Chicks of Serafimov's nest: Motovilov and Manturov

Contents From the author The Socain of St. Seraphim Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov (1809–1879) The Miracle of St. Nicholas Motovilov in Simbirsk Motovilov and Blessed Andrei Ilyich Fight with the Freemasons Governor of Zagryazhsky. Arrest of Motovilov Love for Yazykova Marriage to Elena Milyukova. Children of Motovilov Promises of the Queen of Heaven True disciple of the elder Seraphim Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov (d. 1858) Meeting with the Monk Seraphim Healing Blessing of the elder. The beginning of the feat The mill for the “Diveyevo orphans” Intercession for the Diveyevo community Not all money is pleasing to the Lord Service with General Kupriyanov. Disease Cathedral Diveyevo Troubles “We will pray with you!” Applications Appendix 1. Pages of the life of N.A. Motovilova Appendix 2. Documents from the state archive of the Ulyanovsk region concerning the inheritance left by N.A. Motovilov to his children List of conventional abbreviations of the chronicle List of used literature There are saints in our pantheon who are especially revered in Holy Rus'. These are Saints Sergius of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov. Entire generations of new holy ascetics grew up in the aura of their holiness. So, next to the names of St. Sergius we see St. Blessed Demetrius Donskoy, and St. Rev. Andrei Rublev, and St. St. Andronik and many, many others. There are also “chicks of Seraphim’s nest”: St. Reverends Martha (Milyukova), Elena (Manturova), St. Blessed Paraskeva. All of them not only shine with the reflected light of the glory and holiness of God’s great ascetics. Their own exploits are amazing. One need only remember the fate of the Venerable Elena, who died out of obedience for her brother Mikhail Manturov. Something completely new appears in their holiness compared to what we see in the Ancient Patericons. The Monk Seraphim, in obedience to the Mother of God Herself, created a maiden monastery, which immediately shone with unprecedented purity and sacrifice. In the lives of these new Diveev saints, almost everything seems like a fairy tale. A snake flying over the carriage of young Elena Manturova and furiously striving to devour the girl - after all, this is all in the time of A.S. Pushkin, this is not a fairy tale! Then unconditional obedience, inaccessible even to many ascetics - to die in place of your brother! And she died! The exploits of these pure maidens do not stretch over their entire long lives: they flash like stars in some special, almost ethereal purity. The Venerable Marfa Milyukova, the aunt of Nikolai Motovilov’s wife, asceticised at the Diveyevo monastery for only a few years. And at the age of 19 she died as a schema-nun, about whose holiness the Monk Seraphim himself spoke with aspiration. All of them grew spiritually and accomplished their exploits under the protection of the prayers of St. Seraphim, under the protection of the Mother of God, Who Herself wanted to create a monastery unprecedented on earth - a purely virgin one. When today we reflect on the life of the Diveyevo monastery, we, due to our lack of faith and the fussiness of the 21st century, forget about the main thing, what the Monk Seraphim constantly repeated and asked not to forget: about the participation in the life of the Diveyevo monastery of the Mother of God, who wished to create Her Fourth Destiny here. Her holy will, Her presence can still be felt today in the Diveyevo Monastery, the life and history of which sometimes seem too mythological, too fabulous, too legendary to our today’s dry-rational consciousness. Discussions have recently unfolded around the personality of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov, and indeed around the Diveyevo legend. First of all, the “Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery” of the Hieromartyr Seraphim Chichagov is subject to revision, as not standing up to historical criticism. Among the works that cast doubt on the Diveyevo legend, one should mention, first of all, the book by O.V. Bukova “Women’s monasteries of St. Seraphim of Sarov” 1, as well as her article “Truth and fiction about the life of schema-abbot Seraphim. Based on the book “Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery” 2. Here you can also point to the article by Doctor of Historical Sciences Sergei Bychkov “Reverend Seraphim and his first biographer” 3. Unfortunately, in the book by O.V. For Bukova, we do not find any peace of mind arising from love for the undertaking. In it, along with the facts, there is always an assessment, and an irritated assessment. In his passion, the author of the book does not spare anyone. In the article “Truth and Fiction about the Life of Schema-Hegumen Seraphim,” she chooses a completely unacceptable tone regarding the personality of the Hieromartyr Seraphim Chichagov. Two more “legendary” people fell into the category of exposed individuals. “Servant of the Mother of God and the Seraphim” Nikolai Alexandrovich Motovilov and the meek brother of the Venerable Helen - Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov. The author in his book calls them nothing less than “these gentlemen.” The book does not make the slightest attempt at a serious analysis of the motives that guided both ascetics in their clash with Father Joasaph. Moreover, all the unfavorable facts for Father Joasaph that emerged during the analysis of the “Diveevo Troubles” in the early 1860s were completely ignored. I would especially like to say about those who bear almost the main blow of O.V. Bukova, - about N.A. Motovilov, whose notes served as one of the main sources for the Chronicle of Seraphim Chichagov, and about M.V. Manturovo. Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov (1809–1879) is now known to all Orthodox people as “Servant of the Mother of God and St. Seraphim.” The more the fame of St. Seraphim increases throughout the world, the more interest the figure of Motovilov arouses. Not a single book about St. Seraphim is complete without the testimony of Motovilov. The fate of this ascetic, an ardent zealot and confessor of the Orthodox faith is completely unusual. Motovilov's merit is invaluable: he was the secret man of St. Seraphim, the spiritual interlocutor of St. Anthony of Voronezh. Of the many thousands of people who came to the Monk Seraphim of Sarov, Motovilov, by God’s special inspiration, received the greatest trust: he was the only one who received the conversation “On the Purpose of Christian Life” from mouth to mouth. Through him, the Monk Seraphim conveyed a letter for the king, who would “glorify him” 4 . Communicating spiritually with the Venerable Father Seraphim, he preserved for us the smallest details of his luminous life. The Mother of God herself instructed Motovilov to serve the Diveyevo monastery. It was through Motovilov that we learned the teaching of St. Seraphim about acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit as the goal of Christian life. His notebooks also served to compile the life of the founder of the Diveyevo monastery, Venerable Alexandra 5 . He had a wonderful literary gift. His notes, abundantly quoted by the spiritual writer S. Nilus, and now found and published separately, are read with intense interest. Motovilov went through moral martyrdom both in the hostile environment of the atheistic Russian intelligentsia of the 19th century, and among his own Orthodox Christians. Steadily throughout his life, embodying the covenant of the Monk Seraphim to preserve the order established by the Mother of God Herself in the maiden monastery of Father Seraphim, Motovilov was repeatedly subjected to unfair attacks and slander. During his lifetime, he was declared a mad, sick man. However, according to the words of the holy Apostle Paul, “a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, because he considers them foolishness; and cannot understand, because this must be judged spiritually” (1 Cor. 2:14). Even today, when more than 100 years have passed since the death of the “Servant of Seraphim,” disputes about his personality do not subside, flaring up with renewed vigor - and this, in our opinion, only confirms that Motovilov had true foolishness in Christ, that his Christian life, which is still misunderstood by many, undoubtedly took place. Motovilov found himself surrounded by holy people. Not only was he the secret man of St. Seraphim. By God's Providence, he married Elena Ivanovna Milyukova, whose aunt, schema-nun Martha, is glorified by the church as a saint. Saint Pelageya (Pasha of Sarov) called him “the same holy fool” as she herself. It is characteristic that the famous elder of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, Archimandrite John Krestyankin, in his sermon “A Sermon on Sunday about the Last Judgment. Are there torments of hell?" cited as an example an already well-known episode about the life of Motovilov. Father John ends his story about Motovilov like this: “Being in earthly life next to the Monk Seraphim, Motovilov, out of love for him, longed not to be separated from him in eternity. And at the cost of such suffering, patience and tears, the worldly man followed the monk, his glory in eternity.” In the life of St. Seraphim in 1913 it is said: “Motovilov, as best he could, served the memory of Seraphim. His love for Seraphim and for faith often manifested itself in extremely strange ways, but his heart was devoted and selfless... What do we know about the treasures of those souls that Seraphim collected in Diveevo - the souls of the ardent and unfortunate Manturov, Motovilov, insane and absurd in the manifestation of his faith, simple, barely literate mill sisters...? This is beyond our understanding. Seraphim knew their strength and foresaw the future” 6. Now, more than ever, it is necessary to understand the fate of Motovilov, try to fill in the gaps in his biography, and comprehend his life as a whole. The life of Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov is even less known to us. Until now, unfortunately, there is not a single coherent biography of Manturov. We find scattered information about him only in the “Chronicle” of Seraphim Chichagov. The life of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov is discussed in our book, if possible, within the framework of historical and church events of that time. The author expresses gratitude to local historian Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Kulikova for kindly providing archival materials, as well as to the nun of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery Elena for reporting some important, previously unknown details related to the life of N.A. Motovilov. Socrain of St. Seraphim Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov (1809–1879) The personality of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov is covered in legends, and anyone who undertakes to write his biography must initially come to terms with this and look at “Seraphim’s Servant” not only through the eyes of a historian, but also a spiritual person. For, as his wife, Elena Ivanovna Milyukova, said, he “led a spiritual life.” The Monk Seraphim himself was surprised at the miracles that Motovilov went through in his life, saying: “Ten lives of the holy saints of God put together and ten lives of great secular people, such as Suvorov and others, put together, then in all their twenty lives not everything has come true that will come true with you alone, then I would not believe that all that could really happen. But that’s exactly what the Lord told me.” The appearance of Nikolai Motovilov has reached us thanks to the fact that his portrait and photograph have been preserved. From the ceremonial portrait a spiritual eagle looks at us: Motovilov sits in a chair in an embroidered uniform with two medals, with large uniform buttons, an inspired face, a gray beard, a high forehead, a thoughtful and at the same time decisive look. The portrait reflects the religious fervor and uncompromisingness of Nikolai Alexandrovich. The photograph shows him as a younger man, still without a beard, in a casual uniform, sitting in a chair. In his hands is an unfolded sheet of notes. A cross is clearly visible in the middle of the sheet. Concentrated facial expression. It is clear that the sheet that Motovilov is holding in his hands means a lot to him - this is his justification at the Last Judgment. It is interesting that Motovilov is not captured anywhere in a private dress - only in a uniform. He always felt himself in the service of God, the Tsar and the Fatherland. Revolutionary Alexander Herzen noted that only until 1825 “everyone who wore civilian dress recognized the superiority of epaulettes,” and after the Decembrists’ speech, “officers fell in the eyes of society, the tailcoat won - uniforms prevailed only in provincial towns and at court - this first guardhouse of the empire” 7 . However, all of Motovilov’s spiritual and state activities were connected with 1825 - in the anti-Herzen sense. The Decembrists “awakened” Herzen, and forced Motovilov to comprehend the anti-Christian meaning of their speech. Motovilov was not guided by them in his life. It is known that “a man in a uniform, be it a military man, an official, or even a nobleman in a provincial noble uniform,” was perceived by Sovereign Nicholas I “as a service man of Russia, and the honor of the uniform was not an empty phrase for him” 8 . The honor of the uniform was not an empty phrase for Motovilov either. He was a man of service and service, a statesman and a “lover of God,” a man of the highest interests, always wary of any rebellion, revolution and destruction of the divine and state hierarchy. Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov was, undoubtedly, a man chosen by God. He was not yet born, but his path before God was determined. He was “needed by God” precisely as a servant of the Seraphim and the Mother of God. The birth of Motovilov was announced by his patron saint, St. Nicholas. It was a difficult time for the Russian Orthodox Church. The brilliant age of Catherine brought with it a decline in morals, impoverishment and the closure of many monasteries. Then, during the reign of Alexander I, Orthodoxy in Russia became humiliated. The government gives free rein to heterodox preachers. Masonic movements are flourishing, the Decembrist uprising is preparing. The Official Church and the Synod are trying to fight heterodoxy, heresies and sects, but the forces are too unequal: Alexander I not only legalized Freemasonry in Russia, but he himself became a member of the “free masons” lodge back in 1802. The Emperor's brother, Grand Duke Constantine 9, also became a Mason. In 1807, a teacher of Hebrew at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy I.A. Fessler organized the secret lodge “Polar Star”. Secret societies had already completely entangled Russia by 1816. It is at this time that the Lord gives help to Russia. People appear who zealously serve Orthodoxy, with an ardent character: Archimandrite Photius (Spassky), Nikolai Motovilov, “strange” for many even now, the secret nun Countess Anna Alekseevna Orlova-Chesmenskaya 10 and others. These were actually fools for Christ's sake. They only had to play the fool in the secular, upper circles of society. The birth of both Archimandrite Photius and Nikolai Motovilov was prepared by clear signs of the Lord. As for Motovilov, it happened like this. His father, Alexander Ivanovich Motovilov, in his youth, out of ardent love, wooed Marya Alexandrovna Durasova. The Durasovs were neighbors of the Motovilovs on Simbirsk estates. This was an old noble family. It is not surprising that Motovilov was refused. We read about its reasons from the spiritual writer Sergei Nilus: “Raised in St. Petersburg, having managed to get used to metropolitan life, Marya Aleksandrovna Durasova... did not want to go with her husband into the calm of the village and refused him her hand” 11 . Inconsolable in his grief, Motovilov Sr. decided on a monastic feat and departure from the world. He became a novice of the Sarov Desert. While undergoing obedience on prosphora, he began to prepare for tonsure. But that was not what was in store for the Motovilov family! “Once, tired of unusual work, Alexander Ivanovich had a wonderful dream: St. Nicholas himself, who had long been the patron of the Motovilov family, entered the prosphora and said: “It’s not the monastery that is your path, Alexander, but family life.” In marriage with Mary, who rejected you, you will find your happiness, and you will have a son, you will call him Nikolai - God will need him. I am Saint Nicholas and have been appointed to be the patron saint of the Motovilov family. I was him when one of your ancestors, Prince Montvid-Montvil, served in the army of Demetrius Donskoy. On the day of the Battle of Kulikovo, the Tatar hero, who struck the monastic warriors of Peresvet and Oslyabya, rushed with a sword at the Grand Duke himself, but Montvid with his chest repelled the directed mortal blow, and the sword stuck into my image, hanging on the chest of your ancestor; he would have pierced your kinsman himself, but I weakened the force of the blow and struck the Tatar to death with the hand of Montvid” 12. This is how S. Nilus conveys the Motovilov family legend. Now new information has emerged that, however, requires additional verification. The mentioned image has probably survived to this day. It is embossed on leather. The image is kept in private hands. Be that as it may, that wonderful dream completely changed the intentions of the novice Alexander. He left the monastery, again proposed to Marya Alexandrovna - and this time, by God’s will, he received consent. At this time he held the rank of lieutenant. From this unusual marriage, predicted in a wonderful dream, the future “Servant of Seraphim” was born. It is impossible not to mention additional information about the Motovilov family. The pedigree of Nikolai Motovilov, known today from archival research, dates back to the middle of the 16th century, to a certain Mikhail Motovilov. In the middle of the 16th century, the Motovilovs, patrimonial inhabitants of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky district, were known. At the beginning of the 17th century, among the Motovilovs there were patrimonial lands of Kholmogory and Yaroslavl districts. However, the full family tree of the Motovilovs has not yet been studied 13. According to the legends of ancient genealogists, the Motovilovs descend from Fyodor Ivanovich Shevlyagi, the brother of Andrei Kobyla (mid-14th century), the ancestor of the reigning family of the Romanovs, Sheremetevs and others. “One of the sons of Fyodor Shevlyagi Timofey Motovilo was the ancestor of the Motovilovs and Grabezhevs. Nikita Motovilo was a clerk (1566). In the 17th century many Motovilovs were clerks and solicitors. The Motovilov family was divided into two branches, included in the VI and VII parts of the genealogical book of the Yaroslavl, Saratov and Simbirsk provinces" 14. It seems, however, that this is also incomplete data about the Motovilov family. V.I. Karpets in his work “Miroveev’s Rus'” puts forward the assumption that the Motovilov family (Montvids and Montvilovs, who came together from Lithuania) goes back to the Rurikovichs 15. Perhaps the learned author was prompted by the idea of ​​raising the Motovilov family to ancient times by Nikolai Alexandrovich himself, for his letter to Emperor Nicholas I is known, in which his genealogy looks extremely intriguing. It turns out that the Motovilovs once stood close to the Russian Throne 16: “My ancestors - Slavic rulers, equal in rights to the present nobles, were honored to participate together with Gostomysl in the calling of Rurik, Sineus and Truvor to reign over the Russian land, which, although only I know from our family traditions, is not subject to any doubt, and with Pozharsky and Minin there were also two Motovilovsky. My ancestors during the liberation of Moscow and Russia from the Poles and then during the elevation of the All-August House of Romanov to the All-Russian throne; Of these, from Evseviy Semenovich Smirny-Motovilov, governor of Irkutsk or Tobolsk, in a direct line comes my great-grandfather, court councilor Mikhail Semenovich Motovilov, who worked together with Field Marshal Minikh in the overthrow of Biron and opened in the Sarov Hermitage the act that Empress Tsarevna Elisaveta Petrovna needed upon her accession to the All-Russian throne, and during the entire period of almost a thousand years of their nobility in the Russian state, the Motovilovs, serving as captains and colonels, centurions of rifle regiments and in regional cities that are now provincial, never betrayed either God, or the Sovereign, or the Fatherland, serving both One, and the other, and the third always with faith and truth; and on the maternal side, I dare, pointing to the late foreman Nikolai Alekseevich Durasov and all his descendants from his sisters, to conclude that she is from the same family and, having been raised in his house, had the good fortune to repeatedly enjoy the high favor and all-august attention of your great grandmother, Empress Catherine the Great, which was also awarded to my parent, who began his service at Her highest court Majesty, and only due to his serious illnesses, and throughout his entire life, which depressed him, he was forced to resign.” Little is known about Motovilov’s father, Alexander Ivanovich. On his mother’s side, he belonged to the family of landowners, the Repyovs. Lieutenant Ivan Mironovich Repyov is the great-grandfather of Nikolai Motovilov and the grandfather of Alexander Motovilov. From his wife Agrafena he had a daughter, Christinia, the grandmother of Seraphim’s servant. For a long time, the Motovilovs settled in the Simbirsk region 17. The Motovilov family had quite extensive lands in four provinces: Simbirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza and Saratov. Several documents from the Simbirsk archive give an idea of ​​what Nikolai Motovilov had to do 18 . Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov is a Simbirian by birth. The city of Simbirsk (or according to the old spelling - Sinbirsk) arose on the steep bank of the Volga in the middle of the 17th century. In 1648, Sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich ordered “the okolnik Bogdan Matveevich Khitrovo to be with the clerk Grigory Kunakov in the lower towns to protect against the arrival of Nogai people and to build new cities and abatis fortresses from the Barysh River to the Volga River.” According to tradition, around the newly built city, the Tsar granted estates and land plots to the nobles and boyars for their service. On estates, first of all, a church was erected, and only then a “manor”, ​​i.e. estate for a new owner. That is why, in the very first years of the existence of Simbirsk, there were already 18 churches and chapels in and around it. Motovilov was born on May 12/25, 1809 in the village of Rozhdestvenskoye, Russkaya Tsylna, Simbirsk district, Simbirsk province. As stated in the case at the request of N.A. Motovilov about including him in the register of nobility, “... according to the metric books for 1809, submitted from the clergy and clergy, the Simbirsk Province and the surrounding area, the village of Tsylny, in the note, among those born under No. 35, it is listed and recorded as follows: on the 12th of May 1809, in the village of Tsylny, a son was born to the city’s second lieutenant Alexander Motovilov Nikolai..." 19 . Little Nicholas was baptized on his third day of birth, May 14, in the church of his native village of Tsylna. It was the day of the Yaroslavl Icon of the Mother of God. “Prayers and baptism were performed by the former priest Prokopiy Petrov, sexton Nikolai Nikolaev, sexton Alexey Petrov, the priest of the Simbirsk district, Trinity Church, priest Alexander Emelyanov was the recipient” 20. The meager lines of the document do not convey all the details of the event. We now know nothing either about the priest Procopius Petrov, or about his parable, who participated in this unnoticed but significant event. Nothing is known about Nikolai Alexandrovich’s childhood. Most likely he grew up in his patrimony, in the Simbirsk province. Here Nikolai Alexandrovich inherited several villages and hamlets, in which there were about three hundred souls of peasants. The main estate was located in the village of Rozhdestvenskoye, Russkaya Tsylna also. It is impossible to say exactly what the estate was like under Motovilov’s father, Alexander Ivanovich. But the archives preserve a description of the estate as it looked after the death of Motovilov’s son, retired naval lieutenant Ivan Nikolaevich Motovilov. From this description it follows that the Motovilovs had a significant amount of land in the village, the Motovilovs’ house was wooden, and one half was two-story, covered with iron. The inventory notes that “the house has two porches and a balcony overlooking the garden.” At the house there was a kitchen, a pantry, two barns, cellars, a bathhouse, huts for the gardener and other service people, and an outbuilding for the manager. There was also a cattle yard, quite large, with many sheds, with huts for cattlemen, with seven stables, a barn, a cowshed, a carriage house, and cellars. In addition to the farmyard, there was also a horse yard, and here again there were sheds, barns, sheds, three stables with a carriage house, etc., etc. There was also a wooden four-winged mill 21. A typical middle-class landowner's estate for those places. And life in such an estate was appropriate: without luxury, but also without poverty. The nature in Simbirsk province was magnificent. All its luxury is visible in the descriptions of Motovilov’s great contemporary, his peer, writer I.A. Goncharova: “From the balcony the room smelled of freshness. From the house, a garden of old lindens, thick rose hips, bird cherry and lilac bushes spread out into a distant space. Between the trees there were flowers, paths ran in different directions, then a lake quietly splashed into the shores, bathed on one side by the golden rays of the morning sun and smooth as a mirror; on the other, dark blue, like the sky that was reflected in it, and barely covered with swell. And there the fields with waving, multi-colored grains ran like an amphitheater and adjoined the dark forest.” It was in such a beneficial environment that the future “Servant of Seraphim” grew up. But much more important was the spiritual side of life in the Motovilov family, a side hidden from human eyes. The Motovilov family was outstanding in religious terms. It is known that in the noble memoirs of that time “there is almost no evidence of noble pilgrimages from the central regions of Russia - Moscow, St. Petersburg, provincial centers - to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Judging by the memoirs, few of the nobles went to the Pechersk shrines, mainly those who lived at home according to the strict (monastic) rules...” 22 But we know that Motovilova’s mother, Maria Alexandrovna, visited monasteries, visited the elders, took little Nicholas with her and ended her earthly career on the way to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. The Motovilov family was one of those select few who lived “according to the monastic rules” and went on pilgrimages. Motovilov’s parents did not always sit in one place: they probably went to their estates in other provinces, and went, especially in winter, to Simbirsk. Maybe they took little Nikolai with them. His soul was especially attached to Simbirsk; it was Simbirsk that Motovilov felt as his hometown, although it was there that he suffered the most in his life. What was Simbirsk like at that time and what could Nikolai’s upbringing be like? Despite its distance from the capitals, Simbirsk was not a backwater. Moreover, it was a very remarkable city in its own way. It bizarrely combined, on the one hand, sleepy “Oblomovism”, deep, motionless provincialism, and on the other, the energetic activity of the city’s inhabitants in various spheres of life. Simbirsk stood out among other provincial cities of Russia for its extraordinary representation of remarkable noble families. As is known, the most prestigious in the books of nobility were considered to be nobles of the first (granted, actual nobility) and sixth (ancient noble families) ranks. In terms of the number of nobles of these two categories, the Simbirsk province differed markedly from many provinces of Russia. All this created a special atmosphere in the city. “The Simbirsk nobility had a high opinion of themselves and even got used to looking at the governors as their equals and members of their societies. It is known that due to a clash with the local nobility in the middle of the 19th century. Three governors left the province in a row (A.M. Zagryazhsky, I.S. Zhirkevich and I.P. Khomutov).” It is not by chance that we mentioned the last circumstance; this will be discussed in more detail later. In the Simbirsk province there were many famous noble estates, with which remarkable representatives of Russian culture of the 19th century, such as N.M., were in one way or another connected. Karamzin, D. Davydov, N.M. Yazykov, S.T. Aksakov, D.V. Grigorovich, P.V. Annenkov and others. The Simbirsk province was inhabited by selected, well-born nobility. It was from Simbirsk that the expression “pillar nobility” originated. The pillar - as a support for the imperial throne - initially became the coat of arms of the city. The Simbirsk nobles were distinguished by their wealth and, as a result, independence, and also extraordinary unity. Tsar Nicholas I himself, sending the next governor I.S. Zhirkevich to Simbirsk, warned him about this, saying that the former governor, Zagryazhsky, “did not know how to maintain his title properly” 23. This unity of the nobles had, among other reasons, the fact that the Simbirsk province was traditionally a strong Masonic center. The Orthodox nobleman, a true Christian, did not always feel comfortable in the Simbirsk province. Obviously, Motovilov’s father, Alexander Ivanovich, being a man of honor, an adherent of the oath and loyalty to the sovereign and the Fatherland, experienced considerable difficulties in his environment. He saw perfectly what was happening around him. Most likely, he received offers from his fellow nobles to enter the Masonic lodge. That is why he sought to raise his son in the true Orthodox faith and in rejection of Freemasonry. The father “foresaw death from Freemasonry, which, as a novelty, the last word of European education, the most prominent provincial figures began to get carried away with. - Look, mother, take care of Kolya from the Masons if I’m gone! In my name, order him not to join their God-fighting society - it will destroy Russia! Motovilov himself heard such speeches from his father... For the rest of his life, Motovilov remained an implacable enemy of this secret and essentially deeply revolutionary society” 24. Surprisingly, seven-year-old Motovilov remembered his father’s words, and this would later seriously affect his entire life. True, in Simbirsk not everything was permeated with Freemasonry. From time immemorial, faith has been strong among the people here, and religiously outstanding personalities have labored. The general atmosphere in the city has always been of a high religious spirit. Already in 1648, when Simbirsk was founded, there were 18 churches and 3 chapels 25. At the beginning of 1832, there were already 603 parish churches in the Simbirsk province 26. In 1698, the Intercession Monastery 27 was founded. Simultaneously with the Simbirsk Kremlin, the Spassky Convent began to be built. Simbirsk had its own shrines and legends, which little Nikolai Motovilov was unlikely to pass by. Obviously, Motovilov knew from childhood that the patron saint of the family was St. Nicholas. Therefore, I probably remembered the story of the appearance of the icon of St. Nikolai Ugodnik in the village of Promzino. All Simbirians knew about this wonderful phenomenon, and not only Simbirians, but also residents of neighboring provinces. The veneration of “Nikolina Mountain” originated a long time ago and continues to this day. Tradition connects the appearance of this icon with the defense of the village of Promzina-Gorodishche from the raid of the Kuban Tatars in the 16th century. In 1552, hordes of Kuban Tatars approached Promzin and prepared to cross the Sura River. The small garrison of the Settlement expected imminent death. But suddenly the attackers stopped. One of the guard warriors, who knew the Tatar language, crossed the Sura to the Kuban camp. - “Why have you been standing here for so long?” They answered him: “Don’t you see what horror is before us? There is an impenetrable darkness around us, among which some majestic old man stands on the mountain in an extraordinary radiance with an image of your church in one hand and with a sword in the other. Next to him on horseback, with a deadly spear, is another formidable young man, ready to rush at us as soon as we dare to take even a step forward. ...We would like to return home as soon as possible, but behind us there is such a dense forest, as if we had not come here. Probably, your God himself has stood up for your land and is threatening us with his sword.” The warrior looked at the White Mountain and saw a majestic old man on it and next to him a formidable young warrior. He recognized them as St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. St. George the Victorious. The warrior showed the Tatars the way back, and they fled, and he himself returned to Gorodishche and told about everything he had seen. The residents hurried to the White Mountain, and at their head rode a warrior who spoke with the Kuban people. At the top of the mountain, the horse suddenly stumbled and fell to its knees with its front legs. It turned out that he was kneeling in front of the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, hidden in the ground. The people raised the icon with reverence. This icon still exists today. In Motovilov’s times, it was kept in the village of Promzino, but Nikolai Alexandrovich most likely heard the given legend about it. In Simbirsk itself there were miraculous icons (primarily the image of the Smolensk Mother of God), which, no doubt, were also revered by Motovilov’s parents. Motovilov and Blessed Andrei Ilyich But the main “religious attraction” of Simbirsk was Andrei Ilyich Ogorodnikov. In the days of Motovilov’s childhood, there were frequent trips of Simbirians to the great ascetic of the Russian land - St. Seraphim