Глава XIII. Последние годы жизни о. Макария

Daily, continuous and orderly worship, with strict adherence to church and monastic rules, in the opinion of the Russian people, constitutes an integral part of any well-ordered monastery, and especially the Svyatogorsk monastery, which, by its very exceptional position, disposes its leaders to vigilant prayer and unceasing spiritual deeds. The Russian devout person, always busy caring for a piece of daily bread and therefore rarely having the opportunity to devote time to prolonged prayer, portrays in his mind every monk as an angelic person who has renounced the world and all its delights, a strict ascetic, a tireless prayer book not so much about himself and his own weaknesses, but about the weaknesses that are close to him in spirit and flesh. It is not surprising, therefore, that in many of our religious families, which have not lost faith in the ideal monk, there is still a very common desire to have at least one prayer-book monk from among them. This desire is quite often expressed even by an entire village, a well-known neighborhood, and even a city. It is in this belief in the ideal monk, in the views of our people on monasteries in general, that we must look for an explanation for the fact that the Russian people love monasteries, willingly visit them, even if they are located on the remote outskirts of our fatherland or abroad, endure magnificent and lengthy divine services without boredom, and often spend their last penny of labor in them. Understanding well all these demands and requests of the Russian people in relation to monasteries, the late Fr. Abbot Macarius tried in every possible way to satisfy them, in order to support our people's faith in ideal monasticism. Unconditional submission to the strict rules of the hostel introduced in the monastery, exact fulfillment of the church rules during the divine service, which was usually performed slowly, with solemn religious ceremoniality and beautiful performance by powerful voices of ancient church melodies and local Athonite melodies - all this was unconditionally required from the Great Schema Monk to the new monk who wished to remain among the brethren of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Athos. The late abbot himself, by his personal example of impeccably faithful implementation of the orders and regulations established in the monastery, encouraged the smaller brethren to do the same. The first strike of the bell, calling the brethren at 12 o'clock to awaken from a short sleep and to fulfill the cell rule 302, often found the late abbot busy with the affairs of the past day or with extensive correspondence; The abbot then hastily completed his endless affairs and immediately stood up to fulfill the cell rule. The call of the church bell, which usually precedes the ringing of the bell before the start of every service, prompted the elder to be in the church, in a special cell in the choir, in his place, before the start of the service, here he usually stood every matins with the midnight office, and on holidays the entire all-night vigil, which usually lasts for 12 hours, without even sitting down the time prescribed by the charter, since he did not have a minute of free time for this. “The doors of a small paraklis (room) in the Intercession Cathedral, through which those wishing to confess entered one after another, without rest for the confessor,” writes I. F. Kraskovsky from personal observation, “were besieged by such a dense crowd of monks and worshipers that sweat rolled down their faces. They waited in line for two, three hours just to get through these treasured doors and confess “to the priest himself.” It is perhaps difficult to believe this, but it is a fact that Father Macarius, especially his fans, sometimes confessed for an hour or more, and for this reason this confession was what the Latins call “general.” Father Macarius did not interrogate about sins, especially according to the breviary, as some inexperienced or careless confessors do, and the confessor himself confessed everything as a result of one hint from the perspicacious elder, who looked with such a gentle, all-forgiving, but at the same time deep gaze that he involuntarily felt before him the presence of the Omniscient and All-Merciful, but also the Punisher, and therefore his soul trembled and fell prostrate in the trembling consciousness of his sinfulness. Some fans came to Athos specifically just to confess to Fr. Makaria 303. After the end of the long Matins, when the early liturgy began, Fr. Macarius went to his cell, read the rule there before communion, and an hour before the bell rang, he went down to the paraklis or church he had appointed to celebrate the late liturgy. The daily celebration of the Liturgy, or at least the communion of the Holy Mysteries after the Liturgy, was the need of his soul; and the late abbot considered it a grave misfortune for himself if illness or some exceptional circumstances in the life of the monastery prevented him from preparing for this great sacred rite. For two hours he personally performed the proskomedia and, with his rare memory, remembered at it all those with whom circumstances had ever confronted him in his life. All the brethren present at that time were obliged to read the voluminous monastic synodics. The liturgy itself, performed by the deceased leisurely, with rare reverence and solemnity, with remarkable vigor for a seventy-year-old elder, usually lasted two or three hours and made a charming and forever indelible impression on all those present at the service. This lengthy service, however, did not free the late elder from some other voluntarily assumed obligations, that is, from performing secondary prayers or sequences with which he preceded and ended each of his liturgies until the end of his life. So, for example, before the start of the liturgy, he performed a prayer service for the health of the benefactors and the entire brethren of the monastery, and especially for the brethren who were on various monastic “obediences”, and he remembered the latter by name as a souvenir, and after the liturgy he served a requiem for all those who died in the monastery and for its benefactors. Sometimes he moved the memorial service to the beginning, and served a prayer service after the liturgy, but he performed both without fail every day. Having finished a long service, mainly on holidays, when services in the monastery are especially long, the late abbot with youthful vigor entered the living room on the top floor of the monastery buildings and with the most good-natured smile greeted the guests present with a holiday or good morning. No one heard a sigh or a shadow of a complaint about fatigue from him, and from his bright face, shining with a charming smile, one cannot even think that this old man spent the whole night without sleep. A cup of coffee with lemon, a glass of cold water with jam and a glass of homemade fruit rum - this is the old man’s morning reinforcement. The sound of the bell calling the brethren to the refectory prompted the abbot to rush there. From the fraternal meal the late Fr. Macarius never left and cheated on her occasionally in the evenings and, moreover, in such cases when the presence of the abbot at a meal in the archondarium was positively necessary. Return of Fr. The abbot was usually awaited in his cell after dinner with impatience by a mass of Xiromachians - Athonite monks of the poor and Kelliots, who came to the good old man for alms and with various kinds of hermit needs. Their requests were listened to with patience and love, the necessary instructions and explanations were given, and every need was satisfied almost without refusal. For a long time after the reception, the abbot did not close the doors of the monastery rukhal (clothing warehouse), from which, using cards with laconic inscriptions on them: “duckweed”, “shirt”, “shoes”, etc., with the blessing of the abbot, necessary items for the Athonite poor were issued. After receiving strangers, their brothers came to the abbot with various kinds of their needs and requirements, both material and spiritual, seeking from him admonition, teaching and guidance regarding “temptation of thoughts,” “unworldliness,” etc. Father abbot tried to satisfy everyone according to his desire, without giving the appearance that he was tired or wanted to rest. The reception of petitioners was usually stopped by the cell attendant, Fr. John, devoted with all his soul to his elder abbot. Having removed the petitioners waiting for their turn at the doors of the abbot's cell, he usually announced to the abbot that there were no more petitioners, locked the doors of the cell with the key, which he often took with him, and thus put the elder to rest 304. An hour before Vespers, Fr. Macarius drank a glass of tea and again continued receiving petitioners. During Vespers, the late abbot himself personally read the akathists established in the Panteleimon Monastery for every day. After dinner, if there were two meals 305, and the compline that followed, the elder abbot received the next hieromonks, deacons, typists, cooks, people on various obediences, listened to their report for the past day and gave them new orders for the next day. These visitors were replaced by the monastery confessors, the housekeeper, the secretary and, in general, the elders of the brethren. The most important current affairs of the monastery were usually discussed with them. The elders of the monastery, in turn, gave way to honored visitors or guests of the monastery, looking for an opportunity to talk with the abbot alone about spiritual subjects. Behind these conversations, a short monastic night passed unnoticed, and with a “summons” at 12 o’clock at night for the “canon,” the vigilant abbot often began a new day of his working life without rest. If there were no such visitors, then the abbot retired to his office and there, to two or three scribes at the same time, he dictated response letters to benefactors and friends of the monastery. Due to an eye illness, he himself wrote rarely and responded only to secret and spiritual letters. The first in the church of God and always busy with monastic affairs, the late abbot was also the first at monastic obediences. Will a ship arrive with bread, will they bring hay in sheaves, after the solemn meeting with the procession of the cross, Fr. Macarius took off his duckweed, went down into the hold of the ship and poured grain into bags with a ladle, and the brethren, encouraged by the example of the abbot, quickly carried these bags into the vast monastery storerooms. And here, doing this work in the stuffiness, under the scorching sun, he sometimes remained for a good half of the day. Often the brethren saw their abbot with sacks or sheaves of hay on his shoulders. He was the first to go out to cut the grapes, and then his spiritual children who loved him followed. About his monastic duties Fr. Macarius did not forget for a minute, even during, so to speak, his entertainment, which he allowed himself on the advice of doctors and on the conviction of the elders. Riding on mules to visit other monasteries of Athos or on the monastery’s steamboat to breathe in the clean sea air and look at his cherished brainchild “Krumitsa”, as soon as the monastery was hidden from sight of travelers, Fr. Macarius gave the sign for the beginning of Vespers; and the steamship sailors or his companions on mules on horseback, at sunset, read the evening service prescribed by the charter. Every halt or overnight stop served as a place of preparation for the liturgy, and the early morning of the next day was spent in the nearest church serving a usually lengthy liturgy. In such constant cares and labors for the benefit of the monastery entrusted to his care, to which he dedicated the best years of his life and his remarkable mind, and in constant prayer for himself and for Russia, dear to his loving heart, Fr. Macarius spent almost the entire forty years of his monastic life on Mount Athos. There were not many bright and truly happy