VI. «Венок на могилу Батюшки»

Metropolitan Tryphon (Turkestan). Sermon at the funeral service for Elder Barsanuphius on April 6, 1913. I remember, dear brother, Father, how I entered your wretched cell in the Skete. Its entire furnishings consisted of a wooden table, a wooden bed without any bedding; icons and books constituted its only decoration. I remember how this venerable, gray-haired novice humbly knelt before me, accepting my blessing - I was a hieromonk then. I remember with what joy you spoke about Skeet: “I like it here so much, it’s so good here, and I only wish that I would never be transferred from here anywhere...” Years have passed, and now you are sent to the Japanese war as a priest under the Red Cross detachment. While passing through Moscow, you visited me at the Epiphany Monastery and asked me to bless you with the icon of St. Great Martyr Panteleimon. And again you bowed your gray head before me, accepting the blessing. You regretted that you were leaving Skete, but you humbly submitted to the will of God. “Well, in Skete we have to fight enemies a hundred times more insidious, cunning and evil than any Japanese,” you said, meaning the enemies of our salvation. The years of the war and the subsequent events of 1905–1906 passed. Exhausted by what I had to endure during this time, I went to Optina to rest - and here I met you again. How many wonderful evenings we spent in conversations! What valuable instructions you gave me, what lofty speeches you gave! Your friendship was precious to me, dear brother, Father! And the time you spent in tireless labor for the good of the souls entrusted to you by God has passed - and now at the end of your life you experienced the last test. God tested you, as He once tested Abraham, and just as He demanded that he sacrifice his only son to Himself, so God was pleased to take from you your most beloved child, your wonderful, fragrant Hermitage, which you so beautifully decorated. And a whole sea of ​​deceit, base malice, slander and lies arose against you - you patiently endured everything, resignedly surrendering yourself to the will of God - and at the end of it all, they tore you away from your beloved Skete and transferred you to a new place. This change did not come at a cheap price. Your strength was strained, your nerves burned out, your heart was tired and tormented - and you left us, went there - to God. And we... we were left alone. The prophet Elijah once ascended to God on a fiery chariot, and his disciple Elisha looked at the sky, crying out: “My Father! My father! So today we want to exclaim: Our Father! Our Father! Who did you leave us with? What are we going to do now? Why did you leave us orphans? (The Bishop fell silent and began to cry. The whole church was sobbing and it was not immediately possible to continue.) I bow to you, dear brother, Father, for your love for me, for your wonderful conversations, for your precious instructions. And I bow to you (the Lord bowed to the grave) for your spiritual children. As a shepherd, I am well aware of the sea of ​​sorrows, doubts and sin that surrounds modern humanity; I know that people often reach the abyss of despair, to suicide, and that is why I know how precious elder leaders like the late Father are in our time. At the moment of final death, such an old man appears to a desperate person and says: “Wait, don’t be afraid, don’t despair, all is not lost, give me your hand, I will lead you onto the road, lean on me, I will lead you, lift your sorrows, help you start life again,” such an old man was Father: he lived with the sorrows of his children and burned out in sorrows. I am addressing you, brothers of this monastery, maybe at times he seemed stern to you, maybe you met a stern look on his part, an unkind word and considered him unkind and stern - but believe me, with my archpastoral word I assure you that he sincerely loved you and did everything, seeking one thing - your good and the salvation of your souls. Let us pray for the deceased, that the Lord may house him in His courts, and through his prayers He will have mercy on us! The head of the hermitage is Hieromonk Theodosius (Pomortsev). Homily on the fortieth day since the blessed death of Elder Barsanuphius (May 10, 1913) Remember your mentors and others like you I spoke to you the word of God: theirs looking at the end of residence, It has already been forty days since Father Barsanuphius rested in the Lord. A few days before his death, he asked those around him to read the Holy Gospel, which was read almost continuously until his death. This blessed death of the Elder was deeply touching and edifying! It seemed that he fell asleep peacefully, and only the cessation of breathing revealed that the soul had left the body. The Lord sent His servant a blessed, quiet death after a difficult life, which Father Barsanuphius lived as a true Christian and a true monk, in hope in God and in complete devotion to the guidance of the good and caring Providence of God for all people. Therefore, according to the word of the Apostle, we, as spiritual children of the deceased Elder, will remember his instructions, his life and his blessed death. Let us remember so that, having the image of a mentor before us, we do not lose the treasure collected from his instructions. Father Barsanuphius, having entered the Skete, lived there for 12 years before entering public service to the monastery and the people. During this time, prudently taking advantage of the silence of the Skete and all its amenities for inner spiritual life, he diligently read the writings of St. Fathers who taught monastic life, and was imbued with their spirit, learning what he read from the experience of his own life and enduring many different sorrows, which always meet every monk who wants to live truly monastically, for the enemy of the salvation of the human race does not sleep, but like a roaring lion, he walks, looking for someone to devour 525. But, remembering the words of the Gospel: whoever endures to the end will be saved 526, Father humbly endured and, enduring, succeeded more and more in spiritual life, for “as much as the heart can accommodate in enduring sorrows, so much can it accommodate the grace of God” 527. And when he matured spiritually to such an extent that he could already take on the ministry of the word, then by the will of the archpastor and the monastery authorities, or better yet, by the will of God, Father Barsanuphius was appointed priest of the Church of Christ, so that he may shine for all. Soon, one after another, he was awarded clergy, eldership and monastery leadership. Father did not seek or desire this; on the contrary, he did not even dare to take on this difficult burden, realizing that he would have to part with the silence and silence of the humble cell in which he had already thought of ending the days of his life, and realizing what responsibilities and difficulties would then fall on him. And only out of monastic duty, for holy obedience, Father took upon himself this cross, which he carried for 10 years until his death. But while carrying out this obedience, Father Barsanuphius retained his love for a quiet, humble life in a solitary cell and often expressed the thought to those close to his spiritual children that, having abandoned everything and renounced all positions, he would again retire to a simple fraternal cell and prepare for death, crying about his sins. How difficult it is to bear the abbot's cross, those who have carried or are bearing it know. It is so difficult that many saints fled and shied away from it when they were called to this ministry, although they were endowed with the grace of God, for they realized all the difficulty and responsibility of this obedience and remembered the words of the Lord: Whoever wants to be great among you, let him be your servant 528. Therefore, taking upon themselves this cross of service by word and authority only for holy obedience, and not out of any of their personal, ambitious goals and benefits, they looked at themselves as ministers and shepherds, to whom the task of serving the salvation of the verbal sheep of the flock of Christ was entrusted, and they knew that for the fulfillment of this obedience they would have to give back the word and receive a worthy reward at the Last Judgment of Christ. If this service has always been so difficult, now it is especially so. For Satan is apparently rising against the Church of Christ with all the forces of hell, and ravenous wolves are trying to scatter the verbal sheep of Christ... Father Barsanuphius deeply understood and recognized all this, but it was precisely this that forced him to stand in the place where the Lord was pleased to place him. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, does not leave them and does not run from them when he sees the wolf coming. 529, for their life will be exacted from him; This is what Father said and with all his strength, with all the love of his lofty soul, he devoted himself to serving his neighbors. If, according to the word of the Apostle, turning a sinner from the error of his ways will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins 530, then how much greater a reward is worthy of the one who, perhaps, hundreds, if not thousands, of souls brought to Christ, who did not disdain any sinner, even, on the contrary, tried to pour out on him all the power of his love, in order to tear him away from sin, in order to snatch him from the claws of Satan, in order to kindle in him the hope of salvation... And with what gratitude and reverence the memory of the Elder will be preserved by those who visited Father for confession. Confession is a sacrament without which a person’s salvation cannot be accomplished; for almost every person, after the blissful years of innocent infancy, leaves a pious life, feelings and thoughts of grace “to a distant country” and wanders along the crossroads of this world, losing his way from the true path and falling into various sins and vices. And so often whole years and even decades pass! But then a person seems to come to his senses, understand that it is impossible to live like this, that such a life is destruction, and begins to feel the need for a different life, a life according to God, according to conscience. But after wandering for so long through the paths of sin, a person loses the concepts of true and correct, and therefore does not know how and where to start. He tries to improve his life on his own, but he becomes perplexed and despondent, seeing that he is not achieving anything in his intention. Then the grace of God leads him to the idea that first of all it is necessary to repent and through repentance lay the beginning and foundation of a new life. To repent means to be reconciled with God and receive forgiveness of sins from Him. This is done in the Church of Christ through confession, sincere, heartfelt confession. It is necessary to approach it with the consciousness of its necessity, for confession is a spiritual court at which a person is given by God the opportunity to be justified if he does not want to fall into eternal condemnation at the Last Judgment of Christ. For if we have condemned ourselves, we will not be condemned where there is great and endless condemnation. It is true that a person, before he came to the realization of such a need for confession, attended it several times. But how was it? There were times, either for the sake of form, or for custom, or other reasons, not confessing all sins, being ashamed to say the most serious sins out of false shame, or not understanding the gravity of sins, sometimes considering even mortal sins to be innocent fun. Of course, under such conditions, confession lost its power, the person’s mind was not enlightened, and the burden of sin continued to lie on the person’s soul like a terrible oppression. But something completely different happens to a person who begins confession with the consciousness of his sins. After confession, he feels pacification of conscience, accepts the hope of salvation, his soul seems to be resurrected, awakens from the heavy sleep of sin, and he is ready to embark on a new path, the path of pleasing God. Not everyone easily decides to begin confession with all sincerity: in many, confession is preceded by a painful struggle, and others do not even realize the full necessity of confession. And for all such, Father Barsanuphius was indispensable. He understood the power of confession and paid special attention to it. He was given a special gift from God for this. The soul of the repentant sinner was immediately disposed to him, felt trust, for Father did not push him away, did not disdain him and, revealing his own soul to him, helped him confess his sins and expose his sinful ulcers, which he hid in his soul, perhaps, for many years, carrying within himself through this the guarantee of eternal death. Father knew how, at the same time, to dispose a person to sincere confession, and to show him all the severity and ugliness of sins, and to pour hope of salvation into his soul. His word was powerful, and his instructions were indelibly imprinted on the human soul, for they came from the grace-filled experience and knowledge of the human soul with all its weaknesses and strengths. Father knew how to accept, listen to, and give appropriate advice and instruction to everyone who came to him, being made wise by the grace of God. And this grace that rested on the Elder could be experienced by anyone who came to him as an elder. And they come to the elder for no other reason than to humble their wisdom and break their evil will, in order to make it submissive to the will of God. Here Father appeared in all the greatness of an old man. Even his appearance and manner made a strong beneficial impression. He was ready to kindly treat anyone, no matter who he was, and he could not stand only hypocrisy, self-indulgence, stubborn disobedience and pride. He treated such people strictly and even harshly, because he could not indulge them like a boss and an elder. And one must not be embarrassed by this severity, for it agrees with the spiritual law, for this is what the Holy Fathers taught, for example, Rev. John Climacus, Rev. Mark the Ascetic and others. Even in the Gospel itself, along with the promise of forgiveness and bliss, strict denunciations and threats are uttered. This means that one does not interfere with the other; This means that both are necessary and consistent with the spirit of Christianity. And there is no doubt that the spirit of Christ dwelt in the Elder and attracted crowds of people to him. He became known throughout Russia, in all levels of society. His senile dignity was attested to by many clergy who were in spiritual communication and correspondence with him and who benefited from his instructions. Many called him the great and godly Elder, having experienced the power of his godly advice. Many had such faith in Father that they accepted his words without any doubt, and, indeed, for the sake of such simple hearts, the Lord made the Elder so wise that through him he expressed His all-holy will. And the fame of Father Barsanuphius grew and grew, although he himself was afraid of this and even tried to close himself off, humbly considering himself a sinner and asking his spiritual children not to say anything about him. But the lamp was lit for this purpose and placed on the lampstand, so that it could shine. And he shone for all of us with the help of God’s grace, instructing us and guiding us to salvation. Let us unceasingly remember the Elder in prayer, paying love for love and nurturing the hope that even beyond the grave he will not forget us, just as he did not forget us during his lifetime. Amen. Compiled by Fr. Nikon (Belyaev). Words of Elder Alexander of Gethsemane. Hieroschemamonk Alexander (Strygin; † 02/9/1878), elder of the Gethsemane monastery of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, originally the spiritual son and pupil of Ven. Elders of Optina Leo and Anthony. You might be interested in: