the writings of the Fathers of the Orthodox Church? - this is their agreement, a wonderful, majestic agreement... What teaching, by the way, do I find in them? – I find a teaching repeated by all the Fathers, the teaching that the only path to salvation is unwavering adherence to the instructions of the Holy Fathers. “Have you seen,” they say, “someone seduced by false teaching, who perished from the wrong choice of exploits, know: he followed himself, his reason, his opinions, and not the teaching of the Fathers, from which the dogmatic and moral tradition of the Church is compiled.”... This thought was for me my first refuge in the land of truth. Here my soul found rest from the excitement and winds. A good, saving thought! Thought is a priceless gift from the All-Good God, who wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth! This thought became the main stone for the spiritual creation of my soul! This thought became my guiding star! She began to constantly illuminate for me the difficult and sorrowful, narrow, invisible path of mind and heart to God. Such are the blessings with which my God has granted me! Such is the incorruptible treasure, guiding me into a blessed eternity, sent down to me from above from the heavenly Throne of Divine mercy and wisdom... God, God Himself, with a good thought, has already separated me from the vain world. I lived in the middle of the world, but was not on a common, wide, angled path: a good thought led me along a separate path, to living, cool springs of water, through fruitful countries, through picturesque terrain, but often wild, dangerous, crossed by abysses, extremely solitary. A traveler rarely travels along it. Reading the Fathers convinced me with complete clarity that salvation in the depths of the Russian Church is undeniable, something that the religions of Western Europe are deprived of, as they have not preserved intact either the dogmatic or moral teachings of the primal Church of Christ. It revealed to me what Christ did for humanity, what the fall of man consists of, why a Redeemer is necessary, what is the salvation delivered and delivered by the Redeemer. It kept telling me: I must develop, feel, see salvation in myself, without which faith in Christ is dead, and Christianity is a word and a name without its implementation! It taught me to look at eternity as an eternity, before which even a thousand-year earthly life is insignificant, not only ours, measured in some half-century. It taught me that earthly life should be spent in preparation for eternity, just as one prepares on the threshold to enter the magnificent royal palaces. It showed me that all earthly activities, pleasures, honors, advantages are empty toys with which adult children play and lose the bliss of eternity 15. The spiritual aspirations of the young ascetic, his zeal and zeal for prayer, withstood a severe test. The first enemies on the path of salvation were his family. Alexander Semenovich assigned a man to serve his son, who was devoted to him to the point of self-forgetfulness. This was an old man of about 60 years old named Dorimedont, who served his master faithfully for a century. He was, so to speak, the overseer of all the actions of Dimitri Alexandrovich, and reported them to Alexander Semenovich. This news was difficult for the parent. He remembered then about his son’s desire expressed on the way to St. Petersburg and was now convinced that it was not a childish whim. He then wrote about everything to the head of the school, Count Sivers, his former comrade in the service as pages, and asked him to keep an eye on the pupil Brianchaninov; He also wrote to his relative Sukhareva, asking her to distract his son from his intention. The school authorities took their own measures, transferring Brianchaninov from a private apartment to a government apartment, within the walls of the Mikhailovsky Engineering Castle, under strict supervision, and Sukhareva, an influential person, took the trouble to bring to the attention of the then Metropolitan of St. Petersburg Seraphim 16 that her nephew Brianchaninov, beloved by the Sovereign Emperor, had made acquaintance with the Lavra monks, that Lavra confessor Athanasius inclines him to monasticism, and that if this is found out at the Court, then the Metropolitan will not avoid trouble. The Metropolitan summoned his confessor Afanasy and gave him a severe reprimand, forbidding him from henceforth to accept Brianchaninov and Chikhachov to confession. These circumstances were difficult for Dimitri Alexandrovich, which constrained the freedom of his spiritual activity; he decided to introduce himself to the Metropolitan and explain himself personally. The Metropolitan at first did not believe the selfless aspiration of the young man when he, in a conversation, announced to him his indispensable desire to enter monasticism; but then, after listening carefully to the young man’s sincere statements, the Metropolitan allowed him to continue to go to the Lavra to see his confessor. Such was Brianchaninov’s desire for monastic life; This was not a whimsical desire to present himself as an original in society, it was not the result of simple disappointment with life, the bitterness and pleasures of which he had not yet had time to experience, it was a pure intention, alien to any everyday calculations, a sincere, holy feeling of Divine love, which alone is capable of mastering the being of the soul with such force that no obstacles are able to overcome it. The practice of monastic life definitely indicates that those who sincerely choose it are ready for all kinds of donations and complete self-sacrifice. These are the feelings that pour out in “Lamentation,” where the author of ascetic experiences says: “The heart has grown cold towards the world, towards its services, towards its greatness, towards its sweetness! I decided to leave the world, to devote my earthly life to the knowledge of Christ, to assimilate Christ. With this intention I began to consider monastic and lay clergy. And here labor met me; it was increased for me by my youth and inexperience. But I saw everything up close, and upon entering the monastery I did not find anything new or unexpected. There were so many obstacles to this entry! I’ll leave mentioning everyone; my very body cried out to me: “Where are you taking me? I'm so weak and sick. You have seen the monasteries, you have become briefly acquainted with them; life in them is unbearable for you, both because of my weakness, and because of your upbringing, and for all other reasons.” Reason confirmed the arguments of the flesh. But there was a voice, a voice in my heart, I think, the voice of conscience or, perhaps, a Guardian Angel, telling me the will of God, because the voice was decisive and commanding. He told me: to do this is your duty, an indispensable duty. The voice was so strong that the ideas of the mind, the pitiful, seemingly solid convictions of the flesh seemed insignificant before it” 17. Apart from cases and circumstances depending on the will of people, nature itself put obstacles to the pious intentions of young Demetrius. In the spring of 1826, he fell ill with a serious chest illness, which had all the signs of consumption, so that he was unable to go out. Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich ordered his own doctors to take care of the patient and report to him weekly about the progress of the disease. The doctors informed Dimitri Alexandrovich of the danger of his situation; he considered himself on the threshold of life and with frequent prayers prepared for the transition to eternity. But it did not happen as the famous doctors of the capital predicted; the illness received a favorable turn and served for the patient as experimental proof that without the will of God the most urgent laws of nature are not strong enough to influence us. All the pious exercises of Dimitri Alexandrovich served as preparation for the decisive revolution that he had to make in order to realize his long-standing intentions and desires. But in order to carry out this revolution, that is, to completely break all ties with the world, a person was needed who would facilitate this break, who would carry him along with the power of his spirit, he needed his Moses to lead the new Israelite out of the Egypt of worldly life. The above-mentioned hieromonk Leonid appeared to Demetrius Alexandrovich as such a Moses. Father Leonid was distinguished by spiritual wisdom, holiness of life, and experience in monastic feats; under his leadership, many true ascetics of piety and mentors of monasticism were formed. Dimitri Alexandrovich had heard a lot about this elder from the Lavra monks. Finally the opportunity presented itself to meet him. O. Leonid arrived on his business in St. Petersburg and stayed at the Nevsky Lavra. There, in a lonely conversation with this representative of the then monastic asceticism, Dimitri Alexandrovich felt such an attraction to this elder that it was as if he lived with him for a century: these were great moments in which the elder gave birth to him spiritually as his son... Dimitri Alexandrovich later spoke about the impression of this first conversation to his friend Chikhachov as follows: “Fr. Leonid, now it’s decided: I ask to resign from service and follow the elder; I will surrender to him with all my soul and will seek the only salvation of my soul in solitude.” After this first meeting, Dimitri Alexandrovich no longer belonged to the world, a decisive revolution was carried out, it only took some time to finally unravel the worldly ties. Intending to completely leave the service and retire to a monastery, Dimitri Alexandrovich first had to endure a great moral struggle: on the one hand, with his parents, on the other, with the powers that be. This struggle cost him a lot of effort. Just as his physical strength was constantly undermined by illness, so now he had to prepare himself morally in order to accept the pressure from the parental and state authorities, who sought to suppress and crush what was most dear and desirable to him. He endured a severe struggle in his young years - physical and moral; but just as in the first he always triumphed in the strength of his spirit over the weakness of the flesh, so in the second he appeared as a skillful and reliable fighter against the elements of earthly life, which promised him much sweet, great and glorious. In this last struggle, his strong character was finally developed, necessary for going through a difficult monastic life, requiring self-sacrifice, special steadfastness of will, fearlessness, constancy and readiness to any extreme. This is the door through which the young ascetic had to enter the narrow and regrettable path of monasticism. In June 1826, Dimitri Alexandrovich received a three-month leave from service and, to improve his health, went home to his parents’ house. Knowing his father’s ambitious intentions and, moreover, not wanting to upset his parents by decisively announcing his will to them, Dimitri Alexandrovich tried to gradually and carefully prepare them for the expected change in life. But that didn't help either. Alexander Semenovich could not come to terms with the thought of his first-born son becoming a monk. He was angry with him, flatly refused, and removed him from himself as a disobedient son. A meek and sensitive young man had to endure everything, obedient to the commandment of the Savior: Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me 18. With deep sorrow, having not received the desired consent, he left his parents’ house for the capital. Here he was faced with the need to first pass the final exam at the Engineering School, which he completed at the end of December, and although without competition with his fellow graduates who passed the exam much earlier, in terms of the number of points he retained his championship; then, freed from school dependence, he resigned from service. Here he was met by a new storm: he had to deal with a higher power, had to defend his cherished desire even before the Monarch, to whom he was entirely indebted for his upbringing, education and gratitude for his gracious, high attention to him. It was difficult for him to convince worldly people of the truthfulness of his spiritual aspirations, understandable only to a few monks in the Nevsky Lavra; here a courageous determination was needed; it was necessary to resist only with self-sacrifice and willpower, and not with arguments and obvious instructions. It is clear that the dispute was unequal: one had to either succumb, give in, or show an example of unshakable courage, martyrdom, direct confession. Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, having learned about Brianchaninov’s request and his desire to go to the monastery, instructed his August brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, to dissuade his beloved pupil from such an undertaking. In early January 1827, Dimitri Alexandrovich was required to go to the palace to the Grand Duke. All the top management of the Engineering School was gathered there. A 19-year-old young man with a trembling heart but a strong will appeared before the meeting. The Grand Duke informed him that the Sovereign Emperor, knowing his abilities for service, instead of resigning, intended to transfer him to the guard and give him a position that would satisfy both his, Brianchaninov’s, pride and ambition. The young man responded to this by saying that, without sufficient funds, he could not serve in the guard. “The Sovereign deigns to take care of this,” interrupted the Grand Duke. “My disordered health,” the young man continued, “which His Majesty knows from the reports of the doctors who treated me, makes me completely unable to carry out official work, and, foreseeing my imminent death, I must take care of preparing myself for eternity, for which I am choosing the monastic rank.” The Grand Duke noted that he could receive service in the southern climate of Russia and that it was much more honorable to save his soul by remaining in the world. Brianchaninov answered: “To remain in the world and wish to be saved is, Your Highness, the same as standing in fire and wishing not to burn.” Despite the convictions of the Grand Duke, who resorted to both affection and threats, Brianchaninov remained firm in his intention and asked to be shown mercy - to be dismissed from service. Then the Grand Duke resolutely objected to him that since he remained adamant in his stubbornness, the Highest will was declared to him: the Sovereign Emperor refuses to dismiss him from service and does him only the favor of allowing him to choose the fortress to which he should be sent to serve. Brianchaninov rejected his voluntary election. The Grand Duke turned to Count Operman, his assistant (by rank - Inspector General of Engineers); he pointed to Dinaburg. The Grand Duke approved the order, and that same evening Brianchaninov was appointed to the Dinaburg engineering team with the order to leave St. Petersburg to the place of new service within 24 hours. The head of the Dinaburg team at that time was Major General Klimenko; he was informed about Brianchaninov's mood and ordered to have strict supervision over his behavior. At first his comrades were not entirely trusting of Dimitri Alexandrovich, but then they changed their minds when they saw his true piety, meekness and prudence. They even became devoted to him, sharing his work in the service due to his painful condition. Officer Brianchaninov's official duties consisted of monitoring the production of various buildings and earthworks in the fortress; He was so weak in health that he was forced to stay hopelessly in his apartment for several weeks at a time, and therefore necessarily needed the help of his comrades in the performance of official duties. Only one correspondence with Fr. Leonid supported Dimitri Alexandrovich in this spiritual loneliness, since he was separated from his beloved friend Chikhachov. In the fall of 1827, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich visited the Dinaburg fortress and, having become convinced of the physical inability of officer Brianchaninov to serve, was inclined to his indispensable desire to receive his resignation. On November 6, 1827, Dimitri Alexandrovich received his coveted resignation. He was dismissed with the rank of lieutenant and immediately went through St. Petersburg to the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery to Fr. Leonid, in order to begin the feat of monasticism under his leadership. Arriving in St. Petersburg in the clothes of a commoner, wearing a sheepskin coat, he stayed in Chikhachov’s apartment. Here it was agreed that both would enter the monastery - and, if possible, immediately. Chikhachov immediately wrote a petition, citing domestic circumstances as the reason, but did not receive satisfaction and had to wait a little longer in the service. Dimitri Alexandrovich's departure from the service took place without the knowledge of his parents, and therefore, naturally, incurred their wrath. They denied their son material assistance and even stopped written communications with him. Thus, complete material poverty accompanied Dimitri Alexandrovich’s entry into the monastery; he literally fulfilled the commandment of non-covetousness at the very beginning of monasticism and could quite rightly say with the Apostle, as a true disciple of Christ: Behold, we have left everything and are dead in Your footsteps 19 . In his “Lamentation”, he expressed his feelings with which he entered this new path of life: “I entered the monastery, as an astonished man rushes, closing his eyes and putting aside reflection, into the fire or the abyss, - as a warrior, carried away by his heart, rushes into a bloody battle, to obvious death. My guiding star, a good thought, came to shine for me in solitude, in silence, or more correctly, in the darkness, in the storms of the monastery” 