days in his hard and working life, but the more precious and valuable they were for him, the more deeply they were imprinted in his memory, which kept sweet memories of them even at the end of the days of his earthly career. Such days for him were the days of visits to Athos by members of our reigning house: Grand Dukes Alexei Alexandrovich, Konstantin Konstantinovich and Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna and the ever-memorable benefactors and patrons of the monastery, our ambassadors to the Ottoman Porte Count N.P. Ignatiev, A.I. Nelidov and others. During these significant days of his life, the late elder abbot especially revived in spirit and tried to exhaust all means available to him and the monastery in order to show towards his dear guests feelings of touching deep devotion, boundless joy and heartfelt gratitude, which filled the hearts of every monk of the monastery from the abbot to the last novice. On these occasions, the abbot came out to meet the dear guests right down to the sea with a procession of the cross, with many hieromonks and hierodeacons in expensive, shiny vestments. On both sides of the path from the sea to the monastery port itself, covered with laurel, myrtle and flowers, stood numerous monks in their monastic robes, greeting the dear guests with a deep bow. The solemn ringing of the monastery bells welcomed the entry of the guests into the monastery, beyond the threshold of which unprecedented and amazing sights awaited them. Small, but elegant in its architecture, the Panteleimon Cathedral, having taken on a festive appearance with its decoration, burned with thousands of lights, lit not only on candlesticks and chandeliers, but even on the choir 306, which, to express the special joy and triumph of the monastery, was set into a swinging movement, presenting to the eyes of the spectators a picture of the play of light unprecedented in our country, and through the wide open church doors received under its arches those who arrived for the Athos visitors. A short solemn litany in honor of dear guests, many years with the proclamation of their names and the response to it from the harmonious polyphonic monastery choir produce an irresistible enchanting impression on the guests, whom the hospitable owner of the monastery then invited to the monastery archondarik (living room) to, according to Russian custom, give them tea and treat them with monastery bread and salt. In the evening of the same day, for the dear guests, and mainly for the crew of the ships on which they arrived by order of the abbot, a “vigil” was held, according to Athonite custom, lasting throughout the night, with the goal of giving each and every one of the visitors the opportunity to pray before the relics of the holy saint and healer Panteleimon. During the all-night vigil, the abbot himself read the akathist to St. Panteleimon and confessed everyone who wanted to begin receiving the Holy Mysteries the next day. Then, before parting with the guests, the abbot appeared on the ships, served a parting prayer service, provided each and every one from the royal and high-ranking persons to the last fireman on the ship with books, brochures, views of Athos, crosses, spoons and rosaries made by the hands of Athonite anchorites, and, having provided the entire crew and the ship with the necessary provisions for the journey, with good wishes and blessings released them on a “water procession.” These visits to Mount Athos by royalty, high-ranking officials and military ships gave the Russian people the opportunity to take a closer look at the bright personality of the late abbot, whom most knew only through rumors from others, to look at least once in a lifetime into the depths of his tender and loving soul, to succumb to the charm of his simple, heartfelt speech on issues of religion or about the subjects of everyday life and to take with them as a souvenir the dear image of this great a vigilant prayer book for Orthodox Rus', for the entire Russian people. For the monastery of St. Panteleimon and Fr. Macarius, these short visits for the most part were a high honor and created powerful patrons and friends among the powers that be. Until his death, Fr. Macarius was in correspondence with some of the members of our Imperial Family. The late Fr. experienced many sorrows and troubles, as we already know. Macarius in the first years of his monastic life on Athos, but quite a few of them fell to his lot at the end of it. The first hard blow for him was the loss of his dearly beloved elder confessor, Fr. Jerome, to whom he was selflessly devoted, like a loving, obedient son 307. With his loss Fr. Macarius felt lonely, powerless, helpless, and further life seemed to him aimless and unnecessary. From that time on, as those around him noticed, he became noticeably haggard and physically decrepit. But before the first wound had time to heal in the good heart of the late abbot, Providence sent him a new test, no less difficult. On the night of August 6-7, 1887, at about 3 o’clock in the morning, when all the brethren were at the morning service and were preparing to begin the solemn celebration in honor of the Russian Saint Mitrophanius of Voronezh, to whom a small cathedral church was dedicated in the monastery, above the altar of the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, the lower room, overflowing with junk, caught fire for unknown reasons. The flame quickly made its way out through the dormer window under the roof and ominously illuminated the entire monastery. Frequent sounds of the alarm bell rang out, and the monastery, hitherto calm, became noisy and agitated. The ensuing fuss stopped the service. Soon after, the ceiling above the altar collapsed, and the flames penetrated through the royal doors into the middle of the church, which, being built in Macedonia, was quickly engulfed in flames. In the thick darkness of the night, a crimson flame spread like a sea through the new building of the monastery buildings, destroying paraklis and monastic cells one after another, and casting its bright shine on the area surrounding the monastery 309. The brothers, especially the younger ones, having temporarily turned into a fire brigade, performed miracles of bravery and bravery, appearing with fire pipes in one dangerous place or another. Several people, who had received terrible burns and wounds, had already been carried on stretchers to the fraternal hospital, but the energy of the brethren did not weaken at all. In the midst of the general confusion and crush, the squat figure of the late abbot stood out sharply, dressed in a poor cassock, along which flowed a thick, long, gray beard. The elder stood motionless, as if frozen in place, and held with his dry, trembling hands the raised miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Jerusalem, with eyes full of tears, turned to the sky. This is where the deceased sought salvation for his beloved monastery, now engulfed in bright flames. But as soon as the first rays of the rising sun shone from the tops of Athos, illuminating the sad picture of the fire, which began to gradually weaken by morning, Fr. Macarius, exhausted morally and physically by the unrest of the terrible night he had experienced, handed over the shrines of Athos into the hands of Fr. Hierodeacon Tikhon and gave the order to begin the liturgy. The elder ecclesiarch, with an experienced hand, struck the summons on a hand bell, a skilled bell-ringer struck “at full blast” on the occasion of the church holiday, and in the midst of the noise and bustle, ordinary monastic life began. To serve the liturgy, Fr. Macarius appointed the cathedral of St. Mitrophanius, which stood near the burning building and therefore was always in great danger, which had not yet completely passed even at that moment. Having vested himself together with two other hieromonks, Fr. Macarius, as usual, performed a long proskomedia, leisurely, with special enthusiasm and trying to appear calm, in front of the randomly assembled singers, he served the liturgy and prayer service to the celebrated saint, and at the end of it he read a prayer over the koliv. Didn't find Fr. Macarius was especially excited during the liturgy, even at a time when the porch of St. Mitrophanievsky Cathedral caught fire a couple of times from burning papers and boards falling from above. At the end of the liturgy, when the fire had already been extinguished, Fr. The abbot, as usual, visited the archondarik and then, in a simple black robe 310 as a sign of grief and sadness, with a staff in his hands, he went to the meal, where the exhausted, hungry brethren were eagerly awaiting him. The meal was festive. After the meal, on the occasion of the church holiday, the brethren were offered kolivo (dry kutia), and the elder, in an excited voice, said the following word to console the brethren: “Beloved fathers and brothers in the Lord! It pleased the Lord in the Holy Trinity, the glorified God, to visit our monastery with his righteous anger and deprive us of our spiritual refuge - the sacred church of our Most Holy Theotokos. Constantly accepting from the right hand of our all-good Master all that is good, let us now accept with thanksgiving the opposite: His fatherly punishment, as we are children. For, according to the word of the Apostle, we who are punished are His children, and even if we remain without punishment, even as we are adulterous. Let us give thanks to our creator, for we are His children, whom He visited with His fatherly punishment for our humility. Let us not be arrogant in the future and let us not look for reasons other than our weaknesses and failure to fulfill our duties before the Lord. Let each of us examine our conscience and then, in its light, we will clearly see our shortcomings. Therefore, I ask and urge you, fathers and brethren, not to reproach each other and not to over-judge, for what has befallen us is completely the order of the punishing right hand of God for failure to keep our duties and sacred monastic vows before Him, starting from my unworthiness and extending to each and every one of us. Let us try above all, with the help of God’s grace, through the prayers of the Queen of Heaven, to recognize and correct our weaknesses and shortcomings, which each one’s own conscience tells us, and let us humbly and brotherly bear the test that has visited us: is your devotion to Him the same in the days of prosperity and misfortune? May the Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, through the grace and generosity of His goodness, the prayers of the Most Holy Lady Theotokos and our holy representatives, strengthen us in complacent patience and obedience to His will, to which I entrust and commit all of you and myself.” This word spoken by Fr. Macarius, with strong emotion in his voice and interrupted by tears, being imbued with a feeling of complete submission and devotion to the will of Providence, made a deep impression on the listeners. From the meal Fr. Macarius, together with some of the most influential elders of the monastery, went to the site of the ashes, where workers were busy removing debris, burnt beams and iron connections from the church destroyed in the flames. When they climbed up the stairs overflowing with garbage and entered the place where the altar of the burnt cathedral church was located, they were all struck by the following sight. The throne, which had been in the midst of the most terrible flames all the time, stood completely unharmed in its place: the silk indium on it only burned out in two or three places. Even the wooden iconostasis remained almost completely intact, only its gilding had deteriorated, while next to it lay molten iron chains, a copper chandelier and thick iron ties lying in a shapeless mass. This picture made such a strong impression on the abbot, the elders and many of the curious brethren who surrounded them that many, under the influence of religious ecstasy, began to tear the sacred indium on the throne in order to preserve pieces of it as a memory of this extraordinary phenomenon. Hegumen