of Sarov. And he told them: “Why are you bothering to come to me, the poor one, - you have something better than me, your Andrei Ilyich...” Indeed, Andrei Ilyich Ogorodnikov, now glorified by the Church as a saint, was the soul of old Simbirsk of the 19th century, its intercessor and Guardian Angel. He was a man of great talents; everyone in the city knew and loved him. Blessed Andrei Ilyich was revered by all Simbirsk people, regardless of what class they belonged to, as an intercessor and guardian of Simbirsk. At that time it was a very small town of nobles and merchants, so Andrei Ilyich’s life passed, one might say, in front of all the townspeople, which is why many episodes of his life were preserved in people’s memory. Wooden Simbirsk burned repeatedly, but during Andrei Ilyich’s lifetime there were never large, devastating fires in the city. However, after the death of the saint, fires in Simbirsk resumed. From early childhood, Andrei Ilyich took upon himself the feat of silence and explained himself with gestures. All the townspeople knew that every action of Andrei Ilyich had a hidden meaning. If he gave money to someone, then success in business or promotion contributed to this person. If blessed Andrew gave a person a chip or a handful of earth, then this was a sign of imminent death. He often warned people about death, preparing them for a Christian death, and by coming to their house and, stretching out, like a deceased person, lying down under the images in the front corner. The blessed one not only gave up shoes and clothes. His asceticism surpassed all imagination. There are cases when he could pull cast iron pots straight from the fire. Andrei Ilyich kissed the boiling samovar many times, and even if he doused himself with boiling water, he did not suffer at all because of it. The townspeople saw him standing barefoot in the snowdrifts for whole nights. He stopped almost naked at a street intersection and, swaying from side to side, shifting from foot to foot, repeated: “Bo-bo-bo.” He especially often stood in the snowdrifts of the night in front of the altar of the Ascension Cathedral, which was located on Bolshaya Saratovskaya Street. There he was found there more than once by priest V.Ya. Arkhangelsky, who was the confessor of the blessed one. In severe frosts, Andrei Ilyich stood in the cold water of Lake Marishka. Blessed Andrew died in 1841. Motovilov knew well everything related to Andrei Ilyich and, obviously, saw him personally. One day Andrei Ilyich appeared in a prophetic dream - together with Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich. At the same time, Motovilov describes Andrei Ilyich’s truly inherent habit of expressing his feelings in monosyllables: “A-a-a-a-a.” This means that when I was in Simbirsk, I communicated with him in one way or another. Nikolai Alexandrovich describes this dream in his letter to the Emperor dated April 15, 1865: “I saw that I was in Simbirsk... And that, as if by the Highest Command, they were calling me to the Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, who had died in Bose, in the Simbirsk Intercession Monastery, and I went straight to the small wooden chambers of the late Eminence Anatoly 28 , where later on some occasion the Right Reverend Eugene 29 was located, assuming that the Sovereign Emperor had probably already deigned to stop, but behind the cemetery they showed me a small, neat outbuilding, like a deserted hermit’s cell, opposite which in the front garden, decorated with magnificent flowers, the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich deigned to sit - on the very chair of Emperor Peter The Great, located in St. Petersburg, in Monplaisir, from which His Majesty ordered during His Reign to do everything [nrzb.], then in this and His favorite place of Peter Velikovsky’s solitude. When I had the good fortune to approach His Imperial Majesty, the Sovereign deigned to tell me: what does it mean, Motovilov, that during my life you yourself volunteered to serve me, and now I myself am calling you, but I still won’t get it. Is it really possible that you, imitating others, decided to change us too?! I calmly said: no, Your Imperial Majesty, but no one told me that you would deign to demand me. “And,” said the Emperor, “isn’t my argument with you fair, addressing those around him, “that you are lying about Motovilov, as if he forgot me and my Imperial House, the Holy Church and our Holy Russian Land?” Well, thank you for showing up immediately, I knew you and firmly believed that I was not mistaken about you. - As soon as the Sovereign Emperor deigned to say this, then just diagonally from this place, near the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Mother of God, the earth shook over the tomb of our last Simbirsk Christ for the sake of the holy fool, Andrei Ilyich, and he came out from under the lid of his cast-iron monument, resurrected from the grave, and, performing his usual foolishness, waddling from side to side in his wearing a motley red shirt and uttering the usual words “A-a-a-a”, he began to approach His Imperial Majesty directly. And the Emperor, deigning to stand up and fold the first three fingers of his right hand in the Orthodox Christian folding of the fingers and crossing himself correctly, and not waving, with a handful, the usual example of some, deigned to say: well, Glory to God, these two (which means counting me among Christ for the sake of the holy fools) will now help in everything. And as soon as he deigned to most graciously pronounce this royal speech, they reported to His Majesty that from His Imperial Majesty the Most Piously Reigning Emperor Alexander II Nikolayevich a courier with dispatches had arrived to him, and they were handing him four of my manuscripts, half folded and in four colors: white, pink-red, blue and green, crosswise tied with silk wide ribbons, and the Tsar, turning to me, deigned to say to me: these are your papers, you know their essence, and I, as I once told you, know them even better than you, from the stories of the Great Elder Seraphim about them, and I myself and my Son will begin to analyze them, well, you begin to act, as you the Great Elder Seraphim should act in our favor commanded..." Everything about this dream retelling is amazing. But most of all, this is what is characteristic: the names of Nikolai Motovilov, St. Seraphim of Sarov and the blessed wonderworker Andrei of Simbirsk are very closely connected. When Motovilov was only seventeen years old, the first knots in his fate were tied, the first serious obstacles arose. The demon began to take revenge on the future ascetic through people, intimidating him with incredible malice and trying to drive him into despair. The nightmare of his life was the famous freemason M.P. not only in Simbirsk, but also in Russia and Europe. Barataev. Emperor Nicholas I gave a description of this man when he sent the next governor to Simbirsk and warned him about Barataev: “You know the circumstances for which I considered it necessary to change Governor Zagryazhsky in Simbirsk. I was pleased with him, however, but he... He had some squabbles with the provincial leader, Prince Baratayev. A person I wouldn’t even want to know about” 30. However, let’s give the floor to Motovilov himself. In the already mentioned notes, he recalled the events of that time, not without sorrow: “Having left the Imperial Kazan University as a full-fledged student on July 8, 1826, and on the way of pilgrimage to Kyiv, having lost my parent on the 20th day of the same July 1826 and remaining an orphan at the age of 17, having a sister Praskovya, fifteen years old, I, through a friend of my mother, Nadezhda Ivanovna Savrasova, soon became acquainted with the Simbirsk provincial leader, Prince Mikhail Petrovich Baratayev, and soon became close to him to the point that he revealed to me that he was the Grand Master of the Simbirsk Lodge and the Great Master of the Illuminati St. Petersburg Lodge. He invited me to join the ranks of the Masons, assuring me that if I wanted to have any success in public service, then, without being a Mason, I could not achieve it under any circumstances. I answered that my father, my parent, forbade me to join Freemasonry, then that this is true anti-Christianity, and I myself, being at the university and having found a book about the Freemasons, was completely convinced of this and even saw extraordinary visions that predicted the fate of my whole life and told me to go against Freemasonry, Freemasonry, Illuminism, Jacobinism, Carbonarism and everything with them identical and existing in opposition to the Lord God. This angered him so much, and even more so in the simplicity of my heart, my open intention to soon, in accordance with the arrangement of my affairs, go to St. Petersburg for assignment to serve in His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery, that he swore to me that I would never be successful in anything, because not only Russia, but the whole world is entangled in the networks of Masonic connections. Soon after that, a law was passed so that young people, although they had completed their studies and received diplomas for academic degrees in higher schools, would not have the right to go to serve in the capital, but would have to serve in the province for three years, supposedly to become familiar with the procedure of provincial service. Having been cut off from my feet at first, I, as they say, ran aground like a lobster.” The conversation with Barataev could have taken place in the summer - autumn of 1826. All this year, the government of Tsar Nicholas I carefully monitored all the connections of the Decembrists - rebels among the Russian metropolitan and provincial nobility, especially and above all among the Masons. This year was difficult for Freemason Barataev, but he still managed to get out of an unpleasant situation. In his conversation with Motovilov, the prince did not boast: he was indeed very powerful. Through his efforts, the “Alexandra to the Triple Salvation” lodge was opened in Moscow in 1817, and in the same year, the “Key to Virtue” lodge was opened in Simbirsk. The prince was a member of the privileged St. Petersburg lodge of the United Friends, of which the Simbirsk governor A.M. was also a member. Zagryazhsky 31, the local master of the Russian branch of this lodge, was a member of the Phoenix Chapter (the secret and highest governing body of Freemasonry in Russia), and was an honorary member of many lodges. Enjoying great respect, he attracted many representatives of Simbirsk society to the “Key to Virtue” lodge. This lodge consisted of 39 full and 21 honorary members. Among the “brothers” of the lodge were General P.N. Ivashev, godfather of the writer Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov N.N. Tregubov, N.A. Tregubov, senator and former Simbirsk governor N.P. Dubenskaya and others. This lodge, which was very influential, received people not only from the districts of the Simbirsk province, but also from neighboring provinces. This is how “those thirsting for the glory of this world” valued proximity to Barataev. Lodge meetings were held in a grotto built in the garden of his estate. Members of the lodge gathered in the grotto even after the prohibition of Freemasonry by a special manifesto of Alexander I in 1822. Barataev and his narrow circle of acquaintances were not the only ones among the Freemasons of Simbirsk. It was a city with a long Masonic tradition. If lodges began to open throughout Russia at the very end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries, then in Simbirsk the first Masonic lodge “Golden Crown” appeared back in 1784. Its founder is one of the most active figures in Moscow Freemasonry, a member of the “Friendly Scientific Society”, Ivan Petrovich Turgenev. At the end of the 18th century, perhaps the only Masonic “temple” in Russia in the name of St. John the Baptist was built in Simbirsk. This “church” without an altar was built on the estate of V.A. Kindyakova. V.A. Kindyakov was one of the few provincial subscribers to N.I.’s publications. Novikova. Liturgies were not served in the “temple”, but meetings of the Simbirsk Masonic lodge “Golden Crown” were held, in which the then young Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, the future glory of Russian literature, was a comrade. The founder of the lodge was a member of the Novikov circle, Pyotr Petrovich Turgenev. This “church” was strange and gloomy. It was a stone structure up to 16 meters high, round in plan, with a dome and four porticoes (they depicted Masonic symbols: an urn with flowing water, a skull and bones, etc.). The building was crowned not with a cross, but with a wooden figure of St. John the Baptist, whom the Masons themselves thought of as the patron of the Order of Freemasons 32. And this “church” was protected by Freemasons of all times! Its ruins remained until the early 20s of the 20th century. This is the city Motovilov came to after graduating from Kazan University. Only after December 14, 1825, when the government began to seriously persecute Masonic lodges in Russia, all the Masons in Simbirsk, according to Motovilov’s fellow countryman, the famous writer Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov, “sewed their own uniforms; recent atheists appeared on solemn days for prayers in the cathedral...” (Goncharov I.A. At home). But Freemasonry did not die even then, but only hid until new, more favorable times. At the end of the 19th century, such leaders of the destruction of Russia as Kerensky and Lenin came from here. Barataev himself was arrested in Simbirsk in February 1826 and transported to St. Petersburg. There he was kept in the General Staff. The investigation established that he was not a member of the secret societies of the Decembrists, and therefore, by the Highest command, he was released with a certificate of acquittal. He was even given travel money, and at the end of May he returned to Simbirsk. He returned victorious: already in August he became a state councilor. Barataev was no longer afraid of anyone or anything. A conversation with Motovilov showed that he immediately began recruiting new members into Masonic lodges. Complete impunity explains his undisguised anger towards Motovilov, his terrible curses and promises. It must be said that he kept his word. The young university graduate was unable to compete with the secret society united in Simbirsk, which, as a rule, included all the prominent provincial figures and the main provincial officials. Motovilov's entry into office was delayed for 14 long years due to the machinations of Barataev and his allies. Already in 1861, he again remembered the machinations of his enemies 33. It was then that he had serious complications with getting a job. After all, “in those days, noble honor required mandatory service to the state. A young man who had completed his course of study had to serve, either in the crown service, or by election: a nobleman who did not serve was the same as a runt among the nobles. Avoidance of service to the Fatherland was considered such a disgrace that not a single girl from a respectable family would marry someone who had not served in the military or civil service of the Tsar and the Fatherland” (S. Nilus). But it was then that the figure of Barataev appeared. Apparently, even before the aforementioned conversation with the head of the Masonic lodge, Motovilov put forward his candidacy for the position of honorary superintendent of the Korsun district school. And soon after a conversation with Barataev, in 1827, to his great joy, he received a message about his election from the Council of Kazan University and the School Committee. Now he was already listed in the government service - in the Ministry of Public Education, the head of which at that time was the famous Alexander Semenovich Shishkov, writer and statesman... In his “Reflections on the old and new syllable of the Russian language” he calls the Old Church Slavonic language “the root and beginning of the Russian language.” The Decembrist uprising of 1825 showed that in Russia a lot needs to be changed in the education system. Yesterday's student was eagerly ready to take on an important task, believing that here he could serve the Emperor and the Fatherland. It would seem that the worst was already over, and one could breathe a sigh of relief. In fact, his sorrows were just beginning. Prince Barataev’s confidence that Motovilov would not be successful in anything for his refusal to become a member of the Masonic lodge was soon confirmed. Already in 1829, Barataev called him to his place and announced: – You won’t see this position like your ears. And not only will you not get this position, but you will not get any other government position, because both Musin-Pushkin and the minister Prince Lieven are masons subordinate to me. My command is their law! It was no coincidence that Barataev mentioned Mikhail Nikolaevich Musin-Pushkin. This was a very influential man not only in Kazan. Musin-Pushkin was a trustee of the Kazan educational district from 1829 to 1845. He was known as a smart man. In 1841, he put forward a project to open a “special Institute of Oriental Languages” at Kazan University, and helped the famous mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky become rector of Kazan University. His influence grew year by year. By the way, L.N. was a student in his Kazan house. Tolstoy. In 1845, his career took a new turn: he became a trustee of the St. Petersburg educational district. As for Karl Andreevich Lieven, he appeared in 1828–1833. Minister of Public Education and, as F.F. notes in his memoirs. Wigel, "the most zealous Protestant." A strange thing, at an outsider's glance. Not very important according to the official table of ranks, Barataev, the leader of the Simbirsk nobility, lived modestly near Simbirsk in his village of Barataevka, and in Kazan and St. Petersburg, officials, even ministers, hung on his every word, every order! Next, let’s give the floor to S. Nilus: “From that moment, the persecution, or rather persecution, of Motovilov began, intensifying over time to the point of persecution, which eventually brought him to such a nervous breakdown that he suffered from a nervous stroke, which confined him to bed. He suffered in great suffering for more than three years. They persecuted him in the service, which he, however, nevertheless achieved, thanks to his supernatural energy, prevented his marriage with Yazykova, created a reputation as a madman, and even during the time of Governor Zagryazhsky they managed to subject him to personal detention on charges of treason. He was released from this arrest only by order of the Minister of Justice Dimitry Vasilyevich Dashkov. There was no slander, ridicule, secret tricks and tricks to which political-sectarian human malice would not subject him.” Information from S.A. Nilus give only an approximate idea of ​​the events that took place. The recently published “Note” by Motovilov himself tells about all this much more vividly and in detail. Let us recall what conversation took place between the Grand Maître of the Masonic Lodge Barataev and young Motovilov 14 years ago: “Well, I’ll tell you that by the power of the Grand Maître of the Simbirsk Masonic Lodge and the power of the great mastery of the St. Petersburg Lodge, I will forbid you to give honorary supervision of the Korsun District School, because the Kazan Masons are subordinate to the Lodge Simbirsk, and Musin-Pushkin is not only my cousin, but also a subordinate Mason, so he must fulfill my will, and in St. Petersburg they will not dare to resist me,” these were the words of Barataev. But Motovilov firmly trusted in Christ and was not afraid to say in response: “And I assure you that by the power of my Lord Jesus Christ, whom you are persecuting with your Freemasonry, through the intercession of the Queen of Heaven, I will certainly receive a place at Korsun, and not at any other school.” In his “Notes,” he comments on this long-standing conversation: “What God deigned to receive fourteen years later, and what is most surprising of all, was announced to me precisely on September 14, 1845, on the day of the Universal Exaltation of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross of Christ...” In this battle with Freemasonry, Motovilov himself did not rely on his weak human strength, but relied only on God and the prayers of St. Seraphim. He understood that this struggle had not only a real, but also a mystical, sacred meaning. This is especially clearly seen in his notes when he talks about his return to service and overcoming the machinations of the Masons. Nikolai Alexandrovich perceived his appointment as the victory of the Cross of Christ over all the enemies of Christianity, first of all, over Freemasonry. In his narration, S. Nilus silently mentions Motovilov’s suffering. And they are characteristically revealed in the relationship of the still very young and inexperienced Nikolai Alexandrovich with Governor A.M. Zagryazhsky. Governor Zagryazhsky. Arrest of Motovilov The year 1831 was marked by an important event in the life of Motovilov, which entailed great consequences over time. He met the governor of Simbirsk, Alexander Mikhailovich Zagryazhsky. In his “Notes,” Motovilov writes that “he got along with him on such a friendly footing that, according to his personal, ever-present brotherly conviction, he had to put my relationship with him only on a “you” basis.” Alexander Mikhailovich Zagryazhsky (1798–1883) was an interesting person in his own way. This was a distant relative of the poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. Zagryazhsky came from an old Moscow family, descended, according to the legends of ancient genealogies, from the Tatar Isachar, baptized Gabriel, “an honest husband, relative of the Tsar of the Horde,” who went to Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy, was his “close man” and was granted estates. Alexander Mikhailovich himself took part in the War of 1812, for which he was awarded several awards. In Simbirsk, Zagryazhsky was governor in 1831–1835. He was an artistic person, somewhat superficial, but brilliant in his own way. It is known that Governor Zagryazhsky was prone to external effects. In his memoirs “At Home”, the writer Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov, author of the immortal novel “Oblomov”, which was published in 1834–1835. secretary of Zagryazhsky, notes his craving for stories about famous people: “Some of his stories just begged to be written. If I could foresee that someday I would write for the press, I would include some stories in a memorial book... He had especially interesting characteristics of some famous, high-profile personalities with whom he had personal or official relations.” Goncharov emphasizes in Zagryazhsky his passion for artistic exaggeration in stories about meetings with famous people: “He had an artistic streak in nature and he, as an artist, always illustrated portraits of various heroes, for example, prominent figures in politics, at court, or heroes of the Patriotic War, in which, as a young man, he already participated, went to take Paris, or simply famous people in society. But here’s the problem: these illustrations – both of persons and events – were sometimes distinguished by such virtuosity that both persons and events sometimes seemed to be entirely composed. Sometimes I noticed, when repeating some stories, changes, insertions. Therefore, it was necessary to rely on their actual loyalty with great caution. He wove them like lace. Everyone listened to him with pleasure, and I, moreover, with disbelief. I penetrated into the play of his imagination, felt where he told the truth, where he embellished, and admired not the content, but the artistic form of his stories. He, it seems, guessed this and was himself not so much striving to instill in the listener confidence in the authenticity of the event, but to produce a certain effect - and he always did” 34. Goncharov was a writer, his view of people was always keen-sighted. He immediately penetrated Zagryazhsky’s character. The straightforward and childishly naive Motovilov was not like that. Two years after meeting the governor, Nikolai Alexandrovich will severely pay for his gullibility. Before the publication of Motovilov’s notes, we knew about his strange arrest in 1833 only through vague mentions. Now the case has been solved. Motovilov writes: “In connection with these Voronezh cases, I suffered a three-month arrest in Korsun and Simbirsk in 1833. ...The gentleman holding the post of Simbirsk civil governor, state councilor Alexander Mikhailovich Zagryazhsky, having heard from me the above stories about Voronezh, dared to suspect that there was some kind of secret society in Voronezh, under the pretext of the discovery of the incorruptible relics of the saint and saint of God Mitrofan and the congress to venerate his holy relics 35. This society, under the pretext of this congress, founded its rendezvous here for consultations on how best to implement this in Russia, so that, under the pretext of spreading the Christian faith in it and inciting lost piety, to establish a constitutional government, limit the autocracy of the All-Russian Emperors and force them to forcibly give us a constitution, and that I or a member-agent of this society, headed by all the individuals and individuals I mentioned above, starting with the Most Reverend Anthony, or at least a victim carried away to destruction by his charming influence on me. For which I was put under arrest by him, Zagryazhsky, in the city of Korsun, and taken to St. Petersburg several stations, and then brought to Simbirsk, kept under arrest for three months, and only because it was so short that the Ministry of Internal Affairs was chaired by Count Dmitry Nikolaevich Bludov, or, better said, only because he himself energetically took up the matter of my unfortunate arrest...” How and why did this arrest happen? Let us recall that Governor Alexander Mikhailovich Zagryazhsky was a Freemason. The governor himself, under whom this crime was committed, was not a cruel man. It is all the more characteristic that even under such a good-natured and “artistic” governor, the Freemasons in Simbirsk carried out a deadly persecution of Motovilov. After all, the highest officials in the province, as a rule, were members of the Masonic fraternity. When meeting with the young Motovilov, he allowed himself free conversations about Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich: “In this intimacy, he often mimicked the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, sitting on his cane like a horse, and, riding it around the office of the governor’s house, imagined how he appeared in front of the ranks of troops at the parade and, shouting to them: “Great, guys!”, immediately at them: “We wish you good health, Your Imperial Majesty. Hurray!”, ending: “Thank you, guys,” or how he will persuade the Turkish Sultan Magmut to abandon Mohammedanism and accept the Orthodox faith of Christ, vulgarizing this mocking conversation in every possible way, always adding that not only Begichev, the governor of Voronezh, Pavlov and my other Voronezh acquaintances, but also the Most Reverend Anthony himself is a hypocrite to please the Sovereign To the Emperor, bowing to his supposedly insincere piety, that they are all worthless people. I soften my expressions when writing about a holy subject, for he expressed himself much more boldly.” Obviously, having not persuaded Motovilov to assent to such conversations, Zagryazhsky began to fear him and decided, just in case, to discredit Motovilov’s good name, and to make it clear to him that he was only “testing” his loyalty to the Sovereign. Not a single document contains information about when exactly in 1833 this dramatic event took place - the arrest of Motovilov. However, it is easy to install. Nikolai Alexandrovich writes that he and the governor ended up at a fair in the town of Korsun (Karsun), which is located 100 miles from Simbirsk. At the same time, it is known that fairs were held in Korsun twice a year. One began on the feast of the Holy Trinity and lasted two weeks. The fair was famous, merchants from Moscow, Astrakhan, Kazan, Belgorod and other places came to it - with cloth, calico, furs, cattle, horses, etc. Another fair (on Kazanskaya) was simpler and attracted black people 36. This happened, therefore, on Trinity, i.e. in the early summer of 1833. In his notes, Motovilov writes that the governor in Korsun 37 at a fair in 1833 asked him to buy prohibited books: “Dumas” by Ryleev 38 and sonnets by Mitskevich 39 . At the same time, he tried to encourage young Motovilov, who was only 24 years old at the time, to engage in anti-government talk. And when Motovilov stopped these conversations in the most decisive way, the governor was so frightened that in the dead of midnight, in only a robe, he ran after Motovilov across the fairground, begging with tears that he would return to him, and saying that he was only testing whether Motovilov was faithful to the Sovereign Emperor. The inexperienced and trusting Motovilov returned to the house, where several bottles of champagne were drunk for the health of the Sovereign Emperor. However, further Motovilov writes: “But what was my surprise when the next day, instead of the familiar involuntary address to the governor on a first name basis, it was suddenly announced to me that I was under the arrest of His Excellency with all sorts of additions of various Grand Inquisitorial, although stupid and funny, but still incredibly offensive insolence and all kinds of oppressive measures of His Excellency... I also cannot keep silent about the fact that the whole essence of the Great Inquisitorial demands of the aforementioned Governor Zagryazhsky consisted only in the fact that I decided to slander the spiritual benefactor of my Archbishop of Voronezh and Zadonsk Anthony, the Governor of Voronezh Begichev, Pavlov and others, that there was a secret All-Russian society in Voronezh, which, as I already mentioned above this, wants, under the pretext of spreading Christianity in Russia, to establish a constitutional government, and that I am either a member-agent of this society, or at least a victim of its malicious intent to shake and weaken the Autocracies of the Russian Emperors.” This is called: from a sore head to a healthy one! In the arrest of Motovilov, not only the governor’s fear played a role, but also the fact that the general atmosphere in the so-called “society” was imbued with the impatience of true Christianity in man. Among the motives for the arrest, Governor Zagryazhsky, in his report to the Minister of Justice, names first of all the “strange behavior” of such a young and already such a religious person as Nikolai Alexandrovich was. In the “Notes” we read: “In his report, which, however, he showed me, he wrote to Mr. Minister that, having arrested the Simbirsk landowner, an active student of Motovilov, and taken away all his papers from him, he was the next one excited. The first thing is that Motovilov met famous people in Voronezh. The second thing is that, being well educated, although he does not know the world, he is not as attached to it as a young man of his age should be. Third, he speaks about faith so powerfully and captivatingly that his speech leaves a significant impression on educated people, and on the masses of people who come to him in crowds under the pretext of asking questions about his healing in Voronezh, and has an even stronger effect.” This was, therefore, the arrest of Motovilov for his Christian faith, committed by the freemason Zagryazhsky. It is likely that Zagryazhsky only fulfilled Baratayev’s not so long ago threats. Thus, Motovilov spent June, July and August, and perhaps part of September 1833, under arrest. It was probably not imprisonment, otherwise Motovilov would have written about it. As can be seen from the notes, Zagryazhsky took Motovilov from Korsun to St. Petersburg, still hoping to show the seriousness of his intentions and intimidate the young man. But, apparently, Motovilov was not afraid - and they took him to Simbirsk. The Minister of Justice did not attach any importance to the story with Motovilov and ordered his release from arrest. In the life of “Seraphim’s servant” Nikolai Motovilov, one of the most curious episodes is his desire to marry the sister of the poet Nikolai Yazykov. Motovilov's suffering in Simbirsk in the early 1830s was connected primarily with his main grief at that time - his marriage to Ekaterina Yazykova was upset. In any case, this is what S. Nilus thinks. Who is this Katenka Yazykova, so often mentioned in Motovilov’s notes? S. Nilus only lightly touched upon her name, saying that Motovilov’s heart was already gripped by “tender passion.” In the neighborhood of the Motovilovs in the villages of Russkaya Tsylna and Mokraya Bugurna, the widow of Mikhail Petrovich Yazykov, Ekaterina Alexandrovna, from an old family of Simbirsk nobles, the Yazykovs, lived on her estates. This was the mother of the famous Russian poet Nikolai Mikhailovich Yazykov, close to A.S. himself. Pushkin. Who doesn’t know his poem “Swimmer”: At the beginning of his journey, Yazykov, like many nobles who came out of Simbirsk-Ulyanovsk (it is worth remembering the later times: Ulyanov-Lenin or Kerensky), was revolutionary. In his youth he was close to the Decembrists - K.F. Ryleev, A.A. Bestuzhev. But, fortunately, having suffered a lot from the illnesses that befell him and under the influence of N.V. Gogol, he nevertheless firmly set foot on the path of Orthodoxy. In the famous poem “Earthquake” in 1844, he already argued that the poet’s mission is to bring “prayers from the heights to trembling people” and that the path to salvation is only in faith. A teenage daughter, Katenka, a girl of about fifteen, the sister of the famous poet, also lived with Ekaterina Alexandrovna. The widow Yazykova, sickly by nature, completely ill by the time Motovilov left the university, did not leave the house anywhere, did not receive guests, except for relatives and close neighbors. Katya grew up almost completely alone. Church, home worship and caring for her mother - this was the whole life of a young girl, almost a child. It was this Katenka, or Ekaterina Mikhailovna Yazykova, that Motovilov was in love with from the age of twelve. The pretty girl seduced his heart not so much with her appearance as with the inner qualities of her highly religious feminine soul. It was not for nothing that Nikolai Alexandrovich told St. Seraphim about her that she was raised like a monastery. Did she like Motovilov? It's hard to say. It is unlikely that S. Nilus is right when he says that Motovilov’s marriage was upset only because of the machinations of his enemies. We know nothing about what kind of relationship developed between Ekaterina Mikhailovna and Nikolai Alexandrovich. From everything we know about Yazykova’s future life, it seems that Katenka’s soul was waiting for someone else. Her letters, in which she talks with sentimental delight about her acquaintance with her future husband, the Slavophile Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov, with whom she immediately and irrevocably fell in love, indicate that she was a girl with a warm heart. If she had fallen in love with Motovilov, they would have been together. Most likely, in her eyes he lacked the metropolitan gloss, brightness, and purely secular talent. But the religious depth and brightness of his life, apparently, were not taken into account, did not strike fifteen-year-old Katya Yazykova - which, however, is understandable. It seems that the son repeated the fate of his father: judging by his later life and range of interests, Ekaterina Mikhailovna was committed to life in the capital. The position of her brother, and then her husband, the famous Slavophile, poet and philosopher A.S. Khomyakova, contributed to the fact that she, living mainly in Moscow, was familiar with all the flower of Russian literature of that time, including Gogol. The author of “Dead Souls” visited the Khomyakovs’ house and played with Ekaterina Mikhailovna’s children. From her letters to her brother it is clear that she has always been a woman of deep religiosity - Motovilov was not mistaken here. Another thing is love. You can't order your heart. Ekaterina Yazykova met her future husband, Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov, in the mid-1830s - and immediately fell in love with him. In a letter to her brother, she exclaimed: “I love him, my God, if he only knew how much I love him!” The love was mutual. It is unlikely that Nikolai Alexandrovich could lay claim to Yazykova’s hand. God built his Heavenly Paths completely differently, according to the prayers of the Venerable Father Seraphim. He was destined to marry Elena Ivanovna Milyukova, who by her character was a match for him. One of her younger contemporaries writes about her: “She had a strong faith and a straightforward character and was never embarrassed to tell the truth in person... She directly told clergy that they should not be cowardly and silent, but should openly and directly tell the truth when it comes to the Orthodox Church.” As for Motovilov himself, the hope of seeing his beloved girl as his wife did not leave him even many years after the first flash of the spark of selfless feeling planted in his soul. However, his destiny meant otherwise. In October 1831, an important conversation for Motovilov took place with the Monk Seraphim. Motovilov asked for the blessing to marry Ekaterina Mikhailovna Yazykova, something he had wanted for so long. However, the conversation took an unexpected turn: the elder had already foreseen his fate, which was not connected with Yazykova at all. “Well, your love of God, you keep wanting to ask me something, but it’s as if you don’t dare?” Just talk to me, poor Seraphim, I am always ready to answer you with God’s help, whatever the Lord deigns to reveal to me! “I said,” Motovilov writes in his notes, “that I extremely love a certain noblewoman, my neighbor in my Simbirsk villages, and I would like him, Father Seraphim, to pray to the Lord for her, so that the Lord God would name her to be my bride. “Is she really very pretty,” he asked, “that you love her so zealously and deeply, your love of God?” I replied that although she was not a beauty in the full sense of the word, she was very pretty. But most of all, what seduces me about her is something gracious, divine, which shines through in her face. The sight of her struck me even when she was twelve years old, and from then on I fell in love with her wholeheartedly. - Why isn’t she beautiful? – Father Seraphim asked me. – According to your description, she should be like that! “Because,” I answered, “that to complete typical beauty one must have great height, a slender body, a royal look and much more, which she does not have.” True, in addition to that, she has something that touches a person’s soul, which many beauties do not have in themselves... - What is this? – asked the Great Elder. “And this,” I answered, “is that she was raised like a monastery.” - How? – he asked again. - Like the monastery? I didn’t thoroughly understand your answer! “And this is what I mean by this,” I told him, “her father, Mikhail Petrovich Yazykov, left her early as an orphan of five or six years old, and she grew up in solitude with her sick mother, Ekaterina Alexandrovna, as in a monastery, she always read morning and evening prayers to her, and since her mother was very religious and pious, there were often prayer services and prayers at her bedside. all-night vigils. Having been raised for more than ten years under such a God-loving mother, she herself became like a monastery. This is what I like most and especially about her. The great elder listened deeply attentively to my answer and, as if in oblivion, asked me: – How old is your God-ordained bride now? - For five or six years she was left an orphan after her father, she lived with her mother for ten years, and after six months or a little more her mother died... I think that she is now no more than 16 or 17 years old! - What are you, father, your love for God! No no! Your destined bride from God is now eight years old and a few months old, maybe three or four, and hardly more than five months, and yet, according to the new resolution of the Synod, a man under 18 years old, and a girl under 16, cannot marry. So shouldn't you wait for your God-ordained bride for 8 or 10 years? How can you marry her now?! It’s impossible - she’s still very young. - Have mercy, Father Seraphim! - I said. - How young? After all, according to the new law, I can marry her! - Who are you talking about to me, poor Seraphim? – he asked me. “About Yazykova,” I answered, “about Yazykova, Ekaterina Mikhailovna!” - A! - he responded. - About Yazykova!.. Well, I’m not talking to you about her, but I, poor thing, am now talking about the bride destined for you from God, and for her, I assure you, according to God, your love for God, now there’s no way she’ll be more than eight years with a few months. After a short silence, the priest continued: - After all, it’s another thing, your love for God, to ask the Lord God to foretell someone’s bride, as you, for example, now ask, so that I, poor one, beg the Lord to give you Yazykov as a bride, and another thing, when the Lord Himself has already deigned to foretell what kind of bride to someone, as, for example, for your love for God. Your bride is now no more than eight years old and three, four or five months old. Believe me, this is exactly true, and I myself, poor Seraphim, am ready to testify to this to you.” The predictions of St. Seraphim are presented differently in the “Notes” of Motovilov himself and in the book of S. Nilus. Let us first present the version of S. Nilus. In his opinion, having received such definite predictions from Rev. Father Seraphim regarding his future family life, Motovilov should have come to terms with it. But his strong love for Ekaterina Mikhailovna Yazykova, and Nikolai Alexandrovich’s very youth pushed him... to test the foresight of St. Seraphim. Six months after the conversation with Father Seraphim, in May 1832, he proposed to Yazykova. But, naturally, he receives a firm and now final refusal. The fact is that at this time Ekaterina Mikhailovna fell in love with all her soul in the future, widely known in Slavophile circles of Russia, Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov (1804–1860), a poet, a man of strong Orthodox faith and high culture, and was already betrothed to him. In Motovilov’s “Notes,” on the contrary, the matter is presented in such a way that the Monk Seraphim did not forbid Nikolai Alexandrovich’s marriage to Yazykova and almost blessed him. However, the matchmaking ended in failure. He writes: “The Great Elder Seraphim in the spring of 1832 ordered me to return home to his Simbirsk. And when I was denied the hand of E. Mikh Yazykova and General Mondryka in the house of her aunt Praskovya Aleksandrovna Berg said in front of me that she was already engaged, then a blow happened to me and I lost my arms and legs, and my previous illness was renewed in the strongest degree.” Motovilov explains his failure by his lack of faith in the prophecy of St. Seraphim: “I walked, like the holy Apostle Peter, on the waves, but, seeing the wind was strong, I was afraid and almost drowned in the waves.” Now it is impossible to restore the truth. In any case, Motovilov for a long time still harbored hopes of marriage with Ekaterina Mikhailovna Yazykova, who was destined for a completely different husband - the Slavophile Khomyakov. Alexey Stepanovich Khomyakov came from an old noble family and received an excellent education (graduated from Moscow University with a PhD in Mathematical Sciences). Khomyakov, as you know, was a faithful son of the Orthodox Church. A.I. spoke beautifully about him. Herzen: “An unusually gifted man, possessed of terrible erudition, he, like the medieval knights guarding the Mother of God, slept armed.” It was not in vain that Herzen gave such a characterization. Count Osten-Sacken, under whose command eighteen-year-old Khomyakov served in the cuirassier regiment, recalled him as a one-of-a-kind phenomenon: “In physical, moral and spiritual education, Khomyakov was almost alone. His education was amazingly excellent, and in my entire life I have never seen anything like it in my youth. What a sublime direction his poetry had! He was not carried away by the direction of the century in sensual poetry. Everything about him is moral, spiritual, sublime. He rode perfectly. Jumped over obstacles as high as a man. He fought very well on espadrons. He possessed willpower not like a young man, but like a man, seasoned by experience. He strictly fulfilled all fasts according to the charter of the Orthodox Church and attended all services on holidays and Sundays... He did not allow himself to wear clothes made of thin cloth outside of services, even at home, and rejected permission to wear tin cuirasses instead of half-pound iron ones, despite his small stature and seemingly weak build. Regarding patience and enduring physical pain, he possessed extremely Spartan qualities.” Khomyakov had enormous erudition, especially in the field of church history and theology, as well as outstanding dialectical abilities. It was he who became the core of Slavophilism; the rest of the adherents of this social movement were grouped around his personality. This was a serious opponent of the so-called Westerners, who defended the Western path of development of Russia and ignored its originality. One of them, Herzen, described Khomyakov this way: “A strong, agile mind, rich in resources, memory and quick thinking... At any time of the day or night, he was ready for the most intricate argument and used everything in the world for the triumph of his Slavic view... His objections... always blinded and confused.” Among other things, he was an excellent poet. In the 1840s, Khomyakov wrote the famous essay “There is One Church.” Khomyakov and Motovilov, despite all the differences in their social status, education, religious experience and mood, etc., were in the main very similar - they were true knights of the church, knights without doubt, fear and reproach. Motovilov and Khomyakov turned out to be very similar in their attitude towards the Decembrist movement, which was Masonic in spirit. Khomyakov, like many other nobles of his time, was not carried away by the Decembrist movement; he saw only evil in it for Russia. Ekaterina Mikhailovna, with her deep religiosity, felt especially good next to Alexei Khomyakov. In a letter to her brother, poet Nikolai Yazykov, dated October 20, 1841, Ekaterina Mikhailovna reports that she and Alexei Stepanovich named their recently born son “Dmitry in honor of Dmitry the Wonderworker of Rostov.” The wedding of Ekaterina Alexandrovna and Khomyakov took place only four years later - in 1836. But from this it is all the more clear that Ekaterina Yazykova would hardly have married Motovilov. And it is unlikely that the machinations of the Freemasons upset his personal life. Here S. Nilus somewhat exaggerated the current state of affairs. Khomyakov loved his wife very much, the atmosphere in their house was special. Among his friends were the most famous people of Moscow and Russia, including the writer Gogol, who soon became friends with Ekaterina Mikhailovna. Gogol, according to the publisher of the magazine “Russian Archive” Pyotr Ivanovich Bartenev, “mostly went away to talk with Ekaterina Mikhailovna, whose merits he incredibly appreciated.” Alexei Stepanovich’s daughter Maria, from her father’s words, reported that Gogol, who did not like to talk much about his stay in the Holy Land, only told Ekaterina Mikhailovna what he felt there. It is obvious that Ekaterina Yazykova appreciated the high cultural atmosphere of the Moscow Khomyakov house. This is the true reason for her refusal to Motovilov in May 1832. Ekaterina Mikhailovna was extremely happy in this marriage. Although this happiness did not last long, in general. Ekaterina Mikhailovna Khomyakova died on January 26, 1852 after a short illness, leaving seven children in the arms of the inconsolable Alexei Stepanovich. She was only thirty-five years old. The death of his wife greatly influenced Khomyakov: “Even those who did not know him very closely could notice that from that moment his ability to get carried away with anything that was not directly related to his calling had cooled. He no longer gave himself free rein in anything. Apparently, outwardly he retained his former cheerfulness and sociability, but the memory of his wife and the thought of death did not leave him... His life was divided into two. During the day he worked, read, talked, minded his own business, and devoted himself to everyone who cared about him. But when night came and everything around him settled down and became silent, another time began for him... “Once I lived with him in Ivanovsky,” wrote Yu. F. Samarin. “Several guests came to see him, so all the rooms were occupied, and he moved my bed to his place. After dinner, after long conversations enlivened by his inexhaustible gaiety, we lay down, extinguished the candles, and I fell asleep. Long after midnight I woke up from some talking in the room. The morning dawn barely illuminated it. Without moving or uttering a voice, I began to peer and listen. He was kneeling in front of his traveling icon. His hands were folded in a cross on the chair cushion, his head rested on his hands. I could hear suppressed sobs. This continued until the morning. Of course, I pretended to be asleep. The next day he came out to us cheerful and vigorous, with his usual good-natured laugh. From a person who accompanied him everywhere, I heard that this was repeated almost every night...” It is impossible not to mention the death of Khomyakov, in which the full depth of his religious personality was revealed. Alexey Stepanovich died of cholera on his Ryazan estate on September 23, 1860. When his neighbor on the estate, Leonid Matveevich Muromtsev, came to Khomyakov and asked what was wrong with him, Alexey Stepanovich replied: “Nothing special, you have to die. Very bad. Strange thing! I have cured so many people, but I cannot cure myself.” According to Muromtsev, “in this voice there was not a shadow of regret or fear, but a deep conviction that there was no outcome.” “I consider it superfluous to count,” recalls Muromtsev, “how many dozens of times I begged him to take my medicine, sent for the doctor, and, therefore, how many times he answered in the negative and at the same time took out either veratrum or mercurium from the camp first aid kit. About one o'clock in the afternoon, seeing that the patient's strength was losing, I suggested that he receive unction. He accepted my proposal with a joyful smile, saying: “Very, very glad.” Throughout the sacrament, he held a candle in his hands, repeated the prayer in a whisper and made the sign of the cross.” After some time, it seemed to Muromtsev that Alexei Stepanovich was feeling better. “Really good, look how you have warmed up and your eyes have brightened.” To which Khomyakov replied: “And tomorrow it will be so bright!” These were his last words. A few seconds before his death, he firmly and quite consciously made the sign of the cross. This is the kind of man Ekaterina Yazykova married. This is how it was written in her family: to be the wife of a deeply religious man, a true knight of the church. It could have been Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov. But according to God’s will, Alexey Stepanovich Khomyakov became her husband. Motovilov was destined for a different fate and a different chosen one. His whole life gravitated towards the life of St. Seraphim, towards the Diveyevo shrines. What happened after Ekaterina Mikhailovna’s dramatic refusal to become his wife for Motovilov is described by him himself: “When in May 1832 I was struck by severe mental grief, I was again subjected to illness and the loss of my legs.” Marriage to Elena Milyukova. Motovilov's children Frequently visiting the Diveevo monastery, Motovilov became very ill on one of his trips and was forced to lie in his house in the village of Diveevo near the monastery for almost a year. It was God’s will, but it was during this illness that Nikolai Alexandrovich finally saw his bride, named to him by the Monk Seraphim himself. This was Elena Ivanovna Milyukova (1823–1910). Not too much is known about Elena Ivanovna. Her role in the life of “Seraphim’s Servant,” and indeed of Diveev himself, apparently has not yet been fully appreciated. We only know that the Monk Seraphim himself said about her that she would be a “great mistress” to the Diveyevo sisters and commanded them to bow to her, while still a child. But we must not forget that if Motovilov was a God-chosen person, then he got the same wife: Elena Ivanovna did not come from an ordinary peasant family. She was the niece of the Venerable Schema-Nun Martha. Evgeniy Poselyanin, in his stories about the Reverend, also mentions the Milyukov family: “Under the spiritual guidance of Fr. Seraphim was the peasant family of the Milyukovs from the village of Pogiblovoy, Ardatov district, Nizhny Novgorod province. This family consisted of: brother Ivan Semyonovich and two sisters Praskovya and Maria Semenovna. The eldest of them lived in the Diveevo community, and the youngest, Maria, in November 1823 “tagged along” with her sister from the village in Diveevo. When 13-year-old Maria saw Fr. Seraphim, the elder recognized in her a future great ascetic and ordered her to stay in Diveyevo. This was a chosen soul, angel-like in appearance, incomparable to anyone in its properties. Tall, she had a beautiful long face, breathing freshness, blue eyes, light brown eyebrows and thick light brown hair. Having entered Diveevo, the Youth of God immediately began such great feats that she surpassed the severity of life of the experienced sisters. Prayer never ceased in her, and she answered only the most necessary questions with heavenly meekness. Outside of this, she never had conversations. The elder treated her with particular care; in her young years he honored her as a soul ripe for the Kingdom of God... She died on August 29, 1829. The elder in Diveyevo foresaw her death and at the hour he said with tears to his neighbor in his cell, Father Pavel: “Paul, but Mary has departed. And I feel so sorry for her, so sorry that, you see, I keep crying.” The elder sent an oak coffin for her, consoled her sister Praskovya and told her: “I kidnapped Mary. She is schema-nun Martha. She has everything: schema and mantle, and my kamilavochka. In all this, put it there. “Do not be discouraged,” the elder added, “her soul is in the Kingdom of Heaven, and your whole family will be saved through her.” I sent more from Fr. Seraphim in Diveevo 25 rubles for burial expenses, 25 rubles of copper to distribute three kopecks to the nuns and everyone who will be at the funeral; He sent a pile of candles for the fortieth day so that they would burn continuously day and night in the church, a ruble candle of yellow wax to the coffin, and half a pound of 20-kopeck candles for the funeral service. The 19-year-old schema monk was entrusted with the things that Fr. Seraphim. They put a green velvet cap on her loose hair, gave her leather rosary beads in her hands, and on top they put on a black schema with white crosses and a long mantle.” The elder sent everyone who came to him from Sarov to Diveevo for the funeral of Maria Semyonovna. To the Diveyevo sisters, who were working in the forest near the Sarov River, the elder said: “Come, come quickly to Diveyevo. There the great servant of God Mary departed to the Lord.” The sisters did not know which Maria the elder was talking about, and were very surprised to find Maria Semyonovna dead. And the elder sent crowds of peasants coming to him to the funeral, telling the girls to dress up, comb their hair and fall at Mary’s tomb. When Maria’s brother Ivan Milyukov came from the funeral to the elder, the priest asked him several times if he was Maria’s brother. Then, looking closely at him, he became extremely joyful. His face brightened, as if the sun's rays were coming from him, so that it was impossible to bear this light, and Ivan had to cover his face with his hands. “Behold, my joy,” the priest said to Mary’s brother, “what mercy she has received from the Lord. In the Kingdom of Heaven, near the Queen of Heaven, she will stand with the holy virgins at the throne of God. She is a prayer book for your entire family, Schema-nun Martha: I tonsured her. When you visit Diveyevo, never pass by, but fall to the grave, saying: “Lady and mother Marfo, remember us at the throne of God in the Kingdom of Heaven!” Elena Ivanovna's father, Praskovya and Maria's brother, was close to the elder and often visited Sarov. He later became a monk in the Sarov Monastery, and his three daughters, by God’s Providence, ended up in the Diveyevo monastery. Elena Ivanovna was taken to Diveevo by her aunt Praskovya at the age of five. In 2004, the Venerable Schema-Nun Martha, Elena Ivanovna Milyukova’s own aunt, was glorified by the Church as a saint. This sheds a completely new light on the fact of Motovilov’s marriage to Elena Ivanovna. Through her, Nikolai Alexandrovich became forever related to the holy family of the Milyukovs, so carefully cared for by Elder Seraphim. This is the family Elena Ivanovna came from, about whom S. Nilus writes: “One of the first bosses of Diveev were two sisters Praskovya and Maria Semyonovna Milyukov, girls of peasant rank. Their own niece, the daughter of their brother Ivan Elena, a girl of about six, lived with them. A little over two years—about three or four months before Motovilov’s healing—Reverend Seraphim unexpectedly ordered the two Milyukov sisters and the other Diveyevo nuns who were with them to bring little Elena to him.” Elena Ivanovna was born on May 17, 1823. She was 14 years younger than her husband - and this was also God’s special providence. Being younger than her husband, Elena Ivanovna lived until the 20th century, and she was found still in full health by the writers Sergei Nilus and Evgeniy Poselyanin, who were preparing materials for the glorification of Father Seraphim in 1903, and by everyone who was sincerely interested in the fate of Nikolai Motovilov. She gave Nilus baskets of Motovilov’s papers, which had lain in her attic for decades. For the first time, as we remember, Motovilov heard about his bride from Father Seraphim in October 1831, when he asked for his blessing to marry Yazykova. In his notes, Motovilov said: - Ah! - he responded. - About Yazykova!.. Well, I’m not talking to you about her, but I, poor thing, am now talking about the bride destined for you from God, and for her, I assure you, according to God, your love for God, now there’s no way she’ll be more than eight years with a few months! At this time, being a very little girl, Elena Ivanovna often sees St. Seraphim. During the days of the glorification of the elder, she spoke with Evgeniy Poselyanin and conveyed to him the wonderful details of her meetings with the elder. These details are usually not mentioned. For example, she told how she once came to the reverend’s cell when he was getting up to pray. He didn't send the children away. He sat her down, gave her some nuts, and began to pray. “What great things,” writes E. Poselyanin, “did he pray then, what great revelations did he contemplate? And this seer from time to time looked up from his contemplations and, approaching the girl, showed her how to crack nuts with two stones.” In 1840, the wedding of Nikolai Motovilov and Elena Ivanovna Milyukova took place. From this time on, a new stage in the life of the “Servant of Seraphim” begins. Soon after the wedding, the newlyweds left for the family estate - the village of Tsylna, Simbirsk province 40. Despite the many ordinary everyday worries, the birth and upbringing of children, etc., the main thing in the family, so miraculously created under the prayerful protection of the Mother of God and St. Seraphim, was serving God. Elena Ivanovna brought to us priceless details of the life of “Seraphim’s Servant.” S. Nilus at one time wrote down her stories about the amazing life of Motovilov: “When I married Nikolai Alexandrovich, despite my young years, I had to very soon take up the management of the farm and estates. Although Nikolai Alexandrovich himself did not stop doing all this, but, noticing my ability to manage the affairs of the estate, he hastened to transfer all these concerns to me in order to more freely engage in what he was constantly drawn to: Nikolai Alexandrovich, being a secular and family man, led a spiritual life. For a long time I did not understand this direction of my husband, and on this basis we sometimes had misunderstandings. Nikolai Alexandrovich, wherever he was and whatever he was doing, had a thought “immersed in God,” he was all burning with love for God, for the Mother of God and for His saints. He often went to holy places and had great acquaintance with the ascetics of that time, of whom there were many. It happened that I accompanied him on these visits to holy places. We visited Archbishop Anthony in Voronezh (this, in the words of St. Seraphim, the great bishop of God); he had a great gift of insight and spiritual love for my husband. Once, upon arrival in Voronezh, for some reason, I decided to postpone communion of the Holy Mysteries, especially since we had to leave soon, but Nikolai Alexandrovich asked me to go with him to the Eminence to ask him about this. Before we had time to go up to him, he, having blessed us, turning to me, said to my thought: “During the journey, mother, in no way and for any reason do not stop approaching the Holy Mysteries: I find in what happened to you the action of the enemy of our salvation”... But in Voronezh the Motovilovs were acquainted not only with Saint Anthony. Elena Ivanovna said: “We often visited Zadonsk, where my husband’s spiritual friend, Father Zosima, was the archimandrite. The first time I saw him was upon arrival in Zadonsk in the church. I see a fairly young monk come in and make many prostrations before the holy icons, and I thought: “What a young monk he is, and what feats he already has.” At the end of the service, Nikolai Alexandrovich went with me to tea with Father Archimandrite; and I was very surprised to recognize in him the monk whom I saw in the church. Over tea, turning to me, Father Zosima suddenly says: “Here, mother, others think that I am still young, and a great ascetic, but this is all wrong, and I will soon be fifty years old.” We visited the famous ascetic Parthenius of Kyiv, we knew Ignatius Brianchaninov, Feofan, Bishop of Tambov, later the recluse of Vyshensky, and many, many people we knew and visited with Nikolai Alexandrovich 41 . But Nikolai Alexandrovich made most of these trips alone: ​​the household and family kept me at home. It happened that Nikolai Alexandrovich stayed for a very long time, and I began to worry about his absence. Once, I remember, I had no news about him from Voronezh for a whole month. In great sadness, I went to a monastery where there was a recluse named Margarita, in order to have spiritual support and consolation from her. I entered her cell and suddenly, from behind the partition where she constantly stayed, I heard her shouting to me: “Don’t mourn, don’t mourn! Today your husband will be at home.” Indeed, in the evening Nikolai Alexandrovich returned home. There were great servants of God and great bishops at that time! There was Bishop Eugene in Simbirsk, fires often happened in the city, and the residents were very worried, fearing a big fire, since the buildings were wooden. Bishop Eugene said: “Don’t worry, there won’t be a big fire while I’m alive, but when I die, there will be a big fire.” When he died, they began to ring the bell as usual, and on the other side of the city they began to sound the alarm: a fire occurred that greatly devastated the city 42 . But no matter where I’ve been, I’ve never seen anything better than Sarov! Blessed, God-saved Sarov! In the greatness of their exploits, his ascetics became like the ancient desert fathers! And Nikolai Alexandrovich, wherever he went, wherever he was, everything constantly attracted him to Sarov and Diveev. In winter, without a hat, when he was in Diveyevo, according to the commandment of Father Seraphim, he walked around the ditch every day and sang loudly: “Oh, All-Singing Mother.” According to the commandment of Father Seraphim, he loved to put many candles in churches near holy icons and did not spare any expense on this. In Elena Ivanovna’s memoirs, a place stands out where she lifts the veil over the spiritual, inner life of Nikolai Motovilov: “It’s true,” said Elena Ivanovna, “Nikolai Alexandrovich always had a prayer raised to God in his mind and heart, and very often at the same time began to receive the Holy Mysteries of God.” It is difficult to say whether Elena Ivanovna has the Jesus Prayer in mind here. In any case, constant prayer in the mind and heart is worth a lot and characterizes Nikolai Alexandrovich as a man of strong faith, who “gave himself and his whole life to Christ God.” In addition, Elena Ivanovna testified that, as in his younger years, Nikolai Motovilov was an extremely firm person in the faith and in the defense of Orthodoxy and the Mother of God from the desecration of unreasonable or evil people: – Yes, Nikolai Alexandrovich was firm and strong in faith as a stone; he can be called a confessor of faith. Always moving in the highest spiritual and secular circles, Nikolai Alexandrovich often denounced the mood that had already begun then in the desire for various reforms in our Orthodox Church. In these cases, both in writing and orally, he defended the integrity, sanctity and inviolability of these rules. Once in a crowded meeting there was a conversation on this matter, and Nikolai Alexandrovich expressed the harsh truth; I imperceptibly began to tug at him, wanting to stop the excessive fervor of his speech. “Why are you teasing me,” he exclaimed, “I’m telling them the truth, and not from myself, I cannot remain silent, because I hear a voice telling me: “Are you dumb, why are you silent? You have come to know the words of My eternal life, and through them your neighbor who is in error can be saved.” So I am afraid of him who accuses me, who said: “You wicked and lazy slave! Why did I not give away My silver as a laborer? So, mother, where the Spirit of God visits a person, speak there.” Nikolai Alexandrovich had a special love for the Mother of God; he often read paraclises to her, repeating them many times. Once, at a big dinner, someone, knowing this, allowed himself to say something about the Mother of God. Then, without being embarrassed by those present at the dinner, Nikolai Alexandrovich began to literally smash the joker, telling him such a truth that everyone who was at the dinner sided with Nikolai Alexandrovich, and the joker was left to leave the meeting in disgrace. Nikolai Alexandrovich's love for his neighbor was great, he wanted everyone to be saved; Our peasants often came to him on business, and, leaving business aside, he tried to explain spiritual matters to them, and, it is true, our peasants were distinguished by their rare religiosity. Nikolai Alexandrovich told me that Father Seraphim told him “that everything that is called “Decembrists”, “reformers” and, in a word, belongs to the “life-improving party”, is true anti-Christianity, which, as it develops, will lead to the destruction of Christianity on earth, and partly Orthodoxy, and will end with the reign of the Antichrist over all countries of the world, except Russia, which will merge into one with the other Slavic lands and form a huge ocean of people, before which the other tribes of the earth will be in fear. And this, he said, is as true as two and two are four.” From what has been said, it is clear that Elena Ivanovna and Motovilov lived spiritually, he had no secrets from her, she was his assistant in everything, especially in church affairs, in caring for Diveyevo, in fulfilling the obedience imposed on Nikolai Alexandrovich by the Monk Seraphim. Some scientists believe that since Motovilov used expressions and names in conversations with his wife and with other persons that the Monk Seraphim could not use (such as “household improvement party”, etc.), then all conversations between him and Motovilov regarding Russian and international Freemasonry can be called into question. In fact, did they actually have these conversations? It is necessary to approach such facts historically: Motovilov could have “modernized” those expressions used by the Reverend, and expanded the list of names of Masonic organizations that were already known to Motovilov by the 1860s and were not known, naturally, to the Reverend Seraphim in the 1830s, for Motovilov, as a passionate person and trying to convey to his addressee the idea of Freemasonry in its current form today, could well and had the moral right not to be absolutely precise in details. For him, it was more important that the interlocutor fully understood him - in relation to the situation of today. It should also be mentioned that in 1903, during the solemn canonization of St. Seraphim, not only S. Nilus met Elena Ivanovna. The future ascetic bishop, abbot of the Chudovsky Monastery, and then a monk, Arseny Zhadanovsky, also met with her. In his memoirs, he writes: “There, in Diveyevo, we visited Elena Ivanovna Motovilova, a contemporary of St. Seraphim, who received us very kindly. We managed to talk a little with her about the great Sarov saint and ascetic. All her memories of him consisted of the following expressions: “Oh, if you only saw the saint, how kind and affectionate he was! This cannot be expressed with feelings, cannot be conveyed in words! He always loved me, then just a little girl, and put me on the table.” Comforted by the sight of such a pleasant old woman, and even more by receiving from her an icon of the Reverend, written on the wood of his cell, we returned to the hotel, and then went home.” Perhaps it was from Elena Ivanovna that the future Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky) received an extract from Motovilov’s notes about St. Seraphim. The extract contained the Saint's prophecy about the future destinies of Russia and Russian Orthodoxy. Elena Ivanovna’s merit was that she was the keeper of Motovilov’s archive. Through her hands, the famous conversation between St. Seraphim and Motovilov about the purpose of Christian life and other memories of Motovilov have reached us. After the death of Nikolai Alexandrovich, Elena Ivanovna was one of the oldest guardians of the memory of St. Seraphim. No wonder E. Poselyanin, who met her, noted: “So many memories, paintings, portraits, shrines in Elena Ivanovna’s cozy cells.” By the way, the writer asked Elena Ivanovna to compare two not entirely similar portraits of the Monk Seraphim and indicate which of them more successfully conveys the expression of the Monk’s face. In Elena Ivanovna’s cell, according to Poselyanin’s recollections, there were rare things related to the Monk Seraphim, for example, “original, in different poses, except for her, I have never seen images of the elder anywhere. Here is a wonderful portrait of Archbishop Anthony of Voronezh, again different from the common portraits of him, and many other interesting things. Elena Ivanovna recently gave some of her things that belonged to Elder Seraphim to the Diveyevo Church of the Transfiguration, along with the elder’s other “clothes.” Elena Ivanovna was present at the lifting of the elder’s coffin from the grave, which recently took place in Diveyevo. They told me that when the coffin began to rise, she exclaimed with tears: “You are our dear, I saw how they laid you in the grave, and now before my eyes your relics are rising!” Even the most pious Tsar Nicholas II himself came to Elena Ivanovna to listen to the memories dear to every Russian heart. In his essays on the glorification of St. Seraphim, E. Poselyanin testified: “The Emperor departed the day after the opening of the relics in Diveevo. A day later, I saw the venerable old woman Elena Ivanovna Motovilova, a contemporary of the elder, whom the Tsar and the Royal Family made happy with their visit and asked about the elder.” Divine Providence and the prayer of St. Seraphim united Nikolai Alexandrovich and Elena Ivanovna. She died on December 27, 1910. In the existing literature there is no mention of the children of Nikolai Alexandrovich and Elena Ivanovna. Meanwhile, the Monk Seraphim foresaw the birth of children from the God-chosen Motovilov couple and gave Elena Ivanovna Milyukova, the future wife of Nikolai Alexandrovich, six children's alphabet books, which surprised her a lot. In the famous book by S. Nilus there is a story about this: “A little over two years ago—three or four months before Motovilov’s healing—Reverend Seraphim unexpectedly ordered the two Milyukov sisters and the other Diveyevo nuns who were with them to bring little Elena to him. “I remember,” Elena Ivanovna Motovilova herself told me (she was that little girl Elena), “they brought me to Father in his hermitage, which stood in the Sarov Forest. I was still very young then and was just beginning to learn to read and write. Father took me in his arms, put me on the table in his cell, and said to my aunt and the other sisters who came with her: - Bow to her - in time your great mistress will be!.. They bowed to me, such was the faith in Father’s words. Then he gave me six ABC books. “You have these ABCs on you,” he said, “they will come in handy in time!” At that time I had a brother and a sister - so there were three of us in total. For whom, we thought then, three more? And I married my Motovilov, and I had exactly six children, all of whom I learned according to these ABCs...” Who are these “six children” to whom the perspicacious old man passed on the ABCs? Until now we didn't even know their names. Materials from the archives of the Ulyanovsk region make it possible for the first time to talk about Motovilov’s children (see Appendix 2 at the end of the book). We are talking about documents certifying how the process of dividing the property inheritance took place. From these documents we learn that one of Motovilov’s daughters, Praskovya Nikolaevna, became a princess, the wife of the collegiate secretary Volkonsky, who served as a peace mediator for the Tetyushinsky district of the Kazan province. The names of Motovilov's other children are: Ivan, Alexandra, Antonina, Ekaterina and Maria. The documents give reason to say only a few words about their fates: the youngest among the children of Nikolai Alexandrovich and Elena Ivanovna was Ekaterina, who at the time of signing the document (November 17, 1881) was still a minor girl who did not have the right to sign documents on her own and was under the care of her mother. The only son, Ivan, was listed according to many documents as a retired naval lieutenant. Daughter Alexandra married the nobleman Teplov, Antonin married the provincial secretary Zimninsky, Maria married the collegiate secretary Khanykov. That's all that is known about Nikolai Motovilov's children so far. Promises of the Queen of Heaven The Queen of Heaven, having taken under her protection the fate of Motovilov in his youth, appeared to him on the Black Lake in Kazan, and never left him. She did not leave him even at the hour of death. S.A. Nilus writes about the appearance of the Mother of God in a dream to Nikolai Alexandrovich shortly before his death in March or April 1878. Motovilov told his wife: “Today, mother, I saw the Queen of Heaven in a dream. She looked at me mercifully and said to me: “Write to Zosima in Zadonsk 43 so that he will send you an exact copy of My icon, which serves as an altarpiece there...” The Most Holy Theotokos promised Motovilov, upon receiving this icon, to show him such holy places that he had not yet seen, and to show him such holy saints that he had never even seen before. I heard. In response to Motovilov’s request, Father Zosima apologized and wrote that he could not send this holy image to Motovilov, since the image was very large and unsuitable for storage in the image room in Motovilov’s house: “I know that you no longer have room in the image room. The image is large and, sorry, I can’t send it to you.” However, less than a week has passed since Motovilov receives a new letter from Father Zosima, in which he asks for forgiveness for the refusal and reports that he ordered a copy of this icon for Motovilov. It turns out that before Father Zosima had time to send the first letter, that same night “he saw in a dream the Queen of Heaven, threateningly reprimanding him how he dared not fulfill Motovilov’s request.” Nikolai Alexandrovich received a copy of this icon from Father Zosima in July of the same year. “My Motovilov found a place for her. I looked: he began to put money under this icon. Wrap it in paper and put it away. So the day, and the next, and the third. Well, I think he’s going to holy places and collecting money. So a lot of time has passed, and he still isn’t going anywhere.” To be precise, Motovilov saved money for the pilgrimage for six months. Motovilov’s life was amazing, all accompanied by signs and wonders. This was also his dying illness and his death. Elena Ivanovna told S.A. Nilus about the last days of his life: “Once I entered the room where this icon hung, and lo and behold, the money that he had been collecting for so long was lying on the floor. I shout to him: - Nikolai Alexandrovich, and Nikolai Alexandrovich! So you will collect money, you will have nothing to go to holy places! He came to my call, collected the money, counted it, seemed to turn a little pale, said nothing and hid the money in the table.” The death of Motovilov was the death of a blessed one, as he was with God. “A little time passed after that, my Motovilov fell ill, went to bed and began to grow weaker and weaker - the doctors could not identify any illness.” Nikolai Alexandrovich was ill for exactly 9 days: from January 5 to January 14, 1879. On January 11, 1879, Motovilov received the main promise in his life: “Three days before his death, I found him in the morning so cheerful, so joyful. “I saw,” he says, “our yard is full - all my holy benefactors have gathered with us. What a joy! And on the third day he died. We buried him in Diveevo and, it seems to me, how much money Motovilov collected for my image, that’s how much his funeral cost me...” Elena Ivanovna continues her story: “And nine days later he died; did not die, but fell asleep quietly, like a child. On the day of death and the Mysteries of the Saints, he received communion. Only then did I understand what kind of holy places and saints of God these were, which the Queen of Heaven promised to show him.” Meanwhile, in Diveevo, Motovilov’s death was predicted. “By this time, in Diveyevo they were waiting for the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, which was supposed to be sent from the war by the brother of one of the Diveyevo nuns. This nun kept running to Blessed Pelageya Ivanovna to find out whether the icon would be brought soon. They didn’t know about Motovilov disease in Diveevo. “Just wait: first they will bring Nikolka, and then the icon,” answered the blessed one. And so it happened” 44. Nikolai Alexandrovich could not be buried anywhere except Diveev. During his lifetime, he himself bequeathed to be buried here, in the place with which his entire earthly and heavenly life was connected. All his “earthly treasures” were brought here, to the service of St. Seraphim and the Mother of God: Motovilov’s strength, property, family life, his entire destiny. This is where he set off on his last journey. This is how benefactors of monasteries were always buried. They die miraculously, as if the Lord and the Mother of God Himself were caring for them! How can one not recall here one of the benefactors of the Sarov monastery, Alexander Stepanovich Solovtsov, who brought both money and bread to the Sarov monastery. And besides, the Solovtsov brothers donated a bell weighing 550 pounds to the monastery! Nikolai Alexandrovich may have heard about Alexander Solovtsov from the brethren or from the Monk Seraphim himself, who was undoubtedly at the burial of the man who “reposed on the day of Holy Pascha, at the very morning of Matins, was brought [to the Sarov hermitage] for burial on the 31st day, and was buried on April 1 [1786]. His body was brought from the village of Lemeti on six horses in a train, and the horses were given to this monastery with all the equipment of the horse” 45. Motovilov was transported to Diveevo quickly. Elena Ivanovna said that Motovilov’s body was sent three hours before she left for Diveevo. “And an amazing thing! When we went after him, we couldn’t catch up with him all the way to Diveyevo... So Nikolai Alexandrovich, even the dead, hurried to Diveyevo...” 46 And here’s what S.A. heard. Nilus from the cell attendant of the late Diveyevo Abbess Maria, mother of Elizabeth: “Nikolai Alexandrovich, leaving before his death for the Simbirsk province to his estate, was completely healthy. Saying goodbye to us, he said: “Well, goodbye, mothers! God willing, even sideways, drag me to your place.” We saw in these words that Nikolai Alexandrovich was talking about the life of the next century, about the monasteries prepared by God for Diveyevo. But it turned out that he predicted his death. They brought him to bury us according to his will. They wanted to bring it into our Church of the Nativity, but the coffin was large and could not fit through the doors of the church - they are narrow, you know. And they had to bring it in sideways, and so they dragged it sideways.” The funeral service for Nikolai Alexandrovich was held in the Church of the Nativity of Christ and was buried near the Kazan Church, not far from the grave of St. Alexandra. In Soviet times, this place was covered with asphalt and a square was made. Now Motovilov’s grave has been restored. Here, under a huge birch tree that grew on the grave, the nuns of the Diveyevo monastery and pilgrims pray. On the days of remembrance of the dead, lithiums are served at the grave of Nikolai Alexandrovich, and the rest of the time, according to the zeal of those who keep in their hearts the memory of the “Servant of Seraphim,” memorial services are held. Some time after the death of Motovilov, Elena Ivanovna received letters from the abbot of the Zadonsk Monastery Zosima and at the same time from the nun Euphrosyne from Kyiv. These letters contained a confession that on January 14, the day of his death, Nikolai Alexandrovich appeared to both of them with a spiritual request to support Elena Ivanovna. Unnoticed by many, the life of “Servant of the Seraphim” Nikolai Motovilov passed in the earthly world. But this unusual soul was placed highly in the Kingdom of Heaven, because the Mother of God Herself turned Her merciful gaze on his life. And Motovilov’s labors, hopes, and aspirations were not in vain. It is not for nothing that he rests in the Diveyevo monastery - at the foot of the Church of the Mother of God in the name of Her Icon of Kazan. True disciple of Elder Seraphim Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov (d. 1858) Meeting with St. Seraphim We know almost nothing about Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, this modest and silent worker of Orthodoxy, despite the fact that he spent many years side by side with Father Seraphim of Sarov, faithfully and resignedly served the Diveyevo monastery as best he could, defended it from the attacks of his enemies and, finally, was the brother of the Venerable Elena, one of those whom the Venerable Seraphim named “support” of the Fourth Lot of the Mother of God. The “Chronicle” of the Diveyevo Monastery tells about Manturov only episodically, but these episodes are not built into either a biography or a detailed description of character. Hence, errors in assessing his personality are possible. Mikhail Vasilyevich is now even accused of... greed - for the fact that he fulfilled the behest of St. Seraphim and did not give up the land on which the cathedral now stands in Diveyevo. Meanwhile, anyone who reads his biography will understand the far-fetched nature of such absurd accusations. After all, he is the only person in the modern history of Christianity who fulfilled the gospel covenant with such complete dedication and gave everything he had to the service of God and voluntarily took upon himself incredible poverty. Have those who dare to accuse Mikhail Vasilyevich of self-interest done anything similar at least in the slightest? His entire righteous life followed the providence of God and was closely connected with the Monk Seraphim of Sarov in the construction of the Diveyevo women's monastery. Nothing happens by chance with St. Seraphim. Therefore, it is necessary to say who he is. The main and only source of information about him so far is the “Chronicle” of St. Hieromartyr Seraphim Chichagov. In this case, we will try to build, based on it, at least some chronological outline of the life of Mikhail Vasilyevich, if possible supplementing it with new facts. Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov came from Nizhny Novgorod nobles. He served for many years in Livonia (present-day Estonia) in military service and married there a native of Livonia, Anna Mikhailovna Ernts. It is known that soon after his marriage he became so ill that he left his service and moved to live on his estate, the village of Nuchu, Ardatovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province. Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov’s illness was strange: pieces of bone fell out of his legs. Priest Vsevolod Roshko expresses the opinion that the meeting between St. Seraphim and Manturov took place “no later than 1822, most likely in 1821 or even 1820” 47 . According to the research of V. Stepashkin, this meeting took place in 1823. In his book, V. Stepashkin writes: “This year the first case of miraculous healing by Elder Seraphim of the sick M.V. was recorded. Mantorova" 48. "Chronicle" of St. Serafima Chichagova presents the matter in such a way that the healing and acquaintance took place before 1822. According to the Chronicle, the first information about Manturov’s life dates back to 1822 and is associated with the name of his sister, Elena Vasilievna. “Mikhail Vasilyevich’s sister Elena Vasilyevna was barely 17 years old in 1822, and she became a bride. Reassured on this side, Mikhail Vasilyevich saw no obstacle to withdrawing from the world and serving entirely the Lord and Fr. Seraphim" 49. The monk began to receive some people in 1815. His fame quickly spread throughout the area. Of course, the meeting with Manturov could have taken place earlier than 1822 or 1823. However, the fact of healing was “recorded,” according to V. Stepashkin, only in 1823. Obviously, the researcher used monastic sources, so it is unlikely that such a recording could have been indicated in monastic documents retroactively. This means that an error could have crept into the Chronicle. This is natural: episodes from the life of the Manturovs are given in it without a clear reference to any dates and without strict chronology. The author of the Chronicle set out to convey as fully as possible the surviving stories about the life of the Manturov brother and sister, and he succeeded. To date, there are simply no other published documents that allow us to judge their lives. However, most likely, the first meeting took place in 1822 - and was not related to healing. So let's go back to 1822. Manturov was probably already ill, but still tried to get by with conventional medical remedies. At first he had no idea of ​​going to the Reverend for treatment. The Manturovs’ turn towards Diveev began, it seems, not with Mikhail Vasilyevich himself, but with his sister. The chronicle notes that, being a girl of 17 years old and intending to get married, she suddenly lost interest in her fiancé. Moreover, extraordinary events happened to her. It is known that Elena Vasilievna sincerely and passionately loved her fiancé. Suddenly, at one fine moment, she unexpectedly rejected him, without understanding why: “I don’t know why, I can’t understand,” she told her brother, “he didn’t give me a reason to stop loving himself, but, however, he disgusted me terribly!” It is clear that God has already determined for Elena Vasilievna a different, not at all worldly, path in life. However, could she at that time, being a completely secular girl, interested only in dresses and balls, understand this? Soon the Manturovs’ maternal grandfather, long lost from them, died. Before his death, he announced through newspapers his desire to transfer his fortune to his grandchildren, Mikhail and Elena. The Chronicle describes in detail the terrible and wonderful events of those days that happened to the future nun Elena: “Mikhail Vasilyevich was not at home at that time, and therefore, in order not to slow down, Elena Vasilyevna had to go alone with the courtyard people. Without thinking twice, she set off, but did not find her grandfather alive and was only present at the funeral. Shocked by this misfortune, she fell ill with a fever and, as soon as she became a little stronger, set off on the return journey. In the district town of Knyaginin, Nizhny Novgorod province, I had to stop at a postal station, and Elena Vasilievna decided to drink tea there, for which she sent people to give orders, while she herself remained sitting in the carriage. Although the man dissuaded his young lady and insisted that she rest in the mail room, Elena Vasilievna only yielded, promising to drink tea at the station, and while it was being prepared, she remained sitting in the carriage. Not daring to further contradict their mistress, the people hastily began preparing tea, and when the time came, the maid sent a footman to ask the young lady to eat. The footman barely had time to go down the stairs to the station entrance when he screamed at the sight of Elena Vasilyevna and froze in place. She stood at full height, completely leaning back, barely holding on convulsively to the door of the half-open carriage, and her face expressed such horror and fear that it is impossible to convey it in words. Mute, with greatly enlarged eyes, pale as death, she could no longer stand on her feet, it seemed that in just a moment she would fall to the ground dead. The footman and all the people who came running at his cry rushed to help Elena Vasilyevna, carefully took her and carried her into the room. They tried to find out what was the matter, they asked her, but Elena Vasilyevna lost her tongue and remained in an unconscious position, or, rather, in a daze from the horror that gripped her. The maid, assuming that the young lady was dying, said: “Shouldn’t you call the priest, young lady?” After she repeated this question several times, Elena Vasilievna definitely began to come to her senses and even with a joyful smile, clinging to the girl and as if afraid to let her go, whispered: “Yes... yes...”. When the priest appeared, Elena Vasilievna was already conscious, and her tongue and reason were still operating; she confessed and received Holy Communion. Then she didn’t let go of the priest all day and still held on to his clothes in fear. Having thus stayed in Knyaginino and calmed down from everything that had happened to her, Elena Vasilievna went home, where she told her brother and daughter-in-law the following: “Staying alone in the carriage, I took a little nap, and when I opened my eyes, no one was still around me. Finally I decided to get out and opened the carriage door myself, but as soon as I stepped on the step, for some reason I involuntarily looked up and saw a huge, terrible serpent above my head. He was black and terribly ugly, flames came out of his mouth, and this mouth seemed so large that I felt that the serpent would completely devour me. Seeing how he was hovering over me and descending lower and lower, even already feeling his breath, I was terrified and did not have the strength to call for help, but finally broke out of the stupor that had gripped me and shouted: “Queen of Heaven, save me! I swear to you to never get married and to go to a monastery!” The terrible serpent soared upward in one second and disappeared... But I could not recover from the horror!..” For a long time, Mikhail Vasilyevich could not come to his senses from what happened to his sister, and Elena Vasilievna, as if miraculously saved from the enemy of humanity, completely changed in character. She became serious, spiritually inclined and began to read sacred books. Worldly life became unbearable for her, and she longed to quickly go to a monastery and completely seclude herself in it, fearing the wrath of the Mother of God for not fulfilling the vow she had made.” Entering the monastery became Elena Vasilievna’s main desire in life. Undoubtedly, the Manturovs heard about Elder Seraphim, and therefore Elena Vasilievna wanted to receive his blessing to enter the monastery. Soon she went to Sarov. It is not known for sure whether her brother, Mikhail Vasilyevich, accompanied her this time. One way or another, the priest extremely surprised her, saying: “No, mother, what are you planning on doing this! To the monastery - no, my joy, you will get married! – What are you doing, father!! – Elena Vasilievna said in fear. “I will never get married, I can’t, I made a promise to the Queen of Heaven to go to a monastery, and She will punish me!” “No, my joy,” the elder continued, “why don’t you get married!” You will have a good, pious groom, mother, and everyone will envy you! No, don’t think, mother, you will definitely get married, my joy! It was hard for Elena Vasilievna to go home. She felt only bewilderment and bitterness. At home she led a monastic life, reading the Holy Fathers of the Church. The desire to devote herself to God alone and to go to a monastery grew more and more intense in her. Elena Vasilievna traveled to Sarov several times. However, Father Seraphim still kept repeating one thing, that she should get married, and not go to a monastery 50. The elder gradually prepared Elena Vasilievna for the monastery, but at that time she still could not understand this. The girl was confused in spirit and even indignant at the priest, and therefore decided to enter a convent in Murom. Elena Vasilyevna even managed to buy herself a cell at the Murom Monastery. However, the Monk Seraphim sternly told her: “There is no road for you to Murom, mother, there is no road, and you don’t even have my blessing!” And what are you? You must get married, and you will have the most pious groom, my joy! In all these vicissitudes, the future ascetic Elena Manturova was spiritually tempered, from whom the elder trained the head of the Mill community. Mikhail Vasilyevich soon became convinced that his sister had become a completely different person: “A terrible thunderstorm broke out near the house in which the Manturovs lived; The thunderclaps and strikes of lightning were terrible, so everyone resolutely gathered in Elena Vasilievna’s room, where the lamp was glowing, the candles were burning, and she was calmly praying. During one of the terrible blows from the courtyard, suddenly in the corner, under the floor and under the icons, a completely unnatural and disgusting cry was heard, like a cat. But this cry was so strong, unexpected and unpleasant that Mikhail Vasilyevich, his wife and everyone involuntarily rushed to the icon case in front of which Elena Vasilievna was praying. “Don't be afraid, brother! - she said calmly. -What are you afraid of, sister? After all, this is the devil! “Behold,” she added, making the sign of the cross in the very place from which the cry was heard, “here he is gone: how can he do anything!” At that time, a spiritually strengthened personality appeared before Mikhail Vasilyevich. All these events should be attributed to 1822, since the “Chronicle” says that, having kept Elena Vasilievna for three years, St. Seraphim only in 1825, when the community began to settle down, accepted her at the age of twenty into the Diveyevo community 51. Thus, already from 1822, Mikhail Vasilyevich recognized the spiritual power of Father Seraphim, heard stories about him from his sister and, perhaps, met him. If this is so, then we still know nothing about Manturov’s first meetings with St. Seraphim. Elder Seraphim blessed Elena Vasilievna for the feat of monasticism only in 1825. Obviously, he “persisted” Elena Vasilievna into entering not just any monastery, but specifically the Melnichnaya community, which, according to the testimony of the Diveyevo sisters, was organized only at the very end of 1825. After all, only on November 25 of that year the Monk Seraphim had the appearance of the Mother of God, who commanded him to found Her “promised monastery.” This time the priest said to Elena Vasilievna: - Well, if you really want to, then go here, 12 versts from here there is a small community of Mother Agafya Semyonovna, Colonel Melgunova, stay there, my joy, and test yourself! Elena Vasilievna, having heard these words, went from Sarov straight to Diveev, to the elder Ksenia Mikhailovna Kocheulova, who was known for her severity and severity. “Behind the cramped quarters, Elena Vasilievna occupied a tiny closet near a small cell, which overlooked the western wall of the Kazan Church.” Elena Vasilievna was then 20 years old. A month after Elena Vasilyevna entered the Diveyevo community, Father Seraphim told her: “Now, my joy, it’s time for you to get engaged to your fiance!” - I don’t want to get married, father! – You still don’t understand me, mother! Just tell your boss, Ksenia Mikhailovna, that Father Seraphim ordered you to get engaged to the Groom, to dress in black clothes... After all, this is how to get married, mother! After all, this is what the Groom is like, my joy!... Mother! I can see your whole God-loving path! This is where you are destined to live; there is nowhere better than this place for salvation; here Mother Agafya Semyonovna rests in her relics; you go to her every evening, she went here every day, and you imitate her too, because you have to follow the same path, and if you don’t follow it, then you cannot be saved. If to be a lion, my joy, then it is difficult and tricky, I will take it upon myself; but be a dove, and all of you be like doves among yourself. So live here for three years as a dove; I will help you, here is my instruction for you: for obedience, always read the Akathist, Psalter, psalms and rules with Matins. Sit and weave, and let the other sister prepare everything for you, ruffle the flax, mop the lobes, and you will only learn to weave the strands; let your sister sit next to you and point out. Always be silent, don’t talk to anyone, answering only the most pressing questions, and then “with difficulty,” but if they ask a lot, answer: I don’t know! If you accidentally hear someone saying something unhelpful to each other, quickly leave, “so as not to fall into temptation.” Never be idle; protect yourself so that no thought comes; always stay busy. To avoid falling asleep, eat little food. On Wednesday and Friday, eat only once. From waking up until lunch, read: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner! And from lunch to bed: Most Holy Theotokos, save us! In the evening, go out into the courtyard and pray 100 times to Jesus, 100 times to the Lady and don’t tell anyone, but pray so that no one sees it, doesn’t even think about it, and you will be like an Angel! And while your Groom is away, do not be discouraged, but just be strong and smile more; So, through prayer, ever-inseparable prayer, prepare everything. He will come quietly at night and bring you a ring, a ring, like he did to Catherine the Great Martyr Mother. So, get ready for three years, my joy, so that in three years everything will be ready for you. Oh, what indescribable joy there will be then, mother! I’m telling you about tonsure, mother; after three years, cut your hair, having prepared yourself, there is no need to do it earlier; but as soon as you cut your hair, the grace in your chest will rise more and more, and what will it be like then! When Archangel Gabriel, appearing before the Mother of God, preached the gospel to Her, She became a little embarrassed and immediately said: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord! Be with me according to your word!” Then you too say: “Be with me according to Your word!” This is the kind of marriage and Groom I am talking to you about, mother; You listen to me and don’t tell anyone until then, but believe that everything I have said to you will come true, my joy! Mikhail Vasilyevich, being a married man himself, was happy that his sister became a nun. He tried to help her as much as he could. With the blessing of St. Seraphim, Manturov built his sister a small cell in which she settled with her serf girl Ustinya. After Ustinya’s death, two other novices lived with Elena Vasilievna: Agafya and Ksenia Vasilievna. Ksenia Vasilievna was the ninth nun of the Diveyevo monastery, chosen by the Monk Seraphim himself. She was considered Father Seraphim's favorite, enjoyed his trust and was two years younger than Elena Vasilyevna. Father Seraphim appointed Elena Vasilyevna as a churchwoman and sacristan, and therefore the Sarov hieromonk Hilarion tonsured Elena Vasilyevna into the ryasophore. Father Seraphim put a cap made from his braces under her kamilavka. So, in 1822, Manturov witnessed the extraordinary events that happened to his sister. We know nothing about his religious life before meeting the Reverend. However, his character had already been determined: he was ardent in faith, direct and honest, whose words did not diverge from deeds. It was precisely such people that Father Seraphim loved and brought closer to himself. Such was Manturov, such was Motovilov. Not being outstanding people in anything else, they nevertheless merited to stand close to Father Seraphim. These were laymen, not monks. This may (and does) surprise many. But Father Seraphim loved straightforward and childlike people. He alienated many seemingly more gifted people from himself. Looking at his sister and her changed lifestyle in 1822, Manturov probably also had to change. It is obvious that, together with his sister, who asked the Reverend to enter the monastery, Elder Seraphim was also visited by Mikhail Vasilyevich. This means that their first meeting should have taken place in 1822 - and not about Manturov’s illness. Only in 1823 did Mikhail Vasilyevich come to the elder for healing. Moreover, the further narration in the Chronicle shows that this first acquaintance did not immediately develop into a close spiritual connection. The chronicle of the Diveyevo monastery gives an excellent description of how Manturov, having lost all hope in earthly doctors, decided to go to St. Seraphim for help: fortunately, the village of Nucha was located only 40 versts from Sarov. With great difficulty, the serfs brought him to the cell of Father Seraphim. It is curious that Manturov knew the monastery customs and, according to the Chronicle, before the elder’s door he said a prayer: “Through the prayers of the saints, our fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us.” “Amen!” the elder answered from behind the door of his cell, came out and graciously asked him: - Why did you come to look at the wretched Seraphim? Manturov fell at his feet and burst into tears. He began to ask the elder to heal him from a terrible illness. Then, with fatherly love, Father Seraphim asked him three times: “Do you believe in God?” And also three times Manturov fervently exclaimed: “I believe!” - My joy! If you believe so, then believe that for a believer everything is possible from God, and therefore believe that the Lord will heal you too, and I, poor Seraphim, will pray. The chronicle notes: “Then Father Seraphim seated Mikhail Vasilyevich near the coffin standing in the entryway, and he himself retired to his cell, from where a little time later he emerged, carrying holy oil with him. He ordered Manturov to undress, bare his feet and, preparing to rub them with the brought holy oil, said: “According to the grace given to me from the Lord, I will heal you first!” Father Seraphim anointed Mikhail Vasilyevich's feet and put stockings made of hemline canvas on them. After that, the elder took a large amount of crackers out of his cell, poured them into the tails of his coat and ordered him to go with the burden to the monastery hotel. Mikhail Vasilyevich at first carried out the priest’s order, not without fear, but then, having ascertained the miracle that had been performed on him, he came into inexpressible joy and some kind of reverent horror. A few minutes ago he was not able to go up into the hallway to Father Seraphim without outside help, and then suddenly, at the word of the holy elder, he was already carrying a whole pile of crackers, feeling completely healthy, strong and as if he had never been sick. In joy, he threw himself at the feet of Fr. Seraphim, kissing them and thanking them for the healing, but the great elder lifted Mikhail Vasilyevich and sternly said: “Is it Seraphim’s business to kill and live, to bring down to hell and to raise? What are you doing, father! This is the work of the only Lord, Who does the will of those who fear Him and listens to their prayer! Give thanks to the Almighty Lord and His Most Pure Mother!” Blessing of the Elder. The beginning of the feat For some time, Mikhail Vasilyevich forgot about these words of the elder and about his promise to thank the Lord. He decided to go to Sarov to visit his father. Elder Seraphim greeted him with the words: - My joy! But we promised to thank the Lord for giving us back our lives! It was this thought that bothered Manturov all the way from Nucha to Sarov. Surprised by the elder’s foresight, Mikhail Vasilyevich replied: - I don’t know, father, with what or how; what do you order? Then Father Seraphim looked at him in a special way and said cheerfully: “Here, my joy, give everything you have to the Lord and take upon yourself self-inflicted poverty!” It is difficult to imagine what Manturov experienced at that moment, hearing these words calling him to an unprecedented spiritual feat. A thousand thoughts ran through his head in an instant: “He remembered the Evangelical youth, to whom Christ also offered voluntary poverty for the perfect path to the Kingdom of Heaven... He remembered that he was not alone, had a young wife and that, having given everything, he would have nothing to live with...” The Monk Seraphim already knew his “Mishenka” and his entire further spiritual path. He knew that Mikhail Vasilyevich was capable of bearing the heavy cross of voluntary poverty and almost foolishness offered to him: – Leave everything and don’t worry about what you think about; The Lord will not leave you either in this life or in the next; You will not be rich, but you will have all your daily bread. And then the whole ardent, sincere, pure soul of Manturov showed itself, who, in his ardent faith in God, was like his sister. Without hesitation he answered: - I agree, father! What do you bless me to do? With the blessing of Father Seraphim, Mikhail Vasilyevich... sold his estate and bought 15 acres of land in Diveevo, in the place that the Monk Seraphim showed him. The elder gave Mikhail Vasilyevich the strictest commandment: to keep this land, never sell it, never give it to anyone, and bequeath it after the death of the Seraphim Monastery. This land was not simple, as it turned out later. Manturov, thus, was introduced by Elder Seraphim to sacredly significant actions to found the Fourth Lot of the Mother of God. At the same time, Manturov committed a philanthropic act, very rare for that time: he set free all his serfs. On the land purchased in Diveevo, Mikhail Vasilyevich settled with his wife and began to live in blatant, according to the concepts of his environment, poverty. He suffered a lot of ridicule from acquaintances and friends, as well as reproaches from his wife Anna Mikhailovna, a kind and good woman, but a Lutheran who was not at all prepared for spiritual achievements. All his life, Mikhail Vasilyevich, as a true disciple of Christ, suffered humiliation for his evangelical act. The Manturovs had a very, very hard time. The chronicle of the monastery notes: “The extent to which the need reached and what the Manturovs experienced while bearing the cross of voluntary poverty can be judged from the recorded story of Anna Mikhailovna herself, when she lived in Diveyevo as a widow and a secret nun. “Often and almost incessantly,” said Anna Mikhailovna, “I grumbled and was indignant at my late husband for his arbitrary poverty. I say, it used to be: well, you can honor the elder, you can love him and trust him, but not to that extent... Mikhail Vasilyevich used to listen, sigh and remain silent. This irritated me even more. So once, when we had already reached the point in winter that there was nothing to light the room with, and the evenings were long, dreary, dark, I became annoyed, grumbled, burst into tears uncontrollably, first I was indignant at Mikhail Vasilyevich, then at Father Fr. Seraphim began to murmur and complain about my bitter fate. And Mikhail Vasilyevich is still silent and sighs... Suddenly I hear some kind of crash... I look, Lord, fear and horror attacked me. I’m afraid to look and I don’t believe my eyes... The empty, oilless lamp near the images suddenly lit up with a white light and turned out to be full of oil. Then I burst into tears, sobbing and repeating: Father Seraphim, saint of God, forgive me, for Christ’s sake, accursed, murmuring, unworthy, I will never be again! And now I can’t remember this without fear. From then on, I never allowed myself to grumble, and no matter how difficult it was, I endured everything” 52. Mikhail Vasilyevich endured everything resignedly, silently, patiently, humbly, meekly, with complacency. He was guided by boundless faith in the holy elder Seraphim, to whom from now on he devoted himself and his whole life. Mikhail Vasilyevich had no children. From now on, the Diveyevo community became the meaning of his life. Father Seraphim always called him “Mishenka” and entrusted all the most important things regarding Diveev’s organization to him alone 53 . Among the sisters of the monastery, Manturov had unquestioned authority, since they saw in him the executor of the will of their elder. It was Manturov who the monk trusted with those things that he had to do with his own hands. After all, he never came to “his orphans” in Diveevo. Mikhail Vasilyevich came there for him and carried out the assignment. It is obvious that the Reverend, having offered Manturov to take on spontaneous poverty, already knew that Mikhail Vasilyevich would show, like his sister, Elena Vasilievna, complete devotion to God, a rare readiness to renounce everything earthly. The elder fell in love with both of them. Already in 1823, he began to trust Mikhail Vasilyevich with the most important and, so to speak, “sacred” orders. Mill for “Diveyevo orphans” An important assignment was associated with the construction of a mill, which took a long time to build in Diveevo - from 1823 to 1826. During these three years, another secret man of St. Seraphim, Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov, was studying at Kazan University. This study will make him able to defend the interests of the Diveyevo monastery in times of unrest. By that time, Motovilov, while still a boy, had visited the Reverend with his mother - and the prayer of Elder Seraphim, obviously, had always been with him, saved him in Kazan, when he was thinking about suicide. The problem was that the maiden community created by the Monk Seraphim had no income. To support the community, Elder Seraphim decided to build a mill in Diveevo. This is how the Monk Seraphim cultivated the future of the Diveyevo monastery. Manturov was his first assistant in this matter. As you know, in 1823 the priest called Mikhail Vasilyevich to him. He took the peg, crossed himself, kissed it, and ordered Manturov to do the same. All these actions of the Reverend emphasized the importance of the work being started. Moreover, the elder bowed to “Mishenka” at the feet and said: - Go, father, to Diveevo; when you arrive, stand there in front of the very middle altar window of the Kazan Church, count so many steps (the number is forgotten), and when you count them, father, there will be a gap; From here you still, father, count so many more steps, and arable land will come; then count so many more steps, and the meadow will come; when you arrive, use your eye to calculate, father, where the very middle will be, and in the middle itself, drive this peg so that at least a little, but it would be visible; Here, father, I ask you, do this! Thus, the “peg” was “driven” into an important undertaking in the life of the Diveyevo monastery: a feeding mill for the Diveyevo “orphans” of Father Seraphim. Manturov did everything as ordered by the elder and drove the peg in the appointed place. When Mikhail Vasilyevich returned, the Monk Seraphim silently bowed at his feet. Only a year later, the priest handed Manturov four small pegs. Having crossed himself, he kissed them and ordered Manturov to do the same. The elder bowed to his disciple’s feet and said: “Now, father, go back there to Diveevo, to the place where, you remember, you drove a peg last year, and there, in equal sizes, in the four corners, near the big peg, and drive in these four; and so that they don’t get lost in any way, father, you take some pebbles and put them in a pile, so that they don’t get confused later, but their place is visible! In 1826, a mill appeared on this very spot as a feeder for Diveyevo orphans 54 . To be precise, the mill was founded on December 9, 1826. And already on July 7, 1827, on the eve of the feast of the Kazan Mother of God, the mill began to work. Now the sisters began to bake their own bread. The mill was not just an economic object for Elder Seraphim. This was the beginning of the Diveyevo community. Near her, the priest arranged a maiden meeting. The main thing that is striking in the exploits of the Manturov sister and brother is their unquestioning obedience to Elder Seraphim. And what feats of obedience! Elder Seraphim asked Elena Vasilievna to die in place of his brother, who was still needed by the monastery, and she, without hesitation, agreed to fulfill the will of the elder - and died! For Mikhail Manturov, the elder identified voluntary poverty as the path of salvation. Yesterday's landowner had to turn into a proletarian. And Mikhail Vasilyevich took upon himself this voluntary poverty as a cross, as a reward. He gave his money, purified by tears, sorrow and unquestioning obedience, for the construction of a church in the name of the Nativity of Christ in the Diveyevo monastery. Intercession for the Diveyevo community One of the striking episodes in the spiritual biography of Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov was his intercession for the Diveyevo community. Carrying out orders from Father Seraphim, he traveled to Diveevo quite often. Soon, one extremely unpleasant incident occurred in Diveyevo. The fact is that among the owners of the Diveyevo lands there were many landowners. One of them was the later famous Governor-General of Moscow, Count Arseny Andreevich Zakrevsky 55. At the time described, he was the Governor-General of Finland 56. On one of his visits to his estates, he was informed that the Diveyevo community was nothing more than a crowd of depraved runaway girls. The reaction of Count Zakrevsky, who was ardent and inclined to take decisive and immediate action, followed immediately: he demanded the venerable old woman Ksenia Mikhailovna to come to his office and, without understanding anything, insulted her in an unheard-of rude manner in front of everyone. This scene was witnessed by Mikhail Vasilyevich, who indignantly hastened to tell everything that happened to Father Seraphim. For the umpteenth time, the monk entrusted his beloved “Mishenka” with a difficult task: without vehemence and completely humbled, meekly explain to the all-powerful count his mistake and express to him that he had completely in vain insulted the innocent elder of God. And so Mikhail Vasilyevich waited for the nobleman to arrive in Sarov. When Zakrevsky left the church, Manturov, trusting in the prayers of the Monk Seraphim, loudly, in front of everyone, without fear of the power and glory of Count Zakrevsky, told him everything that the elder had ordered. The Governor-General of Finland was a rude man and accustomed to obedience. Could he have liked Manturov's performance? Crude curses and threats from the angry nobleman followed. Mikhail Vasilyevich humbled himself, suppressed his indignation, and silently endured all the insults. However, everything happened according to the predictions of Elder Seraphim. Arriving in the capital, Count Zakrevsky made a big fuss about the illegality of the existence of the Diveyevo community. Immediately, two investigations were established about the community: secular and spiritual. As a result, these investigations ended in complete acquittal and official recognition of the community at the Kazan Church. “Although she did not receive fully documented approval from the diocese, she nevertheless, as it were, acquired through this legal permission to exist.” No one except Manturov could have fulfilled these orders of the Monk Seraphim, for it required not only complete faith in his words, complete renunciation of one’s own will, but also extreme humility. Such humility was possessed by “Mishenka” Manturov, who had already been tested by the Monk Seraphim more than once. These events could have happened, judging by the biography of A.A. Zakrevsky, in 1828–1830. However, some doubt remains. Judging by the records of Archpriest Vasily Sadovsky, the matter could have happened later, after the death of Father Seraphim. In this case, the words of the Chronicle that Manturov directly turned to Father Seraphim and received from him the task of “pacifying” Zakrevsky with meekness should be considered not entirely accurate. Father Vasily Sadovsky wrote in his diary: “Mother Ksenia Mikhailovna ruled over 60 sisters for 43 years. When Countess Tolstaya, on her way to her estate, visited the community and was convinced of the godly life of the sisters, then, sympathizing with their wretched situation, she gave them a small strip of her land adjacent to the land of the community. For this, the enemy, who did not tolerate the godly life of the sisters and the establishment of a monastery here, created, by God’s permission, great sorrow and turmoil on them. Ksenia Mikhailovna was given the gift of enduring and suffering humiliation and slander for the sake of the community. This is how it was: having learned about the strip of land donated by the countess, the manager of her son-in-law, then Moscow Governor-General Count Zakrevsky, who was dissatisfied with it, immediately reported this to his master, as dirty and blackly slandering the meeting of sisters in Diveevo as possible, and presenting everything in a completely false form. Why did the count, who believed in the veracity of his words, on his way to his estate, at the sight of the meaningless old woman Ksenia Mikhailovna approaching him with a request, boil with indignation to the point of self-forgetfulness and shouted menacingly: “Oh, you old debauchee!” Having showered her with a stream of abusive words, the count ordered the old woman to be pushed out, but she, not being able to even say anything, staggered and immediately fell dead, so that for a long time they could not bring her to consciousness... Knowing Father Seraphim to be a servant of God and a great seer, Mother Ksenia Mikhailovna after this incident became even stricter, more severe and often said: “Children, children! You live more quietly, because Father Seraphim told me: there is no way you can get by, mother, even before the end of your life, but you will certainly have to sit in prison, as you wish! That’s how I see it, if you call something, they’ll throw me in prison because of you!”57 In any case, one cannot help but note this episode from the life of Manturov, when he, without thinking about his own fate, went against the powers that be in order to fulfill the will of Father Seraphim and defended the Fourth Destiny of the Mother of God. Unlike the more energetic and hot-tempered Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov, Manturov was a quiet and meek man, but just as firm. Not all money pleases the Lord In 1827, Father Seraphim called Mikhail Vasilyevich to him and said: “My joy, our poor community doesn’t have its own church, and we don’t have to go to the parish where there are baptisms and weddings, because they are girls.” The Queen of Heaven wants them to have their own church, and it is attached to the porch of the Kazan Church, since this porch is worthy of an altar, father! After all, Mother Agafya Semyonovna, standing at prayer, washed her all with currents of tears of her humility; Behold, my joy, and build this church for the Nativity of Her Only Begotten Son, my orphans! So the money from the sale of the estate, which the priest ordered to be hidden for the time being, came in handy. Without hesitation, Mikhail Vasilyevich decided to give all his property to the Lord. Mikhail Vasilyevich immediately began to work on the construction. Father Seraphim did everything he did in Diveyevo in spiritual purity. Not every money he would have accepted for the construction of the church. Manturov’s money was truly holy: from voluntary poverty. But before this, more than once, well-wishers had offered to build a church in Diveevo, but the Monk Seraphim rejected the money they brought as “not pure and not pleasing to the Queen of Heaven.” Thus, Sister Ksenia Vasilievna testifies (Chronicle, notebook No. b, her story under No. 26) that she once, without naming the person, joyfully told the priest that they were promised to build a church, but the priest replied: - Don’t be too happy and don’t rely too much on benefactors! That's what I'll tell you, my joy! Once two landowners became zealous and said to me: “Bless you, father, we will erect a cast-iron monument on the grave of Mother Alexandra.” And I answer them: what’s the use of it?! There is no benefit, fathers; But it’s better if you give us a butt for the new church that will be built there! Hearing this, they frowned: no, they say, this is not at hand and is far away! Nothing, I answer, we’ll find someone to do it. Fine! - They say. So Mishenka (Manturov) and I are still waiting and waiting, yes, mother, and we are still waiting! And they are still gone! Now permission has already arrived (that is, to build a church), but we received a refusal from our benefactors, mother! There is no point in relying on benefactors, you should never!... And who promised this to you, my joy? “Yes, Prokudin,” answered Ksenia. - It’s him! - Father Seraphim exclaimed. “And you couldn’t, and you couldn’t take it, mother, and you don’t have to!” He already told me and Mishenka, but I didn’t order it, mother! Remember once and for all: not all money is pleasing to the Lord and His Most Pure Mother! And not all money will end up in my monastery, mother! You never know, others would be happy to give, just take it, but not all money will be accepted by the Queen of Heaven. It depends on the money; there is money of grievances, tears and blood! We don’t need such people, we shouldn’t accept them, mother! 58 The Chronicle says that “in 1828, with the blessing of His Grace Athanasius, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod, the foundation stone of the Nativity Church took place. In the summer of 1829, the church in the name of the Nativity of Christ was ready and consecrated on the day of the Transfiguration.” At the same time, one touching detail becomes clear: “In Lent 1829, an order finally came to take possession of the land donated by Postnikova. The priest ordered the following to be conveyed: that all the sisters walk around the donated land along the line of pegs set by the land surveyor. And along the way they would throw pebbles into the snow: in the spring these pebbles would mark a donated plot. The sisters did everything without question. For this and as a sign of joy, the priest and the same Manturov sent the sisters a tub of honey and ordered them to eat it after walking around the earth.” In any case, it is clear how large a role Manturov played in the construction of the church as a faithful servant of St. Seraphim. Father said: “There have never been and are no examples of women’s Lavras, but I, poor Seraphim, will have a Lavra in Diveyevo, and there will be cold and warm cathedrals, and here, right opposite Mishenka’s house, a bell tower will be built, and there will be residential buildings all around.” Immediately after this, Father Seraphim again turned to Manturov: “You and I have done something bad, father, because we built a church in the name of the Nativity of the Savior, but you and I don’t have one in the name of the Mother of God.” And the Queen of Heaven was angry with me, poor Seraphim, so I thought, can’t we fix this, can’t we build another church under the church. To build another church under the church was a difficult task for Mikhail Vasilyevich. But no matter how difficult it was for him to carry out this new order of the Monk Seraphim, he, as always, undertook to carry it out: with difficulty the excavation was made. However, the vault of the ceiling of the lower church turned out to be so low that four massive stone pillars were installed to strengthen it. Everything that the Reverend’s hand touched had extraordinary significance; nothing was an accident. When Manturov reported to the priest about the four pillars, he exclaimed in spiritual delight: - Wow, wow, my joy. Four pillars – four relics. And this will be the tomb of relics. Indeed, in this church the relics of the Venerables Alexandra, Martha and Helen now rest. Three pillars of the Diveyevo community. One place is not yet filled (unless the Reverend meant himself). When the Nativity Church was built, Father Paul called Elder Seraphim to consecrate the Nativity Church, which Mikhail Vasilyevich built with his own money, and the priest answered him: “No, why bother them, I won’t go!” And don't go. It’s better to give them what they need, they will do everything themselves and manage everything as it should, and we don’t need to go to them.” The church was consecrated on September 8/21, 1830, on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and became the second church of the Mill Convent. So Mikhail Vasilyevich served St. Seraphim until the end of 1830, until the revolution broke out in Poland. Service with General Kupriyanov. Disease Obviously, at the end of 1830, the Reverend blessed Manturov for a new ministry - with General Kupriyanov. How could St. Seraphim send his “Mishenka” away from Diveyevo? I think - only for spiritual reasons. “In connection with the Polish uprising, a certain General Kupriyanov came to Sarov to ask for Father Seraphim’s blessing for the upcoming campaign. He was very rich, owned large estates and, having met Mikhail Vasilyevich from Father Seraphim, who, of course, made a strong impression on the general with his spirituality and selflessness, began to ask Father Seraphim to give up Mikhail Vasilyevich to him for the duration of the campaign, and begged the latter to accept the position of his chief manager. Manturov’s financial situation was extremely burdensome for him and especially his wife, so Kupriyanov’s proposal presented itself as an opportunity to make money. Mikhail Vasilyevich answered Kupriyanov that he could not and never did anything without the blessing of the priest. Before he had time to say a word to Father Seraphim, the elder himself said: “And you, my joy, they want to ask me! Yes, yes; Well, what can I do, you served me faithfully, I feel sorry for you, but I also can’t refuse, because the Tsar needs him. Go, serve, father, he is a military man, and the poor peasants are abandoned, seduced, and it’s bad for them to live; You can’t leave them like that. So take care of them, my joy, treating you meekly and kindly, they will love you, listen, correct themselves and return to Christ! That's why I'm sending you; You and your mistress take your wife with you.” Then, turning to Anna Mikhailovna, the priest said: “And you, mother, be a reasonable wife, because he is hot, Mishenka, don’t let him get hot, and so that he listens to you!” Thus, out of holy obedience to the holy elder M.V. Manturov went with his wife to a remote province to save the people who were lost in the schism and manage the affairs of General Kupriyanov" 59 . It should be noted that the Monk Seraphim, blessing Manturov to serve with General Kupriyanov, had in mind primarily spiritual goals: the peasants on the estate were, in the words of the Monk, “seduced” into schism. It was they who needed to be returned to the fold of the Orthodox Church. This is the true reason for the turn in Manturov’s fate. Here the question arises: which General Kupriyanov are we talking about? Even Evgeny Poselyanin in one of his essays indicated that it was Pavel Yakovlevich Kupriyanov (1789–1874): “Major General Pavel Yakovlevich Kupriyanov, who had visited him before, came to the elder and thanked him for his salvation during the Turkish war. He and his regiment were surrounded on all sides by the Turks. It was impossible to strengthen, move back, or forward. In this desperate situation, the general repeated the prayer: “Lord, have mercy on Elder Seraphim through your prayers,” ate crackers given to him by the elder as a blessing, and remained unharmed.”60 It is clear that the general was a man of good faith. In the biography of P.Ya. Kupriyanov is said to be a participant in the Patriotic War of 1812 and the foreign campaign of the Russian army, as well as the Russian-Turkish War of 1828. The general took part in the suppression of the Polish uprising in 1831, and in 1848 - the revolution in Hungary. In 1836 he was promoted to lieutenant general. The Polish uprising broke out in November 1830. In December 1830, Ivan Ivanovich Dibich-Zabalkansky was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army, which was sent to Poland. The fighting lasted for almost a whole year - until October 1831. All this indicates the period during which Manturov was in the service of the general. It was Pavel Yakovlevich Kupriyanov who came in the winter of 1830–1831. to the Monk Seraphim for a blessing, which had already saved him from death once. In addition, it becomes clear that Manturov served with Kupriyanov, most likely from the end of 1830 to 1833, and returned to Diveevo after the death of Father Seraphim. The Chronicle of Hieromartyr Seraphim Chichagov says: “As Father Seraphim predicted to Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, so everything happened during his service as manager of the estate of General Kupriyanov. The peasants were ruined by bad stewards, therefore they were distinguished by rudeness, mistrust, bitterness, and almost all were involved in the schism. Remembering the covenant and order of the priest, Mikhail Vasilyevich began to treat them honestly, patiently, kindly, condescendingly, at the same time truthfully and little by little acquired such love in them that mistrust and cruelty disappeared, the peasants began to flock to him from everywhere, like children to their father, they completely changed and were transformed from beggars into independent peasants. The area of ​​this estate was swampy and prone to malignant fever; Mikhail Vasilyevich himself barely remained alive, and the people died constantly. He immediately wrote to his sister Elena Vasilievna, asking him to inform Father Seraphim about his illness and ask for his instructions on how to get rid of the fever. Father Seraphim gave the commandment to Mikhail Vasilyevich never to undergo any treatment, not to go to any doctors and not to take any medications. Elena Vasilievna exactly fulfilled her brother’s orders and, having received the priest’s blessing, wrote to him that Father Seraphim did not order any treatment other than eating the pulp of warm, well-baked bread. Mikhail Vasilyevich was already so weak that he could barely, with great difficulty, chew a small piece of crumb, which produced a strong laxative effect, and thus the illness ended. Manturov, having recovered, began to treat all patients in the same way and cured them. Seeing an obvious miracle, the peasants decided to abandon the schism and return to the bosom of their Church" 61 . So miraculously, through the illness and healing of Manturov and his service with Kupriyanov, the will of St. Seraphim was fulfilled. However, as subsequent events will show, General Kupriyanov will play a very nasty role in the life of Mikhail Vasilyevich - due to his excessive gullibility. But this is not all the instructions that Mikhail Vasilyevich carried out at the behest of Elder Seraphim. The main work of St. Seraphim in Diveyevo was to be the cathedral, built after his death. After the construction of the Church of the Nativity, Manturov, by order of St. Seraphim, measured out the land for the future cathedral. Elder Seraphim, as we see, wisely managed the heavenly fate of his ward: he encouraged him to voluntary poverty and at the same time, it was with the money of the righteous that he acquired - at the direction of the Queen of Heaven - what was necessary for Her Fourth Destiny. Here Manturov acted together with his sister, Reverend Elena. “After the construction of the Nativity churches in Diveevo, Father Seraphim began acquiring land for the future cathedral, about which he had predicted so much to his orphans. To do this, he again called on his faithful novice and friend, Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, and ordered him to measure and mark the land that belonged to Mr. Zhdanov, not far from the Kazan Church. Then he gave instructions to Elena Vasilyevna to go to Mr. Zhdanov and buy this land from him for three hundred rubles, which the priest gave to her. “Holy King David,” he said to Elena Vasilyevna, “when he wanted to build a church to the Lord on Mount Moriah, he did not accept Orna’s threshing floor, but paid the price; so here too. The Queen of Heaven wants the place for the cathedral to be acquired by purchase, and not to receive it. I could beg for land, but She doesn’t want that! Go to the city of Temnikov to the owner of this land, Yegor Ivanovich Zhdanov, give him this money of mine and bring a paper deed to the land!” Elena Vasilievna went to Temnikov with Elder Ulyana Grigorievna and found Mr. Zhdanov there, to whom she conveyed Father Seraphim’s wish. "How?! - he exclaimed in surprise, - you want me to sell this so small and only mine piece of land to the wondrous Seraphim! Come on, mother, you’re joking, you’ll probably take it for nothing!” But after listening to everything told by Elena Vasilievna and the significant words of the elder, Zhdanov, extremely surprised, although reluctantly, but unquestioningly, not daring to disobey, accepted the money sent to him and issued a deed of sale for the land. A miracle happened here. Yegor Ivanovich Zhdanov himself subsequently personally told (Abbess Maria Ushakova) the following: at that time, after the death of his parents, he had a large family left, so he was forced, as the eldest, to retire in order to educate everyone and get them their daily piece of bread. All matters were terribly complicated, and I had to experience great need and poverty. Just at this time, Elena Vasilyevna Manturova arrived from Father Seraphim and forcibly handed over three hundred rubles for the land. Incomprehensibly, his affairs began to be arranged supernaturally with this money, and God helped to arrange everything. Who came out into the world, who got married, who was married off, etc. When Elena Vasilievna returned to Father Seraphim with the deed of purchase, he was indescribably delighted and, kissing the paper, exclaimed: “Wow, mother, what joy for us! What a cathedral we will have, mother! What a cathedral! Miracle! And the priest ordered that a copy be copied from it for him, and that the real paper be kept carefully by Elena Vasilievna until her death, and then handed over to Mikhail Vasilyevich. Foreseeing everything with a discerning eye, he begged Mikhail Vasilyevich with all his might to save and preserve this land for the construction of the cathedral when the time comes. “That’s why it’s so precious, father, because at that time we will need it extremely!” - said Father Seraphim" 62. Around this piece of land in a few years passions will boil over, which the Reverend foresaw already at that time. But now the most important thing was to acquire land for the cathedral. “Subsequently it came true, the benefactors of Diveev and the faithful servants of Father Fr. Serafima Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov and Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov partly bought up the strip properties and partly exchanged them” 63. Manturov began to work on the construction of the cathedral after the death of St. Seraphim and his return to Diveevo from General Kupriyanov. Apparently, Manturov did not have a chance to attend the funeral of St. Seraphim. The foundation of the cathedral itself began only in 1848. The cathedral was consecrated after the death of Mikhail Vasilyevich - in 1875. This duration is not accidental: it was the time of the Diveyevo Troubles. The construction of the cathedral exposed all the lies of the “false disciple” Ivan Tolstosheev. So, Mikhail Vasilyevich once again unquestioningly obeyed his beloved Father Seraphim and impeccably fulfilled his obedience. However, the enemy was not asleep. He acted through the “false disciple” St. Seraphim, novice Ioann Tikhonovich Tolstosheev, whom many memoirists call “Ivan Tikhonov.” “Diveyevo Troubles” - this is the name by which the events in the Diveyevo monastery that happened after the death of St. Seraphim are known. The reasons for the unrest were simple: the desire of the false disciple of Father Seraphim, monk John Tolstosheev, to arbitrarily take the Diveyevo monastery under his spiritual leadership. John Tolstosheev, trying to impose his will on the monastery, destroyed what the Monk Seraphim had done, and most importantly, violated all his covenants, starting with the covenant about the separation of maidens from women in the monastery. The Troubles lasted a long time and flared up with particular force in the late 1850s and early 1860s. Only the intervention of the Moscow Metropolitan Saint Philaret (Drozdov), the Tsar himself and the Holy Synod put an end to the turmoil: the monk John (by that time already hieromonk Joasaph) Tolstosheev was removed from the Diveyevo monastery and transferred to another diocese. Father Seraphim presciently warned about his role in the Diveyevo Troubles. “When the land was allocated,” said the elder sister of the Mill Convent, Praskovya Stepanovna, “Ivan Tikhonovich, together with Mr. Manturov, lived in our monastery for a whole week; I, a sinner, was the eldest of the sisters, and during this week the priest several times ordered me that he was angry with me, why Ivan Tikhonovich (as Father John was called) lived with us and that I would certainly send him away, but I did not dare to do this, and later, when I came to the priest, he severely reprimanded me for this.” Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, like Motovilov, did not immediately understand Ivan Tikhonov, although he did not like him from the first meeting. Manturov recorded the following testimony about novice Ivan Tikhonov: “I was going to Father Seraphim once and met Ivan Tikhonovich on the way, who was walking from him and said to me: “I’ll tell you, father, how scared I am now! The enemy’s idea came to me to leave Sarov, and I was very embarrassed. I went to the priest, I found him at the source, he was sitting, one leg in a bast shoe, and one shoeless, and watering birch bark water from the source on his head, and on his arms, and on his leg. I looked, walked up and stopped, and he, without turning around or raising his head, asked, and so sternly: And the priest is again even more stern: -Who's there? - he asks again. - Poor John, poor John! - I say, but I was completely confused, all my thoughts flew out of my head, I came closer... Father said to me: - Leave what you have in mind! Leave what you have in mind! And he repeated this to me several times, and then I only remembered what I went to the priest with. Having not received his blessing to leave Sarov, I fell at his feet with fear and began to ask him for forgiveness. - Oh, father, that’s what I’m telling you! - Father answers my thoughts. - Leave what you have in mind! And so I, poor Seraphim, tell you: if you ever leave Sarov, you will not see Seraphim’s face either here or in the future!” “You must stay in Sarov! - I said, M.V. continued. Manturov, - therefore, you don’t have God’s blessing for that!” - and I went my way to my father. I come to the source and find the priest in exactly the same position as Ivan Tikhonovich said: with his foot off, pouring water with birch bark. I go up to receive the blessing, and he asks me: – Who met you on the way, father? “Ivan Tikhonovich, painter,” I answer. “Well, father, be my witness to this, that no matter how much I tried to persuade him to leave what he had in mind, I could not persuade him.” So, father, be my witness that in my soul I am innocent of him! That’s it, and you see, I’m pouring water on my hands and feet and my head... I take you as a witness, father, that in my soul I am innocent of his!..." Elsewhere in his notes, Manturov directly says that Father Seraphim forbade him to go to Ivan Tolstosheev for tea: - Oh, my joy! Don't ever go to him! This will harm you, father! After all, he’s not calling you with a warm heart, but to get something out of you! Since then, Mikhail Vasilyevich completely stopped going to the novice John. Judging by Manturov's diary, Father Seraphim repeatedly warned him to be wary of Ivan Tolstosheev and said that he did not give Ivan Tolstosheev any obedience related to the Diveyevo monastery 64. The words of the Reverend were accompanied by terrible warnings for Ivan Tolstosheev: - Look, father, Ivan from Tambov overpowered me: I bless him to leave Sarov, and I told him: if you don’t leave, then over time you will be promoted to treasurer, and if you leave, then neither in this nor in the future world will you see Serafimov’s face, and you will never be in Sarov again! So I told him, father, I’m telling you this too, and you remember it!” 65 Apparently, the Monk Seraphim was worried that the simple and sincere “Mishenka” Manturov would not understand the cunning and insinuating Ivan Tolstosheev. Elder Daria Fominichna left a characteristic memory: – Another time, when Mikhail Vasilyevich for some reason invited Ivan Tikhonov to his place, and he stayed to spend the night with him, we were at the priest’s at the same time, and he said to us: “Wow, mother, what a painter! Mishenka took it for a day, but he already spent the night! After all, mother, no matter how he lets his paw in, he won’t let go!” 66 After the death of St. Seraphim, Ivan Tolstosheev decided to take the Diveyevo monastery under his spiritual leadership - and thereby not only enter into the glory of St. Seraphim, but also to do everything in his own way, so that the Seraphim community began to bear the name of Ioannova. However, he saw that his plans would always be interfered with by Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov and Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov. It was against them that he directed his blow. First of all, we talked about the cathedral. The land (15 acres) for the construction of the cathedral was acquired by order of Father Seraphim Mikhail Vasilyevich. Ivan Tikhonov had to somehow take this land away from Manturov. However, Manturov did not give it to the monastery, since the priest ordered it to be given to Diveev only after the death of Mikhail Vasilyevich, and before that to take care of it like the apple of his eye. To make history impartial, let us return to the biography of M.V. Manturov, compiled by N.A. Motovilov and Archpriest Vasily Sadovsky: “In 1833, during Mikhail Vasilyevich’s stay in the Simbirsk wilderness with General Kupriyanov, on January 2, Father Seraphim died, and after his death, forcibly invaded Diveev, according to the prediction of the saint, someone simply a tradesman of the city of Tambov, Ivan Tikhonov Tolstosheev, the so-called painter, novice of the Sarov desert. Seeing, knowing and fully realizing the importance of Mikhail Vasilyevich for Seraphim’s Mill and Maiden Community, he realized that in the plans he had conceived for his ambition, the main obstacle to everything would always be Manturov, which is why, without hesitation, when the most convenient opportunity presented itself, he decided to either remove him, removing him from the community, or, better yet, completely destroy him.” Here General Pavel Kupriyanov fulfilled his role. Here's how it happened. After returning from the Polish campaign, Kupriyanov arrived in Sarov to venerate the grave of the great elder Seraphim. At this time, Ivan Tolstosheev turned to him with a request. “Under the guise of the most humble, ardently devoted to the elder and his beloved disciple, whom Father Seraphim supposedly entrusted to take care of the Diveyevo community, he presented Manturov in the most depraved form, as if he were an obvious oppressor and almost a robber, hiding behind the guise of disinterested benevolence. Ivan Tikhonov prayed to General Kupriyanov in the name of the deceased elder, for the sake of his dear brainchild, the Diveyevo monastery, to persuade Mikhail Vasilyevich either to sell 15 acres of land that he bought at Diveyevo, or, if he did not voluntarily agree, to threaten him and in any way forcibly take away the land from him for the community. The benevolent and trusting Kupriyanov, impressed by his grateful soul to the deceased righteous man, promised to fulfill everything without fail. Respecting that it was as if Father Seraphim himself had announced this to him, General Kupriyanov set about ardently for this, in his conviction, holy work. Thus determined, Kupriyanov returned to his estates and began in every possible way to persuade Mikhail Vasilyevich to give up or sell for the Seraphim community this land in the village of Diveevo, which had been entrusted to him by Father Seraphim. But Manturov, sacredly remembering the behest of Father Seraphim: to take care of her like the apple of his eye, not succumbing to any persuasion, not being seduced by money, directly refused to fulfill the desire of Ivan Tikhonov and his principal. When the heated general began to threaten him, saying: “Do you know that as simple as drinking a glass of water, I will drink all your blood for such stubbornness?” Mikhail Vasilyevich replied: “Although you will completely kill me, I also simply will not give you this land for anything and for any money, which Father Seraphim himself personally and most strictly, foreseeing this, probably through his foresight, commanded me to keep until death and never, and to anyone, under any circumstances, to give it away or sell it for anything! Do not force me to break this covenant of the holy elder! Do whatever you want with me!” Alas! At that time, an important general could do a lot. Hot-tempered, although not malicious, he was beside himself with Manturov’s disagreement. It seemed to him that he was jealous of the memory and posthumous will of St. Seraphim. It's amazing how people sometimes go blind! Listening to the slander of Ivan Tolstosheev, Kupriyanov expelled the honest manager from himself in disgrace, forgetting that the Monk Seraphim himself recommended “Mishenka” Manturov to him. Finding fault with some trifle, he ordered that all of Manturov’s belongings be taken away from him and escorted out of the estate without payment. And Manturov left Kupriyanov’s estate literally a beggar. Together with his wife, he walked back to Diveevo. But Mikhail Vasilyevich rejoiced that he had fulfilled the commandment of his spiritual father. However, Manturov did not immediately go to Diveyevo - first he looked at the Moscow shrines. In Moscow, Mikhail Vasilyevich lost heart and began to pray fervently in the Iverskaya Chapel of the Mother of God Herself, for the sake of Whose glory he spontaneously became poor and gave Her all his earthly well-being. And a miracle happened! Returning from the chapel, Mikhail Vasilyevich found 60 kopecks in small change along the way. And soon some unknown person, to Manturov’s considerable surprise, put money into his hands and disappeared. Having received this money, Manturov was able to go to Diveev. God's mercy did not abandon him here either. “The chicks of Serafimov’s nest” stayed together: Father Vasily Nikitich Sadovsky loaned his last 75 rubles in banknotes, put aside for a rainy day, to Mikhail Vasilyevich. With this money, Manturov built a small house and placed it precisely on these 15 acres of land, which he was supposed to preserve according to the covenant of Father Seraphim 67. About further events priest Vasily Sadovsky and N.A. Motovilov, in the biography of Manturov they compiled, write as follows: “Seeing Ivan Tikhonov, who was completely settled and arbitrarily in charge of everything in Diveevo, and fully understanding, due to his poverty, the impossibility of resisting him and protecting Seraphim’s monastery, Manturov lived quietly, enduring everything, for the sake of an unshakable, firm faith in God, trying only, where possible, to meet Ivan Tikhonov and act on him even with words of fear of God; but it was all in vain, for ambition drowned his conscience! And in fact, what could an unnoticed poor fellow, some kind of beggar Manturov, the driven out manager of General Kupriyanov, do against the already grown Ivan Tikhonov through all sorts of intricacies and intrigues. Boundless ambition forced him to invent that he was supposedly the beloved disciple of the righteous miracle worker Seraphim, and with this he glorified himself everywhere. In addition, starting with the bishops, he decidedly presented himself to everyone as a sufferer who was bearing God’s terrible punishment. Knowing all this, Mikhail Vasilyevich silently and patiently endured the slander brought against him and continued the feat of faithful service to his monastery of the Mother of God. He fearlessly and uncontrollably interfered with this “alien visitor” in all his attempts to destroy what was commanded to Diveev by the holy elder. Soon Mikhail Vasilyevich paid for this with a fire; his modest home was set on fire. With the help of good people, Manturov built himself another, much better one, on land that belonged to him, outside the community, opposite the Kazan Church, in which he lived until his death” 68 . In July 1842, the Diveyevo community received a decree approving the official status of the monastery. “By the Highest permission of the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich and with the blessing of the Holy Governing Synod, this cenobitic Diveyevo monastery was approved, united and accepted under the patronage of the spiritual and civil authorities.” The next day, July 28, the decree was read at the end of the liturgy. Ivan Tolstosheev, in order to prove the necessity of the union, falsely testified that the Monk Seraphim did not give the commandment to admit only maidens to the Mill monastery. Consequently, he destroyed the covenants of the community established by the Queen of Heaven Herself. In his “Tales of the exploits and events of the life of Elder Seraphim,” he writes that the “widows” and “maidens” monasteries “almost split into two independent monasteries, especially since outsiders, interfering in its affairs, also wanted this division and were already trying to ensure that in one part of the monastery there were widowers, and in the other - maidens, each under the control of a special abbess. But since there was no blessing from Father Seraphim for such an unfounded division, the higher authorities, by God’s providence, did not approve this division, but found it most useful and necessary to unite them under a single abbess” 69 . It was a complete lie. After all, Elder Seraphim strictly ordered the sisters to adhere to this separation and spoke about the difference in the spiritual path of women and girls. He saw spiritual harm in their living together in the Diveyevo monastery. At the same time, the Monk Seraphim predicted that the union would still take place, despite his will... “After me,” said Father Seraphim, “you will have much, much sorrow, but what can you do, be patient, such is your path!” The sorrows began immediately after the decree was issued. In “Notes” N.A. Motovilov accidentally survived an episode showing what kind of attacks poor Mikhail Vasilyevich had to withstand from the false disciple Elder Seraphim. On October 22, 1842, after the Divine Liturgy, Motovilov and Manturov participated in a meeting of all landowners who had common land plots with the Diveyevo community. The main subject of the meeting was the issue of moving the estate of Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov to another place. This question was fundamental for Manturov, as well as for Motovilov. The future fate of the Diveyevo monastery largely depended on the resettlement of Manturov and the liberation of his estate land. This circumstance was foreseen by the Monk Seraphim, who bequeathed Manturov to die on the land he had purchased and not to give it to anyone during his lifetime. At the meeting, they tried to take away from Manturov those 15 acres of land that the Monk Seraphim bequeathed to Mikhail Vasilyevich to keep at all costs until the end of his life. Mikhail Vasilyevich spoke at the meeting about the elder’s covenant. Mediator Ivan Karaulov wrote in the minutes of the meeting: “But G. Mantorov... announced that he did not agree to move from his estate because Father Seraphim bequeathed to him to end his life in that place” 70. Some today accuse Mikhail Vasilyevich, in fact, of squatting, because he allegedly set an exorbitantly high price for such a relocation. However, everyone understands that the God-fearing Manturov, who went into voluntary poverty and donated lands to the Diveyevo monastery, could not possibly have been a bad guy, but was simply defending himself as best he could from the supporters of Ivan Tikhonov, who were pressing from everywhere, who had decided to merge both communities into one at all costs. The price was just an excuse not to give up the land for the merger of communities and to fulfill the behest of Elder Seraphim “to die on this land.” In one of his notes, police officer Pavel Logginovich Betling writes: “There was a rumor that he (Ivan Tolstosheev - V.M.) intended to call the community “Ivanovskaya” ...” 71. At the aforementioned October meeting, Motovilov supported Manturov, “pointing out on the plan the possibility of going around G. Mantorov’s estate with curved lines” 72 . The meeting ended in nothing. The next day, October 23, Nikolai Alexandrovich, together with Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, arrived at the house of the intermediary Karaulov, who was conducting the meeting. Motovilov refused to sign the minutes of yesterday's meeting. 73 Another meeting - again with the same purpose - took place already in 1844. That year, Motovilov quietly did one of the most important things on the Seraphim Land. Having exchanged land from the landowner Batashev, Motovilov acquired land inside Kanavka and transferred this priceless land to the Diveyevo community. On October 21, 1844, another meeting of the owners of the dacha in the village of Diveevo took place regarding the amicable demarcation and signing of the so-called “fairy tale”, i.e. document certifying the results of demarcation 74. However, no agreement was reached on controversial issues due to the resistance of Motovilov and Manturov. Supporters of Ivan Tolstosheev had to appoint another congress of landowners. At this time, one can see how the two keepers of the covenants of the Monk Seraphim - Mikhail Manturov and Nikolai Motovilov - are doing everything to try to preserve the land for the purely maiden community, for the revival of which they hope in fulfillment of the words of the Monk Father Seraphim. On June 3, 1848, His Eminence Bishop Jacob, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, arrived at the Diveyevo monastery to lay the foundation stone for the cathedral. Ivan Tolstosheev never obtained from Manturov the sale of the land on which the Monk Seraphim bequeathed to erect a cathedral. Then, in violation of the will of Elder Seraphim, he prepared another place for the foundation of the cathedral. This place was located... three miles from the Diveyevo monastery! Tolstosheev took Vladyka Jacob there on June 4, 1848. However, the bishop was amazed at the remoteness of the cathedral from the monastery and refused to bless its construction at the place indicated by Ivan Tolstosheev. Then Tikhonov nevertheless decided to point to a third place - in a field, a good mile from the monastery. Having learned about this, Manturov turned to the police chief Betling with a request to report the truth to the Right Reverend Jacob and indicate to the Bishop the place that the Monk Seraphim himself had chosen for the cathedral. Manturov got excited, almost shouted that all the supporters of Ivan Tikhonov were not worth Seraphim’s bast shoes and were only doing it out of stubbornness to spite the memory of the great elder! Soon, however, he was called to the Right Reverend Jacob, who, although he had already wavered in his trust in the actions of Ivan Tikhonov, was prejudiced against Manturov and still persisted. Having listened carefully to Mikhail Vasilyevich, Vladyka asked: - How will you prove the correctness of your words? “The Lord knows that I am telling you the truth,” said Manturov, “but I don’t know how to assure you of this, except this: call, holy Master, a certain carpenter here, Efim Vasilyev, who is on friendly terms with Ivan Tikhonov, whom he taught painting.” This carpenter often worked in Sarov during the life of Father Seraphim. I know that the priest often talked to him a lot about Diveyevo, and also told him about the cathedral, and if he does not want to bind his conscience, he must confirm the truth to you! Having released Manturov, Vladyka summoned Efim Vasiliev, whom he had named, and began asking him how he worked in Sarov, whether he knew Father Seraphim, and whether the elder had told him anything about the cathedral in Diveevo? “I didn’t know, my father used to talk to me a lot,” Efim Vasilyev answered boldly, “but as for the cathedral, he bought the place for it himself.” About the cathedral, it’s best for you to ask Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, because the priest entrusted him with all this, which I know well and for certain. This conversation completely satisfied and confirmed the Reverend Jacob. Only Ivan Tolstosheev remained stubborn. Everyone in a crowd went to persuade him to agree to build the cathedral in the place indicated by the great elder Seraphim. Betling testifies that Ivan Tolstosheev responded to this as follows: – If a miller sits in a closed mill, how can he see what is happening outside the mill?.. By this he wanted to say that Father Seraphim was in Diveevo only once, and then while traveling with the Sarov abbot, and therefore could not know where and what should be built. The Chronicle says: “These words clearly depicted the inner spiritual state of Ivan Tikhonov, who rejected even loudly, in front of a whole crowd, the gift of clairvoyance in Father Seraphim and the behests given by him to many of the sisters and persons devoted to him. What was it like for the elders of Father Seraphim standing here, Father Vasily Sadovsky and many other witnesses of his renunciation of Father Seraphim to hear this! Betling and others answered Ivan Tikhonov that there are still living contractors, like Efim Vasiliev, who confirm that Father Seraphim himself bought Mr. Zhdanov’s land for the cathedral! The aroused dispute and noise forced the landowner Karaulov to go to the Right Reverend Jacob and explain the reason for the indignation. The people followed Karaulov, accompanied by Betling. Mikhail Vasilyevich and Prince Engalychev ardently defended the will of Father Seraphim, and since Karaulov reported that only a few fathoms separate the place indicated by Manturov from that appointed by the bishop, the Bishop said: “Well, if so, then God bless you, build where Mr. Manturov indicates!” The entire crowd gathered was apparently pleased with this decision of the Right Reverend Jacob. “But,” Vladika asked then, “how can we dig ditches for the foundation when the laying is scheduled for tomorrow at 4 o’clock in the afternoon?” “Many thousands of us came together! - the people answered. “No one will refuse a feasible job!” “I will notify everyone who has gathered!” - added police officer Betling, who fervently revered the late elder Father Seraphim. The Reverend Jacob asked Betling to help. The work quickly began to boil under the leadership of the wonderful novice of Father Seraphim, Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov. Ivan Tikhonov disappeared and began writing a petition to transfer him from the Sarov Tambov diocese to the Nizhny Novgorod diocese, so that, according to the instructions of the Holy Synod, he would be tonsured a monk and ordained to the rank of hieromonk. He forgot everything and, tormented by vanity and pride, sought only earthly glory. Thus, on June 5, 1848, the foundation stone of the cathedral, predicted by the great elder and founder of Diveevo, took place miraculously. Such an event could not fail to be marked by some obvious manifestation of the blessing of God and the Queen of Heaven, and indeed, when the Right Reverend Vladyka laid the first stone, then, like an old man of holy life, he suddenly changed his countenance and publicly exclaimed loudly: “From morning to morning this church is being erected by a great miracle.” These prophetic words came true, for, despite all the obstacles of the enemy of mankind, the holy place was established, chosen by the Queen of Heaven Herself and bought for the church by Father Seraphim. June 5 was the first joyful day for the Serafimov sisters and orphans for 15 years after the death of Father Seraphim...” However, for a long time, the former novice Ivan Tolstosheev, who became Hieromonk Joasaph, ruled in the Diveyevo community. The life of Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov and his wife Anna Mikhailovna at this time is practically unknown to us. But from the memoirs of Motovilov’s wife, Elena Ivanovna, we know that all this time he drew strength from communicating with those who, like himself, sacredly kept the covenants of Father Seraphim. It is known that she once told the spiritual writer Evgeny Poselyanin: – When we used to come from Nikolai Alexandrovich’s Simbirsk estate to the small estate that he had near Diveevo, Mikhail Vasilyevich would come to us in the evening - so I already knew that they would talk in the office until the morning. And only they talked about Elder Seraphim 75. To withstand the unequal struggle, when they tried to take away the land for the cathedral from Manturov by cunning and malice, Mikhail Vasilyevich was helped by his faithful friend, Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov. In those difficult years, Manturov completely lost heart and did not understand how Father Seraphim allowed the daring and destructive self-will of Father Joasaph. Mikhail Vasilyevich's near-death experiences are so expressive and vivid that all that remains is to quote the Chronicle. A few days before his death, he had a significant dream. “He imagined that he and his wife were walking through the Sarov forest and showing her the place where the holy elder often talked with him. Suddenly a beautiful green clearing opened to his eyes, where there were many peasants collecting moss. One of the collectors tells him: – You are looking for Seraphim! Remembering in a dream that the priest had already died, Mikhail Vasilyevich asked in surprise: - Don’t you see him? - asked the peasant. - Look there, you see: the smoke is turning white and coming out of his cave; He's the one drowning her! Amazed by these words, Manturov saw the white smoke, headed towards it and actually found the cave. They entered and saw Father Seraphim, who at first hid from them, but a little later came out, carrying in his hands two freshly baked hot white breads. Handing one to Mikhail Vasilyevich, the priest said: “Here’s this loaf of bread for you, eat as much as you like, and give the rest to those who know us!” “And this bread is for you, mother,” Father Seraphim said to Anna Mikhailovna, giving her another bread, “eat as much as you need, give away what’s left!” Then Father Seraphim disappeared, but soon came out again, carrying in his hands a large prosphora, the size of a plate. Approaching Mikhail Vasilyevich, he says: - Here, my joy, where can we find such a person who would be completely God-loving, huh? Where can we find him, such a person? This must be given to him! And, after a pause, he added sadly: - No, my joy, let’s leave it, we won’t find such a person now! This was, as it were, Manturov’s answer to his inner murmur that the holy elder did not want to find a person useful to Diveev and expel Joasaph. Understanding this answer, Mikhail Vasilyevich could not stand it and with all his heart expressed to the priest how outraged his soul was at the actions of Joasaph. Having listened to him silently, Father Seraphim said: - Yes, father! Now they announce the gospel, go to mass and wait for me; I will come for you soon; you will find me there and stand next to me, we will pray with you! “And you, mother,” said the elder, turning to Anna Mikhailovna, “come another one here!” With these words, Father Seraphim predicted Anna Mikhailovna's widowhood... Mikhail Vasilyevich left the cave surprised and wondering where the church was, for he knew well that there was no church nearby. But the gospel actually reached his ears, and he soon saw a few steps away a beautiful church, like the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Leaving his wife, he entered the church and saw that some young man was preparing for the service. He goes further, and on the right choir stands Father Seraphim. Mikhail Vasilyevich stands next to him, on his orders, and they both begin to pray. At the end of the service, during the division of the antidor, the elder suddenly took out a paper from his bosom, read it, looked at Manturov and silently hid it. Then he took out the paper a second time, read it and, looking calmly at Mikhail Vasilyevich, silently hid it again; finally, taking it out for the third time and reading it, he said to Manturov: “We’ll be patient a little longer, father, we’ll be patient a little longer!” Manturov understood this dream well as Father Seraphim’s answer to his prayers. A few days later, on the eve of the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, he ordered mass in the Nativity Church he built and received the Holy Mysteries. “At the end of the service, he began to explain to the churchwoman Ksenia Vasilievna and sister Daria Mikhailovna Kamenskaya that Father Seraphim ordered him not to decorate the church, but to leave it like that, because over time it should be all painted; showed where and how to paint it according to the orders of the priest. Then, noticing that the stove had deteriorated, he ordered... to fix it. All this made a special impression on the sisters, and they, surprised, said goodbye to him. Returning home with Father Peter of Sophia, who served as a priest, married to the daughter of Father Vasily Sadovsky and goddaughter of Manturov, Mikhail Vasilyevich drank tea with him and, hurrying with dinner, hurried his wife, saying: “You won’t have time, hurry up, you’ll regret it later, but it’s too late!” Mikhail Vasilyevich went out with his father Peter into the garden to pick the best berries and send them to E.V. Ladyzhenskaya. Having walked a little, he suddenly felt unusually tired, sat down on a bench and gave up his soul to God... He died at the age of sixty, on July 7, 1858, on the eve of the feast of the Icon of the Kazan Mother of God, and was buried on the 9th on the left side of the Nativity Church, right under the window. “Pray, father,” Father Seraphim told him, “that you may lie on the left side of the Church of the Nativity! Here is holy land: here the piles of the Queen of Heaven passed!” And so it happened. Mikhail Vasilyevich rests at the Church of the Nativity, which became a monument to his self-sacrifice and obedience to the great elder Seraphim. Nun Ambrosia Oberucheva, in her memoirs of a trip to Diveevo in 1908, writes: “We walked along the Kanavka, consecrated by the feet of the Queen of Heaven. I looked with interest at the bushes that lined the Kanavka, and the nun who saw us off was so moved that she dug up a whole bush for me to give with me. They took us to the graves of Mother Alexandra and Manturov, but there I saw that they were not looking after them very carefully, and I had such reverence for them that I began to cry. Mother, who was seeing us off, noticed, and when we came the next day, we saw that everything had been thoroughly cleared.” Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov had the good fortune to undergo obedience to St. Seraphim for ten years. He was both a spiritual child and a friend of the elder. He showed an example of a purely evangelical life and evangelical obedience to the spiritual father. In the “Chronicle” of the Hieromartyr Seraphim Chichagov it is said that the Reverend did not have any disciples, but if anyone can be called a true disciple of the elder, it is Mikhail Vasilyevich. In fact, the words of St. Seraphim addressed to his closest assistants still vary in the degree of personal frankness. The Reverend revealed the most secret things to Manturova. Mikhail Vasilyevich had an extremely open, pleasant appearance, with a round face, without a beard or mustache. He was distinguished by his cheerfulness, simplicity of heart and extraordinary kindness to everyone. He lived quietly and peacefully, the most devoted and worthy disciple of Father Seraphim, most of his life in Diveyevo. It was the laity who were the Saint’s co-conspirators, but they consciously sacrificed their lives to God. Based on the letter from the son of the famous writer Leonid Aleksandrovich Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky to Diveyevo’s sister Daria Mikhailovna Kamenskaya, one can judge what impression Mikhail Vasilyevich made on an outside socialite. On November 25, 1858, he writes from the village of Chemodanovka: “Mikhail Vasilyevich has died! I saw M.V. two or three times. Manturov, but the conversation with him was very impressive to me. His death, serene and peaceful, already proves his virtuous life. Is it possible to collect some, albeit brief, correct information about his life? After all, his life passed near Sarov and Diveevo, it would be good to collect some details about his life, about the feat of poverty for God’s sake, about his healing by Fr. Seraphim and, finally, about his blessed death, as his crown and earthly reward. I believe that if you or any of your sisters would take the trouble to ask and find out from the wife of the deceased and from those who knew him, then I would publish this information in one of the magazines. Really, this would, firstly, be useful for others, for perhaps some of the readers, having read about the simplicity of the life of the deceased, would come to their senses, and secondly, the main thing would be to the flawed and sinful world as a reminder that there are people who have neglected the blessings of the world, and that, after all, the light has not forgotten them; thirdly, and to Mikhail Vasilyevich this would be a sign from you and me that we respected the deceased and beyond the grave, when ordinary, earthly love disappears, we remembered him. In any case, I ask you, dear madam, forgive me if I bored you with my letter, but I wrote to you what the Lord put on my soul, and it seems to me that I should print at least briefly about the late M.V. Manturovo will be useful for your neighbor, and the benefit of your neighbors is love for them, and the love of your neighbor is to love God, for which you set an example for us with your high life.” In 1885, a simple wooden board with a cross made of black oak was placed on the grave of Mikhail Vasilyevich, in front of which an icon of his Angel, the Archangel Michael, was nailed to the wall of the church. Appendix 1. Pages of N.A.’s life Motovilova May 12. Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov was born in the village of Rozhdestvenskoye, Tsylna also, Simbirsk district, Simbirsk province. Father - Alexander Ivanovich Motovilov (d. 1816), hereditary nobleman. Mother Maria Alexandrovna, born. Durasova (d. 07/20/1826), hereditary noblewoman (D., 5). Sister - Praskovya Alexandrovna (D., 27). May 14. M. was baptized in the village of Tsylna. “The prayer was prayed and the baptism was performed by the former priest Prokopiy Petrov, the priest of the Simbirsk district, Trinity Church, Alexander Emelyanov, was the recipient” (D., 238). No specific date. Death of his father, Alexander Ivanovich Motovilov (D., 5). Stay in the village of Britvino, Nizhny Novgorod province, Lukoyanovsky district and a trip from there with his mother to Sarov to see St. Seraphim (D., 19). The first prophecy about the fate of N.A. Mother of one revered blessed woman in Arzamas (“In the manuscripts of Motovilov there are indications that in Arzamas one revered blessed woman met with Motovilova and predicted for her boy his extraordinary fate, of power incomprehensible and rejected by the world, but pleasing to God” (D., 19). The prophecy was probably given during a trip to Sarov by the Arzamas blessed Evdokia. No specific date. Studying at the G. Leiter boarding school (D., 239). May 17. M.'s future wife was born, Elena Ivanovna, nee Milyukova, from the peasants of the village of Pogiblova, Ardatovsky district (D., 248). August 9. Admission to the Imperial Kazan University as a self-employed student (D., 239). Stay at the apartment of Professor Karl Fedorovich Fuchs. No specific date. “Halfway through the university course” – an incident at the university and a suicide attempt on Black Lake in Kazan. The first sign: the miraculous intervention of the Kazan Mother of God (D., 23). Instruction for the Ministry of Professor K.F. Fuchs. July 8. Completion of a university course and obtaining the title of “actual student”. A trip to Bogomolye in Kyiv with my mother. (D., 24, 238–243). July 20. On the road - the death of his mother, Maria Alexandrovna (D., 27). No specific date. Through his mother's friend Savrasova, Nadezhda Ivanovna, in Simbirsk he meets Mikhail Petrovich Barataev, the leader of the nobility in Simbirsk, as well as the Grand Master of the Simbirsk Masonic Lodge and the Grand Master of the Illuminati St. Petersburg Lodge. Receives an invitation to become a member of the lodge. Refuses the offer (D., 27). Participates in the competition for the position of honorary caretaker of the Karsun district school. Receives a message about the election from the Council of Kazan University and the School Committee. Threats to M.P. Barataev, the persecution of M-va and his illness (D., 6, 28). Reverend Seraphim announces to the sisters of the Diveyevo monastery that Elena Ivanovna Motovilova “will be their great mistress in time” (D., 47). Since 1829 M. owns estates in the Simbirsk province. In Simbirsk district: the village of Rozhdestvenskoye, Tsylna also, the village of Bugurna. In Karsun district: the village of Nikolskoye, Ermolovka and also. Also owns in the Nizhny Novgorod province in the Lukoyanovsky district: the villages of Savrasovo, Britvino, Rozhnovo. A total of 355 souls. No specific date. M.’s disease (D., 28), futile attempts at treatment in Kazan with Dr. V.L. Tellier, at the Sergievsky mineral sulfur waters in the Samara province, from the Penza doctor Peterson (D., 33–35). Visions (D., 30–33). Beginning of September. Stay at the estate, the village of Britvino, Lukoyanovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province (D., 34). September 5. Brought to Sarov Hermitage (D., 34). September 7–8. Conversations with Elder Seraphim in his monastery cell (D., 34). September 9. Healed through the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov in a nearby hermitage (D., 35–37). Meeting with the hotel owner Fr. Gury, abbot Nifont, treasurer hieromonk Isaiah and 24 other elder hieromonks (D., 37). October. A conversation with the Reverend about marrying E. Yazykova and the elder’s answer about the bride Elena Ivanovna Milyukova, destined from God (D., 42). End of November (Tuesday). Presence at the evening service in the Cathedral of the Life-Giving Spring in the Sarov Hermitage, leaving the service for a conversation with Rev. Seraphim in his cell (D., 37, 88). Meetings with Evdokia Efremovna Alamasovskaya, Praskovia Stepanovna, Elena Vasilievna Manturova, Irina Semyonovna, Fr. Pavel. Conversation with Fr. Paul, a certificate of acquaintance with Abbot Niphon and M.’s high review of the latter’s spiritual gifts (D., 88–89). Invitation about. Seraphim to visit him the next day with Fr. Gury, “the Sarov hotel” (D., 91). On the night of the same date. M.'s conversations with Fr. Gury, future hieromonk George, Nikolaev Berkovskaya, Vladimir province, Vyaznikovsky desert builder (D., 92). End of November (Wednesday). Visit to the M-vym desert about. Seraphim with Fr. Gury and novice Simeon from the Sarov hotel, later hieromonk of the Sarov desert Savvaty, a short conversation with Fr. Seraphim and a secondary invitation from M. and Fr. Guria visit Fr. Seraphim (D., 92). September 1831 - May 1832. Repeated (according to S. Nilus - almost monthly) trips to Sarov for two to three weeks and conversations with Fr. Seraphim (D., 37–38). Maundy Thursday. In the Sarov desert, the Monk Seraphim revealed to M. the fate of Emperor Nicholas I “and commanded the most obedient to report his words to none other than personally to the Great Sovereign Emperor Himself...” (D., 119). May. Matchmaking to Ekaterina Mikhailovna Yazykova and receiving a refusal. Severe leg disease (D., 50). September 3. Arrival in Sarov, conversation with St. Seraphim. September 4. The appearance of the Mother of God to the Venerable Seraphim and the revelation of the fate of M-va (D., 50–51). In the presence of two sisters of the Mill community (Alamasovskaya E.E. and Zelenogorskaya I.S.), the Monk Seraphim commanded M-v to serve the Mother of God in the person of the Diveyevo monastery and appointed him the monastery’s nourisher (D., 125). The blessing of the Reverend to go to M-vu to Voronezh (D., 52). September 19. Arrival in Voronezh (D., 52). October 1st. Healing from illness on the Feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God through the prayers of St. Anthony, Bishop of Voronezh and Zadonsk (D., 52). End of December. M-va’s conversation with Saint Anthony: “I want to go to Father Seraphim! I’m afraid I won’t find him alive if I delay” (D., 54). January 2. The righteous death of St. Seraphim. Dream of Saint Anthony. Conversation between M-va and Saint Anthony. Blessing to go to Sarov. Requiem service of St. Anthony for the deceased hieromonk Seraphim in Voronezh (D., 55). January 4. Departure M. from Voronezh (D., 55). January 11. Arrival of M. in the Sarov Hermitage (D., 55). Hegumen Niphon blesses M. with the Gospel of St. Seraphim, with his image of the Mother of God, Life-Giver, with his book “The Spiritual Alphabet,” and with his small cypress cross made by the hands of the Rev. (D., 56–57). January. M. buys the distant hermitage of St. Seraphim and, together with his neighbor, transports it to Diveevo, transferring it into the ownership of the Diveevo community (D., 57). Mediation in the transfer to Diveevo of most of the things of St. Seraphim (D., 7). The idea of ​​​​creating the life of Fr. Seraphim of Sarov. A trip to Voronezh to see His Eminence Anthony for a blessing for the trip to Kursk. After many excuses to go to Kursk, he nevertheless receives from Archbishop Anthony “with a tight heart” the blessing and obedience to compose a service and akathist to St. Mitrophan of Voronezh (D., 60–61). A trip to Kursk, collecting information about the parents, childhood and youth of St. Seraphim (D., 61). Disease. A trip to Archbishop Anthony of Voronezh. Vision of St. Seraphim, promise of healing at the discovery of the relics of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk (D., 62–63). June–September. M.'s arrest at the Karsun fair and his detention by Governor Zagryazhsky. No specific date. I was in St. Petersburg, expecting a meeting with Emperor Nicholas I. The latter was in Prussia at that time. No specific date. Purchase from a relative of his A.M. Durasova the first 57 acres of land for two Diveevo communities and the transfer of land for their separate use (D., 7). No specific date. A wooden church was built on the family estate in the village. Russian Tsylna (Rozhdestvenskoye) by the landowners Motovilovs, this church stood until 1888. In its place in 1889 they will build a wooden church in the name of the Nativity of Christ (Martynov, p. 331). January 14. Letter to the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Governing Synod, Count Nikolai Aleksandrovich Protasov, about the existence of three different communities and about the different amounts of land donated by M in their favor (D., 125). January. The beginning of M.’s efforts to secure the donated land for two communities (D., 7, 169). No specific date. Disease. Stay for a year in your home in Diveevo. Meet Elena Ivanovna Milyukova (D., 7). January. Private letter to the ruling bishop of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese Ioann (Dobrozrakov). Briefly outlines the history of the two Diveyevo communities and explains why he donates different amounts of land to them (B., 202). He writes that he would like to “use the money received from the ore mined on the lands of Diveyevo for the construction of a cathedral for both of these monasteries in the name of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos of all Her apparitions” (B., 202). October 21. Wedding with E.I. Milyukova under the circumstances predicted by St. Seraphim (D., 7–8). Departure to the family estate Tsylnu, Simbirsk province (D., 70). March. An official appeal with the most humble petition to the Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas John: “And therefore I most humbly ask Your Eminence: deign to request for me, in a legal manner that depends on you, the highest permission to carry out merchant fortresses in the name of the above-described communities” (B., 203–204). Indicates the conditions for the transfer of land, in particular, speaks of the Synodik of his family (full text of the Synodik: B., 204). February 23. Report of the Right Reverend John, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod to the Holy Synod on the lands donated by M (D., 206). March 15. Congress of landowners of the village of Diveeva and signing of an amicable act by intermediary I.E. Karaulov (D., 193). April 28. M’s donation of another 100 acres of land to two Diveevo communities (D., 191; B., 251). April 30. Report of the Right Reverend John, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod to the Holy Synod on the lands donated by M (D., 206). April. A petition to the Spiritual Consistory addressed to the Right Reverend Bishop John, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas: “Please ask me for the Highest permission to provide the above-mentioned one hundred dessiatines in favor of the two Diveyevo girls’ communities...” (B., 207). May 29. M. submits an explanation to the mediator of the amicable land survey of the Ardatovsky district of the 1st camp, I.E. Karaulova, asks for the donation of another 150 acres for the Mill Monastery (D., 193). June 1–2. Graceful healing from a serious injury (D., 8). June 9. M-va's petition, in which he explains the will of St. Seraphim about the Mill community, referring, in particular, to the biography of Fr. Seraphim 1842 (D., 192–193). June 11. Report of the Right Reverend John, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod No. 2834 to the Holy Synod on the lands donated by M (D., 206). June 12. The instruction of the Holy Synod to the landowner M-vu “not to complicate the community ... with conditions” (D., 207). June. Donation to the Mill Community of 150 acres of land (D., 8; B., 251). July 1st. Submits a request to His Grace John, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, to comply with all the conditions of the Ministry when donating lands. His Eminence John forwards the request to the Holy Synod (D., 125–126; 208). M. explains his behavior not by his desires and whims, but “solely by the fear of God and love for the Mother of God” (D., 126). And as a result: “My conditions were ridiculed, I myself was exposed as fussing about I don’t know what...” (D., 126), “misinterpretations of the will of the Great Elder Seraphim” were given, “slanders” against M-va himself (D., 126). July 12. Decree of the Holy Synod on the union of two Diveyevo communities into one with one leader, Mother Alexandra. M.’s efforts to preserve the Seraphim Mill community (D., 175). July 30. Decree of the Holy Synod No. 11089 regarding lands donated to M-vym (D., 206). No specific date. Exchange of land from Batashev inside Kanavka and transfer of it to the community (D., 8). October 21. Meeting of the owners of Diveev’s dachas on the subject of an amicable demarcation, signing of a fairy tale (D., 195–197). Dispute M., for the sake of preserving the Mill community, demanded “the right to dig ore from the land intended for the community’s ownership without restrictions.” Failure to accept the conditions of M-va (D., 202). March 10. Congress on the transfer of lands to M. communities. “Presented to him, Mr. Motovilov, from Mr. The Mediator (I.E. Karaulova - V.M.) and the Leader, in whose presence the 3rd Tale was compiled... the reward for the fossilized earth was reduced, instead of 60 rubles. silver, assigned 30 rubles. silver... This tale, except for the attorney Mr. Batashov, was approved by all the owners, including Mr. Motovilov, with their signatures” (B., 254). A letter from F.A. is read out at the congress. Durasov, who believed the slander against M. (D., 176). July 22. 4th Congress, “at which the owners, having confirmed some points of the first three Tales, have already decisively agreed, both in affiliation and in locality...” (B., 254). December 20. Archbishop Anthony of Voronezh and Zadonsk (Smirnitsky), spiritual friend and leader of M., died (Fatherland devotees of piety in the 18th and 19th centuries. December. Part 1. Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn. 1994. P. 558). January 30. Present at the funeral dinner on the 40th day after the dormition of Archbishop Anthony of Voronezh. He tells two miraculous incidents of communication with Archbishop Anthony. “You know,” he said, “that I suffered with my legs so much that I could not walk, and they carried me around. One day I decided to go to Voronezh, hoping to receive healing; on the way I stopped in the Sarov Hermitage to the then famous ascetic of that desert, Seraphim, who, blessing me, said: “Go to Voronezh to your elder brother,” that is, the Right Reverend Anthony. And indeed, upon arrival in Voronezh, I received healing through the prayer of the Right Reverend Anthony; but the Right Reverend forbade me to talk about it...” (Fatherland Ascetics of Piety in the 18th and 19th Centuries. December. Part 1. Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn. 1994. pp. 550–551). Until June 3. Letter from the Ardat police chief P.L. Betling to Bishop Jacob of Nizhny Novgorod about the site for the foundation of the Diveyevo Cathedral. The letter, in particular, states that M.V. Manturov reported to P.L. Betling that “as if Mr. Motovilov wanted to provide the community with a stone church in the village. Diveeva, near which lies the ashes of the founder of the community, and as a replacement for the parishioners, build in the village. Diveyevo new. Of course, these words require solid facts” (L., vol. 2, 589). June 3. M. together with Ardat police officer Pavel Logginovich Betling, landowner Ivan Egorovich Karaulov, engineer, Ivan Tikhonov, Prince Nikolai Alex. Engalychev and others greeted at the Diveyevo monastery the arrival of His Eminence Bishop Jacob, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, who had arrived to lay the foundation of the cathedral (L., vol. 2, 590). No specific date. Receiving the title of collegiate secretary (D., 8). No specific date. The efforts of the community to assign to it all the donated lands (D., 177). No specific date. Witness to a miracle during the ministry of Archbishop Anthony of Voronezh (D., 67–68). No specific date. Pilgrimages to Kyiv, Voronezh, Zadonsk, Sarov, Diveev, etc. (D., 70). April 9. The village of Rozhdestvenskoye, Tsylna also - a note from M. Simbirsk district to the bailiff of the 1st camp Sipachev about the presence of M. heirs. He asks Sipachev to convey to the Nizhny Novgorod Spiritual Consistory, which prompted him to turn to M. with a request, “to initially honor with a notification” (D., 205). July 2. M. receives a request from the Nizhny Novgorod Consistory (through the Lukoyanovsky Zemsky Court - No. 3781) about the presence of heirs who can lay claim to the land donated to him (D., 177; 206–208). M. continues to demand the separate existence of the two communities and refuses to provide information about the heirs (D., 178). August 13. He writes a response to the attitude of the Nizhny Novgorod Consistory through the Lukoyanovsky Zemsky Court: “I humbly ask this Consistory to henceforth treat me directly in my name...” (D., 208–209). No specific date. M.'s presence in Ardatov, in the house of Mrs. Likhutina, with the blessing of the blind elder Anthony, Elisaveta Alekseevna Ushakova accepted the position of treasurer and with the prophecy about her future abbess. M. receives from the elder predictions about his family life and the failures and trials ahead of him (L., vol. 2, 606; D., 8). No specific date. Finds out the answer to his petition dated July 1, 1842. (D., 177). June 2. He is in Simbirsk and writes a petition addressed to the Nizhny Novgorod Bishop Jeremiah (Soloviev). He sets out the history of the donation of lands and asks: “Please, Your Eminence Vladyka, ... by order to induce the Nizhny Novgorod Spiritual Consistory to quickly explain to me which of my various conditions and which of the two Diveyevo conditions I am constraining the Community, so that without being embarrassed by perplexities and without wasting more time waiting for that answer from the Consistory, I could proceed to the present petition, where it should be my request dated June 1, 1842" (D., 210–212; B., 260–262). November 23. Decree of the Sovereign on considering the project for the existence of two communities at the request of M. (D., 213–216). The project of dividing the Diveyevo community into two, “as it existed before... 1842.” January 19. Letter to the Emperor. The petition “regarding those conditional donations of my actions on the basis of Articles 915 and 800 of the 10th volume of the Code of Laws, the decision to make as the laws command” (D., 221–222; B., 268). February 7. A copy of the letter to the Synod was sent to the Nizhny Novgorod Spiritual Consistory (B., 268). March 4th. Report of the head of the Diveevo community E. Ladyzhinskaya to the Nizhny Novgorod consistory about the impossibility of dividing the community and about M.’s allegedly selfish views (D., 216–219). June 7. Letter from F.A. Durasov to the Right Reverend Jeremiah, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, with the demand to influence M. and force him to give the land to the community without any conditions (D., 228). June 20. Report of Jeremiah, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, to the Holy Synod. Sends a copy of the letter to F.A. Durasova (D., 229). No specific date. Receives the rank of titular councilor (D., 8). December 31st. The Highest Decree that in strengthening the land of M. for the Diveyevo community, “there are no legal obstacles” (D., 8, 180, 232–233). January 27. Note from Adjutant General V.F. Adlerberg to Count A.F. Orlov that the Tsar ordered, after reading M-va’s note, to send him to Count A.F. Orlov: “would he agree to convey to you orally what he wanted to express to the Sovereign Emperor” (D., 155). February 5th. A thanksgiving prayer in the Tikhvin church of the Diveyevo community for the health of the Emperor regarding His decree on the transfer of the lands of M-va to the community without dividing it (D., 234–235). February–March. M-ov has temporary residence in St. Petersburg (D., 129, 135). February 27. Petition to Count V.F. Adlerberg about an audience with Sovereign Nicholas I to convey to the latter the prophecies of St. Seraphim of Sarov about the life of Nicholas I and the events during his reign (D., 118–119). March 7. A letter to Emperor Nicholas I with a request for an audience and outlining the history of the Diveyevo community and its problems (D., 120–129, 144). March 9. Letter to Emperor Nicholas I (N., 130–135). The prophecies of the holy Venerable Seraphim about Nicholas I are given. April 14. Letter to Count V.F. Adlerberg about applying for the Highest permission to open the New Caucasus stud farm (D., 142). Autumn. At the beginning of the Crimean War, M. sends the Emperor two copies of the icon of the Mother of God of the Joy of All Joys: one to be sent to Sevastopol, and the other to be placed in the Epiphany Cathedral of the Winter Palace (D., 71, 147). November 3. Attitude of the head of the Ministry of Public Education A. Florov gr. A.F. Orlov with a request, “whether M.’s trip to St. Petersburg was really associated with such urgent importance that he did not first ask for leave in accordance with the established procedure” (D., 156–158). November 6. M.'s entire file is sent to A. Florov for review (D., 156). November 20. A. Florov sends the file to gr. A.F. Orlov (D., 158). February 19. As part of the deputation of the Nizhny Novgorod nobility, M. participates in the enthronement of Sovereign Alexander II (D., 71). During the coronation of Alexander II in the house of Prince I.F. Zvenigorodsky meets with the hero of the defense of Sevastopol, Pyotr Ivanovich Kislinsky, from whom he learns the fate of the Joy of all Joys icon he sent, which played its invaluable role in the defense of Sevastopol. From him he hears a story about the refusal of Prince A.S. Menshikov to accept from Archbishop Innocent of Kherson the icon of the Mother of God of Kashperovskaya (D., 71–72). About the book Menshikov see: Orekhov V. French army at the walls of Sevastopol. pp. 16–17. A special survey was carried out in the village of Russkaya Tsylna (Rozhdestvenskoye). It is clear from the documents that among the landowners inhabiting this village are the collegiate assessor Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov (248 souls of peasants, an estate and 1864 dessiatinas, 2008 fathoms of land), cornet Ivan Egoryevich Motovilov (185 souls and 1668 dessiatines of land) and lieutenant Olga Nikolaevna Yazykova (74 souls and 559 acres of land) [Martynov, 331]. No specific date. Receives the rank of court councilor (D., 8). February 10. Decree on turning the Diveyevo community into a monastery (D., 8). Mid-May. M. travels from his Simbirsk estate to Moscow via Arzamas to enroll his daughter in college. May 16. The meeting of the Motovilovs with Praskovya Semyonovna, her story about a vision seven years ago and the demand of the Mother of God to expose lies in the monastery. In Arzamas he learns from the Diveyevo treasurer that the Right Reverend Nektary will go to Diveyevo to open a monastery (L., vol. 2, 632–634). May 17. Arrival of M-va and his wife in Diveevo, meeting of E.I. Motovilova with Praskovya Semyonovna in her cell. Praskovya Semyonovna asks that Motovilov be told to “insist that there are no crossings or bridges across the Kanavka and that the building be built inside the Kanavka; and everything, like a saint, Father Fr. Seraphim commanded them to do it so that they would do it!” (L., vol. 2, 634). May 19. M. is a witness to the efforts of the Right Reverend Nektarios to remove Elisaveta Ushakova from the leadership of the monastery and appoint Glikeria to Occupation and the disturbances of the monastery (D., 8). May 20. Appointment of Glikeria Zanyatova as head of the monastery (D., 8). May 21. M.'s departure to Moscow (D., 8). May–June. Appears to N.P. Kireyevskaya for advice on how and where to introduce himself to Moscow Metropolitan Philaret (L., vol. 2, 654). June 1 (Ascension of the Lord). At 23 o'clock the blessed elder Praskovya Semyonovna died (L., vol. 2, 653). June 5–6. M. goes to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, appears to the governor of the Lavra, Archimandrite Anthony (Medvedev), through whom he submits a note to Bishop Philaret (Drozdov) about what is happening in Diveyevo. Metropolitan Philaret reports the contents of the note to the Sovereign and Empress in the Lavra (L., vol. 2, 655–656). June 7. Letter from Metropolitan Philaret from the Gethsemane monastery to the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, Count A.P. Tolstoy with a note from M. (L., vol. 2, 656). June 19. Metropolitan Philaret writes to Count A.P. Tolstoy: “Let us assume that some circumstances of Mr. Motovilov’s note do not inspire confidence in it, because they represent signs of a restless spirit; but in the above, she agrees with Mr. Karamzin’s letter, which presents signs of an impartial presentation of the incident...” (L., vol. 2, 661). August 13. M.'s presence at the liturgy in honor of the discovery and glorification of the holy relics of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, the miraculous appearance of St. Tikhon to M., the blessing and final healing of M. from more than 30 years of illness (D., 72) according to the prediction of St. Seraphim (D., 62–63). A memorandum addressed to Metropolitan Isidore to the Holy Synod regarding permission to build “for the benefit” of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Joy of All Joys proposed for the opening of the Transfiguration Bank in Diveevo (D., 144). September 4. Another letter from M. to St. Philaret (Drozdov) regarding the events in Diveevo. “The Simbirsk conscientious judge, Mr. Motovilov, addressed me with a letter dated September 4, stating that Mrs. Shubina and Kopyeva, having registered the new sisters of the Diveyevo monastery with threats and reprimands, were drawn into a forced subscription under the forcibly appointed new boss Lukerya, etc... I am duty-bound to submit Mr. Motovilov’s letter to the Holy Synod in original" (L., vol. 2, 673). October 20. Memo from M. to the Minister of Internal Affairs about the Novokavkazsky stud farm and a request for permission to open the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Bank (D., 147). November 18. Reinstatement of Elisaveta Ushakova in command and transfer of the Diveyevo Monastery under the control of the Tambov diocese (D., 8). November 24. City of Zadonsk. Secret memorandum on modern reform (D., 135–136). December 18. Note from the Chief of Staff of the Corps, Chief of Gendarmes of His Imperial Majesty's retinue, Major General A.L. Potapov to Colonel Gorsky. He asks for detailed information about M. (D., 159). January 15. Secret report of Colonel Gorsky A.L. Potapov about M. (D., 161). March. Decree of the Holy Synod on the expulsion of three disciples of Father Joseph and the ruling in the case of the incorrect election of Glikeria Zanyatova to the head of the monastery (L., vol. 2, 706). August 20. Letter from Metropolitan Philaret to Archimandrite Anthony, abbot of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra: “They add that M<otovilov> is a dubious personality; but he is close to the monastery and seems to be reading sermons in the church there. It would not be useless to know whether there is any truth in this last testimony” (L., vol. 2, 703). April 4. Stichera to Alexander II (“regarding deliverance from vain death”) (D., 137–141). April 15–July 28. Memo by M. to Emperor Alexander II (D., 143–154). July 19. The stichera for Alexander II was rewritten completely in St. Petersburg (“on the birthday of the great elder Seraphim”) (D., 141). July 25. M. leaves a letter addressed to the Minister at the Military Ministry requesting the Highest permission to begin the activities of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Bank (D., 142). July 26. Secret note from M. to Count V.F. Adlerberg (D., 142–143). August 3. Secret note from Count V.F. Adlerberg to the main chief of the III department of His Own I.V. office. On the instructions of the Sovereign, he forwards the stichera dated April 4 and M.’s note dated July 28 (D., 161–162). No specific date. M.'s presence at a dinner in honor of the opening of new zemstvo institutions. “Revolt” M. (D., 74). No specific date. A note to Adjutant General Baron Wrangel about the fire in Simbirsk. Left unanswered (D., 144–145). No specific date. A note to Senator Zhdanov about the cause of the fire in Simbirsk on 4 pages. Left unanswered (D., 144–145). No specific date. Pilgrimages M. (D., 10, 74–75). March–April. M-wa's dream. Vision of the Mother of God with a request to order a copy of the icon of the Mother of God from Abbot Zosima in the Zadonsk Mother of God Monastery. Talk about this with your wife. A letter to Abbot Zosima with a request. Receiving a refusal. (D., 75–76). April–May. Receiving a second letter from Abbot Zosima: agreement to write a copy of the icon in connection with the appearance of the Mother of God to Zosima (D., 76). July. Receiving the icon of the Mother of God from Abbot Zosima. No specific date. M., as a horse breeder, presents six horses as a gift to Nicholas I. Presented with a diamond ring from the Tsar's office (S., 188). January 5th. Beginning of M.'s disease (D., 77). January 14. Death of M. (D., 77). January. M.'s burial near the Church of the Kazan Mother of God in Diveyevo (D., 77). Winter–spring. Letters from the abbot of the Zadonsk monastery Zosima and the nun Euphrosyne from Kiev to M.’s wife notifying him of M.’s appearance on the day of his death on January 14 with a spiritual request (D., 86). Appendix 2. Documents from the state archive of the Ulyanovsk region concerning the inheritance left by N.A. Motovilov to his children The first document on the hereditary transfer of property was written during the life of Nikolai Alexandrovich and signed by him with his own hand. Here is an excerpt from this document, which is a deed of gift from Motovilov to his daughter Praskovya, who married Prince Volkonsky: “On the twenty-ninth day of June one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, the court councilor and gentleman Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov and the daughter of his wife, the collegiate secretary serving as the peace intermediary of the Kazan province of Tetyushinsky district, Princess Praskovya Nikolaevna Volkonskaya, with the consent of the Moscow Treasury, made this entry as follows: of us, I, Motovilov, donated my own daughter, Princess Praskovya Volkonskaya, unmortgaged populated estates equal to her, Princess Volkonskaya’s, hereditary share, consisting of the Simbirsk province a). Karsun district in the village of Pokrovskoye, Reshetki also, b). The same district of the village of Bezvodnoy, c). Ardatovsky district in the village of Machkazerovo, which I inherited - the first two according to the spiritual will, approved in the Simbirsk Chamber of the Civil Court in 1851. from my uncle, titular adviser Fyodor Nikitin Petrov, and the latter by purchase in 1830 from a public auction in the Simbirsk Provincial Board after the city. Lebina, recorded in the Moscow Treasury in the amount of payments made, three thousand nine hundred ninety-eight rubles forty-three kopecks in silver. These estates consist of: in the village of Reshetki eleven male souls and with them lands of various lands two hundred and eleven dessiatines, in the village of Bezvodnaya I give one hundred eighty dessiatines of all lands and on them in the settlement of male peasants sixteen souls and in the village of Machkazerovo lands of all lands one hundred fifty dessiatines six hundred thirty-five fathoms - and with them there are forty-eight male peasants. With the acceptance of this estate, my daughter must also take upon herself the payment of the above-mentioned debt on the estate to the Preservation Treasury, which daughter, I, Princess Volkonskaya, accept with due gratitude. In good faith, he declares twenty-three thousand eight hundred and forty rubles in silver as a donated estate, including the debt to the Treasury. ... These estates ... were not sold to anyone except the Moscow Treasury, were not mortgaged anywhere, ... were not transferred to anyone and were not assigned. ... hands are attached like this. To this deed of gift, the court councilor and gentleman Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov, that I, with my daughter and with the wife of the collegiate secretary, Princess Praskovya Nikolaevna Volkonskaya, made this record in the above-written care and the price of the donated estates was twenty-three thousand eight hundred and forty rubles, in good faith, I declared, and I have a hand in it. To this dedicatory Record, the wife of the collegiate secretary, Princess Praskovya Nikolaevna Volkonskaya, that I and my parent, the court councilor Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov himself, made this record in the above-written care and the price of the donated estates was twenty-three thousand eight hundred and forty rubles in silver, in good faith it was declared that I had a hand in it” (GAUO. F. 317, op. 2, d. 40, pp. 206–208). This “record” was compiled in 1867. From it we learn that the name of one of Nikolai Alexandrovich’s daughters is Praskovya. The names of the other five children (and not only their names, but partly their fates) are learned from another document (GAUO. F.85, op. 1, d. 674, l. 21–31 vol.), which we present with some abbreviations: “The Simbirsk and Nizhny Novgorod land surveyors, as a result of the information requested from them by the senior notaries of the Simbirsk and Nizhny Novgorod district courts on the basis of the Decree of the Governing Senate, published in No. 43 of the collection of legalizations and government orders for 1876 ... explained the following: first, that the land property is located in six dachas of special land surveying, which according to the Simbirsk alphabet are listed under the name 1). of a specially separated dacha from the village of Mokraya Bugurna, part 4, 1 place, under lit. 0–83, with the amount of land 908 acres 2216 fathoms; 2). a specially separated dacha from the same village, part 5, 2nd place – 0–84, with an amount of land of 109 dessiatines; 3). a specially separated dacha from the same village under lit. 0–87, with the amount of land 486 dessiatinas 1988 fathoms; 4). separate land from the dacha in the village of Rozhdestvenskoye, Tsylny also, under the letter 0–62, with the amount of land 18 dessiatines 942 sazhens; 5). Rozhdestvenskoe village, Tsylna identity, 2nd part r-33, 1666 dessiatines 1066 fathoms; 6). part of the land in the village of Rozhdestvenskoye Tsylna, also known as r-5, with an amount of land of 41 dessiatinas 1130 sazhens, in addition to the above-described dachas, the land is located in the following dachas: 1). Karsunsky district, the villages of Bogoyavlenskoye, Stanichnoye, also, the villages of Devyatovki, Arkhangelskoye, and Buinsky district under the name of Stepan Nagatkin and Seliverst Shishelov. The first two dachas are specially demarcated, and it is impossible to judge from the extract in which area the land is located, and the last dacha in the alphabet is not listed under that name at all, and the second one, which ... is in the affairs of special land surveying: 1). Lukoyanovsky district, the village of Britvino, with the annexed villages of Staraya Serosovaya and Pustotorskaya, in which there are only 705 acres of land 1055 fathoms, the letter and number of which are in alphabetical order from the survey archive of the provincial drawing board b-19, 2). Ardatovsky district, the village of Diveevo, delimited into twelve parts, with different numbers of dessiatines, recorded for different owners, including Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov, four plots, with the amount of land in the first nine dessiatines 1904 fathoms, in the second 7 dessiatines 20 fathoms, in the third 86 dessiatines 758 fathoms, in the fourth 90 dessiatines 315 fathoms count. And the number of which according to the alphabet of the survey archive of the Provincial Drawing Office is D - 6, 7, 8 and 9, and the villages of Durnaya, Repyovka, as well as the village of Pavlovka, according to the alphabet of the Nizhny Novgorod district, is not listed. January 14, 1882 senior notary Troitsky. The sixth extract from the serfs of the Simbirsk Notary Archive for the Simbirsk district for 1881. According to the land register, pages 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 No. 3. According to the register of serf affairs, pages 271 to 277, No. 760 to 765, for the Simbirsk district, pages 145 and 146 No. 190, for the Buinsky district, pages: 145, 146, 147 and 148, Nos. 698 and 699, for the Karsun district. One thousand eight hundred and eighty-one of the year November the seventeenth day, they came to Valentin Ivanovich Surov, the Simbirsk notary, in his office, located in the first part, on Bolshaya Saratovskaya Street, in the house of Sveshnikov, known to him personally and having the legal capacity to perform acts: retired naval lieutenant Ivan Nikolaevich Motovilov, wives: nobleman Alexandra Nikolaevna Teplova and provincial secretary Antonina Nikolaevna Zimninskaya, née Motovilovs, a minor girl from the nobility Ekaterina Nikolaevna Motovilova and the widow of a collegiate adviser Elena Ivanovna Motovilova, the latter for herself and as trustee of the minor Ekaterina Motovilova, on the basis of the Decree of the Simbirsk Noble Guardianship dated August twenty-seven, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine year No. one hundred fifty-seven and by proxy of the wife of the collegiate registrar Maria Nikolaevna Khanykova, nee Motovilova, appeared before the magistrate of the first section of the Lukoyanovsky district on October 2 of this year under No. eighty-eighth, living temporarily in the first part of the city. Simbirsk, along Bolshaya Saratovskaya Street in Busko’s house, accompanied by witnesses personally known to him: provincial secretary Vasily Andreevich Andreev and collegiate secretary Vasily Ivanovich Ostroumov, living in the second part of the city. Simbirsk: the first - against the raw milk rows in Podsevalov's house, and the second - along Staro-Kazanskaya Street in Sorokin's house, with the announcement that they, the Motovilovs, Teplova and Zimninskaya, are concluding an agreement on the division of real estate on the terms set out in the draft they presented with the following content: We, the undersigned, are the widow of the collegiate adviser Elena Ivanovna Motovilova, the wife of: the collegiate registrar Maria Nikolaevna Khanykova, noblewoman Alexandra Nikolaevna Teplova, provincial secretary Antonina Nikolaevna Zimninskaya, née Motovilovs, retired naval lieutenant Ivan Nikolaevich and a minor girl from the nobility Ekaterina Nikolaevna Motovilovs with the consent stated in the relations with the Simbirsk notary Surov: Moscow Safe Treasury from the third October of this year for No. ten thousand three hundred and seventeenth and the Noble Bank, dated September tenth and October thirty-first of this year for Nos. five thousand six hundred ninety-two and four hundred and eighty-two, made an amicable division among themselves as follows: after the death of the first of us, her husband, and the latter, her father, collegiate adviser Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov, immovable estates remained: the first of the Simbirsk province and district, a village Rozhdestvenskoe, Tsylna, also, which includes convenient and inconvenient land of one thousand six hundred and seventy-four dessiatines, two thousand eight hundred sazhens, of which the allotment was allocated to temporarily obliged peasants settled in that village, among two hundred and thirty-two male revision souls, seven hundred and nineteen dessiatines, on this estate there is a manor house with services and all economic establishments, and in addition to this, thirty-four dessiatines, four hundred and sixty three fathoms of plots adjacent to the dacha in the village of Tsylny, located in Buinsky district, under the name of Stepan Nagatkin and Seliverst Shishelov; Second). In the same province and the same Simbirsk district there was a village that was the village of Mokraya Bugurna in the amount of convenient and inconvenient land of one thousand five hundred and four dessiatines of one thousand eight hundred and four fathoms, from which the allotment of those settled in that village was received, including seventy-five male revision souls temporarily obliged to the peasants - two hundred forty-seven dessiatines, in this estate there is a master's estate and outbuildings; Third). In the same province of Karsun district, the village of Bogoyavlenskoye, Stanichnoye, also, containing three hundred and forty-eight dessiatines, one thousand nine hundred and sixteen fathoms of convenient and inconvenient land, from which one hundred and one dessiatines, one thousand two hundred fathoms were allocated to the allotment of temporarily obligated peasants settled in that village, including twenty-nine male revision souls, on which estate there is a manor’s estate and outbuildings; Fourth). In the same province of the Karsun district, the village of Devyatovka, in which there is a convenient and inconvenient land of fifty-six dessiatines, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three fathoms, of which fourteen dessiatines were allocated to those installed in this village, among the four male revision souls; Fifth). Nizhny Novgorod province, Lukoyanovsky district, the village of Britvino, in which there is a convenient and inconvenient land of seven hundred and five dessiatines, one thousand and fifty-five sazhens, from which the allotment received by those installed in that village, among eighty-nine revision men of the sex, two hundred and eighty-nine dessiatines, six hundred sazhens, in this village there is a manor house, with services and economic establishments; Sixth). The same province of Ardatovsky district near the village of Diveyevo, with the dachas: Diveevskaya, Prince Ivan and Kavriyskaya, consists of a convenient and inconvenient land of two hundred and fifty-nine dessiatines, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven sazhens, from which it was received as an allotment for those settled in this Diveevo, among thirty men of the sex of souls, thirty-six dessiatines, one hundred and forty-eight sazhens, in which on the estate there is a manor's estate with buildings; Seventh). The same province and district, near the village, Repyovka, also, with the wasteland fields, Yasheleva and Tesova, in this estate there is a convenient and inconvenient land of nine hundred forty-one dessiatines, four hundred and twenty-two fathoms, from which the allotment received in the allotment of those settled in that village, among one hundred and ninety-one revision men of the sex of two hundred and eighty-six dessiatines, one thousand two hundred fathoms; and Eighth). The same province and district, near the village of Pavlov, consists of convenient and inconvenient land, one hundred sixty-six dessiatines, eight hundred fathoms. For all these estates, we were confirmed in inheritance rights by the decisions of the Simbirsk District Court, which took place on March 4 and April 11, 1880. Not wanting to remain in common possession of all the estates described above, we, the Motovilovs, Khanykova, Teplova and Zimninskaya, considering the value of the estates and ... benefits, decided to divide the said estates among ourselves as follows; First). I, Elena Motovilova, received the seventh part in my personal and hereditary possession a). Nizhny Novgorod province of Ardatovsky district, the village of Diveevo, with dachas: Diveevskaya, Knyaz Ivana and Kavriyskaya; b). the same province and district, near the village, Repyovka, also, with wasteland fields, Yasheleva and Tesova; c) the same province of the district, near the village of Pavlov, with all the greenery, forests, waters, ores and all kinds of land, with all the buildings located on that estate, with the right for the allotment allocated to the peasants for their duties and for receiving a redemption loan; Second). I, Marya Khanykova, receive into my eternal and hereditary possession the village of Bogoyavlenskoye, Stanichnoye, and also in its entirety, with all the lands, ... waters and all kinds of land, with all the buildings located on this estate with the right for the allotment granted to the peasants for their duties and for receiving a redemption loan; Third). I, Alexandra Teplov, receive into my eternal and hereditary possession a). from the dacha of the village of Mokraya Bugurna, Simbirsk province and district, land of various lands in the amount of one hundred and forty-five dessiatines, one hundred fathoms and the right to half of the common pasture with the peasants in the amount of fifteen dessiatines. The boundaries of this site are indicated on the plan of the private land surveyor Mineev under number one...... and b). In the Simbirsk province and district, a plot of eighteen dessiatins, nine hundred and forty-two fathoms, formed by special land surveying... of land from a dacha specially demarcated to the village of Rozhdestvenskoye, Tsylna also; Fourth). I, Ekaterina Motovilova, receives into eternal and hereditary possession from this same Buurninsky dacha, according to the same plan of the private land surveyor Mineev, mentioned in the previous third paragraph of this dividing act, plot number two, with all the land and waters, containing two hundred and sixty-eight dessiatines, one hundred and sixty fathoms... Fifth). For me, Antonina Zimninskaya, to receive for eternal and hereditary possession from the same dacha in the village of Bugurny, according to the same plan of the private land surveyor Mineev, plot number three according to plan with all the land, lands, waters, containing land of two hundred and sixty-eight dessiatines one thousand one hundred and twenty fathoms... Sixth). In addition, we, Alexandra Teplova and Antonina Zimninskaya and Ekaterina Motovilova, received into our common possession a plot of land from the dacha in the village of Mokraya Bugurny, listed according to the plan... number four, previously intended for Ivan Nikolaevich Motovilov and containing seventy-seven dessiatines, one thousand and seventy fathoms of convenient and inconvenient land...; the right to assign to the peasants of the village of Mokra Bugurny their duties and to receive a redemption loan belongs solely to Ivan Nikolaevich Motovilov; Seventh). Then all the other estates, in their entirety, come into the eternal and hereditary possession of me, Ivan Nikolaevich Motovilov, with all the lands, forests, waters and all kinds of land, with all the buildings and movable property located in them, except for the movable property ... of the co-heirs, with the right for the peasant allotment allocated in those estates for their duties and for receiving a redemption loan, and not on my part there are obstacles to my mother, Elena Ivanovna Motovilova, living in a house located in the village of Tsylnya; Eighth). Since the estates in the village of Tsylnya and the village were mortgaged to the Moscow Treasury on loans made by the former owner Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov - one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three on January nineteenth and one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five on July twenty-eighth, and the estates in the village of Britvin and the village of Diveevo. Inseparably pledged to the Nizhny Novgorod Alexandrovsky Noble Bank under a loan made by the same owner on October twenty-third, 1852, then the debts to these credit institutions with all obligations for them are transferred: to me, Ivan Motovilov, the debt to the Preservation Treasury for the village of Tsylne, which on January 19, 1822. there are five thousand seven hundred 80 rubles 15 kopecks and I, Elena Motovilova, have a debt to the same Treasury for the village, which according to the same January 19 is listed as 3604 rubles 71 kopecks. The debt to the Aleksandrovsky Noble Bank for the village of Britvin and the village of Diveevo, which until February 23, 1882, was listed in the amount of 1838 rubles 76 kopecks, as indivisible, we, Elena and Ivan Motovilovs, also assume inseparably with a common guarantee for each other in the correct payment of capital and interest; Ninth). In the Simbirsk province of Buinsky district, near the village of Tarmanova, two water flour mills with land attached to them belonged to the deceased Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov, which are in dispute with the Department of Appanages, then the right of action for these mills is transferred to him, Ivan Motovilov, and if by a court decision those mills with land attached to them are recognized as the property of the testator, then they come into the eternal and hereditary possession of him Ivan Motovilov...." There are, however, several more interesting documents relating to the property interests of Ivan Nikolaevich Motovilov. One of these documents is an entry in the journal of the Simbirsk Provincial Peasant Affairs Presence. According to this document, during his lifetime, Nikolai Alexandrovich gave his son the village of Devyatovka, Karsun district, and in June 1883, Ivan Nikolaevich’s confidant, provincial secretary Afanasy Petrovich Bestuzhev, expressed a desire to receive money for the land sold to peasants in this village. The other document is precisely the power of attorney, according to which A.P. Bestuzhev is endowed by Ivan Nikolaevich Motovilov with fairly large rights in resolving his property issues. Here is this somewhat strange document: Dear Sir Afanasy Petrovich! With this power of attorney, I authorize you ... of the real estate estates belonging to me, located in the Simbirsk province, to redeem the allotted claims of per capita land plots to me, to draw up redemption agreements and sign all the required documents and papers and receive a redemption loan: if there is no voluntary agreement with the peasants on the redemption of the plots, then release them for compulsory redemption with the assistance of the government. In addition, I authorize you to sell the estate that belongs to me near the village of Devyatovka, Karsun district, Simbirsk province, and near the village of Tarkhanova, Buinsky district, for the price you find profitable; why do you have the right to make sales records, obliging and obliging for penalties, issuing earnest money receipts, making deeds of sale, petitioning for their approval by a senior notary and receiving money from buyers. Before selling those estates, I authorize you to manage them with the right to rent them out, at a price at your discretion, for a period of no longer than one year, concluding this condition and receiving money from the tenants. Moreover, what you do with this power of attorney, if those to whom you have entrusted it do it legally, I believe you, I will not argue or contradict. This power of attorney belongs to the provincial secretary Afanasy Petrovich Bestuzhev. Retired Navy Lieutenant Ivan Nikolaevich Motovilov. One thousand eight hundred and eighty-two of the year April the twentieth day, this power of attorney was presented to me, Valentin Ivanovich Surov, a Simbirsk notary, in my office, located in the first part, on Bolshaya Saratovskaya Street, in the house of Sveshnikov, retired navy lieutenant Ivan Nikolaevich Motovilov, living temporarily in the first part of the city of Simbirsk, on Bolshaya Saratovskaya Street, in the house of Busko, in person known to me and having legal capacity to commit acts. Moreover, I, a notary, certify that this power of attorney was signed with Mr. Motovilov’s own hand. According to register No. 1132, notary V. Surov. I, the undersigned, certify the accuracy of this copy with its original, presented to me, Nikolai Petrovich Filippov and the Simbirsk notary Valentin Ivanovich Surov, in his office, located in the first part, on Bolshaya Saratovskaya Street, in the house of Sveshnikov, by the provincial secretary Afanasy Petrovich Bestuzhev, living in the village of Tsylna, Simbirsk district.... 1882 June 29 days. According to the register 1943.” Something forced I.N. Motovilov to entrust such unlimited rights to A.P. Bestuzhev. What exactly? This is unknown for now. Only one thing is known: the fate of Ivan Nikolaevich was not easy - and soon after signing these documents he died. List of conventional abbreviations of the chronicle B.: Bukova O. Women’s monasteries of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Nizhny Novgorod. Publishing house "Books". 2003. D.: N.A. Motovilov and Diveyevo monastery. Publication of the Holy Trinity-Seraphim-Diveevo Convent. 1999. L.: Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery. In 2 parts. Comp. Archimandrite Seraphim Chichagov. Ed. 2nd. St. Petersburg, 1903. S.: Seraphim’s obedience. Life and works of N.A. Motovilov. Compiled by A. Strizhev. M., 1996. Christianity: Christianity. Encyclopedic Dictionary. In 3 volumes. M., 1993–1995. List of used literature Bukova O. Women's monasteries of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Nizhny Novgorod. Publishing house "Books". 2003. [Elagin N.V. ] Life of Elder Seraphim, Sarov desert hieromonk, desert dweller and recluse [1863]. M, 2003. Priest Georgy (Pavlovich). Preface // Notes of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov. M., 2005. P. 5–12. Ilyin V.N. Venerable Seraphim of Sarov. M.: Lepta, 2003.P. 105–122. [Joasaph, hieromonk] A story about the exploits and events in the life of Elder Seraphim, hieromonk, hermit and hermit of the Sarov Hermitage, with the addition of an outline of the life of the founder of the Diveyevo monastery, Agathia Semyonovna Melgunova. [SPb., 1849]. M., 2006. Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov). World lamp. M., 1996. pp. 142–146. [Motovilov N.A.] Notes of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov. M., 2005. N.A. Motovilov and Diveyevo monastery. Publication of the Holy Trinity-Seraphim-Diveevo Convent. 1999. Nilus Sergey. Great in small. Notes of an Orthodox Christian. Publication of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. 1992. Villager E. In the earthly sky. M., 2004. Villager E. Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, the Wonderworker and Russian Ascetics of the 19th Century.” M., 2003. Potapov N. From the memoirs of Elena Ivanovna Motovilova about St. Seraphim // St. Seraphim of Sarov in the memoirs of his contemporaries. M., 2000. According to the kingdom and poet. Materials of the All-Russian scientific conference “N.M. Languages ​​and literature of the Pushkin era." Ulyanovsk 2003. Roshko V. Venerable Seraphim: Sarov and Diveevo. M., 1994. Sabashnikova M. Saint Seraphim. M., 1913. Saint Mitrophan of Voronezh. M., 2001. Seraphim Chichagov, archimandrite. Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery. In 2 parts. Ed. 2nd. St. Petersburg, 1903. Seraphim's obedience. Life and works of N.A. Motovilov. Compiled by A. Strizhev. M., 1996. Stepashkin V. Venerable Seraphim of Sarov: legends and facts. Sarov. 2002. Tyutcheva A. Memoirs. M., 2004. Letters from Metropolitan Philaret to the abbot of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, Archimandrite Anthony. 1831–1867 Part 4:1857–1867. M., 1884. A collection of opinions and reviews of Metropolitan Philaret on educational and church-state issues. T. 5. Part 2. St. Petersburg, 1885. Filaretov’s almanac. T. 1. M., 2004. Bukova O.V. "Women's monasteries of St. Seraphim of Sarov." History of ten Nizhny Novgorod convents. Nizhny Novgorod, 2003. Holy Fire. M., 2006. No. 14. pp. 27–51. [Hieromonk Joasaph]. Tales of the exploits and events of the life of Elder Seraphim. M., 2006. pp. 262–282. Deacon Sergius Skuzovatkin. Monastery of St. Seraphim. History of the Sarov Desert in the 20th century. M., 2003. P. 114. See: Archimandrite Seraphim Chichagov. Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery. St. Petersburg, 1903. S. 4, 31–32. Sabashnikova M.V. Saint Seraphim. M., Spiritual knowledge, 1913. P. 82, 92. Herzen A.I. On the development of revolutionary ideas in Russia // Collection. works: In 30 volumes. T. 7. M., 1956. P. 210. Vyskochkov L. Nikolay I. M., 2005. P. 497. Ulybin V. Like hell was crushed. SPb.-M., 2002. P. 85. See: Lamp. Samara. 2005. No. 2. Nilus Sergey. Great in small. Notes of an Orthodox Christian. Ed. Holy Trinity Lavra of Sergius. 1992. P. 105. Subsequent references to this publication are given in the text indicating the letter “H” and the corresponding pages. N.A. Motovilov and Diveyevo monastery. Publication of the Holy Trinity-Seraphim-Diveevo Convent. 1999. pp. 244–250. In the future, all references to this publication are given in the text indicating the letter “D” and the corresponding pages. Brockhaus and Efron. Encyclopedic Dictionary. St. Petersburg, 1897. T. XX. P. 43. The chronicler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Zhomoitsky (Chronicle of Krasinsky) talks about how “the highest births” divided the Baltic coast among themselves after the death of Prince Kernus: “And after him, his son-in-law with Kitovrasu, named Kgirus, began to reign on the lands of Lithuania, and Kginbut on the Zhomoitsky land. And panicking Kgibutu on Eomoiti, he died, and left his son Montvila on the Zhomoiti principality. And Montvil reigned a lot on Zhomoiti, and had two sons, one Nemonos, and the other Skirmont [...] And at the hour of Kunasov’s reign, Tsar Batu rose up and went to the Russian land, and conquered all the Russian land, and defeated many Russian princes, and led others into captivity, and the capital of the entire Ruskoe land, the city of Kyiv, burned the empty land [...] And at that hour I got to know the great prince Montvil of Zhomoit, since the Russian land was empty and the Russian princes were dispersed, and he, having given an army to his son Skirmont, sent with him the lords of his relatives [...] And then the great prince Montvil died, and his son Nemonos sat after him in the great reign of Zhomoit. And from his lords 3 Kgrovazha (Rozha) Monvid was born [...] And after him Kgirus, the prince of Lithuania, who came out from Kitovras, both princes, Lithuania and Zhomoitia, will begin to reign.” As Motovilov’s letters to the Russian Emperors show, he never forgot this: his epistolary activity may be explained precisely by the desire to return the lost positions to the family. At one time they inherited the lands of Seliverst Shishelov, whose name is mentioned even in the amicable separation act of the Motovilov family - after the death of “Seraphim’s servant” (GAUO. F. 85, op. 1, d. 674, l. 21–31 vol.). In 1726, dragoon Ivan Shishelov sold his grandfather's land along the Tsylna River to captain Vasily Mironovich Repyov and his brother Lieutenant Ivan Mironovich Repyov. In 1730, Vasily sold his entire share to his brother Ivan. In 1764, Ivan Repyov died. His daughter, Khristinia Ivanovna, married Motovilov and in 1763 bought land (15 quarters) along the Tsylna River from the guard soldier Yakov Nagatkin. Khristinia Ivanovna Motovilova died in 1791, leaving her three sons - Nikolai, Alexander and Evgraf - in the village of Rozhdestvenskoye, Tsylna, and in other places 318 quarters of arable land and 150 acres of hayfields. In 1811, after the birth of his son Nikolai, second lieutenant Alexander Ivanovich Motovilov further increased his land allotment by purchasing a plot of land of 34 dessiatinas 403 sazhens from a noblewoman, Anna Fedorovna Kishinskaya. Even before this purchase, starting in 1794, Alexander Ivanovich, together with his brother Nikolai Ivanovich, had a lawsuit over land with the Tatars of the neighboring villages of Bolshaya and Malaya Tsylny. The Tatars complained that the Motovilovs “always inflict extreme oppression and insults on them in the possession of land and hayfields, and now these gentlemen Motovilovs, having gained the upper hand over the offended, took possession, by their force, of almost their last land: they plowed and sowed up to 600 acres of grain, and they cut down up to 600 acres of hay in the Tatar dachas.” 200 dessiatines, of which they brought up to 500 cartloads to their village.” However, this dispute was resolved in 1818 by the Simbirsk Chamber of the Civil Court in favor of the Motovilov brothers (Martynov P. Sketches of antiquity preserved in the Simbirsk district. Simbirsk, 1896. P. 330). These were: in the Korsun district the village of Pokrovskoye, Reshetka also, the village of Bezvodnaya, the village of Bogoyavlenskoye, Stanichnoye, the village of Rozhdestvenskoye, Russkaya Tsylna, the village of Devyatovka, Arkhangelskoye, the village of Mokraya Bugurna (now Tsylninsky district), the so-called “dachas” of Buinsky district under the name of Stepan Nagatkin and Seliversta Shishelova. In addition, there were lands in the Nizhny Novgorod province: Ardatovsky district, village of Machkazerovo, Lukoyanovsky district, village of Britvino (GAUO. F. 85, op. 1, d. 674, l. 21–31 volume; F. 317, op. 2, d. 40, pp. 206–208). N.A. Motovilov and Diveyevo monastery. Publication of the Holy Trinity-Seraphim-Diveevo Convent. 1999. P. 238. There were only 450 acres of land, “of which: arable land 395 acres, pasture - 23 acres 1961 fathoms, under the garden and threshing floor - 13 acres 2271 fathoms, under roads and ravines 4 acres, under buildings and the estate - 13 acres 1268 fathoms" (GAUO. F. 1, op. 19, d. 18., pp. 67–71 vol.). The length of the house was 14 fathoms 2 arshins, the width was 5 fathoms 2 arshins, the height - the one-story half of the house was 2 arshins, and the two-story half, respectively, 4 arshins. The house had 15 living rooms and 9 Dutch ovens (GAUO. F. 1, op. 19, d. 18., pp. 67–71 vol.). Kirichenko O.V. Veneration of shrines by Russian nobles (XVIII century) // Orthodox faith and traditions of piety among Russians in the XVIII–XX centuries. M., 2002. P. 46. Russian antiquity. 1878, no. 7. P. 417. Nilus S. Great in small. Notes of an Orthodox Christian. Publication of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. 1992. P. 113. Simbirsk diocesan bulletin. 1994. No. 1. S. 4. Complete Orthodox Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary. T. 2. St. Petersburg, b\d. S. 2055. Archbishop Anatoly Maksimovich (1766–1844) was at the Simbirsk See from 1832 to 1842. His Eminence Anatoly (in the world Andrei Maksimovich) worked hard to open and improve the Simbirsk diocese and its religious and educational institutions. It was under him that the Holy Trinity Cathedral was consecrated. See about him: Simbirsk Diocesan Gazette. 1994. No. 1.S. 5. We are talking about Bishop Yevgeny Sakharov (1814–1888), who served in Simbirsk from October 1858. to December 7, 1874 It was at this time that the Motovilovs could meet with him. Bishop Eugene was appointed to Simbirsk on the recommendation of Moscow Metropolitan Philaret, who especially patronized him for 30 years. “I am sending an angel of peace to Simbirsk,” St. Philaret said to some of his close associates. His Grace Eugene was an extremely pious and humble man. He lived the life of a solitary ascetic, full of hardships, and helped everyone who turned to him for spiritual and material help. In his youth, Bishop Eugene met with the Monk Seraphim. According to his story, he and his comrades, after finishing the seminary course, went on foot to the Sarov Monastery. At the meeting, St. Seraphim blessed everyone, bowed at his feet and kissed his hand (Simbirsk Diocesan Gazette. 1994. No. 1).SHAPE \\* MERGEFORMAT Notes by I.S. Zhirkevich // Russian antiquity. 1878, no. 7. P. 417. Notes of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov. M., 2005. P. 30. The modern “Ulyanovsk-Simbirsk Encyclopedia” (Ulyanovsk. 2000. T. 1. P. 359) gives a somewhat strange description of this church, calling St. John the Baptist "patron of all Masons." Notes of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov. M., 2005. P. 114. Goncharov I.A. At home. M., 1987. P. 278. Perhaps, when talking about Vladyka Anthony, Motovilov mentioned many famous people, for Vladyka was the center of Voronezh society and a very sociable person. Archbishop Anthony met people of different ranks and conditions; he had peaceful relations with all the Voronezh governors during the years of his archpastorship: N.I. Krivtsov, B.A. Odernas, D.N. Begichev, N.I. Ladygin, Baron X.X. Khlyasen. Ulyanovsk-Simbirsk encyclopedia. P. 265. Korsun is a district town in Simbirsk province, located near Simbirsk. K.F. Ryleev is one of the executed Decembrists. His books were banned. A. Mickiewicz is a Polish poet who actively supported the Polish uprising of 1831 and an opponent of the Russian autocracy. N.A. Motovilov and the Diveyevo monastery. Publication of the Holy Trinity-Seraphim-Diveevo Convent. 1999. P. 70. Motovilov could probably have met many of the bishops, and even secular high-ranking people, from Bishop Anthony, who had fraternal relations with Archbishop of Don and Novocherkassk Ignatius (Semyonov), his successor in the Voronezh See, and Archbishop of Kazan and Sviyazhsk Filaret (Amphitheater), later Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galitsky. Anthony's frequent interlocutors and welcome guests were Archbishops of Yaroslavl and Rostov Evgeniy (Kazansky), Tver and Kashinsky Grigory (Postnikov), as well as Astrakhan and Enotaevsky Vitaly (Borisov-Zhegochev), Tambov and Shatsky Arseniy (Moskvin), Exarchs of Georgia Evgeniy (Bazhanov) and Isidor (Nikolsky), former Kazan and Sviyazhsky Vladimir (Uzhinsky), Oryol and Sevsky Smaragd (Kryzhanovsky), Novocherkassk and Georgievsky Afanasy (Telyatyev), Kursk and Belgorod Iliodor (Chistyakov), Bishop of Ekaterinoslav and Taganrog Innokenty (Alexandrov), Bishop of Chigirinsky Varlaam (Uspensky), vicar of the Kiev diocese, Greek Metropolitan Agathangel and Archbishop Hierotheus of Tabor and Lebanon. We are talking about Bishop Yevgeny Sakharov (1814–1888). See about him above. About the abbot (later archimandrite) Zosima of Zadonsk, see page 65. Nikolai Alexandrovich Motovilov and the Diveyevo monastery. Publication of the Holy Trinity-Seraphim-Diveevo Convent, 1999. pp. 77–78. Stepashkin V. Venerable Seraphim of Sarov: legends and facts. Sarov, 2002. P. 28. Nikolai Alexandrovich Motovilov and the Diveyevo monastery. Publication of the Holy Trinity-Seraphim-Diveevo Convent, 1999. P. 86. Archpriest Vsevolod Roshko. Venerable Seraphim of Sarov: Sarov and Diveevo. M., 2001. P. 69. Stepashkin V. Venerable Seraphim of Sarov: legends and facts. Sarov. 2002. P. 69. Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery. Ed. 2nd. St. Petersburg, 1903, pp. 156–160. In Chapter VIII of the Chronicle it is said: “To Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, Fr. Seraphim ordered to be in charge of all the work.” Zakrevsky Arseny Andreevich (1783–1865) – count, statesman. Zakrevsky was a completely uneducated man who did not even know Russian literacy well. As an adjutant of Count Kamensky, he took part in the Finnish (1808) and Turkish (1810) wars. In 1812 Zakrevsky was with the commander-in-chief, and during the campaigns of 1813–1814. was inseparably under Emperor Alexander I as one of the adjutant generals closest to him. Since 1816 Acted as duty general of the General Staff. In 1823 Zakrevsky, who had had disagreements with Arakcheev, was sent by the Governor-General to Finland. In 1828 appointed Minister of the Interior, retaining the post of Governor-General of Finland. To combat the one that appeared in Russia in 1830. Zakrevsky went to the south-eastern province with cholera; he established quarantines, which, however, contributed to the spread of the epidemic. The failure of sanitary measures was the reason for its release in 1831. resign. He was out of work until 1848, when he was called up to the post of military governor-general of Moscow. In this position, Zakrevsky was distinguished by a penchant for omnipotence and a desire to interfere in everything (not excluding family relationships), which exceeded even the usual measure at that time. In the sources known to us, starting with the Chronicle, Zakrevsky is indicated as the Governor-General of Moscow, which is an inaccuracy. Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery. Ed. 2nd. St. Petersburg, 1903. Villager E. In the earthly sky. Three trips to Sarov and Diveevo. M, 2004. P. 79. Tales of the exploits and events of the life of Elder Seraphim. M., 2006. pp. 128–129. Bukova O. Women's monasteries of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Nizhny Novgorod. 2003. P. 220. Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery. In 2 parts. Comp. Archimandrite Seraphim Chichagov. Ed. 2nd. St. Petersburg, 1903. P. 590. Bukova O. Women's monasteries of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Nizhny Novgorod. 2003. P. 221. N.A. Motovilov and Diveyevo monastery. Publication of the Holy Trinity-Seraphim-Diveevo Convent. 1999. pp. 195–197. Evgeniy Poselyanin. In the earthly sky. M., 2004. P. 190.