20 . Unquestioning obedience and deep humility distinguished the behavior of novice Brianchaninov in the monastery. His first obedience was to serve under the cook. The cook was a former serf, Alexander Semenovich Brianchaninov. On the very day of joining the cookhouse, it happened that it was necessary to go to the barn for flour. The cook told him: “Come on, brother, let’s go get some flour!” - and threw him a flour bag, so that he was covered with white dust. The new novice took the bag and went. In the barn, stretching the bag with both hands and, at the cook’s order, grabbing it with his teeth to make it easier to pour in the flour, he felt a new, strange spiritual movement in his heart, which he had never experienced before: his own humble behavior, complete oblivion of his “I” delighted him so much that he remembered this incident all his life. Among other novices, he was appointed to pull a fishing net in the lake of the Svirsky Monastery. Once the net somehow got tangled in the depths. The commoner monk in charge of fishing, knowing that Brianchaninov knew how to swim well and could stay under water for a long time, sent him to untangle the net. Despite the strong autumn cold, Dimitri Alexandrovich unquestioningly carried out the order, which had an extremely harmful effect on his poor health - he caught a bad cold. Such cases of obedience and humility made the entire monastic brethren begin to treat Brianchaninov with obvious respect, giving him preference over others, which he was very burdened by, because, living among the monastic brotherhood, he even tried to hide his origin and education, rejoicing when those who did not know considered him to be a half-educated seminarian. Having entered the monastery, Dimitri Alexandrovich devoted himself wholeheartedly to the elder Fr. Leonid for spiritual guidance. These relationships were distinguished by sincerity, directness, and represented a perfect resemblance to ancient novitiate, which did not dare to take a step without the knowledge or permission of the mentor. Every movement in the inner life of such novices occurs under the direct supervision of the elder; daily confession of thoughts gives them the opportunity to carefully observe themselves; it protects the novice monk from the harmful effects of these thoughts, which, having been confessed, like mown grass, can no longer arise with the same force. The experienced gaze of the elder confessor reveals the innermost recesses of the soul, indicates the passions nesting there and thus surprisingly promotes self-observation. Sincere confession, constant devotion to the elder and complete cutting off of the will before him are rewarded with spiritual consolation, lightness and a peaceful state of mind, which are characteristic of dispassion. Even in ancient times, when deserts and monasteries abounded with spiritual elders, this kind of initial asceticism was the lot of a few novices; it is even less common now, with the noticeable impoverishment of spiritual eldership. Dimitri Alexandrovich, as said, obeyed the will of his spiritual father in everything; all questions and perplexities were resolved directly by him. The elder was not lazy to make comments to his young pupil, he led him along the path of external and internal humility, teaching him an active life. “One winter,” says I. A. Barkov, a very pious man and worthy of all faith, “Fr. Leonid: there was severe frost and a blizzard, the old man arrived in a wagon. When he came into my room, I began to worry about the samovar and thought: more than one old man has arrived, there is probably some kind of driver - and I began to ask the old man to allow him to enter as well. The elder agreed. I called the stranger, and was quite surprised when a young, handsome man with all the signs of noble birth appeared before me. He humbly stopped at the threshold. “What a chill, nobleman,” the elder turned to him and then said to me: “Do you know who this is?” “This is Brianchaninov.” Then I bowed deeply to the driver.” This extremely humbling manner of leadership was undertaken by Fr. Leonid in relation to his student, the young officer Brianchaninov, no doubt, in order to defeat in him all the arrogance and conceit that are usually inherent in every noble and educated person who enters among the simpletons. The elder acted as an unhypocritical mentor, in the spirit of true monasticism, following the examples of the Holy Fathers; he constantly subjected his student to tests, and such experiences of humility could not but please the noble novice, who with sincere love for God devoted himself to monastic deeds. A year later, the need for Fr. Leonid and all his disciples moved from the Svirsky Monastery, due to the crowded nature of this monastery, to another place. He headed to the Ploshchanskaya hermitage of the Oryol diocese; Dimitri Alexandrovich, among other students, followed the elder. At this time, Chikhachov also arrived in Ploshchanskaya Hermitage. The friends exchanged heartfelt greetings, rejoiced that they had once again united in the quiet shelter of monastic solitude, and began to live together as before, binding themselves to the union of the most holy friendship. Elder Leonid blessed them with such a life together, separately from the other disciples. The young novices indulged in a completely ascetic life: they maintained solitude, avoided crowds, protected themselves in every possible way from environmental influences harmful to silence, avoided unnecessary meetings and unnecessary acquaintances in order to keep themselves in strict silence and guarding their minds. All the strength of their souls was directed towards contemplation of God and prayer. A separate room in the monastery garden, outside of any communications, gave them the peace they desired: the young ascetics rejoiced in their hermitage. This is how they spent the winter of 1829. Dimitri Alexandrovich, endowed by nature with the ability of literary creativity, loved to contemplate pictures of nature and from them extract content for his thoughts on God, which he depicted with a skillful pen. Here he wrote his "Garden in Winter". Another of his works belongs to the same type of literary creativity: “A tree in winter before the windows of a cell,” written a little earlier, in the Svirsky monastery. These two works expressed the views and feelings of a God-minded soul, given over to religious contemplation, under the influence of prayerful states, which is experienced only by the silent. But the young hermits did not have long to enjoy the peaceful shelter in the Ploshchanskaya desert: a difficult test was in store for them. Between the builder of the desert, Hieromonk Markell, and the elder Fr. Displeasure arose with Leonid, forcing the latter to leave the Ploshchanskaya Hermitage and move to the monastery of the Optina Vvedenskaya Hermitage, located in the Kaluga province. Brianchaninov and Chikhachov also received orders to immediately leave the monastery and go anywhere. The monastery brethren were saddened by the innocent expulsion of the well-behaved young novices, who had not annoyed anyone in any way, and saw them off with feelings of deep regret and respect for their quiet and strict life, giving them five rubles collected by pool for their journey. It was difficult for two comrades to travel with a thin wallet in an unknown direction, without a specific place in mind; They tried to shorten their journey as much as possible and headed towards the Beloberezh desert in the same Oryol province. On the way, they were in the Svensky Monastery, where at that time Hieromonk Athanasius, one of the disciples of the aforementioned Moldavian Elder Paisius (Velichkovsky), was asceticizing in retreat. Dimitri Alexandrovich visited the recluse and made much use of his soul-edifying conversation about the benefits of crying, which he recalls in his “Ascetic Experiences,” citing the words of the recluse that sank deeply into his soul: “On the day on which I do not cry for myself as lost, I consider myself in self-delusion.” The Beloberezhskaya Hermitage did not, however, provide shelter for the poor wanderers, and they, continuing their journey further, arrived at Optina Pustyn, where their elder Fr. Leonid with his students. Abbot Moses did not agree to accept them, but the elder brethren took pity on the plight of the wanderers and persuaded the abbot not to drive them away. In May 1829, Brianchaninov and Chikhachov settled in the Optina Monastery, adhering to the same order of life that they had instituted in the Ploshchanskaya monastery. The stay of Dimitri Alexandrovich and his comrade in the Optina Desert was far from being the same as in Ploshchanskaya. The abbot looked at them unfavorably, the brethren were not entirely trusting. They had to grieve a lot in their solitary lifestyle; The monastic food itself, seasoned with vegetable oil of poor quality, had a harmful effect on the weak and sickly body of Dimitri Alexandrovich. They decided to make their own food; with considerable difficulty they begged for cereals or potatoes and cooked stew in their cell; an ax served as a knife; Chikhachov prepared the food. Such a difficult and unseemly situation, of course, could not last long: debilitating weakness of bodily strength was its consequence for both. First, Dimitri Alexandrovich suffered from her, so much so that he could not stand on his feet; he was looked after by Chikhachov, who was stronger than him; but soon he, too, fell down, stricken with fever. Then Dimitri Alexandrovich looked after his sick comrade; Although he diligently performed this service, he immediately fell from final exhaustion. Dimitri Alexandrovich's mother was sick. Illness, the harbinger of death, usually changes the location of the human heart. Sofia Afanasyevna forgave her son’s act in her soul; maternal feeling began to speak in her; she wanted to see her son. Alexander Semenovich, under the influence of this circumstance, himself softened and wrote to his son that he would not interfere with his intentions: let him come to his mother; and at the same time with the letter he sent a covered chaise for him. Dimitri Alexandrovich hurried to his parents. He went along with his sick comrade Chikhachov, since Alexander Semyonovich was so attentive that he did not forget to invite him too. But the meeting in the parents' house was far from what the invitation promised. Brianchaninova's sick parent recovered somewhat in health, and the peaceful feeling that suddenly appeared in the father regarding the threatening circumstance - his wife's illness - disappeared. He received his son coldly. The mother, although she was friendly, treated her with restraint. Thus, the wandering from one monastery to another, the difficult situation in the latter, the mother’s illness and, as a result, an instant outburst of parental feelings - all this only served to remove young people from the shelter of the holy monastery and put them on the same path, face to face with worldly temptation. The enemy of human salvation has no more profitable network than young novices leaving the walls of the monastery under any plausible pretext. An unauthorized exit from the monastery is always his idea. The young people settled under a secular roof in a separate secluded wing of the house with the intention of continuing their monastic exploits, turning to the local village priest for spiritual needs, considering their stay here only temporary. But Alexander Semenovich didn’t think so. He turned to his previous idea of ​​​​returning his son to worldly life and by all means began to persuade him to enter the public service; the gazes of his relatives and friends turned to him with the same thought; The mother, although she sometimes listened to her son’s teachings about soul salvation and other lofty truths of Christian life, did not have enough independence to completely surrender to his suggestions. The temptations spinning before their eyes confused the ascetics; a noisy crowd broke their silence. The young people began to feel burdened by their stay among the laity and thought about how they could quickly get out of secular society, which was incompatible with monasticism, and settle back somewhere in a monastery. Having spent the beginning of the winter of 1829 in the village of Pokrovskoye, the following year, 1830, in the month of February, both friends set off to look for a comfortable shelter within the walls of the monastery; they headed their way to the Kirillo-Novoezersky monastery. At this time, Archimandrite Theophan, famous for his holy life and exemplary management of the monastery, lived there in retirement, and Abbot Arkady, his close disciple and imitator of his way of government, was in charge. O. Arkady was distinguished by his simplicity of character; he foresaw in the two young newcomers the spirit of true monasticism and lovingly accepted them into his monastery. But the friends did not rejoice at their new place of residence for long: inexorable nature proved to them that a person consists not only of soul, but also of body. The Novoezersky Monastery is located on an island in a vast lake. The damp climate from the evaporation of water imparts severe fever to unusual and weak organisms. Soon Dimitri Alexandrovich felt its harmful influence; he fell ill with a fever and experienced its painful symptoms for three months without any medical benefits. Towards the end, his legs began to swell, so that he could no longer get out of bed. In June, when the fever was especially rampant there, the parents sent a carriage for their son to bring him to Vologda. This was a difficult time for Dimitri Alexandrovich: he was forced to return again to where he wanted to escape. In Vologda, Dimitri Alexandrovich stayed with his relatives and began to use medical remedies for the fever that tormented him, which penetrated so deeply into his body that it left its traces for the rest of his century. Chikhachov, who also suffered from the climate of the Novoyezersk monastery, went to the Pskov province to meet with his parents on August 13 of the same 1830. The friends parted so that each one could separately test his strength in the fight against the elements of worldly life. The hand of Providence, which had hitherto invisibly covered the homeless wanderer, touched the heart of His Eminence Stephen, Bishop of Vologda: the archpastor penetrated the spiritual aspirations of young Brianchaninov and warmed up to him. The Right Reverend Stefan fell in love with Dimitri Alexandrovich so much that he took a very active part in him, and this love of the bishop was a visible sign of God’s favor to the sacrifice of the heart that the new Abel made: it heralded the favorable outcome of all the trials suffered on the way to monasticism, because the archpastor held in his hand the laurel that was to be tied around the head of the young fighter, exhausted in the battle with the world, the flesh and the devil. Having recovered from his illness, Dimitri Alexandrovich did not want to return to his parents, but with the blessing of the Bishop he settled in the Seven-Gorod Desert. The location of this monastery was conducive to the restoration of his health; With new zeal he devoted himself to his usual spiritual pursuits: contemplation of God and prayer in the silence of his cell solitude. Here he wrote his “Lament of a Monk,” which expressed the sad state of the soul, intensely striving for God, but broken by the anxieties of life, as a result of which only crying at the ruins of its aspirations became its lot. Dimitri Alexandrovich did not live long in the Seven-Gorod Desert; soon, on February 20, 1831, he was moved, at his request, by His Grace to the more secluded, deserted Glushitsky Dionysian Monastery, where he was enrolled as a novice. The first acquaintance of His Grace Ignatius with the former abbot of the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery, Archimandrite Pimen, dates back to this time. O. Pimen, then still a young merchant’s son, describes the appearance of novice Brianchaninov this way: “The first time I happened to see Brianchaninov on the embankment of the Zolotukha River (in Vologda): I was on the left bank, and he was walking along the right. As I see him now: tall, slender and stately, fair-haired, curly, with beautiful dark brown eyes; he was wearing a sheepskin sheepskin coat, covered with pea-colored nankoy, and on his head was a novice cap.” Further, the narrator admires his noble posture, modest gait, extremely reverent presence in the church during the service and, finally, the conversation itself, which he describes in the following words: “Despite his still young years, it was clear that Brianchaninov read a lot of Fatherly books, knew very well John Climacus, Ephraim the Syrian, the Philokalia and the writings of other ascetics, and therefore his conversation, edifying and fascinating, was extremely enjoyable” 23. Meanwhile, Dimitri Alexandrovich’s parent, even during his stay in the Glushitsky monastery, did not cease to express the desire to fulfill his demands: he persistently sought to ensure that his son left monastic life and entered the public service. Then the new novice began to ask the bishop to show him mercy and, due to family circumstances, to hasten to tonsure him as a monk. The Reverend, knowing well Brianchaninov’s spiritual mood, decided to fulfill his request. Having sought permission from the Holy Synod, he summoned Dimitri Alexandrovich from the Glushitsky Monastery to Vologda and ordered him to prepare for tonsure; at the same time, he ordered him to keep this a secret from his relatives and friends in order to avoid any claims on their part that could hinder the matter, since he intended to cut his hair unexpectedly for everyone. This situation was embarrassing at such an important time: those preparing for tonsure were forced to stop at an inn and, amid the worldly wave, prepare for the great rite. On June 28, 1831, His Eminence Stefan performed the rite of tonsuring Brianchaninov into the minor schema in the Cathedral of the Resurrection and named Demetrius Ignatius in honor of the Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer, whose memory is celebrated by the Church on December 20 and January 29. Monk Ignatius, first on the first and then on the last of these days, celebrated his namesake. This name of Ignatius also points to the Venerable Ignatius - the prince, the Vologda wonderworker, whose relics rest in the Prilutsky Monastery, where the relics of the Venerable Demetrius of Prilutsk - the Angel of the newly tonsured monk from Baptism - rest. Thus, a change was made over him in the names of two miracle workers who rested in the same monastery. The name of one, given at Baptism, is associated with the memory of the circumstances of birth, and the name of the other is given at tonsure, as if to commemorate the similarity of the earthly fate of the newly tonsured one - with a venerable one from a princely family. Brianchaninov's relatives, who arrived at the cathedral for the service on June 28, were extremely amazed at the unexpected sacred rite, of which they became spectators. On July 4 of the same year, the monk Ignatius was ordained by His Grace Stephen as a hierodeacon, and on the 25th of the same month as a hieromonk, and was temporarily left at the bishop's house, which in Vologda is located at the cathedral, in the same fence formed by the walls of the Kremlin from the time of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. To study the priesthood, the newly ordained was assigned to the city Church of the Everyday Savior under the leadership of priest Vasily Nordov, later archpriest and rector of the Vologda Cathedral. The parents of the newly tonsured man, of course, reacted with displeasure to this event, Alexander Semenovich was especially struck by it; his will, on which he so stubbornly insisted, did not come true: all plans for his son’s secular career collapsed, dreams of his brilliant future disappeared. The son, in the eyes of his father, became a useless member of society, having lost everything that his father had given him through his upbringing. A woman's heart, less stubborn in counteracting circumstances and always more pliable in reciprocity, disposed Sofia Afanasyevna to look more favorably on her son's action; but the spiritual side was also alien to her, and worldly concepts took over. All this, of course, meant nothing to the monk, who voluntarily puts himself in a position that makes him forget all worldly connections and family feelings; but the circumstances of the monk Ignatius were not such that this displeasure of his parents was insensitive to him. After tonsure, he had to take refuge in the country house of his uncle and godfather Dimitry Ivanovich Samarin and was forced to accept financial assistance from one of his relatives (Mrs. Voeikova). His stay in Vologda forced him to often move among his relatives and friends; many of them began to visit him and demanded mutual visits from him. Young in years, handsome in appearance, he interested the entire Vologda society, everyone talked about him, everyone wanted to get close to him. This necessarily involved him in worldly distraction and directly contradicted the vows he had just pronounced at the altar. The entire external environment of the desert-loving monk was contrary to his desires; he became bored with the city's rumors and began to ask his patron, the Most Reverend Stephen, to let him go to the Glushitsky Monastery; but the Eminence, intending to give him a place corresponding to his abilities and pious direction, as well as decent in relation to his society, kept him with him. Soon such a place opened: at the end of 1831, the builder of the Pelshem Lopotov Monastery, Hieromonk Joseph, died. Hieromonk Ignatius was entrusted with the burial rite. On January 6, 1832, he was appointed to the place of the deceased, and on the 14th he was given the title of builder, and a legguard was assigned to him. The Lopotov Monastery, founded by the Monk Gregory of Pelshma, the Vologda miracle worker, is located in the Kadnikovsky district of the Vologda province, 40 versts from Vologda and 7 from Kadnikov, located on the banks of the Pelshma River, which flows into the Sukhona, in a forested and swampy area. The monastery was almost in ruins, so it was proposed to abolish it: the church and other buildings were extremely dilapidated, income was meager, there was a shortage of the most necessary food items, and therefore there were very few brethren. It was necessary to put in a lot of work and care to fix everything, renew it, and replenish the poverty in all respects. The new abbot did not lose heart; he set to work with energy. Soon donations began to flow in from the pious residents of Vologda, honoring the memory of St. Gregory; Monastics from those monasteries where the builder Ignatius lived as a novice began to gather in his monastery and in a short time formed a brotherhood of up to 30 people there. The divine service was brought into proper order: the monastery was both externally and internally renewed, becoming unrecognizable compared to the position in which its builder Ignatius assumed it. But what did it cost him?.. According to the stories of one eyewitness who visited the Lopotov Monastery in the winter of 1832, the builder Ignatius was located in the guardhouse at the Holy Gate when the construction of a new abbot's cell was being carried out. Alexander Semenovich's heart softened when he saw his young son in such a rank as befits old age, therefore, promising much ahead. Where the inner, spiritual side could not act, the outer side took over, and it fully exerted its beneficial influence on Sofia Afanasyevna. The builder's son often began to visit his parents' house: his powerful words about the truths of the afterlife conquered the heart of his mother, who was often ill and felt close to death. The mother was nourished by her son's spiritual conversations; her concepts changed: from carnal they became spiritual; She thanked God for having vouchsafed her to have her firstborn among His servants, whereas before she had considered this a great misfortune for herself. Such a change with the parent on the threshold of her life brought joy to the priestly son beyond words. Advised by his edifications and prayers, Sofia Afanasyevna died peacefully on July 25, 1832. The builder Ignatius himself performed the funeral ceremony in the church in the village of Pokrovskoye. It is remarkable that during this service the son did not shed a single tear over the lifeless body of his mother! And this did not come from the restraint befitting the head of the clergy, or from the coldness of a kindred feeling, but constituted a special trait of spiritual character. The feeling was alive in him, filial love for his mother was in its natural measure, but in him the spiritual man was replaced by the spiritual; the feeling of carnal kinship was completely imbued with spiritual love, which prompted us not to regret the temporary loss, but to wish for the only blessed fate of the deceased - in eternity. Therefore, such kindred feelings in the monk Ignatius were never revealed in their usual way; they were reflected in him with deep thought and prayerful, silent reverence with complete external calm. In the Lopotov Monastery, the builder Ignatius had the consolation of meeting and again uniting in residence with his beloved friend Chikhachov. Chikhachov became an active assistant to the builder Ignatius in the construction of the monastery; he had an excellent voice, knew church singing well, and formed a very good singing choir, which greatly contributed to attracting many pilgrims to the monastery. Abbot Ignatius clothed him in a ryasophore and guided him in his spiritual life. Having entered the new position of head of a monastic hostel, Fr. Ignatius was, in the full sense of the word, the Abba of the monastic community. The following excerpt from his ascetic writings shows us the spirit with which he was guided in the work of edifying the monks: “I will say here my wretched word about the Russian monasteries, the word is the fruit of many years of observation. Maybe, written on paper, it will be useful for someone! Monastic life, like Christian life in general, has weakened; monastic life has weakened because it is inextricably linked with the Christian world, which, separating weak Christians into monasticism, cannot demand from monasteries strong monks like the ancients, when Christianity, which lived in the middle of the world, abounded in virtues and spiritual strength. But monasteries, as an institution of the Holy Spirit, emit rays of light on Christianity; there is still food there for the pious; there is still the keeping of the Gospel commandments, there is still strict and dogmatic and moral Orthodoxy; there, although rarely, extremely rarely, the living tablets of the Holy Spirit are found. It is remarkable that all spiritual flowers and fruits grew in those souls who, at a distance from acquaintance inside and outside the monastery, cultivated themselves by reading Scripture and the Holy Fathers, with faith and prayer, animated by humble but powerful repentance. Where there was no such cultivation, there was sterility. What is the exercise of monks, for which is monasticism itself? It consists in studying all the commandments, all the words of the Redeemer, in assimilating them to the mind and heart. The monk becomes a spectator of two human natures: the damaged, sinful nature, which he sees in himself, and the renewed, holy nature, which he sees in the Gospel. The Decalogue of the Old Testament cut off gross sins; the Gospel heals nature itself, which is sick with sin and has acquired sinful properties through the fall. A monk, in the light of the Gospel, must enter into a struggle with himself, with his thoughts, with the feelings of his heart, with the sensations and desires of his body, with a world hostile to the Gospel, with the rulers of the world trying to keep a person in their power and captivity. The omnipotent truth frees him 24; liberated from the slavery of sinful passions, the all-good Holy Spirit imprints, renews, and introduces into the offspring of the New Adam”... 25 His Eminence Stefan of Vologda, seeing the tireless and useful work of the builder Ignatius on the restoration and improvement of the Lopotova monastery, elevated him to the rank of abbot on May 28, 1833; but the swampy terrain of the Lopotov Monastery carried away the last remnants of his health, and finally completely put him to bed. Chikhachov languished in his soul for his abbot and, not seeing any other outcome to the plight, dared to propose to him his idea - to move from the Lopotov Monastery somewhere else. This idea was approved by the abbot, and it was decided that Chikhachov should go to his homeland, the Pskov province, to try to move them to one of the monasteries there. Encouraged by the blessing of his abbot, Chikhachov set off on his deliberate journey. Arriving in St. Petersburg, he turned to Countess Anna Alekseevna Orlova-Chesmenskaya 26, whom he had recently had the opportunity to meet. This was on his first trip from the Lopotov Monastery, when he went to his homeland to organize family affairs; then, for the first time, he met the countess in the Novgorod Yuriev Monastery in the cells of the abbot, the famous Archimandrite Photius 27. The Countess kindly received Chikhachov and donated several books and 800 rubles of money to the Lopotov Monastery. Since then, Brianchaninov and Chikhachov enjoyed the gracious favor of Countess Orlova, which continued until her death. This time, Countess Anna Alekseevna also cordially received Chikhachov, gave him space in her house, provided him with everything he needed, and actively began to work to move Abbot Ignatius from the Lopotov Monastery. Chikhachov, being in the capital in the circle of noble society who visited the countess, intended to return back to the Lopotov Monastery, but the countess restrained him and advised him to introduce himself to Moscow Metropolitan Philaret 28, who was then in St. Petersburg. Chikhachov appeared at the Trinity Compound. The Eminence graciously received the Lopotovsky monk and said: “I am not unaware of the life and qualities of Abbot Ignatius,” and offered him a rector’s position in the Nikolo-Ugreshsky third-class monastery of his diocese if he wished to move there, promising to later deliver the best. Chikhachov thanked the gracious bishop and dared to express to him the fear that Abbot Ignatius would be inconvenient to ask to leave the Vologda diocese himself, since he was tonsured personally by the Vologda bishop, who might be offended by such an act of his tonsure. “Okay,” said the Metropolitan, “I will make a proposal about this at the Synod and hope that they will not refuse me.” The next day, a decree was sent from the Synod to Vologda to His Eminence Stephen about the transfer of the abbot of the Lopotov monastery, Ignatius, to the Nikolo-Ugreshsky monastery, where, upon the surrender of his monastery, he was ordered to be sent immediately. The Reverend Stephen reacted kindly to this event. Having admonished Abbot Ignatius with his blessing for a new official position, he made the following review about him in his relation to the Metropolitan of Moscow on November 28, 1833: “Hegumen Ignatius, after tonsure in 1831, by decree of the Holy Governing Synod, became a monk, being among the fraternity of the third-class Glushitsky monastery, with commendable qualities and education his in the sciences always attracted my special attention, which is why he was taken to the Vologda bishop's house and, after being ordained as a hierodeacon, and then as a hieromonk, was used for cathedral priesthood, where more and more noticing in him excellent abilities, adorned with commendable behavior, in January 6, 1832, I assigned him, Ignatius, to the place of the builder who died in the Lopotov monastery Hieromonk Joseph as a builder, and he, being in this new position entrusted to him, the image of his exemplary life, the establishment of order in the monastery, according to the rules and regulations of the monastery, the precise observation of proper decency in the monastery, drawing special attention to himself from the public, managed to revive zeal in the admirers of the holy monastery and thereby achieved the opportunity to bring the Lopotov monastery, which had already fallen into complete decline and disorder, now in a short time to its best state, such as: 1) the establishment of valuable silver Holy vessels, the Gospel and vestments and many other things for the splendor of church servants and 2) the establishment of abbots' and fraternal cells, and then the amendment of many dilapidated monastery buildings, which was his, Ignatius, useful service for the holy monastery, and, moreover, public reviews about his commendable qualities convinced me this year on May 28, for encouragement him for further similar service, to be promoted to hegumen, with his remaining in the same provincial Lopotov monastery as rector, about which he, Abbot Ignatius, excellent and commendable service for the necessary reason, I decided to bring to the attention of Your Eminence.” Chikhachov, delighted with such a successful outcome of his petition, went from St. Petersburg to his homeland in the Pskov province to visit his parents. Here, soon after his arrival, he receives a letter from Countess Orlova-Chesmenskaya, in which she informs him that all the events in the life of Abbot Ignatius and himself came to the attention of the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich and that His Imperial Majesty deigned to remember his former students and ordered the Metropolitan of Moscow to summon Abbot Ignatius not to Moscow, but to St. Petersburg, for personal presentation to him, and added that if he liked Ignatius as much as before, then he would not give him to Metropolitan Philaret. The Eminence Filaret, in fulfillment of this Highest will, in an official letter dated November 15, 1833 addressed to Bishop Stefan of Vologda, asked him to send Abbot Ignatius directly to St. Petersburg as soon as possible, and in a private handwritten letter to Abbot Ignatius demanded that he, without any delay, come to him in St. Petersburg at the Trinity Compound. “This order must be executed without delay,” wrote the Moscow Bishop, “because this is not my will.” On November 27, Abbot Ignatius handed over the Lopotov Monastery to his treasurer, and on November 30 he left for St. Petersburg. By this time, Chikhachov had also returned there, impatiently awaiting the arrival of his abbot. Arriving in the capital, Abbot Ignatius immediately introduced himself to Metropolitan Philaret, who sheltered him in his Trinity courtyard, where he waited for the time when it would be appointed for him to appear before the Tsar. On the appointed day and hour, Abbot Ignatius introduced himself to the Emperor in the Winter Palace. The Emperor was delighted to see his pupil, “and the joy,” writes Chikhachov, “to appear before the beloved Tsar, the fullness of the grateful feeling for all his royal mercies brought the warm soul of the loyal monk to reverent delight.” After some explanations, the Emperor deigned to say: “I like you as before! You are in my debt for the education I gave you and for my love for you. You did not want to serve me where I intended to place you, you chose the path of your own free will, and on it you will pay me your debt. I give you the Sergius hermitage, I want you to live in it and make a monastery out of it, which in the eyes of the capital would be a model of monasteries.” Then he led the abbot halfway to the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Entering her, he asked her: does she recognize this monk? In response to a negative answer, he called the abbot by his last name. The Empress treated her former pensioner very kindly and forced him to bless all her children. The Emperor immediately deigned to send for the chief prosecutor of the Synod, Nechaev, who reported to His Majesty that Sergius Hermitage has a special purpose: it was given to the suffragan bishop of the St. Petersburg Metropolitan, and the bishop uses its income in return for maintenance from the spiritual administration. Then the Tsar ordered to find out how large the amount of income received by the vicar bishop from the monastery was, and in this amount to issue him the amount from the office, and to hand over the monastery to the full management of the abbot appointed by him. The Chief Prosecutor announced the Highest Will to the Holy Synod, and the Most Reverend Benedict, who was then the suffragan, was given an order from the Synod to hand over the hermitage to Abbot Ignatius, and to receive 4,000 rubles himself. maintenance assignments from the office. At the same time, by order of the Synod, Abbot Ignatius was elevated to the rank of archimandrite, which was performed in the Kazan Cathedral on January 1, 1834, and on the 5th of the same month, the new abbot left for his monastery, accompanied by Chikhachov and the 22-year-old young man Ioann Malyshev, who had just been accepted into his cell, who later, 23 years later, became the successor of his elder in the abbotship of the monastery with the rank of archimandrite. Abbot Ignatius's intention to move from the Lopotov Monastery had a purely physical reason. His broken body needed a climate, if not southern, then at least dry and not swampy. Happy with the attention of the Moscow ruler, he would have been content with the Nikolo-Ugreshsky monastery; but the sovereign will put him on broader activities. In terms of climate, the area of ​​the Sergius Hermitage did not even offer the amenities that the Lopotov Monastery possessed. The coastal side of the Gulf of Finland, the waves of which spread in sight of the monastery itself, could in no way serve to restore physical strength. In spiritual and moral terms, the new place of residence was much more inconvenient compared to the previous one; it required extreme spiritual achievement, since it was surrounded by the thorns of everyday rumors and vanity, which inevitably had to hurt the spiritual person. Only a living faith in the Providence of God and a good conscience in fulfilling the monastic vow of obedience, which Archimandrite Ignatius showed to the Royal will, could support him when entering this new field. He entered there like a true monk; an enemy of personal interests, he cared only about the good of the monastery entrusted to him. As a loyal subject and monk, he firmly decided to exactly fulfill the will of his beloved Monarch, making the desert entrusted to him an exemplary abode in all respects. Sergius Hermitage, founded in 1734 and located near St. Petersburg itself, a little away from the current Peterhof railway, was, as said, under the control of suffragan bishops. This administrative situation was far from favorable to its material condition, and the proximity of the capital made it a crossroads for passing metropolitan residents, which had a very unfavorable effect on the spiritual life of the monastery brotherhood. The monastery buildings, from the Church of St. Sergius to the last monastic services, were neglected long ago. In the church, when they began to amend it, only one wall turned out to be suitable; the abbot's building, rotted inside, almost did not exist, it was locked and could not be heated; There was no room for the newly arrived abbot at all, and he was forced to stay in an invalid's home, built at the monastery at the expense of the Counts Zubovs and supported by them. There he was allocated two rooms, in which he stayed with eight brethren, actually monks; the entire former brotherhood of the monastery that he found before him consisted of thirteen people: eight monastics, three novices and two subordinates. Despite such a small number of brethren, among them there was no order befitting a monastery. Material neglect and moral depravity reigned in full force. The new abbot found St. Sergius Hermitage in this situation. The monastery required such an abbot. Through the destinies of Providence, or the prayers of St. Sergius, a hundred years from its foundation, its restoration began, both material and spiritual. The representative personality of the abbot and his ascetic spirituality corresponded to the position of the monastery and the purpose with which he accepted it. But the labors and concerns for external renewal and improvement, and relationships of all kinds with higher and lower ones, left their mark on the sickly and strictly active monk. By his own admission, the sorrows from people that had hitherto befallen him were “moderate.” “To test them,” he says in his “Lamentation,” “a special field was needed. By the incomprehensible destinies of Providence, I was placed in that monastery, neighboring the northern capital, which, when I lived in the capital, I did not even want to see, considering it completely inconsistent with my spiritual goals. In 1833 I was summoned to Sergius Hermitage and made its rector. Sergiev Pustyn received me inhospitably. In the first year after arriving there I was struck by a serious illness, the next year by another, the third by a third; they took away the remnants of my meager health and strength, made me exhausted, constantly suffering. Here envy, slander, and slander arose and hissed; here I was subjected to severe, lengthy, humiliating punishments, without trial, without the slightest examination, like a dumb animal, like an insensitive idol; here I saw enemies breathing with irreconcilable malice and a thirst for my destruction” 29. From this essay introduction by Fr. Archimandrite Ignatius to the new monastery, it is clear that from the very beginning his abbot’s activity was to be divided into two branches: according to external structure and internal deanery. The abbot's first task was the restoration of the Church of St. Sergius and a major renovation of the body of the abbot's cells. This is what he wrote in 1834 in his petition to the then St. Petersburg Metropolitan Seraphim for permission to carry out the necessary constructions and corrections in the monastery: “Inspecting the monastery buildings, I found them absolutely in a very unfavorable position. My predecessors in the management of the monastery, the Right Reverend Bishops of Revel, saw this state of affairs, and therefore prepared in advance a sum of money (up to 50 thousand rubles in banknotes) and a significant amount of brick, with the indispensable goal of repairing dilapidated buildings and building new ones.” The work began with the permission of the St. Petersburg diocesan authorities, who were allowed to use the collected 50 thousand rubles in banknotes and prepared bricks. Countess Orlova also helped a lot with her generous donations. The church and the building of the abbot’s cells, as single-facade buildings, were connected by a new two-story building, on the upper floor of which an extensive fraternal meal was very conveniently arranged, and on the lower floor there was a kitchen, a bakery and other utility rooms.” During the construction of these buildings, in the same summer of 1834, the Sovereign Emperor completely unexpectedly visited the monastery. Arriving from Peterhof at about 6 o'clock in the afternoon, he entered the church alone and asked the monk he met: “Is the archimandrite at home? Tell him that his former comrade wants to see him.” The archimandrite came, accompanied by his constant comrade, Fr. Mikhail Chikhachov. The Tsar treated them graciously and kindly, asked about their third comrade Fedorov, who had entered the monastery with them, and in response to the answer that Fedorov had returned to the world and was again in the service, he remarked: “Apparently, the monastery bread seemed dry to him, but to you,” he turned to Chikhachov, who had grown significantly fatter, he went for the future. – At the same time, the Empress and the Sovereign Heir arrived. Naturally, a lot of people gathered, and all these people witnessed the paternal attention that always constituted a distinctive feature in the relations of the late Emperor to the deceased Bishop Ignatius. Then the Emperor deigned to inspect in detail the buildings being built and found it necessary to restore the cathedral church, for which he ordered the archimandrite to submit an estimate in the order of official instances. The presented estimate was approved on December 25, 1835, and according to the state list, it was assigned to issue 96,808 rubles from the treasury of the St. Petersburg State Chamber. 19 kopecks for the restoration of the Trinity Cathedral Church. The restoration was completed in 1838, and in 1842 rich choirs were built in this church with the amount donated by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. The abbot's first concern for the internal spiritual well-being of the monastery was the establishment of a strict order in everything, according to the monastery regulations: church services began to be performed in orderly order, with greatness and solemnity, which complemented attractive choral singing, intelligible reading, decorous standing, worship according to position and generally decorous movements, decorous presence at meals, very decent clothing; and neatness and cleanliness in everything gave the entire atmosphere an appearance of grace, combined with simplicity, which ennobled the very morals of the monks. The abbot delved into everyone's cell life, encouraged them to spend their time savingly in reading monastic books, to carry out all possible labors according to obedience, carried the spirit of true monasticism into the brotherhood, disposing everyone to attention, to accepting advice and edification in moral life, to organizing themselves according to the guidance of the patristic writings. He communicated to the brotherhood his way of thinking and views on monasticism, was the father and mentor of everyone, accepting them for the revelation of thoughts, for the creation and spiritual mood. Doors of the cell about. Archimandrite were opened; they entered freely from elderly monastic clergy to young novices, as a result of which the entire brotherhood began to form one great family, ruled by one father, bound by a union of consent and spiritual unity, animated and guided by the high teaching of the father-mentor. Especially, says Chikhachov, the abbot’s activities were helped by his ability to choose people and his knowledge of the human heart, with which he knew how to tie people to the work entrusted to them. He sought to develop in a person devotion to the work entrusted to him and encouraged it with approval and even awards and promotions. Surrounding himself with people with abilities and strengths, he quickly achieved his goals and brought his intentions to precise fulfillment. There were many labors, obstacles, failures, sorrows and temptations both for the abbot himself and for the brethren who came with him; The very inconvenience of the location of the monastery, standing at a lively crossroads of suburban dwellings of the capital, was for them a heavy internal cross, invisible to the eyes of the world. Here Archimandrite Ignatius, experimentally teaching his spiritual children the internal bearing of the cross, which is the lot of every pious Christian, and especially the monk, himself served for them as an example of complacent patience and uncomplaining bearing of his cross, in which, with the assistance of grace, he achieved such great spiritual strength that such bearing of the cross was kind to him in many cases. Thus, continuing the above article of “Lamentation,” he says about himself: “Here the Merciful Lord vouchsafed me to know the joy and peace of the soul inexpressible in words; here He vouchsafed me to taste spiritual love and sweetness while I met my enemy who was looking for my head, and the face of this enemy became in my eyes like the face of a bright Angel. I learned through experience the mysterious meaning of Christ’s silence before Pilate and the Jewish bishops. What a joy it is to be a victim like Jesus! Or not! What a joy it is to be crucified near the Savior, as the blessed thief was once crucified, and together with this thief, from the conviction of the soul, to confess: “I accept it worthily according to my deeds: remember me, Lord, in Thy Kingdom 30 . In the “Word of Consolation to the Sorrowing Monks,” the spiritual crusader teaches this subject, which, one might say, constitutes the daily bread of true monastic life: “Let us follow Christ! Let us humble ourselves like Him! Like Him, we will not refuse to be known as flatterers and madmen; we will not spare our honor, we will not turn away our faces from being spat on and our cheeks from being blown; Let us not seek glory, beauty, or pleasures that belong to this world; Let us make our earthly journey as pilgrims who have nowhere to lay our heads; let us accept, let us accept reproach, humiliation and contempt from people as integral accessories of our chosen path; Let us openly and secretly fight the thoughts of pride, and vigorously overthrow these thoughts of our old man, who seeks to revive his “I” under various plausible pretexts. Then the Son of God, who said to dwell in them and walk 31, will appear in our hearts and give us the power and strength to bind the strong one, to plunder his vessels, to step on the asp and basilisk, to trample them. Let us reject grumbling, reject complaints about our fate, reject heartfelt sadness and melancholy, from which weak souls suffer more than from sorrows themselves. Let us reject all thoughts of revenge and repaying evil for evil. Vengeance is mine, I will repay 32, said the Lord. Do you want to endure sorrows with ease and comfort? May death for Christ be desirable to you. May this death be constantly before your eyes. Mortify yourself daily by abstaining from all sinful desires of the flesh and spirit; mortify yourself by rejecting your will and rejecting self-justifications brought by the false mind and evil conscience of the old man; kill yourself by vividly imagining and painting your inevitable death. We are given the commandment to follow Christ by taking up our cross. This means that we must always be ready to die for Christ with joy and gladness." “Whoever wants to die for Christ, what misfortune, what insult will he not endure generously?” 33 Along with the necessary buildings and the establishment of orders within the monastery, the rector, Archimandrite Ignatius, had to turn his activities to other areas of its improvement, namely land ownership and agriculture. Upon taking over the management of the monastery, he did not find a single boundary mark on the monastery land. According to the records management of the monastery, it turned out that all the land that was acquired by purchase by the founder of the hermitage was illegally used by the economic peasants of the village of Podmonastyrskaya Sloboda, while the monastery had only 25 1/2 acres occupied by vegetable gardening and mowing - and that all the efforts of the monastery to restore its rights to this land, despite the indisputability of its documents, remained unsuccessful. In 1835, the archimandrite entered with a petition for the restoration of boundary markers on the monastery land and for the speedy analysis of the rights to own land incorrectly appropriated by the peasants, as well as for the allotment of a forest plot to the monastery, in accordance with the Highest command announced on June 4, 1835, by virtue of which monasteries, in order to maintain their methods of existence, should be allocated for the establishment of agricultural farming from approximately 100 to 150 acres of land. The dispute over the land with the peasants was resolved in 1836 by the fact that although the land was recognized as belonging to the monastery, but in view of the difficulty of moving out of it for the peasants who had settled on it since 1765, it was necessary, by agreement with the abbot, to divide the land into two parts: the eastern side, on which the monastery stands, along the line from north to south, should be given to it, and the western side, on which the peasants settled, should be given to them. Consent to this concession is perfectly expressed by the rector in his letter to the former Secretary of State about accepting petitions to Prince A. N. Golitsyn. “Your Excellency,” wrote the archimandrite, “your usual condescension inspires me with the courage to bother you with a most humble request, however, very easy for you; it is as follows: our monastery has long been conducting a process regarding the land, according to the deeds of sale, the plan and the boundary book of the general survey, which belongs to it, but is disputed by state-owned peasants who settled on it without permission. The Minister of Finance, having examined the case, although he found that the land in all fairness belonged to the Sergius Desert, however, finding it difficult to resettle the peasants, he decided to divide the land as follows: the side on which the monastery stands should be given to the monastery, and on which the peasants settled - to the peasants. This opinion was submitted to the Committee of Ministers. I think that the Monk Sergius would better agree to cede part of his property than to cause grief to the peasants by relocating them, to which these simple people obey in no other way than by indulging in inconsolable sadness and bitter tears. Therefore, I, the confidant of St. Sergius, both in this matter and in others related to his monastery, must consider the benevolence of my Superior and the decision of the Minister of Finance to be satisfied. Support this decision in the Committee of Ministers. This is the entire request to Your Excellency from the trustee of the monastery, St. Sergius.” While conducting the case of land ownership, the abbot made an economic start by stopping the rental of a small plot of land that remained in the possession of the monastery, started gardening on it, improved the gardening, and significantly added apple trees to the garden. The dacha, cut off as a monastic property and left without any cultivation from the very beginning of the litigation, was overgrown with bushes and turned into a swamp. Cleaning and draining the swamp took one year. Having decided to ensure the maintenance of the monastery by introducing rational agriculture, Archimandrite Ignatius asked Metropolitan Seraphim for permission to borrow 45,000 rubles from the capital of the theological schools commission, with payment of capital and interest in installments for 8 years. This amount was needed for the establishment of cattle breeding, agricultural implements, work horses, hiring people and other economic needs and buildings. According to the Highest permission, the commission released only 30,000 rubles, but the contribution of Fr. Mikhail Chikhachov, who donated 40,000 rubles. banknotes at the personal, unaccountable disposal of the archimandrite, provided a means to complete this matter and achieve the possible expansion and improvement of cattle breeding and all agriculture. The monastery began to use vegetables from its gardens all year round; There was often enough rye bread for the whole year, despite the significantly increasing number of brethren, for the huge expenditure of it for distribution to pilgrims on holidays and for food for all monastery workers; There was so much oats and hay that they were sold annually for an amount of from one to one and a half thousand rubles. Cattle breeding provided abundant dairy products for the fraternal meal; except for farmstead agricultural buildings, which cost up to 20,000 rubles. banknotes, with a barn for drying bread and with sheds for clover - other necessary wooden buildings were made at the monastery. Improvements and expansion of the economy and income from pilgrims, who flocked in large numbers to the monastery, made it possible to support a larger number of brethren, the need for which was increased both by the pilgrims themselves and by the frequent demands of the authorities to send hieromonks to naval service. The archimandrite began to ask the diocesan authorities in 1836 to increase the staff of monastics by six hieromonks. The Holy Synod, at whose discretion this matter was submitted, on May 23, 1836, made the following determination: “Taking into account,” wrote the Synod, “that the Sergius Hermitage, being near the capital, is visited by many pilgrims, that under the administration of the current abbot, the moral state of the brethren, piety and order between them and in the church service itself are noticeably improving and that its monastics are often sent to the navy for naval campaigns, the Holy Synod found it fair and useful, instead of what was proposed by the diocesan authorities, only to increase the staff of hieromonks in this desert by six people, to elevate it from the second to the first class, assigning to it a staff of people and contents common to first-class monasteries, and thereby providing the desert with a way to prepare a larger number of good monastics, to support its dignity in the opinion of the people who flock there to pray.” – This decree, which expresses recognition by the highest spiritual government of the modern prosperity of the Sergius monastery, was, according to the Most Submissive Report, Supremely approved on June 3, 1836. The consequence of this was a rapid increase in the number of brethren, which by 1837 had already reached 42 people. There was not enough room for everyone. The providence of God soon showed help: around this time, Makarov, who came from St. Petersburg merchants, entered the desert and died in this desert as a schema-monk. He donated all his acquired capital, amounting to 50,000 rubles, to the monastery. banknotes. Of this amount, 40,000 were spent on the construction in 1840 of a large wooden building of fraternal cells inside the monastery fence on a stone foundation; 10,000 went to meet the essential needs of the monastery. The range of activities of Archimandrite Ignatius was further expanded by his appointment on June 22, 1838 as dean of all monasteries of the St. Petersburg diocese. He carried out this service until his departure to the episcopal see. And in this service, he acquired the general trust and respect of both the abbots of the monasteries and the monastic brethren, uniting for everyone in his person both a reasonably firm representative of the administrative authorities, and, for those seeking spiritual advice, an elder, an experienced leader, always ready to lovingly help his neighbor with spiritual advice and a word of spiritual consolation. The love for serving monks by his own example and writings did not spontaneously kindle and blaze in Archimandrite Ignatius: he believed in his calling from Above to this service and treated it as a Divine work, trying to deepen the talent given to him; and therefore such love in him triumphed over all the vicissitudes of life. The spirit of living faith in the providence of God hovered in him, which was felt by all who knew him and which is clearly visible from his creations. He recognized that the life of a person who completely surrenders himself to the guidance of Providence is located according to a certain Divine plan, the prototype of which is inscribed in the sacred events of the chosen people of God. Looking at monastic life as a wandering through the earthly desert and preparation for entering the promised land of eternity, he taught that one must contemplate this eternity even during this earthly existence in order to ensure one’s entry into it outside the tomb. This was not a simple, superficial assimilation, but a consciousness acquired by spiritual activity, of which he saw striking examples in himself; often, when the natural source of his good desires dried up from the heat of passions and storms of life, he found in himself new keys of blessed thoughts, suddenly flowing out and renewing his exhausted strength; The bitterness of life was dissolved by the grace-filled power of patience and through this became sweet, pleasant to the spiritual taste. He had a special gift to look at everything spiritually; the slightest cases, apparently insignificant circumstances, often received a deep spiritual meaning from him and always found an echo in the moral teaching that guided him; they provided abundant food to his mind and heart, and often in a wondrous melody the words were heard from his spiritual and poetic lyre. These are his works: “Blessed is the Man”, “Song under the Canopy of the Cross”, “Prayer of the Person Persecuted by Men”, “The Lament of a Monk” and many others. From these features of spiritual calling and mood, it is clear that expressing oneself in writing was the spiritual need of Archimandrite Ignatius. Trying to reveal the essence of monastic life, Archimandrite Ignatius strived to personify in himself and through the painting of words depicted to others the spiritual beauty of the morals of ancient Egyptian monasticism, which was the ideal of his life. Monasticism, according to the teachings and examples of the Holy Fathers, mainly Egyptian, was his cherished thought from childhood. Guided by this teaching, he nurtured a love for cinenial monasticism, unparalleled in our time, and this love was quite meaningful: he looked at the novice monasticism as the foundation of ascetic science, where monastic morals are born and developed; and in general on monasticism as a science of sciences. In this spirit, he instructed everyone who was disposed to enter monasticism and, by the force of his own desire for his high ideals, produced a powerful influence on young souls, not spoiled by life. He willingly accepted such people into spiritual kinship with himself and guided his experienced, spirit-bearing word, which was so effective that it converted hearts, removed many years of experience, weakened habits, and changed the morals of many. Archimandrite Ignatius possessed the ability to accept confession of thoughts, which is a very rare phenomenon in our time; versatile experience, deep insight, constant and accurate self-observation made him skillful in healing spiritual scabs, which he always touched with the thinnest chisel of the spiritual word. Knowing how to control himself in all the incidents of life, without losing heart in the most embarrassing circumstances, he imparted the same firmness to those who confessed their thoughts to him: the oppressive sadness after his confession seemed to them an empty ghost. The correct view of the passionate nature of man - the fruit of many years of introspection, set out by him in the article "The Attitude of a Christian to His Passions" 35 - served as a source of consolation for his pupils; it forced them, when revealing their thoughts, to speak out with complete freedom, trust and fearlessness; they always heard an answer that completely reconciled them with themselves; often an example from the elder’s own life, or a reference to some event described in books, came so close to the case being confessed that there was no doubt or bewilderment left in the soul of the person confessing; the student always left with consolation from the elder. Confession of thoughts by a new monk to an elder has always been the basis of monastic life; she was included, as an indispensable condition, in the circle of spiritual education of Archimandrite Ignatius. The struggle with thoughts is painful, especially at the beginning of the feat, when the newcomer has not yet learned to fight against them with the weapon of prayer; the mood of oneself for the edification of a book is useful and necessary, but not enough. It is difficult for a young person to guide himself along the spiritual path without an example in mind; and the enemy especially strongly advocates precisely against those who choose a monastery with the direct goal of salvation, rejecting all worldly advantages and benefits: for such, spiritual guidance through the living word, during confession of thoughts, is a true find; it serves as a bulwark against the slander of the enemy and makes one’s own will stable. All this is good in the case when the elder is so wise and experienced that he is able to understand the thoughts that are revealed and comprehend their causes and consequences; otherwise his advice will act destructively, like medicine given incorrectly. The improvement of the spiritual life of the novice is also facilitated by the fact that his elder is at the head of management: where there is multiple leadership or the dependence of the elder, there is lack of freedom in spiritual relations. Archimandrite Ignatius combined in himself both, that is, spiritual wisdom and external power, and therefore living under his leadership and in his monastery was a precious acquisition for those who sought to become monastics wisely. Despite his illness, he took the trouble to listen to the confession of his thoughts every day; His disciples even had the habit of keeping a daily record of them, and they revealed their thoughts sincerely, with directness, because the elder was able to accept such a confession completely dispassionately. The benefits of confessing thoughts were obvious to everyone. At the same time, the elder did not subject his disciples to painful tests, but conformed to each one’s physical abilities and mental development, so that the state under his spiritual guidance was even favorable, both physically and morally. Here is the opinion of Elder Ignatius himself about the confession of thoughts, based on strict adherence to the teachings of the Holy Fathers: “All the Fathers agree that the new monk must reject sinful thoughts and dreams at the very beginning, without entering into debate, below 36 into conversation with them. To repel sinful thoughts and dreams, the Fathers offer two tools: 1) immediate confession of thoughts and dreams to the elder and 2) immediate appeal to God with the warmest prayer for the driving away of invisible enemies. The Monk Cassian says: always observe the head of the serpent, that is, the beginning of thoughts, and immediately tell them to the elder; then you will learn to trample on the evil undertakings of the serpent, when you are not ashamed to reveal them, without exception, to your elder. This image of the struggle against demonic thoughts and dreams was common to all new monks in the flourishing times of monasticism. The novices, who were constantly with their elders, confessed their thoughts at all times, as can be seen from the life of the Monk Dositheus, and the novices, who came to their elder at a certain time, confessed their thoughts once a day, in the evening, as can be seen from the “Ladder” and other Fatherly books. The ancient monks recognized the confession of their thoughts and the guidance of the advice of a spirit-bearing elder as a necessity, without which it is impossible to be saved... The instructions of a spirit-bearing elder constantly lead the new monk along the path of the Gospel commandments, and nothing separates him more from sin and the beginning of sin - the demon, than constant and strong confession of sin in its very beginnings. Such a confession establishes irreconcilable enmity between man and demon, which is salutary for man. Such a confession, destroying double-mindedness or hesitation between love for God and love for sin, gives extraordinary strength to good will, and therefore extraordinary speed to the success of the monk, as can be seen again from the life of the Monk Dositheus. Those monks who could not act against sin through constant and frequent confession of sinful thoughts due to the lack of an elder, acted against it through constant and frequent prayer” 37 . In the winter of 1846, Archimandrite Ignatius remained hopelessly in his cell due to a serious illness, and with the onset of spring 1847, he submitted a petition to resign from his position as abbot and retire to the Nikolo-Babaevsky Monastery of the Kostroma Diocese. Instead of retirement, he was allowed only an 11-month leave to improve his health to the Babaevsky monastery indicated by him. After the archimandrite left for this vacation, the Sovereign Emperor, having met Chikhachov one day, asked about the health of his comrade and ordered him to write to him that he was impatiently awaiting his return. In the summer of 1847, Archimandrite Ignatius arrived at the Nikolo-Babaevsky Monastery, where he began serious treatment. He was assigned cells, which consisted of four small rooms, on a separate mezzanine above the abbot’s cells. This room, separated from other housing, was very convenient for silence. On one side, from the windows of the cell, a majestic view of the vast area irrigated by the Volga River opened up, and presented a delightful sight for the hermit in moments of rest. Here Archimandrite Ignatius wrote many spiritual edifying letters to various people, including a number of letters to a certain monk Leonid, entitled: “To a monk engaged in smart work.” The article “Borodinsky Monastery” was written here, which was not included in the collected works; The reason for writing this article was the Archimandrite’s visit to the Borodino Monastery, on his way to the Babaevsky Monastery, at the invitation of the then abbess, Abbess Maria Tuchkova. After 11 months, in 1848, Archimandrite Ignatius returned to Sergius Hermitage. Prolonged silence in solitary stay, on Babayki, disposed him even more towards complete hermitage, which he constantly strived for. Having suffered a great loss in the death of his beloved Monarch, Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, and not abandoning his intention to retire, Archimandrite Ignatius in 1856 undertook a trip to the monastery of Optina Hermitage solely with the goal of arranging the desired stay there in silence. He had already completely agreed with the Optina abbot about preparing a cell for himself in the monastery and about remodeling it, gave 200 rubles as a deposit and returned to St. Petersburg, where, due to circumstances beyond his control, he had to postpone for an indefinite period the execution of his thought about relocating to retirement and surrender his further fate to the will of God. In 1856, St. Petersburg Metropolitan Nikanor died; Metropolitan Gregory, appointed in his place, knew Archimandrite Ignatius well and even had a spiritually close relationship with him, and therefore, as a benefit for the Church of God, he offered him the episcopal see in Stavropol in the Caucasus. Upon receipt of the Highest permission, on October 23, 1857, the naming of Archimandrite Ignatius as Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea took place in the Holy Synod, and on the 27th, the consecration itself took place in the Kazan Cathedral with a very large gathering of people. The next day, the newly installed bishop celebrated the Liturgy in the Lavra Cross Church and then spent three days of the next month in the Sergius Desert. On November 2, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna visited the hermitage - “to say goodbye to Bishop Ignatius,” as she deigned to put it. On November 3, Sunday, Bishop Ignatius served the Divine Liturgy in the desert, took part in a common fraternal meal and, having said goodbye to everyone, finally left the Sergius Hermitage. He moved to the Nevsky Lavra. On November 4, by appointment of the Dowager Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Bishop Ignatius traveled to Tsarskoye Selo to present himself to Her Majesty. The Empress deigned to receive him in her office, and granted him a panagia decorated with diamonds and rubies, saying: “With the permission of the Sovereign, I give you this panagia in memory of me and the late Sovereign.” On November 9th, the bishop took leave