Macarius, under the same impression, immediately expressed the desire that the throne of the church would remain inviolably in its place in the future church, the construction of which began immediately. “If the Mother of God kept all this intact,” said Fr. Macarius, “then we have no right to violate any of this.” Many of the brethren looked at this sad event, however, far from the way Abbot Macarius inspired them in the above words, but began to look for their own explanations for the reasons for the misfortune that had befallen them, and thus gave rise to turmoil and fermentation of minds in the monastery. Monks of this sort put this event in a direct causal connection with a completely random phenomenon that took place in the monastery the day before, i.e., August 6, 311, and even began to accuse the abbot of violating the supposed precepts of ancient times. The late abbot, although he knew about this, waited for the time to speak with a strong word of reproof and put an end to everything. The opportunity for this presented itself soon. On August 29, thick clouds of smoke appeared from the southwestern side of Athos, clearly visible in the Panteleimon Monastery. From them they immediately guessed that a new misfortune had befallen the monastery: the forest of the most well-maintained area of ​​the Krumitsa monastery was burning over a vast area. Many of the brethren of the monastery were sent to extinguish the terrible fire, who, after enormous efforts, barely managed to put out the fire only on the fourth day 312. The next day, i.e. August 30, at the end of the solemn liturgy and thanksgiving service on the occasion of the name day of the Sovereign Emperor, when the brethren, according to custom, gathered in the archondarik to greet the abbot, the latter, thanking the brethren for their congratulations and wishing the Sovereign Emperor a happy and long reign, turned to the side of the archondarik, from where the clubs were visible thick smoke, and, looking around everyone present with eyes full of tears, in a voice broken from excitement, said: “Brothers, have love among yourself and accept the misfortunes that befall us with submission to the will of God without complaint.” On the same day, at the end of the fraternal meal, Fr. Macarius considered it timely to address the brethren with a special word of admonition and consolation. “Here we are, brothers,” the hegumen said among other things, “at midnight, completely unexpectedly, a fiery visit from the right hand of the Lord befell us, leading us into grief and fear with its threatening flame, destroying before our eyes our main prayer refuge and our home. And the Lord knows how this visit would have ended if He Himself, who punishes and is merciful in the very punishment, had not stopped the fiery desire with His right hand. Glory to His long-suffering towards us sinners! Glory to the generosity of His philanthropy! This visit was sent to us for the sake of our correction and repentance. But, unfortunately, we did not heed God’s call and did not fulfill His will. Instead of repentance, instead of paying attention to our own conscience and correcting our own weaknesses, many of us, brothers, began to seek guilt in others, attributing God's punishment as if to chance, blaming one and another of our neighbors and not realizing the true reason for this visit - our general failure before God and non-compliance with the duties of the sacred monastic title. This is not what the Lord wanted and demanded of us. The spirit of the victim to God is crushed, and among us there has arisen a spirit of grumbling, discontent, seeking guilt not for our own, but for our neighbors. So little brotherly love and humble self-recrimination manifested themselves in us. Therefore, we brought upon ourselves the second punishment of the righteous Lord, who again admonishes us and calls us to repentance. Let us give thanks to the long-suffering and generosity of our heavenly Father and let us now strive to heed his fatherly punishment. By humble recognition of our weaknesses, let us tame our slanderous tongue, which is quick to gossip about our neighbor; contrition of heart, attention to this monastic title, mutual brotherly love, bowing to the mercy of the Lord; Let us cease from the spirit of murmuring and displeasure; let us confess our own weaknesses and shortcomings before the Lord, following the example of the holy Apostle Paul, who calls himself the first of sinners; Let us be united by brotherly love, and this love will unite us with the Lord, for it is said: “His place is in the world.” And our Savior Himself, through His lips, tells us in the Divine Gospel: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” This word made a deep impression on those present, and the talk about the first fire in the monastery died down completely. The worries he experienced did not pass without leaving a trace for Fr.’s nervously impressionable nature. Macarius, who, even after this sad event, was still cheerful and tried not to deviate in the least from the way of life he had established, but his strength, apparently for everyone, began to betray him, he noticeably weakened, and in January 1888 he even went to bed. His illness took on such threatening symptoms that not only those around Fr. Macarius, but even he himself personally began to think about the proximity of his death. Unexpectedly, however, a turning point in the illness occurred for everyone: Fr. Macarius quickly began to recover. Loving brethren and doctors now persistently advised him, firstly, not to tire himself excessively with monastic affairs and to spare his weak strength for the good of the monastery, and for this they recommended that he choose a successor for himself in managing the monastery and little by little introduce him into the circle of those complex responsibilities that must be borne by the abbot of such a vast monastery, which is now considered the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Athos; secondly, serve the liturgy less often, at least no more than three times a week, and thirdly, and finally, make trips to Krumitsa more often and generally be away from your monastery. But of all these pieces of advice, Fr. is close to my heart. Macarius accepted the first, that is, to elect and prepare a successor for himself as abbot. He was well aware that there had long been lively talk among the brotherhood regarding possible candidates for the hegumen throne of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery, and some of the representative elders of the monastery were deciding this difficult issue not without personal desires. Therefore, not wanting to hurt anyone’s pride, Fr. Macarius decided to leave the election result entirely to the will of God. For this purpose, candidates were first selected from the representative elders of the monastery, who had worked for it with honor and diligence for a long time and enjoyed authority and respect among the fraternity. Among these candidates were Fr. Archimandrite Hieron, abbot of the Simono-Canonite Monastery of New Athos in the Caucasus, Fr. Hilarion, the builder of this monastery, and now its housekeeper, Fr. Hieromonk Pavel, housekeeper of the Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, Fr. Raphael, confessor of the monastery, Fr. Nathanael, antiprosop of the monastery, Fr. Mikhail, trustee of the monastery in Rostov-on-Don, Fr. Andrey and Fr. Vissarion, confessors of the monastery. Of these, Fr. Hieron and Fr. Mikhail, as those who were outside the monastery, sent written refusals even before the elections, but it was decided to select the names of the remaining six candidates by drawing lots. These names were written on pieces of paper and placed in the ark from under the relics of St. Great Martyr, who was placed on the throne of the Intercession Cathedral Church. Before drawing the lot, at the request of Fr. Macarius, a fast was imposed on the entire brethren, three all-night vigils were held in honor of the Holy Trinity, the Mother of God, the Great Martyr Panteleimon and the Day Saint with the utterance of deliberate petitions, in which everyone prayed that the Lord, according to his heart, would choose a leader for the numerous brotherhood of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery. On the third day, after the liturgy, the very old man, Hieromonk Abel, by order of Fr. Makaria took out from the mentioned ark one of the six tickets with the name of Fr. And Andrey, in the world of Alexey Verevkin. When the name of the chosen one was proclaimed out loud to the entire brotherhood, Fr. Andrei, with tears, began to beg the abbot and the brethren to remove the unbearable yoke from his weak shoulders, for which he had neither the strength nor the understanding. Delighted by the happy outcome of the elections, Elder Macarius said in consolation to the chosen one: “Now, Fr. Andrey, this is not the time to refuse. We did not choose you, but the Lord God Himself, therefore, you, and also a monk, should not resist the will of God.” The chosen one fell silent at these words of the elder abbot and bowed to the ground to all the brethren as a sign of gratitude for the honor shown. All the brethren, excited by the rumors preceding the election and amazed by the unexpectedness of the choice, left the church with joy and joy and hurried to the elder abbot for a break to congratulate him on his happy choice and wish the chosen one peaceful and prosperous management of the abbess for many years to come. The joy and rejoicing in the monastery were sincere and general. The abbot and those who were zealous for the further prosperity of the glorious Panteleimon monastery rejoiced, being confident that the order of life bequeathed and implanted by the elders would be preserved inviolably under the new abbot and the monastery could calmly follow the path of further peaceful prosperity. As for other advice from the brethren and specialist doctors, Fr. Macarius paid very little attention. At first, after his illness, he went to Krumitsa several times, but always for a very short time, since, accustomed to the monastery and constant work, he was burdened by inactivity and uncertainty about the fate of his dearly beloved brethren. Returning from these trips, with the fervor characteristic of his temperament, he took up monastic affairs and fulfilling all his difficult duties as abbot, and became so absorbed in them that he forgot about himself and his health. When one of the brethren reminded him to take care of his health, Fr. Macarius said with a smile: “I’ve already lived enough, I’ve had enough, it’s time to retire, and if you need me, then pray to God that He will strengthen me.” In addition to his innate love for it, the late abbot also had incentives for such tireless and energetic activity in the external circumstances of the time, which had a sensitive impact on the material well-being of the monastery. Such circumstances should be considered: 1) a terrible and unexpected storm at sea on the day of the church's Intercession holiday, during which the monastery ships anchored in sight of the monastery were broken, and the monastery steamboat, which was under the cover of a pier, deliberately built by the monastery for its protection, was thrown ashore and broken; 2) a fire that destroyed a huge hull for argates or laborers and 3) death due to the accident of the large monastery ship “St. Panteleimon" on the Bosphorus, coming from Russia with a load of full food for the monastery for the whole year and with some valuable acquisitions for the Intercession Cathedral, which was being built at that time. Providence was finally pleased to once again remind the elder that abuse of God’s precious gift - life - cannot go unpunished. On the day of Pentecost, Fr. Macarius served his long liturgy as usual and intended to begin celebrating Vespers in honor of the Holy Spirit. The concelebrating elders, seeing Fr.’s fatigue. abbot, they began to advise that he, at least, should not read the long prayers prescribed in the rite of this Vespers. “No, I’ll read them myself for the last time,” Fr. answered them categorically. Macarius read these prayers at the prescribed time according to the regulations with remarkable enthusiasm, clearly and separately. But as soon as Vespers ended, Fr. Macarius felt ill, and for a short time he lost his tongue... This is a mild paralysis, as Fr. Macarius and those around him made it clear that the final outcome was a matter of the near future. From this time on. Macarius silently and completely calmly begins to prepare for the hour of death. For the last time, he toured some monasteries on Mount Athos, visited his favorite places - Krumitsa and Thebaid, and, bidding farewell to the brethren who saw him off, said the same thing everywhere: “Well, this is the last time I’m with you.” Looking at his clear and bright face, at his calm and cheerful tone of speech, none of those around the elder even thought that this phrase, apparently thrown out by accident, would soon become a deed and they would actually no longer see their “father” alive. At home, in the monastery, and in his cell, he constantly told everyone around him about his imminent death and made appropriate orders for this case, which concerned both important aspects of the monastic administration and life, and some private purely cell matters. Shortly before his death, he gave the order to his cell attendant that his gown be distributed at the port to the poor Xiromahi. But the eve and very day of Fr.’s death will forever remain especially memorable for the brethren. Macaria. The 18th of June, which in 1889 fell on the next Sunday in the week of All Saints, coincided, according to the Athos charter, with the local holiday in honor of All the new holy martyrs who suffered during Turkish rule. Therefore, the celebration established according to our charter in honor of the miraculous icon of the Bogolyubskaya Mother of God by order of Fr. abbot was postponed to the next day, i.e. to June 19. The late abbot did not want to abandon this service completely, since the said icon is especially sacredly revered in his homeland in Tula, and he prayed fervently before this icon, seeking its help and intercession, before his journey to the East. 18th o. Macarius celebrated the liturgy in Panteleimon Cathedral, and after Vespers in the chapel of St. The noble Russian princes Vladimir and Alexander Nevsky read an akathist to the icon being celebrated, instead of the usual akathist on Sundays in honor of the icon of the Mother of God of Jerusalem, located above the royal doors of the Intercession Cathedral Church, with which icon he blessed the brethren present. Only the next day did everyone understand that this was the father’s last blessing and that with this he wanted to express the last “forgiveness” to his large family of spiritual children, whom he thus left under the protection of the Queen of Heaven, as their only intercessor and helper in all their needs and sorrows. The evening of this day Fr. Macarius was especially in a good mood: he joked with those who came to him for various needs, he was more talkative with everyone than usual and even proper, since he still had to finish the mail and send it to the ship that night. It never occurred to anyone around us that these were farewell conversations, the last conversations, and that tomorrow these sweet-tongued lips would be silent forever. Fr. became somewhat more concentrated and thoughtful. Macarius was closer to midnight, when the mail had already ended. At this time, out of the blue—at least that’s what it seemed to those around him who were helping him prepare the mail—Fr. Macarius asked one of the hieromonks to write letters 313 to some of these persons with whom correspondence at the monastery had long been stopped for various reasons. They tried to object, but the deceased asked with nervous excitement in his voice: “Well, don’t you want to write?” And thus completely disarmed his opponents. The letters were written and sent to the addresses using the same mail just a few hours before the blessed death of the elder. The true meaning of this event, like many others like it, committed by the deceased as if by accident, became clear and understandable to everyone only the next day. This last evening in the life of Fr. Macaria ended very late. Before his eternal sleep, he hardly even closed his eyes. At least when the gostinnik (archondaric) o. Valentin, after sending mail to the ship, came to report to Fr. abbot about the newly arrived guests at the monastery, he found Fr. Macarius in his cell finishing the first hour... To celebrate the last liturgy, Fr. Macarius, without any hesitation, appointed the cathedral church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Liturgy, as usual, took a long time, and those present in the church did not notice anything special in the performer, unless they noted his special tenderness, accompanied by tears, which, however, often happened before. After the liturgy, Fr. The abbot, at the usual time, distributed the antidoron to those praying with him, closed the royal doors, consumed part of the remaining Holy Mysteries on the altar, which he always did, tasted the antidoron with warmth and, having washed his hands and lips, went with the missal to the southern part of the altar to the window to read prayers of thanks after communion. The hierodeacon who served him began to consume the remaining Holy Gifts and then began cleaning the sacred vessels and the altar. At this time, wheezing began to reach his ears from somewhere, to which Fr. At first the hierodeacon did not pay any attention, but when this wheezing began to intensify, he, leaving the altar, went to find out the reason for it. Since wheezing was heard from the place where the abbot was, the hierodeacon approached him. O. Macarius, closing his eyes tightly and holding with one hand the window sill, on which he bowed his head, breathed quickly and very gustyly with wheezing. His face was pale and covered with sweat. Although consciousness was not yet lost, the tongue was ineffective. Immediately Fr. The hierodeacon and the ecclesiarch who came to his aid sat Fr. Macarius sat in a pulled-up chair and, at the sign he gave, they began to unmask him. The sign made for exposure was the last glimpse of consciousness, which after that no longer returned to Fr. Macarius. The dying abbot was carried from the church to the cell on a carpet. The monastery paramedic immediately appeared and they began to try all measures to restore consciousness to the dying man. We turned to the bloodletter and yu, but this remedy was not improved and I was not allowed to do so. Macaria. The dying man lay unconscious and motionless, only breathing heavily. When the specialist doctors 314 arrived, for whom a deliberate messenger was sent immediately after the blow, they tried to bring the dying man back to life with electricity, but this attempt was unsuccessful, like the previous ones. Then, having thus tried all human means, the elders of the monastery, surrounding the bed of the dear sick one, decided to turn for help to the One Physician of our souls and bodies and began to perform the sacrament of consecration of oil. The rest of the brethren, as soon as the sad news of the serious illness of the “beloved priest” spread throughout the monastery, on their own initiative, ringing the bell, began to serve a prayer service for the health of the sick person in both the lower Panteleimon and the upper Intercession Cathedrals. Everyone prayed fervently and with tears. The brethren did not stop praying for the sick, and upon returning from the church, they stood at the voluntary canon and cried out to the Lord Jesus: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on your servant.” But neither in the art of experienced doctors, nor in the prayers for health of Fr. Macarius no longer needed. He waited and asked his spiritual children left behind for prayers for his repose and relocation from this vale of sorrows and adversity into the bosom of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, where there is illness, sadness and sighing, but endless life. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, on the 19th of June, the great elder of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery was no longer alive, which was notified to the brethren by the sad ringing of the powerful monastery bell. The hearts of the Russian monks of this monastery trembled, thinking of spending their entire toiling life under the imperious, protective hand of their “father.” Tears involuntarily rolled down their stern, haggard faces... The ringing of the bell again called the brethren to prayer, but this time not for the living, but for the dead. Each, having crossed himself with the words: “The kingdom of heaven to our laboring father,” and abandoning his obedience, hurried to the tomb of the dear deceased to offer up his prayers for the deceased, bow to his ashes and kiss his cold right hand. The deceased was dressed in monastic robes and sewn into a robe, but his face, calm and even smiling with an unearthly smile, was left open. As an exception 315, an epitrachelion was put on his neck, and the Holy Gospel reclined on his chest. Thus, everyone now had the opportunity to look at the kind face of the deceased. From the grave of the deceased, all the brethren went to the churches to listen to the requiem service “for the newly deceased, ever-memorable servant of God, Higumen Archimandrite Macarius.” Shortly before Vespers, the body of the deceased, placed in a coffin 316, was transferred from the cell to the Intercession Cathedral Church, and there the reading of the Gospel began, continuing continuously until it was carried out for burial. After Vespers on the same day, a bishop's memorial service was celebrated at the tomb of the deceased by Bishop Agafangel, who was in retirement on the Holy Mountain, with a large assembly of hieromonks of the monastery. Sad news about the blessed death of the Russikov elder Fr. Macaria quickly spread throughout Athos and even penetrated to the dungeons of Karulia 317. This news raised, one might say, the entire Holy Mountain. Lavra of St. Athanasius of Athos and the monasteries of the Holy Mountain sent their representatives to the Panteleimon Monastery to pay tribute of due reverence and respect to the personality of the deceased, whom all of Athos honored and respected for his high qualities of soul and heart and for his holy ascetic life, and to express their condolences to the brethren of the monastery, who suffered such a dear and sensitive loss for them. The Athonite monasteries followed the example of their monasteries. The abbots of numerous cells scattered throughout Athos, benefited by the late Fr. abbot or those who left Russik and were considered his spiritual children, considered it a sacred duty for themselves to appear in person at the monastery and venerate the ashes of the dear deceased. The Xiromachian Cavets and Carulan anchorites went in droves to venerate the ashes of the deceased and pray for their benefactor, who never denied these poor people anything during his lifetime and did not forget about them even after his death 318 . In a word, these days the name of Fr. Macarius was on the lips of all the inhabitants of the Holy Mountain, and Russik became the center to which the hermits of the Holy Mountain, old and young, rode, walked and even crawled... The crowd of pilgrims was so large that even the numerous archondarics of the monastery could not accommodate them. From morning until late at night, churches were crowded with worshipers these days, and on the day of the funeral itself, many of the pilgrims had to stand outside the church, so that, at least from a distance, they could see the sad farewell ceremony for the eternal rest of the deceased abbot, Fr. Macaria. On the eve of the funeral, at 6? At about noon, the monastery bell gathered the brethren and the guests who came to worship in the churches for the funeral all-night vigil, which lasted almost seven hours. According to the sixth song of the canon, immediately after singing the kontakion “Rest with the Saints,” Fr. Andrey, successor to Fr. Macarius, as abbot, instead of the usual statutory reading, spoke a word in praise of the deceased, which made a deep impression on those present. At 4? o'clock in the morning, June 21, the funeral liturgy began in both cathedral churches, and in the Panteleimon Cathedral the liturgy was performed by Bishop Agafangel. Having finished the liturgy in the upper Intercession Cathedral, the clergy, according to Athonite custom, undressed and went to the tomb wearing only stoles. After a short funeral litany, lifting the stretcher with the coffin onto their shoulders, they began to descend down to perform the burial rite in the lower Panteleimon Cathedral. At the front of the procession, the monks carried a lantern and two altar crosses. The procession moved slowly along the curved and narrow staircases of the multi-story building, constantly stopping in front of numerous paraklis to perform lithiums. When the procession finally entered the monastery courtyard, His Eminence Agafangel came out of the Panteleimon Cathedral to meet it with banners and crosses. After a short litany, the coffin was brought into the cathedral and placed in the prepared place. The Bishop ascended the abbot's throne, and all the hieromonks occupied the stasidia on his right and left. The number of clergy who wished to participate in the ceremony of burial was expressed in the following figures: 10 abbots, 114 hieromonks and 35 hierodeacons. The funeral service, which Fr. Andrey prefaced with a short word 319, which lasted about four hours. The singing of the immaculate, canon and other hymns was touching and unhurried. It took about two hours to say goodbye to the deceased and the last kiss, since not only the brethren and those who arrived from other monasteries, but even all the monastery workers, without exception, wanted to say goodbye to the deceased and went to give him the “last kiss.” During this farewell, the hieromonks participating in the burial uttered the exclamation: “For you are the resurrection and the life,” preceded by the exclamations of the hierodeacons, “Let us pray to the Lord.” After the funeral service, the coffin was carried out of the church with a procession of the cross, accompanied by the sad ringing of bells, surrounded by a circle and placed at the grave, the place for which was indicated by the deceased himself. After a short litia was performed and the prayers of permission were read, the coffin was lowered into the grave. All those present at the burial threw earth onto the lid of the coffin, which, in the literal sense of the word, hid the dear ashes from their eyes. This earth, piled up in handfuls, can truly be called terra levis, which the lucky few have to receive in their short life journey. After the funeral, all honored guests were invited to the archondariki to remember the deceased, according to Russian custom, with bread and salt. The extensive monastery meal did not close its hospitable doors all that day, wanting to feed all the Xiromachians, Kelliots and Cavets who came to pay their last respects to the deceased. At the monastery port, these latter, in addition, were given bread, crackers and money to commemorate the soul of Fr. Macaria. On that same day, with tears in his eyes and in great emotion, the most devoted cell attendant of the late Fr. John, fulfilling the will of his deceased elder, distributed two worn duckweeds, two half-duckweeds, a schema, an old woolen kamilavka, worn shoes and several pairs of underwear to the poor Xiromacians at the port. This was the only property of the deceased that he left behind and which he could freely dispose of... The lucky ones accepted the dear inheritance of the “good father” with tears of joy. During the funeral meal, the Athonite kaymakan arrived at the monastery from Kareya, who was ordered by telegraph from Constantinople to attend the funeral of Fr. Macarius, who, as is known, was a holder of the Turkish Order of Medzhidiye, 4th degree 320. Our embassy in Constantinople also made an order by telegraph to the Consul General of Thessalonica so that he, as a Russian representative, would go to Athos to the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on the day of the burial of Fr. Abbot Macarius. In the absence of the consul, the ambassador's order was undertaken by the vice-consul of Thessaloniki N.N. Demerik, who, although he hired a special steamer to carry out the mission entrusted to him, was nevertheless late for the burial itself and appeared two days after the funeral. The next day after the burial, all the numerous brethren of the monastery gathered in the large archondarik (on the Russian half) and listened to the last will of their beloved late abbot. Spiritual testament found after the death of Fr. Macarius, depicts with vivid features the holy personality of the deceased and will forever remain a monument to his worldly experience, wise forethought and sincerely loving heart. Here is the will in full: “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Most beloved Fathers and Brothers in the Lord! I tell you my last word today, on the same day the Lord judged me to leave this temporary life and move into eternity. But, my children, my ever-beloved, before my soul appears before the terrible and impartial judgment of Christ, I ask and pray to you on bended knee, forgive me for all my mistakes and shortcomings, just as I forgive and allow you all, and now offer up your most ardent filial prayers to the Lord, that I may find mercy from Him. For although I, with the help of God, have always tried to fulfill my duty according to my strength, placing all my hope in the One who fills in what is lacking and who removes honor from the unworthy, yet with all this I am fully aware that I have fallen far short of my heavy and unbearable duty and my great predecessor - the Elder of blessed memory, Fr. Jerome. In addition, if a righteous person, according to the Holy Scriptures, is barely saved, then where will I appear as a sinner? And if a person is wrong before the judgment of God, even if he had only a single day of life on earth, then what can I say about myself, having in my life not just a single day, but dozens of years and being filled with many worries? Remember now, my beloved children, these cares of mine and the many sorrows that I had for the sake of your good and salvation, cover my great shortcomings with your love and fill what is missing in me with your own diligence, which will be worthy of your sacred title. May the Lord have mercy and accept me for the sake of your love for me. I pray to each and every one of you - now most of all I need your prayerful help: do not leave me and do not forget me with your warm prayers for me, and the God of love will not reject your unanimous love, but He will also create joy and mercy for me and reward you with His bounties for your filial love that is favorable before Him. For the sake of your own good, I ask and urge you to diligently perform the commemoration of the names of benefactors, so that the synodics established in the Monastery are unmissably read, as they should be. For abandonment or neglect of this duty of ours is very responsible for us before the Lord. Let us remember the mercy of our benefactors and their help during the needs of the Monastery, for their pious charity supports and meets our needs, especially in difficult times for the Monastery. We must never forget this and must reward them, as we have committed ourselves, with prayer for their mercy. The fate of the future Abode is unknown and lies in the right hand of God. It should also be remembered that many make sacrifices within their power to the Monastery, often from the last means, even with deprivation and limitation of their needs. Our failure to fulfill their zeal will be extremely sinful. Pay heed to this duty of conscience, for this will be demanded of us at the judgment of God. As during the days of my earthly stay with you, I repeatedly asked and exhorted you, in the name of the commandment of Christ and for the sake of your own temporary and eternal benefit, to preserve peace and brotherly love among yourself, and mutual condescension towards each other, and general agreement and unanimity, in every possible way avoiding any internal discord and discord. Of this now, although silently, through this written admonition of mine to you and tearful fatherly prayer, I remind, ask and pray to you: keep peace, love and mutual fraternal unanimity; Do not each look for your own “I” and, for the sake of such ungodly selfishness, do not forget your common benefit, the common good and honor of the Monastery and the brethren. Where there is peace and love, there is God, and where there is God, there is all goodness. Peace and unanimity constitute the solid protection and well-being of any society, but with internal disagreement, every house and every society falls. I ask and exhort you, beloved brethren, to preserve the anciently established order of community life, constant confession and revelation of your thoughts and your heartfelt structure to the abbot or confessor and, with permission, partake of the Holy Life-Giving Mysteries, as has always happened. This maintains the spiritual structure and order of the soul of each individual. Do not violate this saving good institution, which we here inherited from the Fathers who preceded us. Another zealous testament to you, fathers and brothers! Let the gates of the monastery never be closed to the poor and wretched and anyone who needs it. The Lord Himself bore witness to all of us, repaying abundantly with His bounty to the Monastery for not closing its gates and giving alms to all those in need. Observe this invariably, as it was, and do not limit your alms even after me. I entrust you, as always, to the Protection and intercession and mercy of the Queen of Heaven, the Most Blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, the true God, to Him with the Father and the Most Holy Spirit belongs all honor and glory and worship and thanksgiving forever. Amen. Hegumen of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery Archimandrite Macarius." After listening to the will of the deceased abbot, all the brethren here in the archondarik sealed with their signatures the act of electing Fr. Andrew, who on June 29 was solemnly elevated to the abbot throne (?nqroniasmNj). The news of the blessed death of Fr. Macaria quickly spread throughout Russia and evoked the most sincere regrets among everyone who knew and heard about his ascetic life. The Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Athos received a lot of letters on this occasion expressing condolences about the loss it had suffered from different parts of Russia. These letters serve as indisputable evidence of both the wide popularity that the name of the late elder enjoyed among us, and the deep respect that the Russian people had for him. “We have lost a spiritual lamp,” His Excellency Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod K.P. Pobedonostsev wrote on Mount Athos, “which shone the brighter with the light of good deeds, the more humble they were, we have lost a tireless prayer book for the Russian land.” “With great sorrow,” says the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Kiev Ioannikis in his letter, “we received all the news about the blessed death of the deceased Fr. Macaria. Apparently the Lord was pleased to send the sickle and take the ripened wheat into his granary. Let His holy will be done. But all Orthodox Russia remembers and will always remember Elder Macarius with you. He was a hot and holy lamp to all of you. But the fire with which this lamp burned is the fire of the Lord, and it is His will to kindle and extinguish, and again to light his lamps, so that it may shine for people.” “With deep sorrow,” the late Metropolitan of Moscow Leonty wrote in his letter, “I learned about the death of the blessed memory of Fr. Archimandrite Macarius. The Panteleimon monastery lost its great elder, administrator and ascetic. I comprehend the sorrow of the brethren. Not only your monastery, not only Athos, mourns the deceased worker, but all, one might say, Russia." Our essay, which we began to compile on the ninth day after the death of Fr. Archimandrite Macarius, his appearance in the world was so delayed that we can now say a few words about the fate of his bones. According to the custom of the Orthodox East, practiced on Mount Athos since ancient times, the bones of every deceased monk, three years from the day of his death, are torn out of the ground, washed in water and wine, wiped dry and placed in the tomb in pits or special chests, and the skull with the inscription of the name of the deceased is placed on the shelves in chronological order. The established three years for the removal from the ground of the remains of the deceased abbot Macarius were fulfilled on June 19, 1892. The bones of the unforgettable elder, according to the “Soulful Interlocutor,” “were dug up the day before, that is, on the 18th, and turned out to be clean and bright, which here (i.e. on Athos) is accepted as evidence of the prosperous state of the soul of the deceased in the afterlife.” 