Глава 3. О старчестве

The transition of the elder Fr. Leonidas in Optina Pustyn is very remarkable in that he introduced and strengthened the so-called eldership in this monastery. And since this image of monastic life, based on the Gospel, apostolic and patristic teachings, is little known in our time, although a lot has been written about it recently, before continuing the story about the life of the elder Fr. Leonida, it is advisable to say a few words about old age. It is not something new, however, that we mean to say anything about this subject, but something already expressed long ago by the late Optina elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose and printed in previous editions of the elder’s biography, Fr. Leonida. To this we dare to add only something small, perhaps useful for clarifying the subject 15. Elder, elders 16 is a commonly used name in monasteries for old and senior monks, especially those distinguished by the rigor of monastic life and who are primarily able to guide others in spiritual life. What is eldership? – Eldership, if you look at it, so to speak, from the outside, is nothing more than a monastic institution or part of a monastic charter (wherever, of course, it is introduced). The very work or, in monastic language, “doing” or, finally, eldership, in its internal meaning, in relation to the elder-mentor, is called eldership (from the word helmsman) or, closer to the Russian dialect, eldership, or simply eldership. In relation to those being led, it can be called the senile path, by which the elder-mentor leads those who are spiritually related to him to improvement in spiritual life. Eldership in this last sense, that is, as the path of senility, according to the definition of the late Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose, of blessed memory, consists of a sincere spiritual attitude and obedience of spiritual children to their spiritual father or elder. a) Its beginning can be seen, firstly, from the fact that it originates from the Beginningless. We see in the One Trihypostatic Deity Himself the unconditional submission and obedience of the Son of God and the Holy Spirit to the Ancient of Days (See Dan. 7:9). For example, our Lord Jesus Christ speaks about Himself in the Holy Gospel of John: For I came down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of the Father who sent Me (6, 38); also: My teaching is not mine, but of him who sent me. And: I did not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true (7, 16, 28). And: I have kept the commandments of My Father (15, 10). And from the Apostle Paul: he was obedient even to the point of death, death on the cross (Phil. 2:8). And about the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, in His farewell conversation with the disciples, the Lord Jesus Christ said that He will not come by Himself, but the Father will send Him (John 14:26). And due to the one power and strength with the Father, in another place he speaks of the Comforter: Him I will send to you; and then he still adds: from the Father (John 15:26). And also about the Holy Spirit: It is not from oneself that one should speak to have, but if he hears, he will say to have (John 16:13). From the above passages of Holy Scripture and from many others, one can see that the two Persons of the Holy Trinity - the Son of God and the Holy Spirit, despite the fact that they have one essence and equal power and glory with God the Father, are in unconditional subordination to God the Father or, reducing this subordination to human concepts, if not boldly put it that way, consist in a sincere attitude towards Him or simply in obedience. b) Universality. – Secondly, the dignity of eldership is guaranteed by its universality. Since there is One Creator of all creatures, invisible and visible, and all creatures more or less bear the imprint of God’s properties, so naturally the general law of subordination of lower creatures to higher ones should be inherent in all of them, in the likeness of their Creator. This is required by both the unity and order of the entire universe, like many different parts in one well-ordered machine. Thus, we know that in the angelic world the lower ranks receive knowledge of the Unknown and Incomprehensible and enlightenment through the highest or oldest ranks (St. Dionysius the Areopagite on the Heavenly Hierarchy). The souls of the righteous who have departed from this life, together with the angels, benefit those living on earth, admonishing them and helping them to please God. Bypassing the hierarchical subordination in the militant Church, let us say that those who strive in this temporary life to enter into the eternal belly are guided (and it cannot be otherwise) by the advice and instructions of the elders or elders experienced in spiritual life. Let us add to this: all scientific knowledge, art, artistry, and even simple crafts certainly require their mentors. Finally, evil itself is subject to the same law. Those who have been tempted in a vicious life are leaders on the path of vice for those who have not yet experienced it. That's why St. Gregory of Sinaite says: “It is impossible for anyone to learn the art of virtues on their own, although some have used their experience as a teacher. For by itself, and not on the advice of those who have succeeded, self-conceit induces or, better yet, generates action. If the Son (of God) does not create anything of Himself, but, as the Father taught Him, He does so (Cf.: John 5:19, 10), and the Spirit does not come from Himself (Cf.: John 16:13): then who can imagine that he has reached such a height of virtue, at which he does not need anyone’s secret guidance? Madness is greater than virtue, which seems to have such in self-delusion" 17. c) The need for senile care. – The need and even the extreme need for elder care in relation to spiritual life naturally follows from human nature itself, damaged by sin. Sin has darkened the eyes of man's soul. He has the most vague ideas about spiritual subjects. He neither sees nor hears when he sees. Brought up among the world's sinful customs and having himself acquired many bad habits, he often has a very superficial, and sometimes completely perverted, concept of religion and morality. All such people, not excluding the so-called educated class, are usually characterized by one appearance. Going to church on a holiday, lighting a candle in front of an icon, making a few bows - that’s all the spiritual work of such people. And about the fact that in the church of God and in general among prayer, evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy and generally vain thoughts come from the heart, that is, about everything extraneous, necessary and unnecessary, desecrating the inner man (Matthew 15, 19, 20), - there is little grief about this. Often such thoughts are not considered a sin. By the way, this is the very essence of evil and sin. And in our terrible times, let us add to this, complete disbelief in God, in the Providence of God and in all that is holy is already spreading. Evil thoughts are the roots of evil deeds. That's why Rev. Abba Dorotheos says: “If you lust, even if you have not committed adultery today, lust will not cease to confuse you internally until it draws you into the action itself. If you are angry and irritated with your brother, then someday you will fall into slander; (then) you will begin to insidiously (against him) and thus, little by little, moving forward, you will finally come to murder 18.” That is why the Lord said to the Pharisees: blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the glass and dish (Matthew 23:26). And through the prophet: take away wickedness from your souls before My eyes (Isa. 1:16). Then an even greater difficulty. Given our spiritual blindness, the path that we must follow to our heavenly fatherland, according to the words of the Lord Himself, is narrow (Matthew 7:14), running in the middle of terrible rapids and abysses. And therefore, great care and caution is required on our part to follow this dangerous path. And Holy Scripture warns us in this case: do not turn aside either to the right hand or to the left, but walk in the royal way (Deut. 5:32; 17:11). And the Savior Himself said: no one has laid his hand on the head and in vain turns back, there is control in the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:62). Finally, according to Rev. John Climacus, “we have enemies who are crafty and evil, insidious, sneaky, holding fire in their hands and wanting to burn the church of God with the very flame that is in it 19, enemies who are strong and never sleep, insubstantial and invisible” 20. d) Danger for those going through spiritual life without spiritual nourishment. That is why the same saint says: “Those were deceived 21 who, having placed their trust in themselves, considered that they had no need for any guide.” “Just as someone who does not have a guide conveniently goes astray on his path, even if he is very smart, so someone who goes arbitrarily along the path of monasticism easily perishes, even if he knew all the wisdom of this world” 22. “Whoever follows (the monastic path) on his own, without the evangelical mind and without any instruction,” says Rev. Mark the Ascetic, he stumbles a lot, falls into many pits and snares of the evil one, and falls into many troubles, and does not know what end he will receive. For many have walked their path with many labors, asceticism and suffering, and have endured many labors for God’s sake; but their self-rule, lack of reasoning, and the fact that they did not seek instruction from their neighbors made such their labors futile” 23 . The reason for the charm of self-determined monks, by the way, is that demons always try to show us light with darkness and darkness with light, as St. Apostle: Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). Spiritual guidance is the unforgettable path. “It is impossible,” says Cassian the Roman, “for someone who lives not according to his own will and understanding, but according to the instructions of the elders, to fall into demonic delusion. The crafty enemy cannot laugh at the inexperience of one who, due to false shame, is not accustomed to hiding all the thoughts that arise in his heart” 24. “Just as a ship (says St. John Climacus) that has a good helmsman, with the help of God, can safely enter the pier, so the soul, having a good shepherd, comfortably ascends to heaven, although it once committed many sins” 25. e) Signs of a sincere spiritual attitude of spiritual children towards elders-mentors. The Monks Callistus and Ignatius in the Philokalia set forth five signs of the sincere spiritual attitude of spiritual children towards their elders-mentors: 1) complete faith in their mentor and primate; 2) truth - to be true before him in word and deed; 3) do not fulfill your will in anything, but try to cut it off in everything, that is, do nothing according to your own desire and according to your own understanding, but always ask about everything and do it according to the advice and will of your mentor and primate; 4) not to contradict or argue at all, since contradiction and contentiousness come from reasoning with unbelief and arrogance; and 5) perfect and pure confession of sins and secrets of the heart 26. Explaining this last point, Elder Ambrose further says in more detail: “Spiritual attitude requires from those being led, in addition to the usual confession before Communion of the Holy Mysteries (if, of course, the elder is a hieromonk and confessor), and frequent confession to the elder and spiritual father, as needed, not only of deeds and actions, but also of all passionate thoughts and movements and secrets of the heart, as Basil the Great speaks about this in the Rules, expounded at length (question 26), Simeon the New Theologian in the first part of the Philokalia (chapter 122) and other holy Fathers.” f) The need for revelation of thoughts. This confession or revelation is necessary because, according to St. John Climacus, “thoughts that are not declared to the spiritual father turn into deeds” 27. And “the announcement and revelation of evil thoughts before the fathers,” according to the Rev. Cassian the Roman, - dries it up and weakens it" 28. Who exactly should you have as a mentor? “However (says St. Gregory of Sinai) it is not necessary to question everyone, but one to whom the management of others has been entrusted, who shines in life and who, being poor, makes many rich, according to Scripture (Cf.: 2 Cor. 6, 10). Many inexperienced people have harmed many foolish ones, for whom they will be judged by death. For it does not belong to everyone to lead others, but to those who have been given divine judgment in the spirit, distinguishing the best from the worst by the sword of the word. Everyone has their own mind and their own natural, active or scientific reasoning, but not everyone has spiritual reasoning. Why does the Wise Sirach say: Those who make peace with you will be many, but your advisors are one from thousands (Sirach. 6, 6). It’s a lot of work to find a leader who is not astray, either in deeds, or in words, or in understanding. Whether someone is not lost can be seen from this if he has the testimony of Scripture both in action and in understanding, being humble in the things about which he ought to be wise” 29 . We must seek and pray to God to show us an unforgettable mentor. Many nowadays, especially those who reject the path of spiritual relationship, cite the lack and impoverishment of spiritual mentors as their justification. But St. Basil the Great says that if someone diligently looks for a good teacher, he will certainly find 30. And St. Simeon the New Theologian teaches: “With prayers and tears, beg God to show you a person who could well fall for you.” And further he says: “It is better to be called a student of a student, and not to live arbitrarily and rob the useless fruits of one’s will” 31. However, if someone, even after a thorough and diligent search, could not find a spiritual mentor and leader, in such need the elder Fr. Paisiy Velichkovsky, in a letter to Priest Demetrius, offers the following advice: “In these difficult times, which is worthy of much weeping and sobbing given the extreme impoverishment of such mentors, if any zealous monks wanted to please God by such a residence, then God Himself and the divine writings of these reverend fathers, communal mentors, even hitherto preserved by God’s Providence, serve as a teacher and mentor. Listening carefully to this (scripture), as if to themselves, those who read with the fear of God and understanding can, in part, encouraged by God, and become imitators of their God-pleasing life, being nourished and admonished by their father, who has gathered them together in the name of Christ or who has been unanimously chosen by them, not from themselves, but from the Holy Scripture and from the same teaching of the Holy Fathers who teach their spiritual children” 32 . g) An elder may not have high spiritual gifts. – Let us also add to this that there is no particular need to seek out an elder mentor with high spiritual gifts, evidence of which can be seen in Ladder 33. What is needed here is a person who is experienced in combating passions and invisible enemies - why the elder Fr. Leonid so highly valued this art or experience in spiritual life and often used to say: “Art is half of holiness.” h) The meaning of a spiritual elder-mentor. – And how high the importance of a spiritual elder-mentor is, can be seen from the words of the Venerable. Theodora, abbot of Studium. This saint of God, in his dying testament to the brethren regarding the choice and appointment of a rector, writes as follows: “First, I leave you (as a mentor) my lord and father, and your father, the most reverend recluse and father, and luminary, and teacher. For he is higher in the Lord than both me and you; and he is our head, although he has subdued himself, living silently in Christ-like humility. Through his instructions and prayers, I believe, you will be saved, if only you show him due humility and obedience... And then, continues the same saint. Father, whomever you will divinely appoint as rector by general election, according to the preliminary fatherly advice, and whom the whole brotherhood desires, I deign to elect him too” 34 . i) The importance of a spiritual attitude towards elders. – The great importance of the spiritual attitude towards the elders of novices who voluntarily submitted themselves is especially demonstrated by the following two examples. Rev. Theodore the Studite writes: “One elder more than once ordered his disciple to carry out some task, but he kept putting it off. Dissatisfied with this, the elder indignantly imposed a ban on the student - not to eat bread until he had completed the assigned task. When the disciple went to fulfill the command, the elder died. After his death, the student wished to obtain permission from the ban imposed on him. But there was no one in the desert area who would dare to resolve this bewilderment. Finally, the student addressed his request to Patriarch Herman of Constantinople, who gathered other bishops to consider this matter. But neither the Patriarch nor the assembled council found it possible to resolve the penance of the elder, about whom it is not even known whether he had the degree of priesthood. Therefore, until death, the student was forced to eat food from only vegetables” 35. The Prologue of October 15 says: “In a monastery there lived a monk who for many years was obedient to his father; finally, out of demonic envy, he fell away from obedience and, without any blessed reason, left the elder, despising the prohibition, for he had a prohibition (penance) from the elder for disobedience. Arriving in Alexandria, he was captured and forced by the local prince to renounce Christ, but remained unshakable in his firm confession of faith and for this he was tortured and put to death. The Christians of that city took the body of the new martyr, placed it in a shrine and placed it in the holy church. But at every Liturgy, when the deacon exclaimed: “The catechumens, come forth," the shrine with the body of the martyr, to the surprise of everyone, was carried out to the porch by an invisible force, and at the end of the Liturgy, it was placed again in the church by itself. One Alexandrian nobleman prayed for the resolution of this bewilderment. And it was revealed to him in a vision that the tortured monk was a disciple of such and such the elder and was bound by penance from him for disobedience. As a martyr, he received a martyr's crown, and as bound by the elder's prohibition, he cannot remain during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy until the one who bound him allows him. At the same time, an old man was found who came to Alexandria and freed the bound man from the ban. From that time on, the crayfish never moved from its place” 36. j) History of old age. – In conclusion of everything that has been said about eldership, let us briefly trace the history of eldership in monastic monasteries from the beginning to our time, with this in mind Optina Pustyn itself. The path of elder care in all centuries of Christianity has been recognized by all the great desert dwellers, fathers and teachers of the Church as the most reliable and convenient of all that were known in the Church of Christ. The eldership flourished in the ancient Egyptian and Palestinian cenobies: it was later planted on Mount Athos, and transferred from the East to Russia. But in recent centuries, with the general decline of faith and asceticism, it gradually began to fall into oblivion, so that many even began to reject it. Already at the time of Nil Sorsky, the senile path was hated by many, and at the end of the 18th century it became almost completely unknown. The restoration in Russia of this, based on the teachings of St. The fathers of the image of monastic life were greatly assisted by the famous and great elder, archimandrite of the Moldavian monasteries Paisius (Velichkovsky). With great difficulty, he collected on Athos and translated from Greek into Slavic the works of ascetic writers, which contain the teaching about monastic life in general and in particular about the spiritual attitude towards elders. At the same time, in Neametsky and other Moldavian monasteries subordinate to him, he also showed the application of this teaching to business. One of the disciples of Archimandrite Paisius, schemamonk Theodore, who lived in Moldova for about 20 years, passed on this order of monastic life to the hieroschemamonk described here, Fr. Leonid, and Fr. Leonid, as stated above, introduced eldership in Optina Pustyn. The continuators of this spiritual leadership were the elders-mentors who followed in succession - the hieroschemamonks: Macarius, Ambrose, Anatoly, Joseph and hegumen (later schema-archimandrite) Barsanuphius. Excerpts from Sts. given in due time by Elder Ambrose. the fathers of the ascetics in the Slavic dialect are now given for more convenient understanding in Russian and indicating them according to the Russian Philokalia. It is worth noting that in monasteries some Slavic words received the right of citizenship. For example, doing - business, work, occupation; nourish - manage, instruct, guide; prelest is a deception, since those who fall into delusion are usually deceived by crafty demons. Russian Philokalia. T. 5. St. Gregory of Sinai, chapters on prayer and silence. Ch. 15. P. 255. Rev. Abba Dorotheus' teaching 1st. That is, by the flame of his own passions. Ladder. Moscow, 2nd ed. S.-Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn. Word 1, div. 24. P. 22. They were deceived, that is, they were deceived. Ladder. Word 1, div. 7. P.16. Ladder. Word 26, div. 237. P. 265. Message to Nicholas the Monk. - In the book by Rev. Mark of the Ascetic, published by Optina Pustyn. Interview 2. About reasoning. Ch. 10. Ladder. Word 26, div. 236. P. 265. Philokalia. T. 5. Monks Callista and Ignatius, instructions for the silent. Ch. 15. Ladder. Word 26, div. 207. P. 262. Scripture Rev. Father John Cassian the Roman in Russian translation, 1877. P. 191. Philokalia. St. Gregory the Sinaite. 5. About charm and other subjects. 5th volume of the Russian Philokalia. Ch. 33. Twelve words of St. Simeon the New Theologian. Russian trans., ed. Optina Pustyn. Life and writings of Paisius Velichkovsky. Moscow, ed., S.-Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn, 1847. P. 248. Word 4, div. 112; word 26, div. ON and a word to the shepherd. Ch. 8. P. 4. See Rev. Theodore of Studiysky's catechetical teachings in Russian translation. Moscow, ed. S.-Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage, 1872. P. 334. Rev. Theodore of Studium's catechetical teachings in Russian translation. Lesson 33. Those who wish to have a more detailed understanding of the path of eldership should read: Basil the Great - words on asceticism and rules, expounded at length and briefly (part 5); ev. John Climacus word 4 and word to the shepherd; Rev. Abba Dorotheus word 5; Rev. Theodore Studite's catechetical words (published by Optina Pustyn), in particular: 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 12,17, 26. 29, 46, 47 and 95; Simeon the New Theologian chapters 15–19, 38–44 (in the 1st part of the Slavic Philokalia); Rev. Cassian the Roman, a word on reasoning, and Theodore of Edessa, chapters 40–46 (in the 4th part of the Slavs. Philokalia). They can also read the collection of letters of the Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Macarius, especially the 4th part - to the nuns.