of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich and Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna, and had a long spiritual conversation with the Grand Duchess, and on the 10th, in Tsarskoe Selo, he had the good fortune of taking leave first of the Sovereign, then of the Empress especially, in their halves, while the Empress was pleased to speak with him very seriously about monasticism in general and about Sergius Desert in particular. On the 17th, His Grace took part in the consecration of Solovetsky Archimandrite Alexander as Bishop of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory. In the same service, the abbot of the Sergius Hermitage, Hieromonk Ignatius, was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and, on the recommendation of Bishop Ignatius and the unanimous desire of the brotherhood, was appointed rector of the hermitage. Having lived in the Sergius Desert for twenty-four years, Bishop Ignatius left it in a very prosperous state. During his administration, the monastery was decorated with three new magnificent churches. Of the monastic students of Archimandrite Ignatius Brianchaninov, the Sergius Hermitage gave sixteen abbots: ten archimandrites, five abbots and one builder. Bishop Ignatius, during his long tenure in the Sergius Desert, not only did not accumulate any capital for himself, but reached such a lack of money that upon his departure he did not even have his own funds for a long journey. He was always extremely generous in alms; I didn’t refuse anyone if I had something to give; when there was no money, he gave them things, so the cell attendants tried to give the petitioners money as much as possible, warning the petitioners against personal relationships with the archimandrite. Therefore, when it was necessary to leave St. Petersburg, the bishop was forced to resort for financial assistance to one person close to him in spiritual relations, who provided him with an allowance of a thousand rubles. On November 25 he left St. Petersburg and on the 26th arrived in Moscow, from where he went to the Sergius Lavra. After staying in Moscow for a week, he went to Kharkov and Rostov (on the Don), stayed in provincial cities with diocesan bishops, at their invitation he celebrated liturgy in Kursk and Kharkov, stopped at the Svyatogorsk Monastery and on December 24, in the morning, left Bakhmut along the dry summer road. On Christmas night he was caught in the steppe by a terrible snowstorm, which put his life in great danger. Only at seven o'clock in the morning, on December 25, did he somehow reach his home, in a sleigh in which the clergy of the nearest village went to look for him, notified by the coachmen, who left the carriage in the steppe and galloped on horseback to the ringing of bells to seek help. On January 4, 1858, at four o'clock in the afternoon, Bishop Ignatius arrived in Stavropol Caucasus. There was no bishop's house; The newly arrived Vladyka stayed in the apartment prepared for him in the house of the merchant Stasenkov. There was a small wooden house, similar to a hut, which 14 years earlier was donated by the Stavropol merchant Volobuev for the temporary quarters of the first bishop Jeremiah. Attached to the same hut was the same simple half of two small rooms, called the hall and the living room, the latter also served as a prayer room for the bishop, since a window and the entrance door to the small stone Church of the Cross attached to this hut were made from it. Then this poor little house fell into extreme ruin, so that the citizens were ashamed to accept a bishop into it; Moved by goodwill, they rented a decent apartment for him at their own expense. On the day of his arrival, the Right Reverend received in his apartment the clergy of the cathedral, citizens with bread and salt, and the head of the province, Lieutenant General A.A. Volotsky; in the evening I listened to the all-night vigil at home, and the next day (Sunday), January 5, served the Liturgy in the row cathedral church. On the day of Epiphany, after the Liturgy, he blessed the water in the pool located in the middle of the city, with a significant gathering of troops, with the sprinkling of banners and with a large crowd of people who received the Bishop warmly. The Stavropol diocese, completely unsettled, required great work from His Grace Ignatius. It was established around 1840. Its first bishop was Jeremiah, who, out of jealousy for Orthodoxy, treated the schismatics too harshly, of whom there were a very significant number in the Caucasian linear Cossack army. As a result, the Caucasian line authorities petitioned for the removal of the line Cossack population from the department of the diocesan bishop and for its transfer to the jurisdiction of the chief priest of the Caucasian army. Thus, in the newly established diocese, out of the five hundred thousand souls that made up its flock, half left the administration of the bishop, who in no way suspected the possibility of such a separation. Since this diocese was placed in the third-class category, its bishop had to be supported on a salary of 285 rubles. silver per year. In view of the fact that such an amount was extremely insufficient for the newly opened department, which required the necessary arrangement in everything, the Holy Synod decided to temporarily allocate 1000 rubles from the synodal sums to the bishop. silver per year pocket money and 1500 rubles. silver for the maintenance of the bishop's house, until the complete establishment of the department. The Right Reverend Ignatius found in Stavropol, as noted above, the civil governor of Volotsky, a Vologda native, his childhood peer, with whom he came to St. Petersburg at the same time to be appointed to serve; the chief of the troops was Lieutenant General Philipson, a very pious man, and the governor was Prince A.I. Baryatinsky. Soon Volotskoy went on vacation and his place was taken by the Stavropol vice-governor P. A. Brianchaninov, the bishop’s brother. When departing from St. Petersburg, the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod, Count A.P. Tolstoy, assured the Right Reverend that he would continue to receive those benefits from the Synod that his predecessors received, but, despite the repeated request, not a single one of the previously mentioned salaries was ever given; Meanwhile, the bishop would have had nothing to live for if special random circumstances, such as a rapprochement first with a childhood friend, then with his own brother, had not given him the opportunity to make up for his shortcomings. By the time Bishop Ignatius arrived at the see, the bishop's house was given only full-time ministers, a piece of arable land, about two hundred acres away from the city, and a forest dacha near the city, of which it is part of one part, adjoining St. Andrew's Church, which belongs to the bishop's house, where the suffragan bishop is now located. With this forest dacha, the bishop's house had to take charge of a controversial case with a private individual who had seized the land in this dacha on which he had set up a brick factory. The first thing the bishop did was to thank the citizens of the city for their concern for his premises, and he presented them with the inconvenience of living for him, surrounded by monks, in the secular house of a family man, and asked them to help him arrange at least a small room at the Church of the Cross instead of the above-mentioned collapsed hut. The citizens eagerly agreed. An amount of more than 4 thousand rubles was immediately collected, and with the opening of spring, the construction of a wooden house on a stone foundation with eight rooms with a ninth prayer room began. This house housed a bishop, two hieromonks, several novices and servants. At the same time, the bishop made an agreement with the civil governor about an agreement to manage the state peasants to replace the full-time ministers who dressed up as the chamber with an annual contribution of money at a local reduced reference price of 40 rubles per year per worker. This agreement, presented to the Caucasian governor, was approved; in the same way, according to the Highest command, requested by the governor, the lands assigned by law to the bishop's houses were replaced with an annual corresponding monetary salary to the Caucasian bishop's house from the quitrent collections of the chamber of state property. This was the limit of the improvement in the maintenance of the bishop during the tenure of the Most Reverend Ignatius at the Stavropol See. Seeing his ideas to the Holy Synod about increasing the means of subsistence being disrespected for various reasons, Bishop Ignatius petitioned about this directly to the governor of the Caucasus, Prince Baryatinsky, presenting to him the full position of the Bishop of the Caucasus, a beggar, according to the means of support that were determined for him personally (285 rubles. silver annual salary), and placed in an administrative position that certainly requires an appropriate external environment and some independence in material resources; at the same time, the staff of the Taurida diocese was presented to the viceroy, following the example of which the bishop asked to determine the content of the Caucasian department. “I am not concerned about this salary for myself,” the Right Reverend wrote to the Prince, “for I will undoubtedly no longer be around when this idea of ​​mine is resolved, but I am concerned for the cause itself; It is better to close the see than to leave it in such a beggarly position, forcing officials and persons like the bishop to seek improper means of livelihood.” This petition, supported by the participation of the field marshal, was crowned with success, but only when His Eminence Ignatius left the Caucasian see, now one of the most secure in material terms. The first concern of Bishop Ignatius in managing his flock was the organization of worship in the proper church order and the restoration of proper relations between the clergy and the people, both in cities and in villages. He himself was friendly, simple and direct in his dealings with the clergy, constantly taking care of their life, education and mutual relations befitting the priesthood; carefully entered into the actions of the dean, into the moral state of those who were subjected to punishments and reprimands, trying, as much as possible, to separate the official guilt of a person from his family circumstances and all household needs. At the end of August, the Right Reverend toured the southeastern part of the diocese, visited the cities of Mozdok and Kizlyar and returned to Stavropol through the villages of the eastern part of the province, where he moved into a newly built house for the winter. Bishop Ignatius also paid attention to the education of youth in the educational institutions under his jurisdiction. Thus, he found it necessary to limit the penalties that were customary in these schools by proposing to the seminary board that educators pay more attention to the moral side of penalties, develop conscientiousness in children and youths, as a better guarantee of their good behavior, and carefully discuss the veracity of punishments, balancing them with guilt; so that these punishments are reasonable and humane, without being carried away by anger or ardor. With the onset of spring 1859, His Grace Ignatius was very sympathetic to the matter of improving the life of the peasants with the abolition of serfdom. He was deeply upset by the crooked interpretation of the will of the Sovereign Liberator, the distortion of the meaning of the words “freedom” - “will”, bestowed by the favor of the Monarch on his subjects. On this occasion, the Eminence made two proposals, sent circularly throughout the diocese: both set out the Gospel view of the matter, and invited the clergy to be guided by this view in cases of communication with parishioners, when they would seek advice or admonition regarding the peasant issue. In the summer of the same year, the Right Reverend toured the western part of his diocese; visited the parishes and monasteries of the Black Sea region and lived in Taman for about two months. In the fall, he began searching for and arranging new premises for the seminary, which was located in a house rented under a contract, cramped and uncomfortable, which was already approaching the original rental date. With the assistance of the local civil authorities, a very profitable long-term rental of private houses for this establishment took place in the mountainous and healthiest part of the city, next to the Church of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called, in the bishop's forest dacha, adjacent in this place to the main shopping area of ​​the city. Many investigative cases that were pending, many long-standing displeasures between parishioners and the clergy, and an even greater number of cases that arose from non-peaceful clashes between county civil authorities and ecclesiastical authorities, were either ended by peace agreements, or dismantled and resolved; out of many of them, only an insignificant number of unfinished ones remained, so that in general we can say that the diocese was brought to complete prosperity. But sorrows did not leave to haunt Bishop Ignatius even in this position, and the death of Metropolitan Gregory deprived him of the closest person who took a friendly part in him. In addition, he suffered from a very serious illness: smallpox combined with severe fever. His recovery dragged on for a long time, his strength began to noticeably weaken, he decided to ask directly for rest in the already familiar Nikolo-Babaevsky monastery; at the end of July 1861, he submitted a report to the Synod and addressed a letter to the Sovereign Emperor. Here is the content of this letter: All-merciful Sovereign! Feeling exhausted from illness that lasted about 40 years, and constantly nurturing in my soul the desire to end my days in solitude, I submitted a report to the Holy Synod in which, reporting on the state of my health, I ask to be dismissed from the management of the diocese and to be given the management of the cenobitic Nikolo-Babaevsky monastery, on the Volga, in the Kostroma diocese, according to the model as it was done for many bishops dismissed from diocesan affairs. The gracious attention that Your Most August Parents honored me with, calling me their pupil, allows me to turn to Your Imperial Majesty with the most submissive and most convincing request. Without taking into account any merit or dignity - which I do not have - in memory of your departed Parents, show me mercy, order me to satisfy my request, grant me the requested shelter in which I could end my days in peace, offering unworthy and wretched prayers to God for the well-being of you and your entire August House, for the peace and eternal bliss of your ever-memorable Parents. I have the happiness of being with loyal feelings of the most reverent respect and complete devotion,” and so on. July 24, 1861." On August 5th, the dismissal took place with the assignment of a pension of 1000 rubles. per year; subsequently, by order of the Highest, it was increased by an increase of 500 rubles. On September 19, 1861, the Emperor visited the Caucasus, but was not in Stavropol, and while inspecting the newly conquered lands beyond the Kuban, he asked Count Evdokimov (whose main apartment was in Stavropol) about the Right Reverend and through him sent him the insignia of St. Anna, 1st degree, which no longer found the Bishop in Stavropol, but was sent to him by mail to his new place of residence. When leaving Stavropol, just as before from St. Petersburg, the Right Reverend did not have his own funds; he had to again resort to outside help to pay off some debts and cover travel expenses. On his way through Moscow, he stopped with an old acquaintance of his Eminence Leonid, Bishop of Dmitrov, vicar of Moscow, and stayed with him for illness for up to two weeks. He suffered a nervous attack in his right leg, and although he received some relief through the medical measures taken, from that time on he began to constantly suffer from weakness in this leg. During his stay in the Caucasus, His Grace Ignatius did not abandon his spiritual and literary works. In addition to the oral teachings, he wrote here the entire book “An Offering to Modern Monasticism,” which constitutes the 5th volume of his works. In it, he teaches modern monasticism advice on monastic life in the rules of outward behavior and in internal spiritual activity in relation to those many different ministries that are entrusted to monastics in our time. He composed the words: “On the various states of human nature in relation to good and evil,” “On the vision of spirits,” and “On salvation and Christian perfection.” “The Sermon on the Vision of Spirits” was compiled by the Eminence based on his own experiences. He experienced experiences of this kind for more than half of his spiritual life and depicted them in his books, looking at them from both the spiritual and physical sides. The Right Reverend arrived at the Nikolo-Babaevsky Monastery on October 13, 1861. With him came: Abbot Justin, who ruled the Caucasian bishop's house under him, the bishop's close spiritual son; sacristan, Hieromonk Callistus, from the novices of the Sergius Hermitage; Hieromonk Theophan, who was the confessor at St. Andrew's Church of the Stavropol Bishop's House, from the monks of the Nikiforov Hermitage of the Olonets diocese, and several novices. The latter were in the Caucasus under the spiritual leadership of Hieromonk Theophan, who, like Abbot Justin and Hieromonk Callistus, himself used the advice and spiritual instructions of Bishop Ignatius. Thus, all the people who arrived from the Caucasus to the Babayevsky monastery constituted one spiritual family, and their friendly way of action soon influenced the entire internal and external life of the monastery. The Nikolo-Babaevsky Monastery is located on the right bank of the Volga River at the confluence of the small Solonina River, which separates the Kostroma monastery bank from the border of the Yaroslavl province. Beyond both rivers in this adjacent province, the monastery owns small hay meadows. Residents of Yaroslavl have long been drawn to the Nikolo-Babaevsky Monastery and with special reverence and faith they honor the shrine there - the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas. The apparently advantageous position of the monastery, located halfway between the two provincial cities of Yaroslavl and Kostroma and with one of the first water connections, should hint at its material well-being, but in fact it was not the case: newcomers from the Caucasus found this cenobitic monastery with only 60 rubles in cash, with two thousand rubles in debt, moreover, just before entering winter, without any supply of bread and firewood preparation; They did not engage in arable farming at all in the monastery. The improvement of the monastery was greatly helped by the fact that, even before the arrival of His Grace Ignatius, its former rector, Abbot Parthenius, at his own request and request, was moved by the diocesan authorities to the Nadeevskaya hermitage of the same Kostroma diocese, and his position was immediately occupied by Abbot Justin; Hieromonk Kallist was appointed dean of the monastery, and Hieromonk Theophanes was made the second confessor. The order of worship, the order of cell residence, fraternal meals and homes - everything was led to improvement. Proper arable farming was established on the land belonging to the monastery, about 80 acres, partly swamp, partly alluvial sand, for which the fields were divided, ditches were dug to drain the swamps and through them the swamp water was drained into the Volga. The reconstruction of the cells assigned to the bishop himself began, and a major overhaul of the corps of fraternal cells and abbots' cells began. This building, on one side facing the Volga, is two-story, on the other, inside the monastery, it is one-story; They found it necessary to sew it together with transverse iron strips, since it was significantly frayed in this direction due to the dampness of the place and the uneven settlement. The hotel for visitors, located right next to the monastery fence, was completely renovated inside and decently furnished. In the first year after Vladyka Ignatius arrived in Babayki, his old friend M. Chikhachov visited him, and this meeting was their last in their lives. It was recognized by both that the latter did not need to leave his place of residence, the Sergius Hermitage, in which he placed all his fortune and enjoyed in it the universal respect of the brotherhood and the comforts that were necessary for him in his painful old age. At the end of June 1862, Vladyka’s brother P. A. Brianchaninov came to the Babayevsky monastery to live, asking for dismissal from service from the post of Stavropol civil governor, and settled in the monastery as a pilgrim. In May 1862, Bishop Ignatius visited the Right Reverends: Plato in Kostroma, Nil in Yaroslavl and Irenaeus in the Tolga Monastery near Yaroslavl; After this trip, I never left the monastery anywhere, except for a carriage ride around the outskirts of the monastery in good weather. At seven o'clock in the morning he drank tea, which he recognized as a necessity, as a means of warming the blood, and used to say: “This is what old age means, without drinking tea and being unable to pray to God.” From 9 o'clock he got down to business, or went out to the Liturgy, or inspected the work being done; received visitors, mostly sick peasants who used medicines (homeopathy) from the Bishop. A lot of such patients flocked; one of the cell attendants wrote down their names in a book, the age and type of illness, and Vladyka noted which medicine to give to whom, the number of doses and diet, if one turned out to be necessary. The treatment was successful, but after three years it was stopped due to a crowd of patients who violated the solitude of the Saint. At the end of the 12th hour of the day, Vladyka had lunch. His table was simple, and he ate very moderately. At 3 o'clock he ate tea, to which he always invited one of the brethren, and concluded the meal with a soul-saving conversation. After Vespers, until 8 o’clock, he received all monks and novices who had a spiritual need for him, as well as outside visitors. From 8 o'clock in the evening Vladyka locked himself in his cells; He usually slept without undressing, and at night he put on felted boots, due to the disease of his feet, which had long been cold. Such was the atmosphere of the cell life of the Most Reverend Ignatius on Babayki. With the arrival of His Grace Ignatius at the monastery, the flow of people to divine services increased significantly; The Church of St. Nicholas, accommodating no more than 600 people, became cramped, the entire monastery brethren and surrounding residents began to express a desire to build a new church instead of the cathedral church of the Iveron Mother of God, which had fallen into a dangerous state, six-aisle, in four aisles of which it was already forbidden to perform worship, since large cracks had formed in all directions of the stone vaults. A donor appeared - a stone contractor, a Yaroslavl tradesman Fedotov, who promised to carry out all the stone work free of charge with his workers and give 1000 rubles for the initial work. The Right Reverend summoned from St. Petersburg an architect he knew, professor of the Academy of Arts I. I. Gornostaev, and conveyed to him his majestic idea of ​​a new church, which he implemented in his project. In order to dismantle the collapsing cathedral church, it was necessary to apply for the Highest permission through the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod; and permission to build a new church was also subject to the Highest approval. Meanwhile, the monastery had to rush to dismantle the church, since Fedotov’s workers, if permission was not given, were preparing to go to St. Petersburg for their earnings, then Fedotov would be forced to refuse the promise, which would be a great loss for the church builders. On Saturday, in the first week of Great Lent, the Tsar, after communion with the Holy Mysteries, deigned to remember that the Chief Prosecutor had cases that needed to be reported and demanded that they be presented. The Chief Prosecutor, the director of his office, the head of the department - everyone through whose hands the case about the Babayevsky Church went was communicants on that day. The Emperor took into account Fedotov's donations and was pleased to allow the dismantling of the old church. On the same day, permission was transmitted by telegraph through Yaroslavl to the Babaevsky Monastery; all the brethren of the monastery were communicants, but the Bishop was informed about this the next day - on Sunday of the Week of Orthodoxy after the Liturgy, which he performed himself. Thus, a noteworthy event took place: the first step towards the construction of a new church was taken by persons who, without exception, had just been honored with communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, a visible sign of God’s blessing on the work begun. On Monday of the 2nd week of Lent, dismantling of the old church began; business went quickly, bricks were prepared at factories set up at the monastery, wild stone was mined on site, which went into the base of the building, the area was planned, since the new church was being built a little further inland, the dimensions of the foundation were indicated; hard soil did not require pile reinforcements; It was proposed to begin construction of the building with the onset of spring; We were waiting for approval of the project, which slowed down. The Minister of Railways found that the architectural lines in it were too bold to be reliably executed; It was only on the personal explanations of the architect Gornostaev that the ministry agreed to the approval. Thus, the project of the church in honor of the miraculous Iveron Icon of the Mother of God was prepared for the most obedient report, which, in turn, was delayed by various accidents until the end of May, and only on the 21st of that month, the day of the celebration of the Mother of God of the Vladimir Icon, the Tsar deigned to approve the project. “Over the construction of the church of the Mother of God,” the Bishop wrote to his brother, the finger of the Mother of God is obvious. Help is given to people who work in business; together it is granted to them to struggle with obstacles and grieve for their own spiritual benefit, in order to cleanse the matter from the admixture of vanity and other hobbies, so that it is accomplished in God-wise humility. This is the usual course of affairs protected by God.” The construction of the new church was provided by citizens located near the monastery. Yaroslavl and Kostroma. His Grace Nil of Yaroslavl reacted sympathetically to the desire of citizens to annually transfer the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas from the Babaevsky Monastery to the Yaroslavl Cathedral with a religious procession. Kostroma's Eminence Platon expressed his approval, and the Holy Synod, by decree of July 4, 1866, respected and resolved the petition of the Yaroslavl archpastor. Since then, this icon has been carried annually to Yaroslavl, greeted and seen off by tens of thousands of residents. Living in retirement in the Babaevsky monastery, free from official duties, the Right Reverend Ignatius devoted all the free hours of his day to revising and adding to his ascetic writings. The work of printing them was taken over by his brother Pyotr Alexandrovich, who settled with him. Among all the works published at this time, “The Word on Death” is especially remarkable, first published by the publisher of the magazine “Home Conversation” Askochensky. Subsequently, the Right Reverend Ignatius compiled a special “Addition” to the “Sermon on Death”; this “Addition” was included in the publication of “Ascetic Experiences” at the end of the 2nd volume, and then, again significantly expanded by the author, was published together with “The Word on Death” as a separate book after his death, in 1869 and 1880. The bookseller-publisher I. I. Glazunov, an old acquaintance of Bishop Ignatius, entered into an agreement with him to print all his works, taking on the costs of publication, and thereby introduced the Right Reverend into the intensive task of revising, correcting, adding to and bringing into one whole all the articles written by him at different times in the rank of archimandrite, and then bishop. In this way the first two volumes were compiled, entitled “Ascetic Experiences,” published in 1864; the last two: “Ascetic Sermon” and “Offering to Modern Monasticism,” consisting of advice on outward behavior and spiritual activity, published in 1867, just before the death of the Bishop. The fifth volume, entitled “Fatherland,” containing sayings of the Holy Fathers and stories from their lives, was also published by Glazunov after the death of the compiler. In the preface of volume 1, the author explains the reasons that prompted him to publish his works; namely: he recognizes himself as obligated to give an account to Christian society of its vision of the promised land, sharpening spiritual blessings, which is the monastic life, conducted according to the teaching and tradition of the Eastern Church and contemplated in its living representatives. This preface states that various articles in “Ascetic Experiences” were compiled in response to issues that arose in the society of monks and God-loving laity who were in spiritual communion with the author. All of them, as a whole, depict the Orthodox Christian feat in its order and gradualism; they warn the ascetic against hobbies and delusions, against untimely striving for high spiritual states; They are taught to lay a solid foundation on doing the Gospel commandments, on repentance and repentant crying. Here it is very appropriate to quote the words of the Most Reverend Ignatius himself, which he repeated more than once in frank conversations to his brother, Peter Alexandrovich, - that he did not speak about any spiritual work, much less write, without verifying with his own experience that teaching or work and its consequences, which he conveyed to the listener or reader, pointing at the same time to the Holy and Fatherly Scriptures, which spoke about the same subject - which, however, can be clearly seen from his creations themselves. Long before his death, His Eminence Ignatius began to prepare for it and in his conversations often touched upon instructions in the event of death. Within five years (in 1862), he made a spiritual will, certified on July 20, 1863 in the Kostroma Chamber of the Civil Court, to which he transferred all his works to the ownership and disposal of his brother Pyotr Aleksandrovich Brianchaninov. In August 1864, he told his brother: “Our mother was just as sick as I was dying; everyone was on their feet, and there was a decent appetite; and the time came - in three days the illness ended the whole thing. Please, when I die, don’t think of sending for a doctor, let me die a Christian - don’t make a fuss. Don’t notify my relatives about the death and don’t expect them to go to the funeral, but, having buried them, then notify them... I’m telling you ahead, so that you know and so that you don’t forget or worry about this in the hour of death. I don’t say or bequeath anything about how and where to bury me because I don’t want to bind the actions of my neighbors beyond the boundaries of my life, and, moreover, in something that is almost never fulfilled.” The year 1866 came, and the 3rd and 4th volumes of the works of the Most Reverend Ignatius, his “Ascetic Sermon” and “Offering to Modern Monasticism”, or “Advices”, were printed; Meanwhile, his physical strength was apparently declining, so that the spiritual children who came from St. Petersburg to visit him were amazed at the change that presented themselves to them at the sight of their spiritual father, exhausted by illness and premature decrepitude. Despite, however, this decline in physical strength, spiritual vigor did not leave him. “Do not be afraid,” he wrote to one of his spiritual children, who was engaged in proofreading his published works, “I will not die until I finish the work of my service to humanity and convey to him the words of truth, although, indeed, I am as weak and exhausted in bodily strength as it seems to you.” On August 14, 1866, Their Imperial Highnesses Sovereign Heir Alexander Alexandrovich and Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich visited the Nikolo-Babaevsky monastery. The Bishop, presenting the holy icon of the Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky to the Tsarevich, greeted him with the following speech: “Almighty God, who in difficult times of Russia overshadowed the Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky with heavenly blessing and heavenly help, may he overshadow with this blessing and this help Your Imperial Highness in the great service to God ahead of you and to humanity." Then, handing Vladimir Alexandrovich the icon of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, he said: “Your Imperial Highness! In ancient times, two Grand Dukes - Equal to the Apostles and Monomakh - bore the name of Vladimir. Their lives were marked by piety, wisdom, and courage. And now the Grand Duke, who bears the name coveted for Russia, may he rejoice Russia with these qualities, so beneficial for the peoples, when the peoples are illuminated by them from the sanctuary - from the Royal House.” The Vladyka’s private conversation with the distinguished visitors concerned monasteries. “Monasteries are hospitals,” said the Right Reverend, “a shelter for people who, realizing their powerlessness to preserve themselves, their souls, living in the world, go to this refuge and bring into it their understandings, their habits, their vices, their passions, developed by the education that they received in the world - therefore the moral state of the monasteries is completely dependent on the moral mood of the people. The people are corrupted, and the monasteries are corrupted. Much reprehensible, much evil has crept into them; but, for all that, they retain their character - a refuge for those who want to be preserved from final destruction; they are hospitals for the souls of the hopelessly ill, they are a shelter of fidelity to the Orthodox Church and the throne. Please, Your Highness, draw attention to the fact that there is no other class, except the monastic one, in which there would be no fetters for treason against the throne. Monasticism and monasteries are especially persecuted by evil parties because they are devoted to the faith and the throne and support these feelings in those who draw close to them and submit to their spiritual direction. I already have one foot in the grave and am not looking for anything for myself, I have nothing to look for, but I report to Your Highness the real truth for the sake of the truth; I beg, Your Highness, support the monasteries for the good that their existence brings.” Their Highnesses treated the Lord very favorably and consoled him with their attention to his words. Their visit left the most pleasant impression on the Right Reverend; he called it his “vision of the rising luminaries” around him. The Right Reverend Ignatius spent the winter from 1866 to 1867 worrying about preparing for publication his chosen sayings and stories from the lives of holy monks, of which the 6th volume of his works was compiled, published after his death under the title “Fatherland.” At the same time, he did not leave other previously written articles, partly begun, partly replenished by him, to continue. This winter he wrote the articles “On the patience of sorrows”, “On the relationship of man to his passions”, and significantly expanded the “Conversation of the Elder with his Disciple about the Jesus Prayer”. Days passed after days, nothing outwardly changed. Those around him were accustomed to seeing the Right Reverend constantly ill, weak in strength, but at the same time constantly dressed, constantly busy working at his desk or in prayer, and nothing specifically expressed the proximity of his death; although he sometimes complained of heart pain, leg pain and other ailments, all this passed as temporary and fairly ordinary phenomena, which did not in any way change the order of his daily activities. Despite the various ailments that he reported to those around him, no one had ever heard his painful groan. He said more than once that, forcing himself not to groan in illness, he accustomed himself to endure everything that came his way, and according to the custom of the Athonite ascetics, without undressing day or night, until the very hour of his death, he seemed to hide from those around him by this external order of life the very danger of his situation. On April 16, 1867, on the day of Easter Sunday, having celebrated the Liturgy, the Right Reverend was so tired that it was with difficulty that they brought him to his cells. He needed a half-hour rest to gather the strength to eat. On the same day, he announced to those around him that after Vespers no one would disturb him, for from that hour of the day he would not receive anyone, declaring the reason for this order “the need to prepare for death.” The next day, the 17th, the birthday of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich, the Right Reverend stood at the Liturgy at the altar, but went out to serve a prayer of thanks, and read the final prayer of thanks with such a strong, deeply gracious expression that he drew everyone’s attention to this circumstance. Who could believe that this was the last exit of the Saint from his cells - having returned to which he never went out again, although his ordinary life in labor, in feats, in illnesses flowed invariably in the usual sequence. On April 21, the 3rd and 4th volumes of his works were sent from St. Petersburg, just out of print. The Right Reverend crossed himself and, giving glory to God, without opening or looking at the books, he ordered them to be left until his brother Peter Alexandrovich arrived from St. Petersburg. This indifference was completely contrary to the caring and naturally active character and the previous attention of the Right Reverend to the publication of his creations, which he looked upon as an obligatory fulfillment of his duty. It is impossible not to notice that since the arrival of his brother was a completely uncertain circumstance, by the above-mentioned order the Right Reverend completely removed himself from the matter, which in the natural order was the closest to him, as a shepherd and author, of all his earthly affairs. Around this time, explaining to Archimandrite Justin his spiritual state, he conveyed to him that he had lost all sympathy for everything earthly, even lost attention to the taste of food, and added: “I won’t last long.” He repeatedly repeated to his beloved cell attendant Vasily Pavlov 38 that it is very useful to ask the Lord to notify the day of his death. “It’s very good,” he said, if the Lord informs someone about his approaching death, only these notifications are almost always not accurately determined, so that the person remains in constant fear. Saint Tikhon prayed to the Lord: “Tell me, Lord, when will I die?” He was told: “On the day of the week,” but it was not said which day. So, get ready for every Sunday.” On April 23, Sunday, the week of St. Thomas the Apostle, the Right Reverend lay in bed all day due to general ill health. The next day, Monday, he wrote to the rector of the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery of the Moscow Diocese, Archimandrite Pimen, that he was so weak that he was waiting for death, and further said: “Yesterday (Sunday) I lay there all day, waiting for death, and today I’m wandering around again.” Even during Holy Week, Vladyka said that he had a small stroke, but since it did not leave any traces of pain, this circumstance did not raise any serious concerns. On April 25 the blow was repeated. Archimandrite Justin asked for a blessing to send for the doctor, but His Grace with firmness, in a peaceful and calm mood, said decisively: “No need! repeated several times. “It’s so easy for me – it’s good!” On the 27th, Thursday, the Right Reverend asked one of his attendants, Hieromonk Callistus, to rub him with pine oil; At the end of the rubbing, he asked Callistus for forgiveness and said that he had accepted this service from him for the last time. To the hieromonk’s question: “Doesn’t he like butter?” - answered: “No, but my days are numbered.” On the 28th, on Friday, after lunch, the Right Reverend, as usual, lay down to rest, but soon got up and ordered tea to be served. Cell attendant Vasily, noticing the unusual redness of the face, asked about the reason. The Lord explained this as a consequence of a weak blow, which, although it did not cause any special damage, he generally felt so unwell that he expected death. At these words, which struck the young man with grief and horror, his first thought was expressed by the question: “How can I live without you, Vladyka, since it is very difficult today?” “Vladyka answered: “Yes, father, it is very, very difficult, so difficult that you cannot even imagine; and I thought about you and betrayed both myself and you to the will of God.” “When the senior cell attendant in charge of his cell housekeeping, Hierodeacon Nikandr, came to him and offered to send for a doctor, Vladyka rejected this proposal. Before, he had said more than once to those around him: “When I die, do not send for a doctor, let me die as a Christian should - in attention, without embarrassing or dissipating me with your anxiety.” Archimandrite Justin says that at the beginning of last winter, regarding a conversation about a person who had suffered a paralytic stroke, Vladyka said: “And I will die with a stroke.” The Archimandrite began to object, saying that given his physique, thinness and lifestyle, this was incredible, but the Bishop, briefly confirming his words, changed the conversation. “By evening on Friday, Vladyka calmed down and ordered a bath to be prepared for Saturday, but, getting up in the morning quite cheerful, he said that he was better, and adding: “And yesterday he almost died,” he canceled the order for a bath, saying: “It’s no longer necessary.” In these last days of his life, the Right Reverend was inspired towards everyone with extraordinary mercy, as if dissolved pity. This mercy and with it unearthly joy shone on the face of the sick man. On one of these last days, Vladyka, saying goodbye to his cell attendant, responded to his bow and farewell with a reverent bow to the ground, saying: “Forgive me, Father.” The old man's appearance, full of magnificent humility, moved the cell attendant to tears. During these days, the Lord told him more than once that “it is difficult for him to reduce his mind to earthly pursuits,” and, avoiding communication with everyone, he apparently no longer lived on earth. On April 30, Sunday, the week of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, at 7 o'clock in the morning, cell attendant Vasily, entering the bedroom 39 of the Eminence, found the orlets 40 not cleaned in front of the icons, which happened very rarely - for the most part the Eminence, who always used it during the cell rule, cleaned it himself. Having washed, he, according to custom, drank Epiphany water and went into the dining room to drink tea, ordering Vasily to quickly clean the bedroom. After drinking two cups of tea, he hurried to his inner cell. At the end of the 8th hour, just before the good news for the late Liturgy, Vasily, entering him with the usual prayer, found him lying on the bed on his left side, facing the wall. Seeing that Vladyka, always very sensitive, did not pay attention to his entrance, the cell attendant at first attributed this to particularly in-depth prayer work, which sometimes happened to him. After standing for a while, Vasily repeated the prayer, but there was no answer. Peering more closely, he noticed that the Lord’s hand was covered with mortal pallor; I came closer and made sure that the Lord had already died. His head, lying on the pillow, was slightly tilted forward, the palm of his left hand was raised up, as if in prayer, his right hand, lowered along his body on the bed to the side of the wall, lay near the open Canon. In general, the decent position of the body was the reason that the cell attendant could not soon decide to recognize him as having already passed into eternity. Death, having come to the Saint of Christ, found his mind occupied with prayer; having begun it on earth, he was called to the endless praise of God - to Heaven. Bishop Ignatius had long been preparing and waiting for the coming of death, armed with unceasing prayer in the name of the Lord Christ Jesus, and death, defeated by Christ, honored life in Christ, coming to the servant of Christ in accordance with his expressed desire in the silence of solitude, at the hour of prayer, with attention deep in prayer, - even chose a position for the body that would not disturb the well-being of the departed Saint, who devoted his entire life to spiritual works commanded by the Lord: repentance and crying. Anyone who walked this path could not help but come to the blessings promised by the Gospel for these virtues. The face of the deceased Bishop, upon transferring the body to the table, shone with bright, unearthly joy. A blue vein was noticeable on the left church, going down near the ear along the cheek in a reddish stripe - probably a trace of the path by which death entered the body. Talking with one of his disciples close to him about the commandments of the Gospel, Saint Ignatius said: “Every obvious virtue is not my virtue, according to the teaching of the Lord Himself, who commanded to do every good thing in the Gospel in secret.” And indeed, all the greatness of his lifelong feat, in its indescribable volume, remained the secret of his spiritual cage, confessed and revealed, as far as possible, in his writings, but in its fullness known to the one God. With this mystery, a distinctive feature of all his earthly activities, according to the exact meaning of the Gospel commandments, the Most Reverend Ignatius captured his final, dying feat. Combining his story to the cell attendant about the notification from above of St. Tikhon about the day of his death “on the day of the week” with the letter of the Right Reverend to Archimandrite Pimen that he lay all Thomas Sunday, waiting for death, and finally, on the day of his death (Sunday), the order to his cell attendant to hurry up with the speedy cleaning of his bedroom, suggests that the day of his death was revealed to him too and defined, like St. Tikhon, as a “weekly day.” To console us, his orphaned spiritual children, the Lord left a definitive instruction about his earthly path, about where he strived with his life, and where we believe he achieved. “I was taken,” he says in the preface to the 4th volume of his works, taken away from the broad path leading to eternal death, and placed on the narrow and regrettable path leading to the stomach. The narrow path has the deepest meaning: it lifts you up from the earth, leads you out of the darkness of vanity, leads you to Heaven, leads you to paradise, leads you to God, places you before His Face in the unfading light, for eternal bliss.” It is remarkable that on the same holiday, Sunday of the Week of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, the Monk Nil of Sorsky, a famous practitioner of mental prayer, also died; this similarity of the days of death seems to confirm the noticeable similarity of the inner feat of our modern hermit, both in character and in their fruits, with the founder of the hermitage in Russia in ancient times. All this, of course, may not be significant for everyone: but those who know the prayerful asceticism of the Saint from personal contact with him or use his writings cannot help but put this in their hearts in the creation of the sacred memory of their spiritual father and mentor. For three days the body of Bishop Ignatius stood in his cells, invariably maintaining a bright expression on his face, then it was transferred to the cathedral monastery church of St. Nicholas. After 6 days had passed, on May 5, Friday, the funeral Liturgy and funeral service were performed by His Eminence Jonathan, Bishop of Kineshma, Vicar of Kostroma. By his order, the funeral service was performed according to the rite of the Easter service; At the end of the funeral service, he said the funeral homily and said goodbye to the deceased, followed by the clergy, co-workers, monastery fraternity and all those present, led by the head of the Kostroma province T. S. Dorogobuzhinov. Then the body in the open coffin was surrounded by a procession around the church of St. Nicholas and brought into the hospital monastery church of St. John Chrysostom and St. Sergius of Radonezh, where after the usual litia the lid was closed and the coffin was lowered into the crypt behind the left choir. According to the general opinion, the funeral service for the deceased impressed everyone more like a church celebration than a sad ceremony. The Vladyka’s disciples recalled his words: “You can know,” he said, “that someone who has died is under the mercy of God if, at the burial of his body, the sadness of those around him is dissolved by some incomprehensible joy.” Although in all the days preceding the burial the gathering of people was quite significant, but on the day of the burial, despite the flood of the Volga, which made it difficult for residents across the river to cross to the monastery, the gathering of people was up to 5 thousand people. Blessed are you, who have chosen and accepted, O Lord! Saint Ignatius died on April 30, 1867, therefore, this text was begun by the compilers in 1879. – Ed. For a description of the Pokrovskoye estate, see: Lukomsky G.K. Vologda in its antiquity. St. Petersburg, 1914, pp. 303–312. – Ed. Sofia Afanasyevna’s father, Afanasy Matveevich Bryanchaninov († 1786), served in the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, and after retiring, he acquired the Osanino and Fomino estates in the Gryazovets district. He was friends with writers, the poet M. N. Muravyov dedicated several poems to him. Ed. All the time of his life in the village. In Pokrovsky, he constantly maintained, at his full expense, a parish two-year school, in which up to 50 people studied. peasant children. Ascetic experiences. T.I. This year there were 130 competitors for 30 vacancies. Of their number, Brianchaninov was not only the first, but he was the only one who met the requirements for admission to the 2nd conductor class. In a very short time, Brianchaninov became the first student in his class and retained this place in science until he left school. Alexey Nikolaevich Olenin (1763–1843) – archaeologist, philologist, graphic artist, owner of a famous literary and artistic salon. – Ed. Ascetic experiences. T. 1.. Alexey Ivanovich Malov (1787–1855) – Archpriest of St. Isaac’s Cathedral at the Admiralty, Freemason, member of the Russian Academy; 1. II. 1837 funeral service for A. S. Pushkin in the Stable Church. – Ed. Egor Karlovich Sivers (1779–1827). From 1820 - director of the Main Engineering School, from 1825 - lieutenant general, associate of A. A. Arakcheev. – Ed. The inspector of the School was engineer Major General Baron Elsner, who had difficulty communicating in Russian. Schemamonk Theodore (1756–1822) – student of Archimandrite Paisius (Velichkovsky). – Ed. Leonid (Lev Danilovich Nagolkin; 1768 11. X. 1841), hieromonk, elder, from 11. VIII. 1829 lived in the Optina monastery. – Ed. Seraphim (Stefan Vasilyevich Glagolevsky; 1763–1843) – Metropolitan of St. Petersburg since 1821, fighter against sedition and Freemasonry. – Ed. Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:37). Behold, we left everything and followed You (Matthew 19:27). Ascetic experiences. T. 1. Archimandrite Pimen (Petr Dmitrievich Myasnikov; 1810–1880) is a famous ascetic and spiritual writer. His extensive memoirs were published during the author’s lifetime (M., 1877). – Ed. Nanka is a cotton fabric made from thick yarn, usually yellow - Ed. Memoirs of Archimandrite Pimen. Countess Anna Alekseevna Orlova Chesmenskaya (1785–1848) – benefactor of the Novgorod Yuryev Monastery and patroness of spiritual writers. – Ed. Archimandrite Photius (Petr Nikitich Spassky; 1792–1838) – abbot of the Yuryev Monastery, initiator of the dispersal of Bible societies in Russia, fighter against Masonic influence on Russian life. – Ed. St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow (Vasily Mikhailovich Drozdov; 1782–1867) a major figure in the Russian Orthodox Church of the 19th century, an outstanding theologian. – Ed. See: Remember me, Lord, when you come into Your Kingdom (Luke 23.41-42). ...I will dwell in them and walk in them... (2 Cor. 6.16). Vengeance is Mine, I will repay (Rom. 12:19). Kinovia - otherwise a hostel, a form of monastic life - Ed. Ascetic experiences. T. 1. This article was published after the death of Bishop. Ignatius in 1870 in the brochure: “Three articles that have not been published by Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov.” Yaroslavl, 1870. An offering to modern monasticism. T. 5. Subsequently, hieromonk of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Vladyka occupied only two rooms: a reception room, which is also a dining room, and an office, which is also a bedroom. Orlets is a round rug with an eagle embroidered on it, placed under the feet of bishops during worship and prayer.