321 This day was also the day of prayerful honoring of the deceased elder by the abbot in the monastery. In order to give this honor greater solemnity, the brethren of the monastery invited to serve the funeral all-night vigil and liturgy with requiem for the former Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim III, who is in retirement on the Holy Mountain, co-served by His Grace Dositheos, Fr. Archimandritegumen Andrey, 10 hieromonks and 7 hierodeacons. During the great exit for the liturgy, the Patriarch bowed his knees and said a prayer for the repose of the soul of the deceased, and at the end of the requiem, he performed a short litany at his grave, where the bones and skull were placed in a special vessel, read the letter of permission and, blessing the skull, kissed it. All those who served him and the masses of monastic pilgrims, who well remembered their good benefactor the elder, hurried to do the same. The sight of the bones delighted and touched all of Fr.’s admirers. Macarius... These bones, put in a special box, did not end up in the general tomb, but are now reverently kept in the monastery itself. Conclusion. To characterize the internal structure of life in Svyatogorsk monasteries and the personality of Fr. Jerome, confessor of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery Documents brought to the attention of our readers: 1) Canonism of the Holy Mountain and 2) Auto-biography of the confessor of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Athos, Fr. Jerome 322 - constitute an addition or appendices to an extensive essay entitled “Russians on Athos”, published for several years in the pages of the magazine “Wanderer”. According to the author of the above-mentioned essay, the first of these documents should replace for readers his brief description of the internal structure of the monastic life of modern inhabitants of the Holy Mountain and their relationship to local authorities - spiritual (i.e., the Great Church) and secular (i.e., the Turkish Sultan), so that the story about the situation of Russian monks on Athos would be accessible to the full and comprehensive understanding of readers. The “Canonism of the Holy Mountain” published by us, compiled by the Svyatogorsk fathers and approved by the Turkish government, although it was not accepted by the Karei protate for practical use, in reality it embraces all aspects of this life and differs very little from the currently valid “canonism”, from which we were not able to get a copy. We did not find the Greek original of the published “canonism”, despite all the efforts on our part and careful searches even in the Carean protate, and therefore we could not correct two or three rather obscure passages in its translation. St. Petersburg, January 10, 1895 Application. General canonism 323 of the Holy Mount Athos, compiled by protate All who come to the Holy Mountain and wish to become a monk, no matter what their clan or nationality, are considered loyal subjects of the powerful Ottoman Empire. The 20 monasteries of the Holy Mountain are divided into cinnovies and idiorhythms; Each Kinobian monastery has an abbot, elected for life by the brotherhood, according to the ancient customs of the sacred place, but dismissed by him when he (i.e., the abbot) does not fulfill the duties imposed by the laws of his abbot title. He has with him the abbot and the simpractors (employees), with whom he jointly governs the monastery, according to a special canonism for the cenobia. Each idiorhythmic monastery has 2 epitropes, elected by other proestos for the year: these have (that is, are in charge of) the contents, income and expenditure and the official seal of the monastery. At the end of the year, both the abbots of the cinenovia and the epitropes of the idiorhythms are obliged to give a report to the proestos about the annual management of the monastery. Each monastery is self-governing and independent regarding internal administration, and regarding general affairs, these are carried out by the antiprosops of the 20 monasteries that make up the synaxis (or protate). These antiprosops must be equal to each other. The antiprosop of the Great Lavra presides in the synaxis, and in its absence in the hierarchical order, according to the ancient existing order, according to which the place of each is sanctified by custom, i.e. Lavra, Vatopedi, Iver, Hilandar, Dionysiatus, Kutlumush, Pandocrator, Xiropotamus, Zograf, Doliar, Caracal, Philotheus, Simono-Petra, St. Paul, Stavronikita, Xenoph, Grigoriat, Esphigmen, St. Panteleimon (Russik) and Kostamonit. Antiprosops of 20 monasteries will meet twice a year tactically on April 15 and October 15, 324. The meeting lasts a month. At this time, the antiprosops must meet daily, work diligently and complete the work within a month, but if the work is not completed, a period of 15 days is given and dissolved. When important and special matters arise, the synaxis can be convened extremely and will continue until the end of the matter. In the collection of synaxis, the epistasy must give on paper a statement (report) of its actions, as well as existing affairs, in chronological order; then synaxis begins to discuss and finish them. Discussions in synaxis should be carried out impartially, without embarrassment, peacefully and decently. If any of the antiprosops evades this, the proepistat immediately calls him to order. The synaxis must keep minutes of meetings and discussions, in which the opinions of each antiprosop will be entered, then at the next meeting these minutes are read, sealed with the seal of the sacred protate, and signed by the responsible epistatists and grammarian. The completeness (επαρτια) of synaxis is considered when ⅔ antiprosops are present, i.e. 14, who will do their work, and those absent no longer have the right to represent anything against decisions that have legal (authoritative) force by the majority. Each monastery must send at a certain time its proestos and abbots, and if they are busy, then it sends antiprosops from those who are more knowledgeable and experienced in local affairs. No monastery is allowed to assign the duties of antiprosop to another monastery, and if the absence continues (i.e. antiprosop of any monastery), then the opinion of the monastery will not be taken into account. The sacred synaxis is the recognized authority of the place, which has the right to appoint epitropes to Constantinople and Thessaloniki in accordance with the imperial firman, in order through them to bring various matters directly to the most honest government and to maintain relations between the synaxis and the venerable civil and ecclesiastical authorities. These epitropes, appointed for the year, must be those who are more knowledgeable and experienced in local affairs and in good behavior and deeds, and upon their resignation, as usual, if they turn out to be suitable, they remain in their places for the next year, otherwise they are replaced by others, and they must show obedience and hand over the archives to their successors. According to the ancient custom of the place, epistats are appointed once a year, and their significance should be in order of which monastery is located, and for each epistat the monastery must give a guarantee. The four epistats will have the seal of sacred synaxis in one part (for it is four-part); They will also straighten out all local and government taxes; at the end of the year, at the meeting of the sacred synaxis, receipts and expenditure books and all and any annual accounts should be examined before him, according to the assessment of the sacred protate, and if there is any abuse of them (i.e., epistats), then they must be compensated for by the community, and in case of their stubbornness, the guarantors of the monastery must compensate them, and they, as such, are removed forever from public affairs. The duties of the epistasy and its work are determined by special canonism. None of the inhabitants of the Holy Mountain can ever be considered the owner of the slightest piece of land, except for 20 monasteries, to which all the subordinate possessions belong: cells and monasteries. When any of the inhabitants of the subordinate domain has a need to make amendments or build something again, they are obliged to explain to the monastery, on whom they depend, such a need and then, with his prior permission and consideration, carry out work, the costs of which should be paid to the account of their manufacturer. The cells belonging to each monastery are inferior by homology to 3 persons; in the event of the death of the first, the second person, becoming the first, pays a tribute to his monastery, called “three meridians”, according to existing customs, the third person becomes the second, and in the place of the third, a monk - a tonsured monk of that cell - is included in the homology. When in the homology it is written directly “synodiya”, then pay a tribute of 5 piastres to the monastery. When all three persons die without legal successors, the cell with all its accessories passes, by natural law, to the disposal of the monastery to which it belongs. Residents of plots belonging to monasteries live under the guarantee of the monasteries to which these plots belong. Therefore, when any celliot or ascetic (hermit) decides to sell his cell or kalibu, he must have the permission of his monastery and present him with a person (as a buyer) for whom the monastery could vouch. When one of the above sells a cell or calibu, he pays a tax to his monastery, according to the custom that has existed since ancient times, on their value. Every monastic (i.e., person) and kelly monk or hermit, going into the world out of obedience, is obliged to have a certificate from the monastery to which he belongs, and whoever does not have such a recommendation will be detained. Monasteries, regarding their own affairs or in the event of a disagreement between two monasteries, apply in writing to the epistasy, first setting out their demands to it. If the epistasy cannot resolve their affairs, then they have the right to appeal to the synaxis of 20 monasteries, which, taking into account the protocol of the epistasy, and if it cannot resolve the matter, then must forward the report to the kaymakana or directly to the venerable government. And the hermits and kellyots in every matter and disagreement are obliged first of all to turn to their monasteries, which, if they do not resolve the matter, then they must present it, when presenting it, in epistasy, and so on, as indicated above. Those who come to monasticism in the monasteries of the Holy Mountain are obliged to fully comply with the orders and customs existing in the monasteries in clothing and lifestyle. If any of these, not loving customs and other things, begins to live according to the appetite of his own desire, then he must first be persuaded, but if he does not listen, he will be removed. Amendments in monasteries and in their estates will be, according to the discussion of the proestos, at the expense of the monastery or a private person, but such persons, upon leaving the monastery, do not have the right to demand a penny from the monastery for expenses during construction. Those monks who, upon entering the monastery, did not contribute any amount of money, leaving the monastery, do not have the right to demand anything from it, as if in reward for their labors for it; if they decide to demand auxiliary retribution through the courts, then their claim will not be accepted in the courts, in accordance with the imperial orders. If any of the monks invested a sum of money upon admission, then during his removal or expulsion from the monastery he has the right to receive his money, but in this case his stay in the monastery and services to it, as well as the age at which he entered the monastery must be taken into account, and then, in accordance with all of the above, a discount should be made on the capital invested by him from 30 to 50%. Monks sent to different places by monasteries to collect alms or alms are obliged, upon their return, to present them intact to the monastery, and against arbitrators who keep them for themselves, they will act as they should, in accordance with existing imperial decrees. The property remaining after deceased monks cannot be claimed by any of their relatives in the flesh, since it exclusively belongs to the monastery in which he took the monastic form, in accordance with the existing imperial orders. Every monk who leaves his abode and wanders from one monastery to another or from cell to cell, spends his time on acts contrary to monastic life, and after the first and second admonition, he is duly punished or expelled. In accordance with imperial orders, none of the monks who have retired from their monastery can be accepted into another without an apolytirium (i.e., a dismissal certificate). Each monastery has its own seal, recognized as sacred synaxis. Also, each monastery has only one seal, recognized by the monastery to which it belongs. Such monastery seals must bear the name (titlo) of their monastery. No one else: neither celliots nor hermits are allowed to have an official seal in the name of his cell or kaliba. Whoever transgresses this will be severely punished and persecuted as a blasphemer. In disputes about the land located on the Holy Mountain that arise between monasteries, and when they turn to the synaxis, he is obliged to take into account the state of affairs for fifty years before this and give the right to the one who during this time indisputably owned the land. In the event of a dispute between monasteries about lands in their places located outside the Holy Mountain, and when they invite the sacred synaxis as an arbitrator, then he must act according to the above. The tribute of the Athos peninsula, determined (maktu?) at 72,000 piastres, is paid in installments directly in Male? (state treasury). All acquired and to be acquired immovable estates outside the Holy Mountain after 1257 (gidra), according to the imperial firmans issued then, since they no longer enjoy the right of benefits, must pay legal taxes for them, and the monks, as well as other mortals, i.e. subjects of the Turkish Empire. Military clothing does not enjoy the right to benefits, because even in them the monks, according to imperial orders, will comply with the needs that have to be specified during the war. Those living in monasteries and in areas belonging to others are divided into three categories and are required to pay legal taxes in accordance with existing regulations. The Holy Mountain in civil terms depends on the sovereign Ottoman Empire, to whose government it relates in all political affairs of the place, in spiritual matters it depends on the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, whose jurisdiction extends only to purely religious matters. And if persons or monasteries give the occasion, then it is necessary that the messages and representations of the sacred synaxis be taken into account, for no one who is contrary to the dogmas of the Eastern Church will be accepted in the Holy Mountain. If a case arises that is anti-church in nature, for which, after the decision of the synaxis, a request from the interested party will be submitted to the Patriarchate, then she must first demand a decision of the synaxis, which she takes into account, and if she finds it based (approved) on the law and consistent with local customs and sacred canons, then she recommends those interested to comply with it, and if she finds the decision of the synaxis insufficient, then she points out to the synaxis these deficiencies and recommends corrections. And if those interested are not satisfied, then the matter goes to the government. The Patriarchate never has the right to arbitrarily interfere in the internal administrative system of monasteries and synaxis, but only at their request. All imperial firmans and other documents of the community (kinot) and monasteries have legality and force in those matters for which they were issued. The privileges and benefits of the Holy Mountain are confirmed. The Holy Mount Athos pleases him, as a strict guardian of communal monastic rules” (Monk Parfeniy (Ageev). The Legend of the Wandering and Journey through Russia, Moldova, Turkey and the Holy Land. Part IV. pp. 260–261). The Greeks of other monasteries take from the Greek monks Russik, who live friendly with the Russians, hegumen. Pan-Slavism." The skete Andreevites take into their Russian environment one Greek scholar monk to teach their Russian youth in Greek... What a trick. What pan-Slavism! Is Bulgarian Zograf rich? Pan-Slavism, because Bulgarians and Russians are one and the same. Is Vatopedi Greek rich? Pan-Slavism, because its origins are in Russia. Are the Greek monasteries poor: Xenophos, Simon Peter, Esphigmen? It's dangerous - they'll be bribed. Are the Cossacks worried? Riot! Intrigue! Pan-Slavism! The Russian consul helped the Greeks - he did a bad thing. Why did you intervene? Didn't help - even worse. You see, they don’t want to support the rights of the Greeks. The Russian consul is sick... He eats almost nothing, people say. There are even rumors that he wants to cut his hair. Nonsense! A sick person, brought up in a European way, like all these damned Russian officials, does not dare to get sick on Athos; for this there are the waters of all-saving Germany... Is it possible to believe that he is pleased with the monks? what a bore! We Hellenes are also Europeans, but we never go there, even though Athos is closer to us. Who now respects monasticism?! Who believes in powers, grace, miracles, confession and repentance?” (Russian Bulletin. 1873, T. IV. P. 683). To this excellent characterization of Mr. Leontyev, we only need to add that modern Eastern publicists have not gone further in understanding the essence of Pan-Slavism in our country, which they daily interpret in this way and that. “Let us pray to the Lord to bless the good intention and work of your servants and to deign to begin safely and hastily, apart from any obstacle, to your glory, through the power, action and grace of the Most Holy Spirit.” “Let us pray to the Lord for the good comfort of our servants, with all contentment, power, and grace of His Most Holy Spirit.” “For He will assign a Guardian Angel to this cause, to invisibly repel all the nasty things of visible and invisible enemies, and in all things to achieve success and wisdom, by the power and grace of His Most Holy Spirit, let us pray to the Lord.” On the special litany: “Hasten in everything and for the good of all, O Lord, mercifully and to Thy servant, hasten to us, now praying to Thee, O Savior, and bless them for the successful completion of their work, we pray, Almighty Master, hear and have mercy.” “Appoint Your Guardian Angel for this cause, O merciful Lord, to remove all obstacles of visible and invisible enemies, and hasten in everything to the successful completion, we pray, O most gracious Savior, hear and have mercy.” “To Thy glory, O Lord, I commanded Thy servant to do all things; grant with Thy blessing the successful haste to be accomplished; we pray, O gifted Creator, hear and have mercy.” According to the special litany, the exclamation: “Bend your knees again and again, let us pray to the Lord,” and this prayer, and on holidays without kneeling. Prayer. “Lord Jesus Christ, our God, accept our unworthy prayer for the forgiveness of our sins and iniquities, which have irritated Your love for mankind and angered Your goodness, and turn away from us your righteously driven anger against us, and satisfy all the unrest that now exists, and grant peace, silence, love and affirmation to Your servant, to them through Your honesty Thou hast redeemed with blood, glory for the sake of Thy name, the establishment and strengthening of Thy Church, so that we all glorify Thy most honorable and magnificent name, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen". “1877, February 17th day, on Thursday in the second week of the Holy Pentecost, after the appointed hours in the cathedral church in the name of St. Prophet Elijah, at the third hour of the day (in European 8 o'clock in the morning), we saw the undersigned seven people on the icon of the Mother of God of Tikhvin, located in the ark, behind the altar in the altar of the cathedral church, a clear wet trail of tears shed from the right eye of the Mother of God down through the entire icon and which all stopped on the frame of the icon, and on the left eye there was one large drop tears, which after 10 minutes rolled down half an inch in front of us. And at that time we wiped these tears clean with cotton wool and took the icon itself out of the ark to examine it on both sides, and it turned out to be completely dry, and then we put it in its place and, having all left, locked the church so that no one would enter there. Three hours later, at half past seven, as soon as we had flown (finished striking the wooden hand with a wooden hammer) at vespers, we entered the church and again saw on this icon not entirely clear traces of tears, dried with time, shed from both eyes of the Mother of God: from the right eye through the entire icon downwards, which stopped in significantly noticeable wetness on the right cheek, chest and below on the frame, and from left eye down along the icon and which all stopped on the right blessing hand of the eternal baby of the Savior, and below the handle not a single drop went down the icon, while the whole handle was soaked with tears, as if at that moment it was significantly doused with water. And on this hand the tears stood, as we looked, for more than an hour, which was worthy of surprise. And at the same time, we saw one large drop of a tear on the left eye, which after a quarter of an hour, in front of us, rolled down the icon about three inches. But all this time there was very noticeable phlegm in both eyes from tears. According to this vision, we again wiped away all these tears, and after that we no longer saw tears from the icon. We testify to the true testimony of all this with our own signature and the application of our Ilyinsky monastery seal. February 21, 1877. Russian hostel monastery of St. prophet Elijah Rector, Hieroschemamonk Andrey. § 1. “The administration consists of a dikei and 16 others equal to him, and in other rules even more than him. Where is the hostel here? ". § 6. “The sixth term is pure idiorhythm, for it represents the annual election, and therefore the inevitable excitement, and the poor wild man is on the sidelines. What kind of eldership is this? ". § 9. “Dikeus must confer with the epitropes, and if so, then why else is the council needed? Is it in order to create multiple commands, i.e., republican rule?” § 13. “In this member the power of the council over the dike is given. And here the aristocracy is expressed, not the cinema. From this will come contempt, suspicion and endless unrest." This rule consists of 1200 bows from the waist and 100 bows to the ground on the rosary for schemamonks, of which the latter are left only on holidays, Saturdays and polyeleos. For ordinary monks, the canon consists of half the number of bows, while novices only make 300 bows. Kraskovsky I. F. Macarius of Athos, abbot and holy archimandrite of St. Athos. Panteleimonovsky Monastery. M., 1889. P. 47. Recently, Fr. Macarius developed the custom of sleeping lightly in his chair, so that it was enough to creak the door for his vigor to immediately return to him, and vice versa, he quickly fell asleep when the visitor left. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday there is one meal at the Panteleimon Monastery. “Khoros” is a copper or silver patterned circle, consisting of two semicircles, encircling a multi-tiered chandelier with chains, lowered into it from the dome. On the choir, candles are placed in cells, lit on great holidays. We currently have a very interesting letter from Fr. Jerome dated August 30, 1875, which outlines before us with characteristic features the relationship of the two great elders to each other, to which we give space here. “The Most Reverend Fr. Hegumen Macarius, I wish you to rejoice in the Lord! Upon receiving the vizier's approval, all of us Russians seemed to be revived with hope for the improvement of our society. Give it, Lord! With my permission, others are writing to you here about the details of the progress of our business. And I’ll tell you about your confusion: “What will the brethren, especially the advanced ones, say about the costs?” This surprised me quite a bit. I respond with a reproach to your frivolity. By what right do you deign to attribute to yourself, or to your free will, what was spent in our common process entrusted to you by us? Everything you did was done with our guidance and advice. And we didn’t need the abbess for Fr. Macarius, but for our society. If it didn’t happen between us at this time, Fr. Macarius, so, without a doubt, another would have taken this place, for it, that is, the abbess, belongs to the monastery, and not to the individual. So, therefore, you must attribute everything to society, and this society, at this time, had an elder, whom you call confessor Jerome, to whom you always listened and obey. It is on him that you have every right to place all the burdens of our trial, and this will truly be so, because without my consent you did nothing important (in the course of our case). So, I ask you, do not become arrogant by ascribing greater responsibility to yourself. And there is nothing to regret, if only God would give us a comfortable life for His glory and the salvation of our souls. Amen. Until we notify you by our telegram, do not come here (i.e., to Athos). Be patient until everything here calms down and gets in order. Don’t let the future of our situation on Mount Athos terrify you. If something difficult is allowed to happen to us, it will be for the benefit of us Russians. All the brothers, thanking God, are peaceful and calm, looking forward to the end of the litigation hostile to us and your speedy return, of whom I am the first. May the God of patience be with you and with us. The sinner waiting for you is your confessor and brother. Jerome." A chetma is a building consisting of pillars with fairly strong shingles laid crosswise on them, coated with mud and plastered with lime. During the entire fire there was complete silence in the air, while on the opposite side of the Athos Peninsula a strong wind blew all night. On Mount Athos, all abbots have worn the bishop’s mantle with sources since ancient times. On August 6, the Turkish steamer Victoria departed from Athos, deliberately hired by one highly educated lady E. M. M., whose only son was among the novices of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery, with the goal of seeing her son, who did not want to leave Athos. In her company were two or three other Russian women who wished to see the Holy Mountain at least from afar, and the Russian vice-consul in the Dardanelles, Mr. Yugovich. The monastery received guests cordially. The relics of St. Great Martyr Panteleimon, a prayer service with an akathist was served before them, all the women confessed to Fr. confessor Raphael and on the Feast of the Transfiguration they received the Holy Mysteries, which were deliberately left for them from the liturgy and brought onto the ship. On the evening of August 6, before the departure of the ship, Fr. visited the travelers. Abbot Macarius and blessed them. The ship was led off by ringing from the monastery bell tower (see brochure: Four days on a steamboat off the coast of the Holy Mountain. A traveler's story, published in favor of the Kursk charitable society. Kursk, 1888). In this stay of the steamer with women under Mount Athos and in the visit of the abbot, some monks of the monastery saw a violation of the commandment of the Mother of God, which supposedly forbade women from coming to her “lot.” The real fire, in their opinion, was a punishment for the monastery for violating this commandment. I. F. Kraskovsky reports detailed information about the fire on Krumitsa in his book “Makarius of Athos, Abbot and Hierarchimandrite of St. Athonite.” Panteleimon Monastery. M., 1889. P. 140. Among these letters was a letter to the famous organizer of the spiritual mission to Abyssinia, Fr. Paisius, who, as we already know, was for a long time the manager of the Constantinople Panteleimon Metochion. Appreciating his services to the monastery in this modest position, aware of his lack of preparation, the weakness of his education, and taking into account his advanced age and raw physique, Fr. Macarius spent a long time and passionately convincing Fr. Paisia ​​did not take on the role of organizer of this difficult mission. But the persistent and unyielding Cossack nature of Fr. Paisia, incited by a thirst for honors and dignity, did not succumb to the meek convictions of a loving heart and Fr. Paisius left the monastery dissatisfied. Meanwhile, the late elder deeply regretted Fr. Paisiya, followed him everywhere with fatherly love and grieved for him upon his return to Russia, when the Abyssinian mission on the shores of the Red Sea failed... (We know all this from the correspondence that we personally conducted with the late Fr. Macarius.) Now let this dying letter from Fr. Macaria will serve as a sepulchral call for fraternal mutual forgiveness between two elders who sincerely loved each other during their lifetime. Currently, there are three specialist doctors on Mount Athos, of whom one is a free practitioner living in Kareya, another in the Vatopedi monastery and the third in the Iversky monastery. The first received this content from the Karei synod, and the other two are maintained at the expense of the named monasteries. Usually monks, without distinction of hierarchical rank, are sewn into a robe from head to toe. The bodies of ordinary deceased monks, dressed in monastic clothes, are usually placed on stretchers, on which they are brought to the church for the funeral service and from there to the grave prepared for burial. According to Athonite custom, the body of the deceased is lowered directly into a pit without a coffin and covered with earth. To prevent the skull from being crushed, the head of the deceased is covered with stones, which are placed in a perpendicular position. This is done in such a way that the body of the deceased is closer to the ground and would sooner undergo decay, for which in some places the deceased is even doused with water. For Fr. Macarius, and in this respect some deviation from the general custom was made. Body o. Macarius was placed in a hastily knocked together coffin of a special design: the sides, bottom and lid were made not from whole boards, but from pieces of them, like frames, which were covered with blue calico. With this coffin they lowered his body into a grave dug inside the monastery on the right side of Panteleimon Cathedral, above the grave of Fr. Jerome. Karul is the name given to the rocky northeastern part of Mount Athos, protruding into the Aegean Sea. Many Athonite anchorites retire here for silence and solitude and spend their lives here in severe asceticism. They do not build houses or cells for themselves, but live in “dens and abysses of the earth” in the literal sense. Getting to these anchorites is not easy and requires a lot of courage and bravery. The inhabitants of Karulya leave their caves rarely and on especially important matters, and they make the exit to the Mountain and the return descent into the cave with the help of a rope hanging over the abyss, from one glance at which an unaccustomed person will feel dizzy... A traveler on these stairs often has to hang over the abyss, resting against holes dug out in the rock. Karulian anchorites spend their time performing monastic canons, reading the Word of God and patristic, mostly ascetic literature, as well as practicing crafts: they make rosaries, gracefully carve crosses and spoons from olive and chestnut wood, knit floor brushes, etc. They sell these things either to the monasteries for distribution to pilgrims, or to the monastery shops in Karya. With the proceeds from the sale they buy clothes and the essentials for their simple household needs. Their food is very harsh. Black crackers soaked in water, boiled beans, peppers, bami and colokitya, etc. plant substances, grown by them with great difficulty and careful care on the same rocky soil, for the fertilization of which it is necessary to haul up mountains of good earth from above - this is what constitutes their constant food, occasionally they feast on octapods, sea anemones, crabs, sea urchins and the like sea inhabitants, which they go out to hunt in person, descending to the sea along a rope. Soft bread and fresh fish are sometimes brought to them by fishermen, who put it all in baskets lowered on ropes to the sea. On Saturdays, alms are placed in these same baskets, which some Athonite monasteries are in the habit of distributing through a special monk appointed for this obedience. For confession and communion of St. On Saturdays, these anchorites leave their caves and go to the nearest monasteries or cells that have churches, and most often to similar anchorites, who, with the help of benefactors who occasionally visit these life-threatening places, managed to build small churches. Thus, the Karulians do not go out into the “world,” which in their language generally means Mount Athos and in particular its town of Kareya, for several years in a row. See below the spiritual testament of Fr. Macaria. All the words spoken by Fr. Andrei at the tomb of the deceased Fr. Macarius, published in the “Soulful Interlocutor”. 1889 pp. 233–239. In addition to the Turkish order, the late Fr. A few months before his death, Macarius received, on the proposal of Archbishop Nikanor of Kherson and Odessa, the Order of Anna, 2nd degree, from the Russian government, and before he had a pectoral cross from His Majesty’s cabinet with decorations. Soulful Interlocutor 1892 Vol. IX. P. 268; Church Gazette. 1892. No. 32. P. 1119. The publishers considered it necessary to publish this autobiography in a separate issue of the “Russian Athos” series. – Note. ed. Although this canonism was developed by the Athos protate and approved by the Turkish government, for some reason it was not later accepted into current practice on Athos. The current canonism of the Holy Mountain, with very few exceptions, is similar to the present one, and therefore our readers, even from the published, officially recognized canonism, can become well acquainted with the existing order of life of the Holy Mountain monasteries. Unfortunately, we do not know the Greek original of this canonism, and its Russian translation is not always intelligible and clean. Nowadays, anti-prosops meet in the cinema once a week on Fridays, and in important cases they have two meetings a week. In view of this, the antiprosops of the Athonite monasteries live permanently in Kareya in “konaks” built for them by the monasteries. The translation of this member is not clear. You might be interested in: