Acquiring the Holy Spirit

Contents Section I. The life and works of St. Seraphim of Sarov Archpriest Dimitri Troitsky. Life of the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX Glorification The life, exploits and death of the Sarov desert hieromonk and desert dweller Father Seraphim, born in 1754, died in 1833. He labored as a monk for 47 years, but the entire life of this virtuous husband was 74 years The Life of Elder Seraphim (modern version) I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV Section II. About the purpose of Christian life Conversation of St. Seraphim of Sarov about the purpose of Christian life Preface I. Invitation II. The Will of the Lord III. The purpose of Christian life IV. Acquisition of grace V. The Mother of God – the plague of demons VI. Grace is Light VII. Peace and warmth of grace Afterword by S. Nilus to the 1903 edition Afterword by S. Nilus to the 1911 edition Archbishop Veniamin (Fedchenkov). Revelation of St. Seraphim of Sarov about the purpose of Christian life Nikolai Petrovich P[opov]. Theological consideration of “Conversations of St. Seraphim of Sarov about the purpose of Christian life” Ivan Mikhailovich Kontsevich. Acquiring God's grace Mikhail Aleksandrovich Novoselov. Testimonies about the Holy Spirit Archpriest Georgy Florovsky. Feat and joy Venerable Silouan of Athos. About the uncreated Divine light and images of contemplating it About God-like dispassion About the organic path to dispassion About the darkness of distraction Archbishop Nathanael (Lvov). The influence of St. Seraphim in Russian church history Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose). God is fire Archpriest Valentin Sventsitsky. Prediction of the Last Times Vladimir Nikolaevich Lossky 1. Gifts of the Holy Spirit 2. Theology of Light Section III. Written instructions from Elder Seraphim 1. About God 2. About faith 3. About hope 4. About love for God 5. About the fear of God 6. About renunciation of the world 7. About silence 8. About attention to oneself 9. About caring for the soul 10. About spiritual peace 11. About preserving spiritual peace 12. About exploits 13. About the light of Christ 14. About tears 15. About repentance 16. About fasting 17. About guarding the heart 18. About verbosity 19. About recognizing the actions of the heart 20. About illnesses 21. About alms 22. About thoughts and carnal movements 23. About patience and humility 24. About duties and love for neighbors 25. About non-judgment of one's neighbor and about forgiveness of insults 26. Against excessive care 27. About sadness 28. About despair 29. About the reasons for the coming of Jesus Christ into the world 30. About active and speculative life Section IV. Pilgrims Sergei Nilus. Servant of the Mother of God and Seraphim. (Simbirsk conscience judge Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov) I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII Letters from N. A. Motovilov to Emperors Nicholas I and Alexander II Letter from N. A. Motovilov to Emperor Nicholas I Letter to the Emperor Nicholas I. [Word of the Great Elder Seraphim] Memo to Emperor Alexander II From the Prophecies of the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov The Great Diveyevo Mystery Appendix to the “Great Diveyevo Mystery” (from the Florensky family archive) Antichrist and Russia Notes Section I. The life and works of the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov Section II. On the purpose of the Christian life Section III. Written instructions from Elder Seraphim Section IV. Pilgrims Section I. Life and works of St. Seraphim of Sarov Archpriest Dimitry Troitsky. Life of St. Seraphim of Sarov The great saint of God and prayer book of the Russian land, St. Seraphim, the Wonderworker of Sarov, belongs to the host of ascetics of the 19th century, distinguished by an unquenchable spiritual thirst for moral perfection, a noble desire for true freedom, freeing man from sin. Elder Seraphim, due to his gifts from the Lord and the extraordinary rise of his spirit, is the most glorious exponent of this era, and therefore his biography, his ascent “from strength to strength” are of deep edifying interest for Orthodox Russian people. Father Seraphim, in the world Prokhor Isidorovich Moshnin, was born on July 19, 1754 in the city of Kursk, on Sergievskaya Street, near the church in memory of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Prokhor's parents, Isidore and Agathia, belonged to the eminent and wealthy Kursk merchant class. In the family they also had an eldest son, Alexey, who went into trading, whose offspring survived for a long time. Isidor Moshnin owned brick factories, he took out large contracts for the construction of stone churches and houses, but soon died. Prokhor was only three years old when he lost his father. The mother began to manage the affairs of the orphaned house, paying attention to raising her children, instilling in them the fear of God and respect for people. Little information has been preserved about Prokhor's childhood, but all his biographies tell of two events from his early years. The first was when seven-year-old Prokhor, in front of his mother’s eyes, fell from the bell tower of a church under construction to the ground and remained alive. Then the mother, in a trembling premonition of terrible grief, ran down from the high forests, fearing to find her son broken to death. Prokhor remained safe and sound. In this miraculous salvation, the mother saw God’s special care for her son. Another event was the miraculous appearance of the Mother of God to him. At that time, Prokhor was about ten years old. Having become seriously ill, in a sleepy vision he was privileged to behold the Most Holy Theotokos. Then She promised to heal him. And so it happened at that time to go to a procession with the Kursk Root Icon along the very street where the Moshnins’ house stood. A downpour fell... To shorten the path, the religious procession turned through the Moshnins' passage yard. Prokhor's mother hastened to take her son to the icon, and from that day on he began to recover. That illness, as well as the fall from a height, did not at all undermine Prokhor’s good health. The boy grew up strong, strong-willed and impressionable, distinguished by an excellent memory and innate virtues - meekness and humility. In those days, people usually learned to read and write from the Psalter, while the churches of God, with their beauty and wonderful liturgical decoration, endowed children with warmth and purity, and sublime thoughts. Young Prokhor was drawn to these saving springs. He loved reading the Holy Scriptures, first in church, and then in reading with adults, and when he himself learned to read the Gospel and patristic word, attending church services became an urgent necessity for him. Zeal for the church of God and the educational power of Scripture decisively influenced the future fate of Prokhor: he strengthened himself spiritually and decided to leave the world to devote himself to a strict monastic life. In the 17th year, the idea of ​​leaving the world and becoming a monastic finally matured in Prokhor. His wise, Christian-minded mother, with her maternal instincts, understood her son’s true calling and did not prevent Prokhor from devoting himself to God and people. It must be borne in mind that the former life of the Russian people was largely filled with deep moral content, and this content gave rise to touching, solemn and beautiful customs in their simplicity. For example, someone in the family is getting ready to travel. The preparations are over... Before leaving or driving, everyone sat down. A kind of blessed silence permeated the family, those leaving and those remaining. I thought anxiously at these moments: I would not forget something significant, important, I would take peace and peace of mind with me on the road. This Russian habit was strong in the Moshnin family. The farewell of mother and son was touching; It was especially touching when Prokhor went to venerate the Kyiv shrines, so that there, in the silence of the monastery, near the holy saints and elders, he could test his decision to leave the vain world. At parting, everyone sat down, remained silent, thinking about many things, then stood up, prayed, and Prokhor bowed to his mother’s feet. She ordered him to venerate the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God, after which she blessed him with a large copper cross, and Prokhor set off with it. He sacredly kept this maternal blessing all his life. He wore the cross openly over his clothes and died with it many years later. Encouraged by the best wishes of his mother and loved ones, Prokhor arrived in Kyiv. The majestic view of the Kyiv churches, the abundance of ancient Russian shrines and monasteries with many monks filled Prokhor with impressions and indescribable spiritual joy. At first, he went to the perspicacious and wise recluse Dosifei, who was then living as an elder in the China Hermitage, not far from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. With joy, fear and awe, young Prokhor knocked on the door of the recluse Dosifei. And when he entered him, he knelt down, shedding tears, opened his soul, his thoughts, touchingly asking the godly elder for advice, blessings and instructions on where and to whom he should go, where to look for saving paths that crush evil; where is that corner, that cell and those church slabs that will shelter him for spiritual labors. Elder Dosifei caressed the young man and pointed him to the Sarov hermitage. Delighted and reassured by the great recluse, the young man once again bowed to the shrines of Kyiv, then briefly returned to his native Kursk, to his family, to say goodbye and finally leave for the deep forests of the Sarov desert. On November 20, 1778, on the eve of the Feast of the Entry into the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 19-year-old Prokhor came to Sarov. With a feeling of touching tenderness, the young wanderer saw the monastery assigned to him by God. It was winter, but the bitter frosts did not dampen the hot impulse of the wanderer... The pure, white winter cover completely corresponded to the state of God’s chosen youth, and the green masses of centuries-old pines and spruces seemed to confirm: life is eternal, it cannot be shackled and frozen, the life-giving forces graciously imparted evergreen beauty to the forest... It seems that the mere appearance of the Sarov desert - this open book of Russian asceticism - warms the Russian people. The desert is located extremely picturesquely - on a high cliff. And the domes of the Assumption Cathedral are far visible in the vicinity of Sarov, attracting the tired traveler with prayerful comfort and monastic silence. At the foot of the mountain on which the monastery rises, Satis and Sarovka merge into one river. All around there is a dense forest, and in the distant spaces around there is no housing. The strict but gentle abbot Pachomius presided in the desert. He also came from Kursk merchants and, of course, knew Prokhor’s parents. Guessing with an experienced eye all the strength and purity of the young man’s decision, Father Pachomius kindly accepted him, entrusting him to the care of the monastery treasurer, Hieromonk Joseph. This elder Prokhor was a cell attendant, then he was sent for obedience to the bakery and prosphora maker, and then he was assigned as a carpenter in the carpentry. At one time he was obliged to wake up the brethren for early services. However, performing these simple but tedious tasks, of course, did not close the circle of concerns of the young novice. With the greatest zeal, he drew his attention to the very essence of the monastic rank - to re-educating himself, to observing himself and achieving moral perfection. The young man, who grew up in the fear of God, zealously embarked on the path of monastic self-sacrifice, cultivating in himself hard work, meekness, abstinence in everything, and most importantly, diligence in prayer - this is what now becomes the focus of his life! He knew that in the monastery, under the strict guidance of the elders, he had to protect himself from the temptations of the world, that only here it was possible to strive for ascetic deeds, for the full disclosure of spiritual gifts within himself. Having firmly decided on a spiritual feat, the young man joyfully began to fulfill the monastic precepts left for the edification of the Monk John Climacus, who said: “Just as a ship that has a skillful helmsman enters safely with God’s help, so a soul that has a good shepherd easily ascends to heaven, even if it was previously sinful... Just as one walking along an unfamiliar path without a guide can easily to get lost, even if he were reasonable, so in monasticism he who autocratically goes through his monastic obedience easily perishes, even if he knew the wisdom of the whole world.” A serious, thoughtful attitude towards the monastic dispensation was reflected in the zeal of the young novice to attend church services and stand motionless during all services. Prokhor then always stood in a certain place from the beginning to the end of the service, and he strictly followed his cell rule. Of course, the monk Prokhor also had difficulties, and there were also obstacles to a successful struggle. Thoughts, sorrows, boredom, despondency - these constant companions of sin, poisoning our mundane daily life, sometimes pass inside the monastery walls. But how persistently and victoriously the new monk repelled these devilish machinations! He won by constant observation of himself, he won by work and prayer. At home, Prokhor read holy books and did physical labor. He always read the Gospel and the Epistles of the Apostles while standing. From spiritual books I read “The Six Days” of St. Basil the Great, “Conversations” of St. Macarius the Great, “The Ladder” of St. John, “The Philokalia” and many others. Readiness developed in the monk the ability to apply everything said in books to a person and various states of his character - hence the ability to clarify every situation in life with a true decision, to perfume every good deed with the grace of God. He engaged in physical labor, participating in the general work of the monastery brethren - rafting timber, collecting firewood, and during rest he skillfully cut crosses from cypress and distributed them to pilgrims. Yet most of all he loved solitary prayer and abstinence. The future great ascetic, faster and worker, monk Prokhor, as if from the very beginning, recognized the essence of asceticism and the sweetness of monasticism. His monastic life is a living, clear example of asceticism, constant self-denial, rejection of everything that interferes with salvation. The ideal of holiness was nurtured in his heart by young Prokhor, to which he directed his strength and his spiritual impulse. Already in the early years of his monasticism, Prokhor adhered to strict fasting. He ate nothing on Wednesdays and Fridays, and on other days of the week he ate once a day. With the blessing and permission of his elder Joseph, young Prokhor went into the forest in his free hours for solitary prayer. In the thicket of the forest he built a hut and there he immersed himself in contemplative prayer. In silence, far from people, he tenderly surrendered to the feat of prayer among the unfading beauties of nature, which revealed to him the greatness of the Almighty Creator. In 1780, Prokhor became dangerously ill. His body was swollen, the disease did not respond to any treatment, perhaps it was dropsy. He was ill for three years, of which he spent a year and a half in bed. The extraordinary respect that the Sarov elders and monastery brethren had for the young monk was even more fully manifested during his illness. Elder Joseph, Abbot Pachomius, and Elder Isaiah were constantly with him, and other brethren offered prayers for him. One day Elder Joseph served the Divine Liturgy for Prokhor’s health. The patient confessed and received communion. And then, in an indescribable light, the Mother of God appeared to the sick man with the apostles John the Theologian and Peter. The Lady, pointing to John the Theologian at the novice, said: “This one is of Our kind” - and laid her right hand on his head, and with the rod that she held in her left hand, She touched the sick one. This touch left Prokhor with a depression in his leg, through which the accumulated fluid began to flow out, causing him excruciating suffering. So miraculously, Prokhor recovered quickly. Soon new construction began in Sarov. Prokhor's cell, in which this miraculous healing took place, was demolished, and in its place a hospital with an almshouse was built, and at the hospital there was a church on two floors: below - in the name of Saints Zosima and Savvaty of Solovetsky, and above - in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Then the monk Prokhor was sent into the world to collect donations for this church. Walking around a great many cities and villages of Mother Russia, he was honored to visit “both the wide Caspian Sea and the royal Neva”... He also went to his hometown of Kursk, met his brother, remembered his childhood days and his beloved mother, who at that time was already lying in the ground; He went to the city cemetery and there, at the grave mound of his parents, stood for a long time in heartfelt prayer. Brother Alexey was already successfully running his own household and was able to provide a generous donation to the monastery church. Some biographies of the saint tell us about his youthful appearance, when he was still a novice Prokhor: “Tall in stature; the face is white and full, the nose is regular and sharp; light blue, expressive and penetrating eyes, thick eyebrows; thick light brown hair on the head; a thick beard connected with a thick mustache; he was strong and strong, had a fascinating speech, an extraordinary memory and a bright, clear understanding.” On August 13, 1786, Prokhor was tonsured into monasticism and named Seraphim - “The Fiery One.” The one who tonsured Prokhor seemed to want to imprint on him for the rest of his life that spiritual flame with which the young novice warmed himself. A year later, the monk Seraphim was ordained as a hierodeacon, and from that day on he almost continuously participated in divine services for six years. He also worked intensively in prayer at home: on the eve of Sundays and holidays, he stood all night in prayer, without feeling tired and without needing rest. Thanks to such exploits, Father Seraphim received special revelations. At times he saw Angels in white gold-woven robes, concelebrating with the brethren during monastic services. Hierodeacon Seraphim received a particularly significant vision during the Divine Liturgy on Maundy Thursday. When, after the small entrance, Hierodeacon Seraphim exclaimed: “Lord, save the pious and hear us,” and, turning to the people, finished: “and forever and ever,” he was immediately transformed, could not leave his place and utter a word. The employees realized that he had a vision. The hierodeacons led him by the arms into the altar, where he stood, as if speechless, for three hours, his face now flushed, now pale. When he came to his senses, he told his elders Joseph and Pachomius this vision. “I had just proclaimed, poor thing,” said Hierodeacon Seraphim, “Lord, save the pious and hear us,” and, pointing his orar at the people, he finished: “and forever and ever,” suddenly a ray of sunlight illuminated me and I saw the Lord our God Jesus Christ, in the image of the Son of Man, in glory shining with the Ineffable Light, surrounded by heavenly powers, angels, archangels, cherubim and seraphim, like a swarm of bees, and from the western church gates of the coming one in the air. Approaching the pulpit in this form and raising His most pure hands, the Lord blessed those serving and those present. Therefore, He entered His holy local image, which is on the right hand of the Royal Doors, and was transformed, surrounded by angelic faces, shining with Ineffable Light throughout the entire church. But I, earth and ashes, when I met the Lord Jesus Christ, received a special blessing from Him. My heart rejoiced purely, enlightened, in the sweetness of love for God.” After this appearance, Father Seraphim began to pray in solitude even more; more and more often he went to his forest cell in the evenings, spent the whole night there in prayer, and only returned to Sarov in the morning. In September 1793, Hierodeacon Seraphim was summoned by the diocesan authorities to Tambov and there he ordained him as a hieromonk. From that time on, while the priest lived in the desert itself, he received the Holy Mysteries every day. Endowed with the grace of the priesthood, he serves the Holy Church reverently and with love. Like the heavenly Seraphim, he completely devotes himself to serving God, prayerfully watching before Him day and night; forgets about food and drink, and regrets that he needs rest and cannot continuously serve God. The task of his life, in his own words, is now “the final organization of the house of the soul.” From now on, he “carries in his chest a heart that melted like wax from the indescribable sweetness of the heavenly visions that visited him.” At this time, Father Seraphim was already sufficiently prepared for the difficult and great feat of living in the desert. Soon the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Pachomius, died; before his death, he blessed Father Seraphim for his exploits in the secluded desert. On November 20, 1794, thirty-five years old, Hieromonk Seraphim retired to a desert cell located 5-6 miles from the monastery, in a dense forest, near the Sarovka River. The reason for the relocation was a serious illness: from standing for a long time in church and praying at home, his legs began to swell and wounds opened. The forest cell was a simple hut with a stove, a canopy and a porch. There is a small vegetable garden around the cell, which Father Seraphim cultivated in the spring and summer; He also had a beekeeper. The priest's clothes were the simplest and roughest: a worn kamilavka on his head, a white linen cassock on his shoulders, hands in leather mittens, feet in shoe covers (leather stockings) and bast shoes. A copper cross hung openly on his chest - his mother’s blessing; behind his back was a bag, and in it was the Gospel. He wore the same clothes in summer and winter. In work I found a bright and joyful mood. It happened that while working, a shovel or hoe would suddenly fall out of his hands, while his face would take on a wondrous expression, and he, standing motionless, would delve into the contemplation of the mysteries of God. While loosening the earth, Father Seraphim sang psalms and church hymns. The dogmatist especially loved to sing the first tone: “Worldwide glory...” and the antiphon: “The incessant Divine desire is deserted...” His prayer rule in the desert was extensive and strict. Instead of evening prayers, I made a thousand bows in a row. Father Seraphim ate only vegetables. He took dry, stale bread with him from the monastery on Sundays for the entire week, but distributed almost all of it to the birds and forest animals who came up to him and loved his company. There was a time when the hermit even refused bread. For almost three years, he ate forest grass - black grass: he boiled it in a pot, and dried it in reserve for the winter. On Sundays and holidays, as well as on their eves, Father Seraphim came to the monastery, attended all the required services and partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. He was cheerful, talking with the monks who listened to his wise instructions. And, after talking, he again retired into the saving desert. There, Hieromonk Seraphim, flaming with love for God, underwent all types of self-sacrifice and all the feats of prayer work. “Solitude, prayer, forgiveness and abstinence are the essence of a four-part chariot that lifts the spirit to heaven,” the priest said repeatedly before, but now he completely followed his word. During his years as a hermit, Father Seraphim avoided visitors in every possible way. He usually humbly bowed to the people who met him in the forest and hastily stepped aside. For a person who saw a desert dweller for the first time, these meetings made a deep and irresistible impression; Already the mere sight of the saint of God, in his wretched clothes, touched the soul, testifying to something sublime and spiritual. This appearance of him inspired awe not only in people, but also in wild animals. What a wondrous and touching picture: the ascetic Seraphim feeds from his hands a forest bear, which obediently carries out his will! Look closely at the priest’s face, shining with the angelic light of joy and mercy, and you will be able to read the secret of the bear’s humility and obedience. But such an intense life for the ascetic also aroused the cruel anger of the devil, who inflicted various temptations on him. One day, while praying, Father Seraphim heard the howling of animals outside the walls of his cell. Another time, some noisy crowd of people began to break down the door; knocked out the door frame and threw a huge piece of wood into the hermit’s home; eight people could hardly carry it out... Sometimes, during prayer, the priest imagined that the cell was collapsing and that terrible animals were rushing towards him with a wild roar; or he saw an open coffin from which a dead man rose. Father Seraphim defeated all these external visions and temptations with the power of the sign of the cross. Then the enemy began to attack him with even greater fury. He lifted the ascetic into the air and hit him on the floor with such force that his bones could have been broken if Divine help had not protected him at that time. One might think that the monk fully experienced the tempting power of evil spirits. To a simple-hearted question from one layman about demons, the ascetic answered with a smile: “They are vile. Just as a sinner is forbidden to look at the radiance of an Angel, so it is forbidden to see demons, for they are vile.” During these years, Father Seraphim was twice elected as abbot and archimandrite of monasteries, but, out of humility, he refused these positions. Hating such steadfastness, the devil became even more agitated by a new misfortune, raising a mental war in his soul - the most terrible of misfortunes... It was hard for the ascetic. But whoever is attentive to spiritual life, who more strictly monitors the movements of his heart, has a more sensitive conscience, and the attack of the prince of darkness is stronger on him. After all, even in an ordinary war, the enemy strikes where the main forces are concentrated in order to break and destroy the main resistance. Calling on Christ the Savior and the Mother of God for help, Father Seraphim decided to undertake the feat of pillar-building. In the forest, halfway from the cell to the monastery, lay a granite stone of enormous size. On this stone the monk led the life of a stylite. Unacceptably, every day and every night he stood on a stone and stood on it at full height or on his knees, with his hands raised, constantly repeating: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”... At the same time, Father Seraphim placed another stone in his cell and prayed on it in the same position all day. The elder spent a thousand days in this great feat. Physical exhaustion and incessant prayer consoled him. The evil one stopped testing the ascetic, because the ascetic had strengthened himself, and tempting thoughts and fears ceased to bother him. Standing on a stone for three years exhausted Father Seraphim, and his legs began to hurt again. “Human strength would not have been enough,” Father Seraphim later said about his pillarhood, “but I was internally strengthened and consoled by the Heavenly gift descending from the Father of Lights. When there is tenderness in the heart, then God is with us.” The elder revealed his position to the Sarov brethren only in his declining days, shortly before his death. The stones on which Father Seraphim prayed existed until recently. There was only one fragment left of the large stone; many admirers of the saint and pilgrims to the Sarov hermitage chopped off pieces of these stones as souvenirs. Among the Orthodox, there were families where these pieces of granite with the image of the praying Father Seraphim on them were reverently preserved for years, then they were passed on to posterity. One such particle of that same stone was kept in the Church of St. Seraphim in Paris (on Rue Lecourbe, No. 91). This was a gift to me from Ekaterina Sergeevna Dokhturova, who took this piece of stone from Tsarskoye Selo. A small piece of the mantle of St. Seraphim is also kept in the same church, a gift from Archbishop Alexander, an enthusiastic admirer of the national saint and a zealous prayer book to him. Both of these sacred relics and a little flour, once distributed in Sarov, are embedded in the image of the old man; The image is placed on a lectern, and a lamp to the saint of God is lit before it in Paris. The trials of Father Seraphim did not end there. On September 12, 1804, three peasants approached him in the Sarov Forest and rudely demanded money from him. Father Seraphim could have defended himself with an ax - he was holding it in his hands, but the priest lowered the ax, crossed his hands with a cross on his chest and said: - Do what you need. The villains hit Father Seraphim in the head with a butt; Blood gushed from his mouth and ears. The hermit fell dead. In this state, the robbers dragged the elder to his cell, continuing to beat him mercilessly. Finally, having tied him with ropes, they wanted to drown him in the river, but, being sure that he was already dead, they threw him in the hallway, while they themselves began a thorough search of the cells. But there was no money there; only an icon and a few potatoes were found. The disappointed monsters, indignant, became terribly confused, then fear completely attacked them, and they fled. After some time, Father Seraphim regained consciousness. With difficulty he untied the ropes with which he was tied, and, with God’s help, the next day, during the celebration of the liturgy, he came to Sarov. His appearance at that time was terrible: the hair on his head and beard was stuck together in dried blood, dusty and tangled. His hands and face were badly bruised, several teeth were knocked out; Bloody clothes stuck in places to the wounds on the body. Doctors called from Arzamas found that the old man’s head was broken, his ribs were broken, his lungs were broken off, and they were surprised how he was still alive. While being examined by doctors, Father Seraphim fell asleep, and he had a vision: the Most Holy Lady came to his bed with the apostles Peter and John the Theologian and, pointing to the ascetic to His companions, said: “This is from Our race.” Waking up, the sufferer felt relief and experienced indescribable spiritual joy. That same day, for the first time since the attack, he ate some bread and sauerkraut. Father Seraphim miraculously escaped from imminent death, and after a five-month stay in the monastery, upon recovery, he returned to his hermitage. The wounds inflicted on him by the robbers, as well as the consequences of the bruise received from a tree that fell on him, changed the appearance of the once slender hieromonk; from now on he became bent and walked only leaning on a hatchet, hoe or stick. The offenders of Father Seraphim were soon found; they turned out to be serfs of the landowner Tatishchev from the village of Kremenki. At the prayer of the elder, the villains were forgiven. They repented before him and promised to improve, especially since they had already been punished - lightning set their houses on fire and they could not put out the fire. In 1807, the second rector of the Sarov Hermitage since the arrival of Father Seraphim, the righteous abbot Isaiah, whom the priest loved and revered, died. The death of the abbot had a hard impact on Father Seraphim. The three elders he loved, with whom his entry into the monastery was connected - Joseph, Pachomius and Isaiah, were already in their graves. The ascetic honored their memory touchingly: every time he went to the monastery cemetery and stood for a long time in prayer near their graves. The orphaned father Seraphim decided to impose a vow of silence on himself. A persistent desire arose - to turn this vow into a feat, about which Saint Ambrose of Milan spoke so clearly and clearly: “By silence, I saw, many were saved, but by many words - not a single one.” I also remembered his other words: “Silence is the sacrament of the future century; words are the instrument of this world.” From solitude and silence, tenderness and meekness are born, elevating a person to piety, bringing him closer to God, making him, as it were, an earthly Angel. The desert life now seemed insufficient for Father Seraphim, and he accepted the feat of silence. He avoids visitors and does not accept anyone in his distant desert. If he met someone in the forest, he fell prostrate, face down on the ground, and did not raise his head until there was no one left near him. One of the brethren once a week, on Sundays, brought him food to the hermitage, since Father Seraphim stopped going to the monastery at this time, even on holidays. And in winter, along the snow-covered road, sometimes, drowning in the snow, a messenger monk would wander to the silent man and bring him bread or some vegetables. Having reached the cells, the messenger entered the vestibule and placed food on the ground. Father Seraphim took it, without raising his eyes to the newcomer, and put a piece of bread or cabbage on the tray - that should be brought another time. This was the outward manifestation of silence. The inner meaning of this feat, its essence, lay in the renunciation of all worldly blessings and cares. Father Seraphim spent about three years in complete silence, after which he moved on to the highest feat - seclusion. He was then 50 years old. The Council of the oldest hieromonks of the monastery, showing concern for the silent man, so that he would have the opportunity to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ more often, decided that on Sundays and holidays Father Seraphim would come to the monastery for communion or simply move to Sarov. The silent man, remembering the precepts of monasticism, which consist in cutting off one’s will and obedience, moved to a monastery. It was May 12, 1810. On this day, after a 15-year stay in the desert, the recluse Seraphim entered the gates of the Sarov monastery. The abbot and the brethren were surprised and delighted to meet him, but their surprise increased when the next day Elder Seraphim, having received the Holy Mysteries, went to his cell without saying a word. He shut himself up in his cell, did not go anywhere himself and did not allow anyone to come to him. In his cell, except for an icon with an unquenchable lamp and a piece of wood that served him as a chair, there was nothing. For the sake of mortification of the flesh, the elder wore a thick five-inch cast-iron cross under his shirt. He never even put on a hair shirt. And to the question about this he answered like this: “Whoever offends us in word or deed, and if we bear insults in the Gospel way, here are our chains, here is our hair shirt.” While in retreat, the ascetic ate ​​especially sparingly: oatmeal and chopped cabbage were his food, and he drank only water. A cell neighbor, monk Pavel, delivered simple provisions. He placed everything he had brought at the door and left. There were cases when Father Seraphim did not take anything from what was brought, and then Monk Pavel took the food back... The prayer rule of the ascetic Seraphim was complex and great. Over the course of a week, he read the entire New Testament and, while reading, interpreted the Scriptures aloud to himself. Many were happy to cling to his door and listen to the words of edification pouring from the lips of Father Seraphim. Sometimes he seemed to freeze behind a book, immersed in contemplation, and, ceasing to read prayers, fell silent, standing motionless in front of the icon. On all holidays and Sundays, after early mass, Father Seraphim received the Holy Mysteries in his cell. To remember the hour of death, Father Seraphim placed an oak coffin in his entryway; He often prayed near him, constantly preparing himself for eternal peace. Five years of strict seclusion had passed, during which time Elder Seraphim had noticeably weakened, but the period of his exploits had only just begun. The elder did not break his seclusion and silence even at the time of the arrival of the Tambov diocesan bishop Jonah (who was later exarch of Georgia) in Sarov. The Right Reverend wished to see the elder ascetic. The Bishop approached Father Seraphim’s cell, accompanied by Abbot Nifont, but the door was locked. The abbot's desire to show some persistence in order for the elder to open the door did not meet with the bishop's sympathy. Imbued with respect for the elder, the bishop said: “No need, lest we sin through this,” and, moving away from the cells, left the recluse alone. Another five years passed. Now the elder received the brethren and laity in his cell, willingly talked with them and lovingly taught them the Christian faith and piety. In 1825, on November 25, Father Seraphim had a vision of the Mother of God. The Mother of God commanded him to come out of seclusion and receive everyone who would need his consolation, advice and prayer. At this time, the priest was 66 years old. With the rich experience of half a century of monastic life, he entered the path of eldership - the spiritual leadership of people. Let us note: eldership is the most vital nerve of true Orthodox monasticism; without it one cannot educate the spirit, one cannot cut off one’s own will: “An elder in a monastery is a womb in a hive, to which the abbot himself is subordinate.” The Patericon tells about many touching examples of true humility before the elder. Where there is an elder, there is warmth for monks and novices: he will console in sorrow, and reconcile in quarrels, and in perplexity, he will enlighten and teach. Venerable Seraphim said to the late abbot of the Sergius Lavra, Archimandrite Anthony (Medvedev): “Be not a father, but a mother to your monks.” And this applies to the elder even more than to the abbot, to the abbot. The abbot must sometimes be formally strict, but the elder is always affectionate and kind. The abbot has power, the elder has love. The abbot will threaten: “I’ll kick you out of the monastery.” The elder will sigh, think, and say coldly: “Well, do as you know.” And thus he will make it clear that you offend him with your disobedience, failure to fulfill his commandments... Also a threat: “I won’t love you, live as you know.” But this is more than “I’ll kick you out.” People are ready to bow at the feet of such an embodiment of love, shed tears of repentance - if only he would forgive, if only he would caress him again. Unfortunately, the world is little familiar with the joys of monastic life. When you come into contact with this life, when in your heart you know the joy of communicating with the gracious elders, then with all your soul you strive to the holy monasteries, there to refresh yourself, be renewed in spirit and feel the superiority of spiritual values ​​over the vanity of the world. Spiritual, mysterious communication with such elders does not stop even after their death: love never dies. Suffice it to remember what St. Seraphim of Sarov said to his spiritual children: “When you feel sorrowful, come to my grave and tell me everything as if I were alive, and you will feel better”... And the souls who love them strive to the grave of their elders, from afar they write to the monastery: “Bow before your dear father, go to the grave, whisper to him, your dear one, your daughter, your son is grieving - help, dear.” In these simple but sincere words, dissolved in tears, one can feel: the elder’s spiritual experience of life is valued. “A word from experience is living water that quenches the thirst of the soul; a word without experience is water splashed on a wall. A word from experience is pure gold, without experience it is a coppersmith. And such and such a treasure is possessed and abundantly bestowed upon everyone by the elders. He who is tempted himself can help those who are tempted.” This is the grace-filled power that lies in eldership, and the Lord God blessed Father Seraphim on this path. First of all, Father Seraphim loved to talk with monks. He taught them the exact fulfillment of monastic rules and zeal for church service. “We must look at our life,” said the ascetic, “as at a candle made of wax and a lamp and burning with fire. Wax is our faith, the lamp is hope, and fire is love, which unites everything together: both faith and hope, just as wax and the lamp burn together under the action of fire. A candle of poor quality emits a stench when it burns and goes out - so stinks in the spiritual sense the life of a sinner before God. And therefore, looking at a burning candle, especially when we stand in God’s church, we remember the beginning, course and end of our life: for a candle lit before the Face of God melts, and so our life diminishes with every minute, approaching the end. This thought will help us have less fun in church, pray more diligently and try to make our life before God look like a candle made of pure wax that does not emit a stench.” Communion has great power for the salvation of the soul. Father Seraphim advised to begin Holy Communion on all the twelve holidays, and not to miss the four fasts of the year without fasting. He spoke about the saving significance of the Sacrament of the Eucharist: “If we filled the entire ocean with tears, then even then we would not be able to thank the Lord for pouring life on us and feeding us with His Most Pure Blood and Body, which wash, cleanse, revive and resurrect us. And proceed without doubt, do not be embarrassed, but just believe.” A special characteristic of the priest’s manner and conversations were love and humility: whoever came - a poor man in rags or a rich man, no matter what sinful state the person’s conscience was in - he accepted everyone and tried to help and comfort everyone. Every day, with the end of early mass until 8 o'clock in the evening, the elder's cell was open to the laity, and for the Sarov brethren it was open at all times. This small cell was illuminated only by a lamp and candles burning in front of the icons. With two small windows she looked towards the meadow distance. There were bags of sand and stones on the floor - they served as a bed for the ascetic. Father Seraphim usually went out to talk with visitors in a white cassock and mantle, and on the days when he received communion, he also put on an epitrachelion and armlets. The power of his word lay mainly in the fact that everything he preached he practiced himself; what spiritual exercises he recommended to others - he himself mastered them, having comprehended their grace-filled power. “Teaching others,” said the elder, “is as easy as throwing pebbles from our cathedral to the ground, and doing what you teach is like carrying pebbles to the top of the cathedral yourself.” With special love, the priest met those in whom he saw a desire to improve and sincerely repent of their sins. Having talked with such a prudent man, he placed the stole and right hand on his head, then said: “I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned in soul and body, in word, in deed, in mind and thought, and in all my senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, willingly or unwillingly, knowledge or ignorance.” After which he read a prayer of permission, anointed the visitor’s forehead with oil from the lamp in a cross shape and gave him, if it was morning, Epiphany water and antidor. People left him with extraordinary joy in their souls. Father Seraphim especially advised and insisted on constantly having the Jesus Prayer in your heart: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” “Let all your attention and training be in this,” he taught. In addition, the elder resolutely insisted that every Christian fulfill at least a small prayer rule. “When you get up from sleep,” he said, “you should read “Our Father” three times, “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary” three times and “I believe in one God” once. Then, before lunch, read, if possible always, both on the road and at work, the Jesus Prayer, and in front of people repeat mentally “Lord, have mercy.” Before lunch, repeat the morning rule. After lunch until the evening, instead of the Jesus Prayer, read “Most Holy Theotokos, save me a sinner.” Before going to bed again the morning rule. Whoever does not have time, let him practice these rules, even on the road or in bed, remembering that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And those who have time, let them also read the conception from the Gospel, akathists and psalms. This small rule is of high dignity: the first prayer - “Our Father” - is a model of prayers given by the Lord; the second - “Virgin Mother of God” - was brought by an Angel from heaven; in the third - “Creed” - all the dogmas of faith. Father Seraphim became healthy in spirit and weakened in body. His legs ached from his many labors, from standing on a stone, from being shuttered. He also suffered greatly from headaches. The priest needed to breathe fresh air, and he often left his cell at night. And from 1825, after a vision of the Mother of God to him and with the blessing of the abbot, the elder began to go daily to the Near Hermitage - placed two miles from the monastery. Next to the desert there was a spring of fresh, cold water. At the spring there was a column - a chapel, in popular parlance a chapel, of which there were so many throughout the vastness of our Fatherland - they were placed at crossroads, near springs and wells. And on this column the elder placed an icon of St. John the Theologian, which is why that spring was called Theological. Beds were built around the spring, and the elder worked here, covering the bottom of the spring with pebbles and cultivating vegetables in the beds. A block of wood was placed nearby, where Father Seraphim hid during the heat; in the evening he returned to Sarov. Early in the morning, at about four or even two in the morning, the priest would go to this Near Hermitage in a white linen cassock, in a kamilavka, with an ax in his hand and with a bag filled with stones or sand; I placed the Gospel on top of the weight. When asked about the sum, he answered briefly: “I languish the languishing me.” By that time, many Russian Orthodox people from all over the Fatherland sought to visit Elder Seraphim to listen to his edifications. The name of the ascetic began to be passed on from mouth to mouth everywhere. A particularly solemn and great spectacle was observed in Sarov on holidays, when Father Seraphim was returning from church after receiving the Holy Mysteries. The bent old man in a robe, epitrachelion and guards walked, shining with a special bright joy. Then his old face became extremely familiar and pleasant. Along the way, in the monastery and in the desert itself, many people were waiting for him everywhere. Father Seraphim’s conversation with the visitors was filled with great spiritual power. His speech seemed to remove a blindfold from his eyes, opening up new vistas. He always said what in a particular case was the most important, the most necessary for a person. His words warmed the heart, led to repentance, generated a desire to improve and become better; he penetrated into a person’s soul and awakened his sleeping conscience. The Sarov ascetic left a high covenant to the younger generation - children - in their relationship with their parents. Now, when among the younger generation there are many young men who forget their filial duty towards their parents, when the good advice and instructions of parents often do not find a response even in children’s souls, the elder’s covenant is of particular value. The great ascetic instilled in children to respect their parents, even if they had weaknesses that humiliated their loved ones. For young men who forget their filial duty, such an example is especially instructive. One man came to the elder with his mother. She was a heavy drinker. Just as her son wanted to inform Father Seraphim of his weakness, the elder instantly blocked his mouth with his right hand and did not allow him to say a single word further. Thus, the Russian Orthodox people were filled with grace-filled consolation from Elder Seraphim. His love warmed everyone with such power that tears flowed in streams from those whose hearts had previously been silent, being hard and petrified. The elder, as a great zealot of Orthodoxy, was especially reverent for the memory of the Holy Fathers. He carefully read the works of Clement, the Pope of Rome, as well as John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Athanasius of Alexandria, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius of Cyprus, Ambrose of Milan, and loved to remember their firm standing in the faith. Defending the purity of the dogmas of faith, the elder referred to Blessed Mark of Ephesus, who with unshakable courage defended Orthodoxy at the Council of Florence. Father Seraphim loved to talk about how to preserve the Orthodox faith; he rejoiced that our Church contains Christ’s truth in all its fullness and integrity. The ascetic highly revered the deeds of Russian saints, spoke about their lives, and took examples from them to follow. In general, the lives of the saints were ready-made sermons for him, with which he went out to lively teach the people. The memory of the saint's self-witnesses preserves many cases of the amazing influence of his simple conversations even on an indifferent visitor. “We found an old man in the Near Hermitage at work,” recalled one visitor, “he was breaking out a garden bed with a hoe. When we bowed to him to the ground, he blessed us and, placing his hands on my head, read the troparion to the Dormition: “At Christmas you preserved your virginity...” Then he sat down on the garden bed and ordered us to sit down as well, but we involuntarily knelt before him and listened to his conversation about the future life, about the life of the saints, about intercession, intercession and care for us sinners, the Lady Theotokos and what we need in earthly life - for eternal life. This conversation lasted no more than an hour, but I cannot compare such an hour with my entire past life. Throughout the conversation, I felt an inexplicable, heavenly sweetness in my heart, God knows how it overflowed there, which cannot be compared with anything on earth. Until then, everything in the spiritual world was completely indifferent to me. Father Seraphim for the first time made me feel the omnipotence of the Lord God and His inexhaustible mercy and all-perfection. In addition to all this, Father Seraphim possessed the gift of clairvoyance to a very strong degree. He said to one of his admirers: “What the Lord commands me as His servant, I convey to the one who requires it as useful. I consider the first thought that appears in my soul to be an indication from God and I speak without knowing what is in my interlocutor’s soul, but only believing that this is what God’s will is indicating to me. I don’t have my own will, but what God pleases, that’s what I convey.” This feeling of the mysterious gift of clairvoyance, in fact, explains why Father Seraphim, without opening the letters, knew their contents and gave answers to them. After his death, many such unopened letters were found, but the answers to them were already given to them during his lifetime. He foresaw the difficult years of the Crimean campaign and said that three powers would rise up against Russia and wear her out a lot, but for Orthodoxy the Lord would have mercy and save our country. With his righteous gaze, the elder foresaw the glorification of St. Mitrophan of Voronezh and congratulated Archbishop Anthony of Voronezh in writing on the discovery of the relics, at a time when there were no revelations or apparitions at the saint’s tomb. In spirit, Father Seraphim knew many ascetics and was in communication with them, despite the fact that they lived far from him and he had never seen them. Known, for example, are his oral messages, full of amazing insight, to the recluse of the Zadonsk Mother of God Monastery, George, who secretly had a thought - whether he should change his place to a more secluded one. Moreover, no one except him knew this secret embarrassment. And suddenly an old man comes to the recluse George and says to him: “Father Seraphim ordered you to say: it’s a shame, after sitting in seclusion for so many years, to be overcome by such hostile thoughts as to leave your place. Don’t go anywhere: the Most Holy Theotokos orders you to stay here.” The same spiritual closeness was shown by the seer Father Seraphim to the spatially distant recluse Daniil Achinsky in Siberia. And this is how the elder read with his spiritual eyes what the family happiness of one officer - a landowner of the Ryazan province - was. He came to Sarov and asked the elder for his blessing to marry. Father Seraphim showed him a bride appointed by God. She lived not far from this landowner, and the elder called her by name. But he announced to the elder that he would marry someone else. “This does not belong to you in joy, but in sorrow and tears,” the elder answered him. The officer married by choice, but less than a year later he was widowed. He was once again a widow of the elder, then he married the person indicated the first time by the elder, and lived happily with her. Father Seraphim also possessed the gift of healing. He anointed the sick who came to him with oil from a lamp that burned in his cell in front of the icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness,” which he called “Joy of All Joys.” When asked why he did this, he usually answered: “We read in the Holy Scriptures that the apostles anointed with oil, and many sick people were healed from this. Who should we follow if not the apostles?” And those anointed with him received healing. The same beneficial property, through the prayers of Father Seraphim, was imparted to the water from the spring of his Near Hermitage. This water did not spoil for years; sick people were washed with it at all times of the year, even in cold weather, and received healing. The life stories of the elder tell of many cases of miraculous healing with this blessed water. Here, in 1830, a young cavalry officer passes by Sarov on business. On the way, he heard stories about the elder and wanted to visit him, but did not dare, fearing that the elder would expose him to others of his sins, especially for his attitude towards icons. It seemed to the officer that the work of human hands could not contain grace and be an object of veneration. Soon he again, with a team of lower ranks, had to pass by Sarov, and now, on the advice of his father, he decided to see the elder. And that's what happened. “A lot of people were already standing near the cell, who had come to Father Seraphim for a blessing. “He, blessing the others, looked at me,” the officer later writes, “and gave me a sign with his hand to go to him. I carried out his orders, bowed at his feet with fear and love, asking for blessings on the road and the upcoming war and that he would pray for the preservation of my life. Father Seraphim blessed me with his copper cross, which hung on his chest, and, having kissed it, began to confess me, telling me my sins, as if they had been committed in his presence. At the end of this comforting confession, he told me: “We must not submit to the fear that the devil brings to the young men, but then we must especially be alert in spirit and remember that although we are sinners, we are all under the grace of our Redeemer, without whose will not a hair will fall from our head.” Following this, he began to talk about my misconception regarding the veneration of holy icons. “How bad and harmful for us is the desire to explore the Mysteries of God, inaccessible to the weak human mind, for example, how the grace of God works through holy icons, how it heals sinners like you and me,” the elder added, “and not only the body, but also the soul, so that sinners, by faith and by the grace of Christ found in them, were saved and reached the Kingdom of Heaven.” Listening to Father Seraphim, I forgot about my earthly existence. The soldiers returning with me to the regiment were also honored to accept his blessing, and he, giving them instructions, predicted that not one of them would die in the fight, which actually came true. When leaving Father Seraphim, I placed three rubles on the candles next to him. But the enemy gave me the following thought: “Why does the Holy Father need such money.” This thought confused me, and I hastened with repentance to Father Seraphim. I went in with a prayer to the elder, and he, warning my words, told me the following: "During the war with the Gauls, one military leader had to lose his right hand; but this hand was given to some hermit for the holy church, and through the prayers of the Holy Church the Lord saved it. You understand this well and in the future do not repent of good deeds. Your money will go to the construction of the Diveyevo monastery, for your health." Then Father Seraphim confessed me again, kissed me, blessed me, and gave me a few crackers to eat and holy water to drink. Pouring it into my mouth, he said: “May the evil spirit that came upon the servant of God John be destroyed by the grace of God.” The elder gave me crackers and holy water for the journey, and, in addition, prosphora, which he himself put in my cap. Finally, receiving the last blessing from him, I asked him not to abandon me with his prayers. To this he said: "Put your trust in God and ask for His help. Know how to forgive your neighbors, and you will be given everything you ask for." During the Polish campaign, I was in many battles, and the Lord saved me everywhere through the prayers of His righteous One.” But the general comes to the elder and says: “Your prayers saved me during the Turkish campaign. Surrounded by many enemy regiments, I was left with only one of my regiments. There was no hope of salvation. I just repeated incessantly: “Lord, have mercy on Elder Seraphim through your prayers,” I ate the crackers you gave me as a blessing, drank water, and God protected me from my enemies unharmed.” The elder replied to this: “The great means to salvation is faith, especially unceasing, heartfelt prayer.” There were cases when Father Seraphim was a real peacemaker in the family life of already separated spouses. Through his prayers, the mother, who had lost sight of her son and fell at the feet of the elder, finds him three days later in the same place, in Sarov. The very furnishings of Seraphim's cell at that time were like an iconostasis. There were icons, many lamps were burning, and hundreds of wax candles lit for living and dead Christians glowed. The elder himself explained such a multitude of lamps and wax candles in his house this way: “I have,” he told his admirer Motovilov, “many persons who are zealous for me and do good to my orphans (sisters of the Diveyevo monastery). They bring me oil and candles and ask me to pray for them. So, when I read my rules, I remember them once. And since, due to the multitude of names, I cannot repeat them at every place in the rule where it should be - then I would not have enough time to complete my rule - then I put candles for them as a sacrifice to God, one candle for each; for others - for several people one large candle, for others I constantly warm lamps; and, where it is necessary to remember them in the rule, I say: “Lord, remember all those people, Your servants, for their souls I, wretched one, kindled these candles and candila to You.” And that this is not my, poor Seraphim’s, human invention or zeal based on nothing, then I will give you the words of Divine Scripture to support it. The Bible says that Moses heard the voice of the Lord saying to him: “Moses, Moses, tell your brother Aaron that he may burn candles before Me day and night. This is more than acceptable before Me, and sacrifice is acceptable to Me.” So this is why the Holy Church has adopted the custom of lighting kandil, or lamps, in front of icons in holy churches and in the homes of faithful Christians.” Approaching the end of his life, the monk did not soften his strict lifestyle. He ate once a day, put on a cassock made of thick black cloth, and to protect himself from the rain and heat, he threw a half-mantle made of thick leather over his shoulders, with an opening for his head and hands. He wore a clean white towel over his clothes and put on his copper maternal cross. One rich man asked him: “Why are you wearing such rags?” The elder answered: “Saint Joasaph the prince considered the robe given to him by the hermit to be higher and more valuable than the royal scarlet.” He slept sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the wall and stretching out his legs. Often he lay down on bricks and logs, and most recently he became prostrate and slept with his face to the floor, supporting his head with his hands. This helped to create a special tension in the contemplative mood of the ascetic. It was as if he was already separating from the ground. The ascetic’s answer to one officer, who asked the elder if he needed to convey something to his Kursk relatives, was also characteristic at that time. Father, pointing to the face of the Savior and the Mother of God, replied: “These are my relatives, but for my living relatives I am already a living dead.” At that time, Father Seraphim was already revered by all of Russia, and the ascetics of his day looked at him as a great spiritual mentor. Even bishops wrote to him and asked his advice. He was especially revered by the Voronezh Saint Anthony, whom Elder Seraphim called the great bishop of God. And indeed, Archbishop Anthony had an inexhaustible supply of mercy for people. He said this and in fact confirmed his thought: “Grief for your neighbors is sometimes more useful for the soul than your own grief.” The infirmities of old age had already weakened Father Seraphim so much that he could not go to his Near Hermitage every day to receive visitors there. But the old man’s appearance was bright and joyful. Until the very last days of his life, he retained a clear and piercing mind. Well-educated people spoke of the priest as an extremely gifted person; they felt in the old man a powerful spirit and a living creative beginning. A white, pleasant face, penetrating, light blue eyes, and a childish blush on the cheeks under thick gray hair - this is the appearance of our ascetic. The last months of the old man’s life were approaching, and he began to prepare for death. He was often seen in the entryway near the oak coffin he had prepared for himself. So he thought there about the afterlife, and the earthly path seemed so imperfect to him that he bitterly lamented and cried. Saying goodbye to people, the elder said: “We will not see you again.” When some expressed a desire to come to Sarov during Great Lent, the elder answered: “Then my doors will be closed. You won't see me." In August, just 4 months before the death of Father Seraphim, he was visited by the Tambov Eminence Arseny, later Metropolitan of Kiev. The elder presented the bishop with a rosary, a bunch of wax candles wrapped in linen, a bottle of wooden oil and woolen stockings. Then he separately gave him a bottle of church wine. All this meant that the elder was asking to remember him after his death... The candles, oil and wine, saved by the bishop, were then used for the liturgy that he performed for the repose of the elder when he received the news of his death. Father Seraphim ordered letters to be sent to some people, inviting them to hurry up and come to him, and after his death he instructed others to convey useful advice to them. “They won’t see me themselves,” the elder explained. His last conversation with a layman was touching and extremely meaningful. This conversation should be especially remembered by all Orthodox Christians who honor the memory of our dear Russian saint: “Do good; if they reproach you, do not reproach them; if they persecute you, endure them; if they blaspheme you, praise them; judge yourself, but God will not condemn you; submit your will to the Will of the Lord; never flatter; remember good and evil in yourself: blessed is the man who knows this. Love your neighbor: your neighbor is your flesh. If you live according to the flesh, you will destroy soul and flesh, but if you live according to God, you will save both. For making concessions to the world, many died: if someone does not do good, he sins. You must love everyone, and most of all God... Save your subordinates with mercies, relief from labor, and not with wounds. Give me something to drink, feed, be fair, the Lord endures, maybe he will endure some more. You do this: if God forgives, you forgive too... What the Holy Church has accepted and kissed - everything should be kind to the heart of a Christian. Don't forget holidays; be abstinent, go to church, unless you are weak; pray for everyone: you will do a lot of good with this. Give candles, wine and oil to church - alms will do you a lot of good. During fasting, do not eat fasting: bread and water are not harmful to anyone. How did people live for a hundred years? Man will not live on bread alone. What the Church laid down at the seven Ecumenical Councils - fulfill. Woe to anyone who adds or subtracts even one word from this. What do doctors say about the righteous who healed rotting wounds with one touch? The Lord calls us, but we ourselves do not want to. Acquire humility silently. God said to the prophet Isaiah: “On whom will I look, but to him who is meek and silent and trembles at My words.” Whoever partakes will be saved everywhere; and whoever does not partake, I don’t remember.” This conversation took place on December 25, 1832, the day of the Nativity of Christ. On this solemn holiday, the elder stood through the liturgy, which was performed by Abbot Nifont. Father Seraphim, as usual, received Holy Communion and after the liturgy had a long conversation with the abbot. He asked him to take care of the young monks. Then the elder reminded him that upon death he should be laid in an oak coffin made with his own hands. On the same day, the ascetic handed over to Hieromonk Jacob the enamel image of “The Visit of the Mother of God to St. Sergius of Radonezh,” with a request that this image be placed on him upon his death and lowered into the grave with it. This image was once sent to the elder from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra by Archimandrite Anthony (Medvedev), a former Sarov novice. The last days of 1832 have passed. The New Year of 1833 began on Sunday then. For the last time, the elder came to the liturgy at the dear hospital church of the Solovetsky Wonderworkers, where his cell had previously stood and where he was honored with a miraculous healing by the appearance of the Mother of God. He himself went to raise funds for the construction of this church, and the throne of this church was made from cypress wood with his own hands. Father Seraphim came to the church, walked around all the icons, placed candles in front of them and venerated them. He stood through the entire liturgy, partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and then began to say goodbye to all the brethren, blessing and hugging with the words: “Save yourself, do not lose heart, stay awake. Today crowns are being prepared for us.” After saying goodbye to the brethren, the elder venerated the cross and the image of the Mother of God, then walked around the throne and left the church through the northern doors, as if as a sign that a person enters life by birth and leaves by death. After the liturgy, the priest received Irina Vasilievna, a sister of the Diveyevo Monastery, to whom he gave two hundred rubles in banknotes to buy bread for the girls’ community. Then the elder was visited by the hieromonk of the Vysokogorsk Arzamas desert, Feoktist. Saying goodbye to him, the ascetic said: “You should serve here.” Having no time to linger in Sarov and not understanding the meaning of the elder’s words, the hieromonk set off on his journey. But the priest again reminded him: “Well, then tomorrow you will serve in Diveyevo.” And indeed, Hieromonk Theoktist in Diveyevo received news of the death of Father Seraphim, and there he served a memorial service for him. That day, one of the Diveyevo sisters was also with the elder, to whom he said: “Mother, what kind of New Year will it be today? The earth will groan with tears.” The nun did not understand that the elder was talking about his death. How Father Seraphim spent the last evening of his life is known only from the words of his neighbor in his cell, the monk Pavel. The chambers of Father Paul were connected by a common vestibule with the chambers of Elder Seraphim, but the cells themselves were separated by a blank wall. Father Paul was a humble monk, he did not condemn anyone, and the elder trusted him, speaking about him like this: “Brother Paul, for the simplicity of his heart, will easily enter the Kingdom of God. He never judges anyone or envy anyone, but only knows his own sins and his own insignificance.” This monk, in fact, was not a cell attendant, since Father Seraphim never had a cell attendant, but Father Pavel, as a good neighbor, sometimes helped and provided him with some services. The same Father Pavel warned the elder more than once that his habit of leaving many burning candles unattended could lead to a fire. To this the ascetic gave the following answer: “As long as I am alive, there will be no fire. And when I die, my death will be revealed by fire.” Father Pavel noticed that on January 1, Father Seraphim left his cell three times to the place that he had chosen for his burial. And, standing there, he looked at the ground for a long time, and in the evening the elder sang Easter hymns at his place: “Having seen the Resurrection of Christ... Shine, shine, new Jerusalem... O great and most sacred Easter to Christ.” These triumphant chants, interspersed with other victorious prayers, testified that the spirit of Father Seraphim ascended to those heavenly palaces that were already being prepared for him at that time. On the morning of January 2, monk Pavel, leaving his cell and heading to early mass, smelled smoke in the entryway. There was a smell coming from the chambers of Father Seraphim. The monk tried to open the door; it was locked from the inside with a hook. Father Paul said the usual prayer when visiting a cell, but there was no answer. Then the monk went out onto the porch and, noticing the brethren walking into the church in the darkness, called them to check his guesses about the fire, believing that the elder had gone to the Far Hermitage. One of those passing by, novice Anikita, rushed to the door of Father Seraphim and, with a strong jerk, pulled it off the inside hook. Since dawn had not yet come, and there was no light in the cell, it was impossible to make out anything in the darkness; you could only smell the burning smell of the smoldering canvases - they were lying by the door. The elder was neither seen nor heard. Monk Pavel and novice Anikita began to grope for the priest, then they lit a candle and saw him in his usual place, in front of the lectern - kneeling with his head open, with a copper cross on his chest. His eyes were closed; his hands, folded crosswise, lay on the lectern, on top of the book, according to which he performed his prayer rule before the icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness”. His head bowed in prayer rested on his hands. Those gathered thought that the elder had fallen asleep. He was even slightly prompted, then the brethren already realized that Elder Seraphim had fallen asleep in the Lord and that his soul had moved to another, eternal world. The face of the deceased ascetic continued to testify to his sublime prayer and spiritual joy. That night, Elder Philaret, who labored in the Glinsk Hermitage, coming out of Matins, pointed out to the brethren an extraordinary light visible in the sky. At the same time, he said: “This is how the souls of the righteous depart. Now in Sarov the soul of Father Seraphim ascends to heaven.” The elder was washed, clothed, placed in an oak coffin, and his enamel icon with the image of St. Sergius was also placed there. The newly deceased was immediately carried into the cathedral. The news of the death of the wondrous old man quickly spread to different ends. A lot of people gathered and gathered in Sarov. If we take into account that the mutual affection of the elder and the people was limitless, then all the grief that his death caused will become clear. The priest’s prediction “The earth will groan with weeping and sobbing” came true to the fullest. For eight days his body stood open. On the day of the funeral, crowds of people gathered in Sarov to jointly pray for him to feel even more strongly the spiritual closeness to him, already living in eternity, illuminated by Divine blessing. The statutory performance of the monastic funeral service, the deep content of church hymns and the touching sounds of funeral chants worthily crowned the burial of the remains of Elder Seraphim in the Sarov desert. The coffin was lowered into a grave near the wall of the Assumption Cathedral. In the Kiev Prince Vladimir Cathedral, along the belt of the dome, the painting “The Threshold of Paradise” was painted by Viktor Vasnetsov. This wonderful work of art with extreme power conveys the yearning of the souls of saints for God, the joy of uniting them with God forever. It was in such a joyful and directed mood towards the Lord that the soul of the Sarov righteous man ascended into the heavenly palaces, so that he could later show the world, and above all us, the Russian people, an inexhaustible sea of ​​miracles and great intercession before God. All this then resulted in the celebration of the glorification of the saint of God, St. Seraphim. In 1901, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church instructed Archbishop Dimitry of Tambov to examine the grave, coffin and remains of Elder Seraphim, to collect all the material for the upcoming glorification of the saint of God. At the beginning of the next year, 1902, Archbishop Dimitri, accompanied by clergy and civil administration officials, arrived in Sarov and began examining the burial site. Let us remind you: the grave of Father Seraphim was located on the right side of the Assumption Cathedral. Through the diligence of admirers, a beautiful chapel was erected over the grave and a heavy cast-iron tombstone was erected over the crypt. When the grave vault was dismantled, a completely unexpected picture appeared before Archbishop Demetrius and the members of the Commission: the grave of the ascetic was flooded, and water completely covered the lid of the coffin. Archbishop Demetrius decided to immediately stop further examination, drew up an act on this occasion and sent a report about this to the Holy Synod with explanations. Authoritative business executives and Sarov elders came to the conclusion that water got into the saint’s grave during plumbing work that took place here about forty years ago. So the coffin of Father Seraphim stood in the water for a long time; this prompted Archbishop Demetrius to ask for further instructions from the Synod. While the exchange of opinions was taking place, Divine mercy towards the people, who with faith called upon the intercession of the great elder, manifested themselves even more powerfully among the believers. The Synod decided to continue examining the honest relics and make all the necessary preparations for their worthy glorification. Soon, Tambov Archbishop Dimitry was transferred to the Kazan See, and the Right Reverend Innokenty (Belyaev) was installed in Tambov. On December 17, 1902, Emperor Nicholas II ordered the Commission for the Arrangement of the Sarov Celebrations to continue the examination. Its members included: Metropolitan of Moscow Vladimir (Epiphany), Archimandrite Seraphim (Chichagov) and Alexei Alexandrovich Shirinsky-Shakhmatov. This Commission also included Prince Mikhail Sergeevich Putyatin, the architect of the shrine being built, on a special assignment. To maintain order, Captain D.N. Loman and the command of the Guards Battalion were sent to Sarov. All these people left St. Petersburg on January 9, 1903 and were already in Diveevo on the 10th, from where, after spending the night, they left for Sarov at dawn. On a captivating winter morning, St. Petersburg residents arrived at the monastery. They prayed reverently in the church, confessed, took communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, then in the cell of Abbot Hierotheus they began to clarify the program of classes. The Most Reverend Innokenty and the archpriest of the cathedral, Tikhon Pospelov, and the diocesan architect, who came with him from Tambov, took a direct part in all this. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Commission moved to the chapel-tomb and, after the requiem service was performed at the cathedral, they began dismantling the cast-iron tombstone. When the stone work was completed, the sacristan of the Tambov Cathedral and Prince Shirinsky-Shakhmatov, with lit wax candles, descended into the grave filled with water. With the help of canvases and ropes placed under the coffin, the efforts of the monastery brethren lifted the coffin-deck up and placed it on wooden beams resting on the edges of the grave crypt. They placed the coffin with a slight slope forward, so that its head part rose somewhat and the water that had accumulated in it could flow out through the holes. After all this, the coffin was covered with a pre-prepared wooden cover and a brocade blanket, an image was placed on top, a lamp was lit in front of it, and a large silver candlestick was installed at the head. Without delay, they served a memorial service, drew up a protocol on the actions of the Commission, after which Metropolitan Vladimir blessed the performance of daily memorial services for Elder Seraphim. Here is the protocol report. “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the summer of one thousand nine hundred and three from the Nativity of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, on the eleventh day of January, Metropolitan Vladimir of Moscow and Kolomna, Bishop of Tambov and Shatsk Dimitri, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas Nazariy, Archimandrite Seraphim of Suzdal, Archimandrite Vyshensky Arkady, Abbot of Sarov Hierotheus, Treasurer of Sarov Hieromonk Clement, the keymaster of the Tambov Cathedral, priest Tikhon Pospelov, and the prosecutor of the Moscow Holy Synod office, Prince Alexey Shirinsky-Shakhmatov, began to fulfill the instructions of the Holy Governing Synod on the matter of examining the honest remains of the ever-memorable Sarov elder hieromonk Fr. Seraphim. After listening to the late liturgy, and then the requiem service for the deceased elder served by Bishop Demetrius, those called for examination entered the chapel built over the grave of Hieromonk Seraphim, at the southeastern projection of the summer cathedral in the name of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The cast-iron funerary monument located in the middle of this chapel resembles a tomb mounted on a cast-iron stand, which, in turn, is based on a hewn stone base. This tombstone quite convincingly determines the resting place of the blessed elder Fr. Seraphim. The monument bears the following inscription: "Under this sign is buried the body of the deceased servant of God, Hieromonk Seraphim, who died in 1833 on January 2, who entered this Sarov hermitage from the Kursk merchants in the seventeenth year of his age, died at the age of seventy-three. All his days were dedicated to the glory of the Lord God and to the spiritual edification of Orthodox Christians, in whose hearts Father Seraphim is still alive today lives.” At the head of the tombstone, on the western side, there is a convex bronze image of the blessed death of Fr. Seraphim with the inscription: "Blessed death of Father Seraphim, Sarov monastery of hieromonk and hermit. January 1833, 2 days." On the southern side of the monument, below, at a height of two and a half inches from the floor, you can see a round hole through which people honor the memory of Fr. Seraphim took sand from his grave. By order of His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir, several people from those undergoing various obediences in the monastery were called to the chapel at noon to carry the described tombstone. The tombstone and its stand were taken to the newly built church above Fr. Seraphim. After the monument was removed, the entrance door was closed, and several skilled workers, under the supervision of a knowledgeable mason, dismantled the hewn stone base, and then took out all the sand, at a depth of one arshin to the vault laid over the grave of the ever-memorable Elder Seraphim. The vault was cleared by 4 pm. In the middle, on the north side, the vault turned out to be dismantled over the space of one square arshin, and this place was filled with three pieces of thick boards. This hole was broken in the vault by order of His Grace Demetrius, Bishop of Tambov, who carried out a preliminary examination of the coffin and remains of Fr. Seraphim on the special confidential instructions of the Holy Synod. Then the vault itself, made of very large one-dimensional bricks, which easily crumbled into layered pieces, was dismantled. Inside the crypt, those present saw a coffin-deck made of oak wood. Due to the impossibility of carrying out a thorough examination of the honest remains of Elder Seraphim at a depth of 1 arshin 14 vershoks, it was considered necessary to lift the coffin from the crypt, which was done with special care, and canvases were placed under the deck, with which the coffin was lifted and placed on the north side of the grave on a special prepared table. After this, those present began to carefully examine the appearance of the coffin-deck, and it turned out that it had the following dimensions: in girth - at the head - 2 arshins 12 inch and a half, in the legs - 2 arshins 10 3/8 inch and length 3 arshins 1/2 inch; The color of the coffin is almost black. The bottom of the coffin at the feet, on the right side, as well as the upper part of the lid, were somewhat decayed, and in many parts of the outer shell, when tested, the wood turned out to be soft and damp. Nevertheless, overall the coffin turned out to be strong. After removing the lid of the coffin, its inner walls also turned out to be damp, covered with mold in three places, although no smell was noticeable. Those present saw in the coffin: a clearly marked skeleton of the deceased, covered with the remains of decayed monastic clothing. The body of the ever-memorable Fr. Seraphim was given over to decay. His bones, being completely preserved, turned out to be quite correctly placed, but easily separated from each other. The hair of the head and brad, grayish-reddish in color, has been preserved, although separated from its places. Pillow under the head of the ever-memorable Fr. Seraphim turned out to be filled with sponge. The legs have basal “feet”. Under the hands of the ever-memorable Fr. Seraphim, a cast copper cross measuring approximately 3 inches in size was discovered. After examination, the remains of the deceased in Bose were covered with a lid, and the coffin-block was tied at the heads and feet with a strong silk cord, the ends of which were sealed on a special board with the personal seal of His Eminence Vladimir, Metropolitan of Moscow. Then the coffin was lowered into the grave, covered with a brocade blanket, and the crypt was covered with a wooden shield, on top of which a carpet was placed and a table dressed in white glaze was installed, on which the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, called “Tenderness,” was installed, and a lamp was lit. Those who carried out the examination left the chapel at six o'clock in the afternoon. The original act was signed by all the persons named at the beginning of the protocol.” The next day, January 12, the members of the Commission, leaving the chapel with the coffin of the saint in the care of the monastery authorities, left Sarov. For almost six months, from January 11 to early July 1903, the coffin was in the same position in which the members of the Commission had left it; water flowed out of the coffin drop by drop, falling to the bottom of the open grave, thanks to which by the time appointed for the transfer of the relics into a new shrine - July 3, the coffin was already sufficiently dry. As was mentioned, the construction of the shrine was entrusted to Prince M. S. Putyatin. It was necessary, firstly, to arrange and install a stone tomb on a stepped platform in the right arch of the Sarov Assumption Cathedral, secondly, to make a new one, like an old oak log, much lighter than the old one, locked with a key and adapted for placement in a stone tomb, thirdly, to make a new coffin from thin cypress boards to place the honorable remains in it and, fourthly, to install a bronze a canopy on four stone columns, which should complete this entire new structure. The work was previously carried out in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Sarov itself. All subsequent actions of the Commission were carried out under the direct and personal leadership of His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) of St. Petersburg. On July 3 in the chapel at 9 a.m. at the tomb of Fr. Seraphim, Metropolitan Anthony with a host of clergy served a memorial service, at the end of which the coffin was raised by the clergy appointed for this purpose and solemnly transferred to the hospital of Saints Zosima and Savvatius Church, in the altar of which it was supposed to wash the honorable remains of Fr. Seraphim. It should be noted that this transfer did not escape the attention of the pilgrims who had gathered in Sarov. After being brought into the church, the coffin was installed in the middle of the church on the tombstone that was previously located above the grave of the saint. At the persistent request of zealous pilgrims who wanted to see and at least touch the tomb of the Monk Seraphim, Metropolitan Anthony blessed to allow people to visit the tomb of the saint for a while, and for an hour people in a continuous crowd went to the church in order to see and venerate the shrine that was precious to them. After the people left the church, the coffin with the holy remains of the saint was carried by the hieromonks through the northern doors into the altar, and here Metropolitan Anthony, together with Bishops Nazarius and Innocent and other persons, washed the holy remains of Fr. Seraphim and transferring them to a new cypress coffin. A special table was placed between the altar and the northern wall of the altar, on which the honorable remains of Fr. Seraphim. Taking part in the ablution were: Archimandrite Seraphim (Chichagov), Fr. keymaster of the Tambov Cathedral, priest T. Pospelov, dean of the monastery, Sarov hieromonk, under the personal leadership of the Metropolitan and in the presence of Prince A. A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov and Prince M. S. Putyatin. Those present at the opening of the coffin lid testify that the honorable remains of the monk were wrapped at the time of burial in a monastic dome. Father Seraphim lay in a coffin on oak shavings. The entire contents of the coffin, due to the tanning properties of the shavings, and the most honest remains, and the gray hair on the head, beard and mustache, and all the attire of the saint - underwear, a canvas cassock, a mantle, an epitrachelion and a doll - everything was painted in one color, reminiscent of the crust of black rye bread. In order to maintain silence and silence in the church, in front of a special lectern, the appointed hierodeacon read a canon from the newly compiled service to St. Seraphim of Sarov. It is also known that from the very beginning of the washing of the holy relics, a fragrance, clearly felt by all present, began to spread in the altar, the smell of carnation flowers and fresh linden honey. The July day was clear, sunny, hot, and the church windows were wide open. I thought that somewhere nearby they were cutting grass and that the aroma came from the cut flowers and fresh hay. And the Metropolitan, walking through the church, even addressed those present with the following words: “Brothers, brothers, what kind of soap do you have, something very fragrant.” But it turns out that the soap was the same one that the sacristan of the Tambov Cathedral brought for washing the holy relics, and the same one that in Russia was called “walnut” and was used for washing altars during the consecration of churches. Then Vladyka Metropolitan made the sign of the cross, and it became clear to everyone present what a fragrance was spreading throughout the church. It should be noted that the honest relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov belong to the category of relics of incomplete incorruption, that is, the incompleteness lies in the fact that while the bones were perfectly preserved, the connective tissues of the joints or joints were subject to decay, as a result of which the limbs at the elbows and knees were easily separated. The head of the monk, with the remaining hair, eyebrows, mustache and beard, is, according to the author’s personal impression, perfectly preserved. The upper skin was also partially well preserved and tightly fitted the skeleton, as if it had dried to it, as a result of which the hands at the wrists and feet at the ankles remained in their places, not separated, and the face of the monk retained traces of similarity with his iconographic image. On the chest, on top of the epitrachelion, lay the prayer Gospel, and in the hand of his left hand (pressed tightly to the chest) was held a bronze cross - a maternal blessing, with which the monk never parted. The Metropolitan himself personally, with care and reverence, took this cross out of the saint’s hand and carefully took it to Tsarskoye Selo, personally handing it over to the Sovereign Emperor. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, who reverently honored the memory of the saint, from her royal generosity deigned to build a precious reliquary with a golden chain for this shrine and, upon arriving in Sarov for the celebration of the opening of the relics and glorification of Father Seraphim, on July 18, at the end of Vespers in the Zosimo-Savvatievskaya Church, she placed her diligent offering on the honorable relics of the saint in the presence of Sarov abbot Hierotheus and Archimandrite Seraphim (Chichagov). After the transfer of the saint’s holy relics to a new tomb, His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony left the Sarov desert for some time. During his absence in Sarov, construction and various other works were completed with particular haste for the upcoming celebration. To receive pilgrims, a whole city of more than a hundred spacious barracks and a number of different shops for selling food supplies were built two miles from the walls of the monastery. And although there was more than a week left before the start of the celebrations, the town was already filled with solemn life. Many pilgrims were housed in the barracks. An extremely colorful and picturesque picture was presented by ordinary people who came to enjoy the spiritual celebration. Representatives of almost all nationalities inhabiting Great Russia gathered here. The majority of pilgrims, of course, were Great Russians and Little Russians; but among them there were many Belarusians, Mordovians, Korels, Zyryans and various other nationalities. All these people, living at home in far from identical conditions, constituted here, as it were, one family, animated by one thought - to venerate the holy relics of St. Seraphim and in simple-hearted but fiery prayer before them to find joy and consolation for their souls. And what a multitude of people have gathered here, hoping to receive, through the intercession of St. Seraphim, grace-filled help and healing from the various ailments that beset them. The lame, the blind, the paralytic and other wretched people were encountered at every step. And many of them, thank God, were healed by their faith. I had to constantly hear about cases of healing, and not only hear, but also see the healed themselves, glorifying and thanking God, who showed His mercy over them through the prayers of St. Seraphim. At the source of St. Seraphim - this storehouse of healings, signs of God's mercy constantly appear. One day there were more than ten cases of healing of the lame. The latter, as if to prove the miraculously revealed mercy of God over them, collected their crutches and, in the presence of many people on the banks of the Sarovka River, burned them. In addition to this source, which constantly attracts a crowd of pilgrims, another such favorite place was the vast monastery square within the walls of the monastery itself, where churches and cells of monks are located. Here, before the start of the celebrations, the two-story stone church in the name of Saints Zosima and Savvaty attracted special attention from pilgrims. In front of this church one could constantly see kneeling pilgrims, who knew well that a treasure that was precious to them was hidden here for the time being - the holy relics of Father Seraphim. From July 10, numbers began to fill with visiting pilgrims and numerous hotels specially built for the upcoming celebration. On July 10, His Eminence Archbishop Dimitri arrived in Sarov from Kazan, appointed by the Holy Synod to participate in the upcoming celebrations. The next day, the comrade chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, Senator V.K. Sabler, arrived, and on Saturday, July 12, at 6 pm, His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of St. Petersburg arrived. In addition, at the same time, some representatives of the capital's clergy also arrived in Sarov to participate in divine services and religious processions at the opening ceremony of the holy relics: the rector of the Theological Seminary, Archimandrite Sergius, the abbot of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Archimandrite Korniliy, the sacristan of the Lavra, Archimandrite Gideon, the ruler of the affairs of the Lavra spiritual cathedral, Archimandrite Macarius, the archdeacon of the Lavra. John, two subdeacons, hierodeacon of the Lavra Hilarion and 60 singers of the metropolitan choir. In addition, from the white clergy, as popular preachers, are Archpriest Philosopher Ornatsky and priest Alexander Rozhdestvensky. By order of His Grace Innocent, Bishop of Tambov, a whole series of preparations of an ecclesiastical nature had been made by this time. The fact is that the position of the Sarov Desert is exceptional, far from being similar to the position of other monasteries located among settlements and cities. The Sarov desert is nestled in a dense forest. The nearest village is 12 miles away. Around the monastery churches there are only fraternal buildings and four hotels outside the monastery fence. It is clear that all the gathered pilgrims could not find shelter in the monastery hotels. The town built two miles from the monastery was also not enough. Therefore, to satisfy this urgent need, barracks were built by the civil authorities in different directions, outside the monastery, near the roads. The diocesan authorities considered it necessary to erect a chapel for each group of barracks, providing each of them with everything necessary for performing funeral services and prayer singing. There was always a rotating priest and singers in the chapel to perform prayers. Here, icons with the image of St. Seraphim, “Trinity Leaves,” and brochures of religious content were distributed to the people. To serve the chapels, His Grace Innocent called up to 30 hieromonks from the monasteries of the Nizhny Novgorod, Tambov and Kharkov dioceses, the same number of priests from the northern districts of the Tambov diocese and up to 150 novices and clerics. From distant barracks, religious processions were organized daily to the walls of the monastery, where solemn all-night vigil and prayer singing were performed on a special elevation. On Sunday, July 13, at the request of the sisters of the Diveyevo monastery, His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony celebrated here, in the cathedral church in the name of the Holy Trinity, the Divine Liturgy in the concelebration of the Right Reverends: Nazariy of Nizhny Novgorod and Innocent of Tambov. The Diveyevo Monastery retains many items that were in the personal use of Father Seraphim. Soon after the death of the saint, the sisters of the monastery moved his Near and Far ascetic cells here. The first is in the form in which it was during the life of the blessed elder, and the second is turned into an altar in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord. In this church there are four display cases, in which the saint’s things are stored: the stole, a mantle, liturgical books, scufais, a half-robe, a hoe, a hatchet, bast shoes, mittens tied into a knot with the saint’s hair, a piece of stone, a knife, stockings, chobots and other things. The altar contains a stool that stood in the monk’s cell. The image of the Queen of Heaven “Tenderness”, painted on a canvas stretched on a cypress board and standing in the monastery cell of the monk, is placed in a special icon case and in a precious robe near a pillar, on the left side of the Trinity Cathedral Church. In this church, out of its four chapels, one had been kept unconsecrated since 1875, because the faith of the Diveyevo sisters in the holiness of Father Seraphim and in his glorification was so strong and alive that they patiently waited for this all-Russian church celebration to dedicate the chapel in his name. On July 15, on the day of remembrance of the enlightener of the Russian land, Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, in the monastery church of the Life-Giving Spring, His Eminence Demetrius, Archbishop of Kazan, celebrated the Divine Liturgy, and after it a prayer service was performed by His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony with Archbishop Demetrius and Bishops Nazarius and Innocent Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir. During the liturgy, priest A.V. Rozhdestvensky delivered an edifying sermon. The next day, at the bell of the big bell, in the cathedral Dormition Church of the monastery at 12 noon a solemn requiem service was held with the commemoration of: The most pious Sovereigns and Empresses, from Empress Elizabeth Petrovna to Alexander III inclusive, Bishop Victor of Vladimir, who ordained the Reverend Father Seraphim as hierodeacon, Bishop of Tambov Theophilus, who consecrated the monk as hieromonk, and all the deceased archpastors of Tambov, the parents of St. Seraphim - Isidore and Agathia, as well as all the deceased abbots and builders of Sarov, under whom the monk labored. Simultaneously with the service of the solemn requiem in the Assumption Cathedral, requiem services were also celebrated in other monastery churches and chapels located at the source, deserts, barracks, etc. In the Assumption Cathedral, eleven archimandrites and nineteen archpriests, priests and hieromonks concelebrated with the Metropolitan and his Eminences. The cathedral was filled with worshipers. Two choirs sang: the metropolitan choir, under the direction of Mr. Ternov, and the choir of Tambov bishops' singers. The funeral service lasted more than an hour and a half. On the same day, at 6 o’clock, in the Assumption Cathedral and in the Church of the Life-Giving Spring, as well as in other monastery churches where confession of pilgrims was not held, a funeral all-night vigil was held. The service was performed in the Assumption Cathedral by His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony and His Eminence Innocent, and in the Church of the Life-Giving Source by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrius and His Eminence Nazariy. The litanies commemorated the name of the ever-memorable hieromonk Seraphim. On July 17, pilgrims filled the monastery square inside and outside the monastery walls from early morning. On this day, religious processions from two Seraphim monasteries - Diveyevo and Ponetaevskaya - were expected to arrive in Sarov. Exactly at 7 o'clock in the morning, in clear sunny weather, a procession of the cross came out of the gates of the Sarov monastery to meet the expected religious processions. Crosses, icons and banners were carried by representatives of the banner-bearing society who arrived for the celebration from different places. The procession was accompanied by His Grace Innocent and numerous monastics and white clergy. Having crossed the Satis River, the religious procession stopped in anticipation of those oncoming at the so-called place of execution, in a wooden chapel temporarily built here, open on all sides. At about 8 o'clock a religious procession from the mentioned women's monasteries appeared from the Sarov Forest. The religious processions united into one common procession and, heading towards the gates of the monastery, formed a majestic and solemn procession. Along the entire route there were countless crowds of pilgrims. The splendor of the procession was greatly contributed by representatives of banner-bearing societies who arrived for the celebration from different places in the Moscow, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Tula, Nizhny Novgorod and Ryazan provinces. All of them brought one or two banners from their societies as gifts to the monastery, many of which were distinguished by their value and artistic workmanship. At 9 o'clock the bell rang for the liturgy. This funeral service in the Assumption Cathedral was distinguished with particular splendor, where the liturgy was performed by His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony and Bishop Nazariy, who delivered a word dedicated to the memory of St. Seraphim. The Reverend Nazarius said: “So, beloved brethren, we have reached the bright days of the great triumph of the glorification of our venerable and God-bearing father Seraphim. We gathered from different, close and most distant, places to this monastery, to this church, to the place of the saint’s prayerful deeds and his repose - we gathered, moved by the same feelings of reverent veneration and love for him, with which for almost a century, during his life and after his blessed death, the Orthodox Russian people rushed to him. We have flown here so that, having joined in this great triumph of the Church, we may enter into the most joyful spiritual communion with the very author of it, our brother by faith in Christ, who has achieved heavenly glory by the grace of God. A young man, raised in an Old Testament Russian family in the fear of God and in close communion with the Church, thirsting for monastic achievement, leaves his mother and homeland, comes and settles under the shadow of the deserted Sarov monastery. Here he cheerfully and joyfully enters the path of monastic self-sacrifice, “like iron to a smith” he gives himself and his will to God; obedience in work, meekness, abstinence, and most importantly, prayer - “the queen of virtues” - become his life. Endowed with the grace of the priesthood, with what reverence and love he serves the Holy Church. Like the heavenly Seraphim, he completely devotes himself to serving God, prayerfully watching before Him day and night; forgets about food and drink and regrets that he needs rest and cannot continuously serve God. “To have a mind distracted by everything earthly, and, as far as human weakness allows, to unite with Christ” - this is what now constitutes the task of his life, “the final organization of the house of the soul,” in his own expression. From now on, he “carries in his chest a heart like wax, melting from the indescribable joy of the heavenly visions that visited him.” There is no end to the improvement of the human spirit, created in the image and likeness of God; there is no limit to the love that a person owes to God, his Creator and Savior; There are no limits to the feats of self-sacrifice, of which a Christian who truly loves God would be afraid. And so the Seraphim, ardent for God, in order to live entirely with God and in God, retires into the desert and here he undergoes all types of self-sacrifice, all the feats of prayerful labor. “Solitude, prayer, love and abstinence are the essence of a four-part chariot that lifts the spirit to heaven,” he said repeatedly, teaching others, and here he himself especially and unswervingly follows his word. He firmly closes the forest path leading to his deserted cell, and immerses himself entirely in prayer, contemplation of God, reading the word of God and the writings of the Holy Fathers - he prays for a thousand days and nights on a stone, with amazing patience endures the attack of the robbers who almost beat him to death, and, forgiving them, asks only for one thing - not to pursue them. The Monk Seraphim expresses the feat of abstinence in the most difficult, but also the most fruitful of all the feats of abstinence - silence. “From solitude and silence, tenderness and meekness are born,” he later said. “They elevate a person to piety, bring him closer to God and make him, as it were, an earthly Angel.” Numerous, varied, but also consistent were all the exploits of the blessed elder in the desert and in the monastic solitary cell. These are the steps along which, guided by the grace of God, Seraphim steadily, step by step, walked and rose to the height of that holiness and purity, which is given to see God. And he saw the Lord, saw and talked with His Most Pure Mother, saw the holy angels. He also saw into man in the recesses of his mind and heart and with amazing clarity foresaw his future; entered into spiritual communication with people regardless of the distance at which they were in relation to him. When, at the command of the Mother of God, he weakened the feat of seclusion and silence and opened the doors of his cell for conversation, first with monks, and then with laymen - what love for man the hermit showed to the world! Day and night they came to him - some with their doubts, some with need and grief, some with illnesses, and he confirmed some in faith, consoled others, directing thoughts to God - the Giver of peace and joy, and miraculously healed others from bodily ailments. The Orthodox Russian people saw in him the chosen one of God, a great righteous man; recognized him as a saint during his lifetime, and began to venerate him as such after his blessed death. Just as during the life of the holy elder thousands of crowds headed to his desert to see him, to receive a blessing, consolation or healing, so after his death even larger crowds with the same needs began to flow to his grave, to the place of his desert exploits, to the source that he had dug. In their minds, believers did not distinguish between the living and the dead Father Seraphim, just as the Lord does not distinguish between people according to these states (Rom. 14:8). St. Seraphim himself did not change his attitude towards people after his death. And now, as before, he is a zealous prayer book for them before God; and now he is sympathetic and responsive to the need and grief of people and hurries to those who flow to him with his gracious help - he consoles, saves, heals; and now he is alive and close to all who honor and love him. So he enters the sick Diveyevo nun and says: “I came to visit my beggars: I haven’t been here for a long time,” makes the sign of the cross to the sick woman, and she recovers; appears to another equally sick nun, and when she asks: “Is that you, father?” - he says to her: “What are you, my joy, an unbeliever, you yourself asked me and you don’t believe.” He consoled numerous other sick people or their parents and relatives, saying with affection and love: “Don’t cry, don’t kill yourself, your daughter will be alive and well”; “Do not be afraid, my daughter, now you will have great joy: you will see the image of the Mother of God”; “My joy, I am always with you, take heart, do not be discouraged...” Here before us is the dear brainchild of St. Seraphim - the Diveyevo Monastery. This monastery is truly a miracle of God’s mercy through the prayers of the monk, its founder. How much oppression, troubles and grief she suffered during her existence. She suffered from hunger, suffered fires and, despite this, expanded and increased in the number of her nuns and was adorned with their virtues. How are the “Diveyevo orphans” alive? They are alive because their father, nourisher and prayer book, Father Seraphim, is alive among them. Tell one of them that this or that is arranged well in the monastery, and they will answer you: “The priest blessed it; everything we have is through his prayers.” Ask the abbess how she thinks to proceed in this or that matter: “As Father Seraphim will bless; as he will indicate” - this is her usual answer to such questions. Let us ask ourselves: isn’t it the faith that St. Seraphim is alive and constantly praying to God for us that has brought us together for this celebration? In this church, where the Bloodless Sacrifice was now offered up for him, where he himself once celebrated the Divine Liturgy, who among us does not feel his presence and prayerful communication with us? Who with spiritual eyes does not see his image illuminated by the heavenly Light? Who doesn’t hear his word breathing with love? And the numerous healings of the sick that took place before our eyes: these immobile ones - suddenly rebelled, these blind ones - suddenly received their sight - what do they testify to, if not that he, father, here, among us, invisibly lays his hands on the sick and asks them from God for the grace of healing. Wonderful in Your saints, Lord, and in our time, when some of our brethren leave Your holy Church, neglecting the Sacraments, teaching and traditions, You erected for Your glory, to the great joy of Your faithful, a new lamp of the Church, let it shine for all unbelievers and the faint-hearted in the person of the Venerable Seraphim. You showed faith and that power of faith, for which nothing is impossible, which, both in the realm of spirit and matter, overcomes all obstacles, and is capable of moving mountains according to Your word (Mark 11:23). To selfish, proud and vindictive people You showed in him an example of self-denial, the beauty and greatness of humility and true goodness in complete kindness and love. In the exploits of Father Seraphim, You showed intemperate people of all kinds a wondrous example of patience and the complete fulfillment of Your word about the power of the living and vigorous spirit over weak flesh and about Your power made perfect in weaknesses (Matt. 26:41; 2 Cor. 12:9). He showed us an Angel in the conditions of earthly life and a person who had already tasted the sweetness of the Heavenly Kingdom on earth, gave us a new great prayer book before Thy Throne about our needs, sorrows and illnesses and a new miracle worker of the Russian land. For such a great visible and for the blind - a sign of Your grace, now abundantly poured out on us, from the depths of our hearts we offer thanks to You, our Provider, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen". In the Church of the Life-Giving Spring, the liturgy was performed by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrius. Here also a word was spoken by Archpriest F.N. Ornatsky. And at the end of the liturgy, memorial services were held in both churches for the ever-memorable hieromonk Seraphim. The service ended... But the people did not disperse, did not leave the monastery square either inside or outside the monastery, as they received the news: His Majesty the Emperor, accompanied by the Empress and other Highest Persons, deigned to arrive in Arzamas and is on his way to Sarov. Thousands of pilgrims along the royal route formed a dense wall. Behind the gates of the monastery, in front of the people, orderly rows of nuns of the Diveyevo and Ponetaevsky monasteries could be seen. Everyone's eyes turned to the majestic Sarov Forest, from where the carriages with the most august travelers were about to appear. At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the mighty sound of a large bell rang from the monastery bell tower, announcing the imminent arrival of Their Imperial Majesties at the monastery. At 5 o'clock all the bells began ringing. At about 5:30, the first carriage drawn by four horses appeared from the forest; the Sovereign Emperor and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna were in it. A mighty “hurray” from a crowd of thousands filled the surrounding area. The delight of the people was indescribable. In the next carriage were the Empress Mother Maria Feodorovna, and then Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich with his wife Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna with her husband Prince Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg, Grand Dukes Nikolai Nikolaevich, Peter Nikolaevich with his wife Grand Duchess Militsa Nikolaevna and Prince Georgy Maximilianovich with his wife Anastasia Nikolaevna. At the Holy Gate of the monastery, the Sovereign Emperor and the Empress got out of the carriage. The Metropolitan Metropolitan with his Eminences and all the clergy who participated in the Sarov celebrations met Their Majesties at the Holy Gates and greeted them with a short speech with the following content: “The Holy Monastery of Sarov joyfully welcomes You, Most Pious Sovereign, who has now arrived here to take a prayerful part in the celebrations of the glorification of its great ascetic, the ever-memorable elder, Hieromonk Seraphim. And all the great multitude of Orthodox people gathered here rejoices to see their Tsar, praying with him and sharing his bright triumph. Come in peace, O Lord, to this monastery, and through the prayers of the glorified saint of God, may your entry be blessed by the Lord.” From the holy gates, Their Imperial Majesties with their Highest Persons, along a path covered with red cloth, preceded by the Metropolitan, proceeded to the Assumption Cathedral, where their appearance aroused the delight of the people. After a short prayer service, Their Majesties visited the Church of Saints Zosima and Sabbatius. Entering the church together with the Metropolitan and other bishops who were here, their Imperial Majesties and Highnesses bowed to the reverend remains of the saint. After this, Their Majesties went to the so-called abbot's building, where chambers were prepared for them on the top floor. The lower floor housed Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich and his wife. For the Empress Maria Feodorovna, chambers were prepared in the so-called bishop's building, and Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna and her husband also stayed there. The premises for other Highest persons were assigned outside the walls of the monastery, beyond the Satis River, near the forest, in a newly constructed building. Immediately after the meeting of Their Majesties, the Metropolitan, together with the bishops and clergy participating in the meeting, went to the Assumption Cathedral and performed a prayer of thanks for the safe arrival of Their Majesties. At 7 pm in all monastery churches, specially appointed clergy performed funeral all-night vigils. At eleven o'clock at night, when the monastery square was free of people, specially appointed archimandrites silently carried the old oak coffin of St. Seraphim from the Church of the Transfiguration and placed it in its former place, in the grave, to which a descent was arranged along a small stone staircase. By that time, the grave was lined with thin marble slabs and made open on one side, so that the coffin standing in it behind a glass partition was clearly visible. The old cast-iron monument was erected over the grave. On July 18, at 5 o'clock in the morning, the gospel for the early liturgy began. The Liturgy was celebrated in all churches of the monastery. The Sovereign Emperor and the Sovereign Empresses were at the liturgy in the Anthony chapel of the Assumption Cathedral, and Their Majesties received the Holy Mysteries there, and they confessed the night before, with Hieroschemamonk Simeon. There were a great many participants on this day. At 8.30 the bell began for the last funeral liturgy for the ever-memorable hieromonk Seraphim. The liturgy was performed in the Assumption Cathedral by clergy for a special purpose. At the end of the liturgy, a rare message called on the faithful to the cathedral to pray for the last time at the memorial service for the repose of the soul of the ever-memorable hieromonk Seraphim. Their Imperial Majesties and Highnesses arrived at the cathedral for this funeral service. Before the funeral service, Metropolitan Anthony came out to the pulpit and delivered a speech with the following content: “God is wonderful in His saints. The Lord has granted all of us, present and praying here, the great mercy of being participants in the bright celebration of the glorification of the ever-memorable ascetic Hieromonk Seraphim. Glory and thanksgiving to the Lord, who is so kind to us. Show off and rejoice, Sarov monastery, glorified and glorified by the glory of its venerable one. Now we will make our last prayer for him, as for the deceased servant of God, and then, at all times, Orthodox Christians will turn to him with prayer, as to the glorified saint of God. And his most pure remains, which rested in the bowels of the earth for seventy years, are now being placed in this shrine for the reverent worship of believers who prayerfully flow to him for help, healing and consolation. Truly, in this glorification the image of the Resurrection shines upon us. The words of the Apostle insistently come to mind: “It is sown not in honor, it is raised in glory, it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.” In the very visible deadness of the remains of the saints, the power of life is hidden by the grace of God. Through them, people are given various healings from ailments and illnesses from the Lord. In these same miraculous healings is the glory of the Venerable Father Seraphim. His prayerful boldness before God always gathered many pilgrims to the Sarov monastery. Now the Lord glorified him before the entire Orthodox world, gathering here many tens of thousands of people from all over Russia and even distant Siberia, from the west and east, from the north and south, leading this great multitude of people with prayerful participation in the triumph of the Orthodox Tsar himself, the pious Queens and many members of the Royal House. In this crowded, but unanimous and like-hearted gathering of pilgrims at the holy relics of the saint, the original, fundamental meaning of the life of the Russian people is expressed. He knows his Fatherland and his history not so much by political or military events, but by the devotees of faith and truth, love and goodness. He knows Kyiv from Saints Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk, the Trinity Lavra and Moscow from Saint Sergius and the Moscow saints, his north and Solovki from Saints Zosima and Savvaty, Siberia from Simeon of Verkhoturye and Saint Innocent of Irkutsk. From year to year, from century to century, he visits the holy places glorified by the exploits of the saints of God, learning in them the rules of holy life and strengthening himself in faith and truth, goodness and love. And now, in the person of St. Seraphim, the Lord is erecting a new lamp, a new teacher, a new spiritual stronghold for the Russian people. Glory be to our God, marvelous in His saints. Through the prayers of the saint, numerous miracles are performed here every day. And if someone asked us about them, we would answer such a questioner with reverent boldness, in full accordance with reality, in the words of the Savior to John’s disciples: “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the poor receive good news.” Let us pray earnestly, reverently and with warm heartedness for the last time for the repose of the servant of God, the ever-memorable Hieromonk Seraphim, and give glory to God, wondrous in His saints. Amen". Then the funeral service began with the participation of all the archpastors present at the celebration, with the wondrous singing of the metropolitan choir. The memorial service ended with a lithium at the grave of St. Seraphim, where a procession of the cross left the cathedral. Upon returning to the cathedral, the Metropolitan consecrated the precious reliquary for the holy relics of St. Seraphim, built by the diligence of Their Imperial Majesties. This tomb crayfish attracts attention with its extraordinary beauty. The shrine itself is made of stone, as if in memory of the great feat of prayer of the monk on a stone in the Sarov forest. It is made of Russian “Vasalem” marble, which is mined in the vicinity of Gapsal, Estland province. The color of marble is yellowish-gray, and whitish when carved. The cancer has the shape of an oblong, quadrangular tombstone, 1 arshin high, 2 arshins 12 vershoks long and 1 arshin 2 vershoks wide. It is composed of four massive slabs, mounted on an elevated stone platform, to which three steps, made of the same marble, lead on both sides. The entire shrine is decorated with the same carving, without polishing or gilding, in commemoration of the poor simplicity of the saint and his renunciation of the blessings of the world. On the wall, in the heads of the shrines, on a round shield there is a patterned four-pointed equilateral cross of the Byzantine type. On the right and left side walls, in the recessed kokoshniks, there is an exact likeness of a cast copper eight-pointed cross with the image of the Crucifixion, which was kept for 70 years among other sacred things left after the Monk Seraphim in his cell. At the feet of the tomb, on the wall, in the round, convex shield, under the cap of Monomakh, the Slavic initial letters of the names of the sovereign creators of this structure - the Sovereign Emperor and the Sovereign Empress - are carved. At the corners of the tomb there are pilasters with eight-pointed crosses of the most ancient forms, and along the upper and lower friezes the shrine is decorated with a border depicting palm branches. All four walls of the shrine have corresponding inscriptions carved into stone, made in Church Slavonic. On the wall, in the heads of the tomb, on both sides of the four-pointed cross, two verses from the Holy Scriptures are excised: “The righteous women live forever, and their reward is in the Lord, and their care is with the Most High” (Wis. 5:15) “The Lord guards all their bones: not one of them will be broken” (Ps. 33:21). On both side (longitudinal) walls of the shrine there is a chronicle about the most important events in the life of St. Seraphim. On the left wall, on both sides of the crucifixion, the following Slavic inscription is carved: “Our holy reverend father Seraphim, the Wonderworker of Sarov, was born in the city of Kursk, in the year from the creation of the world 7267, and from the Nativity of Christ 1759 in the month of July on the 19th day. Enter the holy Sarov monastery in the summer of R.X. 1778 of the month of November on the 20th day. Monastic tonsure took place in the summer of August 1786 on the 13th day. He was ordained as hierodeacon in the month of Octovria in the summer of 1786. Septemvrius was ordained to the rank of hieromonk in the summer of 1793 on the 2nd day.” On the wall, at the feet of the tomb, on both sides of the round shield, there is the following inscription, which is the prayer of St. Seraphim, written by him with his own hand on one of the liturgical books that remained after him: “Save, Lord, and have mercy on the servant (name) and enlighten his mind with the light of reason of Your holy Gospel and guide him on the path of Your commandments and teach him, O Savior, to do Thy will, for Thou art our God.” The lid of the reliquary is silver, weighing about 3 1/2 pounds, and is a wide sloping frame into which an iconographic image on zinc is inserted under glass of the Venerable Seraphim lying in a coffin. At the corners, the lid of the sacred reliquary is decorated with chased images of six-winged seraphim, and between them, on all four sides of the lid, a common troparion for the saints is written in Slavic script. The lid is locked with a lock. On the inside of the lid is engraved: “Under the power of the most pious great Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich, Autocrat of All Russia, this cancer was created by the command and zeal of Their Imperial Majesties the Sovereign Emperor and His wife, the most pious Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, in the summer of the Nativity of Christ, July 1903, on the 19th day.” An oak coffin was placed in the described stone coffin, an artistic reproduction of the oak log in which the venerable remains of the saint were kept for 70 years, and a cypress coffin with holy relics was inserted into this coffin-block. An oak block, 2 arshins 8 1/2 inches long and 14 inches in diameter, is bound with three iron hoops, with branches in the form of oak leaves, and equipped on the sides with ten hanging brackets made of twisted iron, for carrying the coffin on the hands. In addition, for carrying the coffin with holy relics in religious processions, there is also a special stretcher, in the form of a platform, covered with green velvet and decorated with braid. Up to twenty people can take part in carrying the coffin on this stretcher. Around the tomb there is a bronze, chased lattice with images of double-headed eagles in the corners and six-winged seraphim on the sides. Four columns made of Kyiv labrador support the canopy, which, rising 12 arshins above the tomb, has the general appearance of a chapel over a well with a pointed roof, in the old Vladimir-Suzdal style. Made of finely chased gilded bronze, the canopy is crowned with five onion-shaped domes. In the arches and kokoshniks of the canopy dome there are the following iconographic images of saints and events from the life of St. Seraphim. In the four main kokoshniks of the canopy there are iconographic images: on the western side - the face of the Savior Not Made by Hands, with an inscription on the frieze in Slavic script: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8); on the north – the saint’s night prayer on a stone, with an inscription on the frieze of the words of the publican’s prayer: “God, be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13); on the south - the appearance of the Mother of God with twelve crowned maidens to the Venerable Seraphim on the day of the Annunciation, March 25, 1831, with the inscription on the frieze: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, through the prayers of the Mother of God, have mercy on us sinners,” and on the eastern side - the blessed death of the Venerable Seraphim with the inscription: “honorable before the Lord is the death of His saints” ( Ps.116:6). In the windows of the middle dome of the canopy there are icons of saints with whom the Monk Seraphim was in spiritual communion, with whose creations he himself was edified and advised those who came to him for consolation to be imbued with: universal teachers and saints - Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, Isaac the Syrian, Macarius the Great of Egypt, John Climacus, Ambrose of Milan, Saints Anthony and Theodosius of Kiev-Pechersk, Zosima and Savvaty of Solovetsky, Sergius of Radonezh and others. In the corners of the architrave there are 8 iconographic images of fiery six-winged seraphim, and between these images and kokoshniks there are icons of Saints Isidore and Agathia, whose names were the parents of the Monk Seraphim, Prokhor - the worldly name of the saint, and those daylight saints whose memory is celebrated by the church on the birthdays and death of the Monk Seraphim - July 19 and January 2. Above the capitals of the columns there are icons of the saints named after the Russian Sovereigns, who contributed to the glorification of the newly-minted saint of God, and the family of the Sovereign Emperor - St. Nicholas of Myra, the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, the holy Martyr Queen Alexandra, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, the Blessed Grand Duchess Olga, St. Martyr Tatiana, Holy Great Martyr Anastasia and Guardian Angel. Around the shrine in all four arches of the canopy there is a row of lamps, and on the eastern side of the platform-platform there is a large candlestick. There, in the arches of the canopy, there are only 36 lamps, among which five lamps are a gift from the Highest Persons. All these lamps are installed on the side facing the main chapel in the Assumption Cathedral. The Sovereign's lamp is round in shape, gold, decorated with precious stones from Siberian rocks in their natural form, without polishing. The rim of the lamp has an openwork inscription made in Slavic script: “You Yourself, Lord God, chose him and found his heart faithful before You. Gift of Their Majesties Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. July 19, 1903." A spherical porcelain cup is inserted into the rim and there is a red glass lamp in it. The entire lamp hangs on four chains composed of chased images of the heads of six-winged seraphs and large precious stones. Below, four pearl tassels are suspended from the lamp; precious stones - the lamp is decorated with them, in three colors: white, green and pink. Under the lamp of the Sovereign and Empress there is a lamp of Their children, decorated in the same way as the first, with the only difference that four chains are made of chased images of the state coat of arms and are attached at the top to the imperial crown. The following inscription is carved on the rim: “The Light of Christ enlightens everyone. Gift of Their Imperial Highnesses Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. July 19, 1903." To the right of this lamp, on a purple silk ribbon, is attached the lamp of Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. On the golden rim of the lamp there are miniature icons of the Holy Blessed and Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky and Mary Magdalene artistically made from mosaic enamel. Between the holy icons the following text is carved in Slavic script: “To the God-glorified holy elder Seraphim of Sarov, this lamp is brought with warm faith by Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna. July 19, 1903." The four chains of the lamp are made of openwork leaves with a pearl on each leaf; An oblong cross made of white enamel is suspended at the bottom of the lamp; the entire lamp is decorated with pearls. To the left of the lamp of the Grand Duchesses is the lamp of Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich and Grand Duchess Militsa Nikolaevna. The lamp consists of two rims connected to each other by three chains of precious stones - pearls, rubies, alexandrites, chrysolites; on the same chain below, suspended from the lamp, is a chased gold image of a six-winged seraph. At the top the lamp is attached to a purple silk ribbon; the lower rim has a metal bottom, and there is a red glass lamp on it; On the rim there is an inscription in Slavic script: “The city cannot hide at the top of a standing mountain. Whoever does and teaches, he will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” The upper edges of both rims of the lamp are decorated with crosses made of precious stones, and the lower edges with pendants made of the same stones. On the front side of the lower rim of the lamp there is a small artistic icon of the “Tenderness of the Mother of God” painted on porcelain with enamel paints. The face of the Mother of God on both sides is surrounded by the following saying of the Apostle Paul: “My word and my preaching are not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and power, so that your faith will not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” On the opposite side of this lamp is the lamp of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, which is a round aureole made of white enamel, decorated with large aquamarines. On the rim there is an inscription in gold letters: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Most of these lamps were made according to the drawings of Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich, who was known as an expert in ancient Christian style and ornamentation. The general character of the present structure, all the materials for which are exclusively Russian, is distinguished by its slender and strict lines. The total cost of the crayfish with canopy is about 35,000 rubles; the weight of the tomb with the canopy is about 2000 pounds, and one shrine - up to 100 pounds. Drawing up a project for the entire structure, as well as monitoring the work and installation on site. The highest responsibility was entrusted to Prince Mikhail Sergeevich Putyatin (1861–1938). The corresponding parts of the tomb and the canopy were made in different workshops in St. Petersburg and Moscow: marble work - Guidi, silver lid - Ovchinnikov; bronze works – Bragin; iron - Zembek's workshop, carpentry - N.F. Svirsky, the iron frame for the tomb was made by Oreshnikov, and all icon painting work was done by the Moscow icon painter Vasily Guryanov (1866-1920). At 4 o'clock on the same day, small vespers was celebrated in the Assumption Cathedral, and at 6 o'clock in the evening the large bell began ringing, calling pilgrims to the all-night vigil. This was the first church service at which St. Seraphim began to be blessed and glorified among the saints of God and at which his holy relics were opened for public worship. In view of the importance of the upcoming service, tens of thousands of pilgrims rushed to the gates of the monastery. Since the monastery square in the very fence of the monastery could not accommodate such a great crowd of people, only a part was allowed into the monastery fence, and, moreover, in such a quantity that could not hinder the procession at the moment of transferring the holy relics. Vladyka Metropolitan proceeded with glory to the Assumption Cathedral, followed soon by Their Imperial Majesties and Highnesses entering the cathedral and standing near the right choir. The all-night vigil began. The service was held according to the newly compiled “Service to our Reverend Father Seraphim of Sarov, the Wonderworker.” The lithium begins... Everyone lights candles and stands with lit candles in their hands. The lithium stichera are sung by the metropolitan choir, and at this time the procession from the cathedral to the Church of Saints Zosima and Savvatius begins. The Highest Persons are coming, followed by the Ministers of the Interior V. K. von Plehve, the Imperial Court Baron Fredericks, the Railways Prince M. M. Khilkov, Count I. I. Vorontsov-Dashkov, Senator V. K. Sabler and many other high-ranking officials. The doors of the Church of Saints Zosima and Savvaty open, and Vladyka Metropolitan with his Eminence bishops, the highest persons, clergy appointed to carry the coffin with holy relics, and several other persons walking in the procession enter there. At the sight of the shrine standing in the middle of the church, everyone bowed their knees. The Metropolitan burns incense around the coffin, and then the coffin is worn by the Sovereign Emperor and the Grand Dukes with the participation of the clergy appointed to it. When taken out of the church, the coffin is placed on a stretcher and raised high above the heads of everyone, being clearly visible from everywhere. The moment the coffin with holy relics appeared outside the church was extremely touching. Women can be heard crying, some are sobbing, and along the path of the coffin procession, peasant women spread pieces of canvas, towels, and skeins of yarn. On the sides of the path lie all sorts of sick and wretched people. At the western gate of the Assumption Cathedral, the first litany is pronounced, followed by four more stops at other sides of the cathedral, with the litany being pronounced. After reading the lithium prayer at the western gate, the procession enters the cathedral, and the coffin with holy relics is placed in the middle of it on a special elevation. The service continues. Between the kathismas, the Right Reverend Innocent (Belyaev) pronounced a word corresponding to the celebration taking place, with the following content: “The venerable ones will be praised in glory” (Ps. 149). Before this tomb with the holy relics of the saint, human thought involuntarily rushes into the realm of faith. Only from here does she see how different, sometimes to the point of opposite, the meaning of the same objects in ordinary life and in the field of faith. In life, for all of us, the coffin is a source of grief and sorrow, a cause of lamentation and tears... When we see the coffin, we involuntarily assume the misfortune it created, difficult separation, orphanhood. But in the realm of Christian hopes, for a Christian man, the tomb is a place of rest until the general Resurrection, and for his faith, it sometimes becomes, by the grace of God, a source of heavenly revelations, evidence of the power of God, a clear sign of heavenly reward for earthly righteousness, the cause of the most sublime Christian feelings. It is precisely this mood of bright joy, touching tears and reverence that gives birth to the presented coffin in every believing soul. Surrounding him in glory with our Most Pious Sovereign and Sovereigns, we all know that he hid within himself the honest remains of a righteous man who pleased the Lord, a man of prayer and heroism, great in his simplicity, crowned with humility and meekness, flaming with Christ’s love for every person. The Church of three centuries, persecuted and persecuted, knew its martyrs and confessors who suffered for the name of Christ. She buried their bodies with honor and carefully collected their bones. The Church of our days, peaceful and calm, knows its prayer books and ascetics; she also honors the tombs of her righteous, worshiping their holy remains. When Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna was tortured and torn to pieces by beasts, the Smyrna people sent a message to other churches, informing them that they had collected the bones of the martyr in a vessel and would preserve and honor this shrine as the most precious treasure. Following the example of this ancient Church, these first Christians, our Orthodox Church extracted from the bowels of the earth the bones of its prayer book and ascetic, St. Seraphim, and from now on will surround them with reverence, hymn and worship, as its precious shrine. But the meaning of this holy tomb is revealed to us, children of the Orthodox Church, from another side. In it we learn the deep truth of our Holy Orthodoxy. That Church does not sin, but stands firmly on the right path, for which the heavenly world of the saints of God is a constant leader of moods, an inspirer in prayer, a source of grace-filled consolations, help and protection. In these holy relics of the new prayer book for the Russian Church, we feel the beating of the life of our Church. For the Church that is adorned with new righteous people and saints of God is not dead, not frozen, not petrified, but lives, grows young and blossoms. In this tomb is the source of light and the joy of our faith. She would have been cold and dull if she had not received clear encouragement that prayer and deed would always be rewarded and glorified by the Lord. In these holy relics there is a new sign of God’s mercy and goodness towards the Russian people and the Orthodox Church, as if the sky opens up, and a new prayer book stands at the Throne of the Lord for us unworthy, a new intercessor and intercessor. And we clearly see the fruits of his prayer to the Lord: the blind receive their sight, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, the paralytic rise. Another moment - and the lid of this saving coffin will open, his blessed remains will appear to us: new currents of miracles will flow from them, the image of Seraphim, now wondrous among the saints of God, but meek, humble and wretched in earthly life, will become even clearer before us. And with the tender joy of our faith, impressed by his wonderful image, let us sing to him: “We bless you, Reverend Father Seraphim!” Amen". Another kathisma is read, and while singing “Praise the name of the Lord,” all the servants go to the middle of the church. Having descended from the clouded pulpit to the tomb of the saint, Metropolitan Anthony unlocks the lock and opens the lid of the tomb. Everyone kneels, and the clergy sing praises to the saint. After reading the Gospel, Metropolitan Anthony and other bishops venerate the holy relics. Then Their Imperial Majesties and Highnesses kiss them. Next came the clergy and all the other worshipers in the cathedral. At the end of the all-night vigil, the cathedral was left open all night for the veneration of the relics of the saint. The pilgrims approached the tomb one after another all night, venerated the holy relics and received anointing with holy oil from the appointed clergy. During the procession with holy relics there were several cases of healing. So, one girl from the village of Promyslovka, Astrakhan district and province, Vera Chernysheva, 29 years old, who was in a paralyzed state for 5 years, with cramped legs, stood up and began to walk without assistance. Another woman, Feodora Slezheva, 26 years old, received healing from epileptic seizures that constantly plagued her. All night long prayers were served in all churches and chapels, and the next day at 5 o’clock in the morning early liturgies were served by clergymen for a special purpose in both cathedral churches and in the churches of Saints Zosima and Sabbatius, Saint John the Baptist and the cemetery, during which thousands of believers partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. The late liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral began at 8 o'clock in the morning. The service was performed by Metropolitan Anthony together with other eminences participating in the celebration. The Sovereign Emperor with the Empresses and Grand Dukes were present in the cathedral. At the small entrance with the Gospel, while singing “Come, let us worship,” the archimandrites lifted the coffin with holy relics that stood in the middle of the cathedral and carried it around the holy altar, and then placed it in the prepared shrine. At the same time, an incident of healing occurred. Among those praying in the cathedral was Mrs. Maslennikova, who had come from Moscow, from the merchant class, with her sick twelve-year-old daughter, who suffered from catalepsy and had not spoken a word for two years. As the sick woman passed by the coffin with holy relics, the mother touched the coffin with a handkerchief and wiped the face of her sick daughter with it, who immediately after that, in front of everyone, pronounced the name of her mother and began to speak. The healed girl was then honored by the Metropolitan with the sacrament of the Holy Mysteries. At the end of the liturgy, Archbishop Dimitri of Kazan said a word in honor and memory of our reverend and God-bearing father Seraphim, the Wonderworker of Sarov: “What a great, highly significant, deeply instructive day we are all experiencing now - this is a majestic, pious gathering of the sons and daughters of our Holy Russian Orthodox Church. And all of Orthodox Russia celebrates and rejoices with us. The solitary ascetic monastery temporarily turned into a crowded city. The always deserted, silent Sarov forest is now full of excitement and chatter, movement and noise. But this is not a disturbance of ordinary concerns and often petty interests; This is not the noise of everyday vanity. This is a whisper of deep emotional tenderness in places; this is the roar of everyday spiritual joy running from mouth to mouth; this is a loud explosion of reverent amazement, delight at what is happening. This is a mighty upsurge and an irrepressible noisy manifestation of the strong and healthy spirit of piety that Holy Orthodox Rus' breathes and lives with. Lame people walk. The blind see. The dumb ones started talking. And blessed is he who is not offended by this. Blessed is whose heart has not remained untouched in its deepest recesses by all the wonderful things happening before our eyes. Blessed be God, wondrous in His saints, who has providentially shown us in these days the wondrous and glorious. Let us glorify Christ the Lord, who wisely bestowed this grace on His Holy Church right now, for a good time. Who in Holy Rus' has not long known the name of the great elder of Sarov Seraphim? Many pious souls, sensitive to everything sublime and holy, even during the elder’s earthly life, sought him in the desert, sought him, and in his faith and love they found consolation in the sorrows of the heart, the resolution of grave perplexities and doubts of the spirit, an indication of the good, right, true path among moral confusion, among hesitations, deviations. And the seventieth anniversary that has passed since the day of the blessed death of the ever-memorable one has turned here, to the grave that hid the honorable remains of the saintly deceased, the prayerful gaze of all in whom faith is strong in the internal uninterrupted communication of the deceased righteous and people who are still making their way of moral rebirth and renewal of the spirit; – those in whom there is strong hope for prayerful intercession before God of the saints who abid in the light of the Face of God. Numerous wondrous signs of grace-filled help through prayers to the blessedly deceased elder showed all Orthodox believers that even in our days the Lord gave people a good prayer book and a quick helper. The Holy Church publicly certified and confirmed this common faith in the holiness and intercessory power before God of the great ascetic of piety. And so, now we touchingly please our venerable father Seraphim and solemnly glorify the holy memory of the righteous man, whom all the clans of the Russian land have long been pleased and glorified with deep tenderness and reverence. From now on, a wondrous lamp has been placed high on the candlestick of the Orthodox Church, warming hearts with its already unearthly light, enlightening minds and truly illuminating the correct path along which those seeking spiritual rebirth, striving for moral perfection, should follow. May this solemn glorification of the memory of the saint serve as an edification for those who, sincerely and unhypocritically, striving in bewilderment and moral confusion to understand for themselves and others the meaning and purpose of human life, are ready to take the good path of truth, leading beyond time, into eternity. The Venerable Seraphim, whom we now honor, while completing his earthly course, turned his gaze entirely and unswervingly to heaven, because “our life is in heaven.” He loved to glorify his aspiration for the heavenly in the words of a church song: “incessant divine desire is deserted.” An earthly angel and a heavenly man, a mentor of monks and an interlocutor of angels, in his bright soul he united the heavenly and earthly in the Lord. And here on earth, he enjoyed high otherworldly, heavenly joys. May he, having faithfully walked the right path indicated to man by the Divine Guide, may he be a bright guiding star for us, illuminating the path and dispelling the fog, which is now beginning to cover this path thicker and thicker. By his prayerful intercession before God, may he help us complete our earthly journey to heaven without stumbling or falling, in love, joy and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior.” After this, a prayer service to St. Seraphim began. When the troparion was sung, the archimandrites approached the shrine and took out the coffin with the holy relics. A religious procession around the monastery churches followed from the cathedral. The coffin with the holy relics was carried by the Emperor and Their Highnesses with the participation of the archimandrites. The people, just like the day before, standing like a living wall along the route, were overwhelmed with strong religious inspiration. The crying and sobbing of women could be heard everywhere. Upon the return of the procession to the cathedral, the Metropolitan, with the worshipers kneeling, read a prayer to St. Seraphim, and then the prayer service ended with the usual many years. The Emperor and Their Highnesses, having venerated the holy relics, left the cathedral. Thus ended the church service of the main day of the Sarov celebrations. The next day, Sarov accompanied his Sovereign to the Diveevo Convent, located 14 versts from the Sarov Hermitage, and His Grace Innocent, Bishop of Tambov and Shatsk, gave the following speech to the Sovereign: “Most pious Sovereign! The Russian people, gathered for the great triumph of God's mercy, revealed in the Sarov monastery, experienced significant days of close communion with You: the Orthodox Tsar was on pilgrimage with his people in the holy monastery. And the people saw how their Tsar Father visited the holy places of Sarov on foot, how he carried on his shoulders the holy relics of the newly-minted Sarov wonderworker; the people saw how the Tsar and the Tsarina, on their knees and with tears, prayed to the saint of God. He will now go to different parts of Holy Rus' and will enthusiastically tell what he has seen in villages and hamlets, and those who listen will be touched in their souls and bless in their hearts the names of their Sovereign and Empress, who were on the people's pilgrimage in Sarov. The Sarov monastery itself is now experiencing two joys: heavenly - in the intercessor and prayer book of the entire Russian land, the Venerable Seraphim, sent down to it - and earthly, seeing You, Sovereign, the pious Queens and members of the Royal House within its walls. For the heavenly joy sent to her, she thanks the Lord and His saint with fervent prayer, and for earthly joy, for the happiness of seeing You, Sovereign, as her dear guest, she brings her bow to You. Save, Lord, and preserve You, Sovereign, the pious Queens and members of the Royal House, on all the paths of your life, through the prayers of St. Seraphim, the miracle worker of Sarov. May your departure be blessed, as your entry into this holy monastery was joyful. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” It should be noted that the Diveyevo Monastery was founded and lives by the behests of Father Seraphim. That is why the days of celebrations at the Sarov monastery became a time of spiritual joy in the Diveyevo monastery. The spiritual celebrations of both monasteries were aggravated by the participation of the Highest Persons in them. By the time the Emperor arrived, the entire path to the monastery was decorated with greenery, flags, and triumphal arches; peasants, local and from distant provinces, in festive costumes, greeted the Tsar and Queen with delighted faces. In the monastery fence, along the royal route, the nuns of the monastery lined up with trellises to the cathedral, and in front of them were students of parochial schools. At about 10 o'clock in the morning, the royal crews approached the Diveyevo Cathedral with an incessant animated "hurray" and the ringing of bells. The distinguished guests were greeted at their entrance to the cathedral by His Grace Nazarius, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod, in a host of clergy, with the holy cross and holy water. The Bishop greeted the Emperor with a speech. After the usual litany and many years, the Emperor prayed before the icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness,” before which Father Seraphim died in prayer in Sarov, and before the locally revered icon “The Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands” and venerated them. Then they examined the northern aisle of the cathedral, prepared for consecration in honor of the Venerable Father Seraphim, and in particular the painting of the cathedral, which has high merits; all of it is the spiritual sacrifice of the Diveyevo ascetics, who carry out “picturesque” obedience in the monastery. The distinguished guests listened to the liturgy in the house church at the abbot's chambers. Tea and breakfast were prepared in the abbess's room, and then the monastery's sights and institutions were explored. We visited a parochial school with a shelter for orphan girls. This school was located in a beautiful two-story building, it had two very spacious classrooms, apartments for teachers and living quarters for orphan girls. Education at the school was conducted “for holy obedience” by educated ascetics of the monastery (nun Raphaila and novice Nadezhda Sadovskaya, the granddaughter of that same priest Vasily Sadovsky, who was a friend and admirer of St. Seraphim), there were special teachers of singing and handicrafts. When visiting a monastery school, the Tsar asked one orphan girl if she knew anything by heart, and the little girl read the poem “The Orphan,” and when the Tsarina asked if she knew any prayer by heart, this 4-year-old peasant girl read the Lord’s Prayer “Our Father,” after which the Tsarina, like a mother, leaned over to the little one and kissed her. There were also distinguished guests at the Transfiguration Cemetery Church, where several monuments remained from the Monk Seraphim were kept. The altar of the church was built from his cell, taken from the Far Hermitage of Father Seraphim. It was once arranged by the same robbers who beat him and whom he forgave. After the death of Father Seraphim, the cell was transferred from Sarov to Diveyevo and, at the direction of the Right Reverend Jeremiah of Nizhny Novgorod, was turned into an altar. The unfinished logs were left untouched, and for more reliable preservation of this monument to the exploits of the saint, the altar was included in the outer church wall, from which it was separated by a corridor, and under a special roof. In the same church are kept: the Gospel with the Psalter, with which Father Seraphim was not separated during his lifetime and usually carried them in a little bag behind his back, his stole and armlets, part of the stone on which he prayed for 1000 days and nights, and other items of his household: a candlestick, a bench, a chair, etc. - everything on these solemn days was kept in new display cases and was an object of celebration from the outside. pilgrims. In the Diveyevo hermitage - the name of the former cell - there is also a small hut of Father Seraphim, carved by him himself on his Near Hermitage in Sarov, at the source, near the Sarovka River. After his death, this cell was also transferred to Diveyevo and preserved in the same form as the saint’s. And this monument, for more reliable preservation, is enclosed in a case, in an external building. The cell contains part of the same stone - a witness to the prayerful deeds of Father Seraphim - and a piece of wood that replaced his chair. In the cell there was a continuous reading of the Psalter. All pilgrims considered it obligatory for themselves to visit this cell, because the pure, holy prayer of the righteous man of God was offered up in it. At three o'clock in the afternoon the highest persons left the monastery. Nuns, disciples and people stood along the royal route. With the ringing of bells and incessant shouts of “hurray,” they left the holy places. The Sarov celebrations - the discovery of the holy relics of St. Seraphim - ended with the consecration of two churches named after the saint. The first Seraphim Church in Russia was consecrated in Sarov, above the monastery cell of St. Seraphim. The consecration of the church took place on Monday, July 21. On the eve of this day, at 7.30 pm, the big bell called many worshipers to the newly consecrated church for its first all-night vigil. The All-Night Vigil was served, as usually happens in such cases, in the middle of the church, before the table on which were placed all the sacred accessories of the altar and altar, covered with a blue silk shroud. The Right Reverend Innocent of Tambov came out to attend the litany and glorification of St. Seraphim. The next day, July 21, the consecration of the church was performed by St. Petersburg Metropolitan Anthony. After the vestment of the throne and altar, a solemn religious procession headed by Metropolitan Anthony, Archbishop Demetrius and Bishop Innocent headed to the Assumption Cathedral. From the Assumption Cathedral, the Metropolitan transferred particles of the holy relics of St. Seraphim on his head. The newly consecrated five-domed church was a beautiful, original structure in the Russian-Byzantine style. The architectural design of the Seraphim Church was developed and compiled by professor of architecture A. S. Kamensky. Dimensions of the church: length 22 fathoms, width 8 fathoms, and height from the ground to the cross 17 fathoms, and inside - from the floor to the vaults - 10 fathoms. Funds for the construction of the church were collected among benefactors and admirers of St. Seraphim. One benefactor donated 50 thousand rubles for the construction of a majestic bronze gilded iconostasis, and all the valuable utensils for the church were donated by various individuals. This church contains all the banners, 42 in number, donated to the monastery on July 19 from eighteen banner-bearing societies. One of the main shrines of the Sarov monastery - the stone cell of the Monk Seraphim, in which he lived, labored and died in a feat of prayer - is located in the western part of the church, between the choirs and its middle part, and has the appearance of a chapel with a hipped scaly roof made of light bronze, with a row of kokoshniks along the lower edge and a golden cross on its head. You can walk around this cell-chapel. The entire northern wall of the cell outside is occupied by an artistically painted sacred image of the appearance of the Mother of God to the Monk Seraphim. At the entrance to the cell there is an image of the Venerable Seraphim blessing and above the low door there is an icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness”. Inside the small sacred cell, in its left corner, there is a massive bronze icon case with embossing, height to the ceiling, under the mirror glass of which there are: the image of the Savior in a golden robe and a copy of the icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness”, before which, kneeling, the Monk Seraphim accepted his blessed death. In front of the icon case is a large candlestick and an unquenchable lamp. Here there is also a lectern with the holy cross and the Gospel for serving prayers to the newly-minted saint of God. The preserved belongings of St. Seraphim are collected in the cell. There was a stove with a stove bench, lined with green tiles with the image of a flower; here were also: a mantle, a cap in the form of a kamilavochka and the leather rosary of the monk, two neck crosses made of cypress wood, carved by his hands, a stone on which the monk prayed during the day in his distant hermitage, his tooth, hair from the head of the monk and the Gospel, which was burned during a fire in the cell at his death. All these objects were enclosed in display cases made of light bronze with mirror glass, arranged with the diligence of the Society of Moscow Banner Bearers. The consecration of the second church in the name of St. Seraphim of Sarov took place on July 22 at the Seraphim-Diveevo Convent. Here, according to the deep faith of the sisters of the monastery in the holiness and quick glorification of its founder, since 1875 the left side chapel of the cathedral church was built in his honor, but remained unconsecrated until the discovery of the holy relics of St. Seraphim. On the eve of the consecration in the cathedral, the monastery clergy performed church services: small vespers, paraklisis, compline and all-night vigil, and the Right Reverend Nazarius, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod, came out to litia and magnification during the all-night vigil. The gathering of pilgrims on the occasion of the celebration was extraordinary: the vast church could not accommodate the worshipers and was surrounded from the outside by a living wall of people. Continuous confession lasted from 3 to 12 o'clock at night, and the next day there were more than a thousand communicants. The ceremony of consecrating the church began at 7 o'clock in the morning. After vesting the holy throne and altar, His Grace Nazarius carried out the transfer of particles of holy relics on his head from the altar of the main chapel of the cathedral church, and then the procession headed around the cathedral. In the newly consecrated Seraphim Church, the first liturgy was celebrated by the bishop, and at the end - a solemn prayer service. In the iconostasis of the newly consecrated Seraphim Church, on the church icon the Monk Seraphim is depicted in a long monastic robe and with his gaze turned to heaven; At the feet of the monk lies the view of the Sarov desert. Nearby is an icon depicting an apostle from among the seventy, Prochorus (the worldly name of the saint), and Saint Sylvester, Pope of Rome, whose memory is celebrated on January 2, the day of the saint’s death. On the northern side doors there is a fiery six-winged Seraphim, the Angel of St. Seraphim in monasticism. Thus ended the greatest event in the history of the Russian Church - the glorification of the holy relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Our Russian theologians of later times will write a lot about this saint of God and about his glorification. This material does not exhaust everything that should be written about St. Seraphim, but if our work, even to the smallest extent, facilitates the understanding of the saint of God Seraphim and helps us mentally reproduce the picture of the Sarov celebrations of 1903, we will consider our modest task completed. The life, exploits and death of the Sarov desert hieromonk and desert dweller Father Seraphim, born in 1754, died in 1833. He labored as a monk for 47 years, but the entire life of this virtuous husband was 74 years Reading the lives of the Holy Fathers, one cannot help but marvel at the purity and holiness of the life of the ascetics of the primitive Church. The angelic passage of their lives and the lofty revelations that they were honored to witness are incomprehensible to the mind of a sinful person, inexperienced, wandering in sin. A spiritually unenlightened mind dares, due to the remoteness of times, either to refute everything written, or to assert that such phenomena of grace could only manifest themselves in the Christianity of the first centuries. But we see that God’s chosen servants are not stopped; the Lord still shows them to the world. An example of this is the Sarov Elder Seraphim, who recently shone like a wondrous star in the desert residence of the Sarov monastery. Who did not know this loving Elder, a man full of grace? His heart burned with love, it loved all humanity, it was open to everyone. I knew him and believe that he is great before the Lord, which is why I decided, reverent for the memory of the Elder enlightened by grace, to collect, if possible, some features from his life, conveyed by many of his disciples and some persons; consisting of reliable information about his birth, entry into the monastery, monastic exploits, teachings, insight and lofty visions that he was honored to see. And finally about his death. although all this does not constitute the full life of a holy man, it will at least be enough to see how high was the love and virtue of this favorite of God, Elder Seraphim. The birthplace of this great ascetic of God was the provincial city of Kursk, he was born on the 19th day of July 1759 from pious parents belonging to the merchant class: the parent, a few years after his birth, passed away, and the baby Prokhor (as he was called in the world) until the age of 15 was brought up under the supervision of his mother alone - during this time, in many cases it was already clear that young Prokhor would shine high holiness. One day, carrying little Prokhor in her arms, his mother met on the street one blessed man, a fool for Christ, who, approaching her, predicted the high future of the baby with these words: “Blessed are you, widow, that you have such a son who will be the chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit.” Likewise, many other cases related to his infancy, which can be seen especially in the printed book entitled “The Legend of the Life and Deeds of Father Seraphim of Blessed Memory,” 1 clearly show that this old man of high life was destined even in infancy to strive in deeds of virtue. When he was 13 years old, being burned with love for the Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother, he could not bear secular life and, despite his young years, having persuaded one of the cab drivers he knew and secretly leaving the house of his mother, one dark night he went out through the garden through the gate and went to the Sarov hermitage, where, although he was soon discovered by his mother, no convictions on her part could return him to the world, so that she herself, out of her piety, did not resist his desire and blessed him to enter monasticism, which is why in the 18th year he received dismissal from the Kursk Society to the rank of monk 2, where in a short time he surpassed his comrades in monastic exploits. Being in his youth, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday he did not eat anything, on Thursday he just had lunch, on Friday and until Saturday evening he also did not eat, but on Sunday he ate twice as prescribed, so as not to fast on Saturday and Sunday. This was his constant fast; as for prayer, he was not satisfied with the church service alone, although it took 11 hours every day, and 16 hours on holidays. He stood in prayer all night, and his sleep was no more than 2 hours in the middle of the day. Such was young Prokhor even in his novice rank! In addition to these feats, he had various obediences, which he completed with the greatest humility and zeal; On the 13th day of August 1786, he was tonsured into the mantle 3 with the name Seraphim, and after accepting the angelic image, he completely surrendered to the Lord. He spoke very little to the male sex, and then only out of necessity, and did not even look at the female sex. In 1787, Father Seraphim was ordained a hierodeacon, here he began to retire into the desert, but did not leave church service, and at one time, while serving the liturgy, when he exclaimed: “Lord, save the pious,” he was honored to see a wondrous vision. He saw, as he himself later conveyed, in the middle of the church in the air the Savior, clothed with all glory in fiery rays, and while singing “Holy God,” all this Divine vision approached the iconostasis and, finally, united with the local image of the Savior. ABOUT. Seraphim was so frightened and amazed by this phenomenon that he was unable to continue his services and for a long time could not come to his senses. The brethren all concluded that he was simply ill from a sudden illness. Father Seraphim left her in this opinion, and after a long time he revealed this to some of the brethren with whom he had more spiritual communication. In 1793, Father Seraphim was ordained a hieromonk, accepting the priesthood. He began to retire more and finally completely surrendered to the thought of God and imprisoned himself in seclusion, where he remained for 5 years, and already, by the conviction of some people, or, probably, by the will of the Lord, he left the seclusion and began to accept everyone who came to him for spiritual benefit. Then he began to retire to the desert, where he tormented his flesh by kneeling on two stones, on one, which was at a far distance from his desert, for 1000 days, and on the other, located in the desert itself, for 1000 nights. And thus, depressing his body, brought it into obedience to the spirit, as he wrote and himself used to say, when they asked him why he unnecessarily carries stones on himself: “I kill the one who kills me,” Fr. always answered. Seraphim. At this time, the enemy, unable to bear the holy life of the Elder, took up arms against him with all his hellish strength, lifted him into the air and struck him so hard that only the high holiness of the Elder was able to endure these ulcers from the enemy. As he himself said: “In a monastery, to live with doves, and in the desert, with lions,” and, once showing his disciple John a large lump on his neck, like a chicken egg, he said: “This is what I received from the demon, while praying for my neighbor. I saw one soul who had lost all hope in the goodness of God, in complete despair. And the enemy of men presented this soul with a hopeless fall and that for it the mercy of God no longer exists and no repentance will cleanse it from its sins, while the infinite goodness of God and the unsearchable abyss of His mercy are limitless: “For this he came down from heaven not for the sake of the righteous, but for the sake of sinners” (Matthew 9:13). Seeing the terrible fall and the last degree of despair, leading this soul straight into the jaws of hell, I fell to the dust before the Physician of souls and bodies, before the merciful Lord, the Heavenly Father, praying to Him for the recovery of this lost soul, may He show His mercy and count it among His chosen flock, I prayed to the Queen of Heaven, the Intercessor of the entire human race. The Lord listened to the poor Seraphim, visiting the lost soul with true repentance, establishing hope in it and returning it to the true path. The disgraced enemy struck me in the neck with his malice, the blow was so terrible that it seemed to me as if my whole body had caught fire, scattered into all its parts, and if not for the help of God, then, I think, it would have been impossible for human strength to bear this blow. But, however,” the priest added, “if you’re going to stand, you must not limp, otherwise even the least of them will win.” And having armed yourself, you must stand courageously against the enemy, and, according to the word of the Savior, you must lay down your soul for your neighbor.” Such was his love for his neighbors, and such were the temptations and attacks he endured from the enemy. But the Lord did not abandon His favorite, and he was repeatedly honored to see the Most Pure Mother of God, who appeared to him. And here is one of these holy phenomena. Father Seraphim suffered from beatings inflicted on him by robbers who came to him at night in the desert, who, not finding money from him, in annoyance and anger poured out all their rage on him and tormented and tormented him to such an extent that they barely left him alive. In such a painful state, he was found in his desert by one zealous novice who immediately announced this in the monastery, and the abbot ordered Father Seraphim to be brought to his monastery cell for use, where water sickness subsequently occurred from severe beatings. He did not agree to resort to medical benefits, although the abbot suggested to him several times, to which he always replied: “I surrendered myself to the Lord, therefore, he knows better what to do with me; It is necessary for me to be sick - I will suffer, it pleases His Goodness that I be healthy, He will heal me.” And thus, having his whole body swollen, he lay on his painful bed and waited for the Most Holy Healer, about whose visit with the apostles Peter and John and with some martyrs he, it seems, was forewarned, which can be concluded from the very story of Father Seraphim. “One night, beloved John,” the elder said to his disciple, “I, poor Seraphim, lay depressed by illness, when suddenly my entire cell began to be illuminated by some extraordinary light. I knew that it was Mother Queen of Heaven who was coming to me with the apostles and nine martyrs (whom she named all of them) to heal me. Despite the severity of my illness, I couldn’t remember myself with joy, I waited in delight for the Heavenly Most Holy Visitor. The light gradually increased, and finally everything was illuminated with such brilliance that it seemed to me as if the whole sun fit in my cell. And in this Divine light, clothed with all Heavenly glory, Mother Queen of Heaven appeared before me with the apostles and martyrs and, turning to the Apostle John standing close to her, deigned to graciously say, pointing to me, a poor old man: “And this one, lying here, is from Our family.” Then she approached me, placing Her most pure hand on my head, and said: “I have come to heal you.” Then she deigned to touch my side with her hand, where upon touch a wound immediately opened, through which all the water and matter that filled my body flowed out, which is why from that very moment I felt the lightness of a completely healthy person. After my healing, the Mother of God deigned to hide, and this vision stopped. I felt completely healthy, and the wound in my side, after all the fluids from which I suffered had flowed out of it, closed, which is why I went back to my desert life.” Then he showed his disciple the place in the side that the Most Pure One had touched with her hand, where, as if to confirm this miraculous phenomenon, a rather deep depression remained forever. After this Divine appearance, Father Seraphim spent most of his time in the desert, in continuous contemplation of God and heartfelt prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother. And there, as his student reports, Fr. John, he revealed to him the gift of the power of his prayer, through which an incomprehensible sign happened. Let's listen to this wonderful story! – I was often used by Father for some obediences before the Diveyevo community, which, out of my love and zeal for the Elder, I always joyfully performed. Father Seraphim himself never went to Diveevo to establish order in the newly established community, but he always sent me with orders, where, by order of the Elder, everything was carried out by me, which is why he was pleased to appoint me to be the finisher of the dispensation of the Diveevo community. But the enemy did not leave me without temptations. The abbot and many of the brothers, knowing my zeal for Father, began to persecute me. And Father Abbot was more angry because, on the orders of my Elder, I went to Diveevo, which outraged me a lot. Once, while walking through the monastery, I met one novice, who, stopping me, began to tell me a lot of bad things about Father Seraphim: and, in his opinion, he lives more as a temptation to everyone than as an edification, which not only he, but the Abbot and many of the brethren find so; and finally, as if taking part in me, he said that he marveled at how, seeing all this, I cleave to Father Seraphim, for whom I still suffer persecution. No matter how much I tried to stop this unpleasant conversation with my brother, but, seeing that he did not stop, but continued to blaspheme the way of life of Father Seraphim, I was finally forced to leave him and, secluded in my cell, involuntarily began to reflect on my conversation with my brother, and all his words came to my mind, although I found them false and was quite confident in the holiness of the life of my Elder. But no less than that, this conversation greatly shook my faith, and I decided, in order to get rid of all the troubles, not only to abandon Father Seraphim, but even to leave the monastery. Meanwhile, by some involuntary feeling, wanting to see Father in order to say goodbye to him and accept his last blessing, I came to him in the desert and, having accepted the blessing, only wanted to talk about my intention to leave the desert, when Father, without allowing me to say a single word, covered my mouth with his hand and said: “Protect your lips with silence, I know why you came to me.” And he began to tell me in detail everything that had happened to me, starting with the conversation I had with my brother, then about my confusion, cowardice, and, finally, about my decision to abandon him, to leave the monastery. Having expressed everything that was in my thoughts, and revealing, so to speak, the secrets of my heart, he asked me: “Is this the reason for your coming?” “Exactly so, Father,” I answered in awe, being amazed beyond belief by the Elder’s foresight. “So, you see,” said Father Seraphim with an angry look, “what babies we are. As soon as some kind of slander opens up on us, we’ll go back, but there’s no way.” These are his own words: “If we do everything for the sake of God, then why should we be embarrassed? And if the brethren are persecuting us, then we must look around to see if we are really guilty? Isn’t it true that saints tell their wives to run?” - And, pointing to two girls from Diveyevo working in the garden, and they are always with us: “Are we doing this right? Think and tell me what the Holy Scripture says about this? And what did the Holy Fathers do in such cases?” It must be said that Father Seraphim himself had an ever-present rule to harmonize every thought with Holy Scripture and with the life of the Holy Fathers, which is why his spirit was never disturbed, and he, according to the word of the Apostle James 4: to him who leads good, and to him who does not commit sin, there is food for him - he was always firm in his actions and never betrayed him. And if he had once undertaken something, then no sorrows, oppositions or temptations could stop him from carrying it out. Why did he absolutely demand that I prove to him from the Holy Scriptures or the lives of the Holy Fathers whether we should patronize the Diveyevo people or not? Being completely confused by this demand, I did not know what to say to him, but, seeing the angry look of the Elder, I finally decided to say: - Father, I believe that everything you do pleases God, and if you care about orphans, then this, of course, is according to the will of God. So what answer do you demand from me, a sinner, and is it possible to drink bright water from a rotten spring? - But oh. Seraphim was not happy with my answer. His appearance became even more angry, and he, tugging at my sleeve, insistently demanded that I explain how the Holy Fathers talk about this. Completely timid and not knowing what to say, I began to say whatever came to mind at that moment. – Father, many of God’s saints, even desert dwellers, took care of the poor and orphans. Theodosius the Great 5 supplied several meals every day for the poor. Father Seraphim did not seem to listen to this evidence and, wanting me to speak according to his concern for the Diveyevo people, said: “All the holy women tell them to run, but they are always with us.” What, is this pleasing to God? Afraid of angering Father more and feeling that I could not think of anything, I was forced to mentally resort to the Lord and ask Him to bring me to reason. Suddenly it occurred to me, of course, by the inspiration of God, to tell him: - Father! There is a big difference between a wife and a girl, as the Holy Fathers and Scripture affirm. -Who is talking about this? – asked Father Seraphim. “The Apostle Paul argues this way,” I answered, “another glory to the sun, another glory to the moon, another glory to the stars.” – Interpreting this very thing, the writers of the Church explained it this way: they compared virgins to the sun, widows to the moon, and married women to the stars. Saint Nicholas 6 was the first to be a zealot of virginity, he did not even want to look at the female sex until his death, but when it was necessary to help three girls in order to save them from evil intentions, he rejected any remark, went at an unusual time, at night, to give alms that were hidden to him, so that through this he would have the opportunity to win their souls. The Great Pachomius 7 never wanted to see even his own sister, but when she wished to devote herself to monastic life, he honored her not only with his sight and conversations, but also in the vicinity of his monastery he built her a cell, where a whole community of girls was subsequently formed, about whom he had fatherly care. And Saint Demetrius of Rostov likens maidens to Heavenly angels. “Take away,” he says, “the wings of an Angel and put them on a virgin, then the virgin will be an Angel, and the Angel will be a virgin” 8 . As my evidence progressed, Father’s appearance noticeably changed and transformed from angry to meek, completely like an Angel. And when I said that the virgin is like an Angel, Father Seraphim was completely consoled by this and began to speak to me with love: “You see, my beloved, it is in vain that we are despondent that they revile and insult us for caring for the Diveyevo community. And no matter how much I asked you not to be embarrassed, you still limped like a baby. But so that we don’t get confused anymore, you know what we’ll do: let’s pray to the Lord that he will do us a sign. And, pointing to one huge spruce, he said: “Do you see this tree, I think that it has been growing for about 150 years. So, if the Lord wants us to give a home to the Diveyevo orphans, then this tree will bow in this direction, pointing with its hand exactly where, and if not, then we will leave the orphans to the will of God and we will not create a memory of them.” Amazed by the strange proposal and finding it impossible, I mentally began to regret the Diveyevo community, knowing the character of Father, that if this is not fulfilled and the tree remains in its place, then the poor orphans will certainly be abandoned by him and will be left without food of soul and body. I decided to ask him to cancel his intention. But Father, as if understanding my doubt or, better to say, unbelief, without denouncing me, said: “I pray for you, may your faith not fail, and believe me, when you and the poor Seraphim bend your knees, the tree will certainly BOW to the place shown by me.” Then, having protected me with the sign of the cross, he released me to the monastery, saying again: “What we talked about (that is, about the tree), we will already do.” I venerated the crucifix of Christ, which he always carried on his chest, and went to my cell completely calmed in my grief, about which, although I did not say a word, the Elder’s foresight revealed everything and destroyed my empty undertakings. Having arrived at the monastery, due to my careless life, I completely forgot about the condition made by Father, that is, to pray to the Lord for the manifestation of a sign. And suddenly a good feeling came to me, bringing my soul into complete delight. Only then did I remember that I was supposed to pray. But, being filled with joy from above, I did not pray, but rushed to run to Father Seraphim. Approaching its desert, I was amazed beyond belief when I saw a tree that had been torn out with all its roots and was lying precisely on the side where it was assigned to bow. And Father, whose appearance this time was completely angelic, met me and, bowing to the ground, said: “Why have you, my beloved John, come to me?” Prostrated at his feet, I said nothing more, as soon as I asked him to constantly pray for me. Father, lifting me up, hugged me, then led me to a lying tree and said: “You see, my beloved, the Apostle Paul says: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13). You and I are not Paul, but poor people, but God listens to us too. Now do you see this sign? It is not for our sake, but for the sake of the orphans.” And, wanting to hide his humility and holiness, he added: “However, I ask you not to announce this to anyone until my death.” Then he began to convince me to have more faith in him and his deeds, strengthening me in patience. He said that without patience a monk is “like a church without a foundation.” And, having thus instructed me, he not only stopped me in my stupid undertakings, but, having eradicated all temptation in me, he consoled me in my cowardice. And, having instilled in me an unshakable faith in himself, he sent me off to the monastery with a blessing. Having come from the Elder’s desert to the monastery, my heart was filled with joy. And no matter how hard I tried, despite my promise to Father, to convey my joy to one brother, but every time I saw him, I forgot. So I finally became convinced that it was not pleasing to the Lord for me to violate the order of the Elder, which is why I kept it secret until the death of Father Seraphim. And after his repose, he revealed this phenomenon to His Grace Arseny, Bishop of Tambov, who saw this tree still lying in the place of its fall. And from then on, His Grace Arseny always revered the memory of Father Seraphim. So strong was the faith and prayer of this Elder, filled with grace. And so great was this wonderful man in the eyes of God that the Lord, during prayer, honored him with rapture into Heaven, like the Apostle Paul. And this lofty revelation was known to very few of the brethren who were zealous for Father Seraphim, and during the life of the Elder it was kept in great secrecy. But after his death, Father John once asked me in a conversation with me: “What, Father Seraphim did not tell you anything about his rapture, like the Apostle Paul, into the Kingdom of the glory of the Lord?” - And when I answered that I knew nothing, he told me this: “Know that this mercy and love of the Lord Jesus Christ was really revealed to him, although Father kept it secret, but I truly know it.” Having heard this and knowing the virtuous life of my brother, I was confident in the justice of what was said to me, which is why I was involuntarily offended by the fact that Father, who knows my zeal and love for him, could still hide from me this high mercy of God shown to him. But at the same time, feeling my unworthiness, I found that I, perhaps, did not deserve him to convey it to me. But no less than that, the desire to hear from Father Seraphim himself about his ascension to Heaven was so great that immediately after my conversation with my brother I went to the Elder in the desert, in the hope that maybe he would tell me his joy. Father received me with love, sat me down next to him and talked a lot about the duties of a monk, about love for the Lord, about faith - in a word, about everything that elevates a person in the eyes of God. And most of all, he advised me to acquire a spirit of peace, that nothing is so kind to the Lord as preserving the spirit of peace within oneself. Nothing is impossible for such a person. And finally, as if anticipating my desire, and to console me, he said: “Here I am, a poor Elder, once I read the Gospel, and, having read to the place where our merciful Savior speaks about the eternal abodes (Matthew 20:1-16) of His Father, while reading this my heart was kindled, and the poor Seraphim, desiring to see these beautiful abodes, dared to pray to His Lord Jesus Christ that He would show them to His servant. The merciful Lord listened to me, and I, a poor old man, was honored to see what, my joy, I cannot confess to you, and I don’t even know whether I was in the body or outside it, the Lord already knows. But only I saw such beauty and felt such pleasure that my tongue is not able to express it. I’ll tell you one thing: if my cell were filled with worms, which would constantly grind my body until my death, then all these sufferings, no matter how great, would be insensitive when remembering the joys that await us in the abodes of the Lord. After these words, he bent down, covered his eyes with his hand, and was silent for half an hour. During the continuation of this silent state, his face began to brighten and finally shone so that I could not look at him. It seemed to me that he was clothed with some incomprehensible light. And at the same time, no matter how amazed I was by this vision, I felt such a joy in my soul that I cannot explain, such was the influence of the Elder’s enlightenment on me, a sinner. After which Father Seraphim, as if awakening from sleep, raised his head and spoke to me a lot about the mercy of God, about the sweetness of the future blessed life. Thus, having edified me and consoled me a lot, he sent me away in peace to the monastery. Not only this Divine revelation and not only the wondrous visions that he deigned to see were proof of the holiness of the life of Father Seraphim. It was also manifested in his teachings, which, although simple, exceeded all human wisdom. In every word of his, the Truth was revealed in its entirety. Love and condescension for human weaknesses were visible in all his words. He did not thunder in his teachings and even in the denunciations themselves. Sweet consolation flowed from his lips in such a way that even the most sinners found joy in the instructions of this Elder filled with love. And despite the fact that their hearts were wounded and disfigured by sin, they received inner relief. And amazing repentance did not slow down to manifest itself where before there was no shadow. Let us give as an example one of these wonderful instructions, which his disciple John conveys in this way. “One day I came,” said John, “to Father Seraphim to ask for his blessing to wear chains.” And just as I was about to tell him about this, Father, having warned, revealed my intention with these words: “Here, Father, the Diveyevo orphans come to me with requests, some ask for chains, hair shirts, others for shutters, and all are babies. I wanted to ask you, how would you advise me, should I allow them or not? After all, the Holy Fathers wore hair shirts, chains and lived in seclusion, all according to reason with the blessing of God or through the revelations of God-pleasing men communicated to them. We are still babies, but we want, like them, to be at the highest level; “We haven’t really learned the alphabet, but we want to compose, so what do you think, should we allow them to do this or not?” Having heard this, I joyfully told him: “Forgive me, Father, I myself came to ask for your blessing on the chains.” To this he answered me with great meekness: “That’s it, my father, because I’m telling you this. Listen to me. Now, if someone, without reason, without guilt, slaps you on the cheek, and you give him another one; if someone reproaches you, and for the sake of Christ you bear it without malice, and even thank the Lord, who has deigned you to be an accomplice of His passions, this means: you are wearing spiritual chains. And if someone spits in your face, and you endure this insult with humility and love for the Lord Jesus Christ, this will mean that you wore a hair shirt. And the shutter consists in closing the five senses, so that through them we do not see or hear anything, and do not become captivated except by the love of Jesus, otherwise we, having neither subdued the flesh, nor renounced our will, nor having learned humility, nor having experienced any of the initial degrees of monasticism, want to be at the highest degree. As if, other than this, there is nothing left for us to correct. That's it, father. Leave these thoughts completely, and if you want hair shirts, chains and a shutter, then accept with love strangulation, spitting, contempt, humiliation and all innocent persecution, endure all this for the Lord’s sake. Here are your chains, hair shirt and shutter! And this will also be counted towards you as great deeds, and you will be numbered among the martyrs. The Monk Theodosius of Pechersk gave up his body to insects, mosquitoes and gadflies, but this was only when he had experienced everything and, being strengthened from above by the Grace of God, as the last thing left to him, he began to mortify his flesh 9 . So, my beloved, come in peace to the deeds set before you, look at the image of Christ the Savior, the image given to us, so that we may follow His footsteps. For the Lord speaks, calling us to Himself: “I am meek and lowly in heart, take My yoke upon you, and you will find rest for your souls, for My yoke is good and My burden is light. This is where our peace is! He will teach you His meek ways!” (Matthew 11:28–30) Having described what only I knew from the holiness-filled, virtuous life of this great ascetic of God, the God-pleasing Elder Seraphim, let us also say about the death of this righteous man, which was just as incomprehensible and wondrous as all the Divine phenomena that he was honored to witness during his life. The repose of this Elder, as the same disciple John reports, was in this way. “I came to Father,” says John, “which was 11 months before his death.” Father Seraphim spoke to me a lot of instructive things, then suddenly began to talk about his death with these words: “My life is shortening, my beloved John! And although it is as if he was born in spirit now, he is already dead in body.” Hearing these strange words, I was troubled in spirit and with the greatest sorrow began to say to him: “What, Father, do you really want to leave us? What will happen to the poor orphans of Diveyevo? How will they endure this grief, being attached to you with Divine love, as to a father and shepherd?” Father, seeing my contrition, began to calm me down, but at the same time persistently asked me, a sinner, to turn all my attention to the Diveyevo sisters and organize their community. Feeling incapable, I began to refuse, saying that I had no means for this and did not foresee that I could be useful in anything. Father was very offended by my refusal and told me: “I’m telling you, arrange everything for them according to Bose. Try to imitate Athanasius of Athos 10, as he arranged on Mount Athos, so you organize everything in the Diveyevo community, I ask you to do this.” I bowed, asked for his prayers and said: “If the Lord wills, and through your prayers strengthens my strength, and gives me reason and means, then I will use all my strength to be useful for orphans.” Father humbly consoled me, began again to remind me of his death, saying that his life was shortening, and with these words he handed me a bunch of candles, ordering me to take 11 of them. Due to my inattention, this time I did not understand the meaning of these 11 candles he gave me, and I took 9. Father Seraphim, noticing this, said: “Take the count to 11.” After 2 months, he gave me 9 suppositories and with the same words: “My life is shortening, I am very weak.” Then after 3 months he gave 6 suppositories, after another 3 months - 3 suppositories. After another 2 months, Father gave me one candle. And he told me directly about his death and illness, especially in his legs, saying that if it were not for the help of the Lord and the Queen of Heaven, then it would not be humanly possible to endure this suffering. And again he repeated his request that I not leave the Diveevskys. Finally, a week before his death, I was in his cell, at which time many candles were burning on his coffin, which he had arranged for himself and which was always with his cell. He pointed me to one small candle, ordered me to put it out and take it for myself. Then, having given me many instructions, he began to say goodbye to me and, having decisively set the day of his death, ordered me to endure everything after myself for the sake of the Lord. And under no circumstances should I leave the Diveyevo family, I would certainly arrange their lives and, as a sacred duty, placing this on me, I demanded that I not, out of any regret, abandon this obedience he entrusted to me. And at this will he was very sad. The last day of my conversation with him was in church, on the eve of his death. Father communed every Sunday at early mass in the hospital church. And at least an hour, and sometimes two, before mass, he came to church and always sat on the floor in a corner on the right wing to rest. Knowing this, I myself always hurried to church early in order to take advantage of his edification before mass. Father was very happy. Seeing me, he got up from the floor, hugged me and kissed my head, began to sit me down next to him and said to me: “My beloved, you have come to the poor Seraphim!” I fell at his feet and asked for his blessings and prayers. Having blessed me, Father began to tell me that I should not leave Sarov under any circumstances, should not go anywhere and adhere to my father’s traditions, which he had told me before. And thus he did not cease to exhort me until mass began. As this conversation continued, I cried inconsolably and asked for his prayers. Father took me by the hand and led me to the local images of the Savior and the Mother of God, telling me, pointing to them: “I will pray to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother, so that your faith does not fail, and that all my words that I just spoke to you will be imprinted in your heart.” Then mass began, and Father said to me: “Well, now forgive me, my beloved, I’m already letting you go completely. I will go to the altar." I also followed him in. Father began to say goodbye to the serving hieromonk and, seeing me, bowed to the ground and repeated his previous wills. The next morning, January 2, during early mass, someone ran into the church and asked for Father Paul, Father’s cell attendant 11 . This surprised me, knowing that Father never demanded it. I ask what the reason is and what they are looking for. Pavel. They tell me that Father Seraphim has a fire in his cell. It must be said that the cell attendant Pavel always begged Father not to light too many candles in the cell, because a fire could easily occur from a great fire, especially since the whole cell was littered with various rubbish. To which Father Seraphim reassured him, always saying: “Until my dormition there will be no fire in my cell.” Hearing that Father’s cell was on fire, I entrusted the wing to another elder, and I myself rushed to run to Father. Having come running, I find Father Seraphim with Father Paul and three other brothers in the cell, who, having broken the door, were extinguishing the fire, which actually came from burnt-out candles stuck to the table, from which the canvas and some books caught fire. Running into the cell, I looked where Father was, and saw him kneeling in front of the icon of the Mother of God with his eyes closed and his hands folded in a cross. It was not covered with smoke, which, after the doors were broken, was more abundant in the entryway than in the cell, which is why it seemed to me that Father, probably out of great devotion to God, was in such a feat of prayer that he did not even feel what was happening in his cell, which is why for a long time he did not dare to break his prayer. Finally I dared to say to him: “Father! You didn’t feel like you might get burned.” But when there was no answer, I decided to approach him. And then with the greatest sorrow I became convinced that his farewell to me yesterday was not in vain - our great Elder was no longer with us, his holy soul flew to his Lord, to one of those eternal abodes that he was honored to see during his lifetime. Taking the deceased Father in my arms in Bose, I washed his body with tears and finally carried him out into the yard. Father Abbot first thought it was a fainting spell, but later he himself became convinced that our monastery had lost a pillar. His body was in the church for 9 days, and not only during this time were there any changes, but, on the contrary, he seemed to everyone to be simply resting. For his funeral, the gathering was so large that not a single room in the hotel was free, and in some rooms several families were accommodated together due to lack of accommodation. The body of this ascetic of God was laid next to the cold cathedral, on the right side, with schemamonk Mark 12. This is how this embellished virtuous Elder ended his life. This was a living example for all monastics. His fasting life, meekness and patience, high humility, condescension to everyone, self-mortification and prayerful feats were incredible. He was an Angel on earth! There is no doubt that, standing at the Throne of God, out of his great love, which he had for everyone during his life, he transferred him to the Mountain Monastery, where he now intercedes for all people. Life of Elder Seraphim (modern version) People did not yet know with what joy the Lord visited His earth, but the Angels rejoiced, for a fiery man similar to them appeared on earth - Seraphim. The Lord chose the city of Kursk in the Russian land as his birthplace, and his parents were the merchant Isidor Moshnin and his wife Agathia. All his life Isidore was engaged in the construction of stone buildings, he built many churches of God, and in his declining days he undertook the construction of a church in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh. And while he was working on the construction of this church, the Lord delighted him with great joy, giving him a son, a wondrous baby, whom he named Prokhor, in honor of St. apostle Ten years after the construction of the church began, in 1762, when the lower church in the name of St. Sergius, the measure of life of the merchant Isidore was fulfilled and he went to the Lord, leaving Prokhor as a three-year-old baby in the arms of his mother. The God-loving widow Agathia continued her husband’s work in the construction of the Sergius Church, the upper church of which was consecrated in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. She herself oversaw all the work, working with zeal and prayer for the Lord. Not only with book words, but with her whole life, pleasing to God, she taught her son piety, and purity, and the fear of God. And the grace of God was on the baby, protecting him from an early age. One day his mother took him with her to the construction of the Sergius Church; A 7-year-old boy climbed with her to the very top of the bell tower, stumbled and fell from a height to the ground. The mother no longer thought of seeing her son alive, but when she went downstairs, the boy was standing on the ground, safe and sound. Everyone marveled at his miraculous salvation and saw the hand of God on him. One holy fool, who lived in that city, said to Agathia: “Blessed are you, widow, having this child, for it will be a strong representative before the Holy Trinity and an ardent prayer book for the whole world.” The word of that man was fulfilled, and the boy grew up, overshadowed by the glory of God. He already understood reading and writing and had great zeal for reading Scripture, when suddenly his teaching had to be interrupted: an unexpected illness chained him to his bed, and there was no longer any hope for his recovery. At this time, the Queen of Heaven appeared to the sick youth in a dream vision and promised to visit him and grant him healing. Prokhor told his mother about that dream, and both began to expect its fulfillment with faith. At that time, the miraculous icon of the Sign of the Mother of God, called the “Root”, was carried in a religious procession through the city of Kursk, for it was revealed at the root of a tree. When they carried the icon along Sergievskaya Street, where Agafia lived, a thunderstorm broke out near her house, and they brought the icon into Agafia’s courtyard. She immediately brought out her sick son, placed him next to the icon of the Mother of God, and the holy icon was carried over the boy. From that hour the boy arose from his sick bed and was soon completely healed, Miraculously raised by the Mother of God, the youth Prokhor continued his teaching with even greater zeal. Every day he read the Book of Hours and the Psalter, the Bible, the lives of saints and other spiritual books - his heart was not attached to anything worldly, but only to God. Most of all, he loved a constant stay in the church, unceasing prayer and, in hours of solitude, incessant meditation on God. He also loved to gather children, his peers, to his place, talk with them about God and read spiritual books together. And the children loved the wonderful youth and eagerly came to listen to him, because he was always cheerful and joyful. Prokhor had an older brother and sister. Brother Alexey had his own shop in Kursk; he began to accustom his young brother to trading as he began to grow up. Prokhor could no longer, as before, attend liturgy and vespers every day, because he had to spend the whole day in the shop, helping his brother. But he did not become despondent because of this: he got up at dawn, and in winter even before light, and went to church to pray for Matins; on holidays and Sundays he continued to diligently engage in spiritual reading. Through prayer and reading, the young man’s heart became more and more attuned to spiritual wakefulness, his eyes were opened to spiritual vision, and his spirit flared up with Divine fire. In the midst of the vain world, he began to walk as if in the realm of paradise; when his eye saw any worldly thing, his mind contemplated spiritual truth in it, and from everything worldly that was entrusted to him, he collected heavenly treasure. In buying and selling and in the acquisition of earthly goods, he saw images of human life, through which the Lord arranges the work of our salvation. In adulthood and even until his death, he loved to remember these images and in conversations tell everything that was revealed to him through them in that short time, when as a young man he served as a clerk for his brother. At that time of his youth, when his spirit grew and became stronger in standing before God, the Lord sent him as an interlocutor that same holy fool who had long ago predicted to his mother about him. This man of God became his friend and adviser, greatly contributing to Prokhor’s heartfelt desire to give his whole life to serving the Lord and devote it to monastic deeds. In this endeavor, the young man Prokhor did not hide either from his mother or from his peers - a lit candle could not hide its light, and the flame ascending like a pillar of fire from his heart could not be invisible. The mother knew about her son’s cherished desire and did not resist him, getting used to the thought of being separated from him. His peers also knew where his heart lay, for he did not avoid conversations with them about it. The Sarov desert shone for many miles around. Its fame reached Kursk - there were many Kursk people in it; the abbot of Sarov himself, Father Pachomius, was one of them. For many years the young man Prokhor listened to stories about that desert, and for many years he rushed to it in spirit. The time had come, and Prokhor asked his mother for blessings on his monastic journey. His mother blessed him with a copper cross with a Crucifix, and Prokhor decided to wear that cross openly on his chest and never parted with it until his death. Young Prokhor was attracted to the Sarov desert, but he wanted to first test his decision about choosing a place for his exploits. To do this, he went to Kyiv to pray in the Pechersk Lavra - the cradle of Russian monasticism - at the holy relics of the first Russian monks Anthony and Theodosius, and then receive instruction, blessing and direction from some elder experienced in spiritual life. His friends also went with him. In Kyiv, Prokhor learned about one wondrous ascetic, Elder Dositheus, who was fleeing in the Kitaevskaya Hermitage, about 10 miles from the Lavra, and he went to him for advice. Seeing the young man and seeing in him the chosen one of God, the elder approved his intention to accept monasticism and pointed him to the Sarov hermitage as the place of his exploits. “Come, child of God, and remain there,” he said to the young man, “this place will be your salvation; with God’s help you will end your earthly wandering there; just try to acquire unceasing memory of God by constantly calling on the name of God, and the Holy Spirit will dwell in you and guide your life in holiness.” With great joy, the young man returned to Kursk and spent a short time here with his mother and relatives. From time to time he went to his brother’s shop and held conversations there with those who came to talk with him, learn about holy places and listen to readings. He no longer engaged in trade, having renounced his part of the inheritance. When his hour came, he took the knapsack on his shoulders and the staff in his hands and, with his mother’s blessing, hurried to where the perspicacious Dosifei had shown him to go. He was 19 years old at that time. Two of his friends who went with him to Kyiv also agreed to go with him; the other two had left earlier. It was the evening before the feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Church, November 20, 1778, when Prokhor entered the Sarov monastery. The monastery stood far from major roads and passageways; The path to her through dense forests was long and difficult. The builder in Sarov at that time was Elder Pachomius, a monk of a holy and godly life. Originally from Kursk, he knew Prokhor's parents in his youth and rejoiced when he saw their son at the gates of the monastery. Seeing in him a true desire for monasticism, he lovingly accepted him, assigned him to the number of novices and entrusted him to the leadership of Hieromonk Joseph, the treasurer of the monastery. At first, Prokhor was in cell obedience to Fr. Joseph. With zeal he fulfilled both his obedience and all the monastery rules and regulations and was soon appointed first to the bread shop, then to the prosper maker, and then to the carpenter. He served as a carpenter for several years, carving cypress crosses and making crosses for graves. His zeal was so great and his skill so skillful that he was given the nickname Prokhor the Carpenter. He was physically strong and in good health, and therefore performed common work for all the brethren - he prepared firewood for the monastery, cut down forest and, together with the brethren, floated it down the river. During these obediences or cell handicrafts, the Jesus Prayer was constantly on his lips and in his heart: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” Prokhor tried to avoid conversations with the brethren in order to achieve inner peace through external silence. Combining prayer with labor, he carried on an incessant conversation with the Lord Himself. His spirit enjoyed and was nourished by the warmth of God’s grace and his heart was warmed. After his obedience in the carpentry, he was made an alarm worker, and after that he was transferred to the sexton's obedience. He arrived at church services before everyone else and was the last to leave, shedding springs of tears during the service. He always stood motionless in a certain place, with his eyes downcast, accompanying the audible singing and reading with mental prayer. Outside of church prayer, in his cell, he followed the rule laid down for every hour of the day and night by St. Pachomius the Great 13. This is the rule, according to the commandment of the St. Angel. Pachomius was to be performed twelve times during the day and twelve at night. According to the instructions of Elder Joseph, Prokhor followed this rule from the very moment he entered the Sarov Hermitage. After completing the rule, if there was no needlework, he would read. He mainly read the Gospel. Apostolic Epistles and Psalms, and then the works of the Holy Fathers: Basil the Great, Macarius the Great, Rev. John Climacus, the Fourth Menaion of Demetrius of Rostov, etc. He read, always standing in front of the icons, in a prayerful position and called it a vigil. He always performed this vigil in solitude so that his entire mind would be deepened in the truths of Scripture and receive warmth from it. From the very moment he entered the monastery, Prokhor observed extreme abstinence in food, but did not exhaust his body to the point that it lost the ability to be a friend and helper to the soul. He took food once a day, and on Wednesday and Friday he went without food at all. I slept 4 hours at night - 10th, 11th, 12th and an hour after midnight. Seeing such his exploits and labors, the initial elders of the monastery, Pachomius and Joseph, rejoiced over him and honored him with special trust, rare in monastic life for a new novice, such as Prokhor was then. They not only cared diligently about what was good for his soul, but also did not hide anything from him. When they noticed Prokhor’s ever-increasing jealousy for solitary and silent stays, they blessed him to leave the monastery and retire to the forest during his free hours from obedience. At that time, many ascetics took refuge in the deep Sarov forest: Abbot Nazarius, Hieromonk Dorofey, Schemamonk Mark, and others. Having also desired with all his heart a desert life, young Prokhor chose a secluded place in the forest, built himself a hut and in it, as if in the desert, he indulged in prayer and contemplation of God. The enemy became jealous of the young novice’s pure life and began to tempt him with sadness and boredom, despondency and cowardice. Boredom especially attacked the monk around noon, and the devil instilled in him thoughts of getting out of the desert and talking to someone, imagining that there was no other way to get rid of boredom than by talking with others, or to entertain his mind during prayer and reading in order to make him idle and fruitless. When the devil failed, he tried to make him despondent, filling his entire soul with unaccountable and painful suffering. But when even this failed to weaken him, the devil then sent the demon of cowardice upon him, thereby trying to separate him from God and lead him into frenzy. But the more the enemy rebelled, the stronger the battle Prokhor raised against him and the more fiery his spirit became. And the enemy departed from the holy monk, who labored with unceasing prayer and fasting. In order to further strengthen the spirit of His righteous man, the Lord subjected his flesh to a severe test and allowed it to be attacked by a severe disease called dropsy. Prokhor suffered for three years, first struggling on his feet, and then lying down on his bed. His body became swollen and lost movement. But no one heard a single word of murmur from him. Only the words of prayer whispered from his lips, and he watered his bed with abundant tears. It seemed to him that the Lord had sent this illness for his deeds, so that through it his human passions would weaken. And no longer being able to force his body to bow, he tried to endure his illness with patience and gratitude, so that it would be imputed to him instead of a feat. The builder of the monastery, Fr. Pachomius, and Fr. Joseph, his spiritual leader, served him as a novice. The Sarov elders saw with fear that Prokhor’s illness was getting worse, and, fearing for his life, they suggested calling a doctor. But Prochorus, placing all his trust in the Lord and His Most Pure Mother, answered them: “I have given myself to the true Physician of souls and bodies, our Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother; if your love judges, provide me, the poor one, for the Lord’s sake, with Heavenly Medicine,” and asked him to partake of the Holy Mysteries. Then the elders abandoned the idea of ​​​​help from earthly doctors. ABOUT. Joseph served an all-night vigil and liturgy for the health of the sick man, and all the brethren gathered in church to pray for him. Then Prokhor was confessed and received Holy Communion, which was brought to his cell to his bed. After receiving communion, the sick man was granted a miraculous vision. The Queen of Heaven, who miraculously healed him in early childhood and brought him on the eve of the Feast of Her Entry into the church at the holy Sarov monastery, heard the prayers of Her faithful servant, who placed all his trust in Her, and She herself came to heal him again. In an indescribable light She appeared with the apostles Peter and John the Theologian and, pointing out to the apostle. John to the sick man, said: “This one is of Our kind.” Then She put her right hand on his head, and in her left hand she held a rod and with this rod touched Prokhor’s right thigh; a depression appeared in that place, and all the water flowed out. After this vision, his health began to quickly improve, and the brethren were amazed at this, knowing nothing about the miraculous phenomenon. The place of that phenomenon became forever for the saint. Seraphim is memorable. When the cell in which he lay was demolished and work began on building a monastery hospital in its place with a church attached to it, Prokhor took upon himself a new obedience - collecting donations for the construction of the church - and set off to wander around Russia. He visited many cities at that time, visited his native city of Kursk, visited the grave of his mother and saw his brother Alexei, from whom he accepted alms for the church. And then, during a meeting with his brother, the 22-year-old ascetic showed the gift of foresight, revealing to his brother the time of his death. Returning to his monastery, Prokhor with his own hands made for the hospital church in the name of St. Zosima and Savvatiya throne made of cypress wood. He loved to visit this church most of all until the end of his days, and he always received Holy Communion there, remembering his miraculous healing and the appearance of the Queen of Heaven in this place. Eight years had passed since Prokhor entered the Sarov monastery, and he was already 27 years old. He was tall and had a very courageous build. He had a white face, a straight and sharp nose, light blue eyes under thick eyebrows, a penetrating gaze, light brown hair, a long and thick mustache and a thick, thick beard. He had a bright mind, a sharp memory, a merciful heart, a strong will and a living and abundant gift of speech, and a speech so effective that his listeners always received spiritual benefit from it. He was loved by everyone in the monastery and revered by everyone, especially by the builder of the monastery, Fr. Pachomius, who loved him as his soul. When I saw Fr. Pachomius, that Prokhor had passed the worthy test of obedience and the time had come for him to take a monastic vow, he tonsured him on August 13, 1786 and gave him the name Seraphim 14. His successors were the elders Joseph and Isaiah. In October of the same year he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon and from the day of his ordination for 6 years and 10 months he was always in ministry. Without him o. Pachomius did not perform a single service. The night before the service of St. Seraphim spent time in vigil and prayer, and at the end of each service he remained in the church for a long time, putting in order the sacred utensils and the sacristy. The Lord, seeing his zeal, gave him extraordinary strength, so that he did not feel any work and, going to his cell for a short rest during the day, regretted that a person could not continuously, like the Angels, serve God. At the same time, he was always cheerful. “Cheerfulness,” he said, “drives away fatigue, but fatigue can cause despondency, and there is nothing worse than it. It brings everything with it.” Therefore, he was always cheerful, even in the church choir; when the brethren were tired and despondency attacked them, so that even the singing did not go well, he encouraged them with cheerful and affectionate words, and they ceased to feel tired. “After all, it’s not right to say anything bad, or to do something bad, and it’s not proper in the church of God, but to say a kind, friendly and cheerful word, so that everyone’s spirit is always cheerful before the Face of the Lord, and not despondent, is not at all a sin,” he said. And in such unceasing grace-filled joy and spiritual joy he went through his deaconic feat. Often during the service he saw Angels concelebrating and singing with the brethren. They had the appearance of lightning-shaped youths, dressed in white and gold-woven clothes, and their singing was like nothing on earth. And Seraphim’s heart melted like wax from indescribable joy. “I didn’t remember anything from such joy,” he said, “I only remembered how I entered St. the church and came out of it.” One day he was privileged to see the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, which he later described as follows: “It happened to me to serve with Fr. Pachomius on Holy and Great Thursday. The Divine Liturgy began at two o'clock in the afternoon, and usually in the evening. After the small entrance and paremias, I, a poor man, cried out at the royal gates: “Lord, save the pious and hear us...” and, entering the royal gates, I pointed the orarem at those present and proclaimed: “... and forever and ever.” Suddenly a ray of sunshine illuminated me. Looking at the radiance, I saw the Lord our God Jesus Christ in the form of the Son of Man in glory, shining with indescribable light and surrounded, as if by a swarm of bees, by heavenly forces: Angels, Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim. From the western church gates He walked through the air, stopped opposite the pulpit and, raising His hands, blessed the servants and those praying. Then He, having entered His local image, which was near the royal doors, was transformed, surrounded by angelic faces, shining with an indescribable light throughout the entire church. But I, earth and ashes, having met the Lord Jesus Christ in the air, received a special blessing from Him. My heart then rejoiced purely, enlightened, in the sweetness of love for the Lord.” From this vision Fr. Seraphim instantly changed his appearance and could not leave his place or utter a word. Two hierodeacons immediately approached and took the Rev. Seraphim's arms and they led him into the altar. He stood there motionless for about two hours. His face changed every minute: either it was covered with whiteness, like snow, or a blush shimmered on it. And for a long time he could not say anything, contemplating in his soul the wondrous visitation of the Lord. Only after some time did he tell the elders Pachomius and Joseph about his vision. Protected by God's grace, the righteous Seraphim ascended from strength to strength, and he turned 34 years old. Seeing his exploits and works, Fr. Pachomius asked for the blessing of the diocesan authorities and elevated Hierodeacon Seraphim to the rank of hieromonk. In this rank Fr. Seraphim continuously continued his priestly service, receiving the Holy Mysteries daily. A year after its dedication, the Sarov Hermitage lost its builder, Fr. Pachomius, who called Fr. Seraphim, his devoted disciple, and said to him: “I grieve for the sisters of the Diveyevo community 15, who will oversee them after me?” At the request of the dying Rev. Seraphim took charge of the Diveyevo sisters and promised to take care of them. Having buried his elder, Rev. Seraphim, two weeks after his death, asked the new builder, Hieromonk Isaiah, for a blessing to live in the desert. The eve of the Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Church has arrived. On this day, sixteen years ago, the Queen of Heaven led the Reverend into the monastery, and now She led Her chosen one to another, solitary feat, into the depths of the desert, where, according to the saints. Basil the Great, the incense of perfect mortification and the censer of unceasing prayer are ascended. The Desert Cell, or the Far Hermitage, as St. Petersburg liked to call it. Seraphim's new home was a wooden hut, consisting of a stove, a canopy and a porch; it was bordered by a small fenced garden, in which Rev. Seraphim planted potatoes, beets and onions; There was also a bee colony he introduced nearby. This cell stood in a remote pine forest, on the banks of the Sarovka River, on a high hill, 5-6 versts from the monastery; this whole place is rev. Seraphim called Mount Athos. The hill on which the Rev. settled. Seraphim, was surrounded by other hills, and on one side ended in a steep cliff. The monk gave all these surroundings the names of St. places of Palestine so that they vividly remind him of the events of the earthly life of the Savior. He loved to go to all these places at the hours corresponding to the events and, feeling the presence of the Lord Himself, there he devoted himself to contemplation and prayer. In his mental Nazareth, in memory of the Annunciation by the Archangel to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he sang an akathist; in his Bethlehem cave, he contemplated with his intelligent eyes the Eternal Child, worshiped Him with the shepherds and, together with the heavenly powers, sang: “Glory to God in the highest.” He liked to read the Sermon on the Mount on one elevated hill near the river. He often went downhill to the river, “to the half of the Kidron stream,” and there he recalled the farewell conversations of the Lord with his disciples. He read the third, sixth and ninth hours in a remote, secluded place, which he called Golgotha, where he mentally saw the Lord the Savior nailed to the cross. He had both the city of Jerusalem and his own Tabor. While in his cell, Rev. Seraphim performed the monastic rule every day according to the order of strict desert dwellers. Around midnight he got up from sleep and followed the rule of Rev. Pachomius the Great, read the morning prayers, sang the Midnight Office and Matins, and read the first hour. When the ninth hour of the morning arrived, he began to read the third, sixth and ninth hours and the subsequent pictorial ones. In the evening I read Vespers and Little Compline; When night fell, he performed the monastic rule with prayers for the coming sleep. Often, instead of the evening rule, the monk made a thousand bows at a time. In addition, he sang psalms, first according to the rule of Pachomius the Great, and then according to the rite, which he himself compiled and known as the “cell rule of Fr. Seraphim" 16. In addition to the prayer of Rev. Seraphim diligently read the Holy Scriptures and especially the Gospel, which he always carried with him. Reading of Holy Scripture by Fr. Seraphim considered it an extremely important matter in spiritual improvement and called it “supplying the soul.” “It is very useful,” said the monk, “to read the Word of God in solitude, to read the entire Bible intelligently.” One must “train oneself in such a way that the mind seems to float in the Law of the Lord, according to the guidance of which one must organize one’s life.” Part of his time Rev. Seraphim devoted himself to physical labor: he worked in the garden, in the bee yard, and chopped wood in the forest. On the eve of Sundays and holidays, Fr. Seraphim came to the monastery, listened to vespers and the all-night vigil, received Holy Communion at the early liturgy in the hospital church of St. Zosima and Savvaty, and then, taking with him bread for a week, he retired to his hermitage. With this supply of bread, St. the hermit shared with various inhabitants of the Sarov forest - animals and birds who gathered at his cell. “At midnight,” says the novice Joasaph, “bears, wolves, hares and foxes and various animals in general gathered at his cell; Even snakes, lizards and other reptiles crawled up. The ascetic left the cell and began to feed them.” A witness to this spectacle, Sarov desert monk Fr. Alexander asked St. with surprise. Seraphim, how he gets bread for so many animals, to which the monk answered him that he always has as much bread in his basket as is needed to feed them. More than once they saw how the monk fed from his hands a huge bear, which carried out his orders and served him. And the saint’s face was especially wonderful then; bright and joyful, like an Angel. Abstinence and fasting Rev. Seraphim reached the greatest degree. Already before his death, in a conversation with one Diveyevo sister, the monk reported that for these three years he ate only the herb snyta: “I prepared food for myself from snitka 17. Do you know Snitka? I tore it up, put it in a pot, and if you pour a little water into it, it turns out to be a nice dish. For the winter, I dried the snitka and ate that alone, and the brethren were surprised at what I ate. And I ate the snitka... And I didn’t reveal this to the brethren.” The monks who wanted to live in the desert with him, Rev. Seraphim did not drive him away, but accepted him kindly and blessed him for the feat; however, not one of them could bear the hardships of this feat, and everyone returned back to the monastery. The monk himself was reluctant to give his blessing to retire into the desert, and especially to settle alone, but advised two or better three like-minded brothers to go off on exploits together, knowing from his own experience what difficult trials and temptations from the enemy one had to endure in solitude. “Those who live in a monastery,” said the monk, “fight against opposing forces like doves, and those living in the desert fight like lions and leopards.” And indeed, the enemy attacked him with such terrible force that sometimes he heard the howling of animals, noise, roaring, and laughter outside the walls of his cell. One day the doorposts were broken and a ridge of wood fell at the feet of the praying ascetic, so large and heavy that eight people could hardly carry it. The devil repeatedly lifted him into the air and, shaking him, hit the ground with force. “Similar temptations of the devil,” said Fr. Seraphim, “are like a cobweb: you just have to blow on it, and it will be destroyed, and so it is on the enemy of the devil: you just have to protect yourself with the sign of the cross - and all his intrigues disappear completely.” Subsequently, to the question of one layman: “Father! Have you seen evil spirits, what they are like? - the monk replied: “They are vile.” The enemy especially took up arms against Rev. Seraphim after the humble ascetic refused the honorary position of abbot of one monastery. He imposed on the monk one of the greatest tests - mental warfare - and supported it with bitterness. In this difficult situation, when the soul is plunged into despondency from terrible blasphemous thoughts, Rev. Seraphim cried out day and night to the Lord Jesus Christ and to His Most Pure Mother, and through unceasing prayer and great labor of the flesh, the mental warfare subsided. The spiritual suffering of the saint was not enough for the devil; he subjected the righteous man to physical sorrow, sending evil people with weapons against him. It was September 12, 1804, in the eleventh year of his desert life and in the 45th year of his life. While he was chopping wood, three people came to him and, threatening him with death, began to demand money. Rev. Seraphim, although he still had great bodily strength at that time, lowered the ax to the ground and said to them: “Do what you need.” Then the villains threw him to the ground, hitting him on the head with the butt of an ax with such force that blood gushed out of the old man’s mouth and ears, then they tied his hands and but there and, having finished him, as it seemed to them, to death, they rushed to the cell, thinking to find riches in it. But they found nothing in the cell except the icon and some potatoes and ran away in horror. After some time, Rev. Seraphim came to his senses and, with difficulty untying his arms and legs, thanked the Lord for being able to suffer innocently. The next morning, with great difficulty, he reached the monastery. The brethren, seeing Fr. Seraphima, in this position, was horrified and deeply saddened. The first eight days of Rev. Seraphim suffered greatly; Concerned about this, the rector, Fr. Isaiah sent for doctors to Arzamas. While the assembled doctors were conferring among themselves in his cell, the Monk Seraphim fell asleep and in a subtle sleep was rewarded with a wondrous vision. As in his first illness, the Queen of Heaven appeared to him in royal purple, accompanied by the apostles Peter and John the Theologian, and, approaching the sick man’s bed from the right side, she said towards the doctors: “Why are you toiling?”, and then, looking at the ascetic, she said: “This one is of Our kind.” When Fr. Seraphim woke up, then, to the considerable surprise of those around him, he rejected all medical help, asking to leave his life to the will of the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos. The doctors left, but the Monk Seraphim was filled with indescribable joy from this wondrous visit. After some time, having returned to his normal state, he felt relief from his illness and in the evening he ate food. But he stayed in the monastery for about five more months, until he again felt capable of further going through the desert life. After beatings and illness, Fr. Seraphim became a completely bent old man and began to walk, leaning on a stick or an ax. The abbot and the brethren urged him to stay in the monastery, but they could not persuade him. O. Seraphim asked for the blessing of the builder Isaiah and returned to his former desert cell. Meanwhile, the villains who beat him were also found. Having learned about this, Rev. Seraphim interceded for their forgiveness, which was fulfilled. They, not punished by human judgment, came to Fr. with tears of repentance. Seraphim to ask him for forgiveness and prayers. Returning to his desert, Rev. Seraphim ascended to a new level of spiritual asceticism, intensifying his feat of prayer to the level of pillar mongering. Halfway from the monastery to his cell lay a large granite stone. In the evening, at sunset, the ascetic left his deserted cell and came to this stone to pray. Standing on it until dawn with his hands raised to the sky, he repeated the words of the publican: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” When the night passed and the morning came, Fr. Seraphim returned to his cell and in it, in order to equalize the night's exploits with the day's ones, stood on another small stone and left prayer only for the rare eating of food. This prayer lasted 1000 days and 1000 nights, during which there was a struggle between the ascetic and the prince of darkness, invisible to the world. Only at the end of his days did the monk reveal his secret to some monks. One of them, amazed at such a feat, said that it was beyond human strength. To this o. Seraphim answered with humility: “St. Simeon the Stylite stood on the pillar for forty-seven years, but are my labors similar to his exploits? - “But, of course, you felt the help of strengthening grace?” - asked the monk. “Yes,” said the wondrous old man, “otherwise human strength would not be enough. I was internally strengthened and consoled by that heavenly gift that descends from above from the Father of Lights... When there is tenderness in the heart,” he continued after some silence, “then God is with us.” At the end of 1807, deep sorrow struck the heart of Fr. Seraphim: his confessor, father and boss, Elder Isaiah, who had such love for Fr. Seraphim, that, due to illness, not being able to walk five miles to his cell and not wanting to distract him from living in the desert, he sometimes asked the brethren to bring him in a cart to the ascetic’s cell to talk with him. In the person of Elder Isaiah, the last spiritual leader of the Rev., his successor and spiritual friend, passed away. Fr. Seraphim considered him a great ascetic and called him, like his previous leaders, Fr. Pachomius and Josephus, “a pillar of fire from earth to heaven.” About the repose of his elders, Fr. Seraphim prayed fervently and often went to their graves to venerate their sacred ashes, saying to himself: “Forgive me, holy fathers, and pray for me.” And he inspired others to pray for them. After the death of Elder Isaiah, Rev. Seraphim took upon himself a new subset of silence and remained in it, as in the feat of pillar-bearing, for three years. “Most of all you should adorn yourself with silence,” he later taught, “that’s what St. Ambrose of Milan says: I have seen many saved by silence, but not a single one by many words. And again, one of the fathers says: silence is the sacrament of the future age, but the words of the instrument are the essence of this world.” Having taken on this feat, the elder no longer went out to visitors. When he accidentally met someone in the forest, he fell on his face and did not get up until the person he met passed by. Due to illness in his legs, he could no longer visit the monastery, and food was brought to him on Sundays by a single monk, whom the elder met with his arms folded crosswise on his chest and his head bowed down, and dismissed him without looking at him or uttering a single word. This feat consisted not only in external abstinence of the tongue, but in the silence of the mind, in the renunciation of all worldly thoughts and the complete concentration of the mind in God, immersion in Him and dedication to Him of all one’s thoughts and feelings. “Perfect silence,” said Fr. Seraphim, is the cross on which a person must crucify himself with all his passions and lusts. He who has come into silence must constantly remember why he came, so that his heart does not deviate towards anything else.” When many of the brethren regretted the elder’s removal from communication with them, thereby depriving them of his guidance and advice, the monk responded with the words of the Holy Fathers: ““The idleness of silence is preferable to feeding the hungry in the world,” said the saint. Isaac the Syrian. And St. Gregory the Theologian said: “It is wonderful to do theology for God, but it is best if a person purifies himself for God.” Subsequently, he also said: “Silence brings a person closer to God and makes him, as it were, an earthly angel. You just sit in your cell in attention and silence and try by all means to bring yourself closer to the Lord, and the Lord is ready to turn you from a man into an angel.” “Nothing contributes more to the acquisition of inner peace than silence.” But silence was not the last feat of the elder. Having received great perfection through him and without stopping it, St. Seraphim moved on to the highest asceticism, called the retreat. Since the death of Elder Isaiah, St. Seraphim, having imposed on himself the feat of silence, lived hopelessly in his hermitage, and some of the brethren were tempted by the fact that it was unknown who was communing him with the Holy Mysteries. Then the new builder of the monastery, Fr. Nifont, convened a council of senior hieromonks, and they decided to propose Fr. Seraphim, due to his leg illness and the inability to go to the monastery on Sundays and holidays for communion of the Holy Mysteries, should move to live in a monastery cell. The monk who brought food to St. Seraphim, conveyed to him the decision of the Sarov Cathedral, which the elder listened to silently. When repeating this sentence the following Sunday, Rev. Seraphim blessed his brother and went with him to the monastery. It was May 8, 1810, after a 15-year stay of Fr. Seraphim in the distant desert, in the 51st year of his life. Once again the Sarov monastery saw its prayer book, the hermit and the silent and the great ascetic, Rev. Seraphim. Having entered the monastery gates and without entering his cell, the monk went straight to the hospital, and from there to the all-night vigil in the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God. The next day he received Holy Communion in his beloved hospital church, built on the site of the appearance of the Mother of God to him, and went to the rector, Fr. Nifont, accept his blessing for a new feat. After this, he went to his former cell and shut himself up in it. Life in seclusion began. His cell was narrow, cramped - 5 square meters. arshin. Its two small windows looked out onto the ravine. A bag of sand and stones served as a bed, and a stump of a stump served as a seat. A pile of firewood lay in front of the stove, which was never lit. For myself o. Seraphim did not use fire, and only in front of the icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness,” which he called “Joy of All Joys,” did an unquenchable lamp burn. In the narrow vestibule adjacent to the cell, there stood an unpainted oak coffin, knocked together by the monk for himself, near which he often prayed, remembering the hour of death. The monk's clothes were invariably the same white canvas robe and a black painted cap. On his chest hung a copper crucifix, his mother’s blessing, and on his shoulders under his robe he wore a large five-versch iron cross supported by ropes for mortification. He never wore chains or hair shirts and later told those who asked him about the benefits of wearing chains: “Whoever offends us in word or deed, and if we bear insults in the gospel way, here are our chains, here is the hair shirt.” In deep secrecy and silence the monk accomplished his arduous feat. He didn’t accept anyone and didn’t go anywhere himself. When his cell neighbor, who was entrusted with obedience to deliver food to him, brought it and placed it at the door, Fr. Seraphim covered himself with a large cloth so that no one could see him, opened the door and on his knees accepted food from his brother, without uttering a single word. “Words are the instrument of this world, but silence is the sacrament of the future century,” and the soul of the saint desired this sacrament while still on earth. No one knew how his life went in seclusion, and he told about it only at the end of his days. Most of all, he revealed this to novice Ivan Tikhonovich (later Hieromonk Joasaph). From him we know about the saint’s prayerful labors in seclusion and about the wondrous visions that he received at that time. Just like in the desert, oh. Seraphim performed all daily services, except for the liturgy, and fulfilled his cell rule. The rest of the time he indulged in the feat of mental prayer, alternately saying the Jesus Prayer and the Theotokos Prayer. The monk considered the Jesus Prayer to be a lamp for our paths and a guiding star to Heaven. Fr. also worked with great jealousy. Seraphim and reading the Holy Scriptures “in order to give your spirit freedom to ascend to the Heavenly abodes and be nourished by the sweetest conversation with the Lord.” During the week, the monk read the entire New Testament: on Monday - the Gospel of Matthew, on Tuesday - from Mark, on Wednesday - from Luke, on Thursday - from John, on the remaining days he divided the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles. In addition, he read the daily Gospel to the saint every week. While reading Holy Scripture, the ascetic often immersed himself in prolonged contemplation of the Lord with his mind and was rewarded with wondrous visions from Him. So, like ap. Paul, he was honored with an incomprehensible admiration into the heavenly abodes. “Once,” the monk says to the same novice Ivan Tikhonovich, “I delighted in the word of my Lord Jesus Christ, where He says: in the house of My Father are many abodes (John 14:2). At these words of Christ the Savior, I, poor one, stopped and longed to see these Heavenly abodes and prayed to the Lord to show them to me. I spent five days and five nights in vigil and prayer, asking the Lord for the grace of this vision, and the Lord did not deprive me, poor thing, of His mercy. He fulfilled my desire and request: I was caught up in these abodes, but I don’t know with the body or apart from the body - God knows, it’s incomprehensible - and I saw the inscrutable beauty of the paradise villages and those living there.” And the wondrous seer described the bliss of the saints; Forerunner of the Lord John, St. apostles, ecumenical saints - Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, Venerable Anthony the Great, Paul of Thebes, Savva the Sanctified, Onuphrius the Great, Mark of France, etc., the beauty and triumph of St. Fevronia and many other martyrs, shining in indescribable glory and joy. But it is quite possible to tell about the heavenly bliss of the saints, Fr. Seraphim couldn't. “Ah, my joy,” he said, “there is such bliss there that it is impossible to describe. If you knew what sweetness awaits the soul of the righteous in heaven, then you would decide in your temporary life to endure sorrow, persecution and slander with thanksgiving. If this very cell of ours were full of worms and if these worms ate our flesh throughout our entire temporary life, then we would have to agree to this with every desire, so as not to lose that heavenly joy that God has prepared for those who love Him. It’s impossible to tell you about the joy and heavenly sweetness that they taste there.” Talking to the novice, “Fr. Seraphim fell silent, leaned forward, his head drooped down with his eyes closed, and he quietly moved his outstretched right hand against his heart. His face gradually changed and emitted a wonderful light and finally became so illuminated that it was impossible to look at him: on his lips and in his entire expression there was such joy and heavenly delight that one could truly call him at that time an earthly angel and a heavenly man. Throughout his mysterious silence, he seemed to be contemplating something with tenderness and listening with amazement.” After five years of strict seclusion, Rev. Seraphim, by a special revelation known to him alone, loosened his shutter and opened the door of his cell for those who wished to see him. Not paying attention to those who came, the elder continued his spiritual studies and did not answer questions - the period allotted to him by the Lord for silence had not yet ended. And this continued for another five years, during which the monk taught those who came to him with only one example of his silent life. After five years of this feat, the Queen of Heaven appeared to the monk, accompanied by Onuphrius the Great and Peter of Athos, and allowed him to open his mouth to teach and console the pilgrims who came to him. Since then, his silent feat ended, but the elder did not leave his seclusion. From the early liturgy and all day until the evening, those hungry for spiritual food flocked to him, and the heart of the saint did not know the difference between them. He received everyone with the same love, greeted everyone with a bow and a kiss, greeted everyone with the words “Christ is Risen” and called everyone “my joy.” People came to him from all over Russia, and the elder’s cell could not accommodate everyone who wanted to receive his blessing. Then he began to ask the Lord for permission to open the shutter, so that he could go out to people and serve them. And his prayer was heard. After his fifteen-year stay in seclusion, on November 25, 1825, the Mother of God appeared to him again, accompanied by Clement of Rome and Peter of Alexandria - it was their day, and commanded Her beloved chosen one to leave the seclusion and go first to the desert. That same day, after the morning rule, the elder went to the abbot of the monastery and, having received a blessing from him, for the first time during his seclusion he went out into the forest and headed to his distant hermitage, as the Mother of God commanded him. But, before reaching it, about two versts from the monastery, not far from the Theological spring, in the same place where the icon of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian stood on a column, he saw the Lady walking towards him on a hillock, and behind her two apostles - Peter and John the Theologian. The Most Pure One struck the ground with her staff, from which a “spring of bright water appeared”; Having given Her blessing to the waters of the source brought out by Her, the Mother of God gave them the power of healing from illnesses. The Monk Seraphim remained in this place, where the most pure feet of the Queen of Heaven stood, and began to work on the construction and decoration of the wonderful spring. Its water never spoiled, even if it stood in a vessel for a long time, and it gave healing to the sick who drank or washed themselves with it. Rev. Seraphim went to the Sarovka River, collected stones there and carried them to the source, which they began to call Seraphim, and covered it with them on all sides. Seeing the work of the monk, the brethren built him a small cell without windows on the same hill near the spring, in which he could hide from the rain and cold, and this whole place received the name Near Hermitage. In this Near Hermitage, amid tireless mental prayer, the monk worked first near a spring, then in a vegetable garden, which he immediately cultivated, and then chopped wood; Here at work he received those who came to him for advice and help. Sometimes they saw him in the Far Hermitage, where he went for more solitary prayer; They saw him, sitting at his old cell, feeding a huge bear. He walked, leaning on a stick, carrying an ax in his hand, and behind his shoulders a bag filled with sand and stones, on top of which the saint invariably lay. Gospel. When they asked him why he carried such a burden, the monk answered with the words of St. Ephraim the Syrian: “I languish the languishing me.” On top of a white robe, belted with a white towel, the elder covered himself with tanned leather instead of a mantle during rain or heat, and when asked why he dressed so poorly, he answered: “Joasaph the prince considered the mantle given to him by the hermit Barlaam to be higher and more expensive than the royal purple.” And against this righteous man, like those who, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, walked in sheepskins and goatskins, wandering in the deserts, sorrowing, embittered - their world was not worthy (Heb. 11: 37-38), some of the monastic brethren launched persecution, looking at his feat with secret envy. It seemed tempting to them that the monk, leaving the seclusion and leaving his cell, did not go to church. As a result of their denunciations, an order came from Tambov, from the diocesan bishop, that Fr. Seraphim was no longer brought the Holy Gifts to his cell, but that he himself came to the church to receive the Holy Mysteries. St. accepted with humility. The elder ordered the bishop and said: “Even if I had to crawl on my knees to fulfill obedience, I still will not leave myself to partake of the life-giving Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ.” Since then Rev. Seraphim began to go to the hospital church for communion on all Sundays and holidays. This circumstance only contributed to attracting more and more zealous people to St. to the old man. The small hospital church could not accommodate all the pilgrims on the day of communion. Seraphim, and most of the people stood outside the church, waiting for his exit. On the way from the church to his cell, the monk usually did not enter into conversation with anyone and did not seem to notice anyone around him. And only having already come to himself, Fr. Seraphim blessed the people and began the reception. The more visitors came to him, the more the number of candles burning in front of the icons in the monastery cell of the saint increased, so that, despite the fact that the stove was never heated, it was hot in it even in cold times. “They bring me oil and candles,” said the monk, “and ask me to pray for them. When I read my rules, I remember them first once. And since for the multitude of names I will not be able to repeat them at every place of the rule where it should be - then I would not have enough time to complete my rule - then I will leave all these candles for them as a sacrifice to God, for each one one candle, for others - for several people one large candle, for others I constantly warm the lamps and, where it is necessary to remember them in the rule, I say: “Lord, remember all those people, Thy servants, for their But I, wretched one, kindled your souls with these candles and chandeliers.” The monk now chose prayer for people as a special feat of his life, for he was entering a new stage of labor - serving his neighbors. He was also given visible signs from the Lord during his prayer for people: if the candle he lit for a person fell, it was a sign that that person had fallen into sin, and the more ardent the ascetic’s prayer then became. This relentless fiery struggle with human sin, tireless standing on guard for human souls before God, the spiritual guidance of these souls on the path to salvation elevated Fr. Seraphim for a new and difficult feat of old age, with which the Lord marked the end of the life of His wondrous chosen one. “As I forge iron, so I have handed over myself and my will to the Lord God: as He pleases, so I act; I don’t have my own will, but what God pleases, that’s what I convey,” said the reverend. Seraphim responded to the builder Anthony who asked him about how the elder, without even listening to the person who came to him with his spiritual need, could answer his grief. “He came to me,” said the elder, “like others, just as you walked, as if to a servant of God; I, sinful Seraphim, think that I am a sinful servant of God; Whatever the Lord commands me as His servant, I convey to him who requires what is useful. I consider the first thought that appears in my soul to be an indication from God and I speak without knowing what is in my interlocutor’s soul, but I only believe that this is how God’s will is indicated to me for his benefit.” This faith, the greatest humility and fiery love for the Lord, Rev. Seraphim made him a material and precious vessel that contained the Divine fire. In this life he himself no longer seemed to exist, having completely changed into love for God, becoming a living flame, a burning lamp and a bearer of heavenly fire on earth. The power of his prayer was such that the lamp in his cell was lit by itself, and more than once he was seen standing in the air during prayer. “We are walking through a meadow,” one Diveyevo sister reported, “the grass is green and so tall... we looked around, we saw, and the priest was walking an arshin above the ground, without even touching the grass. We got scared, cried and fell at his feet, and he said to us: “My joys, don’t tell anyone about this while I’m alive, and after I leave you, perhaps tell me!” In the desert, in the forest, the monk received, sitting on the rubble of his hut. He took others to his cell and prayed there with them before the image of the Mother of God. He also said a prayer in the forest in front of the face of the Mother of God, which he placed on a century-old pine tree. The pilgrims also prayed with him. “People did not interfere with him,” writes Aksakova, “just as neither ax work, nor haymaking, nor heat, nor cold, nor night, nor day” 18 interfered with his incessant conversation with God. The face of the righteous man was always bright and joyful. “You must try to have a joyful spirit and drive away despondency in order to maintain peace of mind,” said St. Seraphim, for he considered acquiring peace to be the most important thing in the life of Christians. “My joy! “- he said to one interlocutor, “I pray you, acquire a peaceful spirit, and then thousands of souls will be saved around you.” One Sarov brother, being in despondency close to despair, asked another to share with him a few minutes of grief. These two brothers left the monastery after Vespers and walked around the fence, comforted by mutual conversation. We approached the horse yard, near which lay the path to the Seraphim Spring. The grieving brother wanted to turn aside so that in such a painful state of mind he would not meet Seraphim. But before they had time to move away from the road, they suddenly saw an old man near them, walking towards them. The elder appeared to them in a rather strange outfit. Part of his white robe was raised, according to the custom of the workers, under the sash, and the skirts were lowered. He was wearing a huge green Levantine scarf, one end of which was dragged along the ground, and the other was wrapped around his neck. Both brothers fell at his feet. The elder, like a loving father, blessed them with extraordinary affection, then sang the following verse of the 9th song of the canon, sung in every spiritual sorrow and situation: “Fill my heart with joy, O Virgin, who accepts the fulfillment of joy and consumes sinful sorrow.” Then, stamping his foot, the elder said: “There is no way for us to lose heart, because Christ has conquered everything.” The elder’s state of mind seemed to overflow into the souls of the grieving brothers, and they, revived by his joy, returned to the monastery in a peaceful and complacent disposition of heart. And everyone who came to the Monk Seraphim was touched by the flame of the Divine fire contained in him, and the human heart was ignited. Blessing the one who came to him, the elder laid his hands on him and read the troparion to the Dormition of the Mother of God, “At Christmas you preserved your virginity” 19 . The greatest virgin himself, the Monk Seraphim, zealously exhorted others to maintain virginity. “For the sake of future bliss,” he said, “keep your virginity. If anyone keeps virginity, the Spirit of God accepts them.” Many monks came to the monk, both from their own, Sarov, and from other monasteries. Particularly important in the spiritual life of St. Seraphim believed in keeping the Jesus Prayer in his mouth and heart. “Let all your attention and training be in this,” said Fr. Seraphim, - walking and sitting, doing and standing in church before the service, entering and leaving, constantly keep this in your mouth and in your heart. By invoking the name of God in this way, you will find peace and the Holy Spirit will dwell in you.” “Without prayer,” he also said, “a monk dies like a fish without water.” “That monk does not have a seal who does not know how to do the Jesus Prayer.” “God listens to the mind, and therefore those monks who do not connect external prayer with internal prayer are not monks, but black brands.” He gave one monk the following advice: “Sweep your hut every day and have a good broom. Start the samovar in the morning and evening, heat the water, add coals, for hot water cleanses both body and soul. Learn mental prayer from the heart.” To Rev. Abbots of monasteries and monks, wise from the experience of spiritual life, came to Seraphim for advice and instructions: “It is difficult to control human souls,” the monk told them, “teaching others is as easy as throwing pebbles from our cathedral to the ground, and doing what you teach is like carrying pebbles to the top of the cathedral yourself.” Despite this, Rev. Seraphim did not consider it possible for a shepherd to deviate from the feat assigned to him by God: “This, father,” he said, “this, this wheat given to you everywhere. This one is on good soil, this one is on the sand, this one is on the stones, this one is along the way, this one is in the thorns: everything will vegetate somewhere and grow and bear fruit, although not soon.” The distinctive character of the rector, according to the instructions of Fr. Seraphim, there must be his love for his subordinates. “Be a mother, not a father to the brethren,” said the reverend. Seraphim to the builder of the Vysokogorsk desert, Fr. Anthony. And the monk himself took care of his spiritual children like a caring mother. The Diveyevo monastery took special care of him, for which its founder and first abbess Alexandra (in the world Agafya Semyonovna Melgunova) asked for it before her death, when Fr. Seraphim, still in the rank of hierodeacon, accompanied his elder Pachomius to this monastery. More than thirty years have passed since her blessed death. Elders Pachomius and Isaiah, who led the spiritual life of the community, also died. “I am now the only one left from those elders whom Mother Agafya Semyonovna asked about the community she started,” said the reverend. Seraphim. According to the conditions of his desert life, Rev. Seraphim could not previously take charge of the women's monastery, although he repeatedly showed concern for it. Before he left the seclusion, the Mother of God Herself reminded him of the promise she had made: “Why do you want to leave the commandment of My servant Agafya?” - the Queen of Heaven said to the elder when she appeared to him at the source. Immediately She commanded the Rev. Seraphim to divide the monastery into two sections. She herself indicated the place for the founding of a second department for girls only. “As I myself am a virgin,” said the monk, “the Queen of Heaven blessed that there should be only girls in my monastery.” “A virgin who preserves her virginity for the sake of the love of Christ has honor with the angels - and is the bride of Christ.” To feed these 8 girls, who were taken from the monastery of Mother Alexandra and whose names were indicated by the Queen of Heaven Herself, Rev. Seraphim built a mill and placed cells around it. At the direction of the Mother of God, Who promised to be the ever-present Abbess of this new monastery and called it Her destiny on earth, Rev. Seraphim gave the sisters a new charter, a prayer rule and some commandments. Constantly, day and night, the sisters alternately read the Psalter; The church positions of sexton, sexton, sacristan and clergywoman were to be performed by the sisters themselves, but only by girls. A candle burned unquenchably in front of the image of the Savior in the church, and a lamp always glowed in front of the icon of the Mother of God. The sisters were supposed to live two at a time in a cell, and never alone, and in the same way, during divine services, they should not stay alone and not go anywhere alone. Obedience, which Rev. Seraphim believed that every monastic feat was the basis; he also placed it above all else for the sisters of the new Mill community he founded. The monk considered serving the church the highest obedience. “There is no greater obedience than obedience to the church! - he said. “If you just wipe the floor in the house of the Lord with a rag, God will place you above any other work!” And whatever you do in it and how you enter and leave, you must do everything with fear and trembling and never-ceasing prayer.” The feat of eldership, undertaken by the Monk Seraphim at the end of his life, aroused disapproval and outright condemnation among the Sarov brethren. The monks found his life “strange and seductive” and reproached him for accepting everyone without distinction and having frequent conversations with the Diveyevo sisters. “They are being tempted by you,” Abbot Nifont told him, meeting the monk on the way from the desert to the monastery cell. Falling at his feet, the monk replied: “You are a shepherd, do not allow everyone to talk in vain, to disturb yourself and travelers going to eternity. For your word is strong and your staff is like a scourge for everyone.” “Suppose I close the doors of my cell,” Fr. said to others. Seraphim, what justification can I then bring to God at His Last Judgment?” “How can we leave those for whom mother Agafya Semyonovna asked me, poor Seraphim!” The stamp of the wondrous and wonderful lay on all relationships of Fr. Seraphim to the Diveyevo monastery. Having never visited Diveevo since 30 years ago when he was passing through there as a hierodeacon, Rev. Seraphim knew everything there down to the smallest details, and from his words it is clear that he received all the instructions for managing the monastery from above. “I confess and testify to God that I did not place a single stone with them of my own free will, I did not say a single word of myself to them, and I did not accept a single one of them at my own request, against the will of the Queen of Heaven.” According to the testimony of the monk, the Mother of God herself walked around the monastery with her most pure feet, and at the place where she passed, Fr. Seraphim ordered the sisters to lay a ditch. However, according to the sisters, they “kept putting off fulfilling father’s orders, and then a wonderful event happened. Once one of us came out of our cell at night for some reason and saw that Father Seraphim in his white robe had himself begun to dig a ditch. In fright, she runs into her cell and tells us all this. All of us, who were in whatever clothes we had, rushed to that place and, seeing the priest, fell at his feet, but when we got up, we did not find him, only a shovel and a hoe lay on the fossilized earth.” So Fr. Seraphim started the groove. “This groove,” said the monk, “is a pile of the Mother of God. Here the Queen of Heaven herself walked around her. This groove is sky high. And when the Antichrist comes, he will pass everywhere, but will not jump over this ditch.” Honored by repeated appearances of the Mother of God, especially at the end of his earthly life, St. Seraphim earnestly asked the Queen of Heaven for the Diveyevo girls. And one day during such a prayer, the Mother of God appeared to him and said: “My beloved! Ask from Me what you want!” “And the poor Seraphim,” the monk himself told about this, “the poor Seraphim begged the Mother of God for his orphans! And he asked that everyone, everyone in the Seraphim Desert would save the orphans! And the Mother of God promised the poor Seraphim this indescribable joy!” But not only the Diveyevo monastery owes its structure to the prayerful assistance of the Monk Seraphim: from his burning lamp lights were lit everywhere, and in many places a life of prayerful feat and monastic work arose. Dalne-Davydovsky Monastery, about the origin of which Rev. Seraphim made a prediction in his youth; the monasteries of Ardatov and Zelenogorsk grew with the blessing of the monk and under his spiritual influence. Most of these monasteries were new branches of the Diveevo monastery, whose nuns were Rev. Seraphim once made a joyful promise: “I am always with you in spirit.” “Come to me, come!” – the reverend called joyfully. Seraphim, seeing crowds of people coming to him for spiritual benefit. He was not burdened by the number of visitors or their state of mind. He received everyone like a father to children, and had a special word for everyone. “Live the way you live; “God Himself will teach you more,” said St. Seraphim to one young lady who asked for guidance on how to save herself. Himself a great ascetic and zealot of monasticism, he treated everyone with affection, friendliness and condescension in whom he saw a sincere desire for good. “There are many good deeds for you in the world if you want to do them with your good soul,” he said to one who wanted to enter the monastery. – It is more pleasing to do God’s works in the world, because in the world it is more difficult to do them, as a gift pleasing to our Lord. And such deeds of people will be counted to them a hundredfold by the grace of God.” Condescending to human weaknesses, the elder did not place unbearable burdens on people and taught everyone the following prayer rule: “Having risen from sleep, every Christian, standing before St. icons, let him read the Lord’s Prayer “Our Father” three times, in honor of the Most Holy. Trinity, then the hymn to the Mother of God “Rejoice, Virgin Mary” also three times and finally the Creed once. Having completed this rule, let him go about his business to which he has been assigned or called. While working at home or on the way somewhere, let him quietly read: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner (or a sinner),” and if others surround him, then, while doing business, let him say with his mind only: “Lord, have mercy,” and continue until lunch. - Just before lunch, let him perform the above morning rule. After lunch, while doing his job, he reads quietly: “Most Holy Theotokos, save me a sinner,” or: “Lord Jesus Christ, through the Mother of God have mercy on me a sinner (or a sinner),” and let this continue until sleep. – When going to bed, let every Christian read the above morning rule again; after that, let him fall asleep, protecting himself with the sign of the cross.” “Adhering to this rule,” says Fr. Seraphim, - one can achieve a measure of Christian perfection: the first, as a prayer given by the Lord Himself, is a model of all prayers; the second was brought from heaven by the Archangel in greeting to the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Lord; The symbol briefly contains all the saving dogmas of the Christian faith.” For those who, due to various circumstances, cannot follow this small rule, Rev. Seraphim advised reading it in any position: during classes, while walking, and even in bed, presenting the basis for this as the words of Holy Scripture: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” It is very important and necessary for the salvation of the soul of every Christian, according to the instructions of St. Seraphim, communion of the Holy Mysteries, and “the more often the better.” To be embarrassed by one’s unworthiness and, under this pretext, to evade communion of the Holy Mysteries, Rev. Seraphim found it unfaithful. “If we filled the ocean with our tears, then even then we would not be able to satisfy the Lord for what He pours out on us with tuna,” 20 he said. The Elder blessed everyone who came to him, gave them to venerate the image of the Mother of God or the cross hanging on his chest, offered St. water, blessed with particles of antidor, gave red wine, and almost invariably distributed crackers to all visitors, especially at farewell. “Eat, eat, my little lights,” said the monk, giving his visitors handfuls of crackers and offering them more to distribute to those who were zealous. To some Fr. Seraphim anointed the forehead of St. with a cross. with oil from the Tenderness icon, and with others he laid his hands on his head. Sometimes the monk, at the request of his visitors, confessed them, even telling them their sins. Early in the morning of March 25, 1831, on the feast of the Annunciation, Rev. Seraphim was honored with a wondrous visit from the Queen of Heaven. This twelfth and last visit to the Mother of God in his life was, as it were, an omen of his blessed death and the imperishable glory awaiting him. The only witness to this wonderful event was the Diveyevo elder Eupraxia, in the world Evdokia Efremovna, who, by order of the elder, came to him the evening before that day. “Ah, my joy, I have been waiting for you for a long time,” St. met her. The elder with this joyful exclamation. – What mercy and grace from the Mother of God is preparing for you and me on this real holiday! This will be a great day for us! Let's pray! Taking off his robe, Fr. Seraphim put it on the Diveyevo sister and began to read akathists and canons, and at the end of the reading he said to Eupraxia: “Do not be afraid, do not be afraid, the grace of God is coming to us! Hold on to me tightly!” Suddenly a noise arose, like the noise of a forest in a strong wind; then singing was heard. The door opened by itself, it became unusually light, and a fragrance filled the cell. Father Seraphim fell to his knees with the words: “The Most Blessed, Most Pure Virgin, Lady Theotokos is coming to us!” At this time, ethereal forces entered the cell in the form of two angels with golden hair, holding blossoming branches of flowers in their hands. Behind them, in white shiny robes, followed St. John the Baptist and St. ap. John the Theologian. And then walked the Queen of Heaven Herself in a host of twelve virgins. An extraordinary light emanated from the Lady’s robes, which shone with wondrous beauty. The upper robe was decorated with crosses, the lower one, green, was belted. On top of the robe there was an epitrachelion, and on the hands there were guards, like the stole, decorated with crosses. The hair of the Mother of God was longer and more beautiful than that of an angel, and above Her head rose a royal crown, shining with the same light that it was impossible to look at it, as at the very face of the Most Pure One. She was taller than all the virgins around Her. The maidens, in multi-colored clothes and adorned with crowns, were of great beauty. They formed a circle, in the middle of which was the Queen of Heaven. Cramped cell Fr. Seraphim became spacious, and its walls seemed to move apart, and its top was filled with lights, as if burning candles. The light was somehow special, unlike daylight, lighter and whiter than the sun. “I got scared and fell,” said Elder Eupraxia. “The Queen of Heaven came up to me and, touching me with her right hand, said: “Get up, maiden, and do not be afraid of us. Virgins like you came here with Me.” Then she ordered her to approach the virgins herself and ask them what their names were and what their life was like on earth. Then Eupraxia approached St. to the virgins, each, in the order in which they entered the cell, and they told her their name. These were the Great Martyrs Barbara and Catherine, the First Martyr Thekla and the Great Martyr Marina, the Great Martyr. Queen Irina and Rev. Eupraxia, Great Martyrs Pelageya and Dorotheus, Rev. Macrina and the martyr Justina, the great martyr. Juliania and the martyr Anisia. All these virgins told Eupraxia, who questioned them, about their lives and exploits of martyrdom for Christ. Meanwhile, the Mother of God talked with Fr. Seraphim was so merciful, as if with a loved one, and she said something to him a lot, but from this conversation the Diveyevo sister could hear only a little. “Do not forsake My virgins of Diveyevo,” said the Queen of Heaven. O. Seraphim answered: “Mistress! I collect them, but I cannot manage them myself,” “I, My beloved, will help you in everything! - said the Mother of God. - Place obedience on them; if they correct, then they will be with you and near Me, and if they lose wisdom, then they will lose the fate of these nearby virgins. Whoever offends them will be defeated by Me; whoever serves them for the Lord’s sake will have mercy before God.” Then, turning to Eupraxia, the Ever-Virgin said: “Look at these My virgins and at their crowns, but as it was before, so it is now. Only the former martyrs suffered openly, and the current ones - secretly, with heartfelt sorrows, and their reward will be the same.” Then the Blessed Virgin said to Fr. Seraphim: “Soon, My beloved, you will be with us!” - and blessed him. We said goodbye to St. the elder and all the saints. The Forerunner and Apostle John the Theologian also blessed him, and the virgins kissed him hand in hand. Diveyevo’s sister Eupraxia was told: “This vision was given to you for the sake of the prayers of Fr. Seraphim." Then in an instant everything became invisible. This vision, as the Rev. said later. Seraphim, lasted about four hours. At the end of it, when St. the elder was left alone with his Diveyevo sister Eupraxia, the latter said: “Oh, father, I thought that I would die of fear, and did not have time to ask the Queen of Heaven for forgiveness of my sins.” O. Seraphim answered this: “I, poor one, asked the Mother of God for you, and not only for you, but also for all those who love me. Behold, mother, what grace the Lord has vouchsafed to us, the poor! Thus, this is the twelfth time that I have had a manifestation from God, and the Lord has vouchsafed you! This is the joy we have achieved!” Having then blessed his visitor, Fr. Seraphim released her with the words: “Come, child, in peace to the Seraphim hermitage.” “Soon, My beloved, you will be with us,” said the Lady of St. Seraphim during his last appearance, and the elder took these words as an indication of his imminent death, for which he began to diligently prepare. He was 72 years old. His strength was noticeably weakening, he could no longer go every day to his hermitage near the well and, anticipating his imminent death, he began to often retire, leave his cells less often, and receive visitors less often. “I’m weakening in strength,” he said to the Diveyevo sisters, “live alone now, I’ll leave you and entrust you to the Queen of Heaven.” One could now often see the elder in the vestibule of his cells, at the coffin, which he had long ago prepared for himself. He often sat there for a long time and became immersed in thought, and was often seen crying bitterly. In conversations with friends, the elder prepared them for the thought of his imminent death and impending separation. “We won’t see you again,” he told many, “my life is shortening, in spirit I seem to have been born now, but in body I am already dead.” On Christmas Day in 1832, Fr. Seraphim received Holy Communion. After mass, he talked for a long time with the abbot, asked him for many, and especially for the younger brothers, then repeated for the last time his request to bury him in his coffin. Returning to his cell, the elder gave one of the Sarov monks the image of St. Sergius (the appearance of the Mother of God to him) and said: “Put this image on me when I die, and put me in the grave with it.” A week later, on Sunday, January 1, 1833, Fr. Seraphim came for the last time to mass at his beloved hospital church of St. Zosima and Savvaty, he himself lit candles to all the icons, venerated them and partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. After mass, he said goodbye to all the brothers who were in the church, blessed and kissed everyone, saying: “Save yourself, do not lose heart, stay awake, today the crowns are being prepared.” Having venerated the Cross and the icon of the Mother of God, the elder left the church as northern enemies. On this day, it seemed to everyone that the elder was extremely weak, but at the same time calm and cheerful. After the liturgy to Fr. One of the Diveyevo sisters came to Seraphim, and the elder gave her 200 rubles. to buy bread, since the supply of bread was gone and the sisters were in need. Fulfilling what was once given to Abbess Alexandra and Fr. Pachomius promised that the elder took care of the Diveyevo monastery until the very last minutes of his life. In the cell of Fr. Seraphim, candles and lamps were constantly burning in front of the icons; he never extinguished them when he went into his hermitage, and his cell attendant told him more than once that this could cause a fire, but the elder answered him: “While I am alive, there will be no fire, but when I die, my death will be revealed by fire.” And this prediction of the blessed one came true. On New Year's Day 1833, Fr. Seraphim left his cell several times to the place he had chosen for his burial, and prayed there for a long time, and upon returning to his cell he sang Easter songs. On January 2, at six o’clock in the morning, cell attendant Fr. Seraphim got ready for early mass. Coming out into the hallway, he smelled smoke and hurried to the Elder’s door. Having said the usual prayer, he knocked, but there was no answer: then, alarmed, he called several monks and with their help tore the door off its hook. On the bench, near the door, was folded a canvas brought by visitors as a gift to Fr. Seraphim; this canvas was smoldering, having caught fire, probably from candle soot that had fallen on it. There was no fire, but smoke filled the cell, and it was completely dark in it, since it had not yet dawned. The brothers hurried to bring snow and extinguished the smoldering canvas. And at this time in the church the service was going on as usual, they were already singing “Worthy,” when one of the novices came running and reported what had happened in Fr. Seraphim. Many of those praying hurried there: it was still dark in the cell, and the Elder did not speak. Finally they brought a lighted candle, and then they saw Fr. Seraphim. He was kneeling with his hands folded on his chest in front of the icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness”; on the table in front of him lay an open book, the pages of which were slightly burnt. Believing that the elder was sleeping, the brethren tried to carefully wake him up, but this was no longer possible: his spirit had flown away. The news of the death of the holy Elder quickly spread not only in the desert, but also throughout the surrounding area. People in huge crowds hurried to the monastery to venerate the remains of their beloved shepherd. Everyone cried bitterly, but the grief of the Diveyevo sisters, who were now left without a leader and a caring and loving father, was especially deep. For 8 days, the body of the saint of God lay in the cathedral in an open coffin he himself had prepared, with the image of St. Sergius on his chest, which the Elder himself asked to put there. He was buried on the right side of the altar, in a place chosen by himself. The burial of Father Seraphim was performed by the rector of the Sarov monastery, Abbot Nifont, in the co-service of the monastery’s oldest brethren. The ceremony itself was very simple, but in this simplicity everyone felt some kind of extraordinary and solemn grandeur; it was felt that the Church of Christ was celebrating its great triumph among the people; This was not the funeral of a simple monk, but a great glorification of a righteous man in visible simplicity. During the burial, no speeches were said: a kind of reverent tenderness reigned in everyone, and no one dared to open their lips to praise the one whose life, whose exploits and miracles were in everyone’s sight and in their hearts. Everyone believed that even if the prayer book of the Russian land was separated from them physically, it remained inseparable from them spiritually. This faith made the grave of St. Seraphim a favorite place of spiritual communication with him for his spiritual children, in fulfillment of the promise of the saint, given to the people before his death: “When I am gone, you will come to my grave! As the time suits you, you go, and the more often the better. Everything that is in your soul, no matter what happens to you, come to me, and bring all your grief with you to my grave! Crouching to the ground as if alive, tell everything, and I will hear you, and all your sorrow will subside and pass away! As you always said to the living, so it is here! For you I am alive and will be forever!” Section II. About the purpose of Christian life Conversation by St. Seraphim of Sarov about the purpose of Christian life During Apollos' stay in Corinth Paul, having passed through the upper countries, arrived to Ephesus and, finding some disciples there, He said to them, Have you received the Holy Spirit? having believed? They said to him: we They haven’t even heard if there is a Holy Spirit. He said to them: What were you baptized into? They answered: in John's baptism. Paul said: John baptized with baptism repentance, telling people to believe in Him who comes after him, that is, in Christ Jesus. Hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands on them, the Spirit came upon them Holy, and they began to speak differently tongues and prophesy. There were all of them about twelve people. And now, at the pull of the Spirit, I go to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen there with me; only the Holy Spirit in all cities testifies, saying that the bonds And my word and my sermon are not convincing words of human wisdom, but by demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith was not based on human wisdom, But God revealed this to us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. A soulful person does not accept what which is of the Spirit of God, because he honors this is madness; and cannot understand, because that this must be judged spiritually. I was in the spirit on Sunday and heard behind you a loud voice, like a trumpet, who said: I am Alpha and Omega, A month before the highest command to accelerate the work being done in the Holy Synod on the glorification of the holy saint of God, Seraphim of Sarov, the Lord brought me again to Sarov and Diveyevo. Of the three contemporaries of Father Seraphim whom I met on my first trip, I found only Elena Ivanovna Motovilova alive. Soon after my departure, in 1900, Mother Hermione went to the villages of the righteous; on Easter, two years later, mother Evanthia also left for her. Over the years, Elena Ivanovna has also declined greatly: her figure has bent, her bright and penetrating eyes have begun to fade. Seraphim no longer needs earthly witnesses of his righteousness, he calls them to his place of eternal rest, to see and share with him his glory, that incorruptible and eternal, unfading glory that the Lord has prepared from the ages for all who love Him, “where the faces of the saints, O Lord, and the righteous women shine like the sun!” But the freshness of mind and memory had not yet left the dear old woman. The past lives and blossoms in her memories, and time has no power over them!.. At my request, with the permission of the abbess, Elena Ivanovna gave me a whole box of papers left after her late husband Nikolai Alexandrovich. Anyone who was interested in the life of Father Seraphim should know this name, which is so closely connected with the name of Father and the Diveyevo women's monastery that he founded. This man lived misunderstood, and died unappreciated, but during his life he was “Serafimov’s servant,” as he liked to call himself, and remained so after his death. In his papers I happened to find such a treasure that can rightly be called the greatest testimony of faith. I wish to share this treasure, preserving all the originality of the style of the forties of the last century in which it was written, with the Orthodox reader. Truly, truly, I say to you: he who believes in Me, the works that I do, and he will create and greater things than these he will create... “Once,” Motovilov writes in his notes, “it was in the Sarov Hermitage, shortly after my healing, at the beginning of the winter of 1831, on a Tuesday at the end of November, I stood during vespers in the warm Cathedral of the Life-Giving Spring in my usual place, as it always happened later, right opposite the miraculous icon of the Mother of God. Then one of the sisters of the Mill community of Diveyevo 21 came up to me. At that time I still had no idea about the name and existence of this community, separate from another church community, also the Diveevo community. This sister told me: “Are you, perhaps, a lame gentleman who was recently healed by our father, Father Seraphim?” I answered that this is exactly who I am. “Well, then,” she said, “go to Father; he ordered to call you to his place. He is now in his cell in the monastery and said that he will be waiting for you. People who, at least once during the life of the great elder Seraphim, were in the Sarov desert and even only heard about him, can fully comprehend with what inexplicable joy my soul was filled with this unexpected call from him. Leaving the hearing of the Divine Service, I immediately ran to him in his cell. Father Seraphim met me at the very door of his vestibule and said to me: - I was waiting for your love for God. And just wait a little while I talk to my orphans. I have a lot to talk with you. Sit down here. At these words, he pointed to me a ladder with steps, probably made to cover the stove pipes and placed opposite his stove, with the mouth in the vestibule, as in all the double cells of the Sarov buildings. I sat down on the bottom step, but he said to me: I moved to the second one, but he told me: - No, your love for God. Please sit on the top step. - And, having sat me down, he added. “Well, sit here and wait until I, after talking with my orphans, come out to you.” Father brought two sisters into his cell, one of whom was a girl from the nobility, the sister of the Nizhny Novgorod landowner Manturova, Elena Vasilyevna, as the sisters who remained with me in the Senets told me about this when I asked. For a long time I sat waiting for the great Elder to open the doors for me. I think I sat there for two hours. Father Seraphim’s cell attendant, Pavel, came out to me from another cell, closest to the entrance to this cell, and, despite my dissuasions, convinced me to visit his cell, and began to give me various instructions on spiritual life, which in fact had the goal, at the instigation of the enemy, to weaken my love and faith in the merits of the great elder Seraphim before God. I felt sad, and I said to him with sorrow: “I was stupid, Father Pavel, that, having obeyed your convictions, I entered your cell. Father Abbot Nifont is a great servant of God, but even here I did not come to the Sarov hermitage for him and I am coming, although I respect him very much for his shrine, but only for Father Seraphim, about whom I think that even in ancient times there were few such holy saints of God, gifted with the power of Elijah and Moses. Who are you that you impose yourself on me with your instructions, while, I guess, you yourself don’t really know the way of God. Forgive me, I regret that I listened to you and came to your cell. With that, I left him and sat down again on the top step of the staircase in the entryway of my father’s cell. Then I heard from the same Father Pavel that Father threateningly reprimanded him for this, telling him: “It’s not your business to talk with those who crave the words of the poor Seraphim and come to him in Sarov. And I myself, poor one, am not telling them my own things, but what the Lord deigned to reveal to me for edification. Don’t get in the way of your own affairs. Know yourself, but never dare to teach: God did not give you this gift - after all, it is not given as a gift to people, but for their merits before the Lord our God and according to His special mercy and Divine care for people and His Holy Providence.” I write this here for the memory and edification of those who value both the small speech and the barely noticeable character trait of the great elder Seraphim. When the Elder had talked with his orphans for about two hours, then the door opened, and Father Seraphim, having seen the sisters out, said to me: - I detained you for a long time, your love of God. Don't demand it. My orphans needed a lot of things: so I, poor one, consoled them. Come to the cell. In this monastery cell of his, he talked with me about various subjects related to the salvation of the soul and to worldly life, and ordered me and Father Gury, the Sarov hotel keeper, the next day, after early mass, to go to him in the nearby hermitage. Father Gury and I talked all night about Father Seraphim, hardly sleeping for the whole night with joy, and the next day we went to Father Seraphim in his nearby hermitage, without even drinking or eating anything, and the whole day until late at night, without drinking or eating, we stayed at the door of this nearby hermitage. Thousands of people came to the great Elder, and everyone left without receiving his blessing, and after standing a little in his vestibule, they returned; seven or eight people remained with us to wait for the end of this day and Father Seraphim’s exit from the hermitage; including, as I remember now, there was the wife of the Balakhna treasurer from the district town of the Nizhny Novgorod province of Balakhna and some wanderer who was always busy trying to open the holy relics of Paphnutius, who seems to be resting incorruptibly in Balakhna. They decided to wait with us for the opening of the doors of the great Elder. Finally, they too became troubled in spirit, and even Father Gury himself, in the evening, which was already late, became very troubled and said to me: “It’s already dark, father, and the horse is hungry, and the coachman boy probably wants to eat.” Yes, if we went later, the animals would not attack us 22. - No, Father Gury, go back alone if you are afraid of anything, and even if the animals tear me to pieces here, I will not leave the door of Father Seraphim, even if I had to die of starvation in front of them; I will still wait for him until he opens the doors of his holy cell to me! And Father Seraphim, quite a bit later, actually opened the doors of his cell and, turning to me, said: “Your Love of God, I called you, but don’t blame me for not opening the door all day: today is Wednesday, and I am silent, but tomorrow, you are welcome, I will be glad to have a heartfelt conversation with you.” But it’s not so early, if you please, to come to me, otherwise, without eating all day, you are exhausted. And so, after late mass, and having fortified yourself with enough food, come with Father Gury to me. Now come and refresh yourself with food - you are exhausted. And he began to bless us, starting with me, and said to Father Gury: “So, friend, so, my joy, tomorrow, with your master, come to my nearest field - you will find me there, and now come in peace.” Goodbye, your love for God! With these words, Father shut himself up again. No word can express the joy that I felt in my heart. I floated in bliss. The thought that, despite the long-suffering of the whole day, at least in the end I was worthy, however, not only to see the face of Father Seraphim, but also to hear the greetings of his inspired words, so comforted me. Yes, I was at a height of bliss unimaginable by any earthly semblance! And despite the fact that I had not drunk or eaten all day, I became so full that it was as if I had eaten to the point of satiety and drunk to the point of reasonable ecstasy. I am speaking the truth, although, perhaps, for some who have not experienced in practice what the sweetness, satiety and rapture with which a person is filled during the influx of the Spirit of God means, my words will seem exaggerated and the story too enthusiastic. But I assure you with my Orthodox Christian conscience that there is no exaggeration here, and everything I have said now is not only the absolute truth, but even a very weak representation of what I really felt in my heart. But who will give me a verb that can at least partially, at least partially, express what my soul felt the next day? III. The purpose of Christian life It was on Thursday. The day was cloudy. There was a quarter of the snow on the ground, and quite thick snow pellets were falling from above, when Father Seraphim began a conversation with me on his nearby field, near the same nearby hermitage opposite the Sarovka River, near a mountain that comes close to its banks. He placed me on the stump of a tree he had just cut down, and he squatted opposite me. “The Lord revealed to me,” said the great Elder, “that in your childhood you zealously wanted to know what the purpose of our Christian life was, and you repeatedly asked many great spiritual persons about this... I must say here that from the age of twelve this thought constantly bothered me, and I actually approached many of the clergy with this question, but their answers did not satisfy me. The elder did not know this. “But no one,” Father Seraphim continued, “told you definitively about this.” They told you: go to church, pray to God, do God’s commandments, do good - that’s the goal of Christian life. And some were even indignant at you because you were busy with unpleasing curiosity, and they told you: do not seek higher yourself. But they did not speak as they should have. So I, poor Seraphim 23, will now explain to you what this goal really is. Prayer, fasting, vigil and all other Christian deeds, no matter how good they are in themselves, however, the goal of our Christian life is not in doing them alone, although they serve as necessary means for achieving it. The true goal of our Christian life is to acquire the Holy Spirit of God. Fasting and vigil, and prayer, and almsgiving, and every good deed done for the sake of Christ are means for acquiring the Holy Spirit of God. Please note, father, that only for the sake of Christ does a good deed bring us the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Still, what is done not for the sake of Christ, although good, does not represent a reward for us in the life of the next century, and in this life it does not give us the grace of God either. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ said: “Everyone who does not gather with Me scatters.” A good deed cannot be called otherwise than gathering, for although it is not done for the sake of Christ, it is nevertheless good. Scripture says: “In every nation fear God and do righteousness that is acceptable to Him.” And as we see from the sequence of the sacred narrative, this “do righteousness” is so pleasing to God that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Cornelius the centurion, who feared God and did righteousness, during his prayer and said: “Sent to Joppa to Simon Usmara, there you found Peter, and to her he spoke the words of the eternal life, in them you and your whole house will be saved.” So, the Lord uses all His Divine means to provide such a person with the opportunity for his good deeds not to lose his reward in the life of rebirth. But for this we must begin here with right faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world to save sinners, and by acquiring for ourselves the grace of the Holy Spirit, who introduces the Kingdom of God into our hearts and paves the way for us to acquire the bliss of life in the future century. But this is where this pleasingness to God of good deeds not done for the sake of Christ is limited: our Creator provides the means for their implementation. It is up to the person to either implement them or not. That is why the Lord said to the Jews: "If you had not seen it, you would not have sin. Now you say, we see, and your sin remains on you." If a person, like Cornelius, takes advantage of the pleasure of God in his deed, not done for the sake of Christ, and believes in His Son, then this kind of deed will be imputed to him, as if done for the sake of Christ and only for faith in Him. Otherwise, a person has no right to complain that his good did not go to work. This never happens only when doing any good for Christ's sake, for good done for His sake not only intercedes for the crown of righteousness in the life of the next century, but also in this life fills a person with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and moreover, as it is said: “For God does not give the Holy Spirit in moderation. For the Father loves the Son and gives everything in His hand.” That's right, your love for God. So the acquisition of this Spirit of God is the true goal of our Christian life, and prayer, vigil, fasting, almsgiving and other virtues done for the sake of Christ are only means to acquire the Spirit of God. - What about acquisitions? – I asked Father Seraphim. – I don’t understand something. “Acquisition is the same as acquisition,” he answered me, “do you understand what acquiring money means?” So it is the same with the acquisition of the Spirit of God. After all, you, your love of God, understand what acquisition is in the worldly sense? The purpose of the worldly life of ordinary people is to acquire or make money, and for nobles, in addition, to receive honors, distinctions and other awards for state merits. The acquisition of the Spirit of God is also capital, but only grace-filled and eternal, and it, like money, official and temporary capital, is acquired in the same ways, very similar to each other. God the Word, our Lord God-man Jesus Christ likens our life to a marketplace and calls the work of our life on earth a purchase, and says to all of us: “Buy until I come, redeeming the time, for the days are evil,” that is, gain time to receive heavenly blessings through earthly goods. Earthly goods are virtues done for Christ’s sake, providing us with the grace of the All-Holy Spirit. In the parable of the wise and holy fools, when the holy fools lacked oil, it is said: “Go and buy in the marketplace.” But when they bought, the doors to the bridal chamber were already closed, and they could not enter into it. Some say that the lack of oil among holy virgins signifies a lack of good deeds during their lifetime. This understanding is not entirely correct. What kind of lack of good deeds did they have, when they are even called holy fools, but are still called virgins? After all, virginity is the highest virtue, as a state equal to the angels, and could serve as a substitute in itself for all other virtues. I, poor thing, think that they lacked precisely the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God. While creating virtues, these virgins, out of their spiritual foolishness, believed that this was the only Christian thing, to do only virtues. We have done virtue and thus done the work of God, but whether they received the grace of the Spirit of God or whether they achieved it, they did not care. About such and such ways of life, based only on the creation of virtues without careful testing, whether they bring and how much exactly they bring the grace of the Spirit of God, it is said in the books of the fathers: “There is another way, imagine yourself to be good in the beginning, but its ends are at the bottom of hell” 24 . Anthony the Great, in his letters to the monks, speaks about such virgins: “Many monks and virgins have no idea about the differences in the wills operating in man, and do not know that there are three wills at work in us: the first is God’s, all-perfect and all-saving; the second is our own, human, that is, if not harmful, then not salvific, and the third demonic – completely destructive.” And this third one The enemy’s will teaches a person either not to do any virtues, or to do them out of vanity, or for good alone, and not for the sake of Christ. The second - our own will - teaches us to do everything to please our lusts, or even, like the enemy teaches, to do good for the sake of good, not paying attention to the grace that we acquire. The first - the will of God and all-saving - consists only in doing good only for the acquisition of the Holy Spirit as an eternal treasure, inexhaustible and cannot be fully and worthily assessed by anything. It is this, this acquisition of the Holy Spirit, that is actually called the oil that the holy fools lacked. That is why they are called holy fools, because they forgot about the necessary fruit of virtue, about the grace of the Holy Spirit, without which no one has or can have salvation, for “by the Holy Spirit every soul is alive and exalted by purity, and the sacred mystery is illuminated by the Trinity.” The Holy Spirit Himself dwells in our souls, and it is this very dwelling in our souls of Him, the Almighty, and the co-dwelling of His Triple Unity with our spirit, and is given to us only through the comprehensive acquisition of the Holy Spirit on our part, which prepares in our soul and flesh the throne of the All-Creative Divine with our spirit, co-dwelling, according to the immutable word of God: “I will dwell in them and resemble, and I will become God unto them, and they shall be My people.” This is the oil in the lamps of the wise virgins, which could burn brightly and for a long time, and those virgins with these burning lamps could wait for the Bridegroom, who came at midnight, and enter with Him into the chamber of joy. The holy fools, seeing that their lamps were going out, although they went to the marketplace to buy oil, did not manage to return in time, for the doors were already closed. The marketplace is our life; the doors of the bridal chamber, closed and not allowing the Bridegroom, are human death; wise virgins and holy fools are Christian souls; oil is not works, but the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God received through them into the interior of our nature, transforming it from this to this, that is, from corruption to incorruption, from spiritual death to spiritual life, from darkness to light, from the den of our being, where the passions are tied, like cattle and animals, - into the church of the Divine, into the bright chamber of eternal joy in Christ Jesus, Our Lord, Creator and Savior and Eternal Bridegroom of our souls. How great is God’s compassion for our misfortune, that is, inattention to His care for us, when God says: “Behold, I stand at the door and understand,” meaning by the door the course of our life, not yet closed by death. Oh, how I would like, your love for God, that in this life you would always be in the Spirit of God! “Where I stand, I will judge,” says the Lord. Woe, great woe, if He finds us burdened with the cares and sorrows of life, for who will endure His wrath and who will stand against the face of His wrath! That is why it is said: “Watch and pray, so that you do not fall into misfortune,” that is, do not lose the Spirit of God, for vigil and prayer bring us His grace. Of course, every virtue done for the sake of Christ gives the grace of the Holy Spirit, but prayer gives it most of all, because it is, as it were, always in our hands as a tool for acquiring the grace of the Spirit. For example, you would like to go to church, but either there is no church, or the service has passed; you would like to give to a beggar, but there is no beggar or nothing to give; you would like to maintain virginity, but you do not have the strength to fulfill this due to your constitution or due to the efforts of the enemy’s machinations, which you cannot resist due to human weakness; They would like to do some other virtue for the sake of Christ, but they also don’t have the strength or can’t find the opportunity. But this has nothing to do with prayer: everyone always has the opportunity to do it - the rich and the poor, the noble, the simple, the strong, the weak, the healthy, the sick, the righteous and the sinner. How great is the power of prayer even for a sinful person, when it ascends with all his soul, judge by the following example of Sacred Tradition: when, at the request of a desperate mother who had lost her only begotten son, kidnapped by death, a harlot wife, who got in her way and had not even been cleansed from the sin that had just happened, touched by her mother’s desperate grief, cried out to the Lord: “Not for me, for the sake of the accursed sinner, but for the sake of tears.” a mother grieving for her son and firmly confident in Thy mercy and omnipotence, O Christ God, raise up, O Lord, her son!” - and the Lord resurrected him. So, your love for God, the power of prayer is great, and most of all it brings the Spirit of God, and it is most convenient for everyone to correct it. Blessed will we be when the Lord finds us vigilant, in the fullness of the gifts of His Holy Spirit. Then we can confidently hope to be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, who is coming with glory and much power to judge the living and the dead and to reward each according to his deeds. Now, your love for God, you deign to consider it a great happiness to talk with the poor Seraphim, being confident that he is not deprived of the grace of the Lord. What are we talking about the Lord Himself, the ever-failing Source of all goodness, both heavenly and earthly? But through prayer we are worthy to talk with Him Himself, the All-Good and Life-Giving God and our Savior. But even here we must pray only until God the Holy Spirit descends on us in the measures of His heavenly grace known to Him. And when He deigns to visit us, then we must stop praying. Why then pray to Him: “Come and dwell in us and cleanse us from all filth and save, O Blessed One, our souls,” when He has already come to us to save us, who trust in Him and call on His holy Name in truth, that is, in order to humbly and lovingly meet Him, the Comforter, inside the churches of our souls, hungry and thirsty for His coming. I will explain this to your love of God with an example: if only you would invite me to visit you, and at your call I would come to you and would like to talk with you. And you would all start inviting me: you are welcome, they say, please come to me. Then I would inevitably have to say: is he acting out of his mind or something? I came to him, but he still called me! This is how it applies to the Lord God the Holy Spirit. That is why it is said: “Be abolished and understand that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth,” that is, I will appear and will appear to everyone who believes in Me and calls on Me, and I will talk with him, as I once talked with Adam in Paradise, with Abraham and Jacob and with My other servants, with Moses, Job and the like. Many interpret that this abolition applies only to worldly affairs, that is, that during a prayerful conversation with God one must abstain from worldly affairs. But I will tell you, according to God, that although it is necessary to abstain from them during prayer, but when, with the almighty power of faith and prayer, the Lord God the Holy Spirit deigns to visit us and comes to us in the fullness of His ineffable goodness, then it is necessary to abstain from prayer. The soul speaks and is in prayer when you say a prayer, but during the invasion of the Holy Spirit you must be in complete silence, hear clearly and intelligibly all the verbs of the eternal life, which He then deigns to proclaim. Moreover, one must be in complete sobriety of both soul and spirit and in chaste purity of the flesh. This is what happened at Mount Horeb, when the Israelites were told that before the appearance of God on Sinai they would not touch women for three days, for our God is “a fire that consumes all unclean things,” and no one from the filthiness of the flesh and spirit can enter into fellowship with Him. - Well, what, Father, should we do with other virtues done for the sake of Christ, to acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit? After all, you only deign to talk to me about prayer. – Acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit and all other virtues for Christ’s sake, trade them spiritually, trade those of them that give you greater profits. Collect the capital of the grace-filled excesses of God's goodness, put them in God's eternal pawnshop from immaterial interest, and not four or six per hundred, but one hundred per spiritual ruble, and even that countless times more. Approximately: prayer and vigil give you more of God’s grace - watch and pray; Fasting gives much of the Spirit of God - fast; Alms give more - do alms and thus reason about every virtue done for the sake of Christ. So I’ll tell you about myself, poor Seraphim. I come from Kursk merchants. So, when I was not yet in the monastery, we used to trade goods that gave us more profit. Do the same, father, and just as in the business of trade the strength is not in just trading, but in getting more profit, so in the business of Christian life the strength is not in just praying or doing any other good deed. Although the apostle says: “Pray without ceasing,” but, as you remember, he adds: “I would rather speak five words with my mind than thousands with my tongue.” And the Lord says: “Not everyone who says to Me: Lord, Lord, will be saved, but he who does the will of My Father,” that is, he who does the work of God, and moreover, with reverence, for cursed is everyone who does the work of God with negligence. But the work of God is: that you believe in God and He sent Him, Jesus Christ. If you judge correctly about the commandments of Christ and the Apostles, then our Christian work consists not in increasing the number of good deeds that serve the goal of our Christian life only as means, but in deriving greater benefit from them, that is, in the greater acquisition of the most abundant gifts of the Holy Spirit. So I would like, your love for God, that you yourself would acquire this ever-depleting source of God’s grace and always judge for yourself whether you are found in the Spirit of God or not; and if in the Spirit of God, then, blessed be God, there is nothing to grieve about; even now - at the Last Judgment of Christ. For whatever I find, that is what I judge. If not, then we need to figure out why and for what reason the Lord God the Holy Spirit deigned to leave us, and again seek and seek Him, and not give up until the sought-after Lord God the Holy Spirit is found and will be with us again by His grace. We must attack our enemies who drive us away from Him until their ashes are thrown up, as the prophet David said: “My enemies will marry me and I will suffer, and I will not return, until they die, I will insult them, and they will not be able to stand, they will fall under my feet.” That's it, father. So, if you please, trade with spiritual virtue. Distribute the gifts of the grace of the Holy Spirit to those who need it, following the example of a lighted candle, which itself shines, burning with earthly fire, and lights other candles, without diminishing its own fire, to illuminate everyone in other places. And if this is so in relation to earthly fire, then what can we say about the fire of grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God? For, for example, earthly wealth becomes scarce when it is distributed, but the more heavenly wealth of God’s grace is distributed, the more it increases for the one who distributes it. So the Lord Himself deigned to say to the Samaritans: “He who drinks from this water will thirst again, and he who drinks from the water that I will give him will never thirst, but the water that I will give him will be a spring in him, ever flowing into an eternal belly.” V. Our Lady – Plague of Demons “Father,” I said, “you all deign to talk about acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit as the goal of Christian life, but how and where can I see it? Good deeds are visible, but can the Holy Spirit be visible? How will I know whether He is with me or not? “At the present time,” the elder answered, “due to our almost universal coldness towards the holy faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and our inattention to the actions of His Divine Providence for us and man’s communication with God, we have come to such a point that, one might say, we have almost completely withdrawn from the true Christian life.” Now the words of the Holy Scripture seem strange to us, when the Spirit of God through the mouth of Moses says: “And Adam saw the Lord walking in paradise,” or when we read from the Apostle Paul: “We went down to Achaia, and the Spirit of God did not go with us; we turned to Macedonia, and the Spirit of God went with us” 25. Repeatedly in other places of the Holy Scriptures it is spoken of the appearance of God to men. So some say: “These places are incomprehensible: could people really see God so obviously?” And there is nothing unclear here. This misunderstanding occurred because we moved away from the simplicity of the original Christian knowledge and, under the pretext of enlightenment, entered into such darkness of ignorance that it already seems inconceivable to us what the ancients understood so clearly that the concept of the appearance of God among people did not seem strange to them even in ordinary conversations. So Job, when his friends reproached him for blaspheming God, answered them: “How can this be when I feel the breath of the Almighty in my nostrils?” That is, how can I blaspheme God when the Holy Spirit is with me? If I had blasphemed God, the Holy Spirit would have departed from me, but I feel His breath in my nostrils. In exactly this way it is said about both Abraham and Jacob that they saw the Lord and talked with Him, and Jacob even wrestled with Him. Moses saw God and all the people with him when he was honored to receive the tablets of the law from God on Mount Sinai. The pillar of cloud and fire, or, what is the same, the obvious grace of the Holy Spirit, served as guides for the people of God in the desert. People saw God and the grace of His Holy Spirit not in a dream, and not in a daydream, and not in the frenzy of a frustrated imagination, but truly in reality. We have become very inattentive to the matter of our salvation, which is why it turns out that we and many other words of Holy Scripture are not accepted in the sense that they should be. And all because we do not seek the grace of God, we do not allow it, through the pride of our minds, to enter our souls and therefore we do not have true enlightenment from the Lord sent into the hearts of people who with all their hearts hunger and thirst for the truth of God. For example, many interpret that when the Bible says, “God breathed the breath of life into the face of Adam, the first created and created by Him from the dust of the earth,” as if this meant that in Adam before that there was no soul and human spirit, but there was only one flesh, created from the dust of the earth. This interpretation is incorrect, for the Lord God created Adam from the dust of the earth in the same composition as, father, the holy Apostle Paul states: “May your spirit, soul and flesh be all-perfect at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And all three of these parts of our nature were created from the dust of the earth, and Adam was not created dead, but as an active animal being, like other animate creatures of God living on earth. But this is the power that if the Lord God had not then breathed into his face this breath of life, that is, the grace of the Lord God of the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son and is sent into the world for the sake of the Son, then Adam, no matter how perfectly excellent he was created above the other creatures of God, as the crown of creation on earth, would still have remained without the Holy Spirit within him, elevating him to God-likeness dignity, and would be like all other creatures, although they have flesh, soul, and spirit, belonging to each according to their kind, but not having the Holy Spirit within them. When the Lord breathed into Adam’s face the breath of life, then, according to Moses’ expression, “Adam became a living soul,” that is, completely like God in everything and like Him, immortal forever. Adam was created to such an extent that he was not subject to the action of any of the elements created by God, that neither water could drown him, nor fire could burn him, nor could the earth devour him in its abysses, nor could the air harm him by any of its actions. Everything was submitted to him, as the favorite of God, as the king and owner of creation. And everyone admired him as the all-perfect crown of God’s creations. From this breath of life, breathed into Adam’s face from the All-Creative Lips of the All-Creator and Almighty God, Adam became so wise that there has never been, no, and there will hardly ever be a man on earth wiser and more knowledgeable than him. When the Lord commanded him to name the names of every creature, he gave each creature in the language names that fully signify all the qualities, all the strength and all the properties of the creature that it has according to the gift of God given to it at its creation. It was by this gift of God’s supernatural grace, sent down to him from the breath of life, that Adam could see and understand the Lord walking in paradise, and comprehend His words, and the conversation of the holy Angels, and the language of all the animals and birds and creeping things that live on the earth, and everything that is now hidden from us, as fallen and sinful, and that was so clear to Adam before his fall. The Lord God gave the same wisdom and strength, and omnipotence, and all other good and holy qualities to Eve, creating her not from the dust of the earth, but from Adam’s side in the sweet Eden - in the paradise He planted in the middle of the earth. In order for them to be able to comfortably and always maintain within themselves the immortal, God-gracious and all-perfect properties of this breath of life, God planted the tree of life in the middle of paradise, in the fruits of which he contained the entire essence and completeness of the gifts of this Divine breath of His. If they had not sinned, then Adam and Eve themselves and all their descendants could always, taking advantage of eating from the fruit of the tree of life, maintain in themselves the eternally life-giving power of God’s grace and the immortal, eternally youthful fullness of the powers of the flesh, soul and spirit and the constant agelessness of their infinitely immortal all-blessed state, even incomprehensible to our imagination at the present time. When, by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - prematurely and contrary to the commandment of God - they learned the difference between good and evil and were subjected to all the disasters that followed for transgressing the commandment of God, they were deprived of this priceless gift of grace of the Spirit of God, so that until the coming into the world of the God-man Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God “was not in the world, as Jesus was not glorified.” However, this does not mean that the Spirit was not in the world at all, but His presence was not as complete as in Adam or in us, Orthodox Christians, but manifested itself only outside, and the signs of His presence in the world were known to the human race. So, for example, after the fall, Adam, as well as Eve along with him, were revealed to many secrets that related to the future salvation of the human race. And Cain, despite his wickedness and his crime, clearly understood the voice of the gracious Divine, albeit accusatory, conversation with him. Noah talked with God. Abraham, seeing God and His day, rejoiced. The grace of the Holy Spirit, acting externally, was reflected in all the Old Testament prophets and saints of Israel. The Jews then established special prophetic schools, where they taught to recognize the signs of the appearance of God or Angels and to distinguish the actions of the Holy Spirit from ordinary phenomena that occur in the nature of ungraceful earthly life. Simeon the God-Receiver, the Godfathers Joachim and Anna, and many countless servants of God experienced constant, varied and visible Divine appearances, voices, revelations, justified by obvious miraculous events. Not with such force as in the people of God, but the manifestation of the Spirit of God acted also in the pagans, who did not know the True God, because from among them God found people chosen for Himself. Such, for example, were the virgin prophetesses, the Sibyls, who doomed their virginity, although for the Unknown God, but still for God, the Creator of the universe, and the Almighty, and the Ruler of the World, as the pagans recognized Him as. Also the pagan philosophers, who, although they wandered in the darkness of ignorance of the Divine, but, seeking the truth beloved of God, could be, by this very God-loving search for it, partakers of the Spirit of God, for it is said: “Tongues who do not know God create by nature what is lawful and what is pleasing to God.” And the Lord so pleases the truth that He Himself proclaims about it by the Holy Spirit: “The truth rose from the earth, and the truth came from heaven.” So, your love for God, both in the Jewish sacred people, dear to God, and in the pagans who do not know God, the knowledge of God was still preserved, that is, father, a clear and reasonable understanding of how the Lord God the Holy Spirit acts in man and how exactly and by what external and internal sensations one can be convinced that it is the Lord God the Holy Spirit who acts, and not the delusion of the enemy. This is how it all happened from the fall of Adam until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh into the world. Without this, your love for God, which has always been preserved in the human race, a perceptible understanding of the actions of the Holy Spirit would not have been possible for people to know exactly whether the Fruit of the Seed of the Woman, which had the power to erase the head of the serpent, had come into the world promised to Adam and Eve. But here is Simeon the God-Receiver, preserved by the Holy Spirit after the mystery of His ever-virgin conception and birth from the Most Pure Ever-Virgin Mary was announced to him in the 65th year of his life, having lived by the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God for 300 years, then in the 365th year of his life he said clearly in the church of the Lord that he tangibly learned by the gift of the Holy Spirit that this is He Himself, that Christ, the Savior of the world, whose supernatural conception and birth from the Holy Spirit was foreshadowed to him three hundred years ago by an Angel. So Saint Anna the prophetess, daughter of Phanuel, who served the Lord God for eighty years from her widowhood in the church of God and was known for the special gifts of God’s grace for a righteous widow, a pure servant of God, announced that this really is He, the Messiah promised to the world, the true Christ, God and man, the King of Israel, who came to save Adam and the human race. When He, our Lord Jesus Christ, deigned to complete the entire work of salvation, then after His resurrection He breathed on the apostles, restoring the breath of life lost by Adam, and bestowed upon them this same Adam’s grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God. But this is not enough - after all, He told them: “If He does not go to the Father, if He does not go, then the Spirit of God will not come into the world; if He, Christ, comes to the Father, then He will send him into the world, and He, the Comforter, will guide them and all those who follow them in all truth and will remember to them everything that He told them was still in the world with them.” This was already promised to them by grace and grace. And so, on the day of Pentecost, He solemnly sent down the Holy Spirit to them in the breath of the storm, in the form of fiery tongues, which sat on each of them and entered into them and filled them with the power of fiery Divine grace, breathing dew and joyfully acting in the souls of those who partake of its power and actions. And this very fire-inspired grace of the Holy Spirit, when it is given to all of us, the faithful of Christ, in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, is sacredly sealed with Chrismation in the most important places of our flesh, indicated by the Holy Church, as the eternal custodian of this grace. It says: “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” And what, father, your love for God, do we, poor people, put our seals on, if not on vessels that store some treasure that is highly valued by us? What could be higher than everything in the world and what is more precious than the gifts of the Holy Spirit sent down to us from above in the Sacrament of Baptism, for this baptismal grace is so great that even from a heretic person it is not taken away until his death, that is, until the period designated from above by the Providence of God for the lifelong trial of a person on earth - what he will be good for and what he will do in this God-given period with the help of above will he be able to accomplish the power of grace given to him? And if we had never sinned after our baptism, then we would forever remain holy, blameless and free from all defilement of the flesh and spirit, saints of God. But the trouble is that, while we prosper in age, we do not prosper in grace and in the mind of God, as our Lord Christ Jesus prospered in this, but on the contrary, as we become corrupted little by little, we are deprived of the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God and become sinful and multi-sinful people in many different ways. But when someone, being excited by the wisdom of God that seeks our salvation, bypassing all things, decides for her sake to train toward God and vigil for the sake of gaining his eternal salvation, then he, obedient to her voice, must resort to true repentance for all his sins and to the creation of virtues opposite to the sins committed, and through the virtues of Christ, to the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, acting within us and the Kingdom within us. God's arranger. It is not for nothing that the Word of God says: “The Kingdom of God is within you, and it is necessary, and the needy does not delight it.” That is, those people who, despite the bonds of sin that bind them and do not allow their violence and excitement to commit new sins to come to Him, our Savior, with perfect repentance to suffer torture with Him, despising the entire strength of these sinful bonds, are forced to break them - such people then truly appear before the face of God whiter than snow with His grace. “Come,” says the Lord, “even though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white like snow.” So once upon a time the holy seer John the Theologian saw such people in white robes, that is, robes of justification, and “finches in their hands” as a sign of victory, and they sang to God the wondrous song “Alleluia.” “No one can imitate the beauty of their singing.” About them the Angel of God said: “These are the beings who came from great sorrow, who have consumed their garments and made their garments white in the Blood of Lambs,” having washed them with suffering and made them white in the communion of the Most Pure and Life-Giving Mysteries of the Flesh and Blood of the Lamb of the Immaculate and Most Pure Christ, before all ages slain by His own will for the salvation of the world, ever to this day, tempered and crushed, but in no way expected, giving us our eternal and inexhaustible salvation on the path of the eternal life in return, favorable at His Last Judgment and the dearest and most mind-surpassing replacement for that fruit of the tree of life, which the enemy of mankind, who fell from heaven, wanted to deprive our human race, Dennitsa. Although the enemy the devil deceived Eve, and Adam also fell with her, the Lord not only gave them a Redeemer in the fruit of the Seed of the Woman, trampling death by death, but also gave us all in the Woman, the Ever-Virgin Mother of God Mary, who erased in Herself and erases in the entire human race the head of the serpent, an unremitting Intercessor to His Son and our God, unashamed and an irresistible Representative even for the most desperate sinners. For this very reason, the Mother of God is called the plague of demons, for there is no way for a demon to destroy a person, as long as the person himself does not retreat from resorting to the help of the Mother of God. “Also, your love for God, I, poor Seraphim, must explain what the difference is between the actions of the Holy Spirit, which in sacred mystery dwells in the hearts of believers in the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, and the actions of sinful darkness, at the instigation and kindling of the demonic thief in us. The Spirit of God remembers to us the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and acts in unity with Him, always solemnly, creating joy in our hearts and directing our feet on the path of peace, but the flattering spirit, demonic, philosophizes contrary to Christ, and its actions in us are rebellious, obstinate and filled with carnal lust, the lust of hair and the pride of life. “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” He who has the grace of the Holy Spirit for his right faith in Christ, even if, through human weakness, were to die mentally from some sin, he will not die forever, but will be resurrected by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who takes away the sins of the world and bestows grace upon us. About this grace, revealed to the whole world and our human race in the God-man, it is said in the Gospel: “In Him was life, and life was light of man,” and it was added: “And the light shines in darkness, and its darkness is not overcome.” This means that the grace of the Holy Spirit, bestowed at baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, despite the fall of man, despite the darkness around our soul, still shines in the heart with the primordial Divine light of the priceless merits of Christ. This light of Christ, when the sinner is unrepentant, speaks to the Father: “Abba Father, do not be completely angry at this impenitence!” And then, when the sinner turns to the path of repentance, it completely erases the traces of the crimes committed, clothing the former criminal again with the clothing of incorruptibility, woven from the grace of the Holy Spirit, the acquisition of which as the goal of Christian life I have been talking about for so long to your love for God. I will also tell you so that you understand even more clearly what is meant by the grace of God, and how to recognize it, and in what way its effect is especially manifested in people enlightened by it. The grace of the Holy Spirit is the light that enlightens man. All Holy Scripture speaks about this. Thus, the Godfather David said: “The lamp of my feet is Your law and the light of my paths, and if Thy law had not been my teaching, then I would have perished in my humility.” That is, the grace of the Holy Spirit, expressed in the law by the words of the commandments of the Lord, is my lamp and light, and if it were not for this grace of the Holy Spirit, which I so carefully and diligently acquire that I study seven times a day about the destinies of Your righteousness, enlightened me in the darkness of worries associated with the great title of my royal rank, then where would I get even a spark of light to illuminate my path along the way? life, dark from the ill will of my enemies! And in fact, the Lord repeatedly demonstrated to many witnesses the action of the grace of the Holy Spirit on those people whom He sanctified and enlightened with His great inspirations. Remember about Moses after his conversation with God on Mount Sinai. People could not look at him - he shone so with an extraordinary light that surrounded his face. He was even forced to appear to the people only under a veil. Remember the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor. A great light enveloped Him, and “His garments shone like snow, and His disciples fell on their faces in fear.” When Moses and Elijah appeared to Him in the same light, in order to hide the radiance of the light of Divine grace, which blinded the eyes of the disciples, “clouds,” it is said, “shadowed them.” And in this way the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God appears in an indescribable light to all to whom God reveals its action. VII. Peace and warmth of grace “How,” I asked Father Seraphim, “can I know that I am in the grace of the Holy Spirit?” “This, your love for God, is very simple,” he answered me, “that’s why the Lord says: “Everything is simple for those who gain understanding.” Yes, our whole trouble is that we ourselves do not have this Divine mind, which does not boast (is not proud), for it is not of this world. This mind, filled with love for God and neighbor, creates every person for his salvation. The Lord said about this mind: “God wants everyone to be saved and to come into the mind of truth.” He said to His Apostles about the lack of this understanding: “Are you not of a natural understanding, and have you not read the Scriptures, and have you not understood these parables?..” Again, about this reason, the Gospel says about the apostles that “then the Lord opened to them the understanding to understand the Scriptures.” Being in this mind, the apostles always saw whether the Spirit of God abides in them or not, and, imbued with Him and seeing the presence of the Spirit of God with them, they affirmatively said that their work was holy and completely pleasing to the Lord God. This explains why they wrote in their messages: “It pleased the Holy Spirit and us” - and only on these grounds did they offer their messages as immutable truth, for the benefit of all the faithful - so the holy apostles were tangibly aware of the presence of the Spirit of God in themselves. So, your love for God, do you see how simple it is? I answered: – Still, I don’t understand why I can be firmly confident that I am in the Spirit of God? How can I recognize His true appearance in myself? Father Father Seraphim answered: “I have already, your love for God, told you that this is very simple, and I have told you in detail how people are in the Spirit of God and how we should understand His manifestation in us... What do you need, father? “It is necessary,” I said, “for me to understand this thoroughly!” Then Father Seraphim took me very firmly by the shoulders and said to me: “We are both now, father, in the Spirit of God with you!” Why don't you look at me? “I can’t look, Father, because lightning is pouring out of your eyes.” Your face has become brighter than the sun, and my eyes are aching with pain... - Do not be afraid, your love of God! And now you yourself have become as bright as I am. You are now in the fullness of the Spirit of God, otherwise you would not be able to see me like this. And bowing his head to me, he quietly said to me in my ear: - Thank the Lord God for His ineffable mercy towards you. You saw that I didn’t even cross myself, but only mentally prayed to the Lord God in my heart and said within myself: “Lord, grant him to clearly and with his bodily eyes see the Descent of Your Spirit, with which You honor Your servants when You deign to appear in the light of Your magnificent glory!” And so, father, the Lord instantly fulfilled the humble request of the poor Seraphim... How can we not thank Him for this ineffable gift of His to both of us? This way, father, the Lord God does not always show His mercy to the great hermits. This grace of God has deigned to console your contrite heart, like a loving mother, through the intercession of the Mother of God Herself... Well, father, don’t look me in the eye? Just look and do not be afraid - the Lord is with us! After these words, I looked into his face, and an even greater reverent horror attacked me. Imagine: in the middle of the sun, in the most brilliant brightness of its midday rays, the face of a person talking to you. You see the movement of his lips, the changing expression of his eyes, hear his voice, feel that someone is holding your shoulders with his hands, but not only do you not see these hands, you do not see either yourself or his figure, but only one dazzling light, stretching far, several yards around, and illuminating with its bright brilliance both the snow veil covering the clearing, and the snow pellets showering from above both me and the great Old Man. Is it possible to imagine the situation in which I was then? - How do you feel now? – Father Seraphim asked me. - Extraordinarily good! - I said. - How good is that? What exactly? “I feel such silence and peace in my soul that I cannot express it in any words!” “This, your love for God,” said Father Seraphim, “is the world about which the Lord said to His disciples: “My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, I give to you. Even though you were quicker from the world, the world loved its own, but just as I chose you from the world, for this reason the world hates you. Otherwise, dare, for I have conquered the world.” It is to these people, hated by this world, but chosen by the Lord, that the Lord gives the peace that you now feel within yourself: “Peace, according to the word of the Apostle, abounds in all understanding.” The apostle calls it this because no word can express the spiritual well-being that it produces in those people into whose hearts the Lord God introduces it. Christ the Savior calls it peace from His own generosity, and not from this world, for no temporary earthly well-being can give it to the human heart; it is given from above by the Lord God Himself, which is why it is called the peace of God. What else do you feel? – Father Seraphim asked me. - Extraordinary sweetness! - I answered. And he continued: “This is the sweetness about which the Holy Scripture says: “They will make Thy house drunk with the fatness, and I will give Thy stream of sweetness to drink.” Now this sweetness fills our hearts and spreads through all our veins with indescribable delight. From this sweetness our hearts seem to melt and we are both filled with such bliss that cannot be expressed in any language... What else do you feel? - Extraordinary joy in all my heart! And Father Seraphim continued: – When the Spirit of God descends upon a person and overshadows him with the fullness of His influx, then the human soul is filled with indescribable joy, for the Spirit of God brings joy to everything that He touches. This is the same joy about which the Lord speaks in His Gospel: "...When a woman gives birth, she has sorrow, because her year is come; but when the child gives birth, she does not remember sorrow for the joy that a man was born into the world. You will be in the world of sorrow, but when I see you, your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you." But no matter how comforting this joy, which you now feel in your heart, is, it is still insignificant in comparison with that about which the Lord Himself, through the mouth of His Apostle, said that that joy “neither eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor has the good breath come into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love Him.” The preconditions for this joy are given to us now, and if they make our souls feel so sweet, good and cheerful, then what can we say about the joy that is prepared there in heaven for those who cry here on earth?! So you, father, have cried quite a lot in your life on earth, and look at the joy with which the Lord consoles you even in your life here. Now it’s up to us, father, to add toil to toil, to ascend from strength to strength and to reach the measure of the age of Christ’s fulfillment, so that the words of the Lord may be fulfilled on us: “...But those who endure the Lord will change their strength, they will fly like eagles, they will flow and not be weary, they will walk and not hunger, they will go from strength to strength, and the God of gods will appear to them in the Zion of understanding.” and heavenly visions...” Then our present joy, which appears to us little and briefly, will appear in all its fullness, and no one will take it from us, filled with inexplicable, heavenly pleasures... What do you feel, your love for God? I answered: - Extraordinary warmth! - How, father, warmth? Why, we are sitting in the forest. Now winter is outside, and there is snow under our feet, and there is more than an inch of snow on us, and cereals are falling from above... How warm can there be here? - And the kind that happens in a bathhouse, when they turn it on the stove and when a column of steam comes out of it... “And the smell,” he asked me, “is it the same as from the bathhouse?” “No,” I answered, “there is nothing on earth like this fragrance.” When, during my mother’s life, I loved to dance and went to balls and dance evenings, my mother used to sprinkle me with perfume that she bought in the best fashion stores in Kazan, but those perfumes did not emit such a fragrance... And Father Seraphim, smiling pleasantly, said: “And I myself, father, know this just as much as you do, but I’m asking you on purpose, do you feel it this way?” The real truth, your love for God! No pleasant earthly fragrance can be compared with the fragrance that we now feel, because we are now surrounded by the fragrance of the Holy Spirit of God. What earthly thing can be like it?.. Notice, your love of God, you told me that it’s warm around us, like in a bathhouse, but look, the snow doesn’t melt either on you or on me, and underneath us too. Therefore, this warmth is not in the air, but in ourselves. It is precisely this same warmth about which the Holy Spirit, through the words of prayer, makes us cry out to the Lord: “Warm me with the warmth of the Holy Spirit!” The hermits and hermits who were warmed by it were not afraid of the winter filth, being dressed, as in warm fur coats, in grace-filled clothing woven from the Holy Spirit. This is how it should actually be, because the grace of God must dwell within us, in our hearts, for the Lord said: “The Kingdom of God is within you.” By the Kingdom of God, the Lord meant the grace of the Holy Spirit. This Kingdom of God is now within us, and the grace of the Holy Spirit shines and warms us from the outside and, filling the air around us with a variety of fragrances, delights our feelings with heavenly delight, filling our hearts with unspeakable joy. Our present situation is the same one about which the apostle says: “The kingdom of God is not food and drink, but truth and peace in the Holy Spirit.” Our faith consists “not in words exceeding earthly wisdom, but in the manifestation of power and spirit.” This is the state we are in now. It is about this state that the Lord said: “There are none of those standing here, who have not tasted death, until they see the Kingdom of God coming in power...” Behold, father, your love for God, what indescribable joy the Lord God has now vouchsafed us with!.. This is what it means to be in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, about which Saint Macarius of Egypt writes: “I myself was in the fullness of the Spirit Holy...” With this fullness of His Holy Spirit the Lord has now filled us poor ones too... Well now, it seems, there is nothing more to ask, your love for God, how people are in the grace of the Holy Spirit!.. Will you remember the present manifestation of the ineffable mercy of God that has visited us? “I don’t know, Father,” I said, “whether the Lord will honor me forever to remember this mercy of God as vividly and clearly as I now feel.” “And I remember,” Father Seraphim answered me, “that the Lord will help you to keep this in your memory forever, for otherwise His goodness would not have so instantly bowed to my humble prayer and would not have so quickly preceded to listen to the poor Seraphim, especially since it was not given to you alone to understand this, but through you for the whole world, so that you yourself, having established yourself in the cause of God, could be useful to others.” As for the fact, father, that I am a monk, and you are a worldly person, then there is nothing to think about: God is required to have right faith in Him and His Only Begotten Son. For this, the grace of the Holy Spirit is given abundantly from above. The Lord is looking for hearts filled with love for God and neighbor - this is the throne on which He loves to sit and on which He appears in the fullness of His heavenly glory. “Son, give Me your heart!” He says, “And I myself will give you everything else,” for the Kingdom of God can be contained in the human heart. The Lord commands His disciples: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. The message is for your Heavenly Father, that you demand all of these." The Lord God does not reproach us for using earthly blessings, for He Himself says that according to our position in earthly life, we demand all of these, that is, everything that calms our human life on earth and makes our path to the Heavenly Fatherland convenient and easier. Based on this, the holy Apostle Peter said that, in his opinion, there is nothing better in the world than piety combined with contentment. And the Holy Church prays that this will be granted to us by the Lord God; and although sorrows, misfortunes and various needs are inseparable from our life on earth, the Lord God did not want and does not want us to be in only sorrows and misfortunes, which is why He commands us through the apostles to bear each other’s burdens and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. comforted by this mutual love, we made the sad and cramped path of our journey to the Heavenly Fatherland easier. Why did He come down from heaven to us, if not in order to, having taken upon Himself our poverty, to enrich us with the wealth of His goodness and His ineffable bounties. After all, He did not come to be served, but may Himself serve others and may He give His soul for the deliverance of many. So you, your love for God, do the same and, having seen the mercy of God clearly shown to you, communicate this to everyone who desires salvation. “For the harvest is plentiful,” says the Lord, “but the laborers are few.” So the Lord God led us out to work and gave us the gifts of His grace, so that, reaping the salvation of our neighbors through the greatest number of those brought by us into the Kingdom of God, we would bring Him fruit - some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred. Let us guard ourselves, father, so as not to be condemned with that crafty and lazy slave who buried his talent in the ground, but let us try to imitate those good and faithful servants of the Lord who brought to their Master: one instead of two - four, another instead of five - ten. There is no need to doubt the mercy of the Lord God: you yourself, your love for God, see how the words of the Lord, spoken through the prophet, came true on us. “God is not afar off, but God is near and at your mouth is your salvation.” Before I had time, poor thing, to cross myself, I only wished in my heart that the Lord would deign you to see His goodness in all its fullness, when He immediately and in fact deigned to hasten to fulfill my wish. I say this without boasting, and not in order to show you my importance and lead you to envy, and not so that you think that I am a monk and you are a layman, no, your love for God, no! “The Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth, and He does not have sight of faces, for the Father loves the Son and gives everything in His hand,” if only we ourselves loved Him, our Heavenly Father, truly, in a filial way. The Lord listens equally to a monk and a layman, a simple Christian, as long as both are Orthodox, and both love God from the depths of their souls, and both have faith in Him, even “like the grain of a pea,” and both will move mountains. “One moves thousands, but two are darkness.” The Lord Himself says: “All things are possible to him who believes,” and Father Apostle Paul loudly exclaims: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Isn't it even more marvelous than this, our Lord Jesus Christ says about those who believe in Him: "Believe in Me, I will not do exactly the same works as I do, but will do even greater things than these, because I go to My Father and pray to Him for you, that your joy may be filled. Hitherto do not ask for anything in My name, now ask and you will receive..." So, your love for God, everything you ask for No matter what you ask from the Lord God, you will accept everything, as long as it is for the glory of God or for the benefit of your neighbor, because He also attributes the benefit of your neighbor to His glory, which is why He says: “Everything that you have created alone from the least of these, you have created for Me.” So do not have any doubt that the Lord God will not fulfill your requests, as long as they relate either to the glory of God or to the benefit and edification of your neighbors. But even if for your own need, or benefit, or gain, you needed something, and even the Lord God would deign to send it to you just as quickly and benevolently, if only the extreme need and necessity were urgent, for the Lord loves those who love Him: the Lord is good to everyone, and He is generous and gives to those who do not call on His name, and His bounty in all His deeds, but He will do the will of those who fear Him, and their prayer will be heard, and the whole council will He will fulfill them; the Lord will fulfill all your requests. Beware of one thing, your love for God, so as not to ask the Lord for what you do not have an extreme need for. The Lord will not deny you this for your Orthodox faith in Christ the Savior, for the Lord will not give up the rod of the righteous to the lot of sinners and will strictly do the will of His servant David, but He will exact from him why he disturbed Him without special need, asking Him for something that he could very conveniently do without. So, your love for God, I have now told you everything and shown in practice what the Lord and the Mother of God through me, poor Seraphim, deigned to tell and show you. Come in peace. May the Lord and Mother of God be with you always, now and ever and forever and ever. Amen. Come in peace!.. And throughout this conversation, from the very moment when Father Seraphim’s face became illuminated, this vision did not cease, and everything from the beginning of the story to what has been said so far he told me, being in the same position. I myself saw the indescribable brilliance of light emanating from him, with my own eyes, which I am ready to confirm with an oath.” Afterword by S. Nilus to the 1903 edition At this point the Motovilov manuscript ends. It is not my pen to clarify and emphasize the depth of the significance of this act of the triumph of Orthodoxy, and it does not require testimony about itself, for it testifies to itself with such indestructible force that its significance cannot be diminished by the vanity of this world. But if only someone could see in what form I received Motovilov’s papers, which kept in their hiding places this precious evidence of the godly life of the holy Elder! Dust, jackdaw and pigeon feathers, bird droppings, scraps of completely uninteresting accounts, accounting and agricultural extracts, copies of petitions, letters from third parties - all in one heap, mixed with one another, and weighing in total 4 items 25 lbs. All the papers are shabby, covered in such fluent, illegible handwriting that I was simply horrified: where can I figure this out?! While sorting through this chaos, bumping into all sorts of obstacles - especially handwriting was a stumbling block for me - I remember almost succumbing to despair. And here, among all this waste paper, no, no, a barely decipherable phrase will sparkle in the darkness: “Father Father Seraphim told me...” What did he say? What do these unsolved hieroglyphs hide? I was getting desperate. I remember that in the evening of a whole day of persistent and fruitless work, I could not stand it and prayed: “Father Seraphim! Is this really why you gave me the opportunity to receive the manuscripts of your “servant” from such a distance as Diveev, in order to return them undisassembled to oblivion? My exclamation must have been from the heart. The next morning, when I started sorting out the papers, I immediately found this manuscript and immediately gained the ability to decipher Motovilov’s handwriting. It is not difficult to imagine my joy, and how significant the words of this manuscript seemed to me: “And I remember,” Father Seraphim answered me, “that the Lord will help you to keep this in memory forever, for otherwise His goodness would not have bowed so instantly to my humble prayer and would not have so quickly preceded to listen to the poor Seraphim, especially since it was not given to you alone to understand this, but through you for the whole peace..." For seventy long years this treasure lay hidden in attics among various forgotten rubbish. It had to get into print, and when? Just before the glorification of the holy relics of the one whom the Orthodox Church begins to ask: “Reverend Father Seraphim! Pray to God for us!” Afterword by S. Nilus to the 1911 edition The first appearance in print of N. A. Motovilov’s manuscript, entitled “The Spirit of God, which clearly rested on Father Seraphim of Sarov, in his conversation about the purpose of Christian life with the Simbirsk landowner and conscientious judge Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov,” caused, to my great regret and at the same time in denunciation of the “spirit of the times,” many perplexed rumors even in that environment, which, by grace teaching, should, it would seem, stand at the forefront of the Orthodox Church. The vain human heart, by all indications, could not contain in its entirety the revelation that contained the precious words of the handwritten testimony of the secret man, St. Seraphim, and refused to accept and believe the possibility of the manifestation of the action of the influx of the Holy Spirit of God in all the fullness of evidence in mortal man. – You and Motovilov are preaching something like Labzin’s sectarianism, which flourished during a certain period of the reign of Alexander I, when they also wanted to see the grace of the Holy Spirit only in its obvious manifestations: in warmth, light and fragrance. From here it’s not far to the “beauty”! – I heard such speeches soon after Motovilov’s manuscript appeared in print. I ask you to forgive me all the Orthodox, whom my little work as a writer could plunge into tempting bewilderment, but my only fault is that I did not emphasize with sufficient force that the sensory manifestations of the grace of the Holy Spirit, who rested on the Monk Seraphim, were given to Motovilov’s enlightened vision only through the prayer of the Elder; and through the prayer of the holy Elder, both this phenomenon and this divinely inspired conversation were preserved in the memory of Motovilov “not for him alone, but through him for the whole world.” There is and cannot be anything in common between the self-inflicted sectarian Labzin and Motovilov, who spent his entire life in communion and under the guidance of the elders, of whom one is glorified by the Holy Church as a saint of God and a saint, and the other (Antony of Voronezh) is humbly revered as such by all Orthodox believing hearts. The first, and, one might say, the main sign of sectarianism and “prelest” is self-rule, and this very sign is absent in this case. But let us better turn in this regard to the testimony of the Church itself in the person of the certification of its saints. This is what the Monk Theognostus testifies: “Although you, constantly being in pure prayer, immaterially uniting the immaterial mind with God, were vouchsafed to see in the mirror the blissful state awaiting you at the end of this life, you were vouchsafed this as having accepted the betrothal of the Spirit and acquired the Kingdom of Heaven within yourself by the clearest and most definite purification of the soul, but do not suffer to be separated from the flesh without prior news of impending death. Pray diligently about this and be confident that you will receive this news when your death approaches, if it is useful” 26. Based on the content of these words of the Monk Theognostus, Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) in his “Sermon on Death” argues as follows: “The spiritual sensation about which the Monk Theognostus speaks is very rightly called “notification” in the patristic writings, due to the property of its decisive certainty. It is produced by the influx of Divine grace, which accepts the repentant and perplexed sinner into the fatherly spiritual embrace. It appears in the soul unexpectedly, like a new life, about which a person could not form any idea before. It frees souls from the violence of evil spirits and passions, changes the whole person, unites him with God, draws the whole person into that wonderful prayer that the Spirit of God proclaims to God from within man. All the bones of such a person cry out with ineffable spiritual thanksgiving and praise: "Lord, Lord, who is like You? You deliver the poor from the hand of their strongmen, and the poor and the wretched from those who plunder them. The soul of such a person will rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in His salvation." This spiritual sensation is so strong that, having filled a person with itself, it takes away from him sympathy for all other objects; in short, it is the establishment of the Kingdom of God in the soul. He who has acquired this feeling does not live for himself, but for God. Those who have been subjected to self-delusion and demonic delusion have an opinion of such a feeling, and it differs from the grace-filled one in the fruits opposite to it. Let us remember Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, who in his letter to the monk Demophilus spoke about the disciple of the holy Apostle Paul, blessed Carp, a great man in virtues and, due to the purity of his mind, very capable of seeing God. Karp was in such spiritual prosperity that he never began the Divine Liturgy until the grace of the Holy Spirit clearly overshadowed him” 27. So, let us no longer be confused in our hearts and let us, under the guidance and through the prayers of our elders, our spiritual fathers, acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit in those measures known to Him alone, in which it will please Him to descend upon us sinners. It is necessary to remember that the measure of the influx of the Holy Spirit that St. Seraphim is talking about and which is depicted by his great novice N.A. Motovilov, in the words of the Rev. himself, “is not always given to the great hermits by the Lord’s mercy.” O triumph of our faith! But what else awaits her when the “times and seasons” are fulfilled!.. Hey, come, Lord Jesus! Archbishop Veniamin (Fedchenkov). Revelation of St. Seraphim of Sarov about the purpose of Christian life An amazing, truly wonderful Revelation was given by God in the person of St. Seraphim. And most of all - in this wonderful “conversation”. And this Revelation was given not only for the Russian Church, but also for the whole world, as the God-bearing saint himself declared. Indeed: let’s take a little closer look at what is described here by a faithful eyewitness, N.A. Motovilov. Everything here is wonderful, everything is amazing. And above all: how could this worldly man record such a conversation with such detail, clarity and accuracy? Even if he were a learned theologian, it would be unthinkable to write down everything that the monk said here. This was possible only through the wondrous special inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as St. Seraphim explained to the perplexed listener. And if someone were to assume that the conversation was compiled and written by N. A. Motovilov himself, it would be no less of a miracle; because not only an ordinary layman, but also a learned theologian of our days would not be able to penetrate so deeply into the essence of Christianity, not to mention the grace-filled manifestations in the saint during his transfigured state. It is absolutely certain from this that this conversation, marvelous in content, is a wonderful Divine Revelation of the Holy Spirit. Yes, this is exactly what Saint Seraphim testifies: Motovilov did not ask him about the subject of the conversation - the essence of Christianity, and never told him anything. And he forgot about his previous perplexities. The monk found out about this, reminded him and said that the Lord Himself revealed all this. And therefore the whole conversation acquires extreme significance, along with the greatest works of the greatest holy Fathers of the Church. And no matter what question you approach, everything about her is amazing. Let's start with the most important thing, with an explanation of the “essence of Christianity.” Now everyone reading the life of the saint and this conversation began to repeat boldly and even with frivolous boldness (as if we ourselves were experienced in these subjects) his words: the essence is “in the acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit.” We talk about this in our sermons. But how long has this idea become common knowledge? Did they think so before, just two or three decades ago? Do many people still think this way now? And if we think so, do we understand the full depth, do we feel with inner spiritual experience the essence of this essence - “grace”? Isn't this word still empty for us? Are we not playing with them like unreasonable and unthinking children, repeating sounds and speeches they do not understand from someone else’s voice?! But thanks be to God for the fact that at least one of the people of our time not only knew, but also possessed in its entirety this essence - the grace of the Holy Spirit. Many of us have hardly heard of it; and if anyone had heard, he did not dare to think that he possessed this “acquisition,” considering the grace of the Holy Spirit to be the lot of saints alone... Indeed, how did many of us think about Christianity? Christianity is a religious “teaching”, an object of “faith”, “dogma” that must be accepted, preserved and confessed for one’s salvation... Christianity is morality, moral instructions about life, and especially about love for others, which must be fulfilled in order to receive future bliss as a reward. Christianity is rituals, a church system, a religious organization, with worship, churches, hierarchy, monasteries, fasts and all other everyday life. Christianity, even others think, is one of the attempts to create a social earthly structure for the poor world. Or, in any case, a useful theory for strengthening the moral foundations of society and the state. Others are not afraid to even blasphemously declare that Christianity is an empty dream, falsely consoling the unfortunate poor of our planet with non-existent bliss; and that in fact “the sky is empty,” and there is nothing anywhere except earthly pleasures, and there is nothing to strive for except the earth: eat, drink, be merry (Luke 12:19). And whoever thinks otherwise is the most miserable of all people (1 Cor. 15:16). Doesn’t almost the whole world think this way now? Everyone is busy with the political social order. And Christianity stands helplessly on the sidelines, not having the strength to breathe life into a decrepit world... Others, in particular the Catholic Church and less so the Protestant confession, are trying to promote economic reforms in a world entangled in crises; and they believe that this is the service of Christianity to humanity, especially in our time; They do not realize that with such an understanding of Christianity they testify to their own spiritual deadness and thereby sing a funeral hymn to their confessions. But, without thinking about others, let’s take a closer look at ourselves, at us Orthodox: who now thinks about “grace” as the main goal of our life? And do we even know her? Do we live in the Holy Spirit?.. Incomprehensible words... Foreign speech in an unknown language... By faith, by tradition, we continue to be Christians, go to church, fulfill the “duty” of fasting, keep rituals, live in the thought of the future Judgment... And suddenly we hear St. Seraphim: if someone outwardly performs all this without achieving gracious results, even if he were a monk, he is a “black brand” from which a living tree can no longer grow... I'm getting scared... What is needed? You need to be in the grace of the Life-giving Spirit... Without this, everything is in vain: good deeds, prayer, and virginity. Everything is an empty ear without grain. The modern world, even the Christian world, has moved away from the true understanding of Christianity as a life of grace to such an extent that it even seems to others that St. Seraphim gave some new Revelation or unknown interpretation of Christian teaching. But this is completely wrong. Both the Word of God and the works of the Holy Fathers of the Church spoke and speak about the same essence of Christianity, as did the God-bearing priest, Father Seraphim. His teaching was and is the ever-changing teaching of Christianity. But why, according to Father and N.A. Motovilov, many clergy could not intelligibly and thoroughly reveal the fundamental truth of Christianity? Every scribe, says the Lord, takes out of his treasure, or book depository, what he has there or what he wants to read (Matthew 13:52). And, therefore, if we could not explain this and introduce it to others, then it is clear that we ourselves did not sufficiently understand the essence of Christianity and forgot it. They didn’t understand because they didn’t live it as they should. And in secular society, many focused on the “social” meaning and power of Christianity; forgetting the words of the Lord spoken by him to Pilate, the representative of the earthly kingdom (John 18:36). Russian society was carried away by the creation of an earthly kingdom; gradually became carried away practically, and then ideologically, by materialism, which degenerated into that fight against God, which we are now witnessing both in Russia and throughout the world, regardless of different political forms of life. Worldliness has penetrated into our Church... Now the Lord is purifying His Church with bitter sorrows. God bless! On the eve of this worldliness, materialism, unbelief and fight against God, like lightning, the greatest saint, St. Seraphim, cut through the dark night of the world with his life and teaching. He himself experienced and showed the whole world this life in the Holy Spirit. Not only N.A. Motovilov had his eyes opened then and afterwards, but also a great many bishops, pastors, monks, theologians, and pious laymen. “The whole world” needs this wondrous Revelation, Father himself predicted. And indeed: not only we, but even more the heterodox world needs this insight, because in the Western world Christianity is either completely dying, or it is being used for social restructuring of life. And the further, the more they try to interpret the Gospel of Christ from a one-sided point of view - its benefits for the social and economic tasks of life. What glory for Orthodoxy that it is precisely it that has raised such a great saint, the like of whom Catholicism does not know (and Protestants have no saints at all)! What a joy for us Orthodox that he lived in our century, that only recently those who saw him alive died - Motovilov’s wife, Elena Ivanovna, who waited for the discovery of the saint’s relics in 1903! We ourselves weakly see the grace of the Holy Spirit; but we are extremely, immensely happy and thank God that among us, in our days, there lived a man who showed us and the whole world with his own eyes what it means to live in the Holy Spirit! This is not a dream, not just a pious desire, not just a theoretical teaching, but a genuine undoubted fact, a wondrous event, an obvious truth: there was a man in the fullness of grace! And he lived, undoubtedly lived, in the Holy Spirit! Through this we saw Christianity in reality! Just as the earth is watered by abundant rain after a drought, so Christianity after St. Seraphim comes to life for us, begins to turn green, and glow with its true light! “By the Holy Spirit every soul is alive and exalted in purity, illuminated by the Trinity unity of sacred mystery,” sings the Church with Saint Seraphim. We rejoice with them too! It must be said that the Saint of Sarov is not only a great Wonderworker, but also a worldwide lamp of the Holy Spirit, a prophet of God of our time! Glory to our God in the Most Holy Trinity, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Nikolai Petrovich P[opov]. Theological consideration of “Conversations of St. Seraphim of Sarov on the purpose of Christian life” The “Conversation of St. Seraphim on the Purpose of Christian Life” offered to the attention of the pious reader is not the handwritten writing of the great Elder, but a recording made from memory by the only listener of this conversation, the Simbirsk landowner and conscientious judge Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov. ...A deep admirer of St. Seraphim, Nikolai Alexandrovich always enjoyed his special love, calling himself “Seraphim’s servant.” The Reverend also paid him with unusual trust and love, paternally vigilantly guiding his spiritual life and, as he grew and succeeded in it, introducing him more and more as his confidante and friend into the secrets of his spiritual work, not for his personal use only, but in order to through him and for others become in the ranks of the Fathers and teachers of the Church in the proper sense. This is precisely the purpose and significance that, undoubtedly, the proposed “Conversation of St. Seraphim with Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov about the purpose of Christian life” had and has, which took place at the end of November 1831 in the forest, near the Near Hermitage, a mile from the Sarov monastery. In 1909, M. A. Novoselov called this “Conversation” “a whole event, enormous in its religious meaning...”. “Simplicity and at the same time the wisdom of words,” he writes, “here alternate in her with the manifestation of the Spirit and power. It takes your breath away when, listening with your heart to the mysterious conversation of the great servant of God, you mentally imagine this wonderful and miraculous picture of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the “poor” Seraphim and his truly blessed friend in the quiet snowy clearing of secluded Sarov. How simple and yet how extraordinary; how natural and together how wonderful! The line collapses not only between what is thought and what is manifest, but also between spirit and flesh, for the latter, illuminated and permeated by the Spirit of God, is, as it were, elevated to its original lightness and beauty, to a worthy home for souls illuminated by the grace.” From that day and forever, the unfading heavenly glory of the Venerable Seraphim, revealed and shown to us by the Lord in the incorruption of the holy relics of the Saint and the inexhaustible sea of ​​his miracles, is the guarantee and indisputable guarantee of the truth of these testimonies about the spiritual significance of this conversation of the Saint as “the word of the patristic.” So for the truly and sincerely believing children of the Orthodox Church. Unfortunately, it is not so for those who want and love to be not children of the Orthodox Church, but its judges and self-proclaimed teachers. Among these there were even those who saw in the “Conversation of St. Seraphim” not a true teaching, in agreement with the teaching of the Word of God and the Holy Fathers of the Church - an understanding of the essence of Christian life as a spiritual life - in the Holy Spirit, passed through by His grace-filled power, but a distortion of this teaching in a sectarian spirit and direction, in the sense of mysticism or Western quietists, or our mystics of old and modern times - Labzin, Ioannites, etc. To justify their idle talk, these slanderers refer to the fact that “The Discourse of St. Seraphim on the Purpose of Christian Life” is not the Rev. Seraphim’s own writing, but a recording from memory made by a secular person. It is bitter and painful, of course, for the truly and sincerely believing children of the Orthodox Church, joy and consolation, encouragement and instruction, and even complete spiritual rebirth for those who find in this spirit-bearing word of St. Seraphim, such a vile accusation, the fulfillment of the most ignorant lies and evil deceit, but it, like the way of the cross of the Lord, is inevitable for the righteous in the real world of lies and deceit. In this world it almost always happens that the more righteous the life, the more suffering, the higher and purer the truth, the more violent the attack on it and the more brazen the slander. About our Savior Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, even in the days of His earthly life, when some said that He was good, and others said: neither, but flatters the nations (John 7:12). And this is quite understandable and natural: a spiritual person does not accept even the Spirit of God: for he has foolishness, and cannot understand, he strives for spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14). The foolishness of these spiritual people - their extreme spiritual ignorance and hence the inability to understand, to see in the true light the “Conversation of St. Seraphim”, speaking about the acquisition of the Holy Spirit as the goal of Christian life, is reflected in everything and, exposing the falsity of their speeches, only exposes the Orthodox truth of this “Conversation” even more clearly. They reproach the “Conversation” for the fact that it was written by a secular person, forgetting that they themselves, being mostly secular in their external position, nevertheless undertake to judge spiritual subjects. But the difference between a secular and a spiritual person is determined not by their external position, not by their clothing, and not by their external life in general, but by their internal life, and this more than their external life. According to the teachings of St. Apostle Paul, a spiritual person is one who lives not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For he who is according to the flesh is carnal, and he who is according to the Spirit is spiritual. For carnal wisdom is death, but spiritual wisdom is life and peace; Because of the wisdom of the flesh there is enmity against God: for it does not obey the law of God, for it can do less. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You are in the flesh, but in spirit, because the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (Rom. 8:5-9). These are the true differences between spiritual and secular people, and from this point of view, others who are spiritual in their outer position and attire can be called spiritual, carnal in their life, worldly, and those who are worldly in their attire and outer position can be called spiritual in their spiritual life. And such, in the proper sense, spiritual, was Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov, who had constant communication with spiritual people throughout his life - ascetics and who himself loved to visit holy monasteries, God's churches, who observed church statutes and often approached the Holy Sacraments of the Church, especially Holy Communion, as the Monk Seraphim instructed him in all this and as we read about this in N.A. Motovilov's "Conversation" There is no doubt that sectarians of the mystical direction, both old and new, both Western and our Russians, constantly talk about the Holy Spirit, about communication with Him as the essence and ultimate goal of Christian life, as St. Seraphim speaks about this in his “Conversation”; but this communication not only has nothing in common with the acquisition of the Holy Spirit about which the Monk Seraphim preaches, but is a completely opposite phenomenon to it, just as lie and truth, a genuine coin and a counterfeit or counterfeit one, are opposite to each other. An expert in patristic works and an interpreter of the epistles of the Holy Apostle Paul, a profound theologian and at the same time a great ascetic, Bishop Theophan of Tambov, in his “Letters on Spiritual Life”, written in connection with the letters (about spiritual life) of Speransky, in explaining the various paths of this life in its truly apostolic and patristic understanding, speaks, among other things, about communion with God as the essence of Christian life, as it is understood and achieved in the Orthodox Church, in contrast to the so-called mystical sectarianism of which Speransky was accused: “A clear justification of him (Speransky) from criticism of quietism and mysticism is represented by his prayerful appeal to the Mother of God, to the Guardian Angel, his fasting, confession and communion, reading the Word of God and its simple understanding, and even more so reading the lives of saints. All these are activities and actions that the worst mystic and quietist would never agree to... His (Speransky’s) own language, of course, was the Orthodox, church language, the language of the Holy Fathers and the Philokalia. They (sectarian mystics) were looking for living communication with God, but they were looking for it in the wrong way, and most importantly, they hoped through their efforts and, as it were, by right to take possession of what was to be accepted as a gift of this grace. In the tension of this self-confident initiative, the imagination flared up and gave rise to dreamy expectations, which, as ardently desired, soon seemed and were considered fulfilled and the goal of the work achieved. All this was painted in the most attractive colors and presented in charming images, in dreamy, transcendental contemplations. The Scriptures attract them, because they speak about subjects dear to their hearts, but they only attract, but do not give anything. This is the hallmark of all of them. And true life in Christ is hidden (mystical) life. The Apostle Paul calls it the life hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). But in its appearance it is very simple. It is unknown how the Spirit comes and excites us to repentance. Having then completed this internal revolution, He then arms the believing heart for the difficult struggle with passions, guides and helps in it. Everyone has this struggle, more or less long and painful; it leads to purity of heart, for the sake of which the believing worker is rewarded with the clearest comprehension of the truths of God, and the sweetest sensation of both in such features as are defined in the Gospel and the apostolic writings. This last appears at the end of long labors and many trials as a crown of reward. Mystics, however, directly and predominantly grasp at this highest point of perfection and paint it as it is depicted in the dreams of their imagination, always in false colors.” We deliberately made this short extract about the essence and nature of spiritual life as communication with God, as it is understood by the Orthodox Church and sectarians, from such an authoritative spiritual writer-theologian as Bishop Theophan, so that for the readers of the “Conversation” of the Venerable Seraphim, not only the ignorant lie of the Saint’s slanderers who do not understand true Christianity, but also genuine Orthodoxy, the patristic truth of its teaching about the acquisition of the Holy Spirit as the goal of Christian life. Those who know the life of the Reverend, his “cruel residence” in the hermitage and the arduous feats of fasting, repentance and unceasing prayer do not, of course, need any explanation of how and to what extent in this life the truly Orthodox teaching about the essence of Christian life was reflected in its difference from the sectarian and false-mystical, and those who need such an explanation will find it in Lodyzhensky’s wonderful book “The Invisible Light” where the “sweetest sensations” of the Venerable Communion with God as a “crown of reward” are revealed in their true light and in complete contrast to what is known about the dreamy experiences of, for example, Francis of Assisi, so praised by James in his “Varieties of Religious Experience.” And in order to see that this is precisely the true Orthodox patristic teaching about the essence of Christian life as the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God, and not some sectarian wisdom that is set forth in the “Conversation,” let us write out from it at least the most essential for exposing the said accusers. True, the Monk Seraphim says here “that prayer, vigils, fasting and all sorts of good deeds, no matter how good they are in themselves, however, the goal of Christian life is not in doing them; they serve only as means, methods through which this final goal is acquired, and this goal is the acquisition by man of the Holy Spirit of God.” Having shown in practice to N.A. Motovilov what the presence of the Holy Spirit is, and showing this to the greatest extent for human nature, the Monk Seraphim, however, said that “he, Motovilov, will never again in his life experience such a great power of the presence of God, for even the holy saints of God, who have used the ascetic labors of their entire lives, do not always have such the power of the Spirit were awarded; but what if he, Motovilov, ever felt something similar, although to a small extent, he would know that this is the presence of the Lord the Holy Spirit with man. Well, now, added the Monk Seraphim, it is up to us, so that, applying labor to labor, we will ascend from strength to strength and reach the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ, so that the words of the Lord may come true for us: “But those who endure the Lord, this strength, will flock like eagles; The Kingdom of God, the Holy Spirit, is acquired through ascetic labor, and this is how those who work acquire It.” Like the Holy Fathers, the Monk Seraphim said that most of all the Holy Spirit is acquired through unceasing prayer, in which it is necessary to remain in great persistence and spiritual struggle. “No matter how you begin to pray, pray without ceasing until you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. And always consider whether you are in the Spirit of God or not. And if not, then judge for what reason the Lord God the Holy Spirit left you, and seek Him again, repenting, and do not lag behind until He is with you again with His grace. Those who drive Him away from us, our enemies, must be attacked until their ashes are raised. And the more struggles, and even defeats, and then victories through the fact that we did not despair of the all-forgiving mercy of God, and also through repentance and communion of the Most Pure Mysteries of Christ, the greater crowns we will be rewarded with in this life.” Further, the Monk Seraphim explains that the departure of the Holy Spirit from a person occurs either because a person has committed sin, or as a test of the degree of faith of a person, and that the passage of a truly Christian spiritual life, the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God is possible not only by monks, but also by people who are in the conditions of worldly life, and necessarily of the Orthodox faith, that is, having a right faith, devoid of any errors, keeping the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ and traditions and decrees of the Catholic Apostolic Church; Outside of this, there has never been and cannot be a true manifestation of the Spirit of God, anywhere or in anyone. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, speaking to the disciples about the Kingdom of God, said: “There are some of those standing here who will not die before they see the Kingdom of God come with power,” and soon after, taking with Him three disciples, on Mount Tabor, transfigured before them, showed them what the Kingdom of God is; on the day of Pentecost, on the Descent of the Holy Spirit, all the apostles had a clear understanding of this. Ancient Christians received this understanding through the holy apostles; Thus, the Apostle Paul, having come to Ephesus (Acts 19), found some who had been baptized, but had not heard of the existence of the Holy Spirit; when the apostle laid his hands on them and the Spirit descended on them, then they also received a clear knowledge of the Spirit of God. After the apostles, this knowledge was passed on to subsequent Christians through the bishops appointed by the apostles. “But,” says St. Seraphim, in agreement with St. Gregory of Sinai, “this understanding gradually disappeared; instead of an effective faith, they acquired an ignorant faith, dead in the Spirit, and under the pretext of enlightenment they entered into such spiritual darkness that they did not not only understand this, but also believe it, and it is rare to meet a person in whom the true manifestation of spiritual life is found.” The fact that N.A. Motovilov received this knowledge through Father Seraphim confirms the thought expressed by all the Holy Fathers that accurate knowledge about spiritual life, about the Spirit of God is acquired only through teaching, and “everyone who begins this search on his own, without the advice and instructions of people of true spiritual experience, easily falls into delusion, is seduced, dreaming and imagining in various ways that everything what he experiences and senses is the action of the Holy Spirit; whereas in reality this is either an invention of the human mind, a realm of fantasy, or the actions of the spirit of darkness.” It is extremely rare for anyone, like Maxim Kavsokalivt, to receive this understanding directly from the Lord or the Mother of God, and therefore it is necessary to ask the Lord to indicate and seek a mentor, adorned not by external monastic exploits, and not by the gray hair of old age, and not by the wisdom or learning of this world, but by a person who has true gifts and gifts of the Holy Spirit. There is no need, I think, to explain and prove in detail that the teaching of St. Seraphim about the acquisition of the Holy Spirit as the goal of Christian life is the teaching of the apostles, set forth in their inspired writings, especially in the Gospel of John and the Epistle of the holy Apostle Paul to the Romans. Anyone who read this Gospel carefully could not help but notice that through this entire Gospel, as a red thread that connects and unites the various promises of the Savior about the bliss to which the paths of life commanded by Him should lead a person, with the commandment of love at their head, as well as the word about the purpose of the coming of the Savior and the essence of the salvation He brought, there passes the thought of the unity of those who believe in Him as the Only Begotten Son of God, with By Him, and through Him of One Essence with the Father, and with God the Father, not only by the Holy Spirit, but also in the Holy Spirit, or, what is the same, about the acquisition of the Holy Spirit as the goal of Christian life (for example: John 1:16–17 28, 3:3–8, 4:3–8, 4:10–26, 6:62–63, 7:37–39, 14:16–20, 26, 15:26, 16:7–15, etc. 29 ). And we know that until this Comforter, the Holy Spirit, sent from the Father by the Lord Jesus who ascended to Him on the fiftieth day after His Resurrection, came and descended on the beloved disciples of Christ, whom until that time He Himself had taught the mysteries of the Kingdom of God and who in words and then were ready to go to prison and to death for Him, in fact, not only having denied Him, they fled from Him when He was taken by the soldiers and His condemnation (Matthew 26:33, 56, 69–74), and were not always able to even assimilate His teaching about salvation and believe Him (see, for example: John 14:5, 8, 22, 16:12, 17–18; Matthew 20:21; Mark 6:52; Luke 24:11, 21; Acts 1:6, etc.). When the Holy Spirit descended on them in the form of tongues of fire (Acts 2:3-6), they not only at that very hour remembered and learned what Jesus Christ taught them, but even then they boldly went for Him to judgment and to prison, and then carried this teaching throughout the world, teaching it in the scriptures they left behind in a depth and height unfathomable to the wise men of this world, and, reborn and renewed spiritually, with joy they went to suffering and death, sometimes most shameful according to the judgment of the world and painful due to the weakness of the flesh, as if it were desired, for there is no longer death, and visible death is only the door to Christ and eternal life. What is especially precious in this regard for us is that we know about the holy Apostle Paul, who worked more than anyone else in his apostolate and, perhaps, suffered more than anyone outwardly, who from a persecutor of Christians, who breathed wrath against them, became an apostle and, working with exorbitant labors, said: I can do all things through Jesus who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13), for it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Gal. 2:20); for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil. 1:21). In his Epistle to the Romans, not in vain called by some the fifth Gospel, clarifying the essence of the salvation brought by Jesus Christ, which the pagans did not have and the law did not give and which should embrace not only the human race, but renew and revive the entire visible world, he speaks specifically about the Holy Spirit sent by Christ into the world, who abolishes the weakness of the law, obeys us in our very prayers, revitalizes which all creation longs for, having submitted to corruption for the sake of him who submitted it, and to the acquisition of which He calls everyone as the goal of Christian life. In this regard, the 5th, 7th, 8th and following chapters, ending with the 11th, are of primary importance in the Epistle to the Romans itself. Oh, the depth of the wealth and wisdom and mind of God! For His judgment is untested, and His ways are unsearchable (Rom. 11:33), - the holy Apostle Paul concludes his inspired philosophy not according to the elements of the world, but according to Christ. Faithful to the apostolic word, true disciples of Christ the Savior, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, who have already entered into His glory, our reverend fathers and teachers, in addition to their holy and God-pleasing lives, left us their writings, in which, for our instruction and teaching, they depicted how each of them, in ways different in appearance, but completely identical in inner content, walked along the path of Christ’s commandments and thus restored in himself the Image of God, which had been corrupted in us by passions... Having focused their attention on the commandment of the Lord about love for God and neighbor, to which everyone converges, no matter how diverse they may be, all the saints of God began to fulfill it by affirming the love of God, for they learned from experience that without it there can be no true love for one’s neighbor, and with success in it and the acquisition of the Holy Spirit through it, the assistance This Spirit is easily achieved and true love for one's neighbor. Therefore, in their writings, although they say a lot about fasting, vigils, prayer, about self-compulsion to humility, about the struggle with thoughts, etc., the basis for everything is the Holy One. The Fathers offer unceasing remembrance of God as a sure, proven way to fulfill the First Commandment; passing through it for a long time and steadily, they succeeded in the love of God and acquired through this that high spiritual perfection, which consists in the obvious union of man with God, and through this unity they received that amazing love for neighbor commanded by Christ, which, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, is always filled with works of mercy, non-judgment, kindness, meekness, has no pride, vanity, envy and etc. This basic rule of their spiritual life was fulfilled differently by the Holy Fathers - constant remembrance of God: some of them accurately and unswervingly fulfilled the prayer rule for this, which consisted of psalmody, genuflection and other deeds; others, leaving external visible exploits, were constantly engaged in the internal Jesus Prayer, even when they were busy with one or another everyday affairs, as if sanctifying them with this prayer. They also called differently the obvious union of man with God, which they achieved through this constant remembrance of God: some call it “contemplative prayer”, others – “pure prayer”, others – “spiritual art”, others – “grace”, or “contemplation of spiritual things”; and many expressed themselves with greater clarity and, like, for example, Macarius the Great, call it “the acquisition by man of the Lord God of the Holy Spirit.” Those who know the life of St. Seraphim know, of course - let us repeat what was said above - how in full, extreme measure and strength in the ancient glorious times of Christian asceticism he traversed this magnificent path of life in Christ, embracing with Christ's love all those who labor and are burdened, those who grieve and are embittered, those who demand God's mercy and help, and all who rest abundantly in the Holy Spirit upon him in every possible way. comforting. In the proposed “Conversation” they will see a truly patristic explanation of the meaning of this path he tested in the sense of acquiring through it the Holy Spirit of God as the goal of Christian life and with spiritual trepidation they will read, of course, about that visible illumination of him by the Holy Spirit, which so resembles what the Lord says about the bliss of the righteous in the Kingdom of Heaven, when they are enlightened like the sun (Matthew 13:43). The validity of this conclusion will be completely obvious if we, in advance of the Conversations, offer several patristic works corresponding to it. “The Comforter Spirit, acceptable in Baptism, gives us,” testifies from his own abundant spiritual experience the famous founder of desert-dwelling asceticism, the main champion of Orthodoxy against Arianism, Saint Anthony the Great (who lived from the half of the 3rd to the half of the 4th century), “gives us the strength to act holy, in order to again elevate us to the first glorious state and make us worthy to receive an everlasting inheritance. Know that those who are baptized into Christ put on Christ (Gal. 3:27–28), receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, at the same time as it becomes for them the guarantee of the inheritance of the eternal Kingdom of Heaven, teaches them how to worship the Father in spirit and truth (John 4:23). “I prayed for you,” the great teacher encourages and instructs his beloved children, “that you too may be worthy to receive that great fiery Spirit that I received... When He is accepted, He will reveal to you the highest secrets, drive away the fear of people and animals from you - and you will have heavenly joy day and night, and you will be in this body, like those who are already in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Philokalia. 4th ed. Vol. 1. P. 34:35). St. John Climacus, the great Christian ascetic of the 6th century, who left us in the “Ladder”, well known to all zealots of piety, an image of the path of spiritual life, says in it: “Impassion is the heartfelt heaven of the mind, which considers all the deceits of demons as children’s toys... It is the Resurrection of the soul before the Resurrection of the body... The one who has made his body incorruptible is called and is truly impassive, exalting the mind above all creation, yet he subjugated his senses to the mind, and presented his soul to the face of the Lord... And this perfect, perfect, imperfect perfection (according to the word of the one who tasted it) so sanctifies the mind and takes it away from the material, that it often lifts it from life in the body by rapture to heaven to visions... Whoever is worthy to be in this dispensation, still in the flesh has God Himself living within himself, Who guides him in all words and deeds and thoughts. Therefore, through inner enlightenment, such a person knows the will of the Lord, as if hearing a certain voice and being above all human teaching, he says: When I come and appear to the face of God (Ps. 42:3).” “God created us for this purpose, so that we might become partakers of the Divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4) and partakers of His eternal essence and appear like Him (1 John 3:2) according to grace-filled deification, for the sake of which all things were created and remain, and things that do not yet exist are brought into being and generated” - this is how St. Maximus the Confessor defines the purpose of human life, great Christian sage of the half of the 7th century. (see “Speculative and Active”, § 99). And pointing out the path to this blessed goal, he outlines it in the following words: “One must ascend with reason instead of ignorance to God” through knowledge of him by seeking, having cleansed him with lust from the passion of self-love, and strive only towards God with all desire; with energy, having renounced it from hatred, to strengthen to seize the one God and create in oneself Divine and blissful love, uniting with God and revealing the God-lover - love, which is from them, that is, from the knowledge of God and the desire of God, and for the sake of which they (§ 93). Love is the “door” by which the one who enters enters the Holy of Holies and is honored to be a worthy spectator of the unapproachable beauty of the Holy and Royal Trinity” (§ 97). The Monk Isaac the Syrian, a great ascetic and writer of the late 7th - early 88th centuries, depicting the successive steps that a person goes through in his inner attitude towards issues of spiritual life, says: “A person, while in negligence (that is, does not follow the path of living faith and does not strive for the Living God), fears the hour of death, and when he approaches God, he fears the meeting of Judgment; when he moves forward completely (that is, enters the region of pure love for God), then both fears are absorbed by love.” This love is sweeter than life and, triumphing over death, is born, in the words of Saint Isaac, from the true knowledge of God, and true knowledge is “the feeling of immortal life, which itself is the feeling of God.” “Fill, O Lord, my heart with eternal life,” the Reverend prays, showing with this prayer that eternal life is available to man in this sinful earth, that it is not only an object of aspiration in the future, but also a sensation in the present. Speaking elsewhere about the sweetness of the night prayer vigil, the Syrian philosopher testifies that “in these hours the soul feels this immortal life and by the sensation of it it takes off the garments of darkness and accepts the Holy Spirit into itself” (chapter 42). “Whoever believes in Christ as he should has eternal life within himself, which is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” says Saint Simeon the New Theologian (who lived in the 11th century). “This is the law of the new life in Christ Jesus, that Christ the Lord, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, comes to us and resurrects our souls killed (by sin) and gives them life, and grants our eyes to see Him Himself - the immortal and incorruptible living in us. Let us try,” says the holy ascetic, “to preserve the Divine commandments and purify our hearts with tears and repentance, so that we may see Christ Himself - this Divine light, and may we acquire Him here, in this life, may He give life to our souls with the grace of the All-Holy Spirit and may He nourish them with the sweetness of the desired blessings of His Kingdom.” “The goal,” he says in another place, “of all those who live according to God should be to please the Lord Jesus Christ and reconciliation with God the Father through the acquisition of the Holy Spirit and through this to receive salvation, for only in this lies the salvation of every soul. And if we do not have this search for the Holy Spirit, then all our labor is in vain and all our doing is in vain; the path that does not lead to this is useless. Whoever has been enriched by this heavenly treasure, I mean, by the coming and indwelling of Christ, Who said: I and My Father will come and make our abode with him, knows from experience what joy he has received, what treasure he has in his heart; Conversing with God as with each other, he boldly stands before the face of the One who dwells in him in the unapproachable light. Whoever believes what I say is blessed; whoever works to actually acquire this is blessed; whoever has reached and, like a son, reached God Himself, he, so as not to tell me something more, is an Angel. Anyone who thinks that he has the Holy Spirit in himself, but in fact does not have it, when he hears that, however, the actions of the Holy Spirit clearly and tangibly happen in those who really have Him, does not believe him in any way, for everyone judges others by his own spiritual state. But whoever is not worthy of acquiring this good, let him blame himself alone, and not say in apology that this is impossible. Being exposed and confirmed by the Holy Scriptures, let him know that this is possible, but because of the violation and non-fulfillment of God’s commandments, everyone deprives himself of this good.” Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica of the 14th century, famous for his fight against the Barlaamites in the doctrine of the uncreated light of Tabor, said: “When a single mind is triplicate, remaining single, then it unites with the God-originating Trinity Unit, closes every entrance to delusion, sin and error and becomes above the flesh, the world and the ruler of the world. Having thus escaped their snares, he remains entirely within himself and in God, tasting the spiritual joy flowing from within... When someone remains in this concentration of mind and in such outreach to God, then, with strong self-compulsion, suppressing the transience of his thoughts, he approaches God, meets the ineffable, tastes the future age and with a spiritual feeling knows how good the Lord is” (Philokalia. 2nd ed. T. 5. P. 300–301). “Real death,” he says, “is when the soul, through committing sin, is separated from the Spirit of God; Those who have intelligence should avoid such death and be afraid. On the contrary, the life of the soul is union with the Spirit of God. And those who are not zealous to acquire the Holy Spirit while still here on earth, do not deceive themselves with empty hopes of receiving it there or somehow being worthy of God’s love for mankind at that time, for then there will be a time of righteous reward, and not mercy, a time of God’s wrath and judgment. So, one must acquire the Holy Spirit through constant prayer, and not only acquire it, but also preserve it, for there are those who, having received the concept of Him, have lost Him again, since not everyone has constant patience in acquiring Him.” All these patristic testimonies about it, obtained through our own experiences of spiritual life and revered by the Orthodox Church, are involuntarily recalled when reading “The Conversation of St. Seraphim on the Purpose of Christian Life” as like-minded and in agreement with this conversation, and, being remembered, they seem to merge with it into one voice of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church. But we would not have said the most important thing in support of our thought about the truly ecclesiastical, patristic character and significance of the “Conversations of St. Seraphim on the purpose of Christian life” if we had not provided evidence of the essence of this life as the acquisition of the Holy Spirit from the Creations of one of the most famous reverend men of the 4th century, Macarius of Egypt in his “Conversations” and “Words on the Holy Spirit.” We deliberately postponed writing out these testimonies until the end, because the “Conversation of St. Seraphim” is a complete reflection of not only the thoughts, but also the words and expressions of this particular Holy Father, in whose works this teaching, presented at length and insightfully, more than others, is their main content. In his book “On Perfection,” to which all Christians are obliged (50 conversations and 7 Words), Saint Macarius the Great says that spiritual perfection is nothing other than the obvious union of the Lord with the Holy Spirit with man, and in all conversations he points out in detail that this is the very thing that every Christian should achieve to a greater or lesser extent. “No matter how beautiful,” he says, “fasting, prayer and various methods and feats, it is unreasonable to focus on them, but in fulfilling them, it is necessary to turn all your requests to the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God, for only His coming can begin to gradually destroy the sinful passions living in man and lead man to perfection.” This is about the main idea of ​​the “Conversations of St. Seraphim”, but here is the entire content of the “Conversations” concerning excerpts from the works of the Holy Father. “Adam,” we read in conversation 12, “having transgressed the commandment, lost the Image of God, in which his entire heavenly inheritance consisted. If a gold coin with a royal image is cut, then the gold will disappear, and the image will not add value to it - so, similar to this, it happened with Adam: he lost the Holy Spirit. We don’t say that a person is lost, no, but he died for God, he lives by his own sinful nature, the Lord does not enter into communication with him.” Conversation 2: “Therefore, it is impossible to separate the soul from sin unless God Himself stops the evil, sinful wind that dwells in the soul and body. But let us beg God to give us the “dove’s wings” of the Holy Spirit, so that the evil wind, the very sin that lives in us, may be separated from us, for He alone can do this.” Conversation 3: “Let one thing be the subject of seeking: to have the Lord in mind; whether anyone works, reads, or prays, let him have the unceasing acquisition of the Holy Spirit, for it is not given and impossible for a person to eradicate sin by his own strength; it is within your power to fight it, to resist it, but only the Lord can eradicate it. And if not so, then what need would there be for the Lord’s coming? If you say that the opposing force is stronger and vice completely reigns over man and has become akin to him, then you accuse God of injustice, who condemns man for listening to Satan. Therefore, we affirm that the mind is a fighter, and an equal fighter.” Conversation 4: “So the wise five virgins hastened to take oil into the vessels of their hearts, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit given from above, and could enter with the Bridegroom into the heavenly palace; The holy fools did not try, while they were still in the flesh, to take this oil of joy and for this they were not allowed into the Kingdom. Thus, the souls who have now sought the Holy Spirit, which is unusual for human nature, have received the oil of heavenly grace and can without stumbling block please God; souls that have not acquired the Holy Spirit crawl with thoughts on earth; they themselves think that they belong to God, but, having not received the oil of joy, they have not been reborn by the Spirit from above, because they have not been put off by the spirit of the world. As a result of the disobedience of the first man, we accepted sinful passions into ourselves and through long-term assimilation turned them, as it were, into nature, and now again, with the unusual gift of the Holy Spirit, we must expel these passions from ourselves and restore their original purity. May man strive to please the Lord and through his own experience tangibly behold the heavenly blessings, inexpressible pleasure in the true sense, “their eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and the heart of man has not sighed,” man will see the Spirit of the Lord, who has become the joy and delight of worthy souls. For whatever he wants is convenient for the Holy Spirit and, being transformed, becomes visible to those who love Him. When he wants, there is indescribable peace; when he wants, he becomes a fire, devouring all the impurity of sin; when He wants, it brings joy and peace, so that souls can experience His goodness and sweetness. And the soul that is worthy to receive this power from above, that is, the Holy Spirit, renounces all worldly love and is freed from vice. So, let us devote ourselves to the search for this only good. And if this seems impossible and unfulfillable (and such a thought is an instillation of malice and hinders our salvation), then let us remember how the Lord gave sight to the blind, healed every disease and raised the dead; How much more will the soul that asks Him for mercy lead to purity, give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him; thereby convincing us to constantly, relentlessly, tirelessly ask Him for this good.” Conversation 5: “The Apostle Paul, speaking about this heavenly treasure, that is, about the Spirit of God, and describing the excessiveness of sorrows, shows what everyone should seek and what he is obliged to acquire, saying: “For we know that if our earthly church is destroyed, the creation of God, the imams, will be a church not made with hands in heaven.” Therefore, everyone should try to acquire this church and believe that it is acquired here on earth. And those who are in reality Christians rejoice from the body, for they have a church not made by hands; this temple is the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. And to the extent that each person acquires the Holy Spirit, to that extent will his body be glorified on the day of the general Resurrection. Therefore, we must believe and wait with great patience and hope that today we may still be worthy to receive into ourselves the power and glory of the Holy Spirit, and let us ask the Lord that even now we may become partakers of this glory and have communion with the Holy Spirit. And as soon as you hear this, pay attention: is this truly acquired by your soul? For these are not words simply spoken by me, but a true deed, clearly done in the soul. Woe to the soul if, having settled on its nature, it does not have communion with the Spirit of God, because it will die without being worthy of eternal life. And this, I repeat, is not just spoken words, but a work of spiritual life, accomplished in a worthy and faithful soul.” Conversation 8: “The grace of the Holy Spirit acts in a person differently, sometimes it ignites and ignites stronger, and sometimes weaker and quieter; Moreover, the luminous robe, which does not exist on earth, was different, for just as the Lord and the apostles, having entered the mountain, transformed His vestments and made them lightning-like, so it happened with this robe, and man was surprised and amazed. At other times, this light revealed an inner, deepest light, and the person, absorbed in the sweetness of this contemplation, did not control himself, but was, as it were, beside himself due to overwhelming love and joy. And the person to whom this was shown and who experienced this, if all this continued with him constantly, could not take upon himself any of the Household of the Word, would not agree to hear or take care of himself, but would only begin to sit in admiration and rapture. Why is it not given to man to be constantly in such perfect measure? Conversation 9: “However, the effectiveness of the grace of the Holy Spirit is accomplished in the soul through great long-suffering, when a person strives for a long time and whole years, when after many trials he finds himself pleasing to the Holy Spirit. The soul accepts the gift of the Holy Spirit after a long struggle, after experiences of great patience, after temptations and trials of all sorts of sorrows, when nothing offends the Spirit of God - and only true Christians become partakers of this. For this, it is necessary that the whole mind takes full charge of this search and patiently awaits the influx of the Holy Spirit.” Conversation 10: “If God-loving souls, for their faith, are worthy to be partakers of this heavenly joy, then they do not rely on themselves, considering it something, but to the extent that they acquire the Spirit of God, to that extent, due to the insatiability of the heavenly sensation, they seek them with greater tension. They are worthy of eternal life, get rid of passions and fully accept illumination and communion and communication with the Holy Spirit. Souls that are relaxed and unmanly, because they are in the flesh, do not try, not only partially, but completely with full sensation and certainty, to be in communion with the Comforter - the Spirit of God; therefore, they themselves do not accept the deliverance of passions. Accepting the full power of the Spirit is not possible suddenly; on the contrary, through many labors and exploits, after trials and temptations, they accept this spiritual growth and even achieve a perfect measure of dispassion.” Conversation 11: “That heavenly Fire of the Divine Spirit, which Christians here still receive within themselves, when the body is destroyed, will begin to act outwardly and will unite the members again, accomplishing the Resurrection. So now faithful souls accept into themselves this Divine and heavenly Fire, and this Fire produces the Heavenly Image in man.” Conversation 14: “Every visible work in the world is done in the hope of receiving benefit from work, otherwise the work is in vain - so a person, spending time in prayers, and petitions, and deeds, must wait for the Lord when he comes and reveals Himself to him, and a person should not rely on his labors until the Lord comes and dwells in a person with all the sensation and action of the Holy Spirit.” Conversation 15: “Christians must endure tribulations and external and internal battles in order to overcome everything with patience. This is the way of Christians: where the Holy Spirit is, there, like a shadow, persecution and warfare follow! All of you who have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, do not act in any way - neither in small nor in great - with disdain and do not insult the Spirit of God, lest you lose Him, for those who have become partakers of Him, if they are not careful, are quenched.” Conversation 17: “Those who have acquired the heavenly oil of gladness receive the seal of the incorruptible Kingdom - the Holy Spirit of the Comforter Himself; these can ascend to the measure of perfection and do not marvel at the fact that they will reign with Christ in the next century, for, while still in the flesh, they have acquired in themselves this feeling of sweetness and the action of the Holy Spirit. Eating the Holy Spirit produces an unquenchable, almost spiritual, thirst, which is rightly likened to the thirst of a person. And this, I say, is not just words, but the action of the Holy Spirit.” Conversation 18: “Therefore, whoever has acquired and has within himself this heavenly treasure of the Holy Spirit can purely practice all righteousness according to the commandments. Through the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, the soul produces the fruits of the Spirit and without any labor fulfills all the commandments of the Lord, which it was previously unable to fulfill without it.” Conversation 19: “Those who are worthy to receive the Holy Spirit are guided by Him in various ways and in different ways. Sometimes they are overjoyed and rejoice with unspeakable joy and joy; sometimes they are calmed by Divine peace; sometimes, like disembodied Angels, they feel the same lightness and inspiration while still in the body; sometimes they seem to be in a state of drunkenness, rejoicing in the Spirit; sometimes they cry and pray for all humanity, inflamed with spiritual love for it; sometimes they have such spiritual joy and love that they are ready to accommodate every person in their hearts, without distinguishing between evil and good. Sometimes, having received true humility coming from the Spirit, we are ready to humiliate ourselves before every person and consider ourselves the last and least of all; sometimes they become like a strong warrior going out to battle his enemies in order to defeat them; sometimes they rest in great peace and silence, being in one spiritual pleasure, in indescribable peace and prosperity. The Holy Spirit works in man in such a variety of ways. But these actions of the Spirit that we have listed are manifested to such a large extent in people who are close to perfection, and are performed continuously, so that one action of the Spirit follows another. Thus, these people, led by the Holy Spirit, become like Christ.” Conversation 20: “If anyone does not have the divine and heavenly robe, that is, the power of the Holy Spirit, as it is said: If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His, then let him cry and beg the Lord to accept this robe given from heaven, because he is covered with great shame of passions and dishonor, who is not clothed in this robe of the Spirit. The Lord turns away from souls who are not fully clothed with the robe of the Spirit. Only by the power of the Divine Spirit, with this one medicine, can a person receive healing - after the heart is cleansed by the Holy Spirit, and the Lord promised to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! And He who promised is not false!” Conversation 26: “A person can renounce the world, withdraw, remain in prayer and vigil, can love God and his brothers - and this is his own business, but if he confines himself to these deeds and does not hope to accept something else, and does not blow the wind of the Holy Spirit on his soul, then the person will not bear worthy fruits to the Lord.” Conversation 27: “Christianity is not something unimportant: it is a great mystery, and this mystery is unusual for this world, for, says the Apostle: “Our faith is not in the precarious wisdom of human words, but in the manifestation of the Spirit and power.” Conversation 29: “As soon as others transgress with faith, then without their labors, without sweat and deeds, the gifts and gifts of the Holy Spirit are preceded. And this is given by the Lord not without a reason and not as it happens, but according to some incomprehensible wisdom of Him, and to others, although they have withdrawn from the world, renounced everything according to the Gospel and spend time in fasting and prayer, the Lord does not quickly give this blessing, but hesitates and withholds this gift. And this is not without reason and not how it will happen, but again according to ineffable wisdom to test their faith. However, one must believe that, while still in the flesh, they will also be worthy of this heavenly grace and will be worthy of eternal life. Therefore, whoever tries to believe must pray so that here he may still receive the Holy Spirit, and for this the coming of the Lord was here, so that here he could return to man what he had lost - the Holy Spirit, and create an abode for Himself in man’s soul. And whoever did not look for and did not accept this here, then after leaving the body he is already exiled to the land of darkness.” Conversation 32: “When your soul is in communion with the Holy Spirit, and this heavenly soul enters your soul, then you are a perfect man in God, and an heir, and a son.” Conversation 37: “But if someone were to object that only the apostles could so clearly receive the Holy Spirit, but this is impossible for us, then the Apostle Paul says: If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Conversation 38: “Question: if some sell their estates, set slaves free, try to fulfill the commandments of God, but do not try to receive the Holy Spirit in this world, will they really not enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Answer: this is a delicate subject for discussion, for some argue that there is one Kingdom of Heaven and one Gehenna; We say that there are many degrees, differences and measures both in the Kingdom of Heaven and in Gehenna.” Conversation 41: “The grace of the Holy Spirit can purify a person in an instant and make him perfect, but it begins to visit the soul gradually to test human will. And over the course of time and many years, if the soul does not upset the Holy Spirit in any way, then His grace takes root to the deepest compositions and thoughts of the soul, until it is all embraced by all the grace of the Heavenly Spirit.” Conversation 42: “Souls, adorned only with worldly knowledge, understanding and the sharpest mind, are like large cities that do not have strong walls from enemies, and therefore the wise of this age - Aristotle, Plato, Socrates - with all their knowledge became like this, for they were devastated by spiritual enemies, because the Spirit of God was not in them.” Conversation 43: “Christians must always have remembrance of God, for it is written: Love the Lord God with all your heart, that is, not only when you go to church, love the Lord, but also while on the road, and talking, and eating food, have remembrance of God, love and commitment to Him.” Conversation 44: “Our Lord Jesus Christ came for this purpose, to change, to transform the soul, cast down as a result of the crime of sinful passions, to create it again with His own Divine Spirit, to pour into it “new wine,” that is, the Holy Spirit.” Conversation 49: “If someone for the sake of God has left everything, renounced the world, crucified himself, become a wanderer, a beggar, but instead of all this forsaken does not find Divine repose within himself, does not put on the robe of the Holy Spirit, does not know in his soul with certainty communion with the Heavenly Spirit, does not acquire within himself the joy of the Spirit - then he has become “overwhelmed with salt”; he is pitiful more than all people: he deprived himself of what was here, and did not enjoy the Divine, and did not know the Divine mysteries through the action of the Spirit. Therefore, if you remove yourself from everything worldly and diligently remain in prayer, then you will know that this work will bring you the greatest joy: God Himself will dwell in the human body, and the Lord has a beautiful abode with Himself - man! Just as He created heaven and earth for man to inhabit, so He created the body and soul of man in His dwelling, so that He might dwell and rest in his body as in His house.” Word 3, ch. I: “The Kingdom of God is within you - these words mean that the heavenly joy of the Holy Spirit in worthy souls is clearly expressed, for these souls, through effective communication with the Spirit of God, here still receive the beginnings of that joy, that joy, that pleasure, which the saints in the Kingdom of Christ will partake in eternal light.” Word 3, ch. XI: “Those who claim that it is impossible to achieve perfection and complete liberation from passions and to be worthy of obvious communion with the Holy Spirit must be presented from the Divine Scriptures and prove that they speak falsely and know the matter poorly, for the Lord says: Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect, meaning by this perfect purity.” Word 4, ch. XIII: “It is also necessary to take care and ask the Lord to acquire great prudence in order to be able to enter into the investigation of the manifold intrigues of the evil one, who deceives a person with a plausible idea. Therefore, do not quickly succumb to the suggestions of spiritual forces, even if they were the heavenly Angels themselves, but be slow, for the actions of the Holy Spirit are not implicit and sin cannot produce them, even if it has assumed the guise of good; so even if Satan presents bright visions, but at the same time he cannot produce a good action, and this serves as his exact sign: he cannot produce love for God or neighbor, nor meekness, nor humility, nor spiritual joy, nor peace, nor spiritual repose, nor tranquility of thought, nor pacification of any passion, since everything is clearly the work of the Spirit of God; Most likely, Satan is able and powerful to instill arrogance and arrogance. But just as vinegar and wine look similar, and taste distinguishes the properties of both, so the soul, by its spiritual sensation and effectiveness, can distinguish the presence of the Spirit of God from the dreams of the evil one.” Word 6, ch. XXX: “Lent is a wonderful thing; vigil is a wonderful thing, as well as asceticism and a pilgrim’s life, and all this is the beginning of the life of the God-loving One, but it is completely unreasonable to rely on such things alone.” Word 7, ch. XI and XII: “The Lord says: I and My Father will come and make our abode with Him. And not secretly, not effectively, but in power and truth, this is accomplished in those who are worthy. And now a soul remains in darkness, which has not yet been granted the Lord to dwell in it, and so that the power of the Good Spirit will effectively overshadow it.” Ivan Mikhailovich Kontsevich. Acquiring God's grace The types of saints are endless and varied. Each saint, even of the same type, certainly has his own unique individual traits, since every personality is unique: And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name is written, whose message no one knows, except accept it (Rev. 2:17). But what they have in common is the presence in all of them of a moment of complete self-denial and following Christ, a feat for His sake, according to the Gospel word: He who does not accept his cross and comes after Me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:38). This is the only way, outside of it there is no other way. Whoever strives directly for high spiritual achievements, leaving aside the feat of self-denial for the sake of Christ, repentance and sobriety, climbs elsewhere (John 10:1). “The goal of earthly life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit,” says St. Seraphim. For the grace of the Holy Spirit accomplishes the cleansing, sanctification and transformation of human nature. For this, human will alone is not enough, but even without efforts on his part, grace does not achieve human salvation: cooperation (synergy) of both human will and the grace of God is necessary. The latter begins to act from the moment the ascetic enters the path of repentance and correct asceticism and, like leaven in dough, begins to penetrate the entire human nature, purifies and transforms it. Christ said: To what will I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until it was all leavened (Luke 13:20-21). Macarius of Egypt talks about this action of grace in the following words: “Grace continually abides, takes root and acts like leaven in a person, and this abiding in a person becomes something as if natural, as if one essence with him” 30. Not everyone has access to spiritual heights—the “sharp lives of the saints.” God does not demand holiness from everyone, but desires salvation for everyone. The boundless love of God calls everyone to the feast of its glory. And the most humble worker, who has received only one talent, who goes through his life’s path in repentance and humility, awaits the “embrace of the Father.” It is never too late to enter on the path of repentance: “if anyone is at the tenth hour, let him not be afraid of delay: the God-loving Master accepts the last as he did the first: he gives rest to the one who comes at the tenth hour, as he did from the first hour. And he has mercy on the last, and pleases the first, and bestows gifts on him, and accepts deeds, and kisses intentions, and honors deeds, and praises proposals” 31 . ...We know the severity of our Russian frosts, and life in a hollow tree shows that the hermit living in it [Reverend Pavel Obnorsky] managed without fire. Such a life exceeds human strength, since everyone should have died in the first cold. This phenomenon is explained by the Monk Seraphim in his conversation with Motovilov about acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit. After they were visibly illuminated by the grace of God through the prayer of the Reverend, the latter said to Motovilov: “No pleasantness of earthly fragrance can be compared with the fragrance that we now feel, because we are now surrounded by the fragrance of the Holy Spirit. Notice, your love of God, you told me that it’s warm all around us, like in a bathhouse, but look, the snow doesn’t melt either on you or on me, and underneath us too. Therefore, this warmth is not in the air, but in ourselves. It is this very warmth about which the Holy Spirit, through the words of prayer, makes us cry out to the Lord: “Warm me with the warmth of Your Holy Spirit.” The hermits and hermits who were warmed by it were not afraid of the winter frost, being dressed, as in warm fur coats, in grace-filled clothing, woven from the Holy Spirit.” With the warmth of the Holy Spirit, “the hermits and hermits who were warmed were not afraid of the winter scum”... These words refer to Russian hermits. But in the Egyptian desert the picture was different and the nature of the manifestations of help from above was different. In the life of St. Onuphrius 32 there is a description of the journey of St. Paphnutius through the inner desert, where hermits lived among the shifting sands, under the burning sun (IV century). This is a series of supernatural lives. These anchorites, as our domestic ones later followed their example, for the sake of God abandoned everything inherent in human nature, including the instinct of self-preservation, and plunged into the abyss of God’s mercy unconditionally, preserving only faith, which moves mountains. And this faith, both here and there, did not remain unjustified. But here, with the warmth of the Holy Spirit, we were saved from the scum, and there, in the middle of the barren desert, springs suddenly appeared, palm trees grew with branches bearing fruit every month. The Monk Onuphrius spoke to the Monk Paphnutius about those like himself: “God sends holy angels to us,” who bring them food, bring water out of the stone and strengthen them so much that the words of the prophet Isaiah come true regarding them, saying: But those who endure the Lord will change their strength, will take wings like eagles, will flow and will not be weary (Is. 40:31). When asked by Paphnutius how he receives communion, Onuphry answered the following: “An Angel of the Lord comes to me, who brings with him the Most Pure Mysteries of Christ and gives me communion. And not only does the Angel come to me with the Divine Communion, but also to other ascetics who live for God in the desert and do not see the face of man; giving communion, he fills their hearts with indescribable joy. If someone wants to see a person, then an Angel takes him and raises him to heaven so that he can see the saints and rejoice. And the soul of such a hermit is enlightened like light, and rejoices in spirit, being worthy to see the blessings of heaven. And then the hermit forgets about all his labors undertaken in the desert. When the hermit returns to his place, he begins to serve the Lord even more diligently, hoping to receive in heaven what he was honored to see.” The same thing that happened in the Egyptian desert in the 4th century was repeated in the “Russian desert”, in the Sarov forests in the 19th century. “Once, reading the words of the Savior,” says the Monk Seraphim to John Tikhonov, “that “in the house of My Father there are many abodes,” I, poor one, dwelled on them in my mind and longed to see these heavenly dwellings... And the Lord, indeed, by His great mercy, did not deprive me of consolation according to my faith and showed me these eternal shelters, in which I, a poor earthly wanderer, was instantly there delighted... saw the inscrutable beauty of heaven and those living there: the great Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John, the apostles, saints, martyrs and reverends our father Anthony the Great, Paul of Thebes, Savva the Sanctified, Onuphrius the Great and Mark of France and all the saints, shining in indescribable glory and joy, such as the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard. has not entered into the thoughts of man, but what God has prepared for those who love Him.” St. Seraphim is separated from St. Onuphrius by 15 centuries, but the mystical phenomena are the same. The Monk Seraphim is almost our contemporary; we also knew those who saw him personally. This is no longer a mysterious distant antiquity in the fog of centuries. But precisely now, when our spiritual wings had almost atrophied and we had forgotten what possibilities were hidden in our spirit, the Monk Seraphim was sent to us, in all the strength and spiritual power of the great ancient fathers, so that we would remember our sonship with God and strive for the limitless perfection of our Heavenly Father: Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). The Monk Seraphim himself understood his purpose this way: in the conversation just cited with Motovilov, he concluded with the latter: “I think that the Lord will help you forever to keep this (the effect of grace) in your memory... especially since it is not given to you alone to understand this, but through you for the whole world, so that you yourself can be confirmed in the work of God and could be useful to others.” To all that has been said, we can add the following: love is the dominant feature of the Northeastern ascetics. “Having acquired love for God and neighbor, fulfilling the law and the prophet, for he who does not love his neighbor can love less than God. But you, Rev. Our Father Paul, have fulfilled both” (6th hymn of the canon to St. Paul of Obnor). The Monk Seraphim was distinguished by the same exceptional love, calling everyone who came to him “joy.” This similarity, however, is not accidental and is not a mere coincidence. Although both ascetics lived at different times, they are separated by 400 years, but what they have in common is that they both experienced the same path, the same patristic school and were crowned with the same crown of virtue - perfect love. Mikhail Alexandrovich Novoselov. Testimonies of the Holy Spirit From the events in the life of the spirit-bearing apostle (Paul. - Comp.) and his companions, events associated with the manifestation of the Spirit, let us move on to the apostle’s teaching about the Holy Spirit as an essential element in the life of the Church and an individual member of it, as the main Source of sanctification, enlightenment, and teaching. Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on carnal things, but those who live according to the Spirit think on spiritual things, the apostle instructs the Romans. – To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for they do not obey the law of God, and indeed cannot. Therefore those who live according to the flesh cannot please God. But you do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (Rom. 8:5-11). I wanted to limit myself only to the above verses from the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, but, looking into the further contents of this chapter, I saw that it was impossible to stop at the beginning: it is all filled with testimonies about the Spirit. Indeed, listen to the following words of the apostle: As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God. Because you did not receive the spirit of slavery to live in fear again, but you received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry: “Abba, Father!” This very Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him (Rom. 8:14-17). You see, my friends, what the actions and powers of the Spirit are. It is clear that in Him, in His acquisition, is the whole life of a Christian. It is not for nothing that the Monk Seraphim instructed his spiritual friend N.A. Motovilov that the goal of a Christian’s life is nothing other than the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit does not allow us to be satisfied with created, temporary, transitory things: Having the firstfruits of the Spirit, we groan within ourselves, awaiting adoption, the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23). This Holy Spirit is not alien to all creation in general, for in it lives, according to the Apostle, the aspiration of a better, incorruptible life, and it is not reconciled with the vanity of this world: The creation awaits with hope the revelation of the sons of God, because the creation submitted to vanity not voluntarily, but according to the will of the one who conquered it, in the hope that the creation itself will be freed from slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of children God's For we know, says the divinely inspired seer, that the whole creation is groaning and tormenting to this day (Rom. 8:19-22). The Spirit strengthens us in our weaknesses (Rom. 8:26), and since “we ourselves do not know what to pray for as we ought,” the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspeakable groanings. He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Rom. 8:26-27). A mentor in prayer, support in our weaknesses, the Comforter is the guardian and guardian of our conscience, as the same apostle confesses: I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience bears witness to me in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 9:1). And is it necessary to be surprised at this when the holy apostle, exhorting the Corinthian Christians to avoid fornication and live in purity, thus defines the dignity and inner content of baptized people: Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you, which you have from God? (1 Cor. 6:19). This says it all, and perhaps I should have finished with the writings of the Apostle of Languages, but I cannot resist giving you, my dears, a few more divinely inspired lines from the same Epistle to the Corinthians, especially since these lines perfectly correspond to the main theme of our conversation, pointing to the deepest enlightenment given by the Spirit of Truth to His participants and making them spectators of the mysteries of God, hidden from people who are not involved in the Holy Spirit, no matter how hard they try to penetrate on their own into these secrets unknown to the human mind. My word and my preaching are not in convincing words of human wisdom, - the apostle writes to admirers of such wisdom, - but in the manifestation of the spirit and power, so that your faith is established not on human wisdom, but on the power of God. We preach wisdom among the perfect, but the wisdom not of this age and not of the passing authorities of this age, but we preach the wisdom of God, secret, hidden, which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the authorities of this age knew; for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those who love Him” (Isaiah 64:4). But to us,” the apostle continues, “God revealed this by His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For which man knows what is in a man except the spirit of man that dwells in him? Likewise, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. But we did not receive the spirit of this world, but the Spirit from God, so that we might know what was given to us from God, which we proclaim not in words learned from human wisdom, but in words learned from the Holy Spirit, comparing spiritual with spiritual. The 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. But the spiritual one judges everything, but no one can judge him. For who has known the mind of the Lord,” the apostle concludes his word on spiritual and spiritual knowledge (about which St. Isaac the Syrian writes at length and deeply 33), “so that he can judge him? And we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:4-16). From the sea of ​​testimonies about the Holy Spirit as the main source of truth, wisdom and all goodness, testimonies with which Scripture is full (being in general itself a work of the Spirit) in general and the apostolic writings in particular, I drew one drop. But even this drop is enough to assure us of the comprehensive effectiveness of the Spirit in the lives of His participants, especially such as the first disciples of Christ, who abundantly received the Spirit of Truth sent to them by their Teacher. It would seem that we can stop here - where should we go? You, Holy Soul, have spoken the verbs of Divine Truth (John 6:68) and broadcast them to the world and enlighten with them those who seek the Truth. – And indeed, we see in the Apostle Paul, and in the Apostles Peter and John and others, complete and unshakable confidence in the absolute truth of those revelations that, according to the promise of the Lord, they were supposed to receive - and received - from the Comforter who came to them. However, the same apostle of tongues, who abounded in many spiritual gifts, goes to the self-seers of the Word, Peter, James and John, to test his gospel. “I went,” he writes to the Galatians, “to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus with me. He walked by revelation and proposed there, and especially [glory. “privately”] most famous, the gospel which I preached to the Gentiles, am I not running or have I run in vain (Gal. 2:1-2). The holy Apostle Paul reports the results of this deliberate meeting of the apostles in the same way in his Epistle to the Galatians: Seeing that I was entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, as Peter was to the circumcision (for He who assisted Peter in the apostleship to the circumcision also assisted me among the Gentiles), and having learned about the grace given to me, James and Cephas and John, esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the hand of fellowship, that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised (Gal. 2:7–9). True, according to the majority of authoritative interpreters of Holy Scripture and as is clear directly from the text of Scripture itself (see chapters 1 and 2 of the Epistle to the Galatians), the holy Apostle Paul did not go to Jerusalem for his own sake, not in order to convince himself of the truth of his gospel, which he zealously, selflessly and with great success served before this trip for fourteen years, without consulting flesh and blood ( Gal.1:16), but guided by revelation alone - but this circumstance does not in the least weaken the idea that the revelation of the Spirit requires a conciliar verification for itself. The Holy Spirit not only does not reject this method of confirmation in the truth, but also leads to it, for the Apostle Paul went to the witnesses of the Word “by revelation,” which, as you, I hope, noticed, he reports to the Galatians (Gal. 2:2). Let him in this case personally not need to be tested by the elder apostles, since he did not doubt the truth of his preaching; but he still needed their spiritual help for the greater success of this sermon. To receive sanction for his gospel from “those esteemed by the pillars” (Gal. 2:9) was essential for the apostle of tongues: their authoritative approval in the eyes of all believers of the evangelistic works of the apostle was, on the one hand, to disarm his many enemies, on the other hand, to strengthen his faithful, but weak disciples, who could sometimes come into doubt and confusion under the influence of voices hostile to the apostle. Conciliar action was also required to sanction the most significant phenomenon in the life of the early Christian church - the acceptance in the person of the centurion Cornelius and his associates of the pagans into the bowels of the Church of Christ. The Apostles and brothers who were in Judea heard that the pagans also accepted the word of God. And when Peter came to Jerusalem, the circumcision rebuked him, saying: You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them (Acts 11:1-3). The Apostle Peter, like the Apostle Paul, gives a detailed account of his actions, clearly dictated by the Holy Spirit (Acts chapters 10 and 11). Confused by the apostle's communication with the pagans, the Jewish believers, having listened to the apostle's explanation, calmed down and glorified God, saying: it is clear that God also gave repentance unto life to the pagans (Acts 11:18). The same Spirit of truth prompts His participants to conciliar actions of a different nature, when one hears not a peaceful narrative about the labors of the gospel and discusses, perhaps heatedly, questions related to it, but a sharp denunciation of untruth is heard, even if it comes from “those venerated by the pillars.” “When Peter came to Antioch,” the Apostle Paul writes in the same Epistle to the Galatians, “I personally opposed him, because he was criticized. For before the arrival of some from Jacob he ate with the pagans: but when they arrived, he began to hide and withdraw, fearing those of the circumcision. Along with him, the other Jews also acted hypocrites, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not directly acting on the truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter in front of everyone: if you, being a Jew, live like a pagan and not like a Jew, then why do you force the pagans to live like a Jew? (Gal.2:11-14). Two greatest spirit-bearers, two “supreme” apostles, come together, and one is corrected by the other in his apostolic activity and, perhaps, in the understanding of the Gospel truth, which is contained entirely only in the conciliarity of the Body of the Church. It is instructive to look at the relationship of the “pillars” of the faith of Christ to those who can be called “ordinary Christians”, to such, however, unlike us, today’s “ordinary” Christians, who, having the abundant anointing of the Holy Spirit, “warmed” it with the “good deed” of their lives. Saint Peter concludes his first letter to “the strangers scattered in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia” (1 Pet. 1:1), with these words: Cue I wrote to you briefly... to assure you, comforting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand (1 Pet. 5:12). As a great spirit-bearer, he, on the one hand, certifies that those to whom he writes stand in true grace; on the other hand, it reinforces their confidence that they are in the truth. The Holy Apostle John the Theologian writes in his first Epistle: He who believes in the Son of God has testimony in himself (1 John 5:10), and: You have the anointing of the Holy One and know everything (1 John 2:20). It would seem, why write to those who are anointed by the Spirit of truth and know everything? Meanwhile, the New Testament seer considers it necessary to write - and explains why he does this: I wrote to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it (1 John 2:21). Like the Apostle Peter, with his spiritual authority he confirms the brethren in what has been revealed to them by the anointing of the same Spirit. He wants to strengthen their faith in this anointing and fidelity to it: The anointing that you received from Him [the Son of God] remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you; but just as this very anointing teaches you all things, and is true and without falsehood, whatever it has taught you, abide in (1 John 2:27). The anointing that was in the Christians of the day of the Apostle John “taught them everything,” but the caring teacher, who reclined on the Lord’s breasts (John 12:23) and knew the secrets of the Lord more than anyone else, considers it necessary to authoritatively confirm that this anointing is “true and not false.” This testimony, coming from the beloved disciple of the Lord, from the most honorable member of the Body of Christ, who abundantly received the grace of the Holy Spirit, was, of course, both useful and comforting for the brethren. Finally, we observe the most holistic conciliar action when the apostles and presbyters gathered to consider the matter of the methods and conditions for the acceptance of pagans into the bosom of the Church of Christ, and when, having comprehensively discussed this most important and pressing issue of that time, they made a unanimous decision, indicating the infallible source of this theanthropic agreement - in the words that have become for all times the unchangeable formula of true catholicity: It pleased the Spirit To the Holy One and to us (Acts 15:28) - said the spirit bearers. So, the first century has living and most authoritative carriers of the Spirit - the apostles, who test each other and confirm their faithful disciples, although these also have a direct revelation of the Spirit. From the first times of Christianity, the testimonies of the Spirit of truth began to be imprinted in Scripture and to live in Tradition and to be assimilated by every Christian through their internal communion with the grace of the Spirit and personal feat, with mutual conciliar verification. Let us move from the age of the Apostles to the centuries of the Holy Fathers and teachers of the Church and listen to what is said there about the subject that interests us; Let's see if by that time the views and the above-mentioned practice of the primacy of the Church had changed. In order not to multiply words and not stretch out my writing to the point of excessiveness, I will cite very few of the many consonant judgments of the servants of Christ of this later era, and first of all about the main source of knowledge of the truth: is it the same for them as for the self-seers of the Word? “It is one thing,” says Clement of Alexandria, “what is acquired by exercise and teaching, and another thing, what is received through revelation by faith. Only the last path leads to the knowledge of Divine Truth, and it is very close to us, even in our dwellings, as Moses, the seer of God, testifies.” 34 “We are taught,” states Blessed Augustine, “by the inner Teacher, by Christ, by Divine inspiration; where there is no such inspiration and inner enlightenment, the action of words from the outside is in vain” 35. “And if the Spirit of God is not in the heart of the listener,” Gregory the Theologian also confirms, “then the teacher’s reasoning is in vain, for if the One who teaches is not inside, then the teacher’s tongue, which is outside, works in vain” 36. “Because,” concludes Blessed Jerome, “the law is spiritual, and revelation is needed to understand it” 37. “Great deeds,” testifies Saint Athanasius, “are performed daily by our Savior: He draws us to piety, inclines us to virtue, awakens the desire for heavenly things, teaches immortality, reveals the knowledge of the Father, bestows power that destroys death, and reveals Himself to everyone.”38 “This is the law of the new life about Christ Jesus,” as if the Venerable Simeon the New Theologian explains the thought of Saint Athanasius, “that Christ the Lord, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, comes to us, and resurrects our mortified souls, and gives them life, and grants our eyes to see Him Himself, immortal and incorruptible, living in us” 39. “Just as without eyes, tongue, ears and legs it is impossible to see or speak, hear or walk, so without God and the effectiveness given by Him it is equally impossible to become a partaker of the Divine Mysteries and to know God’s wisdom or to be enriched in spirit,” we hear from the God-bearing Macarius of Egypt. The wise among the Greeks,” the Holy Father continues to develop his thought, “are engaged in verbal sciences and diligently spend time in verbal debates, and the servants of God, although they are unfamiliar with verbal sciences, are perfected by Divine knowledge and God’s grace” 40. “Whoever hears only the external and carnal voice,” teaches Saint Leo the Great, “he hears the creature; God is Spirit, and He can only be heard through the Spirit, so no one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”41 Is there still a need for evidence to confirm the complete agreement of the Holy Fathers with the self-seers of the Word, the apostles, in the teaching about the primary source of Divine Truth, which both unanimously recognize as the inner revelation of the Holy Spirit? The evidence presented is so authoritative and covers such a long era in the life of the Church (3rd–11th centuries) that it is necessary to recognize in them the genuine teaching of the patrists. However, for those to whom the period from the 11th century to our time would seem too long, I will allow myself, in confirmation of the continued complete unanimity of the Fathers to this day, to call as a witness to this truth the God-bearing father of almost our days, Venerable Seraphim, the Wonderworker of Sarov. This is what he testifies in a wonderful conversation with his spiritual friend N.A. Motovilov: “The true goal of our Christian life is to acquire the Holy Spirit of God. Fasting and vigil, and prayer... and every good deed done for the sake of Christ are means for acquiring the Holy Spirit of God. If we judge correctly about the commandments of Christ and the Apostles, then our Christian work consists not in increasing the number of good deeds that serve the goal of our Christian life only as means, but in deriving greater benefit from them, that is, in the greater acquisition of the most abundant gifts of the Holy Spirit.” “So I would like, your love for God,” the Reverend inspires his interlocutor, “that you yourself would acquire this ever-depleting source of God’s grace and always reason with yourself whether you are found in the Spirit of God or not... If... not, then we need to figure out why and for what reason the Lord God the Holy Spirit deigned to leave us, and again seek and seek Him and not give up until then, until the sought-after Lord God the Holy Spirit is found and will be with us again by His grace” 42. The great Spirit-Bearer notes with sorrow our loss of the guidance of the Spirit of God, so common in former times, so necessary and natural for true Christians. The Reverend also indicates the reasons for this sad loss. “At the present time,” the saint of God teaches in the same conversation, “due to our almost universal coldness towards the holy faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and our inattention to the actions of His Divine Providence for us and the communication of man with God, we have come to such a point that, one might say, we have almost completely withdrawn from the true Christian life. Now the words of the Holy Scripture seem terrible to us when the Spirit of God through the mouth of Moses says: And Adam saw the Lord walking in paradise (Gen. 3:8), or when we read from the Apostle Paul: I died in Asia, and the Spirit of God did not go with us; we returned to Macedonia, and the Spirit of God went with us (Acts 16:6-10). Repeatedly in other places of the Holy Scriptures it is spoken of the appearance of God to men.” Having cited several such passages, the Reverend continues: “Some say: “These places are incomprehensible: could people really see God so obviously?” And there is nothing unclear here. This misunderstanding occurred because we moved away from the scope of the original Christian knowledge and, under the pretext of enlightenment, entered into such darkness of ignorance that it already seems inconceivable to us what the ancients clearly understood.” “And all because,” concludes the Monk Seraphim, “we do not seek the grace of God, we do not allow it, through the pride of our minds, to dwell in our souls, and therefore we do not have true enlightenment from the Lord sent into the hearts of people who with all their hearts hunger and thirst for the truth of God” 43. To close the series of spiritual testimonies, I will provide the authoritative church teacher of almost our days, Bishop Theophan the Recluse. “Every Christian is a partaker of the Spirit,” writes this wise disciple of the Holy Fathers. “This is so necessary that whoever does not have the Spirit is not Christ” 44 . And in another place in the same “Thoughts” we read: When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth (John 16:13). Why is this source of knowledge not mentioned in logic? It is not surprising that pagan logics do not have this point, but why is it not in Christian ones? Is it really true that a Christian, when he begins to speculate, must stop being a Christian and forget about all the promises given to him, true and undoubted? 45 So, “the best and truest knowledge of God is not that which is developed by the efforts of reason and the sweating of the brain, but that which kindles from heavenly fire in our hearts and brings into the soul Divine light, more clear and convincing than all rational evidence” 46. “To seek knowledge of God only in books and scriptures means to seek the living among the dead 47 . Look for God within yourself! It is best recognized, so to speak, by spiritual touch. We must seek to see Him with our eyes, to hear with our ears, and with our hands to handle the Word of life. After all, our soul, like our body, has its own feeling: Taste and see that the Lord is good! (Ps.33:9). It is not for nothing that Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk teaches us to pray to Jesus, the Son of God: “Give my eyes to see You! Give me a taste and give you a taste. Give me the scent of Thy fragrance!..” 48 And the “greatest Christian philosopher” 49, the Venerable Isaac the Syrian, asserts that “to desire to understand mysteries through research and questioning is the foolishness of the soul,” which “sees the truth of God by the power of life,” for “for preserving the commandments, the mind is awarded the grace of mysterious contemplation and spiritual revelation (given by the Spirit. – M.N.) conducting » 50 . Forgive me, my dears, that I somewhat avoided the details - and, speaking about the root Source of true knowledge, I also spoke about the paths to Him. Turning to the main theme of this discussion, it should be said that all the consonant testimonies of the Holy Fathers and Church teachers throughout the history of the Church that we have cited indisputably confirm that the Divine inner revelation of the Spirit is the main source of the knowledge of God, and therefore they insist on the necessity and universality of this forgotten path of knowledge of God. In this, the Fathers coincide with the apostles – the witnesses of the Word. Archpriest Georgy Florovsky. Feat and joy Optina Hermitage was not the only spiritual center, just as the “Moldavian influence” (Elder Paisius - comp.) was not the only one, nor was it decisive. There were also secret visits of the Spirit. In any case, the beginning of the last century in the destinies of the Russian Church was marked and marked by some kind of internal and mysterious shift. This is evidenced by the prophetic image of St. Seraphim of Sarov, his feat, his joy, his teaching. The image of the newly revealed holiness remained unsolved for a long time. In this image, feat and joy, the burden of prayerful warfare and already heavenly lightness, the transfiguration of an already unearthly light, are so wonderfully combined. The elder, weak and difficult, the “poor Seraphim” testifies with unexpected boldness to the mysteries of the Spirit. He was precisely a witness, rather than a teacher. And even more: his image and his whole life are already a manifestation of the Spirit. There is an internal similarity between St. Seraphim and St. Tikhon. But the Monk Seraphim is even more reminiscent of the ancient seers, the Monk Simeon more than others, with his bold call to seek the gifts of the Spirit. The Monk Seraphim was well-read in the Fathers. In his experience the primordial tradition of seeking the Spirit is renewed. The holiness of St. Seraphim is both ancient and new. “The true goal of our Christian life is to acquire the Holy Spirit of God.” And there are no other goals, and there cannot be; everything else must be only a means. By oil, which the holy fools in the Gospel parable lacked, St. Seraphim did not mean good deeds, but precisely the grace of the All-Holy Spirit. “While practicing virtues, these virgins, out of their spiritual foolishness, believed that this was the only Christian thing, to do only virtues... and whether they received the grace of the Spirit of God, whether they achieved it, they did not care.” Thus, with power, spirituality is opposed to moralism. The meaning and fulfillment of Christian life is that the Spirit dwells in the human soul and transforms it “into the church of the Divine, into the bright palace of eternal joy.” All these are almost the words of St. Simeon, for the experience is still the same (and there is no need to assume literary influence)... The Spirit is given, but it is also sought. It requires feat and acquisition. And the grace given is revealed in a certain indescribable light (compare Motovilov’s description in his famous note about St. Seraphim). St. Seraphim internally belongs to the Byzantine tradition. And in it she again becomes completely alive. Venerable Silouan of Athos. About the uncreated Divine light and images of contemplation of it The uncreated Divine light is by its nature something completely different from physical light. When contemplating it, first of all there is a feeling of the living God, absorbing the whole person; immaterial feeling - Immaterial; the feeling is intelligent, but not rational; a feeling that with imperious force invades a person into another world, but with inexplicable caution, so that a person does not grasp the moment when this happened to him, and then he does not know about himself - whether he is in the body or outside the body. At the same time, he realizes himself so effectively, strongly and deeply as never before in everyday life, and at the same time he forgets both himself and the world, carried away by the sweetness of God’s love. He sees the Invisible One in spirit, breathes Him, is completely in Him. The vision of Light is added to this super-mental, all-consuming feeling of the living God; but Light is completely different in nature than physical light. Man himself then abides in the light and becomes similar to the contemplated Light, is inspired by it and does not see or feel either his own materiality or the materiality of the world. The vision comes in an incomprehensible way: at a time when it is not expected; comes not from the outside and not even from within, but inexplicably embraces the spirit of a person, elevating him to the world of Divine light; and he cannot say whether it was ecstasy (extasis), that is, the frenzy of the soul from the body, because he does not notice the return to the body; So there is nothing pathological in this whole phenomenon. God acts, man perceives; and then he knows neither space, nor time, nor birth, nor death, nor gender, nor age, nor social, nor hierarchical position, nor other conditions and relations of this world. The Lord, the Beginningless Chief and Light of life, came to mercifully visit the repentant soul. The Divine Light is contemplated regardless of the situation, both in the darkness of the night and in the light of day. God's favor sometimes visits in such a way that the perception of both the body and the surrounding world is preserved. Then a person can remain with his eyes open and simultaneously see two lights, that is, both the physical light and the Divine light. Such vision among the Holy Fathers is called vision with natural eyes. This does not mean, however, that the act of seeing the Divine light is in every way analogous to the usual psychophysiological process of natural vision, that is, it does not mean that the Divine light, like the physical light, regardless of what scientific theory of light we accept, produces a certain irritation of the optic nerve, which then passes into the psychological process of vision, for the Divine light is different in nature; it is the light of the mind, the light of the spirit, the light of love, the light of life. The image of Divine light in the physical world is natural light. Just as vision of the objects around us is possible only in the light, and if the light is small, then the eye can barely distinguish the objects; if the light is more abundant, then he sees them better, and, finally, in full sunlight, the vision reaches a certain completeness; so in the spiritual world, any true vision is possible only in the light of the Divine. But this Light is not given to man in equal measure: faith is light, but a small one; and hope is light, but not perfect; and love is light, but already perfect. Uncreated light, like the sun, illuminates the spiritual world and makes it possible to see spiritual paths that are otherwise invisible. Without this Light, a person cannot understand, contemplate, much less fulfill the commandments of Christ, for he remains in darkness. The uncreated light carries within itself eternal life and the power of Divine love, or rather, it itself is both eternal life and Divine love. Whoever did not contemplate the Uncreated Light with power and awareness did not achieve true contemplation. Whoever, before seeing the Uncreated Light, boldly stretches “with his mind” into the contemplation of the mysteries of the Spirit, not only does not see them, but also blocks the path to them. He will see only masks and ghosts of truth, created by himself or brought to him by the resistive force of demonic dreams. True contemplation comes from above, effortlessly and quietly. Spiritual contemplation is not the same as abstract, intellectual contemplation; it is qualitatively different; it is the light of life, given from above by the favor of God, and the organic path to it is not reasoning, but repentance. The Divine Light is eternal life, the Kingdom of God, the uncreated energy of the Divine. It is not contained in the created nature of man; it is foreign to us, and therefore cannot be revealed in Us by any ascetic means, but comes exclusively as a gift of God’s mercy. We asked the Elder: how can a person know this from his experience? The Blessed Elder argued that when God appears in the great Light, then no doubt is possible that this is the Lord, the Creator and the Almighty. But whoever is worthy of contemplating only a small light, if he proceeds not from faith in the testimony of the Fathers of the Church, but only from his own experience, cannot clearly recognize its other nature in relation to the soul, and for him the path to this knowledge can only be further experience of repeated visits and abandonments, which will teach him to distinguish between the Divine action and the natural human one. If a person’s prayer for the first time turns into a vision of the Divine Light, then what he contemplates and experiences is then so new and unusual for him that he cannot comprehend anything; he feels that the limits of his existence have expanded inexpressibly, that the coming Light has transferred him from death to life, but from the greatness of what is happening he remains in surprise and bewilderment and only with repeated visits does he understand the gift he received from God. During this vision and after it, the soul is filled with deep peace and the sweet love of God; There is no desire in her then for fame, or for wealth, or for any other earthly happiness, or even for life itself, but all this seems insignificant to her, and she is “desirably drawn” to living infinity - Christ, in Whom there is no beginning, no end, no darkness, no death. Of the two images of contemplation of the Divine Light described above, the Elder gave preference to the one when “the world is completely forgotten,” that is, when, during prayer, the spirit of a person outside the images of the world is introduced into the region of boundless Light, for such a vision gives greater knowledge about the secrets of the “future age.” In the state of this vision, the soul with great effectiveness experiences its participation in the Divine life, truly experiences such a coming of God, about which human language cannot speak. When this vision ends for reasons unknown to man and just as independently of his will as it began independently, then with some slowness the soul returns to the perception of the surrounding world, and into the quiet joy of God’s love comes a certain subtle sadness that it will again see the light of this physical sun. Man is the image of God, but the question is: what in him is the image of God? Or in other words: what is this Image? In the body? In the mental or psychophysical structure of a person? In the trinity of his mental powers or manifestations?.. The answer to this question is extremely complex. Some refractions and reflections of the image of God are not excluded in all of the above, but the most significant is the image of being. A created being, by the gift of benevolence, partakes of the uncreated, beginningless Being... How is this possible? This is as inexplicable and incomprehensible as the mystery of the creation of the world from “nothing” is incomprehensible; and yet such is the favor of the Heavenly Father that the one created “in the image and likeness” is endowed with the ability to perceive deification, that is, to become a participant in the Divine life, to receive the Divine image of being, to become God by grace. Man perceives deification, that is, in the act of deification, God is the Active principle, man is the perceiver; however, this perception is not a state of passivity and the act of deification can only be accomplished with the consent of the person himself, otherwise the very possibility of deification disappears. This is the essential difference between the primary act of creation and its subsequent stage - the deification of an intelligent creature. If the mystery of the creation of the world in general is incomprehensibly great, then the mystery of the creation of the eternal gods is also infinitely greater. If all the life around us is a miracle that amazes us with its greatness, then the consciousness of the Divine miracle in a person entering the world of Uncreated light reaches incomparably greater depth and strength. For every person, if he stops at the fact of his existence, this fact will be the subject of great surprise. We have met people who, ascending into the intellectual sphere inherent in man by nature, were amazed by its luminous splendor, but when a person is introduced into the world of Uncreated light by the action of God, then his “amazement for God” reaches complete inexpressibility and he cannot find any words, no images, or sighs of gratitude. About God-like dispassion The uncreated light emanating from the impassive God, by its appearance imparts to man God-like dispassion, which is the ultimate goal of Christian achievement. But the question is: what is dispassion? In its philological form this concept is negative; Isn't it also negative in its real meaning? Doesn't it mean the subtraction of being? No. Christian dispassion is not the withdrawal of being, but the putting on of new life, holy, eternal, that is, in God. The Apostle Paul says: We do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up in life (2 Cor. 5:4). Striving for dispassion, the Orthodox ascetic strives for living and genuine communion with God, Whom he knows dispassionately. The dispassion of God is not something dead-static; he is not characterized by indifference in the life of the world and man. The dispassion of God is not the absence of movement, compassion, and love in Him. But as soon as we utter these words, these concepts arise in our minds in their empirical limitations and thus give rise to a number of perplexities. Movement, compassion, love and the like - don’t they generally introduce relativity into the existence of God? By saying this, are we not transferring onto God an anthropomorphism unworthy of Him? God is all – life, all – love; God is Light, in Whom there is not a single darkness, that is, the darkness of suffering in the sense of destruction and dying, the darkness of ignorance, non-existence or evil, the darkness of unresolved internal imperfections and contradictions, failures or disruptions of existence. God is a living, dynamic God, but the dynamics of Divine life is an endless and beginningless fullness of being, excluding any theogonic process. God is impassive, but not indifferent to the life of creation. God loves, pities, has compassion, rejoices, but all this does not bring destruction, relativity, or passion into His existence. God provides for His creation down to the smallest detail with mathematical precision; He saves as a Father, as a Friend; He consoles like a mother; He takes an intimate part in the entire history of mankind, in the life of every person, but by this participation neither changes, nor fluctuations, nor the sequence of the process are introduced into the Divine Being itself. God lives the entire tragedy of the world, but this does not mean that in God Himself, in the depths of the Divinity, a tragedy also takes place or a struggle occurs as a consequence of His own incompleteness or darkness, existing and insurmountable in Himself. God loves the world, acts in the world, comes into the world, incarnates, suffers and even dies in the flesh, without ceasing to be unchanged in His supramundane existence. He does all this just as dispassionately as He unextendedly and holistically embraces in His eternity all the extensions and all the sequences of created existence. In God, the static and dynamic moments constitute such a unity that does not allow the application of any of our separate concepts to His existence. Striving for God-like dispassion, the Orthodox ascetic thinks of this dispassion not as “cold indifference,” not as “absorption of illusory existence,” not as contemplation “beyond good and evil,” but as life in the Holy Spirit. The dispassionate is full of love, compassion, participation, but all this comes from God acting in him. Dispassion can be defined as “acquiring the Holy Spirit,” as Christ living in us. Dispassion is the Light of new life, giving rise in man to new holy feelings, new divine thoughts, new light of eternal reason. The Holy Fathers of the Church define dispassion as “the resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection of the dead” (John Climacus), as “reaching into boundless infinity” (Abba Thalasius 1:56). On the organic path to dispassion Faith, understood not as a logical conviction, but as a feeling of the living God; from faith the fear of God's judgment is born; from fear - repentance; from repentance - prayer, confession, tears. Repentance, prayers and tears, multiplying and deepening, first lead to partial liberation from passions, from which hope is born. Hope multiplies ascetic labors, prayers and tears; refines and deepens the feeling of sin, due to which fear increases, turning into the deepest repentance, which bows to the mercy of God, and the soul is rewarded with the grace of the Holy Spirit, filled with the light of Divine love. And faith is love, but small; and hope is love, but imperfect. Every time the soul ascends from a lesser measure of love to a greater one, it inevitably passes through fear. Love, by its appearance, drives out fear, but, driven out by small love, it, during the transition of the soul to greater love, is again revived and again overcome by love; and only perfect love, according to the testimony of the great apostle of love, completely drives out fear, that is, fear in which there is torment. There is another fear of God, in which there is no torment, but joy and the breath of holy eternity. The Elder speaks about this fear, which should not leave a person within the confines of earthly existence: “Before God one must live in fear and love. In fear because He is Lord; in fear, so as not to offend the Lord with a bad thought; in love, because the Lord is love." The intellectual silence of the Orthodox monk was born organically from deep repentance and the desire to preserve the commandments of Christ. It is not at all an artificial application of Areopagistic theology to the spiritual life. The theological provisions of the Areopagite do not contradict the results of silence, and in this sense they are in contact and coincide with it, but we consider it necessary to point out as a very significant point that the starting point and basis of silence is not the abstract philosophy of apophatic theology, but repentance and the struggle against the law of sin operating in us (Rom. 7:23). And it is on this path, in the desire to make the commandment of Christ the only and complete law of our eternal existence, that the incomprehensibility of the Divine is learned; and it is on this path that the spirit of man is drawn away from all the images of the world and is above the world. The latter happens to him when he deeply realizes that he is “worse than any creature.” God, this Light, in which there is not a single darkness, always appears in the light and as Light. But when performing “artistic” mental prayer, the soul of the ascetic encounters some very special kind of darkness, the word about which outwardly will be just as contradictory and paradoxical as about most other objects of Christian spiritual experience. This inconsistency is caused, on the one hand, by the nature of this experience, on the other hand, by the place or point of view from which the spiritual event is viewed and defined. The soul of an ascetic plunges internally into the darkness in question when, by an act of will, through special ascetic methods, he is freed from all representation and imagination of visible things and rational thoughts and concepts; when it “stops” the mind and imagination, and therefore it can be called “the darkness of distraction”; This prayer is usually called “artistic” due to the fact that it is performed according to a special method that exists for this subject. If we look for a definition of the spiritual “place” of this darkness, we can say that it stands on the verge of the appearance of the Uncreated Light; but when mental prayer is performed without proper repentance and prayerful aspiration to God, then the soul, naked from all ideas, can remain for some moments in this darkness of abstraction, without seeing God, for in it, that is, in this darkness in itself, God does not yet exist. While in the darkness of distraction, the mind experiences a kind of pleasure and peace, and if at the same time it somehow turns on itself, it can feel a certain semblance of light, which, however, is not the yet uncreated light of the Divine, but a natural property of the mind created in the image of God. As an outcome beyond the boundaries of the temporal, this contemplation brings the mind closer to the knowledge of the imperishable and thereby makes a person the owner of new knowledge, but still abstract knowledge, and woe to him who accepts this wisdom as knowledge of the true God and this contemplation as communion with Divine existence. Woe because in this case the darkness of conscience, standing on the verge of true vision of God, becomes an impenetrable cover of the Divine and a strong wall separating from God more than the darkness of the rebellion of coarse passions, the darkness of obvious demonic obsessions or the darkness of the loss of grace and abandonment of God. Woe because this would be delusion, “delusion,” for God does not yet exist in the darkness of distraction. God appears in the light and as Light. When we call our rational knowledge and reflective consciousness light, then from this point of view, in some sense, we can talk about the “darkness of God’s vision,” because it is inexplicable in rational concepts, because for our mind God remains incomprehensible, inaccessible. But this image of expression, that is, “the darkness of God’s vision,” is completely conditional, for God is Light, in Whom there is not a single darkness, and always appears as Light, and by His appearance introduces man into the light of eternal Divine existence. The action of Divine Light in a sinful person burns the passions, and therefore at certain periods it can be felt as a scorching Fire. Every Christian ascetic who wishes to live piously will inevitably burn in this Fire. Archbishop Nathanael (Lvov). The influence of St. Seraphim in Russian church history Many saints, as pure sacrifices of faith and love, brought humanity to the Throne of God, many crins - flowers of faith, deed and love grew in the barren desert of “this world”, in it, but outside it, for they lived not by its juices, but by the grace of God, in the feat of faith and love, wisely collected and assimilated by them. And all these saints are flower-krins, for they ate the same Bread, and each of them is a unique phenomenon, personal, inimitable and in each of them his own, inherent fragrance of God’s grace. The name of St. Seraphim is covered with the fragrance of the crin of holiness and grace, grown and collected on Russian soil... The air of Russian fields, forests, rivers and lakes gave it its delicate shades and coloring. It contains the Russian joy of spring, the joy of the sun and life. His name evokes in a person who pauses even a little in front of his image an incomparable and inexpressible tender joyful feeling - the joy of goodness, happiness and bliss of goodness. St. Seraphim and his preaching are a huge historical phenomenon in the life of the Russian people. His name is associated with a huge historical shift in our Russian spiritual growth and religious development. This shift has occurred and is happening in our time, before our eyes, and there cannot be a Russian conscious Orthodox believer who would not spiritually bow to St. Seraphim, would not experience a feeling of gratitude towards him for the fact that he directly introduced some, and helped others to enter Orthodoxy, the Church of Christ and taught them to know God. The well-known teaching of St. Seraphim about the meaning of life, set forth in his conversation with Motovilov, begins with words that reveal the historical significance of his teaching and his preaching. “You were not taught as you should, your love of God,” he says to Motovilov. In other words, according to the thoughts of the great elder, in his time they answered incorrectly, inaccurately, incorrectly the most important question of man - about the meaning of life. Or, to put it another way, in the Russian believing society of that time, incorrect thoughts were widespread, people lived guided by theological views, a non-Orthodox worldview. What is this unorthodoxy? In a conversation with Motovilov, St. Seraphim answers this question: – You were taught that the meaning of life is to do good deeds. And he further explains that the meaning is not in the deeds themselves, that deeds are not the goal, but only a means to “acquire the Holy Spirit,” and that this acquisition is the true meaning, task and goal of human life. That a person must experience God, Communion with God, and strive to always be in Him. Behind this condemnation of widespread, inert, caked and non-Orthodox thoughts and the direct opposition of Orthodox thoughts to them, it is not difficult for us to see the outline of a large historical process, the struggle of two currents, two worldviews. One, condemned by the Monk Seraphim, familiar and widespread in the society of that time, and not only that, but also of later times, was created under the influence of a long-lasting non-Orthodox worldview in Russian history. Under what conditions, on what basis, why can deeds themselves be the meaning of life? Only on the condition, on the premise, that God gave man the task of creating something on earth from human affairs. That by God’s will he must create something here on earth, create some kind of ideal life, build the “Kingdom of God on earth.” If the goal and meaning of a person’s life are set precisely on earth - to build, create a paradise on earth, in the conditions of earthly life, if this “paradise on earth” is the goal and meaning of life, then indeed all the deeds that a person does in the order of creating this paradise, in the order of carrying out God’s will and assignment, receive absolute significance, are the meaning of a person’s life. This harmonious and dynamic sense of purpose, comprehending and sanctifying cultural creativity, giving absolute religious significance to human affairs, creating faith in progress, in the meaning and meaning of civilization, but incorrect, arbitrarily artificial, distorting the outlines of all things, the entire perspective of life, understanding - Orthodoxy does not accept, for it is fundamentally destroyed by the words of the Savior that “His Kingdom is not of the world.” this”, that before His disciples there is not an optimistic prospect ahead, but “you will be in a world of sorrow”, what is ahead is not rosy progress on the earthly plane - for “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” that the Lord did not come to earth in order to organize public life, judge people in their everyday tasks and “divide” material goods among them and organize their public, state and social life. No, this is not the meaning of life, but that there is “one thing that is needed,” which must be sought “first of all”: in the communion with the “Kingdom of God,” which is not outside, but inside a person, and no one can indicate the external “noticeable” forms of this Kingdom of God, for it “is within you.” According to the Apostle Peter, “the earth and all the works of men will be burned up.” Only the Church of Christ is eternal, which “the gates of hell cannot overcome”; only life in God is eternal. There is not and will not be “heaven on earth.” There is no basis for passionate human dreams about progress and the absolute meaning of human creativity and human affairs. The meaning of life is not the works themselves, but in the creative dynamic striving for God, life in faith and love for God, here is “His Kingdom”, and it is not outside of man, but inside, in the heart, in love, in the search for God, in life in God. The meaning of life is in communion with God, in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. The Monk Seraphim called not only to believe in God, but taught to know God, to know and recognize the grace of the Holy Spirit every time it graciously touches a person, he called to be constantly in the grace of God. The acquisition of the Holy Spirit, constant life with Him and in Him is the beginning of the Kingdom of God and eternal life, which a person participates in already on earth. From views, ideas, worldviews, philosophy, oppressed by three dimensions, from perspectives within the horizon, the Monk Seraphim quietly and meekly-affectionately, in simple words, calls a person to such boldness that Motovilov, the son of his people and Russian society of that time, did not even dare to think about. In the quiet and meek, holy simple and affectionate words of St. Seraphim about the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, about knowledge of Him and affinity with Him, all Orthodoxy breathes and under the rays of joy of the humble and daring faith of St. Seraphim the Russian soul comes to life. Russian life, Russian society, Russian religious thought were under long-term non-Russian and non-Orthodox influence. Someone else's thoughts and worldview have left their mark on many things. There has always been a truly Orthodox religious church experience in the Russian Church, but there was no complete symphony between experience and thought. Genuine church experience and genuine church thoughts were preserved by her primarily in liturgical theology, in the rich dogmatic and moral-theological content of stichera, troparions, canons, etc., which are often abbreviated statements of sermons or treatises of the Holy Fathers on dogmatic and moral topics. All this liturgical theology, without the slightest flaw, is strictly Orthodox, and the theology of St. Seraphim of Sarov about the acquisition of the Holy Spirit is absolutely in agreement with them, saturated with the same Spirit. In formal school theology, completely different views were taught, mostly in complete contradiction with the liturgical patristic theology. It was from this largely non-Orthodox theology that Elder Paisiy Velichkovsky fled in the 18th century, contrasting this theology with the “Spiritual ABC” of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, which could not have happened in relation to the genuine church theology of the Holy Fathers. Moreover, as our church historians note, and especially clearly Fr. Georgy Florovsky, the best priests of the 18th century, who were educated in the above-mentioned school partially non-Orthodox spirit, in order to become real good shepherds, had to be retrained in the church element, among the believing people, saturated with truly Orthodox liturgical theology, and, of course, in this process the influence of St. Seraphim of Sarov was the most spiritually authoritative and effective, for he theologized not theoretically, but experimentally, testing his words were the breath of that Spirit, the acquisition of which he taught to consider the main and only task of a person’s life. Throughout the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, both currents of theological thought fought in the Russian Church. In the 30s of the 19th century we see the beginning and then the development of the process of the Russian Orthodox revival. Its highway can be marked with the names of Metropolitan Philaret, Khomyakov, Bishop Theophan the Recluse, Fr. John of Kronstadt, Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky). This process led the Russian Church to the Moscow Council of 1918, to the fiery glory of the Russian martyrs in the persecution of the Russian Church. But at the very beginning of this great and still insufficiently understood historical process of the revival of Orthodoxy in Russia, the liberation of the Russian soul from heterodox influence, the revival of the Orthodox unity of experience and thought, stands the meek and humble “poor Seraphim.” And now, as during his life, he greets all those who thirst for the acquisition of the Holy Spirit with the words “My joy, Christ is Risen!” Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose). God is fire “God is fire” - in these words, God’s chosen one, the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, reminds us not only of the greatness of God’s glory, but also of our own capabilities and aspirations, for no one can get closer to God until he himself becomes fire. This is not just a figure of speech, but a spiritual truth, witnessed by the lives of many saints. Christian ascetics, who should have died in winter from frost, were warmed by the warmth of the inner spiritual fire, and even the layman Motovilov, by the grace of God, was honored to feel such warmth in the presence of the Monk Seraphim and see the saint as if in the center of a dazzling sun. This fire, according to St. Seraphim, is a tangible manifestation of the grace of the Holy Spirit. It was given to the apostles at Pentecost and is given every time to every Orthodox Christian at baptism. Due to our spiritual blindness and coldness, we cannot see or feel this fire, except for moments of especially fervent prayer and unity with God, but even in such cases to a small extent. But no one can approach God except through this fire. When our first parents were expelled from paradise, God installed a fiery sword to guard the Tree of Life. And to this day, in prayers before Holy Communion, we pray that the fruit of the new Tree of Life - the Most Pure Body and Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ - will not burn us for our unworthiness. St. Seraphim said: “Our God is fire (Heb. 12:29), consuming everything unclean, and no one unclean in body or spirit can have a part with Him. So that he who is cast down to hell will feel only pain in the presence of God; he is unclean, and the Divine Fire burns him and torments him. But that fire which devours the unworthy can also devour impurity and make worthy those who, although unworthy, love God and desire to become His sons. We pray before Holy Communion: “May Your Most Pure Body and Your Honorable Blood, O Lord, be to me fire and light, devouring the abomination of sins and the wounds of passions, enlightening all of me, so that I may glorify Your Divinity.” St. Seraphim compares a Christian to a burning candle that ignites other candles, and its own fire does not become smaller because of this, and this is how the heavenly treasures of Divine grace spread. This is how a Christian should be - burning with love for God and the desire to serve Him and filled with the fiery presence of the Holy Spirit. If he becomes such a burning candle in this life, then in the next life he will be even more great. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43). Due to our unworthiness, we cannot even think about such a state, for, as it is written: eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and what God has prepared for those who love Him has not entered into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9). This state is the goal and meaning of Christian life - this is what an Orthodox Christian lives for. Archpriest Valentin Sventsitsky. Prophecy of the End Times The Monk Seraphim healed Motovilov. For us, who revere St. Seraphim and know about his miracles, this is as natural as saying about a person who knows how to speak that he said a word. But let us consider in detail how all this happened, so that we can resurrect before us the living image of St. Seraphim. Four brought Motovilov to the Monk Seraphim, and the fifth supported his head. At this time, the Monk Seraphim was sitting on the lawn on a large fallen pine tree, which, as Motovilov says, still lies on the banks of Sarovka. And so, in response to a request for healing addressed to the Monk Seraphim, he said: “But I’m not a doctor, you need to talk to doctors when you want to be treated for some kind of disease.” “I,” says Motovilov, “answered him that I tried all the treatments from doctors, I visited the most famous, the most illustrious, and now I rely only on the Lord God.” And then the Reverend asked: – Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the God-man, and in His Most Pure Mother of God, that She is the Ever-Virgin? – Do you believe that the Lord, as before, healed instantly, and now can easily and instantly heal those who need help? “I truly believe all this with all my soul and I believe with my heart.” - And if you believe, then you are already healthy. - How healthy are you? - I asked, - when are my people and you, Father, holding me in your arms? “No,” said the Reverend, “you are completely healthy with your whole body now.” He ordered my people who were holding me in their arms to move away from me, and he, taking me by the shoulders, lifted me from the ground and, putting me on my feet, said to me: - Stand stronger, establish yourself more firmly on the earth... like this! Don't be shy, you are completely healthy now. And then he added, looking at me joyfully: - Do you see how well you stand now? “Involuntarily, I stand well, because you hold me well and tightly.” And he, taking his hands away from me, said: “Well, now I’m no longer holding you, but you’re still standing strong even without me.” Taking me by the hand with one hand and pushing my shoulders a little with the other, he led me along the grass and uneven ground near a large pine tree, saying: - Well, your love of God, how well you did. I answered: - Yes, because you deign to lead me well. “No,” he told me, taking his hand away from me, “the Lord Himself deigned to completely heal you, and the Mother of God Herself begged Him to do so.” Now you will walk without me and will always walk well. Go now. And he started pushing me to go. “Yes, I’ll fall and hurt myself,” I said. - No, you won’t hurt yourself, but you’ll walk firmly. And when I felt some kind of strength overshadowing me from above, I perked up a little and walked firmly, he suddenly stopped me and said: “That’s enough already,” and asked: “So, are you now convinced that the Lord really healed you?” And he gave advice: - Since your three-year suffering has seriously exhausted you, now you do not suddenly walk a lot, but gradually, little by little, get used to walking and take care of your health as a precious gift of God. Motovilov went to the monastery healed. His people went separately through the forest, glorifying the Lord, and the rumor that the healing had occurred was already running forward to the monastery. There, in the monastery, both the abbot and the hieromonks came out to meet the healed Motovilov, who congratulated him on the great mercy of God. This is how Motovilov’s relationship with St. Seraphim began. Can a relationship that began like this pass indifferent to a person, can such a great good deed of God that has taken place remain without a trace, and not radically change the entire subsequent life of a person? What a heart of stone and the greatest frivolity would be necessary for this! Motovilov, having experienced this miracle, became a novice of the Mother of God, as the Monk Seraphim called him. If the relationship with Manturov was more of a business nature, then the relationship with Motovilov, on the contrary, had a deep, internal meaning. It was to him that Saint Seraphim revealed many spiritual secrets, and we are indebted to Motovilov not only for the fact that in Diveyevo he preserved many objects left after the death of Saint Seraphim, and even some bought from the Sarov monks, but what is even more important for us is that he preserved the spiritual treasure taught to him in conversations with the saint of God. It is this inner side that we should be told about. The Monk Seraphim told Motovilov that the primary goal of human life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. That fulfilling the commandments, performing divine services, fasting - all this is, as it were, the channels along which human life flows, so that then all this can be united in a certain grace-filled world of that spiritual state, which he calls the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. We, ordinary mortals, by the very nature of our nature are able to see reflections of the highest truth in the scattered phenomena of human life. When people are drawn to worldly life, this does not always mean that the world is tempting them with evil. No, seeing glimpses of truth in worldly life, they take the world for the fullness of truth. To believers who follow the path indicated by the Holy Church, the Lord is revealed by contemplation of the beauties of the world, in prayer, in rare exceptional moments of spiritual uplift, especially during the Sacrament of Holy Communion. These are moments of bright and radiant illumination by the grace of the Holy Spirit. But this is how the extraordinary conversation of St. Seraphim with Motovilov testifies to this state. Motovilov asked St. Seraphim: “What evidence will there be that the Holy Spirit dwells in the soul?” Then Father Seraphim took him very firmly by the shoulders and said: “We are both now, father, in the Spirit of God with you.” Why don't you look at me? “I can’t look, Father, because lightning is pouring out of your eyes.” Your face has become brighter than the sun, and my eyes are aching with pain. - Do not be afraid, your love of God, and now you yourself have become as bright as I myself. You yourself are now in the fullness of the Spirit of God. What else do you feel now? – Fr. asked further. Seraphim. - Extraordinarily good! - said Motovilov. – What else do you feel? - Extraordinary joy in my whole heart!.. – What else do you feel, your love of God? He answered: - How, father, warmth? But we’re sitting in the forest, now it’s winter outside, and there’s snow under our feet, and there’s more than an inch of snow on us, and croup is falling from above... How warm can there be here? Concluding the conversation, St. Seraphim said: – This is what it means to be in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, about which Saint Macarius of Egypt writes: “I myself was in the fullness of the Holy Spirit...” With this fullness of His Holy Spirit, the Lord has now filled us, the poor, too... Well, now there is nothing more, it seems, to ask, your love for God, how people are in the grace of the Holy Spirit!.. Don’t we have confirmation of the words of St. Seraphim in our lives? Don’t we even lose our meaning and interest in the external and material side of life even after our pale, rather hint-like states of grace? How understandable to us are the words of St. Seraphim! If we were to remain in this state for a long time, a person would have no interest in eating or drinking, he could no longer live in the flesh. When the gracious power of God overshadows a person, his life in the flesh here has only one meaning - to move further along the path of spiritual improvement. The Monk Seraphim revealed many secrets of the future to Motovilov. There is one thing we should especially notice. This is what concerns the destinies of the Church and the world. Speaking about the fact that sometimes the grace of God departs from a person, he points to the reason for this. And then he says this: “There is another reason, and, one might say, an uncaused reason for such grace of the All-Holy Spirit - to sometimes deign to abandon even a God-bearing person, and this is already allowed by the Lord Himself to test the strength of only a person who has been extremely strengthened in the grace of God. So, the same temptation, that is, the abandonment of the grace of God, will be allowed throughout the entire universe during the time of the Antichrist, when all the holy people of God and the Holy Church of God of Christ, consisting of them alone, will, as it were, be abandoned from the protection and help of God. The wicked will triumph and exalt themselves over them.” That is, there will be times of Antichrist when the Church, already at that time consisting, as it were, exclusively of God’s holy people, will be completely abandoned from protection by God’s permission, and then the faith and patience of the saints will be required, so as not to deviate from Christ. “But on the threshold to such a state,” says St. Seraphim, “immeasurable temptations similar to this are being allowed and will continue to be allowed until this time against the great saints of God.” This is what St. Seraphim predicts. We know that this prediction is in full accordance with the Word of God, and yet in the mouth of the Reverend it, this prediction, moves closer to us, as if it is even more assimilated by us. Why is it important to us? We do not know the times and dates, we do not predict the imminent coming of the Antichrist. Even St. Seraphim, when someone approached him with this question, said: “You think too much about poor Seraphim.” Who among us will dare to predict the time? But this is not what is important for us in this prophecy; it strengthens us in not being tempted and seduced by one tempting thought for a person - the thought that if “everyone” does not believe, then “everyone” is right. When there are atheists all around, a person himself is tempted to renounce his faith. And even though these “all” were immersed in the ugliest vices and thereby testified with their own eyes that the truth was not with them, still the word “all” makes some kind of seductive impression on the human soul. Is it really possible, they say, that everyone is wrong, and only I and some “bunch of priests” are right? In order to be confirmed by the prophecy of the saints, who strengthen us in the faith that we, the little flock, are walking the right path, the future of the Church from the very first times was never depicted as an external victory and triumph. The Church, according to the Word of God, in the last times will be insignificant but in its number a handful of saints. But this Church will meet Christ coming in glory. Amen! Vladimir Nikolaevich Lossky The theology of the Eastern Church distinguishes the Person of the Holy Spirit from the gifts He imparts to people. This distinction is based on the words of Christ: He will glorify Me, because He will take of Mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that he will take of Mine (John 16:14–15). “What is common” to the Father and the Son is the Divinity that the Holy Spirit communicates to people in the Church, making them “participants of the Divine nature,” imparting the fire of the Divine – uncreated grace – to those who become members of the Body of Christ. In one of the antiphons of Eastern worship it is sung: “By the Holy Spirit every soul is alive and exalted by purity, illuminated by the Trinity unity of the sacred mystery” 51 . The gifts of the Holy Spirit are often designated by seven names, which we find in one of the texts of the prophet Isaiah (Is. 11: 2–3): the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of strength, the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of piety, the spirit of the fear of God. However, Orthodox theology does not make much of a distinction between these gifts and adoring grace. According to the teaching of the Eastern Church, grace generally means all the richness of the Divine nature as communicated to people; she is the Divine, acting outside of Her essence and giving Herself: the Divine nature, which we partake of in its energies. The Holy Spirit, the source of these uncreated and infinite gifts, while remaining nameless and unrevealed, receives all the multiplicity of names that can be applied to grace. “I am in awe,” says Saint Gregory the Theologian, “when I imagine in my mind the wealth of names... The Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Mind of Christ... The Spirit of sonhood... He is the Spirit... who creates in baptism and resurrection... The Spirit who... breathes wherever he wants... The spirit of enlightenment of life, or better yet, the very light and life itself. He makes me a church, creates me as God, performs it, which is why he precedes baptism and is sought after baptism. He produces everything that God produces. He is divided in tongues of fire and divides gifts, creates apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers... He is a different Comforter, as if another God” 52 . According to the word of Saint Basil the Great, there is no gift sent down to creation in which the Holy Spirit is not present 53. He is “the Spirit of truth, the gift of sonship, the betrothal of a future inheritance, the firstfruits of eternal blessings, life-giving power, the source of sanctification” 54 . St. John of Damascus calls Him “the right Spirit, ruling, the source of the wisdom of life and sanctification... Complete, Almighty, all-perfect, omnipotent, infinitely powerful, possessing every creature and not subject to dominion... sanctifying and unsanctified,” etc. 55 As we said, all these countless names refer primarily to grace, to the natural wealth of God, communicated by the Holy Spirit to those in whom He is present. He is present together with His Divinity, which He allows us to know, while He Himself remains unknowable and unmanifested; He is an unrevealed Hypostasis, not having His image in another Divine Person. The Holy Spirit was sent into the world, or rather, into the Church in the name of the Son (“Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name” - John 14:26). Therefore, one must bear the name of the Son, be a member of His Body, in order to receive the Spirit. According to the favorite expression of Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, Christ led humanity with Himself. He became the Head, the Beginning, the Hypostasis of the renewed human nature, which is His Body. Therefore, the same Saint Irenaeus applies to the Church the name “son of God” 56. She is the unity of the “new man” that we achieve by “putting on Christ,” becoming members of His Body through baptism. This nature is one and indivisible, it is “one man.” Clement of Alexandria sees in the Church the whole Christ, the whole Christ, Who is not divided: “He is neither barbarian, nor Jew, nor Greek, neither man nor woman, but He is a new Man, completely transformed by the Spirit” 57 . “Men, women, children,” says Saint Maximus the Confessor, “deeply divided in relation to race, people, language, way of life, labor, science, title, wealth... - the Church recreates all of them in the Spirit. She imprints the image of the Divine on all of them. Everyone receives from it a single nature, inaccessible to destruction, a nature that is not affected by the numerous and deep differences that distinguish people from each other. By this all are elevated and united in a truly catholic way. In it, no one is at all separated from the general, everyone seems to dissolve in each other with the simple and indivisible power of faith... Christ is also everything in everyone, He who contains within Himself by His power, by His infinite and wise goodness, as the focus in which the radii converge so that the creatures of the One God would not remain alien or hostile towards each other, as having no focus for the expression of their friendship and love of peace" 58. Seeing this unity of nature in the Church, Saint John Chrysostom asks himself: “What does this mean? That Christ made both of them, near and far, into one body, so that he who lives in Rome considers the Indians to be his members. What can compare with such a meeting? And the head of all is Christ” 59. This was the very meaning of the “heading” of the world and all of nature by man – Adam, who was supposed to unite the created cosmos with God. Now Christ, the New Adam, performs this leadership. As the Head of the Holy Body, He becomes the Hypostasis of this Body, gathered from “the ends of the earth.” In him the sons of the Church are members of His Body and as such are included in His Hypostasis. But this “one man” in Christ, one in his renewed nature, is nevertheless multiple in persons: he exists in many people. If human nature turns out to be united in the Hypostasis of Christ, if it is a “hypostasis” nature, then human personalities, the hypostases of this single nature, are not destroyed by this. They do not mix with the Divine Person of Christ, they do not merge with It. For no hypostasis can merge with another hypostasis without thereby ceasing its personal existence: this would be tantamount to the destruction of human personalities in the one Christ; this would be impersonal deification, bliss in which there would be no blessed ones themselves. Being one nature in Christ, the Church, this new body of humanity, contains many human hypostases. This is exactly what Saint Cyril of Alexandria says: “Divided in some way into separate individuals, thanks to which such and such is Peter, or John, or Thomas, or Matthew, we are, as it were, fused into one body in Christ, feeding on one Flesh” 60. The work of Christ relates to human nature, which He heads in His Hypostasis. The work of the Holy Spirit relates to human individuals, addresses each of them separately. The Holy Spirit imparts to human hypostases in the Church the fullness of Divinity in a unique, personal way, adapted to each person as an individual created in the image of God. Saint Basil the Great says that the Holy Spirit is the “Source of sanctification”, which “does not become impoverished due to the plurality of those who receive communion” 61 . He is “wholly present in everyone and all everywhere. He, being shared, does not suffer and, when they partake of Him, does not cease to be entirely, like the sun’s radiance, the one enjoying the pleasantness of which, as it were, alone enjoys it, while this radiance illuminates the earth and the sea and dissolves with the air. So the Spirit also dwells in each of those who receive Him, as inherent in Him alone, and sufficiently pours out the full grace that those who partake enjoy, according to their own acceptability, and not according to what is possible for the Spirit” 62 . Christ becomes the single image of appropriation for the common nature of humanity; The Holy Spirit imparts to each person, created in the image of God, the possibility of making likeness in the common nature. One mutually bestows His Hypostasis on nature, the Other communicates His Divinity to individuals. Thus the work of Christ unites people, the work of the Spirit distinguishes them. However, one is impossible without the other; the unity of nature is realized in individuals; As for individuals, they can achieve their perfection, can become fully personal only in the unity of nature, ceasing to be “individuals” living for themselves, having their own “individual” nature and their own will. So, the work of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit are inseparable from each other. Christ creates the unity of His mystical Body by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is communicated to human persons by Christ. Indeed, one can distinguish two messages from the Holy Spirit to the Church: one came through the breath of Christ, who appeared to the apostles on the evening of His Resurrection (John 20:19–23); the other was the personal coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4). The first message of the Holy Spirit refers to the entire church totality, to the Church as a whole, since it is one body; or rather, the Holy Spirit is taught to the entire body of the apostles, to whom Christ simultaneously gives the priestly power to bind and decide. This is not the personal presence of the Holy Spirit, but rather a service presence in relation to Christ, Who gives Him. According to the interpretation of St. Gregory of Nyssa, here it is “the connection of the unity of the Church” 63. Here the Holy Spirit is given to all the apostles collectively, as the connection and authority of the hierarchy. It does not relate to individuals and does not impart any personal holiness to them. But this is the final completion that Christ gives to the Church before leaving the earth. Nicholas Cabasilas establishes an analogy between the creation of man and the restoration of our nature by Christ creating His Church: “He did not recreate us from the substance from which he created us; So he created, dust from the earth, and the second time he bestowed his own Body and, creating life, not the soul that is in nature, he made it better, but by pouring out His Blood into the hearts of those who receive the Sacrament, He gives birth to His own life in them. Then He breathed out, it is said, the breath of life, but now He imparts to us His Spirit” 64 . This is the work of Christ, which relates to nature, to the Church, since it is His Body. The message of the Holy Spirit during His personal descent is completely different: now He appears as the Person of the Most Holy Trinity, independent of the Son by His hypostatic origin, although sent into the world “in the name of the Son.” He appears in the form of “tongues of fire”, divided among themselves and resting on each of those present, on each member of the Body of Christ. This is no longer the message of the Holy Spirit to the entire Church as a Body. Here the message cannot be a function of unity. The Holy Spirit communicates Himself to individuals, marking each member of the Church with the seal of a personal and unique relationship to the Most Holy Trinity, becoming “present” in each person. How? This is a mystery, the mystery of humiliation, kenosis of the Spirit descending into the world. If in the kenosis of the Son the Face appeared to us, while the Divinity remained hidden under the “shape of a servant,” the Holy Spirit in His descent reveals the common nature of the Most Holy Trinity, but hides the Face under His Divinity. He remains not revealed, but as if hidden in His gift, so that the gift He communicates would be completely appropriated by us. Saint Simeon the New Theologian in one of his hymns glorifies the Holy Spirit, who mysteriously unites with us and imparts to us the fullness of the Divinity: “I thank You that You, who are God above all, became one spirit with me, unfused, immutable, unchangeable, and You Yourself became everything to me and in everything: ineffable food, delivered completely freely, constantly overflowing in the mouth of my soul and flowing abundantly in the source of my heart; a shining robe that covers and keeps me and the demons from burning; a purification that washes me from all defilement with the unceasing and holy tears that Your presence bestows on those to whom You come. I thank You that You have become for me a non-evening day and a never-setting sun - You who have no place to hide. After all, You never hid from anyone, you never disdained anyone, but we, not wanting to come to You, ourselves hide from You” 65. The personal descent of the “self-ruling” Holy Spirit, as we hear in one of the hymns of Pentecost 66, could not be perceived as completeness, as an infinite wealth suddenly revealed within each person, if the Eastern Church did not confess the hypostatic independence of the Holy Spirit from the Son in the aspect of His eternal origin. Otherwise, Pentecost - the beginning of all-sanctification - would not differ from the breath of Christ communicated to the apostles, in which the Holy Spirit, creating the unity of the mystical Body of Christ, acts as His assistant. If we thought of the Holy Spirit as a Divine Person, dependent on the Son, He would appear to us even in His personal descent as a kind of connection connecting us with the Son. Mystical life would then develop through the fusion of the soul with Christ through the mediation of the Holy Spirit. This again brings us to the problem of human persons in their union with God: uniting with the person of Christ, we would either be destroyed, or the person of Christ would be something forcibly external to us. In the latter case, grace would be perceived as something external to freedom, and would not be its internal revelation. But in this very freedom we confess the Divinity of the Son, which has become clear to our minds by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. For the mystical tradition of Eastern Christianity, Pentecost, which communicates to human individuals the presence of the Holy Spirit - the beginning of their sanctification, marks the final goal, the end, and at the same time marks the beginning of spiritual life. The Holy Spirit, who descended on the disciples in tongues of fire, invisibly descends on those newly baptized in the Sacrament of Holy Confirmation. In the Eastern rite, confirmation [confirmation] immediately follows baptism. The Holy Spirit acts in both sacraments: He recreates our nature, purifying it and uniting it with the Body of Christ, He also imparts to the human person Divinity - the general energy of the Most Holy Trinity, that is, grace. The close connection between these two Sacraments - baptism and confirmation - is the reason why the uncreated and adoring gift given to members of the Church by the descent of the Holy Spirit is often called the “grace of baptism.” Thus, the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov spoke about the grace of Pentecost: “And about this very fire-inspired grace of the Holy Spirit, when it is given to us, all the faithful of Christ, in the Sacrament of Baptism, sacredly sealing with Confirmation the most important places of our flesh indicated by the Holy Church, as its eternal guardian [grace], it is said: “The Seal of the Gift of the Spirit Holy”... For this baptismal grace is so great and so necessary for a person, so life-giving, that it is not even taken away from a heretic person until his very death, that is, until the period designated from above by God’s Providence for the lifelong trial of a person on earth - what he will be good for and what he can accomplish in this God-given time, with the means given to him for salvation” 67. Baptismal grace - the presence in us of the Holy Spirit, inseparable from us and personal for each of us - is the basis of all Christian life: this is the Kingdom of God prepared by the Holy Spirit within us, according to the same Venerable Seraphim 68. The Holy Spirit, dwelling in us, transforms us into the abode of the Holy Trinity, for the Father and the Son are inseparable from the Divinity of the Spirit: we accept, in the words of Saint Simeon the New Theologian, “the unveiled fire of the Divinity, as the Lord Himself says: I have come to bring down fire on the earth (Luke 12:49). What other fire is this, besides the Spirit, consubstantial in Divinity, with Whom the Son and the Father enter into us together and are contemplated?” 69 By the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Most Holy Trinity lives in us and gives us deification, communicates to us His uncreated energies, His glory, His Divinity, that eternal Light to which we must join. Therefore, Saint Simeon the New Theologian says that grace cannot remain hidden in us, that the presence of the Most Holy Trinity in us cannot but be revealed. According to this great mystic, “if anyone begins to say that each of us believers has received and has the Spirit, although he does not recognize or feel it, he is blaspheming, since he represents Christ as a lie, who said: there will be in him a fountain of water flowing into eternal life (John 4:14), and also: from the one who believes in Me, rivers of living water will flow from his belly (John 7:38). So, if an imprecise spring strikes, then, probably, the river emanating from this source and flowing is visible to those with eyes. But if this also acts in us, and we do not feel or recognize anything like this in ourselves, then it is obvious that we will not feel at all the eternal life that is the consequence of this, and we will not see the light of the Holy Spirit, but we will remain dead, blind, insensitive in the future life, as we are in the present. Thus, it turns out that our hope is vain and our progress is in vain if we are still in death, that is, we remain dead in spirit and do not perceive the feeling of eternal life. But this is not how it is in truth, it is not so. But what I have said more than once, I will say again and will not stop saying: light the Father, light the Son, light the Holy Spirit; these three are One Light, timeless, undivided, unmerged, eternal, uncreated, inexhaustible, immeasurable, invisible, since it exists and is thought to exist outside and above all, which no person could ever see before purification and could not receive before vision. For first you must see it, and then gain it through many deeds...” 70. We have already said that the theology of the Eastern Church has always distinguished the Person of the Holy Spirit - the Giver of grace - from the uncreated grace itself given by Him. Grace is uncreated and divine in nature. She is energy, or the abundant outflow of a single nature, Divinity (Θεοτης) in the aspect of Her ineffable difference from essence, in the aspect of communication to created things, their deification. Thus, this is no longer an action produced by the Divine will in the soul and influencing it from the outside, as in the Old Testament, but the Divine life itself, revealed in us in the Holy Spirit. It is mysteriously identified with human persons, although it remains incommunicable; He, as it were, takes the place of ourselves, for it is He, in the words of the Apostle Paul, who cries out in our hearts: “Abba, Father!” One should rather say that the Holy Spirit, as it were, retreats as a person before created persons, to whom He assigns grace. In Him, the will of God is not external to us; it gives us grace from within, manifesting itself in our very personality, since our human will is in agreement with the Divine will and will work with it, acquiring grace, making it our grace. This is the path of deification, leading to the Kingdom of God, which is introduced by the Holy Spirit into our hearts already in this life. For the Holy Spirit is the royal anointing that rests on Christ and on all Christians called to reign with Him in the age to come. And then this unknown Divine Person, who does not have His image in another Hypostasis, will reveal Himself in deified human personalities, for His image will be the entire host of saints. The work of our deification is accomplished by the Holy Spirit, the Giver of grace. It is rarely named, but is always, as it were, presupposed in every moment of liturgical and spiritual life, because one should not name the mystery that must be experienced in silence. The Holy Spirit remains invisible, but He reveals Divine grace, which is visibly revealed in the saints. One could cite many examples of these visible manifestations of grace from the lives of the desert saints in the works of Saints Macarius of Egypt 71, Simeon the New Theologian 72 and other mentors of spiritual life, more or less widely known in the West 73. But we will limit ourselves to one later example, from “Frank Conversations of St. Seraphim of Sarov” 74, which will help to understand the full meaning of the “theology of Light” in the mystical life of the Orthodox Church. During a conversation that took place on a winter morning at the edge of the forest, one of the disciples of St. Seraphim, the author of the text given here, said to his mentor: “Still, I don’t understand why I can be firmly convinced that I am in the Spirit of God, and how can I recognize His true manifestation in myself?” Father Seraphim answered: “I have already said that this is very simple, and I told you in detail how people are in the Spirit of God and how we should understand His manifestation in us; what else do you need?” “It is necessary,” I said, “for me to understand this well.” Then he took me very tightly by the shoulders and said to me: “We are both now, father, in the Spirit of God with you: why have you lowered your eyes, why are you not looking at me?” I answered: “I can’t look, because lightning is pouring out of your eyes. Your face has become brighter than the sun, and my eyes are aching with pain.” He answered: “Do not be afraid, your love of God, and now you have also become bright, after all, you yourself are in exactly the same grace-filled light, otherwise you should not have seen it on me.” And, bowing his head to me, he quietly said to me in my ear: “Thank the Lord God for His ineffable mercy towards you! You see that I did not cross myself, but only mentally prayed to the Lord and said: “Lord, grant him with his bodily eyes to see the descent of Your Holy Spirit, with which You honor Your servants when You deign to appear to them in the light of Your magnificent Glory,” and so the Lord instantly fulfilled the humble request of the poor Seraphim. How can we not thank him for this ineffable gift of Him, for this ineffable gift to both of us? So, father, the Lord did not always show His mercy to the great deserts, but it is the grace of God, like a loving mother, through the intercession of the Mother of God, who deigned to console your contrite heart with its mercy... What. Don’t look me in the eye? Just look and don’t be afraid: the Lord is with us!” And when I looked into his face after these words, even greater awe fell upon me. Imagine in the middle of the sun, in the most brilliant brightness of its midday rays, the face of a man talking to you. For example, you see the movement of his lips, a change in the very outlines of his face, you feel that someone is holding your shoulders with his hand, but you don’t see not only his hands, but neither yourself, nor himself, but only a dazzling light stretching several fathoms around, you hear snow pellets falling on you, you feel that at least an inch of it was attacking you...” It would be implausible to assume that Elder Seraphim of Sarov was a deep expert in the theological teachings of St. Gregory Palamas on the nature of the Uncreated Light, a teaching briefly outlined in this article. But now, five hundred years after the “Palamite disputes”, in conditions completely different from the conditions of the Byzantine Empire, in a remote corner of the Russian province of the early 19th century, we find the same “theology of Light”, generated by spiritual experience, affirmed with complete certainty as the basis and criterion of the hidden mystical spiritual life, the knowledge of grace, which is God Himself, Revealing Himself to us. The Theology of Light is not a metaphor, not a literary image that dresses up some abstract truth in magnificent robes. It is not a teaching in the proper sense of the word, in which “doctrine” means an intellectual system that replaces experienced reality with abstract concepts. Its negative, “apophatic” character is expressed by those antinomian oppositions that we tried to identify; this is a continuation of the theological method of the Fathers, who established the basic dogmas of Christianity, placing our minds before antinomies: the antinomy of the trinity - in the Trinitarian dogma and the antinomy of duality - in the Christological dogma. Indeed, just as the dogmas of Nicaea and Chalcedon confront us with the ineffable distinction between nature and Person, in order to preserve the mysterious reality of the Trinity and Christ, true God and true Man, so the dogma of the real distinction between essence and energies, which is brought before our mind by the antinomy of God the Unknowable and the Knowable, the incommunicable and the communicable, the transcendent and the immanent, has no other purpose than in order to protect the reality of Divine grace, to open the doors to mystical experience, outside of which there is no spiritual life in the true sense of the word. For spiritual life requires that believers not only profess Christian dogmas, but also live by them. By accepting this way of thinking, we can accept such harsh words of St. Simeon the New Theologian, who refuses to call those who have not already acquired the experience of Divine Light in this life Christians. The theology of Light is inherent in Orthodox spirituality: one without the other is unthinkable. One may know nothing about Gregory Palamas, about his role in the history of the doctrine of the Eastern Church, but it is impossible to understand the nature of Eastern spirituality in isolation from the theological basis that found its final expression with the great Archbishop of Thessaloniki, the “preacher of grace” 75. This theology permeates all liturgical texts. Maybe these are just metaphors, sophistications, Byzantine rhetoric? Or should what is usually seen as a pompous form of frozen religiosity, devoid of genuine speculative content, be perceived as something living and concrete, as a real religious experience? It is obvious to us that outside of this theology of Light, the main lines of which we have just traced, all the spiritual wealth of the Christian East appears to the outside observer lifeless, devoid of that inner warmth, which is precisely the special property of Orthodox piety. For a long time, the West did not appreciate the religious art of Byzantium, the artistic merit of Russian icons - it took a lot of time to appreciate the Western “primitives” generated by the same Tradition. Perhaps this will be the fate of the spiritual and doctrinal tradition of Eastern Christianity? Of course, there is no need to prove the need for an in-depth study of the theological tradition of the East: it is obvious to everyone. But in order for this study to serve the cause of mutual rapprochement and understanding, we must agree to see and judge this tradition not through the ossified concepts of school theology, which is alien to it, but in a different way. And then, perhaps, those very doctrinal features that were a stumbling block in the past will turn out to be fruitful sources of spiritual renewal in the future 76 . Section III. Written instructions from Elder Seraphim God is a fire that warms and ignites hearts and bellies. So, if we feel coldness in our hearts, which is from the devil, for the devil is cold, then let us call on the Lord: He will come and warm our hearts with perfect love not only for Him, but also for our neighbors. And the coldness of a good-hater will flee from the face of warmth. The fathers wrote when they were asked: seek the Lord, but do not try where He lives. Where there is God, there is no evil. Everything that comes from God is peaceful and beneficial and leads a person to self-condemnation and humility. God shows us His love for mankind not only in those cases when we do good, but also when we offend Him with sins and anger Him. How patiently He bears our iniquities! And when he punishes, how mercifully he punishes! Do not call God just, says the Monk Isaac (Sirin. - Comp.), for His justice is not visible in your deeds. True, David called Him both just and upright, but His Son showed us that God is more good and merciful. Where is His justice? We were sinners, and Christ died for us (Word 90). To the extent that a person is perfected here before God, to the extent that he walks after Him; in the true age God will show him His face. For the righteous, entering here on earth into contemplation of Him, see His image as in a mirror, and there they will be worthy to behold the manifestation of truth. If you do not know God, then it is impossible for love for Him to appear in you. You cannot love God unless you see Him. The vision of God comes from knowing Him, for contemplation does not precede the knowledge of God. Do not discuss the affairs of God when your belly is full: with a full belly, how can there be knowledge of the mysteries of God? First of all, you must believe in God, for He is and is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Heb. 11:6). Faith, according to the teachings of St. Antiochus, is the beginning of our union with God: a true believer is the stone of the church of God, prepared for the building of God the Father, raised to heights by the power of Jesus Christ, that is, the cross, with the help of the rope, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit. ...Faith without works is dead (James 2:26), but the works of faith are: love, peace, long-suffering, mercy, humility, bearing the cross and life in the spirit. Only such faith is imputed to the truth. True faith cannot remain idle; He who truly believes will certainly do good deeds. All who have firm hope in God are raised to Him and enlightened by the radiance of eternal light. If a person does not have excessive care for himself out of love for God and for acts of virtue, knowing that God cares for him, then such hope is true and wise. But if a person places all his hope in his own affairs, and turns to God in prayer only when unforeseen troubles befall him, and he, not seeing in his own power the means to avert them, begins to hope for God’s help, then such hope is vain and false. True hope seeks the united Kingdom of God and is confident that everything earthly needed for temporary life will undoubtedly be given. The heart cannot have peace until it acquires such hope. She completely pacifies him and brings joy to him. The most holy lips of the Savior spoke about this hope: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28), that is, trust in Me, and you will be comforted from labor and fear. The Gospel of St. Luke says about Simeon: And he was promised by the Holy Spirit not to see death, before he even saw Christ the Lord (Luke 2:26). And the righteous Simeon did not kill his hope, but waited for the longed-for Savior of the world and, joyfully accepting Him into his arms, said: now You are releasing me, Master, into Your desired Kingdom for me: for I have seen my hope - Christ the Lord (Luke 2:28-30). He who has acquired perfect love for God exists in this life as if he did not exist. For he considers himself a stranger to the visible, waiting patiently for the invisible. He completely changed into love for God and left all other attachments. He who loves himself cannot love God. And whoever does not love himself for the sake of loving God, loves God. He who truly loves God considers himself a stranger and a stranger on this earth, for in his striving for God with his soul and mind he contemplates only Him. A soul filled with love for God, even during its exodus from the body, will not fear the prince of the air, but will fly with the Angels, as if from a foreign country to its homeland. A person who decides to follow the path of inner attention must first of all have the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. Let these prophetic words always be imprinted on his mind: Work for the Lord with fear, and rejoice in him with trembling (Ps. 2:11). He must walk his path with extreme caution and reverence for everything sacred, and not carelessly. Otherwise, one must be careful that this terrible decree of God does not apply to him: Cursed is (man), who does the work of the Lord with negligence... (Jer. 48:10). Reverent caution is needed here because this sea (that is, the heart with its thoughts and desires, which must be cleansed through attention) is large and spacious: ... there are vermin there, of which there is no number... (Ps. 103:25), that is, many vain, wrong and unclean thoughts nest in it - the generation of evil spirits. Fear God, says the Wise One, and keep his commandments (Eccl. 12:13). And by keeping the commandments, you will be strong in everything you do, and your work will always be good. For, fearing God, you will do everything well out of love for Him. But do not be afraid of the devil; He who fears God will overcome the devil: for him the devil is powerless. Two types of fear: if you do not want to do evil, then fear the Lord and do not do it; and if you want to do good, then fear the Lord and do it. But no one can acquire the fear of God until he is freed from all the worries of life. When the mind is carefree, then it is moved by the fear of God and drawn to the love of God’s goodness. The fear of God is acquired when a person, having renounced everything in the world, collects all his thoughts and feelings and is completely immersed in the contemplation of God and in the feeling of the bliss promised to the saints. It is impossible to completely renounce the world and come to a state of spiritual contemplation while remaining in the world. For until the passions subside, it is impossible to achieve peace of mind. But passions are not quenched as long as we are surrounded by objects that excite passions. To achieve complete dispassion and achieve perfect silence of the soul, you need to strive a lot in spiritual reflection and prayer. But how is it possible to completely and calmly indulge in the contemplation of God, learn from His law and ascend with all your soul to Him in fiery prayer, remaining amid the incessant noise of passions warring in the world? The world lies in evil. Without freeing itself from the world, the soul cannot love God sincerely. For the things of life, according to the Monk Antiochus, are like a covering for her. If we, he says, live in a foreign city and our city is far from this city, and if we know our city, then why do we hesitate in a foreign city and prepare fields and dwellings for ourselves in it! And how shall we sing the song of the Lord in foreign lands? This world is the realm of another, that is, the prince of this age (Word 15). The Monk Barsanuphius teaches: while at sea the ship suffers troubles and the attacks of the winds, and when it reaches a quiet and peaceful haven, it is no longer afraid of troubles and sorrows and the attacks of the winds, but remains in silence. So you, monk, as long as you remain with people, expect sorrows and troubles and the battles of the mental winds, and when you enter silence, you have nothing to fear (Answers 8, 9). Perfect silence is the cross on which a person must crucify himself with all his passions and lusts. But think: Our Lord Christ endured so much reproach and insult beforehand, and then ascended to the cross. So we cannot come into complete silence and hope for holy perfection if we do not suffer with Christ. For, says the apostle, if we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified with Him (Rom. 8:17). There is no other way (Answer 346). He who has come to silence must constantly remember what he came for, so that his heart does not deviate to something else. 8. About attention to yourself One who walks the path of attention should not believe only in his own heart, but should trust his heartfelt actions and life itself with the law of God and with the active life of ascetics of piety, who have undergone the same feat. With this means you can more conveniently get rid of the evil one and see the truth more clearly. The mind of an attentive person is like a posted guard, or a vigilant guardian of inner Jerusalem. Standing at the height of spiritual contemplation, he looks with the eye of purity at the opposing forces that go around and attack his soul, in the words of the Psalmist: and my eye looks at my enemies (Ps. 53:9). The devil is not hidden from his sight, like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (cf. 1 Peter 5:8), and those who strain their bow are shot in the darkness by those who rule their hearts (Ps. 10:2). According to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, there are two angels with every person: one good, the other evil. The good angel is quiet, meek and silent. When he enters a person’s heart, he speaks to him about truth, purity, honesty, tranquility, about every good deed and about every virtue. When you feel this in your heart, obviously the Angel of Truth is within you. And the evil spirit is sharp-hearted, cruel and insane. When he enters your heart, then recognize it by his deeds (Reverend Antiochus. Homily 61). Pay attention to yourself, beloved, says Isaac the Syrian, and as you continually work, keep before your eyes the sorrows that befall you, and the place of the desert in which you live, and the subtlety of your mind along with the coarseness of your knowledge, and the duration of silence along with many healings, that is, temptations that are brought on you either by the true Doctor to the health of the inner man, or sometimes by demons, and sometimes consist of illnesses and bodily labors, sometimes in the terrifying thoughts of your soul and in terrible reminders of what will happen at the end; sometimes gracious warmth, and sweet tears, and spiritual joy and the like are instilled and tied. And now, in all these circumstances, do you completely see that your ulcer has begun to heal and close, that is, your passions have begun to weaken? Make a sign, and constantly enter into yourself, and see which passions, according to your observation, have become exhausted before you, which have been destroyed and completely left you, which have begun to fall silent due to the recovery of your soul, and not the removal only of what aroused them, and which you have learned to overcome with your reason, and not by depriving yourself of the causes of passion alone. And also pay attention: do you completely see that living flesh, that is, spiritual peace, has begun to grow in your rotting ulcer; and what passions pursue you one after another consistently and rapidly and over what period of time; whether they are physical or mental passions, or complex and mixed, and whether they come to memory only as weak ones or strongly rebel against the soul, and how they rebel - like a ruler or like a thief; how the king-mind, this ruler of the senses, looks at them: whether he enters into battle with them when they come forward and declare war, and whether he brings them to helplessness with his strength, or even when he sees them he does not see them and does not deal with them at all; and which remained from old passions, and which were newly formed; Moreover, whether passions arise in living images or in feeling - without living images and in memory - without passionate movement, without thinking about them and without irritation. And by this you can recognize the measure of mental health (Word 45). Therefore, such a person, following the teaching of the divine Paul, accepts all the weapons of God, so that you may be able to resist on the day of cruelty (Eph. 6:13), and with these weapons, with the assistance of the grace of God, repels visible attacks and defeats invisible warriors. We see an example of such spiritual wakefulness in Job the Long-Suffering, about whom the Holy Church sings like this: Having seen the wealth of Joblikh, the wiles of your righteous enemies stole the wealth, and having torn apart the pillar of the body, the treasure was not stolen by the spirit, but you found an armed immaculate soul (troparion to the saint). One who travels this path should not listen to extraneous rumors, from which the head can be filled with idle and vain thoughts and memories, but must be attentive to himself. Especially on this path one must observe so as not to turn to other people’s affairs, not to think or talk about them, according to the Psalmist: ... my mouth will not speak of the deeds of men (Ps. 16:4); and pray to the Lord: cleanse me from my secrets, and spare your servant from strangers (Ps. 19:13-14). To maintain attention, you need to withdraw into yourself, according to the Lord’s verb: kiss no one on the way (Luke 10:4), that is, do not speak without the need, unless someone runs after you in order to hear something useful. Elders or brothers you meet should be honored with bows, keeping your eyes always closed. A person's body is like a lit candle. The candle must burn out and the man must die. But his soul is immortal, therefore our care should relate more to the soul than to the body: What good is it for a person, even if he gains the whole world, he loses his soul; or what will a man give for his soul (Matthew 16:26), for which, as we know, nothing in the world can be a ransom? If one soul in itself is more precious than the whole world and the kingdom of this world, then the Kingdom of Heaven is incomparably more precious. We honor the soul most preciously for the reason, as Macarius the Great says, that God did not deign to communicate with anything and unite with his spiritual nature, not with any visible creature, but with one person, whom he loved more than all His creatures (Sermon on Freedom of the Mind. Ch. 32). Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, Ambrose of Milan and others were virgins from their youth to the end of their lives; their whole life was devoted to caring for the soul, and not for the body. Likewise, we should make every effort about the soul, but strengthen the body only so that it contributes to strengthening the spirit. If we arbitrarily exhaust our body to the point that our spirit is exhausted, then such exhaustion will be unreasonable, even if this was done to gain virtue. If the Lord God wills for a person to experience illness, He will also give him the strength of patience. So, let illnesses not come from ourselves, but from God! Peace of mind is acquired through sorrow. Scripture says: ... he passed through fire and water, and brought us into rest (Ps. 65:12). For those who want to please God, the path lies through many sorrows. How can we please the holy martyrs for the suffering they endured for the sake of God, when we cannot endure even the fire? Nothing contributes more to the acquisition of inner peace than silence and, as much as possible, constant conversation with oneself and rare conversations with others. There is nothing better in Christ than peace, and in him all warfare of air and earthly spirits is destroyed. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers (and) against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12). A sign of spiritual life is a person’s immersion within himself and secret activity in his heart. The grace of God overshadows such a person, and he is first in a peaceful dispensation, and through this he passes into the worldly state: in a peaceful state, that is, with a good conscience; in the worldly, when his mind contemplates the grace of the Holy Spirit, according to the word of God: His place is in the world (Ps. 75:3). Is it possible to see the sun with sensual eyes and not rejoice? But how much more joyful is it when the mind sees with its inner eye the Sun of Truth - Christ? Then he truly rejoices with the joy of an angel. About this the Apostle said: our life is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). He who walks steadily in a peaceful dispensation draws upon spiritual gifts, as it were, with a spoon. The holy fathers, having a peaceful dispensation and being overshadowed by the grace of God, lived long. When a person comes to a peaceful dispensation, then he can shed the light of enlightenment of reason on himself and on others. First of all, a person needs to repeat these words of Anna the prophetess: let not great talk come out of your mouth... (1 Samuel 2:3), and the words of the Lord: O hypocrite, first remove the beam from your side, and then see to it that you take away the speck from your brother’s side (Matthew 7:5). This world, like some priceless treasure, was left by our Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples before His death, saying: Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you (John 14:27). The apostle also speaks about him: and let the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7); Have peace and holiness with everyone; but these alone will no one see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). So, we must concentrate all our thoughts, desires and actions in order to receive the peace of God, and always cry with the Church: Lord our God, give us peace (Is. 26:12). 11. About maintaining spiritual peace We must try by all means to maintain peace of mind and not be indignant at insults from others; For this, you need to refrain from anger in every possible way and, through attention, protect your mind and heart from obscene vibrations. We must endure insults from others with indifference and learn to accept such an attitude, no matter how much they affect us. Such an exercise can bring silence to our heart and make it the abode of God Himself. We see an example of such kindness in the life of Saint Gregory the Wonderworker, from whom a certain harlot wife publicly demanded a bribe, allegedly for a sin committed with her; and he, not at all angry with her, meekly said to a certain friend of his: “Give her the price she demands soon.” The wife, having just accepted an unrighteous bribe, was attacked by a demon: the saint cast out the demon from her through prayer (see: The Fourth Menaion, November 17). If it is impossible not to be indignant, then at least you need to hold your tongue, according to the verb of the Psalmist: confused and speechless (Ps. 77:5). In this case, we can take St. Spyridon of Trimifuntsky and St. Ephraim the Syrian as models. The first suffered the insult in this way: when, at the request of the Greek king, he entered the palace, one of the servants who were in the royal chamber, considering him a beggar, laughed at him, did not let him into the chamber, and even hit him on the cheek. Saint Spyridon, being kind, converted another to him according to the word of the Lord (see: Matt. 5:39; see also: Fourth Menaion. December 12). The Monk Ephraim, fasting in the desert, was once deprived of food in this way: his disciple, carrying food, accidentally broke a vessel on the way. The monk, seeing the disciple sad, said to him: “Do not grieve, brother; If you don’t want food to come to us, then we will go to her.” So, the monk went, sat down by the broken vessel and, gathering food, ate it. So he was without anger (see: Chetya Menaion. January 28). And how to overcome anger, this can be learned from the life of Paisius the Great, who asked the Lord Jesus Christ, who appeared to him, to free him from anger. And the Savior said to him: “If you want to overcome anger and rage, covet nothing, neither hate nor humiliate anyone” (see: The Fourth Menaion. June 19). To maintain peace of mind, you must drive away despondency and try to have a joyful spirit, according to the word of the wise Sirach, kill much...sadness, and there is no benefit in it (Sir.30:25). To maintain peace of mind, one must also avoid judging others in every possible way. Peace of mind is preserved by condescension towards a brother and silence. When a person is in such a dispensation, he receives divine revelations. In order not to fall into condemnation of your neighbors, you must pay attention to yourself, not accept bad news from anyone, and be dead to everything. To preserve mental peace, you need to enter into yourself more often and ask: where am I? At the same time, one must observe that the bodily senses, especially vision, serve the inner man and do not entertain the soul with sensory objects; for only those who have internal work and watch over their souls receive gifts of grace. We should not undertake feats beyond measure, but try to ensure that our friend - our flesh - is faithful and capable of creating virtues. It is necessary to follow the middle path, “not deviating either on the wrist or on the skin” (cf. Proverbs 4:27): give the spirit what is spiritual, and the body the bodily things necessary for the maintenance of temporary life. Nor should public life deny what it lawfully demands of us, according to the words of Scripture: Render... to Caesar's that which is Caesar's, and to God's that which is God's (Matthew 22:21). We must also condescend to our soul in its weaknesses and imperfections and endure our shortcomings, just as we tolerate the shortcomings of our neighbors, but not become lazy and constantly motivate ourselves to improve. Whether you have consumed a lot of food or done something else that is akin to human weakness, do not be indignant, do not add harm to harm, but, having courageously moved yourself to correction, try to maintain peace of mind, according to the word of the Apostle: Blessed is he who condemns not himself, for whom he is tempted (Rom. 14:22). The Savior’s words contain the same meaning: unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). The body, exhausted by labor or illness, should be supported by moderate sleep, food and drink, without even observing time. Jesus Christ, immediately after the resurrection of Jairus's daughter from death, commanded that food be given to her (Luke 8:55). We must attribute every success in anything to the Lord and speak with the prophet: Not to us, Lord, not to us, but give glory to Your name... (Ps. 113:9). Until the age of thirty-five, that is, before the end of earthly life, a great feat occurs for a person to preserve himself, and many in these years do not tire of virtue, but are led astray from the right path towards their own desires, as St. Basil the Great testifies to this: “Many collected a lot in their youth, but, in the middle of their lives, the temptations that arose against them from the spirits of wickedness did not endure the excitement and everything they lost that” (Conversation at the beginning of the Proverbs of Solomon). In order not to experience such a transformation, one must place oneself as a standard of testing and carefully observe oneself throughout one’s life, according to the teachings of Saint Isaac the Syrian: “As it is fitting for someone to weigh his life on a standard” (Homily 40). In order to accept and feel the light of Christ in your heart, you must, as much as possible, distract yourself from visible objects. Having cleansed the soul with repentance and good deeds, with sincere faith in the Crucified One, closing the bodily eyes, one must immerse the mind inside the heart and cry out, constantly calling on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then, as the spirit becomes zealous and ardent towards the Beloved (see: Luke 3:22), a person finds delight in the called name, which arouses the desire to seek higher enlightenment. When the mind remains with such exercise for a long time and the heart is hardened, then the light of Christ will shine, illuminating the church of the soul with Divine radiance, as the holy prophet Malachi says on behalf of God: And the sun of righteousness will shine upon you who fear My name (Mal.4:2). This light is also life, according to the Gospel word: In Him was life, and life was light for man... (John 1:4). When a person internally contemplates the eternal light, then his mind is pure and does not have any sensory ideas, but, being completely absorbed in the contemplation of uncreated goodness, he forgets everything sensory, does not want to contemplate himself, but wants to hide in the heart of the earth, so as not to be deprived of this true good - God. All the saints and monks who renounced the world cried all their lives, in the hope of eternal consolation, according to the assurance of the Savior of the world: Blessed are those who mourn: for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4). So we should cry for the remission of our sins. Let the words of the purple-bearing prophet convince us of this: Those who walk and weep, throwing their seeds: those who are coming will come with joy, grasping their hands (Ps. 125:6); and the words of Isaac the Syrian: “Wet your cheeks with the weeping of your eyes, so that the Holy Spirit may rest on you and wash you from the filth of your malice. Appease your Lord with tears, that he may come to you” (Homily 68). When we cry in prayer and laughter is mixed with our tears, this is due to the devil’s cunning. It is difficult to comprehend the secret and subtle actions of our enemy. Whoever has tears of tenderness flowing, his heart is illuminated by the rays of the Sun of Truth - Christ God. Anyone who wants to be saved must always have a heart disposed to repentance and contrition: The sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: God will not despise a contrite and humble heart (Ps. 50:19). In such contrition of spirit, a person can easily and comfortably go through the cunning machinations of the devil, whose all his forces are aimed at disturbing the spirit of man and sowing his tares in indignation, according to the words of the Gospel: Lord, did you not sow good seed in your village; where do the tares come from? He said... the enemy man do this (Matthew 13:28). When a person tries to have a humble heart and keep his thoughts in peace, then all the machinations of the enemy are ineffective; for where there is peace of thoughts, there God Himself rests: in the world, it is said, His place is (Ps. 75:3). The beginning of repentance arises from the fear of God and attention to oneself, as the holy martyr Boniface says: the fear of God is the father of attention, and attention is the mother of inner peace (see: The Fourth Menaion. December 19). The fear of the Lord awakens the sleeping conscience, which makes the soul, as in some water, pure and undisturbed, see its own ugliness, and thus the beginnings are born and the roots of repentance grow. All our lives we have offended the majesty of God through our sins, and therefore we must always humbly ask the Lord to forgive our debts. Is it possible for a person blessed with grace to rise through repentance after the fall? It is possible, according to the Psalmist: I turned myself to feed, and the Lord accepted me (Ps. 118:13). When the holy prophet Nathan convicted David of his sin, he, having repented, immediately received forgiveness (see: 2 Samuel 12:13). An example of this is one hermit who, having gone for water, fell into sin at the source. But, returning to his cell, he realized his sin and began to lead an ascetic life again, as before. The enemy confused him by presenting to him the gravity of sin, denying the possibility of forgiveness and trying to distract him from the ascetic life. But the warrior of Christ stood his ground. God revealed this incident to a certain blessed father and ordered his brother, who had fallen in sin, to please him for his victory over the devil. When we sincerely repent of our sins and turn to our Lord Jesus Christ with all our hearts, He rejoices in us, institutes a holiday and convenes the Powers dear to Him, showing them the drachma that He again acquired, that is, His royal image and likeness. Placing the lost sheep on his shoulder, He leads it to His Father. In the home of all those who rejoice, God places the soul of the repentant along with those who did not run away from Him. So, let us not be hesitant to turn to our gracious Master quickly and let us not indulge in carelessness and despair for the sake of our grave and countless sins. Despair is the most perfect joy for the devil. It is a sin unto death, as Scripture says (see: 1 John 5:16; see also: St. Antiochus. Homily 77). “If you do not give in to despondency and negligence,” says Barsanuphius, “then you will wonder and glorify God, as He uses you from non-existence into being 77” (Answer 114). Repentance for sin, by the way, consists of not doing it again. Just as there is a cure for every illness, so there is repentance for every sin. So, undoubtedly, approach repentance, and it will intercede for you before God. Continually repeat this prayer of St. Antiochus (Homily 77): “Daring, O Master, into the abyss of Your goodness, I bring You this prayer from profane lips and unclean lips: remember, as You called upon me Your holy name and redeemed me at the price of Your blood, as You sealed me with the betrothal of Your Holy Spirit and raised me up from the depths of iniquities mine; May the enemy not kidnap me. Jesus Christ, intercede for me and be my strong helper in battle, for I am a slave of lust and fight because of it. But You, Lord, do not leave me on earth, cast down in the condemnation of my deeds; Free me, Master, from the evil slavery of the ruler of the world and teach me in Your commandments. The path of my life, O my Christ, and the light of my eyes is Thy face. God, Master and Lord, do not give me the praise of my eyes and leave evil lust from me; protect me with Your holy hand. Let not desires and lusts overwhelm me, and do not betray me to a shameless soul. Shine in me the light of Your face, O Lord, so that darkness may not overtake me, and let not those who walk in it snatch me away. Do not, O Lord, betray the soul that confesses to You to the invisible beast. Do not allow, Lord, for Your servant to be hurt by strange dogs. Make me worthy to be the companion of Thy Holy Spirit, and the house of Thy Christ, O Holy Father, build me up. Guide of the lost, guide me, so that I do not wander into foolishness. I desire to see Your face, O Lord; God, guide me with the light of Your face. Grant to me, Your servant, a source of tears, and give the dew of the Holy Spirit to Your creation, so that I may not dry up like the fig tree, which You have cursed: and let my tears be my drink, and my prayer my food. Turn my cry, O Lord, into my joy and receive me into Thy eternal tabernacle. May Thy mercy comprehend me, O Lord, and may Thy compassions embrace me, and forgive me all my sins. For you are the true God, forgiver of iniquity. And do not allow, O Lord, to be put to shame by the work of Your hands through the multitude of my iniquities, but call me, O Master, as Your only begotten Son, our Savior. And raise me up as I lie, like Levi the tax collector, and give life to me, killed by sins, like the son of a widow. For You alone are the resurrection of the dead, and glory befits You forever. Amen". Fasting consists not only of eating rarely, but of eating little; and not in eating once, but in not eating much. The fasting person is unreasonable who waits for a certain hour, and at the hour of the meal he completely indulges in insatiable eating, both in body and mind. In discussing food, one must also be careful not to distinguish between tasty and tasteless foods. This thing, characteristic of animals, is not worthy of praise in a reasonable person. We refuse pleasant food in order to pacify the warring members of the flesh and give freedom to the actions of the spirit. True fasting consists not only in exhaustion of the flesh, but also in giving that part of the bread that you yourself would like to eat to the hungry. Blessed are the hungry... for they shall be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). Our ascetic and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, before setting out on the feat of redemption of the human race, strengthened Himself with a long fast, and all the ascetics, beginning to work for the Lord, armed themselves with fasting and entered upon the path of the cross in no other way than in the feat of fasting. They measured their greatest successes in asceticism by successes in fasting. The holy people did not suddenly begin strict fasting, but gradually and little by little became able to be content with the merest food. The Monk Dorotheos, teaching his disciple Dosifei to fast, gradually took him away from the table little by little, so that from four pounds the measure of his daily food was finally reduced to eight lots of bread. Despite all this, the holy fasters, to the surprise of others, did not know relaxation, but were always cheerful, strong and ready for action. Illnesses between them were rare, and their lives were extremely long. To the extent that the fasting person’s flesh becomes thin and light, spiritual life comes to perfection and reveals itself with wonderful phenomena. Then the spirit performs its actions as if in a disembodied body. The external senses are precisely closed, and the mind, renouncing the earth, ascends to heaven and is completely immersed in contemplation of the spiritual world. However, not everyone will be able to impose on themselves a strict rule of abstinence in everything or deprive themselves of everything that can serve to alleviate infirmities. He who is able to contain, let him contain (Matthew 19:12). One should eat enough food every day so that the body, strengthened, is a friend and assistant to the soul in the accomplishment of virtue; otherwise, it may be that when the body is exhausted, the soul will weaken. On Fridays and Wednesdays, especially during the four fasts, eat food once a day, following the example of the fathers, and the Angel of the Lord will cleave to you. We must constantly guard our hearts from obscene thoughts and impressions, according to the word of the Pritochnik: Guard your heart with all guarding: from this is the belly that proceeds (Proverbs 4:23). From vigilant guarding of the heart, purity is born in it, for which the vision of the Lord is available, according to the assurance of the eternal Truth: Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). What is best in the heart, we should not reveal unnecessarily; for then only what is collected remains safe from visible and invisible enemies when it, like a treasure, is kept in the interior of the heart. Do not reveal the secrets of your heart to everyone. Mere verbosity with those who have opposite morals to us is enough to upset the inside of an attentive person. But the most pitiful thing is that this can extinguish that fire that our Lord Jesus Christ came to bring to earth in the hearts of men: for “nothing so quenches the fire inhaled from the Holy Spirit into the heart of a monk for the sanctification of the soul, like communication and verbosity and conversation, except for this, from the children of the mysteries of God, to the return of His mind and drawing closer” (Reverend Isaac the Syrian. Word 8). One must especially guard oneself from dealing with the female sex: for just as a wax candle, although unlit, but placed between the lit ones, melts, so the heart of a monk from an interview with the female sex imperceptibly weakens, about which Saint Isidore Pelusiot says this: “Even if (to quote the Scriptures) evil conversations corrupt customs good: then a conversation with wives, even if it is good, it is strong to corrupt the inner man secretly with nasty thoughts, and the pure body will remain defiled: what is harder than stone; Why are the waters softer? On the other hand, constant diligence and nature wins: if the nature, barely moving, strives, and from that thing, which is worth nothing, suffers and diminishes: then, just as the human will, even if it is easily shaken, will not be defeated and transformed from habit for a long time” (St. Isidore Pelusiot. Letter 284; see. See also: Chetyi Menaion 4 February). Therefore, in order to preserve the inner man, it is necessary to keep the tongue from speaking too much: a wise man leads silence; and whoever guards his mouth guards his soul (Prov. 11:12; 13:3); and remember the words of Job: I have made a covenant before my eyes, that I will not think upon a virgin (Job 31:1), and the words of the Lord Jesus Christ: whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28). Without first hearing another, one should not answer: He who speaks a word before he hears it is foolishness and reproach (Prov. 18:13). 19. On recognizing the actions of the heart When a person receives something divine, he rejoices in his heart, but when it is diabolical, he becomes confused. The Christian heart, having accepted something divine, does not require external conviction that it is from the Lord, but by this very action it is convinced that its perception is heavenly, for it feels spiritual fruits within itself: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, mercy, faith, meekness, self-control (cf. Gal. 5:42). And even if the devil was transformed into a bright Angel (2 Cor. 11:14) or imagined the most plausible thoughts, the heart will still feel some kind of obscurity, excitement in thoughts and confusion of feelings. Explaining this, Saint Macarius of Egypt says: “Even if (Satan) imagined bright visions, the good action of the tax would not be possible at all: through which a certain sign of his deeds occurs” (Homily 4). So, by various actions of the heart, a person can know what is divine and what is devilish, as St. Gregory of Sinaiti writes about this: “From this action you will be able to know the shining light in your soul, whether there is God or Satan” (On Silence and Prayer). The body is the slave of the soul, and the soul is the queen; and therefore it often happens through God’s mercy when the body is exhausted by illness: this causes the passions to weaken, and the person comes to his senses, and even bodily illness itself is sometimes born from passions. Take away sin, and there will be no illnesses, for they come to us from sin, as St. Basil the Great asserts: “Where do illnesses come from? Where did the bodily harm come from? The Lord created the body, not the disease; soul, not sin. What is most useful and necessary? Connection with God and communication with Him through love. By losing this love, we fall away from Him, and by falling away, we are subject to various and varied ailments” (That God is not the cause of evil). Whoever endures an illness with patience and gratitude is credited with it instead of a feat or even more. One elder, suffering from water sickness, said to the brethren who came to him with a desire to treat him: “Fathers, pray that my inner man does not suffer from such a disease, and as for the real disease, I ask God that He does not suddenly free me from it; For as our outer man... decays, the inward man... is renewed” (2 Cor. 4:16). One must be merciful to the wretched and strange; The great lamps and fathers of the Church cared a lot about this. In relation to this virtue, we must try by all means to fulfill the following commandment of God: Be... merciful, as your Father is merciful (Luke 6:36); also: ...I want mercy, not sacrifice (Matthew 9:13). The wise heed these saving words, but the foolish do not heed; that is why the reward will not be the same, as it is said: those who sow with poverty will also reap with poverty; Those who sow for blessing will also reap blessing (cf. 2 Cor. 9:6). The example of Peter the Baker, who for a piece of bread given to a beggar received forgiveness of all his sins, as was shown to him in a vision, may encourage us to be merciful to our neighbors: for even small alms contribute greatly to obtaining the Kingdom of Heaven (see: The Fourth Menaion. September 22). We must give alms with spiritual goodwill, according to the teachings of Saint Isaac the Syrian: “If you give anything to someone who needs it, let the joy of your face precede your giving, and with good words console his sorrow” (Homily 89). 22. About thoughts and carnal movements We must try to be free from unclean thoughts, especially when we offer prayer to God: for there is no unity between stench and fragrance. To do this, we need to repel the first attack of sinful thoughts and movements and scatter them from the earth of our hearts. While the children of Babylon, that is, evil movements and thoughts, are still babies, they must be broken and crushed against the stone, which is Christ. It is especially necessary to crush the following three passions: gluttony, love of money and vanity, with which the devil managed to tempt even our Lord Jesus Christ Himself at the end of His exploits in the desert. The devil, like a lion, hiding in his fence (see: Ps.9:30), secretly lays out nets for us of unclean and ungodly thoughts. So, immediately, as soon as we see, we must dissolve them through pious reflection and prayer. It requires feat and great vigilance so that during psalmody our mind is in harmony with our hearts and lips, so that in our prayer no stench is mixed with the incense. For the Lord abhors the heart with unclean thoughts. The law says: ...do not slaughter the young and the ass (Deut. 22:10), that is, do not offer prayer with a pure or unclean thought. Let us imitate David, who says: In the morning we have slain all the sinners of the earth, who consumed from the city of the Lord all who practice iniquity (Ps. 101:8). The law prohibited the unclean from entering the house of the Lord. This house is us, and Jerusalem is within us. “Sinful lands” are the serpentine thoughts hidden in our hearts. Let us also cry to the Lord: protect my soul from their wickedness (Ps. 34:17); scatter the tongues that desire to curse (Ps. 67:31), so that we too may hear: In tribulation you called Me, and delivered you (Ps. 80:8). Let us continually, day and night, with tears cast ourselves before the face of God’s goodness, may He cleanse our hearts from every evil thought, so that we can worthily walk the path of our calling and with clean hands offer Him the gifts of our service. If we do not agree with the evil thoughts implanted by the devil, then we do good. The unclean spirit only has a strong influence on the passionate; and he attacks those who have been cleansed of passions only from the side, or outwardly. A young person cannot help but be indignant at carnal thoughts. But we must pray to the Lord God that the spark of vicious passions will go out at the very beginning. Then the flame will not intensify. 23. About patience and humility We must always endure everything, no matter what happens, for God’s sake, with gratitude. Our life is one minute compared to eternity; and therefore, according to the Apostle, we are unworthy of the passions of this present time for the glory that desires to appear in us (Rom. 8:18). Bear in silence when the enemy insults you, and then open your heart to the only Lord. Whoever humiliates or takes away your honor, try by all means to forgive him, according to the word of the Gospel: from him who takes yours, do not torture (Luke 6:30). When people revile us, we should consider ourselves unworthy of praise, imagining that if we were worthy, then everyone would bow to us. We must always humiliate ourselves before everyone, following the teaching of Saint Isaac the Syrian: “Humble yourself, and you will see the glory of God in yourself” (Homily 57). So, let us love humility, let us see the glory of God: “Where humility flows out, there the glory of God flows out” (ibid.). I bring light, I am all gloomy: so without humility there is nothing in a person but only darkness. Just as wax that is not heated and softened cannot accept the seal placed on it, so a soul that is not tempted by labors and weaknesses cannot accept the seal of God’s virtue. When the devil left the Lord, then the Angels came and served Him (see: Matthew 4:11). So, if during temptations the Angels of God depart somewhat from us, then they are not far away, and soon they come and serve us with divine thoughts, tenderness, delight, and patience. The soul, having worked hard, acquires other perfections. Why does the holy prophet Isaiah say: Those who endure ... the Lord will change their strength, they will take wings like eagles, they will flow and not be weary, they will walk and not hunger (Is. 40:31). This is how the meekest David endured: for when Shimei reviled him and threw stones at him, saying: go away, man... wicked, he was not angry; and when Abishai, indignant at this, said to him: Why does this dead dog curse my Master the King? He forbade him, saying: “Leave him, and so let him curse me, for the Lord will see and reward me with what is good” (2 Samuel 16:7, 9, 10). Why then he sang: I have endured the Lord, and heard me, and heard my prayer... (Ps. 39:2). The oven tempts the poor vessels, and the temptation of man is in his thoughts. But woe to you who have lost your patience; what will you do when the Lord visits you? (Sir.27:5; 2:14). Like a child-loving father, when he sees that his son lives disorderly, he punishes him, and when he sees that he is cowardly and endures punishment with difficulty, then he consoles him; This is what the good Lord and our Father does with us, using everything for our benefit, both consolation and punishment, according to His love for mankind. And therefore, when we are in sorrow, like well-behaved children, we must thank God. For if we begin to thank Him only in prosperity, then we will be like the ungrateful Jews who, having had their fill of a wonderful meal in the desert, said that Christ was truly a Prophet, wanted to take him and make him king; and when He said to them: Do not do evil things that perish, but do evil things that abid in eternal life (John 6:27), then they said to Him: This is why You are doing a sign... Our fathers ate manna in the desert (John 6:30, 31). The word falls directly on such people: He will confess to You whenever You have done good to him, and such a one will not even see the light until forever (Ps. 49:19, 20). Therefore, the Apostle James teaches us: Have all joy, my brethren, whenever you fall into various temptations: knowing that the temptation of your faith will work out patience: but patience is a perfect work to have, - and adds: Blessed is the man who endures temptation: having been skilled, he will receive the crown of life (James 1:2-4, 12). 24. About positions and love for neighbors One must treat one's neighbors kindly, without even any kind of insult. When we turn away from a person or insult him, then it is as if a stone rests on our hearts. You should try to cheer up the spirit of a confused or despondent person with a word of love. If your brother sins, cover him, as Saint Isaac the Syrian advises: “Stretch out your robe over the one who sins and cover him” (Homily 89). We all demand the mercy of God, as the Church sings: “If not the Lord were in us, whoever is content is saved from the enemy, the merchant and the murderer!” In relation to our neighbors, we must be, both in word and in thought, pure and equal to everyone; otherwise we will make our life useless. We must love our neighbor no less than ourselves, according to the commandment of the Lord: love your neighbor as you love yourself (cf. Luke 10:27). But it is not so that love for our neighbors, going beyond the boundaries of moderation, distracts us from fulfilling the first and main commandment, that is, the love of God, as our Lord Jesus Christ teaches about this: Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:37). Saint Demetrius of Rostov discusses this subject very well: “There one can see untruthful love for God in a Christian person, where the creature is compared with the Creator, and there one can see truthful love, where the Creator alone is loved and preferred above all creation.” 25. About non-judgment of one's neighbor and forgiveness of offenses You should not judge anyone, even if you have seen with your own eyes someone sinning or obsessing over the transgression of God’s commandments, according to the word of God: Judge not, lest ye be judged (Matthew 7:1); Who are you, judge a foreign slave; whether his Lord stands or falls, he will become: for God is strong to establish him (Rom. 14:4). It is much better to always bring to mind these apostolic words: be determined to stand, and be careful that you do not fall (1 Cor. 10:12). For it is unknown how long we can remain in virtue, as the prophet says, having learned this by experience: I have died in my abundance: I will not move forever. ...I turned away Your face and was confused (Ps. 29:7, 8). For an offense, whatever it may be, you should not take revenge, but, on the contrary, forgive the offender from your heart, even if it resists it, and persuade him with the conviction of the word of God: If you do not forgive men their sins, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you your sins (Matthew 6:15); pray for those who bring evil upon you (Matthew 5:44). You should not harbor in your heart malice or hatred towards your neighbor who is at enmity, but you should love him and, as much as possible, do good to him, following the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ: ... love your enemies ... do good to those who hate you ... (Matthew 5:44). So, if we try as hard as we can to fulfill all this, then we can hope that the Divine light will shine in our hearts, illuminating our path to the heavenly Jerusalem. Let us be jealous of God's beloved, let us be jealous of the meekness of David, about whom the most good and kind Lord said: I have found a man after My heart... who will fulfill all My desires (Acts 13:22). This is how He spoke about David, unforgiving and kind to his enemies. And we will not do anything to take revenge on our brother, so that, as St. Antiochus says, there will be no stopping during prayer. The law commands to take care of the enemy’s donkey (see: Exodus 23:5). God testified about Job as a gentle man (see: Job 2:3); Joseph did not take revenge on the brothers who intended evil against him; Abel, in simplicity and without suspicion, went with his brother Cain. According to the testimony of the word of God, the saints all lived in kindness. Jeremiah, talking with God, speaks about Israel who persecuted him: When evil is repaid for good... Remember me who stood before You, saying good for them (Jeremiah 18:20) (Homily 52). God commanded us to enmity only against the serpent, that is, against the one who initially deceived man and expelled him from paradise, against the murderer - the devil. We are commanded to be hostile also against the Midianites, that is, against the unclean spirits of fornication and adultery, who sow unclean and nasty thoughts in the heart. The limit of virtue and wisdom is simple action with reason. Why do we condemn our brothers? Because we do not try to know ourselves. He who is busy knowing himself has no time to notice others. Condemn yourself and you will stop judging others. Condemn a bad deed, but do not condemn the doer himself. We must consider ourselves the most sinful of all and forgive our neighbors every bad deed, and hate only the devil who deceived him. It happens that it seems to us that another is doing something bad, but in fact, according to the good intention of the person doing it, it is good. Moreover, the door of repentance is open to everyone, and it is unknown who will enter it first - you, the condemner, or the one condemned by you. If you condemn your neighbor, teaches the Monk Antiochus, then together with him you are condemned in the same thing for which you condemn him. It is not for us to judge or condemn, but for the one God and the Great Judge, who leads our hearts and the hidden passions of our nature (Homily 49). So, beloved, let us not observe the sins of others and condemn others, lest we hear: Sons of mankind, the teeth of their weapons are arrows, and their tongue is a sharp sword (Ps. 56:5). For when the Lord leaves a person to himself, then the devil is ready to grind him off like a millstone, like a grain of wheat. 26. Against excessive care Excessive concern for the things of life is characteristic of an unbeliever and cowardly person. And woe to us if we, caring for ourselves, do not establish our hope in God, who cares for us! If we do not attribute the visible benefits that we enjoy in the present age to Him, then how can we expect from Him those benefits that are promised in the future? Let us not be so lacking in faith, but rather let us seek first the Kingdom of God... and all these things will be added to us, according to the word of the Savior (Matthew 6:33). It is better for us to despise what is not ours, that is, temporary and transitory, and to desire what is ours, that is, incorruptibility and immortality. For when we are incorruptible and immortal, then we will be worthy of visible contemplation of God, like the apostles at the Most Divine Transfiguration, and we will partake of a higher mental unity with God, like heavenly minds. For we will be like angels, and sons of God, being the resurrection of sons (Luke 20:36). There is a disease, says Ecclesiastes, which I saw under the sun, wealth is kept from the acquisitive for his evil: and that wealth will perish in the care of the evil one... all his days in darkness and mourning and in rage, and in sickness, and in anger (Eccl. 5:12, 16). When the evil spirit of sadness takes possession of the soul, then, filling it with sorrow and trouble, it does not allow it to pray with due diligence, prevents it from reading the scriptures with due attention, deprives it of meekness and complacency in dealing with the brethren and gives rise to aversion from any conversation. For a soul filled with sadness, becoming as if mad and frenzied, cannot calmly either accept good advice or meekly answer the questions asked. She runs away from people who seem to be the culprits of her embarrassment, not realizing that the cause of the illness is inside her. Sadness is the worm of the heart, gnawing at the mother who gives birth to it. A sad monk does not move his mind towards contemplation and can never perform pure prayer. He who conquered passions also conquered sadness. And he who is overcome by passions will not escape the shackles of sadness. Just as a sick person is visible by his complexion, so one who is possessed of passion is revealed by his sadness. He who loves the world cannot help but be sad. And a world that despises is always cheerful. Just as fire purifies gold, so sorrow for God purifies the sinful heart (Reverend Antiochus. Homily 25). Despair, according to the teachings of Saint John Climacus, is born either from the consciousness of many sins, despair of conscience and unbearable sadness, when the soul, covered with many ulcers, plunges into the depths of despair from their unbearable pain, or from pride and arrogance, when someone considers himself undeserving of the sin into which he has fallen. The first kind of despair draws a person into all vices indiscriminately, and with the second kind of despair a person still clings to his feat, which, according to John Climacus, is incompatible with reason. The first is cured by abstinence and good hope, and the second by humility and non-judgment of one’s neighbor (Ladder. Degree 26). The Lord cares about our salvation. But the murderer the devil tries to bring a person into despair. A high and strong soul does not despair in the face of misfortunes, whatever they may be. Judas the traitor was cowardly and not skilled in warfare, and therefore the enemy, seeing his despair, attacked him and deceived him to hang himself. But Peter, a solid stone, when he fell into sin, as skillful in battle, did not despair and did not lose spirit, but shed bitter tears from a warm heart, and the enemy, seeing them, as if burning in his eyes with fire, ran far away from him with a painful cry. So, brothers, teaches the Monk Antiochus, when despair attacks us, we will not submit to it, but, strengthened and protected by the light of faith, with great courage we will say to the evil one: “What is it to us and to you, alienated from God, a fugitive from heaven and an evil servant? You don't dare do anything to us. Christ, the Son of God, has power over us and over everything. By Him we have sinned, and by Him we will be justified. And you, pernicious one, get away from us. Strengthened by His Honest Cross, we trample on your serpentine head” (Homily 27). And with tenderness we will pray to the Lord: “O Lord of heaven and earth, King of the ages! deign to open the door of repentance for me, for in pain of heart I pray to You, true God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, light of the world, look upon many with Your compassion and accept my prayer; do not turn him away, but forgive me, who have fallen into many sins. Incline Your ear to my prayer and forgive me all the evil that I have done, defeated by my will. For I seek peace and do not find it, because my conscience does not forgive me. I am waiting for peace, but there is no peace in me because of the deep multitude of my iniquities. Hear, Lord, the heart crying out to You, do not look at my evil deeds, but look at the illness of my soul and hasten to heal me, who was cruelly wounded. Give me time to repent for the sake of the grace of Your love for mankind and deliver me from dishonest deeds, and do not measure me according to Your righteousness, and do not reward me with what I deserve according to my deeds, so that I do not perish completely. Hear, Lord, me, who is in despair. For I, deprived of any readiness and any thought to correct myself, fall before Your compassions: have mercy on me, cast down to the ground and condemned for my sins. Call me, Master, captive and contained by my evil deeds and bound, as it were, with chains. For You alone know how to release prisoners, to heal wounds unknown to anyone, which only You know, who know the unseen. And therefore, for all my evil illnesses, I call only You, the Doctor of all who suffer. The door of those who weep without, The path of the lost, The light of the darkened. The Redeemer of the prisoners, always cutting His right hand and restraining His wrath prepared for sinners, but, for the sake of great love for mankind, giving time for repentance. Shine upon me the light of Your face, O Master, who has fallen sorely, quick in mercy and slow in punishment. And by your compassion, stretch out your hand to me and raise me from the pit of my iniquities. For You are our only God, who does not rejoice at the destruction of sinners and does not turn Your face away from those who pray to You with tears. Hear, O Lord, the voice of Your servant crying to You, and show Your light on me, deprived of light, and grant me grace, so that I, who have no hope, always hope for Your help and power. Turn my cry, O Lord, into joy for me, tear apart the sackcloth and gird me with joy. And grant me peace from my evening affairs, and may I receive morning peace, like Thy chosen ones, O Lord, from whom sickness, sorrow and sighing have fled, and may the door of Thy Kingdom be opened to me, so that, having entered with those who enjoy the light of Thy face, O Lord, I may receive eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen". 29. About the reasons for the coming of Jesus Christ into the world The reasons for the coming of Jesus Christ the Son of God into the world are: 1) God’s love for the human race: For God so loved the world, as He gave His only begotten Son to eat... (John 3:16); 2) restoration in fallen man of the image and likeness of God, as the Holy Church sings about this: Having been destroyed by crime, in the image of God, all corruption that existed, the best fallen Divine life is again renewed by the wise Creator (canon for the Nativity of Christ, canto 1); 3) salvation of human souls: For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved by Him (John 3:17). So, we, following the goal of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, must lead our lives in accordance with his Divine teaching, so that through this we may receive salvation for our souls. 30. About active and speculative life A person consists of a soul and a body, and therefore his path of life must consist of bodily and mental actions - of action and contemplation. The path of active life consists of: fasting, abstinence, vigil, kneeling, prayer and other bodily labors, which constitute a narrow and sorrowful path, which, according to the word of God, leads into the eternal belly (see: Matt. 7:14). The path of contemplative life consists in raising the mind to the Lord God, in heartfelt attention, mental prayer and contemplation through such exercises of spiritual things. Anyone who wants to experience spiritual life must begin from the active life, and then come to the contemplative life: for without an active life it is impossible to come to the contemplative life. Active life serves to cleanse us from sinful passions and elevates us to the level of active perfection, and thereby paves the way for us to a contemplative life. For only those who have been cleansed of passions and perfected can begin this life, as this can be seen from the words of the Holy Scripture: Blessed are those who are pure in heart: for they will see God (Matthew 5:8) and from the words of St. Gregory the Theologian: “Only those who are most perfect in their experience can safely approach contemplation” (Word for Holy Pascha). So the Church, pleasing St. Nicholas, sings: ... by being silent before and struggling with thoughts and actions, you brought the thought of God, and through the thought of God you acquired a perfect mind, with whom you boldly conversed with God and the Angels... (Akathist to St. Nicholas, Kontakion 10). One must approach the speculative life with fear and trembling, with contrition of heart and humility, with many tests of the Holy Scriptures and, if possible, under the guidance of some skilled elder, and not with insolence and self-indulgence. “The impudent and disdainful one,” in the words of Gregory of Sinaite, “having sought more than his dignity, with arrogance is forced to achieve it before his time.” And again: “If someone dreams of achieving a high opinion with a high opinion, a desire of Satan, and not having acquired the truth, the devil conveniently catches this with his snares, like his servant” (On delusion and many other pretexts). If it is not possible to find a mentor who can guide us to a contemplative life, then in this case we must be guided by the Holy Scriptures, for the Lord Himself commands us to learn from the Holy Scriptures, saying: Try the Scriptures, that in them you believe that you have eternal life... (John 5:39). One must also carefully read the paternal writings and try, as much as possible, to the best of one’s ability to carry out what they teach, and thus, little by little, ascend from an active life to the perfection of a contemplative life. For, according to St. Gregory the Theologian, the best thing is when we each achieve perfection on our own and offer a living sacrifice to God who calls us, holy and always and in everything sanctified (Word for Holy Pascha). One should not leave the active life even when a person has succeeded in it and has already come to the contemplative one; for it promotes and elevates the contemplative life. While walking the path of inner and contemplative life, we should not weaken and leave it because people, clinging to appearance and sensuality, amaze us with the opposition of their opinions to the very feeling of our hearts and try in every possible way to distract us from passing the inner path, placing various obstacles for us on it; for, in the opinion of church teachers, the contemplation of spiritual things is preferable to the knowledge of sensual things (Blessed Theodoret. Commentary on the Song of Songs). And therefore, we should not hesitate in passing this path, being affirmed in this case on the word of God: We will not be afraid of their fear, nor will we be troubled, for God is with us. Let us sanctify the Lord our God in the heartfelt memory of His Divine Name, and He will be our fear (cf. Is. 8:12, 13). Sergey Nilus. Servant of the Mother of God and Seraphim. (Simbirsk conscientious judge Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov) The last words of Father Fr.'s last conversation. Seraphim was with me as follows: “...so, your love of God, if you are reproached - bless, if you are persecuted - endure, if you are blasphemed - be comforted, if you are slandered - rejoice! This is our path with you, and he who endures to the end will be saved! Come in peace to Voronezh!” They were told to me on September 5, 1832, when I was sent to Voronezh for the first time in my life. Seraphim! O holy and wondrous name! How great you are, great saint, with the Lord! The demons gnash their teeth about your name and... tremble!.. And great was their gnashing of teeth! From that sacred day when the God-loving Sovereign, God's Anointed One, filled and led by the Holy Spirit, embodying in his person the entire people's faith, in one mind with the Orthodox Church, bowed his knees with all his many millions of people at the shrine of the newly-minted saint of God, Seraphim of Sarov - from that very day the entire satanic regiment, led by its peacekeeper and the prince of evil under heaven, rebelled against the one who, while still in a weak human body, defeated the primordial enemy of the human race. I will not remember all the frenzied rage that fell powerlessly and fruitlessly on the holy days, on the unforgettable July Seraphim days, unanimously experienced by the entire Orthodox world led by its God-given Head: this rage is memorable to everyone who, near or far, took part in the repentant public prayer at the tomb and at the shrine of St. Seraphim, who “in the middle of the summer sang "Easter" with the people. The Lord put Satan’s plans to shame: all their evil deeds scattered into smoke. The future will show in all its breadth and power the significance for the life of the Russian spirit of the recently experienced, re-experienced and rethought Sarov celebrations. But the present is already such that it has become clear to the original enemies of Russia how far it is, given the rise of faith, from that premature death, which they already seemed to be triumphant with a cry of victory. But the evil slander, having crashed against the insurmountable wall of the holiness of the ascetic of Christ, changed direction and struck, albeit with weakened force, at everything that directly or indirectly served to glorify the holy saint. One of these blows fell on a man who devoted all his spiritual strength to serving the memory of Father Seraphim and the Seraphim-Diveyevo women’s monastery founded by him, the last lot of the Queen of Heaven on earth. This was a Simbirsk and Nizhny Novgorod landowner and Simbirsk conscientious judge, hereditary nobleman Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov. The enemy’s anger, not having overcome Seraphim, fell heavily on Motovilov and tried to denigrate and slander his memory in the eyes of all those who, according to Seraphim, were interested in this out-of-the-ordinary personality. She called him "crazy." With the help of God and Father Seraphim, I will try to illuminate the darkness of lies that has shrouded the memory of this worldly associate and novice of our reverend father Seraphim of Sarov 78. In the Motovilov family, among those, at least its members, who still cherish family memories, in the depths of the cradle of its origin, a legend arose and still persists that their ancestor was a native of Lithuania, Prince Montvid-Montvil. The common people remade this surname in their own way and nicknamed the stranger Motovilo, and under this nickname he became his own, already Russian man. From this root came the Russian family of Motovilovs. One of the ancestors of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov, while still a Lithuanian prince, participated with his people with Dimitri Donskoy in the Battle of Kulikovo. In one of the branches of the Motovilov family tree, if I’m not mistaken, in the family of the senator of the Cassation Department Georgiy Nikolaevich Motovilov, the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, cut with a heavy Basurman sword, should be kept to this day as a family shrine. If it has survived, then it is now one of the few material witnesses to the first rays of the dawn of the Muscovite kingdom 79 . This image has its own legend. Nikolai Alexandrovich's father, Alexander Ivanovich, in his youth fell in love with a girl from the old noble family of the Durasovs; but, brought up in St. Petersburg, having managed to get used to metropolitan life, Marya Aleksandrovna Durasova, to whom Alexander Ivanovich was wooing, did not want to go with her husband into the calm of the village and refused him her hand. The struggle with the feeling of rejected love led to the result with which, in the good, holy, old times, people of heart and duty crowned any struggle that had become unbearable: they doomed themselves to God and in God’s help alone they went to seek salvation from the unbearable struggles of their spirit. Quiet monasteries dedicated to God, behind their high monastery fence, among forests, far from the bustle of the rebellious world, gave the desired shelter to sick souls and joy and tranquility in Christ. This is how it was in those times, so close to us in time and so in spirit - alas! - distant... The Sarov hermitage accepted the inconsolable Alexander Ivanovich among its novices and, it seemed, hid him for the rest of his life from all worldly cares and sorrows. But God was pleased to change the firm decision of the inconsolable young man. While undergoing obedience on the prosphora, Alexander Ivanovich began to prepare to take monastic vows, but one day, tired of the unusual work, he dozed off and saw a wondrous dream, which, contrary to his intentions, determined his entire future life and had prophetic significance for Nikolai Alexandrovich. The Sarov novice had barely dozed off when he suddenly saw Saint Nicholas enter the prosphora and say: “The monastery is not 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 already at the time 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.” This dream, as one would expect, changed the direction of Alexander Ivanovich’s thoughts, and he left Sarov. The secondary offer he made to Durasova was not rejected; and from this predicted marriage, the first-born was born on May 3, 1809, who was given the name Nikolai. This was our Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov. Motovilov lost his father early. At the age of eight, he was left an orphan with a mother, still a very young widow, and a sister, two or three years younger than him. The large fortune left by Alexander Ivanovich consisted mainly in the populated lands of three provinces - Simbirsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl - and required tireless care. Concerns about raising young children, the general way of moral and religious life of the ancient landowner life, in which the ideals of a wife and mother still stood high, and, most importantly, of course, God’s will - all this forced Motovilov’s mother to surrender with humility to her lot and not seek for herself what is now commonly called personal happiness. The former mothers sought and always found this personal happiness primarily in God, in His Holy Church and in housekeeping, which included raising children and caring for their wealth. The landowner life of old Rus', waiting in vain for its impartial historian, knows many types of such mothers and housewives who, in the quiet of their villages, built the property well-being of their children, and with them the Motherland. The first comforter of Nikolai Alexandrovich's mother in the sorrow that befell her was the Church and her faithful servants, servants of God of every rank, starting with bishops and ending with that Christ for the sake of wandering Russia, which, throwing away all concern for the worries of tomorrow, in a prayerful feat, summer and winter, and in the spring crossroads, and in autumn bad weather, goes around in search of the saints in some places, with their tireless watch, countless cities and villages, dense forests, rutted high roads and whimsically running footpaths of the difficultly traversed wilds of spacious Russia. From the impregnable icy Solovki to the evergreen Mount Athos and the shrines of Jerusalem, from Nechaev and Kyiv to the borders of Eastern Siberia, to the walls of mysterious China, the pure wave of primordial Orthodoxy splashes, which created and glorified mighty Russia. This tireless watch goes around the shrine of Orthodoxy and carries the grace of the shrine to all corners and crannies, distributing it with a believing hand to every believing Russian heart. Naive faith, naive speeches! Children are storytellers, children are listeners! But whoever heard the fiery speeches of some, who knew how to notice the tears of tenderness of others, he saw face to face, he kissed her, mouth to mouth, tenderly beloved, childishly holy, gracious Rus'... From the bright royal chambers, from the noble mansion of a nearby prince-boyar to the dank with dampness and uncovered poverty of the hut of a poor commoner, to those simple and faithful times, all of Christ's countless army of pilgrims found shelter and greetings everywhere, a warm corner, a bright center of heartfelt love and hospitable cordiality. Old Rus' knew how to understand and appreciate this spiritual feat of its people. Even then, wolves from the flock of Satan climbed into this flock of Christ’s sheep, but because of random wolves they did not discredit the pure sheep flock, and the holy, pure faith of the Russian person dressed itself shamelessly and fearlessly in its golden fleece and warmed its Russian heart. At the beginning of the 19th century, the faith of the Russian outback was still little shaken: life then did not know the speed of spreading spiritual infection that marked our so-called time - the time of steam, electricity, railways, telegraph, telephones - everything, in a word, that has torn and frayed the nerves of modern humanity. One hundred versts was a space of half a day's drive, and 500–600 versts from the large centers, from the capitals, began Russian provincial life, almost untouched by the trends of the times in its age-old foundations. The outback, so foolishly and evilly ridiculed by the shallow wit of the era of reforms and European apeism of the sixties and subsequent years, was that true field that grew the grain of Russian primordial life and gave abundant harvests that fed the mighty state organism of Russia. The distance, difficult to overcome by carriage, postal, and “long” ones, forced the average person to sit at home, in the house to be able to find and concentrate all his material and spiritual interests. Life flowed in the family, and everything was concentrated in it. There was nowhere to go, and there was no need; they knew their area, and they knew it well, thoroughly, accurately; They didn’t strive into the distance, but where they were born, they died there. Long trips were undertaken only for special needs, and, moreover, with great tautness of heart. But for the life of the spirit, even in those sedentary times, distances were neglected, and trips of a month or more, 400 or 600 miles, were not uncommon for our grandfathers and grandmothers. This movement could not be called trips - these were entire pilgrimages, usually organized with all the children and chosen members of the household, and their goal was more or less remote monasteries with the saints resting in them. the relics of God's saints or the ascetic elders living in them, glorified by the people's faith and enlightened by a godly life and Divine grace. “Not in words exceeding earthly wisdom, but in manifestations of strength and spirit,” our old men sought an answer to all the requests of the human soul and, the Lord is faithful, they received it. The great grief of the young widow drew her for advice and gracious help to the great saint of God, Father Seraphim, at that time the hieromonk of the Sarov Hermitage, who completed the feat of the retreat and began to receive visitors, of whom a great multitude began to gather from all over Central Russia to the secluded Sarov Hermitage. The glory of Father Seraphim as a man of high spiritual life even then thundered throughout the believers of the Tambov and Middle Volga regions. The old people said that there were days in Sarov when the number of people coming and visiting Father Seraphim reached ten thousand. On her first trip to Sarov to visit Father Seraphim, the widow Motovilov took her Nikolenka with her. This was in 1816. Nikolenka was then eight years old. Mother and son were traveling to Arzamas from their estate, the village of Britvin, Nizhny Novgorod province, Lukoyanovsky district. In Motovilov's manuscripts there are indications that in Arzamas one revered blessed woman met Motovilova and predicted to her boy his extraordinary fate of a power incomprehensible and rejected by the world, but pleasing to God. Father Seraphim had just opened the doors of his reclusive cell, and one of the first visitors he received was the widow Motovilov and her son. In the manuscripts of Nikolai Alexandrovich, I managed to find a hand-drawn image of the plan of Father Seraphim’s cell in the form in which it was engraved in his childhood memory. The boy was so impressed by the furnishings of the cell that many years later he remembered it in every detail. His childhood imagination was especially struck by the abundance of burning candles in seven large candlesticks in front of the icon of the Mother of God. But the words and meaning of the speeches of Father Seraphim’s conversation with his mother were hidden from him. In his memory, only one episode of his stay in the priest’s cell was preserved. The boy, accustomed to frolicking in the freedom of the village, became bored, and while his mother listened to the conversation of the godly elder, he began to run around the cell, as far as its surroundings allowed. His mother stopped him reproachfully. But the priest objected to her reproach to the child: - The Angel of God is playing with the baby, mother! How can you stop a child in his careless games... Play, play, baby! Christ is with you! Motovilov remembered these words, full of meekness and fatherly affection, all his life. Could the child’s heart then foresee that this cell, in which the mother’s conversation with the monk took place, would subsequently determine the entire structure of Motovilov’s long-suffering life! Whether it was family piety, so characteristic in those days of noble families who lived constantly on their estates, or early acquaintance with people of spiritual achievement with whom the pious mother loved to spend time, or the pre-chosenness expressed in the significant dream of his father, but in Motovilov, religious curiosity awoke early, which caused him a lot of grief in his adolescence and youth. Having learned during the study of the Holy Scriptures about the Trinity in the One Being of God, he sought to explain this dogma to himself by phenomena of visible nature, which greatly embarrassed not only his simple-hearted village mentors, but also the teachers of law who were preparing him for admission to Kazan University. - Father! - he asked his mentor. “You teach me that a person consists of body and soul.” But we were created in the image and likeness of God, therefore, we are also trinitarian in essence? - Well, aren’t you a heretic?! Truly, heretic! I’m telling you, don’t look for a higher self! Where are you going, where are you going? – I ask you! And the verbal admonition of the “heretic” was usually followed by a mentoring admonition, from which the admonished one cried a lot. The mother was also very upset, fearing what she thought was the excessive inquisitiveness of her child. In those good, simple times, mature people believed simply and childishly. She was especially afraid of her son’s future studies in the noisy academic city of Kazan. The spirit of unbelief and heresies, sown in the minds of the noble freethinkers of Catherine’s and Alexander’s times by the horde of foreign tutors and governesses who came to Russia with a ready-made program for the destruction of Russian foundations, this spirit could not hide from the foreboding heart of a loving and devoutly Orthodox mother. Well, how can this inquisitiveness of the mind, now under her wing directed towards the knowledge of the Divine, turn in the opposite direction! And there were examples of this. Even then, in provincial society they began to talk about the Freemasons as a mysterious sect, although harmless in appearance, but by all indications apostate and harmful. The Orthodox spirit of her late husband also 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. The inquisitive mind of the child, of course, did not understand what kind of monster the Masons were; It’s unlikely that he could even grasp the immense word “Russia” in any way, but his father’s words did not disappear without a trace for him, and for Nikolai Alexandrovich Russia and Freemasonry remained forever two concepts, of which one certainly had to destroy the other. Motovilov remained an implacable enemy of this secret and, in essence, deeply revolutionary society for the rest of his life. But the mother’s prophetic heart was not mistaken in one thing: the university, with its social sciences, in which the name of God is never mentioned, the cheerful, noisy and, of course, free-thinking secular society of the noble Kazan - all this soon in its everyday whirlpool swirled young Motovilov, the future eligible groom, as more than one mother probably secretly dreamed of him - and social life, although temporarily and superficially, but still managed, it seemed, to erase the spiritual that was sown in the soul of a religious boy in childhood. - Well, mummy! - he often said to his mother, - you have these “temptations” again! “Temptations” he called the pilgrims and nuns whom Motovilova loved to greet at his place. Hearing Nikolinka’s conversations, not always modest and about immodest subjects, with downcast eyes and fingering her rosary, with a sigh and as if quietly whispering to themselves, it would happen: The cheerful Motovilov did not like them at that time. Against the rainbow background of the joy of the noisy light to which his heart was drawn, these humble figures with fasting faces, in black robes, elderly, ugly, with the Jesus Prayer on their lips, should have seemed to him such a dark and unattractive spot... Underneath its unprepossessing appearance, true humility seems to many to be hypocrisy. Who needs these driven, forgotten, pitiful, dark faces? They are an ear-piercing dissonance in the victorious chord of the elegant world!.. But God’s calling led Motovilov to a different path - on a different path God needed him. Halfway through his university course, an incident occurred with Motovilov that was unusually characteristic both of him and of the era that raised him. In his notes, he vaguely says that “this incident plunged him into such an abyss of despair that he could not survive it, for he had to lose both his noble honor and his noble title and be given up as a soldier.” According to Elena Ivanovna, this incident, this terrible misfortune that so shocked Motovilov, was the kiss he threw to a young lady in the university corridor. This kiss was noticed by the authorities, who attached such importance to it - in words or in deeds - who knows - that Motovilov considered himself completely lost. He was especially frightened by the thought that he would kill his “mama.” And he loved his “mama” as only his pure filial heart could love. What an abyss separates the feelings of the majority of modern youth from the feelings of that time!.. On a dark night, from the apartment of Professor Fuchs, whose apartment Motovilov was living at that time, he went to the Black Lake, known to every Kazan resident, and there he decided to drown himself. He was already ready to throw himself into it, but some invisible force suddenly chained him to the place from which he wanted to throw himself into the water, and in the darkness of the night, over the gloomy waters of the Black Lake, he suddenly saw in a bright radiance the image of the Kazan Mother of God. Illuminated by a wondrous light, the Face of the Most Pure One looked reproachfully at the suicide youth and disappeared without a trace into the darkness of the night. This was the first sign in his life. The story that threatened Motovilov at the university had no consequences for him - his landlord, Professor Fuchs, helped him out of trouble, assuring him that “he vouches for Motovilov” as a highly moral young man. But the wondrous vision left a deep imprint on his soul, and although the pleasures of the world still continued to pull him into their deceptive nets with uncontrollable force, nevertheless, the event on Black Lake marked the beginning of a deep spiritual revolution that subsequently took place in him. We do not have reliable information about the time of his life in Kazan after this event. We only know that after he left the university with the title of full student, his mother died during a trip with him on a pilgrimage to Kiev, leaving in his care all the estates and a fifteen-year-old girl, his sister. Motovilov himself was seventeen years old. This was in 1826. 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 non-serving nobleman was like 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 to some extent in the military or civil service of the Tsar and the Fatherland. Society was not served then: the concept of society was absorbed by the dogma of the Tsar and the Motherland - they were served. The end of Alexander and Nicholas times were strict in implementing state principles. And Motovilov’s heart was already gripped by “tender passion.” In the vicinity of his Simbirsk villages, the widow of Mikhail Petrovich Yazykov, from an old family of Simbirsk nobles Yazykov, lived on her estates. Her teenage daughter, Katenka, a girl of about fifteen, also lived with her. Sick by nature, completely ill by the time Motovilov left the university, the widow Yazykova did not leave the house, did not receive guests except her family and close neighbors, and Katenka 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 had been in love with since she was twelve years old. The pretty girl seduced his heart not so much with her appearance as with the inner qualities of her highly religious feminine soul. Did she like Motovilov? It’s hard to say... As for Motovilov himself, the hope of seeing his beloved girl as his wife did not leave him many years after the first flash of a spark of selfless feeling planted in his soul. They were wholesome in nature back then and knew how to love for a long time, devotedly and faithfully. But it was not Motovilov who was destined to take possession of Yazykova’s pure, virgin heart. Another heart was waiting for him, another hand was supposed to carry with his hand the heavy cross destined for him to glorify the great Name of God. God's chosen one, called to life by the clearly expressed Divine will, had to go through the crucible of all suffering, all temptations, heartache and physical torment, had to endure all sorrow, all persecution, in order to be spiritually purified and enlightened to be worthy to accomplish the great work of God on earth. For an active Christian, for every warrior of the Church of Christ, for every faithful son of her, and not a mercenary, the clear guidance of the Hand of God in the long-suffering and still not appreciated life of Motovilov is deeply instructive. Now his merit is visible: the observance for posterity of the smallest features of the life of the great saint of God, St. Seraphim, and the prosperity of the spiritual brainchild of the priest - Diveev. But even in our contemporary assessment of Motovilov’s activities, human rumor does not give him that high place in the majestic building of the great Sarov days, which rightfully belongs to him. By following step by step the life of this great man in spirit and heart, through scraps of his handwritten memories, through the memories of people close to him - his widow, Elena Ivanovna, and the orphans of Father Seraphim, the Diveyevo nuns and prayer books - we, perhaps, will be able to restore in the possible brightness all this complex, full of tragedy and, in any case, the extraordinary character of the moral a Christian martyr of the 19th century, tormented by mental torture, and where? The center of original Orthodoxy is in Russia. Let us return to those already distant times for us, when the lover Motovilov had to enter into independent life as an orphan, with a girl-sister in his arms and with a large household under his inexperienced care. Motovilov’s heart was always in the foreground in the entire structure of his life. The dictates of practical meaning, the cold dictates of reason, if they were not alien to him as a person in the fullness of his contemporary education, then his reason was always subordinate to the desires of the heart. And Motovilov’s heart was fiery throughout. To get Yazykova’s hand, you had to serve - at least that’s what Motovilov thought, that’s what the entire noble majority thought then. The Onegins and Chatskys were just emerging. And it was here, at first, when entering the new life of an independent person, that he had to face the secret, but already great and formidable power of Freemasonry, with the root of the later flourishing weeds of the Russian revolutionary movement, which with its false liberalism infected the flower of the Russian service and landed nobility. “Having left the Imperial Kazan University,” Motovilov writes on a sheet I found, torn from some notebook, “as a full-time student on July 8, 1826, and on the way to Kyiv on pilgrimage, 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, through my mother’s friend, Nadezhda Ivanovna Savrasova, I soon met 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 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 order to arrange 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.” Prince's confidence Barataeva’s belief that Motovilov would not succeed in anything because of his refusal to become a member of the Masonic lodge was soon justified in practice. For the vacancy that soon opened up for the position of honorary superintendent of the Korsun district school, Motovilov put forward his own candidacy, and when he was given information from the council of Kazan University and from the school committee that he had been elected to this position, Barataev called him to him 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 (then the trustee of the Kazan educational district) and the minister Prince Lieven are masons subordinate to me. My command is their law! From that moment on, the persecution, or rather persecution, of Motovilov began, intensifying over time to the point of persecution, which finally brought him to such a nervous breakdown that he suffered from a nervous stroke, which confined him to his 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. The emergence and life of Masonic lodges, their strength and significance in the life of Russia are still waiting for their truthful historian, or rather, observer. And will they wait for him?.. The seal of deep secrecy into which individual commanders-in-chief units are privy, and unknown to the Masonic army itself, covers the essence of their activities, their means and goals, both past and present. Freemasonry, one can say with confidence, still exists today, under a different guise, but its destructive and mainly anti-Christian, or rather anti-Christian, goals remain the same. The long-suffering life of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov, who fought with the energy of despair for the best noble legacy of the past, devoted to the point of fanaticism to the Autocracy, a morally tortured confessor of the Orthodox faith, deliberately erased from useful and deeply patriotic social activities, is a most instructive example of what it meant at that time, and, perhaps, in ours, to openly rebel against this secret but great underground force. If the Lord had not diverted the energy of Motovilov’s remarkable strength to another, truly God-pleasing cause, he would have had to prematurely end his plans with earthly life: the Masonic force never stopped short of secretly killing those whom it considered dangerous to itself. For what kind of godly deed did the Lord divert Motovilov’s energy from state affairs, towards the accomplishment of which Motovilov’s fervently Russian heart gravitated so much? Who was supposed to be the direct instrument of God's providence for the earthly purpose of Motovilov, who was predicted in the significant dream of the former Sarov novice, who later became the father of Nikolai Alexandrovich? The creation of the spirit of the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, the Diveyevo Convent, the last lot of the Queen of Heaven on earth, the future women's Lavra and the life of the saint of God, who found in Motovilov its witness and inspired descriptor - this is the God-pleasing work for which Nikolai Alexandrovich was called to life. Our Reverend Father Seraphim of Sarov is that visible holy hand that changed and directed Motovilov’s steps along a different path, girded him with Divine grace and led him where he did not want, perhaps, to go at a time when to his young, inexperienced gaze the everyday path of the world seemed so tempting and brilliant. How great was the task destined for him was already partially shown by the great Sarov days. The future will reveal even more, even more significantly, the incomparable secret of the power of these days for the renewal of the spirit of Orthodoxy, and with it the greatness of the Motherland with its messianic goal. Service failures, the secret and obvious malice of influential Freemasonry, which did not spare even his pure love for Yazykova, dug for him all sorts of holes and traps into which he, in the simplicity of his young heart, fell every minute, broke Motovilov’s heroic organism, and, as I already said, a serious illness confined him to bed for more than three years. In his physical suffering, aggravated by moral suffering, an orphan with an orphan girl, his sister, in his arms, without support, without family, selfless participation (only Nadezhda Ivanovna Savrasova, his mother’s friend, did not leave him), he was renewed spiritually and cried out to the Lord, and the Lord did not fail to hear the voice of His servant’s grief. Around this time, three significant dreams date back to which he was given as if to foretell the fate of his life and to reveal some of the secrets of the Divine Economy. We take their description from Motovilov’s original manuscript, which survived on a separate sheet 80. “In my first dream I was shown the incredibly greatest, not the house, but the palace of my father in the life of the next century. Two and a half versts in length, half a verst in width and a quarter of a verst in height; three stories high, with columns, each carved from one solid celestial pearl; the architectural style is similar to the Ionic order; the window glass is all solid at the bottom and top; 25 fathoms in height and width, and in the mezzanine 25 widths and 50 fathoms in height; the roof is all pure gold; walls of heavenly marble, whiter than the best Carrara marble. The mountain on which this house stood was seven miles high, gently stretching towards it, and in length, thirty miles around, was a garden of the most excellent fruitful and ever-blooming trees and shrubs. I saw my parent rise incorruptible from the tomb and enter it, and someone invisible said to me: “This is the house prepared for your parent in the life of the next century for his holy, merciful life.” In the second dream, my house, prepared for my sins, seemed to me, all covered in tar, dripping from the ceiling from being melted by hot coals. But the Lord made me worthy to leave it, and then I was shown the beauties of the paradise of God and the Eternal Kingdom of God and said: “Look! - you left the house of your eternal destruction in a dream, come out of it in reality in life, so that you will be saved, like your parent, both on earth and in heaven.” In the third dream, fifteen great hermits, saints of God, took me from the bed of my almost dying illness, namely: 1) Saint Marco the Great, 2) Saint Onuphrius the Great, 3) Saint Peter of Athos, 4) Saint Ioannikis the Great, 5) Saint Anthony the Great, 6) Saint Macarius the Great, 7) Saint Sava Sanctified, 8) Saint Gerasim, who lived on the Jordan river, and the rest, all like them, and led me to a wall reaching to heaven in height and width to the ends of the earth, and placed me in front of a door 15 fathoms high and 5 fathoms wide; and behind them stood a countless crowd of people: kings, patriarchs, rulers of the people, boyars of all nations, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, priests, archimandrites, monks, and laymen of every rank - scientists, commoners, merchants, townspeople, courtyard people and peasants of all denominations. And all this stood closely, leveled, mixed up, in vain, to no avail, so closely that if you threw an apple between their heads, over their shoulders, it would roll and not fall to the ground. And the saints of God, the fifteen great hermits, said to me: "We have brought you here, to this crowd of wicked people who have angered the Lord God, and the Lord God Almighty, through us, His servants, commands you to proclaim His word and His Divine judgment about them. Say in front of us to them all: kings, patriarchs, rulers of the people, boyars, merchants, townspeople, nobles, scientists, and artisans, and men, priests, and monks, and nuns, and people of all kinds! You have completely angered the Lord God in everything! You have despised, rejected and disgusted everything that is ancient, holy, beneficial and all-saving in your souls and you breathe hatred towards everything that is pleasing to God. not dissolved by the slightest drop of compassion for you, godless wicked people, and woe to you if you do not repent and turn away from your godless evils, and do not soon seek the true path in all your abominations, repentance before the Lord God who has irritated you!.. Well, tell them all this in front of us!..” And no matter how much I cried, assuring them that I didn’t dare and that as soon as I mentioned this to them, they would destroy me; but they threateningly objected to me: “If you do not tell them all this will of God, then the Lord will destroy you along with them, and they will complain about you to God forever and ever. If they become angry, one and all, with you and want to destroy you from the face of the earth, then the Lord God in the Trinity will protect you, and the Lady Herself, the Most Holy Theotokos, will be your Intercessor against all their attacks on you. Go through them and boldly speak to them these words of mercy and eternal life, and the Lord Himself will bless you, and the Mother of God will Herself be your Helper in everything.” And I told them everything; and they listened to everything and, parting in front of me, began to give me a way among themselves. A large triangle, several fathoms long, opened up before me, and I, repeating to everyone these merciful and compassionate words of the Lord, not having reached the end of the triangle, tried how wide the road people had given me was, and stretched out my hands crosswise in both directions, and it was not enough to reach the people by a whole yard from my hands. And I don’t know why or why I waved my arms, and I was lifted upward from the ground by an arshin, so that I flew in a circle, like a big bird, up into the sky and saw that I had soared higher than everyone else, and below me there were people swarming with worms... At first I was extremely frightened, thinking that I would fall down and be completely crushed into dust; but a light, clean, and crystal-transparent feather bed was spread under me, and I rejoiced inexplicably and said: “Lord! when I was there with them below, how great they seemed to me then and how they magnified before me then! And now what have they become? no more than worms swarming in a dung heap!” These dreams and a serious illness were given to Motovilov during the period of his life from 19 to 22 years. Medical help, to which he tirelessly turned throughout his long illness, turned out to be powerless. Having tormented his body, a serious illness cleansed his spirit, and his spirit turned to God, who showed him the way to heal his body and further enlighten his spirit. This was the path - Father Seraphim of Sarov. Once upon a time, in Motovilov’s childhood, his father saw his Angel playing with him; now the same Guardian Angel led him a second time to the monk in order to entrust him for life to the guidance of the divine elder. This is how Motovilov describes his first conscious meeting with the Monk Seraphim. “3 a year before I was given the commandment to serve the Mother of God at the Diveyevo monastery, the great elder Seraphim healed me of serious and incredible, great rheumatic and other diseases, with relaxation of the whole body and the loss of legs, crumpled and swollen knees, and with bedsores on the back and sides, with which I suffered incurably for more than three years. On September 9, 1831, Father Seraphim healed me from all my illnesses with one word. And the healing was as follows. I ordered myself, seriously ill, to be taken from the village of Britvin, my Nizhny Novgorod Lukoyanovsky estate, to Father Fr. Seraphim; On September 5, 1831, I was brought to the Sarov Hermitage; On September 7 and 8, on the day of the Nativity of the Mother of God, I was honored to have the first two conversations with Father Fr. Seraphim, before lunch and after lunch in his monastery cell, but he had not yet received healing. And when the next day, September 9, I was brought to him in his Near Hermitage near his well, and four people who carried me in their arms, and the fifth, who supported my head, brought me to him, who was in conversation with the people who came to him in large numbers, then, near a large and very thick pine tree and to this day (the sixties of the last century) on the banks of the Sarovka River existing, They sat me down in his hay field. When I asked him to help me and heal me, he said: - But I’m not a doctor. One should treat doctors when one wants to be treated for any illness. I told him in detail my misfortunes and that I had experienced all three main methods of treatment, namely: allopathy - I was treated by the famous doctors in Kazan, Vasily Leontyevich Tellier and the rector of the Imperial Kazan University, Karl Feodorovich Fuchs, who, according to his knowledge and practice, not only in Kazan and Russia, but also abroad, was a fairly famous medical surgeon; hydropathy - at the Sergievsky mineral sulfur waters, now Samara province; I took a whole full course of treatment and homeopathy from the founder and inventor of this method, Hannemann, through his student, the Penza doctor Peterson, but from not a single method did I receive healing of my illnesses, and then I no longer believe in salvation in anything, and I have no other hope of receiving healing from my illnesses, except through the grace of God. But, being a sinner and not having boldness towards the Lord God, I ask his holy prayers so that the Lord will heal me. – Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the God-man, and in His Most Pure Mother of God, that She is the Ever-Virgin? “Do you believe,” he continued to ask me, “that the Lord, as before, healed instantly and with one word or with His touch all the ailments that happened to people, and now just as easily and instantly can continue to heal those who need help with one word, and that the intercession of the Mother of God to Him for us is omnipotent, and that through this intercession the Lord Jesus Christ can now also instantly and with one word heal you? I answered that I truly believed all this with all my soul and heart, and if I had not believed, I would not have ordered myself to be taken to him. “And if you believe,” he concluded, “then you are already healthy!” “How healthy,” I asked, “when my people and you hold me in your arms?” - No! - he told me. “Your entire body is completely healthy now!” And he ordered my people who were holding me in their arms to move away from me, and he, taking me by the shoulders, lifted me from the ground and, putting me on my feet, said to me: - Stand tighter, plant your feet firmly on the ground... like this! Don't be timid! You are completely healthy now. - Do you see how well you stand now? “Involuntarily, I stand well, because you hold me well and tightly!” “Well, now I’m no longer holding you, but you still stand strong without me; Go boldly, my father, the Lord has healed you! Go ahead and get moving! Taking me by the hand with one hand, and pushing my shoulders a little with the other, he led me along the grass and along the uneven ground near a large pine tree, saying: - Look, your love of God, how well you did. - Yes, because you deign to lead me well! - No! - he told me, taking his hand away from me. “The Lord Himself deigned to completely heal you, and the Mother of God Herself begged Him to do so.” You will now walk without me and will always walk well; come on! “And he started pushing me so that I would go.” - Yes, I’ll fall and hurt myself! - I said. - No! – he contradicted me. - You won’t get hurt, but you’ll walk firmly... And when I felt some kind of power overshadowing me from above, I perked up a little and walked firmly, he suddenly stopped me and said: - Enough already! - And he asked: - What, are you now convinced that the Lord really healed you in everything and in everything completely?.. The Lord took away your iniquities and the Lord cleansed your sins. Do you see what a miracle the Lord has done for you today! Always believe undoubtedly in Him, Christ our Savior, and firmly hope in His compassion for you, love Him with all your heart, and cleave to Him with all your soul, and always firmly hope in Him, and thank the Queen of Heaven for Her great mercies towards you. But since your three-year suffering has seriously exhausted you, now you do not suddenly walk a lot, but gradually: little by little, get used to walking and take care of your health, as a precious gift of God!.. And, after talking with me for a while, he let me go to the hotel completely healthy. So, my people went alone from the forest and the nearby desert to the monastery, thanking God and His wondrous mercies to me, revealed in their own eyes, and I myself sat down alone with the hotel owner, Father Gury, firmly, without human support, sitting in the carriage, returned to the hotel of the Sarov desert. And since many pilgrims were with me during my healing, they returned to the monastery before me, announcing to everyone about this great miracle. As soon as I arrived, abbot Niphon and the treasurer, hieromonk Isaiah, with twenty-four elder hieromonks of Sarov met me on the porch of the hotel, congratulating me on the mercy of God, through the great elder Seraphim, bestowed upon me in their days. And I enjoyed this blessed health for eight months, so much so that I had never felt such health and strength in myself until then in my entire life. Often during this time and for a long time I visited Sarov and repeatedly talked with this great elder Seraphim, and during one of his conversations at the end of November 1831, I had the happiness of seeing him brighter than the sun in the grace-filled state of the influx of the Holy Spirit of God.” The miracle that took place made a stunning impression on Motovilov and determined the entire structure of his future activities in God’s field. After that, the Monk Seraphim irresistibly attracted him to him. Motovilov could not help but see in him a conductor of Divine grace of such spiritual beauty and power that before this wondrous appearance in his enlightened eyes all the deceptive charms of the world, to which he had previously been so passionately drawn, became pale and, as it were, temporarily faded. The gracious gifts of clairvoyance, healing, the mighty, boundless power of the prayer of the saint, this kind of angel in the flesh, were so close to the spirit of the healed and grateful Motovilov, so attracted this spirit to Christian perfection, impossible in its entirety without a break with the world, that from that time Motovilov became attached to his gracious doctor with all his ardent heart and completely surrendered to his leadership, enjoying almost constantly his godly conversations. Almost every month he left his estates in Sarov to visit Seraphim and lived for two or three weeks under the wing of his mentor and benefactor, often and for a long time taking advantage of his intimate communication with him. Meanwhile, the world still burst into his soul, not only never getting tired in the fight against the aspirations of his spirit, but as if attacking him more and more powerfully and furiously, carrying him away with its brilliant baits, throwing its seductive nets over him. Of course, the image of Yazykova, the personified first love of Motovilov, rose at the head of all the other seductive ghosts of powerful worldly memories, and, of course, the poor, tormented soul in him, and only in him, sought the fullness of her earthly happiness. “Not the judgment of God and not the judgment of man!” This secret spiritual struggle could not be hidden from the monk’s insight, and when it had already reached the level of great heartache, carefully, however, hidden from the priest - so, at least, it seemed to Motovilov - Father Seraphim suddenly unexpectedly asked him: - Well, your love of God, you all want to ask me about something, but it’s as if you don’t dare? Just talk to me, poor Seraphim: with God’s help, I am ready to answer you what 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 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 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, instead of that, she has something that touches a person’s soul, something that many beauties do not have in themselves... - What is this? – asked the great old man. “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 it,” I told him. “Her father, Mikhail Petrovich Yazykov, left her an orphan early, 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 religious, there were often prayer services and all-night vigils at her bedside. 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. Father Seraphim continued to ask me: - Well, your love of God, are monasteries better educated than secular girls? “Of course,” I answered, “in greater fear of God, with greater love for God and in greater reverence than we worldly people!” - How do you conclude this? – he asked. “From the words of Pachomius the Great,” I answered, “when the fate of future monasticism was revealed to him from the Lord God and the brethren asked him: “What, father, did the Lord God deign to reveal to you about us?” - he answered: “About us, holy fathers and brethren, the Lord said that we perform all monastic duties as they should, and He blesses our paths; but the monks who live behind us will live worse than ours, for they will please the Lord half as much as we do.” “And then,” the fathers asked, “what will happen?” “Oh!” exclaimed Pachomius, “What’s next will get worse and worse, so that the last monks will no longer do anything of our monastic nature, but will live as today’s secular Christians live!” “And how will worldly Christians live?” - the fathers asked. “But the worldly will live worse than beasts.” “How will they be saved?” - asked the elders. And Pachomius answered them that the Lord deigned to tell him: “Trouble will come upon them, and their fathers will be found higher.” “Why?” – the elders asked again. “That’s why,” answered Pachomius. – At the present time, due to the abundant grace of God in us and due to our zeal for the work of salvation, there are among us many God-inspired, perspicacious servants of God. If one of us, brother or sister, falls, then no matter how hard his fall may be, none of us, due to the Divine love for our neighbor that abounds in us, will be too lazy to travel a thousand miles and go through all the great difficulties in order to raise up the fallen one or the fallen one. Consequently, it is much better and much easier for us now, for we help brother from brother, and convenience overcomes sin. And in those fierce and troubled times, monks and nuns will not only not help each other, but will also plunge each other into destruction, and then each of those who love God will have to save their soul and care for it, like a hermit or hermit...” So, father, this is why I think that, no matter how bad the life of modern monasticism is now, it is still similar to the ancient worldly Christian life. That’s why, in my opinion, a girl raised in a monastic way would be better off raised in a secular way... This is the upbringing I love and respect so much at Yazykova. The great elder listened deeply attentively to my answer and, as if in oblivion, asked me: – How old is your God-destined 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 8 years and a few months old, maybe 3 or 4, and hardly more than 5 months, but according to the new resolution of the Synod, a man under 18 years old, and a girl 16 years old, 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 8 years with a few months!” This conversation took place in October 1831. Great was Motovilov’s disappointment and at the same time sorrowful bewilderment at that time! However, this was not the end of the significant conversation for Nikolai Alexandrovich’s life. The turning point had to be indicated with particular sharpness and clarity, which would radically change and firmly determine the direction of his main activities in the future. This activity was characterized by Motovilov in the title with which he liked to call himself both in his notes and in his speech: “Servant of the Mother of God and the Seraphim.” “After being silent for a while, the priest continued: - After all, it’s different, your love for God, to ask the Lord God to prescribe a bride for someone - as you, for example, now ask that I, poor one, beg the Lord to prescribe Yazykov as a bride for you - and another, when the Lord Himself has already deigned to prescribe what kind of bride to someone - like, for example, for your love for God. Your bride is now no more than 8 years and 3, 4 or 5 months old. Believe me, this is exactly true, and I myself, poor Seraphim, am ready to testify to this. And about the destinies of God and the incomprehensible ignorance of them, I, poor one, have this to tell you: do you know Tobit and his son Tobiah from the Bible?.. So the son of Tobit prays, it happened that the Lord would give him such and such a bride. And Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, a relative of Tobiin, at the same time also happened to pray to the Lord God that He would give her such and such a groom. And the Angels of the Lord offer both their holy prayers and lift them up to the Throne of the Almighty God... So the Lord, seeing that both of them were asking Him for the same thing, decided in His goodness to unite them both in holy marriage. But there were several hundred miles between them, and they did not know each other. But the Council of God was so firm about their union that the Lord even allowed a demon to be near Sarah, who killed every other suitor, except Tobiah, who would dare to touch her. Although she was given in marriage to seven suitors, all seven were struck with death, for it was not for them that it was prepared from the Lord God. When the Providence of God was pleased to unite Tobias and Sarah, the Lord sent Tobias the Archangel Raphael as a companion, and on the way to the village of Raguil in the Tigris River he caught a fish and ordered Tobias to remove the bile from it to drive away, as it later turned out, the spirit of malice from Sarah. So, your love for God, what are God’s destinies! Who would have thought that Tobias and Sarah, separated by such a long distance, would marry each other! But what is impossible with man is possible with God!.. Father Fr. is here. Seraphim paused and seemed to think and, suddenly turning his speech to something else, suddenly asked: - And what, your love of God, did you do with the girl of your yard man who lived with you? I froze, frightened both by the elder’s insight and at the same time by the fact that he would scold me for my sin... But the elder, without waiting for my answer, began to continue: The Holy Church of the Lord in its conciliar rules so legitimizes that if anyone takes a free girl and lives with her, he is obliged to marry her afterwards, and this duty requires this. If the girl does not want this, then arrange her life so comfortably that later, due to the sheer burden of poverty, she cannot fall into new sins and would always thank the Lord. After these words, my soul felt better. - That's what I did! - I told Father Fr. Seraphim. “Well,” he answered, “it’s good that you did so, and may the Lord God bless you!.. Did you have children from her?” “Well,” he said, “if not, then may the Lord God rest them in His Kingdom.” And when they were alive, you should have raised them in the fear of God, for, your love of God, you should not despise illegitimate children - they are not to blame for their birth. And it’s better not to judge their parents, because non-condemnation is half of salvation... There was, for example, an incident in Greece: a royal nobleman, driving across the river, saw a girl washing her dress. Captivated by her beauty and learning that she was the daughter of a widow, he stayed with her. After that, this girl had a dream that a bright star rolled into her womb. A certain great and God-inspired elder, to whom she and her mother turned, announcing what had happened, explained to them that someone great would be born from this daughter. And, father, the saint of God, Theodore Sikeot, was born, whom the Lord assigned to him to guard, in addition to the Guardian Angel, also the Great Martyr George the Victorious... Glory to God! Velma, you did well to reward that girl and give her away in marriage... But, your love for God, life is great, and a lot happens in life. There are also cases when you or some other man, even though you not only have no close dealings with a girl, but even know her little, and they begin to revile that girl for you or for someone else and begin to say: she is his neighbor and he lives with her, even though there is a proverb, which, however, is extremely displeasing to God, that the story of a young man is not a reproach, and although men are not reproached much for this, but for a girl, even if she has maintained chastity, the loss of her honorable name and good fame is worse than death. I pray and ask, your love for God, do not despise words and do not forget my miserable request... Here Father bowed to me to the face of the earth and, standing up, continued: “If someday, somewhere, a girl will be reviled for your sake, that she is a close and sincere Motovilovskaya, and they will say about you that you live with her, then even if you did not touch her at all, I ask and implore you - respect the request of the wretched Seraphim - sanctify her for yourself! - How, father, to consecrate? “I’m not talking about sanctification: like a pure virgin, she is holy even without that.” Consecrate her as your friend, that is, take her as your wife, just to say - marry her! And Father again, for the second time, bowed before me to the face of the earth. I also fell at his feet, and when I got up, I said to him: - What are you doing, Father? Who are you talking about? After all, I already told you that the girl who lived with me has already been settled, and believe me, since I decided to marry Yazykova, and especially since I started visiting you, I no longer have a single one. - Oh, your love for God, what you are!.. I’m not telling you about the present time, but about the future. After all, I told you that life is great and a lot happens in life. So, when it happens to you in the future that you will be reproached for some girl, and she will be reviled for you, then don’t forget the requests and pleas of the wretched Seraphim - marry this girl! And Father bowed to me, a sinner, for the third time, to the face of the earth, and I again fell at his feet. Standing up and looking straight into my eyes, Father Seraphim began to peer vigilantly into me and, as if looking into my very soul, asked: - Well, father, will you fulfill the request of poor Seraphim? – If God deigns to do it, then I will try to do as you wish! “Well,” said Father Seraphim, “thank you!” Don’t forget this girl!.. And she, I tell you, is a poor Seraphim, she is like an Angel of God both in soul and in flesh... Then, after being silent for a while and peering at me shrewdly, and as if piercing me through and through with his gaze, he added: - But perhaps you will be embarrassed when I tell you her title!.. She is a simple peasant woman!.. But do not be embarrassed by this, your love of God: she is your sister according to our forefather Adam, and according to our Lord Jesus Christ! Then Father began to talk about how we should live with my future wife, and he concluded his conversation by repeating his request, begging him not to forget either his request or the conversation; and then released him in peace, without saying anything about Yazykova.” When the Seraphim-Diveevo Convent was created, it was a small community, not yet recognized by either secular or spiritual authorities, made up of several living blueberries, mostly of peasant rank. These founders of the future women's monastery had a great spirit, and they then took upon themselves, these pure souls, a great feat of faith and poverty. The participation of the Monk Seraphim in the establishment and leadership of this convent, unparalleled in Russian chronicles, is well known to anyone interested in the life of this wonderworker of all Russia. One of the first nuns of Diveevo were two sisters - Praskovya and Marya 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 or three or four months before Motovilov’s healing, the Monk Seraphim unexpectedly ordered the two Milyukov sisters and 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 the priest 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 the priest’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 only three of us. 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.” Let us recall the time of the conversation between the Monk Seraphim and Motovilov about the bride destined for him from God. This conversation took place in October 1831. Elena Ivanovna was born on May 17, 1823. “The bride destined for you from God is now 8 years and a few months old, maybe 3 or 4, and hardly more than 5 months,” Father said then. Isn’t this a miracle of foresight?.. And how such a gift of grace was supposed to act on the receptive soul of Nikolai Alexandrovich!.. At the indicated time, Motovilov still had no idea either about Diveyevo or about the role that over time he was to play in the destinies of this last lot on earth for the Queen of Heaven. An eight-year-old girl at that time, Elena Milyukova, could even less suspect that she would someday marry, and even to a rich nobleman, who in the future would stand at nothing to fulfill the behest of his Father, and in a worldly guise would become the servant of the Mother of God and Seraphim that he later became, according to God’s wondrous vision. Raised at that time in the nascent monastic community by two aunts who devoted themselves entirely to serving God and the Most Pure Mother, she prepared to remain in the monastery for the rest of her life. Could she think, as a “monastery” brought up, to “be a great mistress” for Diveev, who raised her?! Is it only in the spiritual sense... As we have already said, perhaps frequent meetings with the divine elder became an urgent need of the spirit for Motovilov. And the elder, penetrating into the depths of his soul and seeing the ability of his fiery heart to ignite with the unquenchable fire of great love for God, accepted him closer and closer into his fellowship. An ardent patriot, brought up in the spirit of Orthodoxy, imbued with selfless loyalty to the Throne and Motherland on the earnest principles of Russian statehood, Motovilov could not help but grieve and not be horrified at the dizzying speed and force with which the destructive principles of the French Revolution began to break into the foundations of Russian life, and mainly into the class leading it. The December days, which dishonored the Russian nobility, tormented his heart as a faithful nobleman, ready to lay down his life for his Tsar, for the Anointed One of God. The formidable specter of Freemasonry, to which Motovilov attributed secret guiding significance in all the unrest that had occurred in Europe and Russia, 83 stood before his mental gaze with a flaming sword of vengeance for the sins of a free-thinking society, for its main sin of deviation from the right faith in God. A faithful heart trembled for the future of the homeland. The elder shared his fears and, endowed with the great gift of amazing insight, showed him those paths of sorrow that threaten Russia if she does not repent of the sin of the impending apostasy from Orthodoxy. The events of the future were revealed by Elder Motovilov with the clarity of a panorama unfolding before the eyes of the amazed hidden man Seraphim. The events of the Sevastopol War, the times of emancipation, the sorrows of the Orthodox Church, even the time of the discovery of his relics, which would come during the reign of Emperor Nicholas, “in the soul of a Christian” - in the words of the saint - all this sea of ​​prophetic insight into the distance of still emerging times and events took his breath away and led Motovilov to his intended goal of serving God in the field that was to be indicated to him by the Monk Seraphim. Manifestations of the power and goodness of Divine Providence, which acted before the eyes of Motovilov in the Monk with such obvious and indestructible power, gradually created in Motovilov a steadfastness and ardor of faith such that no resistant forces could resist. For Nikolai Alexandrovich, the time had come for the fulfillment of his third dream, recognized by the Monk Seraphim as a prophetic dream. The time was ripe for the struggle for Orthodoxy, for Diveyevo - the house of the Most Holy Theotokos, for the covenants of Father Seraphim. The time of passionate denunciation, the time of heroism, difficult trials, great revelations, a break with the victorious world and the unbearable burden of strangulation, spitting - all that heartache, the cross of which Motovilov carried to his righteous end with a firm and fearless hand, was coming. The last link connecting Motovilov with his former life was destroyed. The weakness inherent in every person at the first stages of faith also affected Motovilov. So strong was his love for Yazykova that, contrary to the saint’s prediction, he decided to propose to her and was refused. This was in May 1832. Yazykova has already been proposed to the famous theologian, philosopher and poet Khomyakov. God's punishment was not long in coming for unbelief: Motovilov fell seriously ill - his legs were paralyzed again. In this situation he was brought on September 3, 1832 to Sarov. He writes about this like this: “When in the month of May 1832 I was struck by severe spiritual grief, I was again subjected to illness and the loss of my legs. After suffering for four months, I heard about the discovery of St. the relics of St. Mitrofan and about the holiness of the life of the local Bishop of Voronezh, Anthony, which is why I wanted to go there and live on the advice of my relatives. It would have been 200 versts closer to go through Penza from the Simbirsk estate, but, remembering the great mercies of the Lord shown to me through the great elder Seraphim, I ordered to take myself through the Sarov Hermitage to Voronezh. First of all, I wanted to be the first to tell him about my second disaster, which is what I did, arriving on September 3, 1832 in Sarov. When they brought me to him, he took a fatherly part in me and, after talking with me for a while, said: “Let’s pray to the Lord that He will tell us: should I still heal you or let you go to Voronezh?” And when the next day I was brought to him again, he said to me: “It was not because of God that I said, poor Seraphim, to your love for God, that I might heal you: the Lord will heal you at the relics of St. Mitrofan.” Behold, father, the Lord and the Mother of God, this very night appearing to me, the poor one, for the 17th or 18th time, deigned to reveal to me your whole life from birth to dormition. And if the Lord Himself had not put my fingers into His nail wounds and into His most pure rib, pierced by a spear, I would not have believed that such strange lives could exist on earth. And your whole life will be filled with such whims and oddities because for you the secular is so closely connected with the spiritual and the spiritual with the secular that it is impossible to separate them. - Father! – Motovilov asked him. - What do your words mean - until the Dormition? Or will I die soon? - No, your love for God, you will not die soon - you still need to be an accomplice to me in fulfilling the all-holy will of God. Dormition means a quiet, Christian death, which the Lord will honor you with after the end of the days of your earthly life. - Well, father, what will my earthly life be like? – asked Reverend Motovilov. “I, wretched one, was not ordered to reveal this to your love of God.” The Lord deigned to say: "I allow My servants to endure everything here on earth, and into the life of the next century I transfer them completely cleansed from all filth of the flesh and spirit, and although the Angel of death is allowed to resolve the unions of their body and soul, the suffering of death will not touch their souls. They die just as they fall asleep. But do not reveal to him all the circumstances of his life, but only what I allow, for if he finds out everything and I will punish for his sins, then he can then say to Me: “Lord, why are You punishing me, when through the mouth of Your servant, Seraphim, You Himself predicted to me that I would sin in such and such a way.” the truth, which through Seraphim You Yourself announced to him, which he would certainly accomplish; but he believes Seraphim as You Yourself, the Lord God." That is why I, wretched one, reveal to you only what I have already told you... So, your love for God: if you are reproached - bless, if you are blasphemed - take comfort, if you are slandered - rejoice! This is our path with you!.. He who endures to the end will be saved. Come in peace to Voronezh - there you will be healed!” It was here, after his last conversation with Motovilov, that the monk commanded him to serve the Mother of God in the person of the Diveyevo monastery. He called on two sisters of the Mill community - Evdokia Efremovna Alamasovskaya, who was at the appearance of the Mother of God on the day of the Annunciation in 1831 (later - nun Eupraxia), and Irina Semyonovna Zelenogorskaya, who was later the third headmistress, so that they could testify to others his words. Having placed the right hands of the sisters in Motovilov’s hands and holding them with his own, Father Seraphim commanded that not only after his death they themselves tell Nikolai Alexandrovich everything in detail, what and where and how the Mother of God started through him, but that all the sisters did not hide anything from him, because the Mother of God wanted Nikolai Alexandrovich to be appointed nurse of the monastery. Then the monk confirmed that, by the will of the Queen of Heaven, Nikolai Alexandrovich knew everything about the monastery in the same detail as he himself knew. Turning to Motovilov, the priest ordered him to be a witness in his time to everything that was done in Diveyevo under the “poor Seraphim,” and testified that even the entire structure found after the death of the Elder was not built spontaneously by himself, but according to the purpose and instructions of the Queen of Heaven. “And I, poor Seraphim, did not spontaneously place one pebble with them!” - said the priest, finishing his speech. “And, having given me the commandment to serve his mill orphans,” writes Motovilov, “the priest sent me in peace to Voronezh, where I arrived on the 19th day of September 1832, and then on the night of October 1, the Feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God, I received from this secondary illness a complete and speedy healing through the prayers of Anthony, Bishop of Voronezh and Zadonsk.” This was the last meeting with the reverend. The will of God was declared, and from that moment the former Motovilov died to a life of hesitation and doubt. “A servant of the Mother of God and the Seraphim, unshakable in faith,” was born. But this high and extraordinary title, inaccessible to a mere mortal, could not be given to a person without special trials. The abundance of miracles and signs that Motovilov witnessed, communication with the great torch of Orthodoxy, communication close, in essence, to communion, all the depth of the great mystery of salvation contained in the grace of God, which was revealed to him by the monk, the greatness, finally, of the mission entrusted to him by the Venerable Seraphim - all this could not but cause the greatest temptations on the part of the primordial enemy of the human race. Seraphim's days were drawing to a close. The covenant given to the Monk Motovilov already indicated that the number of these days was known to the great elder, and the elder, knowing the threats of the future hanging over the head of his servant, sending him to Voronezh, as if handed him over from hand to hand to another great warrior of the army of Christ. During his lifetime, this warrior was glorified by the holiness of life and miracles of the Archbishop of Voronezh and Zadonsk Anthony I (Smirnitsky). In the person of Anthony, Motovilov found himself another gracious patron and intercessor against that satanic force that had already secretly taken up arms against him in order to prevent him from fulfilling the great task of caring for Diveyevo, which the Monk Seraphim entrusted to him. By God's will, Nikolai Alexandrovich was detained in Voronezh after his healing. In the chambers of the archbishop, who took a heartfelt part in him and fell in love with him, he began collecting materials to compile the life and description of the miracles of St. Mitrofan. From one atmosphere of true holiness, the Lord transferred him to another, filled with the fragrance of the Holy Spirit of God. Saint Anthony awaits the fulfillment of the time appointed by God in order to further enlighten with the light of his holiness the glory of the Voronezh region, already shining in the person of two great saints of God, Saints Tikhon and Mitrofan. By the end of December 1832, Motovilov’s heart, which had been calm until that time, became alarmed. Saint Anthony noticed this and asked him what was wrong with him. – I want to go to Father Seraphim! – Motovilov answered. “I’m afraid I won’t find him alive if I delay.” There were only a few days left before the death of the Reverend. Foreseeing in his spirit the futility of the trip, knowing that Motovilov would no longer find Father Seraphim alive, and fearing a shock to his not yet fully strengthened body, the saint kept him with him for the time being. On the morning of January 2, 1833, the day of the righteous death of the saint, at an early hour, Motovilov, tormented by a premonition, ran to Anthony into his inner chambers. The saint did not allow him to utter a word and greeted him with these words: “Today at about two o’clock I saw an old man who looked like Vassian 84. This elder came to me in great glory, but his face was sorrowful, and tears flowed down his cheeks. “Why are you, great old man, crying so bitterly? – I asked him. “In such glory you should only rejoice, but you cry!” “I’m not crying for myself, my soul enjoys inexpressible joy; but you have one landowner here—I left her today—and my soul grieves and cries for her!” - Master! You don’t tell me, you pity me: it wasn’t Vassian who came to you tonight, it was Seraphim who came to you! It is he, it is his soul that has appeared to you today: the landowner is my sinful soul - my Father is crying for her, going to the Lord. Tell me, lord, has Seraphim died? “Yes,” answered the saint, “Father Seraphim died tonight.” You won't find him now! - Ah, lord, lord! Why did you hold me back when I so wanted to go there?.. “You wouldn’t have found him alive anyway: in three days you wouldn’t get from Voronezh to Sarov.” Humble yourself - God wants it so! - Well, go with the Lord. On the same day, the Eminence of the cathedral celebrated a memorial service for the deceased, and on January 4, Motovilov left Voronezh and arrived in the Sarov Hermitage on the 11th, two days after the burial of Fr. Seraphim. Great was Motovilov’s sorrow when, upon his arrival in Sarov, he saw only a freshly filled grave, which hid from him forever the one whom he loved most on earth, since he was convinced that the light of joy and earthly glory was not squandered for him. His inconsolable grief touched the stern monks of Sarov, and “in great consolation of my great sorrow,” writes Motovilov, “that I was not worthy to be in time for the burial of Father Seraphim, Abbot Nifont blessed me with the same Gospel, which the great elder Seraphim had in daily use during the last three and a half years of his life, having a slightly burnt place on the back of the binding. the day of his death; also the image of the Mother of God, Life-Giver, small on a cypress tree, the same one with which his mother blessed him with permission to stay forever in Sarov. They also gave me that same book - the Spiritual Alphabet, with several leaves missing from the beginning, from which he himself, the great elder Seraphim, studied spiritual life, and from the two crosses that were always on him - a small cross, carved by his hands and overlaid with the silver of that ancient silver ruble that his mother gave him when she sent him to Kyiv on a pilgrimage and which was on him.” Motovilov then bought the Far Hermitage of Father Seraphim and, together with the Near Hermitage, ceded by Sarov to Diveev, transported it to the priest’s orphans. These were the first steps of Nikolai Alexandrovich on the path of lifelong obedience imposed on him by the elder. Through his mediation, most of the shrine left after the monk was transferred to the ownership of the inconsolable Diveyevo sisters. But from these first steps in the field of serving Diveev, enemy attacks began against him. The power of these attacks was so great that, if we did not have evidence of temptations of this kind in the lives of the saints, it would seem difficult to believe that such power was granted by God to the enemy of our salvation. The last stronghold of faith on earth was being created, the last House of the Mother of God, which in recent times the hand of the Antichrist would not dare to touch. How could the enemy of our salvation not rise up? And with what fury this uprising took place! The compiler of the Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevo Convent, the inspired father Archimandrite Seraphim (Chichagov) 85, briefly touched on this terrible moment in Motovilov’s life. He writes like this: “Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov, a man of a warm and sincere heart, was single at that time and, in order to truly serve the memory of Father Seraphim and fulfill his commandment regarding Diveev, he decided to go to the homeland of the great elder in Kursk, collect information about his childhood and youth, and also visit the Kiev-Frolovsky Monastery and ask about Agathia Semyonovna Melgunova, who was a monk there, founder of the Kazan-Diveevo community... Motovilov passed on all the information he obtained about the parents of Father Seraphim in Kursk and about the great elder himself upon his return from the trip to Ivan Tikhonov 86, who used this when publishing tales about the exploits of Father Seraphim.” “But this trip,” writes Father Chichagov, “had very bad consequences for Nikolai Alexandrovich himself: he fell ill with a severe nervous and mental disorder for no reason. Since the medicines did not help him, Nikolai Alexandrovich went again to Voronezh to see Archbishop Anthony, who admitted that the illness occurred by God’s permission from the enemy, who poured out his revenge on him for the work that served to glorify the great saint of God, Father Seraphim. Over the course of several months, he was completely cured, having often received the Mysteries of Christ from Saint Anthony of Voronezh.” In reality, this enemy attack was incomparably more terrible and longer. I will describe it from Motovilov’s manuscript, which I kept and found among such rubbish of old business accounts that it could easily have been overlooked, just as her father, the archimandrite, probably did not notice. Once, in a conversation with the Monk Seraphim, we touched upon a conversation about enemy attacks on people. The secularly educated Motovilov, of course, did not fail to doubt the reality of the phenomena of this misanthropic force. Then the Reverend told him about his terrible struggle for 1001 nights and 1001 days with demons and the power of his word, the authority of his holiness, in which there could not be a shadow of a lie or exaggeration, convinced Motovilov of the existence of demons not in ghosts or dreams, but in the very real bitter reality. The ardent Motovilov was so inspired by the elder’s story that he exclaimed from the bottom of his heart: - Father! How I would like to fight demons! Father Seraphim interrupted him in fear: - What are you, what are you, your love of God! You don't know what you're saying. If only you knew that the smallest of them can turn over the entire earth with its claw, you wouldn’t volunteer to fight them! - Do demons have claws, Father? - Oh, your love for God, your love for God, and what do they teach you at the university?! You don’t know that demons don’t have claws. They are depicted with hooves, claws, horns, tails, because for the human imagination it is impossible to imagine a more vile species than this. This is what they are in their vileness, for their self-willed falling away from God and their voluntary resistance to the Divine grace of the angels of light, as they were before falling away, made them angels of such darkness and abomination that it is impossible to depict them with any human likeness, but likeness is necessary - so they are depicted as black and ugly. But, being created with the strength and properties of angels, they have such an irresistible power for man and for all earthly things that, as I told you, the smallest of them with his claw can turn over the entire earth. The Divine grace of the All-Holy Spirit alone, bestowed upon us, Orthodox Christians, for the divine merits of the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ, alone makes all the intrigues and deceptions of the enemy insignificant! Motovilov felt terrible then. Then, under the protection of the monk, he could not be afraid of Satan’s malice. But the frivolous and daring challenge, by God’s permission, did not remain without consequences: it was accepted. This is what the soul of the Venerable One wept about when it appeared to the great archbishop at the hour of its separation from the body. After the death of the Monk Seraphim, Motovilov soon left for Voronezh to ask for the blessing of His Eminence Anthony to travel to Kursk in order to collect information about the parents of his benefactor and about his life in Kursk and thereby lay the foundation for his work in compiling his life. Simultaneously with this work, he, on behalf of the bishop, had to begin compiling a service and akathist to St. Mitrofan. Having decided to devote himself to the work of serving the Mother of God and the Monk Seraphim, Motovilov could not throw off from his soul the attraction to social life and family joys: he remembered Father Seraphim’s prediction about the bride destined for him and about her beauty and, not knowing her, expected her. But, without breaking with the world and still following the path of spiritual improvement, he could not do without a spiritual leader. Seraphim was replaced by Anthony. Without betraying his faith in his Father, he surrendered to the leadership of another holy ascetic. The Eminence did not immediately agree to Motovilov’s trip to Kursk and for a long time dissuaded him from going, asking him to wait and do a better job of analyzing the handwritten and other information about the life and miracles of St. Mitrofan, which was needed to compile a service for him. Vladyka foresaw the terrible misfortune that threatened Motovilov during this trip, and wanted to distance her from Nikolai Alexandrovich. But servant Serafimov, ardent and quick to make decisions, did not want to hear about the postponement of his trip and only hesitated, waiting for the bishop to have mercy and let him go, seeing his impatience. Apparently, the hour of God’s will had come, and the bishop finally blessed the impatient Nikolai Alexandrovich’s trip to Kursk, but he blessed somehow reluctantly, with a tight heart. Motovilov managed to collect little information in Kursk. Close relatives who remembered the saint’s childhood and youth, some died, some responded to oblivion. Even the house in which the Reverend was born and raised was destroyed, and new buildings grew in its place. There was one old man, the same age as Father, who gave him information that is now included in all editions of the life of the Rev. The trip to Kursk and stay there were quite successful. A thunderstorm awaited on the way back to Voronezh. At one of the post stations on the road from Kursk, Motovilov had to spend the night. Left completely alone in the room of travelers, he took his manuscripts out of his suitcase and began to sort them out in the dim light of a lone candle that barely illuminated the spacious room. One of the first he came across was a note about the healing of a demon-possessed noblewoman, Eropkina, at the shrine of St. Mitrophan of Voronezh. “I wondered,” writes Motovilov, “how it can happen that an Orthodox Christian woman, partaking of the Most Pure and Life-Giving Mysteries of the Lord, is suddenly possessed by a demon, and, moreover, for such a long time, like more than thirty years. And I thought: “Nonsense! This can’t be! I wish I could see how a demon would dare to possess me, since I often resort to the Sacrament of Holy Communion!..” And at that very moment a terrible, cold, fetid cloud surrounded him and began to enter his convulsively clenched lips. No matter how the unfortunate Motovilov fought, no matter how hard he tried to protect himself from the ice and the stench of the cloud creeping into him, it all entered him, despite all his inhuman efforts. The hands were as if paralyzed and could not make the sign of the cross; the thought, frozen with horror, could not remember the saving name of Jesus. A disgusting, terrible thing happened, and for Nikolai Alexandrovich a period of grave torment began. In this suffering, he returned to Voronezh to Anthony. His manuscript gives the following description of the torment: “The Lord vouchsafed me to experience truly, and not in a dream or in a ghost, the three torments of Gehenna. The first is a fire that is unluminous and unquenchable by anything other than the grace of the Holy Spirit. This torment continued for three days, so that I felt like I was burning, but was not burned out. This hellish soot was removed from all over me 16 or 17 times a day, which was visible to everyone. These torments ceased only after confession and Communion of the Holy Mysteries of the Lord with the prayers of Archbishop Anthony and the litanies he ordered for all 47 Voronezh churches and all monasteries for the sick Bolyarin servant of God Nicholas. The second torment for two days was the fierce tartar of Gehenna, so that the fire not only did not burn, but could not warm me. At the request of His Eminence, I held my hand over the candle for half an hour, and it became completely smoky, but did not even warm up. I wrote down this convincing experience on a whole sheet of paper and added my hand to that description with candle soot. But both of these pangs of Communion at least gave me the opportunity to drink and eat, and I could sleep a little with them, and they were visible to everyone. But the third torment of Gehenna, although it decreased by half a day, for it lasted only a day and a half and hardly more, but the horror and suffering from the indescribable and incomprehensible was great. How I survived from her! She also disappeared after confession and Communion of the Holy Mysteries of the Lord. This time Archbishop Anthony himself gave me communion with it from his own hands. This torment was the incessant worm of Gehenna, and this worm was not visible to anyone else except myself and His Eminence Anthony; but at the same time I could neither sleep, nor eat, nor drink anything, because not only I myself was completely filled with this most vile worm, which crawled throughout me and inexplicably terribly gnawed my entire insides and, crawling out through my mouth, ears and nose, returned to my insides again. God gave me strength on it, and I could pick it up and stretch it. I declare all this out of necessity, for it was not without reason that this vision was given to me from above from the Lord, and no one would think that I dare to call on the Name of the Lord in vain. No! On the day of the Last Judgment of the Lord, He Himself, God, my Helper and Patron, will testify that I did not lie against Him, the Lord, and against His Divine Providence, the act He performed in me.” Soon after this terrible ordeal, inaccessible to an ordinary person, Motovilov had a vision of his patron, St. Seraphim, who consoled the sufferer with the promise that he would be given healing upon the discovery of the relics of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk and that until that time the demon that had possessed him would no longer torment him so cruelly. Only more than thirty years later this event took place, and Motovilov waited for it, and waited for healing out of his great faith. The hellish, in the literal sense of the word, torments of Motovilov, in the relief of which the holy man Archbishop Anthony took such an active part, brought him finally closer to the Eminence. Anthony loved him with truly fatherly love. This love, this intimacy of communication, which Motovilov was given by two great lamps of the Russian Orthodox Church - Seraphim and Anthony, one of whom has already become prayerfully recognized as a saint - this alone serves as irrefutable proof that in Motovilov Russia has lost a man extraordinary in spiritual strength, not only by not using this power, but during his lifetime mocking its long-suffering owner. And these forces were contained in an unshakable, fiery faith of a purely confessional nature and fiery love for the Throne and Motherland. Motovilov’s heroic body was burning and was slowly burning away from the flame that was devouring him, kindled by a heart indignant at the apparent apostasy of the leaders of Russia from the righteous faith of their fathers and from devotion to the Throne. He could not be consoled by the prophecy that “this must be”, he stood against all “this” with his chest, with his whole heroic body he lay on the threshold of that open door through which all that enemy army was breaking into Russia, which foolish contemporaries mistook for angels of light, supposedly bringing them great ideas - freedom, equality and brotherhood, but in reality - grief, death and destruction. How could they not recognize then, seduced by enemy visions, in a man awarded the greatest revelations, the “madman” with whom they glorified him. Now Seraphim’s holiness is his protection. But at that time he was destined to drink the cup of bitterness to the bottom, and he drank it fearlessly, never once sacrificing his faith or convictions. Your heart bleeds when you see in his scattered papers here and there exclamations tormenting his soul: “I am a Christian! Do you hear everything?.. I am a Christian!”... This is how only the martyrs of the first dawn of Christianity exclaimed in response to similar and cruel cries of triumphant paganism: “Christianos ad leones!” - “Christians to the lions!” Great was this human torment that paper alone was confided in such cries of mental torment! They will repay Motovilov on the terrible day of judgment!.. Proximity to Anthony, communication with him in spirit, a world hostile to the confessor forced Motovilov to devote all the time free from economic worries and worries about the rapidly developing Diveevo 87 to the Eminence. Six hundred miles from his Simbirsk estate, Tsylny, to Voronezh were not an obstacle for him, and in general his soul did not recognize any obstacles in the confession of his love and faith. Once, at the end of the sixth week of Great Lent, Motovilov was in Sarov with Abbot Nifont. Neither early nor late Easter was approaching. The spring crossroads were in full swing outside, but the water in the rivers and lakes had not yet been disturbed. Having achieved something for Diveev from the abbot (at that time Sarov still took a material part in his destinies), Motovilov, to celebrate, went to Voronezh to see Anthony to celebrate Easter. - Madness! Where are you going in such bad weather? After all, you will be flooded with water along the way! - exclaimed the horrified abbot, who was kindly disposed towards Nikolai Alexandrovich. “Antony will be waiting for me.” And you yourself know what kind of horses I have,” Motovilov announced, and immediately ordered them to be harnessed, and left for Voronezh. Motovilov's horses did not give up, and on Holy Saturday, around two or three in the afternoon, he was already forty or fifty miles from Voronezh, in the village of Knyazh-Baygora. To shorten the route, he had to move below the pond dam. The spring water was already breaking the ice and pressing against the dam. The peasants dissuaded us from moving through this place, claiming that the dam would now be lowered, and advised us to take a detour. Taking a detour meant being late for matins... - Why think about it! With God, I went under the dam! - Motovilov shouted. - Let's go quickly! The horses took off and rushed like an arrow to the other bank. Before the sleigh had time to reach half the dangerous path, the water was released, and the water, like a vertical wall three fathoms high, flew at Motovilov and covered him, the coachman and the troika; Motovilov only managed to shout: - Saint Mitrofan, save! “And I didn’t remember anything else.” He woke up already on the other side. The lathered troika heavily mowed down its sides, from which water flowed like a stream. The coachman, all wet, stood near the sleigh and pushed the unconscious master. The sleigh was full of water. They overturned the sleigh, drained the water, wiped off the suitcase and again: - Let's go quickly - we'll be late for matins! But Motovilov was not late for matins. Frozen and icy, he entered the archbishop's chambers just at the moment when the bishop was already going to church. The Bishop greeted him with the words: - Saint Mitrofan announced to me your miraculous salvation, and that you will arrive at our matins. Change your clothes quickly and let’s go together to give praise to the Lord God for delivering you from arrogant death! The suitcase with Motovilov's belongings turned out to be dry inside. This matins remained memorable for Motovilov. During the liturgy, which was served by Archbishop Anthony, with tenderness and horror he saw him surrounded by the light of an unflickering radiance and, when the bishop came out of the altar to bless the people and say a prayer for the highest blessing of the grapes planted by the Lord's Hand, he saw a flame emanating from Anthony's lips in the form of a fiery tongue, rushing towards the servants and those praying and enveloping everyone from them with its ineffable light. But not everyone was rewarded with the touch of this wondrous flame: some, whom the flame touched, brightened and began to shine with the same light as the ruler; this Divine flame bypassed others, and they turned black like coal. Among the concelebrants there was one archpriest - Motovilov saw him, as it were, all girded, like swaddling bands, with black stripes. “His appearance,” writes Motovilov, “was like a zebra, and subsequently this archpriest was soon exposed for some bad deeds and deposed from his rank.” “Whether I was in heaven or on earth during this Divine service, I don’t know, God knows,” recalls God’s servant, Nikolai Alexandrovich, in great admiration. During the service, Archbishop Anthony glanced soulfully at Motovilov twice or twice, and his merciful gaze seemed to ask him: “Do you see the manifestations of Divine grace given to the truly faithful?” And Motovilov’s gaze answered: “I see, I am afraid and in great reverence I rejoice immensely!” Who could believe Motovilov’s testimony at that time?! The threshold of the sixties was approaching: the spirit of materialism was already ripening in the air - for him ascetics did not exist, and for him Motovilov was either a liar or a madman. But the liar still had to be refuted, but was it worth it for the madman? After this service on the Bright Resurrection of Christ, both co-secretaries - the great bishop and the layman Motovilov - did not sleep for two nights, spending them in a spiritual conversation about what had happened and about other mysteries of the wondrous Divine vision of sinful people. I don’t know where the notes about these nights full of grace went. I did not find these notes in the pile of papers that I received for consideration. And they should have been... The time has finally come for the fulfillment of the prophecies of St. Seraphim about the marriage of Nikolai Alexandrovich with the bride destined for him from God. While worrying about the Diveyevo monastery, visiting it often, he fell ill on one of his trips and was forced to lie in his house in the village of Diveyevo, near the monastery, for about a year. He recognized his bride for this illness. This was, as we said above, the niece of two great-spirited Diveyevo nuns, Maria Semyonovna and Praskovya Semyonovna Milyukov, at that time a seventeen-year-old beauty, Elena Ivanovna. She lived in a monastery, wore “black clothes,” but did not take vows of obedience and monasticism. I don’t know how this rapprochement happened, and I didn’t try to find out, despite the fact that I had the opportunity to ask her about it in conversations with Elena Ivanovna: love is a tender flower, only a close and also gentle hand can touch it; all the more tender is the dried flower of experienced old love - how easy it is to scatter its faded petals with a careless movement!.. But it is not difficult to guess on what basis this rapprochement took place: love for Seraphim, love for Diveev - these two feelings united the hearts of Nikolai Alexandrovich and Elena Ivanovna into one conjugal love, and their wedding took place in 1840 under circumstances that were in complete agreement with the prediction of the Monk Seraphim. Motovilov’s wish came true - Elena Ivanovna was, in the full sense of the word, “raised like a monastery.” This wedding attached Motovilov to Diveev even more: childhood memories and all of Elena Ivanovna’s relatives remained in this wonderful shelter of the Queen of Heaven, and he became even sweeter, even closer to Nikolai Alexandrovich’s heart. But the world did not forgive him for this wedding, just as it did not forgive him anything in his life: Nikolai Alexandrovich, with Diveev and his emerging family, was left completely alone in this world. So Seraphim, with fatherly love, eradicated everything secular in him, compassionately but steadily leading him to the spiritual alone. And the world had something to gossip about and there was something to push Motovilov away from about this wedding. But in the person of his wife, he found the fullness of the joy of life - she was his “true sister both according to the forefather Adam and according to the Lord Jesus Christ.” After the wedding, the young couple moved permanently to Tsylna, Motovilov’s Simbirsk estate. Mental illness, as it is now customary to call the serious illness from which Nikolai Alexandrovich suffered, did not manifest itself in anything, at least it did not manifest itself in the painful form that he suffered in Voronezh. Only some kind of persistent melancholy gnawed at him from time to time, each attack of which was alleviated by the Holy Mysteries and pious trips to distant and nearby monasteries - to Kyiv, Voronezh, Zadonsk, Sarov and Diveev. These were the favorite places of his diligent pilgrimages. But other holy places of Holy Rus' also attracted his God-loving soul. No wonder St. Seraphim called him “your love for God.” Wherever he had been during his Christian life, whom had this man, burning with faith, seen!.. His second benefactor, Anthony of Voronezh, rested peacefully in the Lord. But, an orphan in the world, Motovilov did not remain an orphan in the world of spiritual improvement: he lived in close communion, one might say, with all the true pillars of Orthodoxy of that time. He did not look for them at the heights of the hierarchy, but in the deserts, dens and abysses of the earth. There, in the hidden, mysterious silence, invisible to the hostile world, in the inner desert of the monastery fence, he found those unknown workers of the great Christian spirit, of whom the whole world is unworthy and with whom the little-seen, modest inhabitants and nuns of Orthodox Russian monasteries still shine. In his free time from traveling on business in Diveev or on pilgrimages, Motovilov devoted himself to memories of Seraphim: and if at the present time the life of the saint could be compiled in such detail and carefully, then Orthodoxy owes this most of all to Nikolai Alexandrovich. While serving Diveev, he never tired of serving Seraphim. Meanwhile, in the mysterious depths of the century, difficult events for Russia were emerging - the Sevastopol War was approaching. Motovilov reacted in his own way to the national disaster: whoever wanted and who didn’t want to listen, he told everyone that the time had come for repentance, that the “vial of the wrath of the Lord” was ready to be poured out on Russia for betrayal of all domestic foundations, and, mainly, for betrayal of Orthodoxy. They looked at him like he was crazy, ridiculed him in his eyes and behind his eyes, and insulted him as best they could. At the first shot, aimed at the Sevastopol bastions from enemy ships, he sent the Emperor, to be sent to Sevastopol, a copy of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of all joys”, in front of which he prayed all his life and in a feat of prayer the Monk Seraphim died, and in a bitter foreboding he awaited the wrath of God. Events proved that Motovilov was not mistaken. In Motovilov’s notes I had to find an extremely interesting episode from the era of the Sevastopol defense, which remained completely unknown. The spirit of the time tried to hide it from the world that slavishly served it. The great Sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich died. The Sevastopol war is already over. The great days of the coronation of Emperor Alexander II have arrived. Motovilov, along with other nobles, was chosen to be a deputation from the Nizhny Novgorod nobility for the coronation days in Moscow. At one of the evenings with Prince Ivan Feodorovich Zvenigorodsky, he had the opportunity to meet with one of the heroes of the Sevastopol defense, Admiral Pyotr Ivanovich Kislinsky. Motovilov did not fail to inquire what happened to the icon he sent to the late Emperor and whether it was delivered to Sevastopol. – The icon of the Mother of God was sent from the Emperor, but our Serene Highness 89 did not pay any attention to it, and it was kept in some closet for a long time, until the Emperor himself asked where it was placed. Then they found her and placed her on the North Side, and only the North Side, as you know, was not taken by the enemy. Why are you surprised? We have never done such things before... Once I was with His Serene Highness, and we sat down to play chess. Suddenly an adjutant enters and reports that a messenger has arrived from Archbishop Innocent of Kherson and wants to see the commander-in-chief. Without looking up from the game, His Serene Highness said: – Ask him what he needs? – The messenger said that he needs to see your lordship in person! -What do you need? – asked the commander-in-chief. “The Bishop sent me to report to your lordship that he arrived in Sevastopol with the miraculous icon of the Kashperovskaya Mother of God and ordered me to ask you to meet her as appropriate at the gates of Sevastopol. The Lord ordered to say: behold, the Queen of Heaven is coming to save Sevastopol. - What, what? What did you say? Repeat! – Behold, the Queen of Heaven is coming to save Sevastopol! - A! So tell the archbishop that he bothered the Queen of Heaven in vain - we can manage without Her! Thus ended his most illustrious conversation with the archbishop's messenger. And then this is what happened: this answer was conveyed to Innocent in all the severity of its rude and blasphemous form. Then the bishop decided: “They don’t accept us, so we’ll go ourselves!” - and ordered the holy icon to be taken ahead of him to the bastions. Suddenly they announce to him that the icon is not coming, that the horses have stopped. “We’ll carry it then,” said the bishop. But the icon did not allow itself to be carried further than the North side. She couldn't be moved. Seeing this miracle, they served a prayer service for the Queen of Heaven on the North Side, and the Bishop took the icon back. What was it like to hear the ardent-hearted Motovilov! 90 The sixties have finally arrived. The long-awaited celebration of the opening of St. by Orthodox believers in Russia took place. relics of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. On the opening day, during the liturgy, Motovilov stood at the altar, prayed and cried bitterly that the Lord was not sending him the healing that, according to the promise of St. Seraphim, his tormented soul was waiting for. During the singing of the Cherubim, he looked at the high place and saw St. Tikhon on it. The saint blessed the weeping Motovilov and became invisible. Motovilov immediately felt healed. Who can describe the joy of fulfilled faith?! From that moment on, Motovilov no longer belonged to himself, but gave all of himself to serving God. The events of internal Russian life that were changing before his eyes, although they upset him, although he still hated with all his soul the spirit of the times that outraged him, which he never otherwise called as “the spirit of the Antichrist, near coming into the world,” but he had almost ceased to annoy the world with his denunciations and prophecies. Only once did Motovilov’s hot heart couldn’t stand it. The “best people” celebrated the opening of the then new zemstvo institutions, and, of course, they celebrated, as usual, with a sumptuous dinner. Motovilov was at this dinner. He listened, listened to the florid speeches of the newly born speakers of the provincial parliaments, and suddenly he jumped up with a glass in his hand: “I raise my glass high to the speedy destruction of that institution, the foundation of which you so solemnly celebrate.” If it does not perish, it will destroy Russia. I raise my glass high to smash it to the ground so that no one can say - I drank from Motovilov’s glass for the death of Russia! He broke his glass and left the festive dinner. Thus ended the entire political career of the last of the Mohicans of the old noble Russian spirit. The last years of his life Motovilov finally gave himself up to wandering. All over the expanse of Great Rus' they saw his red fur coat. That’s what his name was – “the gentleman in a red fur coat.” From Tikhon to Mitrofan, from Seraphim to the groove of the Queen of Heaven in Diveyevo, from Anthony and Theodosius to Alexander Nevsky - through all the holy places, with a thirst, an unquenchable thirst for the shrine, this servant of the Mother of God and the Seraphim crossed and moved. Over the years, what people called oddities in him increased more and more. According to Diveev, which he loved to the point of self-forgetfulness, in any weather - whether it was cold, rain, or sunshine - he always walked with his head uncovered, considering it a sacred duty to walk around the entire canal of the Queen of Heaven at least once a day. When there was icy conditions and it was impossible to walk along the rather high shaft of this ditch, he got down on all fours and so on all fours and walked along this sacred place for him, along which, as the Monk Seraphim said, the Footsteps of the Queen of Heaven Herself passed. Some laughed at him, and there were many of them, too many; Well, there were also those who cried with emotion. Who understood, of course. For Christ's sake, the holy fool of Diveyevo, the blessed one, the great servant of God, Pelageya Ivanovna Serebrenikova, considered him one of her own and called him Nikolka. - You're crazy, Nikolka! Just as crazy as me! - the blessed one used to tell him. And she loved him! One morning in March or April 1878, Motovilov told Elena Ivanovna his dream: – 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 91 so that he sends you an exact copy of My icon, which serves as an altarpiece there. When you receive it, I will lead you to such holy places that you have not yet seen, and I will show you such holy saints of God that you have never heard of. - So, mother, I’m thinking of writing to the governor and abbot of Zadonsk - let him send me this icon. -Where are you going to take her? After all, our entire image is hung with icons! - Elena Ivanovna answered him. So he wrote to Zosima. Zosima, a friend of Nikolai Alexandrovich, responded to this letter as follows: “I know that you no longer have a place in the figurative. The image is large and, sorry, I can’t send it to you.” “My Motovilov became sad here,” Elena Ivanovna told me. - But not even a week passed, again a letter from Zosima: he asks for forgiveness for the refusal and writes that before he had time to send his letter with the refusal, the very next night he saw in a dream the Queen of Heaven, threateningly reprimanding him how he dared not to fulfill Motovilov’s request. “The icon,” he writes, “will be sent to you as soon as we paint it.” We received this icon in July. My Motovilov found a place for her. I looked - he began to put this money under the 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 passed, and he still didn’t go anywhere. Once I entered the room where this icon hung: 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; he seemed to turn a little pale, but didn’t say anything and hid the money in the table. After this, a little time passed, my Motovilov fell ill, went to bed and began to grow weaker and weaker - the doctors could not identify any illness - and nine days later he died; did not die, but fell asleep quietly, like a child. On the day of his death he received Holy 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. 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 in our yard.” What a joy! And on the third day he died. We buried him in Diveyevo, and it seems to me that how much money Motovilov collected for the image, that’s how much his funeral cost me.” I heard this story from Elena Ivanovna. And here’s what I heard from the cell attendant of the late Diveyevo Abbess Maria, mother of Elizabeth: “Nikolai Alexandrovich, leaving for the Simbirsk province to his estate before his death, 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 here, you know - and they had to be brought in “sideways”; so they dragged it sideways.” Motovilov's death occurred on January 14, 1879. 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 if 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. The body of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov, a servant of the Mother of God and Seraphim, was brought for burial to Diveyevo, and the icon was brought after him. Thus ended a long-suffering life. This is the story of Motovilov. He was blessed, and he died blessedly. Some will laugh at this story, and some may even think bitterly. Oh, how I wish my reader could ponder this story! Letters from N. A. Motovilov to Emperors Nicholas I and Alexander II Letter from N. A. Motovilov to Emperor Nicholas I 92 All-merciful Sovereign! Due to my loyal desire to have the good fortune to most humbly personally report to Your Imperial Majesty about the prophetic words of the great elder Seraphim, the Mr. Minister of Your Highest Court, Count Vladimir Feodorovich Adlerberg, instructed me to contact Count Alexei Feodorovich Orlov 93, and they conveyed to me so that I, without being at all embarrassed by any fear, everything that I know from I outlined this subject on paper in its entirety and the full essence of it in words as short as possible, and if I could, I would not seek the happiness of personally most submissively reporting this to Your Imperial Majesty. This is the meaning of the form in which Your Highest will was conveyed to me, Most Gracious Great Sovereign Emperor, but how to balance the space with brevity, the safe ease of an oral all-subject report with the inevitable caution of presenting the same thoughts on paper, and finally, what to think about the proposal not to look for an opportunity, even for one moment, to enjoy the so desired for every loyal subject of yours and the highly desired happiness of seeing your blessed face The Most High Person of Your Imperial Majesty, when your magnanimous availability, Most August Monarch, is so great that it does not hide you from the very last of your loyal subjects. They tell me that the vagueness of the current situation of our Fatherland involuntarily becomes the main reason that it will hardly be possible for me to be honored with the greatest happiness for me to personally see you, my unfeignedly beloved Monarch from the bottom of my heart. But are two, three, or even four minutes sufficient, perhaps, for the High Monarch’s favorable listening to the words of the great elder Seraphim - words that are hardly just in the current state of our Fatherland and should be brought to the knowledge of Your Imperial Majesty - will take so much time away from your great concerns about the steadfastness of your power, and how the words of the great elder can be a hindrance happiness of the Russian land, when they are from him only, for your Highest Person, without whom there cannot be happiness on the Russian land, and they relate only. And was it ever possible that what I put down on paper was brought to your attention, even one word of my truth, without it being either misinterpreted or completely abandoned as a complete default, in the hope that I would never, in any way, be honored with the happiness of seeing you personally, Sovereign, and reporting everything to you in absolute justice. And don’t be so kind as to think that I dare to express myself so all-submissively, without having any reason for it. No, Your Imperial Majesty, no one more than me has an undeniable right to such a way of thinking, although very unpleasant for me, but nevertheless inevitably forced from me by inevitability. To prove my real words, I should only, at least in brief outlines, gradually tell all the circumstances of my life, which served as both the main and accompanying and final motivating reasons for this, but in order not to really use your most merciful Highest attention for evil, I will only dare to give one example: Your Imperial Majesty is probably aware of the case about the two Diveyevo women's communities - the essence of that case, officially stated, is available in the Holy Governing Synod, this case began at my request, but is it officially presented as in fact everything related to it was set out by me on paper; here is the shortest account, my own, of its true and real essence. The Yaroslavl landowner, Colonel Agafya Simeonovna Melgunova, nee Belokopytova, tonsured at the Kiev-Frolovsky convent, a nun of Alexander, was honored in a dream to receive from the Mother of God a notification that she should not end her life in Kyiv, but go to the North of great Russia, and there the Queen of Heaven will show her the place where, after her death, with the favor of the Mother of God, a monastery of virgins will be built, to which She will bring down Her blessing from Iberia, Athos and the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, equal to those three holy places with Her heavenly blessing 94. Nun Alexandra saw the second appearance of the Mother of God in the Nizhny Novgorod province of the Ardatov district, in the village of Diveevo, on the very place where the great elder Seraphim later built the two-altar Church of the Nativity of Christ and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The old lady of God, after many years of monastic labors spent near that place, finally, six months before her death, settled with three sisters opposite this place, about which the Queen of Heaven told her in a vision that it was exactly the one that would belong to the great monastery predicted for her in the Frolovsky Kiev-Pechersk monastery, and, dying, she gave the commandment to the hierodeacon of the Sarov desert, Seraphim take care of the spiritual well-being of the one who, according to the prophecy of the Mother of God, once had the foundation of that great monastery. After her death, at the place of her residence, others gathered to those sisters who came to her and remained after her, and a community was founded that contained a charter and prayer rule, the same as the rule of the Sarov Hermitage. Meanwhile, the hierodeacon, later Hieromonk Seraphim, succeeded in spiritual and monastic deeds during a seventeen-year desert life, where he was honored to endure fasts - 3 days and 7 days, two, three, four and six weeks and finally 72 days - and after that he fought with demons for 1001 days and 1001 nights and received a complete victory over them, about which I myself passed on from mouth to mouth. And after all that, after five years of silence in retreat, having achieved complete, like the prophet Moses the Seer of God, grace-filled internal and external illumination, he decided to take up the improvement of the above-mentioned community, which was under the leadership of Ksenia Mikhailovna Milovanova, and wanted to teach them the simplicity of life and the easiest acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit in exactly the same way that he had learned from many years of his own grace-filled experience, but she became little to him obey, saying that they had already been given a charter by the builder Pachomius, the head of the Sarov Hermitage, and she did not agree to innovations, believing that by observing the previous charter, she and her sisters would be saved; and the great elder Seraphim, looking not for his own strength, but for the hedgehog of his neighbor, left them alone and turned to the former, completely separated from any communication with anyone, desert life, but the Mother of God appeared to him, ordered to start a new and second community in Diveevo in a field near the village of that one from only girls with the condition that widows should never live in it, gave this community a new one and nowhere experienced, and She Herself invented and laid down the statute, communicated orally during Her appearance to the great elder Seraphim, and at the foundation of the new monastery she ordered him from the Sarov forest to cut down a two-stage mill and attach a cell to it in the order indicated by Her Herself; from the previous community, take 8 sisters, indicated by name by Her Herself, and then add to them only those whom She Herself deigns to indicate to him, and in the place mentioned above, where Her second appearance to the nun Alexandra was, build in honor of the Nativity of Her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and Her own, a two-altar church, in which deaconesses to serve the altar will be chosen from Her new community maiden sisters, and to subordinate the church itself to the department of this maiden community, promising that his own relics, as well as the relics of the original Alexandra, would one day rest in the lower Nativity of Her church - and, many others adding to that about this second maiden Diveyevo community, he ordered that the place of the estate of this community be surrounded by a ditch and a rampart made by the labors of the community sisters - that all great fulfilled by Elder Seraphim - and in Diveevo, from the time of the establishment of this new community, nicknamed the Mill, there began to exist two, completely separate from each other, not at all subordinate, although not deprived, however, of Christian communion of the monastery; and from these two communities, by a special appearance of the Mother of God, on the night of September 3, which happened to him, on September 4, he commanded me on behalf of the Mother of God Herself to serve his own virgin community and, joining my hands with the hands of two sisters of this community, said to me: “Just as the Mother of God handed over this community to me from hand to hand, so I, by Her command, transfer my service to this great monastery after your death, so serve To the Queen of Heaven throughout your life and preserve everything in it, as the Mother of God herself deigned to arrange in it through me, poor Seraphim. And this coming summer we will work with you on these three beds.” Having announced to all the sisters that the Mother of God had appointed me to be their nourisher throughout my life, he sent me off to Voronezh. Upon my return, from where I learned after his death that in Diveyevo there are two communities, and in Kulikovo, Tambov province of Temnikovsky district, a third begins, with the blessing of the same great elder, and, having taken upon himself, according to his commandment, service to his own community, the Diveyevo Mill Maiden, and according to my own, not without the will, however, of God, which would take a long time to explain here, and the other two, I wrote to Mr. Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Governing Synod, Count Nikolai Aleksandrovich Protasov, dated January 14, 1838, about the existence of three different communities named above, and about the different donations of my lands in favor of them; and finally, being a special grace-filled healing on the night of June 1 to June 2, 1842, granted to me from a serious bruise throughout the body and a dislocation of the left leg and two ribs in the left side, he certified that my request from June 1, 1842, was fair and pleasing to God with the order to send it without fail to the name of the Right Reverend John, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas; I not only sent her then - and the Right Reverend immediately to the Holy Governing Synod, but also after that, with repeated requests for compliance with all my conditions for the donation of land, laid down by me and tending only to the observance of the commandment of the great elder Seraphim and the indispensable will of the Mother of God Herself through him, first, and then directly through the last, third, grace-filled endowment announced, I repeatedly insisted on the return to both Diveyevo communities of their former identity, and through this the indispensable, forever undestroyed, through their dispensation, the all-perfect fulfillment of the will of God, violated by the unjust union; and I expressed all this not in words, but on paper, referring to the laws themselves - which spoke in my favor - and did this not through some lower and secular place, but through the Holy Governing Synod. And through such a great place and all my above-mentioned daring and fair insistence, forced from me only by the fear of God and love for the Mother of God, I tried to bring it to your Highest information, but what was the crowning of all such long-term and persistent efforts of mine? My conditions were ridiculed, I myself was exposed as fussing about I don’t know what, the union of the communities was attributed not to a false report about their existence, forced by the unfair insistence of one of the members of the Holy Governing Synod, but to the Highest will of Your Imperial Majesty, although from you, however, the entire correctness of the present state of affairs of the Diveyevo two communities is completely hidden by various false interpretations of the will of the great elder Seraphim and slandering me; and through whom was all this done? Through the Holy Governing Synod, and the slander against me was raised - through a senator! How, after all this, forgive my question, Your Imperial Majesty, will I dare, through a written statement on paper, to most submissively bring to your Highest attention the secret of Divine prophecies about you and your Russia, whereas I was commanded to faithfully convey it only mouth to mouth. If you deign to doubt me, whether I am some kind of traitor and whether I dare to trouble Your Imperial Majesty with evil intent, then I will most humbly dare to present to your all-August attention, Great Sovereign, what kind of blood flows in my veins from my father’s side, Motovilov’s. 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 Motovilovskys. My ancestors, during the liberation of Moscow and Russia from the Poles and then during the elevation to the All-Russian throne of the All-August House of Romanov, from them, from Eusebius Semenovich Smirny-Motovilov, the governor of Irkutsk or Tobolsk, 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 is the act that the Empress Tsarevna Elisabeth Petrovna needed upon her accession to the All-Russian throne, and throughout the almost thousand-year period of their nobility in the Russian state, the Motovilovs, serving as captains and colonels, centurions of rifle regiments and governors of advanced regiments and in regional cities that are now provincial, never betrayed either God, or the Sovereign, or The Fatherland, having served 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 those descended 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 Great, which was also honored by my parent, who began his service at the highest court of Her Majesty and was forced to retire only due to his serious illnesses, which depressed him throughout his entire life. Forgive my madness, Your Imperial Majesty, if I dared to remember the merits of my ancestors, but I myself did not deign to do anything useful for you, Great Sovereign, and once again, most graciously, kindly ask me one question, what if each of the great dignitaries surrounding your throne were given in life at least half of the obstacles with which I was removed from the opportunity to be useful to Your Imperial Majesty, then could they at least do something good for you? And if no one prevented them from serving you, Great Sovereign, then why was it that I was not only not allowed into public service for 14 years in a row, but even now, and on my second visit to your northern capital, they suggest that I not seek personal all-subject representation to Your Imperial Majesty, while you yourself do not deign to hide yourself from the last of your soldiers? Please generously forgive the sincere simplicity of my loyal speech, and if you can, then do not reject, I once again beg Your Imperial Majesty, my persistent request to most mercifully allow me to verbally report to you the words of the great elder Seraphim, who told me about you, Great Sovereign, that you are a Christian at heart, which very many do not dare say about themselves, that Seraphim, to whom it was announced from God that his death would be similar to the death of the seven youths who slept in the Ephesian cave. And what has been made clear to me about him is that he will rise before the general resurrection from the dead during the reign of Your Imperial Majesty and only for you, Great Sovereign, about which to everyone in the fullness of everything and the above, having explained in complete justice, out of the duty of an Orthodox Christian loyal conscience, that I am ready to confirm with an oath, I completely surrender myself to the all-August will of Your Imperial Majesty, and If you most mercifully deign to allow me to reveal to you a secret, which I did not exaggerate the value of only because I only wanted and wish to allow the most submissive court of all to make a real and fair assessment of it, then I will constantly thank the Lord, who has put it in your heart, in time to listen favorably to my loyal speech about it. If not, then, having endured it for twenty-two years and not revealing it to anyone, I will take it with me to the grave with a conscience that is not reproached by the fact that I hid the talent entrusted to me from the Lord through His great servant Seraphim. Your Imperial Majesty's most loyal slave, titular councilor, honorary warden of the Korsun district school, member of the Nizhny Novgorod-Ardatov prison committee and candidate for the position of Simbirsk conscientious judge Nikolai Alexandrov, son of Motovilov. I have temporary residence in St. Petersburg, 1st adm. frequent 1st quarter on Bolshaya Millionnaya Street in the house of Countess Zubova, near Mozalevsky No. 4. Letter to Emperor Nicholas I. [Word by the Great Elder Seraphim] Having had the good fortune personally to see with my own eyes the Highest Command of Your Imperial Majesty about the most submissive report of the words of the Great Elder Seraphim on paper, I hasten to immediately fulfill your Most Sacred Will for me. Here is the content of his conversation on Easter Thursday, 1832: - Having told in detail about Elijah the Tishbite and about Abishai, the military leader of David, about Gideon, the leader of the Israeli people, he concluded that in Russia there are still many people faithful to God, although spiritual depravity distracts many from God, and, saying that it is necessary to serve the kings like Abishai, who was ready to sacrifice his own a hundred times for David’s life, and adding that, like Gideon, the people of God need to wait for the call and election of God, and then, acting according to God, do not despair, even if their zeal for the Fatherland did not receive proper appreciation, for love for the Tsar and the Fatherland is pleasing to God, and if people did not appreciate it, then God will reward him - he asked me what exactly draws me to St. Petersburg; I said that it was my desire to serve Your Imperial Majesty there; why there, and not in another place, I answered that, being closer to you, in case of need, I would be immediately ready to shed to the last drop of my blood, if it were necessary for your All-August health, and to be, if possible, to help God as much as possible, useful to the Church of Christ. He answered: “Your zeal is pleasing to God, and He will not leave you for it, but since, according to the word of the prophet - in a favorable time, you listened to you and on the day of salvation, you helped you - then zeal, although according to God, but not according to reason (that is, prematurely), is not only displeasing to God, but is also a sin. So now your journey is not on the road - and this is your very zeal for the Emperor, if people who are unkind to him find out about him prematurely, it can harm you, but take care of yourself. Don’t worry about the Sovereign, the Lord will preserve Him. He is a Christian at heart, which some even great spiritual persons cannot say about themselves. Great was the Sovereign Emperor Peter I Alekseevich, for which he was rightly named Great and Father of the Fatherland, and by faith in the Lord he could not be compared with the faith of His Imperial Majesty; Judge for yourself: Peter the Great lived in a time when the leading boyars valued the Tsar’s property with just one glance, as if it were the mercy of God, and everyone silently submitted to the Tsar, so it was easy for him to rule. But now the people are no longer the same, and if, despite all this change, they obey the Sovereign and his enemies tremble, then our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and the Mother of God help in everything for the unfeigned faith of his Orthodox faith, it is with this that he is above Peter the Great, and for this reason God helps him in everything and in his days will so exalt Russia above all her enemies that it will become above all the kingdoms of the earth, and Not only will we no longer have to learn anything from foreigners, but they will also have the opportunity to visit our Russian Land and learn from us the Orthodox Christian Faith and pious life according to this faith; and at first there will be many, many griefs for the Sovereign and they will repeatedly look for his consecrated head and the belly of the Royal Family, but the Lord will always protect him and his entire August Royal House; for the sake of one righteous man, an entire clan is saved, which he says for the sake of three, and in his sovereign family, look, your love for God, how many holy relics are from his crowned flesh and blood, I think that there are more than a dozen saints of God, so they are all prayer books for his clan and his sacred Imperial Person; Even if only his most august parent, the most pious Empress Maria Feodorovna, is like a dear mother to all orphans and the needy, and this is the work of saints only for God-wise wives, and if something is great in a simple person, even more so in a sacred, crowned Royal person, it is pleasing to God, and the Sovereign, his All-August Parent who reposed in God, Emperor Pavel Petrovich, how he loved the Church saint, how he honored her holy statutes and how much he did for her good, few of the Russian tsars, like him, served the Church of God; and the Lord will help His Imperial Majesty and even much more to do for our Holy Orthodox Church and the one true, immaculate Apostolic Ecumenical Church of Christ in the whole universe, but before that, both the Sovereign and the Russian Land will have to endure a lot of grief; not only external enemies will rise up against him, but also internal ones, and this is how it will be: the rebels who rose up against the Tsar upon his accession to the throne boasted that although the grass was cut down, the roots remained, although it was not according to God that they boasted about it, but this is nevertheless true, for the main leaders of this evil intent, having betrayed those whom they themselves had drawn into this evil their own intention, but they themselves remained on the sidelines, and so they are and will be looking for the death of the Sovereign and his entire Royal Family, and will repeatedly look to see if it is possible to somehow get rid of them, and when their repeated attempts do not succeed, they will move on to something else - and they will try that if it is possible for them, then in all government positions there would be all people who would either agree with them, or at least not be harmful. And they will in every possible way restore the Russian Land against the Sovereign; when even then they do not succeed, because they will want to, because in some places the private disturbances they are starting will soon be stopped by the grace of God, then they will wait for a time when it will be very difficult for the Russian Land without that and, one day, one hour, having agreed in advance about this, they will raise a general rebellion in all places of the Russian Land; and so many of the employees will then themselves participate in their evil intentions, then there will be no one to appease them. And at first a lot of innocent blood will be shed, its rivers will flow across the Russian Land, many of your brothers, nobles, and clergy, and merchants who are disposed towards the Tsar will be killed; but when the Russian Land is divided and one side clearly remains with the rebels, while the other clearly stands for the Sovereign and the integrity of Russia, then, your love for God, your zeal for God and for time. And the Lord will help the just cause: He will stand for the Sovereign and the Fatherland and our holy Church, and the Lord will preserve the Sovereign and the entire Royal Family with His invisible right hand and give complete victory to those who took up arms for Him, for the Church and for the good of the indivisibility of the Russian Land; but not so much blood will be shed here as when the right side standing for the Sovereign receives victory and catches all the traitors and delivers them into the hands of justice. Then no one will be sent to Siberia, but everyone will be executed - and here even more blood will be shed than before, but this blood will be the last, cleansing blood, for after that the Lord will bless His people with peace and will exalt the horn of His anointed David, His servant, a man after His own heart, the most pious Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich - he was also established and will even more confirm His holy right hand is over the Russian Land. So why should we be discouraged, your love for God; If God is for us, whoever is against us, God foreknew them, these he pre-elected, these he pre-elected, these he sanctified, these he sanctified, these he glorified, and these he guards; Why should we be discouraged, your love for God, if God is for us, who is against us - understand the pagans and submit, as God is with us, those who are able, submit, as God is with us, and if you are able, you will be victorious, as if God is with us - so, your love for God, God is with us, and there is no way for us to lose heart.” In indescribable joy, I just wanted to say: “So bless me, father, I will now go to St. Petersburg and try to see the Emperor and most submissively report your words to him,” and he, covering my mouth with his hand, said: – Don’t you understand: not now, but after; now is not yet the time, but after, when through the prophet you see Jerusalem, the situation will be war. The Lord Himself will then lead you and He Himself will put it in your heart to speak good things about Jerusalem. And now you must take care, and the Lord will preserve the Sovereign and bless him and the Russian Land with every blessing, both on earth and in heaven; At the same time, mouth to mouth, report all my words to His Majesty - then say what you now think. I asked what; he answered: “Everything that is for the good of the Sovereign, the Holy Church and the Russian Land, God will then put in your heart - then do not be afraid and tell it all to the Imperial Majesty, and as you have already repeatedly said: the Lord and the Mother of God themselves will arrange your path for good, and the poor Seraphim’s prayers to Him for you will be with you everywhere.” That’s all, Your Imperial Majesty, that Father Seraphim deigned to speak about Your Imperial Majesty in this unforgettable conversation for me and added, “that the Lord will prolong the days of your life for many years and in your venerable old age will grant you a peaceful and holy death, like those of the most august ancestors of Your Imperial Majesty, who with faith and truth pleased God." Here I should also remember how, after the death of the great elder Seraphim, I myself was told about his resurrection from the dead - and this was confirmed three times: in 1835, in 1847 and in 1851, but I don’t know whether Your Imperial Majesty would like to know about it. Then, having most submissively explained in the shortest words I could about the conversation of Father Seraphim and falling at the highly sanctified feet of your feet to the face of the earth, I most humbly, loyally, slavishly beg you, Great Sovereign, that I dared to bother you with the most submissive request, mouth to mouth, to announce all this to Your Imperial Majesty - this really was the case actually the desire of the great elder Seraphim. Most mercifully forgive me. Your Imperial Majesty's most loyal slave, titular councilor, honorary warden of the Korsun district school, member of the Nizhny Novgorod-Ardatov prison committee and candidate for the position of Simbirsk conscientious judge Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov. I have temporary residence in St. Petersburg, 1st adm. frequent 1st quarter, in Bolshaya Millionaya Street, in the house of Countess Zubova, at Mozalevsky No. 4. Memo to Emperor Alexander II Original draft, written April 15 1866, in my serious illness, in the village of Rozhdestvenskoye, Tsylnya and To His Imperial Majesty the Most Pious To the Most Autocratic Great Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich, Autocrat of All-Russia, All-Merciful Sovereign In 1854, when Your Imperial Majesty was the Sovereign Tsarevich, Heir to the All-Russian Throne, I had the good fortune to submit to you a memorandum about some of the misfortunes of my life, mainly in the cases of my litigation with the Tatars of the villages of Malaya and Bolshaya Tsyln and the village of Besturleev Vraga, Tlanka, and also about those granted to my ancestors my, Arzamas residents Kirill and Daniil Motovilov, lands, in 1703 and 1704. And with your own hand, the Great Sovereign, you wrote on that note: “Help Motovilov.” But Your Imperial Majesty’s Highest command, which I issued to the Landmark Office regarding those matters, has still not yet been fulfilled. And at my request, a memorandum dated October 20, 1861 addressed to Mr. Minister of Internal Affairs about permission for me to open the activities of my Spasopreobrazhensky Bank and on the same subject another memo dated August 13, 1861 addressed to Metropolitan Isidore to the Holy Governing Synod about permission for me to build on my, from the benefits of this bank, dependency Cathedral of the Mother of God “Joy of all joys” in Diveevo, neither one nor the other has yet answered half a word. And it’s impossible to talk about other matters - so all my zeal for the benefit of Your Imperial Majesty is drowned out, that, for example, according to my papers: 1st - to Adjutant General Baron Wrangel on one sheet about a possible tax and urgent need for the burned city of Simbirsk, and 2nd - to Senator Zhdanov about the truly essential and main cause of the Simbirsk fire and the tireless preparation by the well-known party of that all-Russian revolution, about which the great elder Seraphim said back in 1832, on Easter Thursday, that through the reforms, which had a Decembrist conspiracy to be established in Russia, it would happen and about which my own handwritten note on two pages, in 1854 in the month of Martyrium, submitted to His Imperial Majesty, should be kept in III Department of His Majesty's Own Chancellery, then on one sheet of paper to Baron Wrangel and this last one, on 4 sheets, to Mr. Senator Zhdanov, absolutely nothing has been answered so far. Whereas my last paper is of high national importance, for when asked by His Excellency, how will I prove that the Polish revolt and all the other petty, but nevertheless all-destructive Russian revolts are an adaptation of only one Decembrist-Russian agitation and who are the main Decembrists, I answer that they are clearly and accurately explained in the 1862 edition of Ryleev’s life, printed in Leipzig. And what is most surprising is that the great elder Seraphim himself, in 1832, at four o’clock on Holy Easter, speaking about the Decembrists, deigned to directly remember all of them by name and therefore, in fact, did not let me into St. Petersburg, that these people, having learned my great devotion to the Sovereign Emperor, your most august parent, and my complete lack of solidarity with their the church and monastery with disgraceful, regicidal and anti-Christian-abolitionist trends, they will not only not allow me to see the Emperor, they will not give me any promotion, but they will completely wipe me out from the face of the earth. For even though they completely surrounded the Throne of His Majesty Sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich, he is a Christian in his soul, and it is only this great true faith in God that is his only defense from all of them. It is my duty to report to my all-subjects that in submitting to Mr. Senator Zhdanov the last, 4-page draft report (for for some reason he was not pleased to allow me to copy it completely), I was excited not by the charming, but by the true apparition in a dream in God of the late Sovereign Emperor, your parent, who promised to tell you about this apparition as well. sacredly. An extremely significant vision and no less important, which I saw many years ago on the night before the capture of the famous fortress of Kars by the troops of Your Imperial Majesty. When he, the great Sovereign, deigned to console me with the assurance that he was not only completely forgiven, pardoned, saved, blessed by the Lord God, but also placed near the great elder Seraphim. And I heard about the Decembrist all-disastrous actions from himself and, even more in detail, from Father Seraphim himself. Before submitting the paper to Mr. Senator Zhdanov, as you most graciously deign to see from the attached descriptions of these visions, he ordered me to act as Father Seraphim predicted in 1832, as stated on two pages of my note about the Decembrists, exposed by the great elder Seraphim, twelve years ago most dutifully presented through Count Orlov. And even after that, according to a special, sacred and secret notification from the great elder Seraphim, given to me on April 1, 1865, about the death of Lincoln, although not an ardent one, but still an abolitionist. And as he, the great Father Seraphim, expressed it, the Lord and the Mother of God not only do not like such terrible oppression, ruin and unjust humiliation, which the Decembrists, ardent abolitionists, who prevailed over everything, are happening everywhere in Russia, but also the very insults of Lincoln and the North Americans, the Southern States of slave owners, are completely displeasing to the goodness of God. And therefore, on the image of the Mother of God, “The Joy of all Joys,” which, according to the command of his father, Father Seraphim, was to be sent to the President of the Southern, namely the slave-holding States, it was ordered to be signed: “For the destruction of Lincoln.” But I admit frankly that, having remembered the request of the Most Reverend Philaret to soften the words in my memorandum on June 1, 1861 against the grievances of Bishop Nektary, which were contained in the apostolic expression: “Breathing forgiveness and murder - not a word in a very angry mood,” I dared to weaken the power of the divinely inspired, sacredly secretly spoken speech of Father Seraphim to me and signed: “For all-victory over the serpent, Lincoln, and the northern abolitionists,” or complete all-possession over the entire North, etc.; in detail, exact lists of both sacred signatures under both images of the Mother of God are presented to both the President of the slaveholding States and Pius IX in exact copies. So, I will continue that in addition to him, father Seraphim, it is sacredly secret, but for me it is quite clearly commanded on behalf of the Lord to Your Imperial Majesty to most submissively report that regarding the Eighth Ecumenical Council it is extremely urgent at the present time, as, firstly, for the unification of the holy Churches of God under the single head of Christ the Life-Giver and under a single The Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, so, secondly, a complete and complete anathematization of all the abomination of deviation from the holy universal faith of Christ, or the abolitionist leveling of everything in the world, that is, in Russian - Decembrism, and in ecumenical - Freemasonry, Freemasonry, Illuminism and all their Jacobin thrones of the church and monasteries of saints, ruinous and regicidal baregonetical government - completely godless and completely anti-Christian, concentrated mainly in the lodges: Simbirsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg - for Russia, New York - for North America, Calcutta - for the East Indies, London, Frankfurt-on-Main, except for small lodges of Swedish, Prussian, German, Austrian, Italian and others, worldwide led at the Union Club in Paris - as in the universal centralization of everything ungodly, anti-monarchical and pan-revolutionary in the world. Even though in the month of April 1865, Your Imperial Majesty should have sent me another third icon of the Mother of God of Father Seraphim, “The Joy of All Joys,” but that you already have two of them, from 1854, most submissively presented to you by me. And one in Sevastopol, and the other in the large Winter Cathedral of your Imperial Palace, then I was only ordered, with decent filial, loyal reverence, to most submissively beg Your Imperial Majesty, whether it would please you to remove it from careless storage somewhere in the sacristy 95 and place it splendidly in a decent icon case in your church of this Divine the cathedral, opposite the local main one, near the royal gates of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, in similarity with that in a separate icon case, opposite the local icon of Christ the Savior. And since an ulcer is coming to St. Petersburg (that is, cholera, and perhaps the ulcer of conspiracy, which manifested itself with a shot on April 4, 96, which I explained about this on July 27), would it not be your most merciful and most merciful command to deign to perform a decent priestly service and everywhere lithium and blessing of water, and sprinkling with holy water and Surround your Winter Palace and all of St. Petersburg with this icon, go around your entire capital and residence. And the Lord, both in 1854 and now, will completely deign to hide both you and your northern capital from the all-destroying ulcer, and during the priestly service and the tour of both the palace and St. Petersburg, so that the same two paraklesises will be sung in honor of the Mother of God to Her, our Lady Ever-Virgin Mother of God Mary, of which I mentioned back in 1854 year told and frankly through His Excellency the Minister of the Imperial Court reported most submissively. And then even more humbly and on behalf of Father Seraphim himself, who appeared to them as a great elder then, on April 1, 1865, and later. All this has been written by me so far in my serious illness, actually lying on my deathbed. And the night from April 15 to 16 stopped this draft of my manuscript. And the next day, April 16, from the stories of the peace mediator, Prince Nikolai Nikolaevich Ukhtomsky, I learned about the vile and vile act of the scoundrel calling himself Karakozov. I can’t say who he really is, but I was infinitely sad that they were testing him to see if he was in his right mind. And all the noise of celebrations, speeches and other things ad infinitum, because of a deep feeling that internally disapproves of all this, I dislike to infinity. What I would have written next in my last short note dated April 14 or 15, 1865, most loyal, I cannot now say, but I have two dreams, or better yet, visions, about the Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, who died in Bose, on the morning of this July 27, and forgive me for using such a bad pen, but I will write anyway. The first dream was on the eve of the capture of Kars. After the death of His Majesty, the same revolutionary propaganda parties began to spread all kinds of slander against him. And although I was deeply convinced, confirmed by the words of the great elder Seraphim about him, that all this was a lie, nevertheless, my heart was endlessly sad about my unforgettable king Emperor, benefactor. And so I see a dream: Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich and Empress Alexandrovna Feodorovna seem to be entering the small dining room of the Winter Palace, where I, by the highest command, had the good fortune to be invited. And the Emperor said to me: “For a long time, during my lifetime, I wanted to treat you with our royal bread and salt, but I didn’t succeed, then eat with us now.” His Majesty the Sovereign Emperor seated me on the right side of the round table, and Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna seated me on the left side. And when I began to eat, I saw that he, like Archbishop Anthony, began to chew quickly, and I thought: “And how the Emperor eats on both cheeks.” And the deceased His Majesty smiled, turning to me, and said - Well done! Firstly, you shouldn’t even think so impolitely about the king and your master, but I know that you didn’t think out of malice. And secondly, you yourself told me on behalf of the great elder Seraphim that I am a Christian at heart. But do Christians die - they are according to Christ the Giver of Life and are always alive themselves, so I too rested for a while, until the future common Resurrection of all from the dead in the flesh, but in my soul and spirit I am alive, healthy and in the mercy of God and am not only forgiven of all my sins, for there is no man who will live and not see the death of sin - but also saved, and pardoned, and in all things resolved forever. And not only blessed by the Lord God, but for my great love for the great elder Seraphim and placed near him in the Kingdom of God. And what you wrote to me about the regicidal thirst for Decembrist revolutionism, Elder Seraphim now conveyed all this even more and in great detail (that means, before the capture of Kars). But why didn’t you tell me in detail then? – Your Imperial Majesty! If, having despised Count Orlov’s slander against me and spat on his warnings, you had then most mercifully deigned to allow me to have a secret audience, then I would have fearlessly had the opportunity to most submissively convey to Your Imperial Majesty not only what God-revealed I had the good fortune to learn from the lips of Saint Seraphim about Decembrism, but also what, Being guided by his divine instructions and the constant help of God during many years of wandering around Russia, I had the opportunity not in word, but in deed, to learn about the further course of this godless and royal agitation. For after the release, which you most mercifully granted me in 1833, from under arrest in Simbirsk, through the Minister of Justice Dashkov, all true Christians accepted me as a martyr for the faith of Christ. For I was unjustly arrested for my healing in Voronezh on the 1st day of October 1832 and for writing a full service and akathist to Saint [Tikhon] Mitrofan, and hitherto not allowed by the Holy Synod to be published, and for my imaginary, seemingly short accomplice with Alexei Petrovich Ermolov, and with Mikhail and Alexander Nikolaevich Muravyov, and Andrei, their brother, whom I, together with Norov, who later became my personal boss, Minister of Public Education, from 1854, in the simplicity of my heart, called my companions in traveling to holy places. Then, I repeat, the slaves of Christ considered me a martyr for the faith, and the slaves of the Antichrist and revolutionaries, reformers without reforms, considered me a great conspirator, but escaped arrest, they also took me for their fellow revolutionary and were extremely frank with me. “Yes,” His Imperial Majesty deigned to answer me, “and the great elder Seraphim told me about this.” But as for the fact that you wrote to me in your letter that you never told anyone about this before 1854, this is not entirely true. “Yes,” I answered, “forgive me, Sovereign.” I got excited and in my ardor forgot that when other conspirators, also getting excited and making mistakes, often declared their desire to exterminate your entire august imperial family, then I, in the words of the great elder, whom they still respected despite their revolutionary spirit, had the good fortune to dissociate them from their reigning plans. “That’s the same thing,” said the Emperor, “the great elder Seraphim also told me about this.” And we remember you and often talk about you, and wish you brilliant and all-victorious, insurmountable success in everything for the benefit of the Church of Christ, our Imperial House and all of Russia. Here is the whole, in all its wonderful detail, great dream on the eve of the surrender of Kars, about which I gave a brief note in 1861 through Princess Varvara Arkadyevna Gorchakova, along with some anecdotes about Suvorov, which I heard in childhood almost from my uncle, Suvorov’s Colonel Tishchenko, and told the former Governor-General Alexander Arkadievich Suvorov-Rymniksky. But here is a description of another, also wonderful dream, on the eve of 30 days before the execution of the second, shot for the Simbirsk fires, before the arrival of Senator Zhdanov in Simbirsk. I saw that I was in Simbirsk (living, however, on the occasion of the burning of Simbirsk on my estate and the place of my homeland, Simbirsk district, the village of Rozhdestvenskoye, Tsylnya, too). And that, as if by the highest command, they are calling me to the Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, who died in Bose, at the Simbirsk Pokrovsky Monastery. And I went straight to the small wooden chambers of the late Eminence Anatoly, where later on some occasion the Eminence Eugene 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, beautifully decorated with magnificent flowers, the Sovereign Emperor deigned to sit Nikolai Pavlovich, on the very chair of Emperor Peter the Great, located in St. Petersburg in Monplaisir, from which His Majesty ordered everything to be done during his reign [unintelligible], then in this and His favorite place of Peter Velikovsky’s solitude. When I had the good fortune to approach His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor deigned to tell me; - What does this mean, Motovilov, that during my life you yourself volunteered to serve me, and now I myself call you, but I still won’t get it. Is it really possible that you, imitating others, decided to change us too?! - No, Your Majesty. But no one told me that you would deign to demand me. “Ah,” said the Emperor, turning to those around him, “isn’t my argument with you fair 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 right away. 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 holy fool Andrei Ilyich (about whom there is a story about his life in the magazine “Strannik”), and he came out from under the lid of his cast-iron monument, resurrected from the grave, and, doing his usual Foolishness, waddling from side to side, in his motley red shirt and uttering the usual sounds: “A-a-a-a,” 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 with a handful, the usual example of some, deigned to say: “Well, thank 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, His Majesty was informed that from His Imperial Majesty, the most piously reigning Emperor Alexander II Nikolaevich, a courier with dispatches had arrived to him. And they hand him four of my manuscripts, half folded and in four colors - white, rose-red, blue and green, cross-tied with wide silk ribbons. And the Emperor, turn to me, deigned to tell me: – And these are your papers, you know their essence. And I, as I once told you, know them even better than you from the stories about them by the great elder Seraphim, and I myself and my son will begin to analyze them. Well, you begin to act as the great elder Seraphim commanded you to act in our favor. “With the greatest joy, with all my soul, I am ready to serve Your Imperial Majesty.” But that's not the point. It is necessary that I not only have the highest permission, but that none of the ministers, like the Minister of Finance Brock, should no longer interfere with me in anything in the service of Your Imperial Majesty. You and your most august son, and your entire imperial family, which of them you would like to allow into your secrets, should know what I intend to do for God, for you and Russia. And I will try to do even more than I promised and promise with the help of God. But your ministers, except Count Vladimir Feodorovich Adlerberg, have no right to this, and if this were so, then long ago everything ungodly and evil would have been exterminated by the grace-filled means indicated to me by God through the great elder Seraphim. But since the death of Your Imperial Majesty, in spite of all your love and all your mercy towards me, and instead of you, conveying to me your two bows through the Minister of the Imperial Court, you conveyed to me the words that you remember me as one of the first figures in the war on the Eastern Question, and I am humiliated, rejected. I am oppressed, cut off like a dog, and my life in the rank of a conscientious judge is worse than any hard labor - then how can I in any way serve God and you, and Russia, according to the words of the Lord indicated to me through Seraphim. After all, like Elijah the prophet, the priests of the revolution, the Decembrists, the tsar-suppressors, the enemies of God, the Tsar and the Russian kingdom are looking for my soul. - Well, don’t worry about it anymore. I'll fix it all myself. And I will tell my son Alexander for you. See, fulfill and fearlessly serve us with faith and truth. – I am ready and will, with God’s help, serve God, you and Russia. To serve as the great elder Seraphim instructed me through divine revelation and the great Seraphim convincingly asked me to do so. Ended on July 28 - the day of the Hodegetria of the Mother of God and the name day of Father Seraphim. 1866 From the Prophecies of St. Seraphim of Sarov It is known that the Sarov Wonderworker possessed a great gift of prophecy. These prophecies relate both to the fate of the Diveyevo monastery and to the future destinies of Russia. Many of them are collected in the books of Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) “Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery” (1896; 1903) and Sergei Aleksandrovich Nilus “Great in Small” (1903; 1905), “On the Bank of God’s River”, vol. 2 (San Francisco, 1969). However, to this day new texts are being discovered that significantly complement the collection of prophecies of the Rev. One of the latest finds were two documents found in the papers of the priest Fr. Pavel Florensky. When examining them, it turned out that they ended up with Fr. Pavel, not without the help of S. A. Nilus (1862–1929), who closely knew Elena Ivanovna Motovilova († 1910), the widow of Serafimov’s servant Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov (1808–1879), who worked a lot in the archives of the Diveyevo monastery. N.A. Motovilov, now widely known to readers as the interlocutor of the Reverend, who entrusted him with his innermost thoughts about the purpose of Christian life, left numerous notes in which he outlined the content of the conversations and statements of Elder Seraphim. The most close reader and, moreover, the most authoritative publisher of Motovilov’s notes was S. A. Nilus. It was to him in 1902 that Motovilova’s widow gave a box of her late husband’s manuscripts for analysis. From this box the now famous conversations “On the Purpose of Christian Life” and “The Great Diveyevo Mystery” were extracted and published. Below we publish a new version of the “Great Diveyevo Secret” from the papers of Fr. Pavel Florensky, which is somewhat different from what was already published in Nilus’s book “On the Bank of God’s River”; it is more consistent with the genre of conversation; extraneous reasoning is minimized here. In our opinion, these materials were temporarily given by S. A. Nilus to Fr. Pavel for making copies. O. Pavel reprinted the published text below (a second copy of the typescript was preserved in his archive), the first, in our opinion, was taken by Nilus and somewhat expanded by his own reasoning. A previously unknown note by N. A. Motovilov, entitled “Antichrist and Russia,” is also published. The first half of the note was rewritten by Fr. Pavel Florensky, the rest is the handwriting of an unknown person. It can be assumed that this text was also copied from Motovilov’s notebook, brought by S. A. Nilus from Sarov. Reverend Seraphim, without a doubt, owns the reasoning contained in the first paragraph of the published document (this is confirmed by the letter of Princess N.V. Urusova (see appendix) and corresponds to the previously published prophecies of the Reverend); the rest of this note probably belongs to Motovilov himself and is his attempt to interpret the statements of the Reverend. The acquaintance of Florensky and Nilus most likely took place in the pre-revolutionary era, when both of them collaborated in the publications of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Saved review about. Paul about Nilus, relating to their first meeting. According to his books, Nilus introduced himself to Fr. Paul was a “secular elder,” as they say, a “Lord have mercy” man. But when they met, in front of Fr. Paul appeared as a deep spiritual thinker, a gifted church writer. After the October Revolution, they met again and possibly exchanged materials. The published materials were most likely transferred to Florensky at this time. Often hearing from the great Elder that he would not lie in Sarov with his flesh, I once dared to ask him: “Why, Father, do you deign to keep saying that you will not lie with your flesh. Will the Sarovskys really give you up?” And to this Father, looking pleasantly at me and smiling, deigned to answer me the following: “Oh, your love for God, your love for God. What are you like? Why don’t Tsar Peter, he was the Tsar of Tsars, but he wanted to transfer the relics of the holy noble prince Alexander Nevsky from Vladimir to St. Petersburg, but the holy relics did not want that, and they are not in St. Petersburg.” - “Why not? – I dared to object to the great Elder. “Why not, when he rests there in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.” - “In A-N. Lavra, you say,” Father answered me. - How can it be that in Vladimir they rested at the autopsy, but in St. Petersburg they were kept under wraps. Why is this so, and because, your love of God, they are not there.” And, having expanded a lot on this subject, Father Seraphim deigned to reveal to me a great secret. “I,” he said, “poor Seraphim, was destined by the Lord God to live much more than a hundred years. But since by that time the Russian bishops will be so wicked that they will surpass the Greek bishops in their wickedness during the time of Theodosius the Younger, so that they will not even believe in the most important dogma of the Christian faith - the Resurrection of Christ and the General Resurrection, then therefore the Lord God is pleased until the time of me, poor Seraphim, to take away from this temporary life and then, to confirm the dogma of resurrection, resurrect me, and my resurrection will be like the resurrection of the seven youths in the Okhlonskaya cave during the time of Theodosius the Younger. After my resurrection, I will move from Sarov to Diveyevo, where I will preach worldwide repentance. And for this great miracle people from all over the earth will gather in Diveyevo, and there, preaching repentance to them, I will open four relics and I myself will lie down between them as the fifth. But then it will be the end of everything.” This is the legend that I (S.A. Nilus. - A.S.) composed in my heart since 1902 from Motovilov’s notes and which I decided to tell only to those closest to me in spirit, of whom there were always not very many. I heard indirect confirmation of this from the hiding places of Diveyevo personally from the great old woman, the 85-year-old abbess Maria, predicted by the Monk Seraphim as the 12th leader, on whom, Father said, “you will have a monastery.” Congratulating her in August 1903 on the justification of her great faith in the discovery of the relics of St. Seraphim (she had not consecrated a single throne in her Cathedral since 1879, believing that she would live to see the glorification of the Reverend and consecrate the throne in his honor and glory), and heard from her the following highly significant words: “Your truth, my father, Sergei Alexandrovich, this is a miracle. But here There will be a miracle, such a miracle, when the religious procession that now went from Diveyevo to Sarov will go from Sarov to Diveyevo, and the people, as the saint of God told us, that there will be ears of grain in the field. This will be such a wonderful miracle, a wondrous miracle - “How to understand this.” mother?" - I asked her, completely forgetting at that time what I knew from Motovilov’s manuscripts. Mother answered this with a mysteriously affectionate smile; “Whoever lives will see.” Appendix to the “Great Diveyevo Secret” (from the Florensky family archive) There will be a time when all the words of the Lord’s prophecies spoken to the great elder Seraphim about the fate of the Fourth Lot in the universe of the Mother of God will fully come true. For according to the promise of the Lord, the great elder Seraphim will rise from the grave for some time and will walk on foot from the Sarov desert to the village of Diveevo - and with the host of the Highest family, Grand Duke, Royal, Imperial and Russian and foreign countless people, assuring everyone with his resurrection of the immutability and all people at the end of centuries of the general resurrection, finally, there again the eternal sleep of death will rest for the time being, and then, after this second Father Seraphim’s Assumption, the village of Diveevo, having become the Universal House, will be enlightened more than all, not only Russians, but all the cities in the world - for the light of the faith of Christ through this resurrection from the dead of the great elder Seraphim will be confirmed by the entire universe. Then with what greed everyone will turn to all Orthodox sources to learn about the beginning and course of this wondrous history, this 4th lot of the universal Mother of God, the new light of the Athos Women's Diveya Mountain; this place of salvation for the whole world during the time of the Antichrist. It was written by Motovilov on November 8, 1867. Before the birth of the Antichrist, a great long war and a terrible revolution will take place in Russia, as Fr. Seraphim, beyond any human imagination, for the bloodshed will be the most terrible: the riots of Razinsky, Pugachevsky, the French Revolution are nothing in comparison with what will happen to Russia. There will be the death of many people faithful to the Fatherland, the plunder of church property and monasteries; desecration of the Lord's churches; destruction and plunder of the wealth of good people, rivers of Russian blood will be shed. But the Lord will have mercy on Russia and lead it through suffering to great glory... The constant count of the global and Russian war will be 10 years... Since I myself (N.A. Motovilov. - A.S.) was told back in 1834, here in Voronezh, that I will not die before I personally recognize, as myself, the person who will live to see the birth of the Antichrist, so that, like Simeon the Receiver of God, who made known about the birth of the True Christ, I will let know about the birth of the true Antichrist. This sermon will be officially announced to all people, not only Russians, but also universally, as a universal announcement. Then it will be easy to foretell his accession to the universe in old Jerusalem, on the entire surface of the globe, except for the current territory of Russia and Inner Asia, where the 10 tribes of the kingdom of Israel live. Russia will merge into one great sea with the other lands and Slavic tribes, it will form one sea, or that huge universal ocean of the people, about which the Lord God from ancient times spoke through the mouth of all the saints: “The formidable and invincible kingdom, all-Russian, all-Slavic - Gog Magog, before which all nations will be in awe.” And all this, all is true, like two and two are four, and certainly, like God is holy, who from ancient times foretold about him and his terrible dominion over the earth. With the combined forces of Russia and others, Constantinople and Jerusalem will be captured. With the division of Turkey, almost all of it will remain with Russia, and Russia, united with many other states, will take Vienna, and about 7 million native Viennese will remain with the House of Habsburg, and the territory of the Austrian Empire will be established there. France, for her love for the Mother of God - St. Madonna - will be given up to seventeen million Frenchmen with the capital - the city of Reims, and Paris will be completely destroyed. The House of Napoleon will be given Sardinia, Corsica and Savoy. When the Russian Empire receives one hundred and eighty million and its possession, we must expect the appearance of the Antichrist. 1) The Antichrist was born in Russia between St. Petersburg and Moscow, in that great city which, after the union of all Slavic tribes with Russia, will be the second capital of the Russian kingdom and will be called “Moscow-Petrograd”, or “The City of the End”, as the Lord the Holy Spirit calls it, foreseeing everything from afar. 2) Before the appearance of the Antichrist, the Eighth Ecumenical Council of all Churches must take place under the One Head of Christ the Life-Giver and under the one Protection of the Mother of God, One in God Almighty, with the first patriarch reserving his royal power as the prototype of the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ, also for the unification and reunification of all the holy Churches of Christ against the emerging anti-Christian trend under The single Head of Christ the Life-Giver and under the single cover of His Most Pure Mother and for the final damnation of all Freemasonry and all similar parties (under whatever names they may appear), the main leaders of which have one common goal: under the pretext of complete equal prosperity on earth, with the help of people fanatized by them, to cause anarchy in all states and to destroy Christianity throughout the world and, finally, by the power of gold concentrated in their hands, to subjugate the whole world to anti-Christianity, in the person of the autocratic tsar, the tsar who fights against God, alone over the whole world. Satan was the first revolutionary and through this he fell from heaven. There is nothing in common between the teachings of his followers and the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ; there is a huge gap here. The Lord, through doing the commandments given by Him, calls humanity to heaven, where truth dwells. The spirit of darkness promises the establishment of heaven on earth. Thus, all revolutionary societies, secret and open, under whatever names they appear and no matter what plausible appearance they hide behind, have one common goal - the struggle and general destruction of Christianity, preparing the ground for anti-Christianity in the person of the Antichrist coming into the world. Jews and Slavs are two peoples of God's destinies, His vessels and witnesses, indestructible arks; the rest of the nations are like spit, which the Lord spews out of His mouth. Because the Jews did not accept and recognize the Lord Jesus Christ, they were scattered across the face of the whole earth. But at the time of the Antichrist, many Jews will turn to Christ, since they will understand that the Messiah they mistakenly expected is none other than the one about whom our Lord Jesus Christ said: “I came in the name of My Father, and they did not receive Me; another will come in his own name, and they will receive him.” So, despite their great crime before God, the Jews were and are a people beloved before God. The Slavs are loved by God because they maintain true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to the end. At the time of the Antichrist, they will completely reject and not recognize him as the messiah, and for this they will be rewarded with the great blessing of God: there will be an omnipotent language on earth, and there will be no other more omnipotent Russian-Slavic kingdom on earth. In Israel, Jesus Christ, the true God-man, the Son of God the Father was born through the influx of the Holy Spirit, and among the Slavs and Russians the true Antichrist-Demon-Man will be born, the son of the harlot wife of Dan’s generation and the son of the devil through the artificial transfer of male seed to her, with whom the spirit of darkness will enter her womb. But one of the Russians, having lived to see the birth of the Antichrist, like Simeon the God-Receiver, who blessed the Child Jesus and announced His birth to the world, will curse the born Antichrist and announce to the world that he is the true Antichrist. Archpriest Dimitry Troitsky. Life of St. Seraphim of Sarov Published based on the materials of the compiler. The life, exploits and death of the Sarov desert of the hieromonk and desert dweller Father Seraphim, born in 1754, died in 1883. He labored as a monk for 47 years, but the entire life of this virtuous husband was 74 years Life of St. Seraphim of Sarov (modern version) About the purpose of Christian life. Conversation by St. Seraphim of Sarov about the purpose of Christian life (with a foreword and two afterwords by S. A. Nilus) Published by: Conversation of St. Seraphim of Sarov about the purpose of Christian life. San Francisco, 1968, pp. 7–47. Publication by Gleb Podmoshensky. Subsequent clarifications of the publisher are reproduced according to “Russian Pilgrim” (1990. No. 2. pp. 72–92). Archbishop Veniamin (Fedchenkov). Revelation of St. Seraphim of Sarov about the purpose of Christian life Published from: Notes of Archbishop Benjamin // Venerable Seraphim of Sarov. Revelation about the purpose of the Christian life. According to the recording of N.A. Motovilov and with the appendix of his own story: Are there torments of hell? Paris: Orthodox Publishing House, 1933. pp. 30–35. Archbishop Veniamin (in the world Ivan Afanasyevich Fedchenkov; 1880–1961) is a famous hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, archbishop, and later metropolitan. I have gone through a long and difficult journey in life. After graduating from Tambov Seminary, he entered the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1907. At the same time he was tonsured with the name Benjamin and was soon ordained as a hieromonk. He studied biblical history at his own Academy. In 1910–1911 he served as an assistant professor at the department of pastoral theology, homiletics and asceticism at the same St. Petersburg Theological Academy. In 1911 he was appointed rector of the Tauride Seminary and elevated to the rank of archimandrite. From 1913 to 1917 - rector of the Tver Theological Seminary. At the All-Russian Local Council he represented the lower clergy. In the fall of 1918 he was elected a member of the Kherson Church Council. On February 10, 1919, he was consecrated Bishop of Sevastopol, and with the consent of Patriarch Tikhon, he was made vicar of the Tauride diocese. The year 1920 was marked for Bishop Benjamin with his entry into the White movement; he became the “Bishop of the Army and Navy” in the South of Russia, and was appointed by the Crimean Synod to the Council of Ministers under General Wrangel. In November 1920, the evacuation of General Wrangel's troops and the population that joined them began. Together with his flock, Vladyka Benjamin also left the Russian land. Subsequently he lived in Bulgaria, Serbia and other Western European countries. He presided over the Pre-Conciliar Meeting in Constantinople before the Karlovac Council. In 1921 he prepared the Karlovac Cathedral. He was a member of the Russian Council under General Wrangel, remaining the bishop of the emigrated Army, scattered across different countries. In 1922, Bishop Veniamin, in pursuance of the decree of Patriarch Tikhon, left the Ukrainian Synod and settled in the Petkovice monastery in Serbia, which he founded. 25 Russian brethren gathered at the monastery, among whom were newly tonsured monks from the soldiers of Wrangel’s army. For the next two years he was the bishop of Carpathian Russia, which was then part of Czechoslovakia, fulfilling the position of suffragan bishop. He returned to Serbia in 1925. He served as a law teacher at the Russian and Don Cadet Corps with residence in Petkovitsy. Soon Bishop Benjamin was summoned by Metropolitan Eulogius to Paris, appointing him as an inspector and teacher at the Orthodox Theological Institute, named after St. Sergius of Radonezh. In 1925–1927 and 1929–1931 he taught at this institute. Disagreeing with Bishop Evlogii’s deviation from the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop Benjamin created parishes of the Patriarchal Orthodox Church in Paris and other cities abroad. In 1933, Bishop Benjamin was elevated to the rank of archbishop and began to rule the diocese in the USA, from November 22, 1933 - Exarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA, Archbishop of Aleutian and North American; On July 14, 1938, he received the rank of metropolitan. After World War II, in 1947, Bishop Veniamin returned to Russia and was appointed to the Riga and Latvian departments. In 1951–1955 he ruled the Rostov diocese. On December 20, 1958, he was retired to stay in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. The bishop died on October 4, 1961. Metropolitan Veniamin spoke about his life in the book “At the Brink of Two Epochs” (M.: Otchiy Dom, 1994). Nikolai Petrovich P[opov]. Theological consideration of “Conversations of St. Seraphim of Sarov on the purpose of Christian life” Published by: Seraphim's obedience. Life and works of N. A. Motovilov / Comp. A. N. Strizhev. M., 1996. pp. 215–246. N.P. [Nikolai Petrovich Popov] (born after 1935) – archaeologist, cultural historian; Head of the Synodal Library in the Kremlin, Master of Theology. Author of a large number of scientific publications: Manuscripts of the Synodal Library. Vol. 1. Novospassky meeting. M., 1906; Autographs of Metropolitan Macarius, collector of the Great Menaia. St. Petersburg, 1913; Afanasievsky version of the story about Barlaam and Joasaph. B.M., 1926; and others. Popov may have received handwritten versions of the “Conversation” of St. Seraphim with N. A. Motovilov from the synodal sacristan, Archimandrite Arseny (Leonid Ivanovich Denisov, sk. after 1932), a famous spiritual writer, author of a major work on the life and miracles of the Sarov ascetic, or from N. Potapov, who personally communicated with Elena Ivanovna Motovilova in 1906 and who compiled memories about her (Soulful Reading, July-August 1912). Versions of the “Conversation” are given in Nikolai Popov’s book “On the Purpose of Christian Life.” Conversation between St. Seraphim of Sarov and Nikolai Alexandrovich Motovilov. (According to the latter’s own notes with a preface by N.P.). Sergiev Posad, 1914. The publisher then put up the cryptonym “N. P." Acquiring God's grace Published by: Kontsevich I.M. Acquisition of the Holy Spirit in the ways of Ancient Rus'. Paris, 1952. pp. 53–54, 127–130. Ivan Mikhailovich Kontsevich (10/13/1893–07/06/1965) – spiritual writer, historian. As a student at Kharkov University, Kontsevich often visited Optina Pustyn and talked with its elders. In the Civil War he participated on the side of the Volunteer Army and was shell-shocked under fire. Then - a long path of exile. In Gallipoli (Türkiye) he graduated from the Military Engineering School, after which he was promoted to officer. Later, after moving to France, Ivan Mikhailovich managed to graduate from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Sorbonne University. In the 1920s, Kontsevich continuously maintained spiritual communication with the Optina elder Nektariy. He received his theological education at the Paris Theological Institute during the Second World War. I. M. Kontsevich’s first major publication, the monograph “Acquiring the Holy Spirit in the Ways of Ancient Rus',” was published in Paris in 1952. Eight years later, Kontsevich’s second book, “The Origins of L. N. Tolstoy’s Mental Catastrophe” (Munich, 1960), was published. After the death of Ivan Mikhailovich, his wife, Elena Yuryevna, with the assistance of Gleb Podmoshensky (hegumen German in monasticism), published Kontsevich’s major work “Optina Pustyn and Its Time.” This is truly a reference book for every pious reader. Nowadays, all the main works of the spiritual writer have been reproduced or republished in Russia. Testimonies of the Holy Spirit Published by: Novoselov M. A. Letters to friends / Publication and notes by E. S. Polishchuk M., 1994. pp. 230–240. Mikhail Aleksandrovich Novoselov (07/01/1864–01/17/1938) - religious thinker, church publicist. Born in the Tver province, in the family of a teacher. During his student years - he studied at the Faculty of History and Philology at Moscow University - Novoselov was seriously interested in Tolstoyism. Later he broke with this false teaching and stopped personal communication with the heretical writer. The circle of searches has closed, Mikhail Alexandrovich took the true path of knowing the Zhivago God. In 1902, Novoselov energetically launched publishing activities to produce books and leaflets of the “Religious and Philosophical Library”, distributed throughout Russia. One of the issues of the book series (XXI, 1909) was dedicated to the conversation of St. Seraphim of Sarov “On the Purpose of Christian Life.” Subsequently, the publisher moved the publication of religious books from Vyshny Volochok to Sergiev Posad. For his useful activities in enlightening the people with the light of Christ, M. A. Novoselov was elected honorary professor of the Moscow Theological Academy in 1912. His publishing experience also proved useful in his work to improve the educational program of the School Council at the Holy Synod, to which he was elected. For the same purposes, Novoselov was involved in the work of the All-Russian Local Council of 1917–1918. In the midst of revolutionary arbitrariness and general unrest, M. A. Novoselov calls on believers to jointly protect churches from desecration. The repressive bodies of the godless government, of course, could not leave such an ardent champion of Orthodoxy free. In the summer of 1922, security officers carried out a search in Novoselov’s apartment in the absence of the owner, and in order to escape, Mikhail Aleksandrovich had to go underground, or, more simply, go into the “catacombs.” Hiding in Tver and other regions, Novoselov writes extensive letters to his friends, in which he reveals a wide range of theological and philosophical problems raised by modern times. During the six years of their “stay in the catacombs” (1922–1928), at least twenty letters were sent to them - they were intended for distribution among believers. Religious samizdat of that time preserved for posterity a number of various copies of Novoselov’s letters. The publicist was arrested by the authorities at the end of 1928, condemned as a political criminal (he did not accept the “Declaration” of Metropolitan Sergius, inspired the “non-remembering” movement) to three years in the camps. He served his time in the Yaroslavl political prison, where he was later given another ten years in prison. Summing up the ill-fated results of 1927, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Novoselov wrote to his friends on December 31 from a transit prison: “The holy days of our dear memories now coincide with especially significant church events. Those who a year ago predicted that 1927 would be an extremely difficult year for the Church of God were not mistaken. Of the many blows dealt to her this year, it is enough to point out two to recognize these predictions as correct: the blasphemous defeat of Sarov and the brutal devastation of Diveyevo. Is it necessary to explain what the Orthodox Russian people lost with the destruction of these monasteries? Anyone who has at least once visited there and the adjacent, also devastated, Ponetaevskaya monastery, feels in his heart what source of religious inspiration, spiritual vigor, especially necessary in our difficult times, he has lost. As far as I know, those who predicted exceptional disasters for the Church of Christ in 1927 understood disasters exactly like those indicated. But in the past year we suffered a significantly, one might say, incomparably grave test: the entire church ship tilted and hung over the abyss. An unprecedented temptation has crept up on the children of the Church of God. The prince of this world has spread new nets - and has already caught many human souls.” (The author of the letter is referring to the “Declaration” of Metropolitan Sergius on the loyalty of the clergy and flock to the godless power of the Bolsheviks.) In June 1937, M. A. Novoselov was transferred to the Vologda prison, where on January 17, 1938 the sentence of execution was announced. Thus, one of the engines of Russian church life, a prominent figure in Orthodox culture, ended his life in agony. A rumor persists, not yet confirmed by documentary evidence, that M. A. Novoselov supposedly took secret monastic vows with the name Mark back in the early 20s, and in 1923 he was secretly installed as a bishop; His consecration in the Danilov Monastery was performed by Archbishops Theodore (Pozdeevsky), Arseny (Zhadanovsky) and Bishop Seraphim (Zvezdinsky). Whether this was all true should become clear over time. “Testimonies of the Holy Spirit” is a fragment of the seventeenth letter from M. A. Novoselov, sent by him from underground on the day of Epiphany in 1926. Archpriest Georgy Florovsky. Published by: Prot. Georgy Florovsky. Paths of Russian theology. Paris, 1937. pp. 391–392. Archpriest Georgy Vasilyevich Florovsky (08/28/1893–08/11/1979) – theologian, philosopher, cultural historian. From a hereditary family of a priest. Graduated from the historical and philological department of Novorossiysk University (1916). He taught historical and philosophical disciplines in Odessa; from January 1920 he was forced to wander as a refugee, first in Bulgaria, then in Czechoslovakia. In 1926, he moved to Paris at the invitation of the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute to take up the department of patrolology. The courses taught at the institute comprised fundamental works: “Oriental Fathers of the 4th century” (Paris, 1931) and “Byzantine Fathers of the 5th–8th centuries” (Paris, 1933). These creations occupied a prominent place in Russian theological and patristic science. But the main book of Archpriest Georgy Florovsky (ordained in 1932), which absorbed all aspects of the life and culture of the Russian people associated with Orthodoxy, is “Ways of Russian Theology,” published in Paris in 1937. In September 1948, Father Georgy Florovsky (by that time already an archpriest) moved to the USA, where he was engaged in fruitful teaching activities for seven years, being a professor and dean of St. Vladimir’s Theological Seminary; simultaneously teaches at Columbia University. From 1956 to 1964 he headed the Department of Eastern Church History at Harvard University. He left a noticeable mark on the religious life of America. Venerable Silouan of Athos. About the uncreated Divine light and images of contemplation of it Published by: Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov). Elder Silouan. Life and teachings. Moscow-Minsk, 1991. pp. 161–170. The first edition of the book was published in Paris in 1952. It, with minor changes, repeated the author's copies, reproduced on a rotator in the amount of 300 copies and distributed by admirers of Elder Silouan on Mount Athos and in the countries of dispersion. Considerations of the elder's teachings are also presented in the book: Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov). See God as He is. Birmingham, 1985. Elder Silouan of Athos (in the world Semyon Ivanovich Antonov; 1866–09.24.1938) – schemamonk of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery. He came from peasants of the Tambov province. He took monastic vows on Mount Athos in 1896, and the schema in 1911. The ascetic is known as the compiler of numerous prayerful reflections reminiscent of psalms. These reflections express his truly Christian soul. Archbishop Nathanael (Lvov). The influence of St. Seraphim in Russian church history Published by: Archbishop Nathanael. Conversations about the Holy Scriptures and about faith and the Church. T. 3. N.I., 1992. pp. 190–195. Archbishop Nathanael (in the world Vasily Vladimirovich Lvov; 08/30/1906–11/08/1985) is the son of the “revolutionary” chief prosecutor under the Provisional Government, Vladimir Nikolaevich Lvov (prosecutor from March 3 to July 1917). After the October Revolution he ended up in Tomsk, then with the remnants of his family fled to Harbin, where he took monastic vows in 1929. There he studied theological and pastoral courses, later at the theological department of the St. Vladimir Institute. He was the cell attendant of Archbishop Nestor (Nikolai Aleksandrovich Anisimov; 11/09/1885–11/04/1962), Kamchatka missionary, Apostle of Kamchatka and a prominent figure in the Russian Orthodox Church. At this time, Hieromonk Nathanael made a number of missionary trips, in particular in 1935–1936 he visited the Christians of South India. Upon his return, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite, and in 1939 he joined the brotherhood of St. Job of Pochaev in Ladomirova in the Carpathians (Czechoslovakia). After the war, Archimandrite Nathanael, named bishop by Bishop Anastasius (Gribanovsky), was appointed to the Brussels and Western European bishopric. His pastoral activity then extended to the parishes in Mannheim and Berlin, where the Right Reverend, as an outstanding preacher and church publicist, did a lot to revive moral piety among his compatriots, abandoned by the will of fate to a foreign land. Since 1966, Bishop Nathanael has been the rector of the Monastery of St. Job in Munich, and five years later he was entrusted with managing the Austrian diocese. He was elevated to the rank of archbishop in 1981. Due to poor health, the elderly saint could no longer continue to minister to foreign parishes and now spent all his time in the Munich monastery. He was buried in the Russian cemetery in Wiesbaden. The works of Archbishop Nathanael were published by the Committee of Russian Orthodox Youth Abroad in five volumes (New York, 1991–1992). Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose). Published by: Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose). God is Fire // Moscow Church Bulletin. 1991. No. 2 (January). The fasting and prayer life of Hieromonk Seraphim Rose (1934–1982) was short: in his 48th year the Lord called him to Himself. A thoroughbred American, Rose came to Orthodoxy after a difficult search for truth and scholarly studies. He owes his conversion to Blessed John (Maksimovich). Having well mastered the teachings of the ancient ascetics of the Church of Christ, Father Seraphim strove to imitate their ascetic exploits. A lover of silence, he built a small cell for himself at the foot of a mountain in northern California (Platina), where he lived for seven years, engaged in prayer, theological works and translations in solitude. Archpriest Valentin Sventsitsky. Prophecy of the End Times Published by: Archpriest Valentin Sventsitsky. Monastery in the world. Sermons and teachings 1927–1928 T. 2. M., 1996. pp. 176–183. Archpriest Valentin Pavlovich Sventsitsky (1882–10/20/1931) – shepherd-martyr, spiritual writer. After graduating from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, he became interested in “Christian socialism” and participated in the creation of the Moscow Religious and Philosophical Society named after Vladimir Solovyov. Being in a state of deep spiritual crisis, Valentin Sventsitsky writes and publishes a number of extremely daring brochures, for which he was subjected to police persecution. A secret escape to France in 1909, wanderings in a foreign land awakened in the young man an impulse for moral purification, to rethink his entire previous life. He returned to his homeland a different person. Sventsitsky’s first desire was to go to the Caucasus to visit hermit monks and experience Orthodox holiness. He outlined his impressions of what he saw and felt in the book “Citizens of Heaven,” imbued with a deep understanding of the Christian feat. The book was published in St. Petersburg in 1915. The revolutionary nightmare finally dispelled Sventsitsky’s illusions about “Christian socialism.” Now he sees the path of salvation only in the churching of society. In the same 1917, Valentin Pavlovich, with the blessing of his spiritual father, the Optina elder Anatoly, accepted the priesthood. He was ordained by Metropolitan Veniamin (Kazan) of Petrograd, who was subsequently shot by the Bolsheviks. The dedication took place in the Ioannovsky Monastery, founded by Father John of Kronstadt. During the Civil War, Fr. Valentin acted on the side of the Volunteer Army. In 1920, Sventsitsky came to Moscow, where he preached in various churches and often served with His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, whom he reverently revered. For exposing the anti-church behavior of the Renovationists, Fr. Valentin was arrested in 1923 and exiled to Central Asia. Upon returning to Moscow, he began to serve in the Church of the Holy Martyr Pankratius, which is in one of the alleys on Sretenka. In the same church, the fearless shepherd continued to deliver heartfelt sermons, and in the hours free from services he organized spiritual conversations with parishioners. In an extensive cycle of conversations, eighteen teachings on the holiness of St. Seraphim of Sarov took a central place. Already in the introductory speech to the intended range of issues raised, Fr. Valentin emphasized the extraordinary closeness of the Sarov ascetic to the people: “The image of St. Seraphim is an image of the holiness of the Russian people. He is so close to us because we feel in him the best that is in the Russian people themselves. St. Seraphim is our national Russian saint. Not a single saint of God embodies the spirit of our Orthodoxy as much as in the image of the poor Seraphim, a man of prayer, a fasting man, touched, always joyful, comforting everyone, forgiving everyone, the Elder of All Russia. He is close to us because he is blood of our blood and flesh of our flesh. He is us ourselves, but raised from the mud, purified by heroism, enlightened by the grace of God. He is not only close to us, he is dear to us.” During Lent 1926, Fr. Valentin, together with his admirers, made a pilgrimage to Sarov and Diveev. The great seer, Blessed Maria Ivanovna of Diveyevo, predicts his speedy transition to another Moscow church - “St. Nicholas the Great Cross”, which is on Ilyinka. And so it happened - soon Archpriest Sventsitsky became the rector of this church. Here he created a strong church community of parishioners seeking the path of moral and spiritual improvement in spite of unprecedented persecution of believers. Two years later, Valentin Pavlovich was arrested again. This time the reason for his arrest was his open speech against the conciliatory Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) of July 16/29, 1927. The Siberian exile lasted a long time, until the death of Fr. Valentina in a remote village near Taishet on October 7/20, 1931. Thanks to the efforts of his relatives, the coffin with the body of the sufferer was transported to Moscow. The funeral service took place in the Trinity Church on Sretenka. The spiritual writer rests in the Vvedensky cemetery, where many come to his grave to pay tribute to his works and his martyrdom in life. To date, several books by Archpriest Valentin Sventsitsky have been published, among them, for the first time, “Dialogues” (Moscow, 1995) and “Conversations about spiritual life” (St. Petersburg, 1995). The pastoral analysis of the teachings of Elder Seraphim on the purpose of Christian life represents the seventh conversation held by Father Valentin with the parishioners of the Church of the Holy Martyr Pankratius (beginning of 1928). Published by: Lossky V.N. Essays on the mystical theology of the Eastern Church. M., 1991. pp. 122–130. The title of the fragment is given by the compiler, notes by the author. Vladimir Nikolaevich Lossky (05/25/1903–02/07/1958) - an outstanding Russian theologian. Born into the family of a famous philosopher. He entered St. Petersburg University as a 17-year-old boy, but failed to complete the course: in November 1922, the family was forced to leave Russia, and, as it turned out, forever. At first they settled in Prague, where Vladimir Lossky continued his education under the guidance of the prominent Byzantinist N.P. Kondakov. Later there will be Paris, Sorbonne University, defense of a master's thesis in the specialty of historian of the Middle Ages. Having mastered the basic spiritual values ​​of the West, the young scientist decided to devote himself to theology, strengthening the positions of the patristic Tradition, and witnessing the truth of Orthodoxy. V. N. Lossky was actively involved in the work of the Fotiev Brotherhood at the Three Saints Metochion in Paris, which set the goal of preventing a church schism among Russian refugees. V. Lossky’s first theological work, “The Dispute about Sophia,” was published in Russian in 1936 in Paris; is dedicated to a critical analysis of the “sophiesology” of Archpriest S. N. Bulgakov. Here the dogmatic meaning of the Decree of the Moscow Patriarchate was revealed, aimed at refuting the heretical doctrine of Sophianism. This work of Lossky significantly shook the position of heretical theologians and in many ways is still considered exemplary in the dogmatic debate on this subject. During the hard times of war, Vladimir Nikolaevich created his outstanding scholarly treatise, “Essay on the Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church,” published in French in 1944. It was this work that contributed to a better understanding of Orthodoxy by heterodox scholars, attracted the attention of Western theologians to the Patristic Tradition, and laid the foundation for a useful exchange of thoughts. After the end of World War II, the Institute named after St. Dionysius arose in Paris, in which V. N. Lossky began teaching courses in dogmatic theology and church history. Later, he successfully taught at Pastoral courses at the Western European Patriarchal Exarchate, and willingly participated in interdenominational theological and philosophical conferences. One after another, the works of the learned theologian appear: 1945 - “In the image and likeness of God”; 1948 – “The Procession of the Holy Spirit in the Orthodox Teaching of the Most Holy Trinity”, “On the Third Property of the Church”; 1950 - “Temptations of Church Consciousness”, “All Holy”; 1952 - “The Meaning of an Icon” (together with L. Uspensky); “Darkness and Light in the knowledge of God”; 1953 – “Redemption and Deification”; 1954 – “Elements of negative theology in the thought of St. Augustine", "Dominion and Kingdom"; 1955 – “Transfiguration”, “The Theological Concept of the Human Person”; 1957 – “The Midsummer of Pentecost”, “On the question of the procession of the Holy Spirit”, “The Dormition of the Mother of God”, “The problem of “seeing face to face” in the patristic tradition of Byzantium”; 1958 (the last year of his life) - “Tradition and Traditions”, “Theology of the Image”. After the death of V.N. Lossky, posthumous publications of a number of his works took place. In Russia, Lossky’s works became available to the Orthodox reader only from the late 60s, when the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate began publishing them in translations by V. A. Reshchikova. In 1972, the eighth issue of the collection “Theological Works” was published, entirely devoted to the publication of works by V. N. Lossky. Nowadays, the works of the Russian theologian have been published in their homeland as separate books, but the full realization of his legacy has yet to be realized. Written instructions from Elder Seraphim Servant of the Mother of God and the Seraphim (Simbirsk conscientious judge Nikolai Aleksandrovich Motovilov) LETTERS OF N. A. MOTOVILOV TO EMPERORS NICHOLAS I AND ALEXANDER II Letter from N. A. Motovilov to Emperor Nicholas I Letter to Emperor Nicholas I [Word by the Great Elder Seraphim] FROM THE PROPHECIES OF THE REVEREND SERAPHIM OF SAROV Appendix to the “Great Diveyevo Secret” (From the Florensky family archive) Published based on materials from the compiler... This refers to one of the first publications about the Reverend: Hegumen George. Tales about the life and exploits of Elder Seraphim, hieromonk of the Sarov desert and recluse, extracted from the notes of his student. – Mayak, a magazine of modern education, art and education in the spirit of the Russian people. St. Petersburg, 1844. T. 16. Section. "Literature". pp. 59–95. Separate edition. in 1845 The parents of Prokhor Isidorovich Moshnin (in monasticism Father Seraphim) belonged to the merchant class. Therefore, in order to leave the world for the monastery, a representative of the class had to obtain consent, in this case from the Kursk merchant society. According to church rules, no previous life can serve as an obstacle to entering monasticism, for, according to the teaching of the Holy Fathers, the legislators of monasticism (43rd canon of the VI Ecumenical Council), monasticism is a life of repentance, and a monastery is a hospital. A person entering a monastery is initially put on a test to determine how sincere and serious his intention is to devote himself to monastic life. Convinced of the sincere aspirations of the subject, the abbot blesses him to wear a cassock with a belt and a skufia. After years of obedience, the new monk is tonsured into a cassock, with the right to wear a cassock and kamilavka. This is not yet real monasticism, but only “the beginning of the holy image.” After the expiration of the legal probation period, usually three years, the ryasophore monk takes real tonsure and pronounces his vows. There are two levels of monastic rank: the lowest - the small schema, or mantle, and the highest - the great schema, or great angelic image. The rite of tonsure into the mantle is performed at the Divine Liturgy after entering with the Gospel, but it can also happen at the end of the all-night vigil. The mantle is the “robe of salvation”, without sleeves, as if showing the monk that he does not have his own will, he does not have hands to do the deeds of the old man, indecent, evil deeds. Kamilavka - “helmet of salvation.” For more details, see: Hegumen Averky. About monasticism. Jordanville, 1985. St. James is the brother of the Lord according to the flesh, called the Righteous from the 70 apostles. About him, see: Lebedev A.P., prof. Brothers of the Lord; review and analysis of ancient and new opinions on the issue. M., 1904. The words given in the retelling are taken from the “Conciliar Epistle of the Apostle James,” which is part of the New Testament canon (chapter 5, art. 17: “Whoever knows to do good and does not do it, it is sin for him”). Church Tradition attributes the ap. Jacob's creation of the proto-gospel "The Story of Jacob about the Birth of Mary". See: Apocrypha of ancient Christians. M., 1989. pp. 117–127. Theodosius the Great (died around 412) - an ascetic of the first centuries of Christianity. Coming from a noble family in Antioch, from a young age he left his parents’ rich home and embarked on the path of asceticism, settling in a small cell on the shores of the Gulf of Issa, where he founded a monastery. Saint Nicholas - Archbishop of Myra in Lycia (IV century), wonderworker; the most revered saint of God in Rus'. Lives of St. Nicholas testify to his great love for his neighbor and his constant concern for the suffering. Thus, it is known that, having once learned about the bitter need and poverty of a previously rich man, Saint Nicholas saved him from a great sin: having three adult daughters, the desperate father planned to give them over to fornication to save him from hunger. The saint, grieving for the dying sinner, secretly threw three bags of gold out his window at night and thereby saved the family from falling and spiritual death. He gave alms secretly. Pachomius the Great (292–346) – the founder of cenobitic monasticism, or Cenobism. St. Pachomius built a monastery on the Tavenna Island of the Nile River and in Thebaid (Upper Egypt). He surrounded the cells of the monks with a wall and introduced a strong rule, providing for chastity, renunciation of all earthly things and unquestioning obedience to the abbot. Its statutory rules subject the life of the inhabitants of the monastery to strict standards. They place work and prayer as the direct responsibility of the monks: by prohibiting the reception of outsiders, Pachomius the Great tried to isolate and seclude the monastery from the world. Demetrius of Rostov (1651–1709), in the world Daniil Savvich Tuptalo, is a saint, an outstanding church writer, the author of instructive, polemical, historical and dramatic works, a compiler of the lives of saints (the Four Menaions) and other books. “Having written the lives of the saints, he himself was worthy to be inscribed in their ranks” (Mikhail Lomonosov. Inscription on the saint’s silver shrine. 1757). The most famous book about him: Shlyapkin I.A. St. Demetrius of Rostov and his time. St. Petersburg, 1891. This expression is taken from the work of Demetrius of Rostov “The Spiritual Alphabet” (In the Russian translation by Bishop Justin. M., 1909). Theodosius of Pechersk is a monk, and since 1057 hegumen of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery, an ancient Russian miracle worker. The founder of the cenobitic monastic charter and the founder of monasticism on Russian soil. Fulfilling the most difficult obediences, the Monk Theodosius worked at the monastery more than others and often took on part of the duties of the brethren: he carried water, chopped wood, ground rye and took flour to each monk. According to contemporaries, Theodosius of Pechersk exposed his body to mosquitoes and gadflies: “Sometimes, when there were especially many gadflies and mosquitoes, he would sit at night on a slope near the cave and, exposing his body to the waist, sit, spinning wool for weaving shoes and singing David’s psalms.” Canonized in 1108. His life was written in the 80s of the 11th century by a monk of the same monastery, the chronicler Nestor. For the text of the life, see: Monuments of literature of Ancient Rus'. XI – early XII centuries. M., 1978. pp. 305–391. The Monk Athanasius of Athonite is the first main founder and organizer of monastic life on Athos (second half of the 10th century). Died in 1000. Under Athanasius of Athos, the so-called protate ruled - a meeting of all Athonite abbots. Father Pavel is the cell attendant of St. Seraphim. The elder predicted to him his death, which would be revealed by fire. Father Paul was the first to run into the Monk’s cell after his death. He and the novice John put out the fire that had started. Schemamonk Mark (died on November 4, 1817) was a Sarov desert dweller and recluse: St. Seraphim was buried near his grave. Read more: Hieromonk Sergius. A brief outline of the life of the elder of the Sarov Hermitage, schema-monk and ascetic Mark. M., 1839. The rule, “even if the Angel of the Lord gave to the Great Pachomius,” constitutes a trace. prayers: Trisagion according to Our Father. Lord have mercy 12 times. Glory even now, Come let us worship (three times). Psalm 50, I Believe, 100 Jesus Prayers, Worthy and Release. The word “Seraphim” translated from Hebrew means “fiery”, and according to Dionysius the Areopagite it means “warming”. Seraphim, as carriers of the pure fire of Divine love, occupy first place in the first degree of angelic ranks. The foundation of the Diveevo community, from which the Seraphim-Diveevo monastery was formed, was laid around 1780 by the landowner Agafia Semyonovna Melgunova. Having gone on a pilgrimage to the Sarov Hermitage, she stopped to rest 12 miles away in the village of Diveevo; there, in a dream vision, the Mother of God appeared to her and indicated that a church in Her name should be erected in this place. On the advice of the Sarov elders Pachomius and Isaiah, she established a women’s monastery here. Fr. Pachomius, who led the spiritual life of the sisters and visited the monastery, once took Fr. Seraphim, who was then a hierodeacon. Alexandra's mother (Agafia Semyonovna) was ill and, having received notification from the Lord of her imminent death, asked her to be given special treatment: saying goodbye to Fr. Pachomius, she tearfully begged him not to leave her novices. Fr. Pachomius promised that during his lifetime he would not leave them, and after him he would take care of them. Seraphim. After the death of the abbess, Elder Pachomius religiously fulfilled the responsibility he had assumed to provide spiritual care for the sisters and provide them with material support. Cell rule of Rev. Seraphim, given by him to the Diveyevo nuns, establishes the sequence of prayers and bows. Snitka is the popular name for common snot (Aegopodium podagraria) - a herbaceous plant of the Umbelliferae family. Found in abundance under forest canopy. Young shoots of the pine tree are edible and are prepared by drying. Anna Fedorovna Aksakova (1829–1889), née Tyutcheva, in her notes “At the Court of Two Emperors” talks about the veneration of Elder Seraphim in the August House. At first, the notes were published in the “Russian Archive” (1903, No. 5), then an excerpt from them “St. Seraphim of Sarov in the Royal Family” was published as a separate book (St. Petersburg, type. M. Akinfiev. 16 p.). The maid of honor Aksakova heard stories about the monk from Lukerya Zanyatova (1812–1893), a Diveyevo novice, later the founder of the Seraphim-Ponetaevsky monastery, located 43 versts from Sarov. Troparion for the Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos (celebrated on August 15, Old Art): “At the Nativity you preserved your virginity, at the Dormition you did not forsake the world to the Mother of God, you reposed before the belly, Mother of the Being of the Belly, and through your prayers you delivered our souls from death.” But to one widow, who was lamenting that her husband had not confessed or received communion before his death, Fr. Seraphim said in consolation: “Do not grieve about this, my joy, do not think that because of this alone his soul will perish. God can only judge who to reward or punish with what. Sometimes it happens like this: here on earth he communes, but with the Lord he remains uncommuned; another wants to partake, but for some reason his desire is not fulfilled, completely independent of him - in such an invisible way one is granted communion through the Angel of God.” During the Diveyevo community, at the beginning of its existence, Father Seraphim ordered the construction of a windmill so that the sisters, in their poverty, could feed themselves from their labors. From this mill, the part of the monastery received the name Melnichnaya, into which, according to the elder’s behest, only maidens were to be accepted. – Here and below are notes from the authors of the texts cited, unless otherwise indicated. You need to know the virgin Sarov forest, which surrounds the Sarov desert for tens of thousands of acres, in order to appreciate the natural fear of Father Gury. Father pronounced his name, like all Kurdish people, not “Seraphim”, but “Serakhvim”. The essence of the path is that those who imagine themselves to be the husband, otherwise they will end up in the depths of hell (Proverbs 16:25). There are paths that seem straight to a person, but their end is the path to death. In the Acts of the Apostles: Having passed through Phrygia and the Galatian country, they were not allowed by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. Having reached Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not allow them (Acts 16:6–7). The ascetic work of the Monk Theognost is published in “Christian Reading”, 1826. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), bishop. Essays. St. Petersburg, 1905. T. 3: Ascetic experiences. P. 237. It is worthy of attention that the first metropolitan of the Russians, Saint Hilarion of Kyiv, who lived at the dawn of Christianity in Russia (in the 12th century) and through great feats of fasting and prayer in the cave that became the ancestor of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, owns the famous “Sermon on Law and Grace”, in which he explains the doctrine of the essence of the salvation brought by Christ on the basis and in the meaning of the words Saint John the Theologian: the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17); In full accordance with this word of the first, so to speak, Russian theologian, there is also what the first modern theologian N. N. Glubokovsky says in his last work, “Orthodoxy in its essence”: “For Orthodoxy, Christianity is not a teaching, but a life of mysterious communion with God in Christ and grace-filled renewal from the Holy Spirit in the whole brotherhood of believers.” For an indication and explanation of all these and other places and their explanation in this sense, see the article by priest I. Solovyov “Worship of God in Spirit and Truth” (Faith and Church. 1889. Books IV–V). Macarius of Egypt. Creations. Sergiev Posad, 1904. P. 69. Triodion Colored. Catechetical Word of John Chrysostom Fr. Ascetic words. 25–28 (about three methods of knowledge) // Works like those of our holy father Abba Isaac the Syrian, an ascetic and hermit, who was the bishop of the Christ-loving city of Nineveh. Ed. 2 Sergiev Posad, 1893. pp. 124–138. Novoselov M.A. The forgotten path of experimental knowledge of God. Ed. 3. M., 1912. P. 9. Word 5 (On the elevation of the mind), ch. 15 // Macarius of Egypt. Conversations. pp. 413–414. – 237. Novoselov M.A. Decree. op. P. 10. Nilus S. A. Great in small. 2nd ed. Tsarskoe Selo, 1905. P. 175, 183. Nilus S. A. Great in small. pp. 184–185. Ep. Feofan. Thoughts for every day of the year. Ed. 4. 1904. P. 161. The quoted passage belongs to Origen - see: Novoselov M.A. Decree. op. Vyshny Volochek, 1902. P. 10. Luke 24:5; the quoted passage belongs to Blessed Augustine - see: Novoselov M.A. Ibid. St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. The sighs of a sinful soul to Christ, the Son of God // Creations like those among the saints of our father Tikhon of Zadonsk. T. 1. M., 1875. P. 212. Expression by I.V. Kireevsky: “Isaac the Syrian, the most profound of all philosophical writings” (Kireevsky I.V. In response to A.S. Khomyakov. Complete. Collected works. T. 1. M., 1911. P. 119). Word 55 (message to St. Simeon the Wonderworker) // Isaac the Syrian. Decree. op. pp. 262, 265. Antiphon of the 4th tone at Matins. Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, secret prayer. Mystery, 1: PG, t. 91, col. 665–668; P. De Lubas, op. cit., p. 27. See generally chap. II of this remarkable work, where the author develops the idea of ​​the unity of human nature in the Church, based mainly on the Fathers of the Greek Church. P.G., t. 44, cl. 1116–1117. P.G., t. 120, cl. 509. [Russian. trans.: St. Simeon the New Theologian. Divine hymns. Sergiev Posad, 1917. P. 14.] An expression taken from the “Word of the 41st, on St. Pentecost" St. Gregory the Theologian (PG, t. 36, cl. 441), which served to compile the most beautiful hymns for the service on St. Pentecost. About the purpose of Christian life. Conversation by Rev. Seraphim of Sarov with N. A. Motovilov. Sergiev Posad, 1914. pp. 38–39. Simeon the New Theologian. Word 45, 9. Rus. trans.: Words. Vol. I. P. 396. Word 57, 4. Rus. trans.: Words. Vol. II. M., 1890. pp. 47–48. The controversy regarding the authenticity of these works, and even the fact that they were attributed to the circles from which Messalianism was subsequently born, in no way detracts from the high value of the Conversations of St. Macaria. The significance they have in the tradition of Christian spirituality is undeniable. See: o. L. Villecourt. Date and origin of the “Spiritual Discourses” attributed to Macarius (Dom le Villecourt. La date et l’origine des Homélies spirituelles attribuées à Macaire. – In: Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, 1920). See also the note about. Stiglmayr - “Pseudo-Makarius and the mysticism of the early Messalianers” (Stiglmayr P. Pseudo-Makarius und die Altermystik der Messalianer. In: Zeitsrift fur katholische Theologie. Vol. 49 (1925). pp. 244-260) and mainly a remarkable refutation of the hypothesis of Fr. Villekura W. Jaeger - “Two rediscovered works of ancient Christian literature: Gregory of Nyssa and Macaryus” (Jaeger. W. Two rediscovered works of ancient Christian literature: Gregory of Nyssa and Macaryus. Leiden, 1954). See the example of the “epiphany of light” in the “Life of St. Simeon" Nikita Stifat, ed. Haushera, p. 92–96. Western hagiography provides a typical example of the “Epiphany of Light” in the narrative of the ecstasy of St. Benedict, at St. Gregory the Great (Dialogues. Book II. Chapter 35. (P. L. T. 66. Stb. 198–200). Some excerpts from this monument to Russian spiritual life of the early 19th century were published in French: “The Conversation of St. Seraphim about the Holy Spirit” (ed. Le Semeur, March–April 1927); “Conversation between St. Seraphim and Motovilov” (excerpts). Troparion for the second Sunday of Great Lent, dedicated to the memory of St. Gregory Palamas. “From renewed contact with the great Catholic tradition of the East we can expect rejuvenation and new fruits in our study of theology.” Congar O. Deification in the spiritual tradition of the East (Congar. M.-J. La defication dans la tradition spirituelle de l’Orient. – In: “La vie spirituelle”. No. 188. May 1, 1935. P. 107). That is, from a sinner to a righteous one. This essay was compiled by me on the basis of the handwritten memoirs of N. A. Motovilov, supplemented by conversations with his widow, Elena Ivanovna, and the sisters of St. Diveyevo monastery. This image belonged to N.A. Motovilov’s father, Alexander Ivanovich, as the eldest in the family, but during Nikolai Alexandrovich’s childhood orphanhood, it went to G.I. Motovilov. Nikolai Alexandrovich mourned this image all his life, but could not achieve its return. In general, it should be noted that in the Motovilov papers that I got for analysis, there was a terrible disorder - as if someone’s hand, out of spite, had frayed, scattered and torn these manuscripts, which often concealed the most precious messages. "Conversation about the purpose of Christian life." Continuation of Motovilov's manuscript. The reader can see how justified Motovilov’s fears were from the latest articles included in the book “Great in Small.” Famous hieroschemamonk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, who had Emperor Alexander I. Now Bishop of Chisinau (1911). Sarov novice. Those interested can have detailed information about him in the Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery. The significance of Motovilov for Diveev is sufficiently clarified in the chronicle. His portrait attached to this chronicle with the inscription: “Benefactor of the Diveyevo Monastery” indicates with sufficient force that the covenant of Fr. Seraphim was fulfilled by him to the end. The Motovilovsky stud farm was at one time very famous in the Simbirsk province. He presented the shesterik to Sovereign Nicholas I as a gift, for which Motovilov was given a wonderful diamond ring from the Sovereign's office. Something similar happened during the last unfortunate Japanese War with the icon of the Queen of Heaven “On Two Swords,” intended by the vision and faith of the donors to protect Port Arthur. Port Arthur never saw this icon within its walls. Zosima was the governor and abbot of the Zadonsk Monastery in the seventies of the last century. On the letter is the resolution of Nicholas I. His Majesty’s own hand is written in pencil: “March 15, 1854. If he, as a loyal subject, has not forgotten his oath, then he must fulfill my order and convey on paper what he has to say to me: then I will decide whether I should call him or not.” Nikolai. Confidant of Emperor Nicholas I, later chief of gendarmes and head of the III department (1844–1856). Her blessing, common to all these four places, is that She promised to be personally in each of these places for three hours every day - and would not allow any of their inhabitants to perish. And how now, with the permission of the cocellar of this Council, I saw it cracked, but excellently and then graciously preserved under No. 537 (Note by Motovilov). The assassination attempt of the terrorist Karakozov on Emperor Alexander II. – Comp.