Часть 4. 1908 год

The pages of the diary of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt for May - November 1908 contain his reflections of the last months of his life. At that time, Father enjoyed enormous popularity and reverence among his contemporaries, he was known not only in Russia, but throughout the world; Church recognition of his pastoral merits was expressed in his appointment as a present member of the Holy Synod. Despite serious illnesses, he was still immersed in an active liturgical and deeply spiritual life. But anxiety about the fate of the homeland, which had entered a period of military failures, and the society, which was losing the Orthodox faith and being tempted by heterodoxy, worried the heart of the elder. All this was reflected in his notes. One of his contemporaries called the diaries of Father John “a comforting spiritual testament” of Father to true believers (preface by A. Ivanovsky to the book “The Living Ear from the Spiritual Field of Father John of Kronstadt.” St. Petersburg, 1909). The diary, small in volume (only 100 handwritten pages), along with purely personal notes about spiritual warfare, contains unusually deep reflections about the visible and invisible world, about the Creator and Savior of this world, an insistent call to people to “hurry to correct themselves”, since “judgment is approaching”, a call to find in the heart “true mercy, without which all life is nothing.” Repeatedly on the pages of the diary there are notes on the topic of Divine Providence about the economy of human salvation. Reflecting on the Gospel words “The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it away” (Matthew 11:12), Father John writes: “Man’s resistance to all evil, to all passion of the flesh and spirit is required... Real life is a spiritual school, a struggle, a feat, a battle with sin.” Of the diverse themes of the diary, perhaps the main one can be identified - the preservation of the purity of the saving Orthodox faith. Saint John was concerned about the relationship between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. In his diary, he repeatedly returns to the analysis of these relations, clarifies, insists... He is categorical and even harsh in his condemnation of any heresies, false “additions or insertions” to dogmas. “Where is the apple, the core of the discord and hatred of the Catholic Church towards the Orthodox? - In the too exaggerated opinion of the popes about themselves... in their immense pride... in the false interpretation of the words of the Lord spoken to the Apostle Peter: “Thou art Peter, and on this stone...” (Matthew 16:18). The stone is Christ, not Peter..." Father John speaks sharply in his diary entries about the religious views of L.N. Tolstoy, whose literary work had a great influence on the minds of society. Tolstoy for him is “the heretic who surpassed all heretics.” During the same period, Father John emotionally experienced and responded to many internal political events that worried society, wrote a greeting to the All-Russian Missionary Congress, held in Kiev in 1908, and spoke critically about the human shortcomings and infirmities of state rulers. As an acute reaction to current political events of our time, in the diary, next to an entry about ill health and personal spiritual state, the exclamation suddenly breaks through: “Lord, Lord of kingdoms and nations! Disperse the treasonous State Duma soon... elect people pleasing to You... Lord, bring reason to the students, bring reason to the authorities, give them Your truth and Your power, Your power.” And further, Father John calls to pray to God “with tears of blood” for an end to the general lack of faith and corruption of Russia. Finally, the diary clearly shows Father’s physical condition, his ill health and the premonition of the approaching end: “I will have to leave the earth soon.” Despite weakness and acute pain, Father John continued to serve in St. Andrew's Cathedral and preach sermons; made, contrary to the prohibitions of doctors, a trip to the Vaulovsky monastery, where he also served daily, and to the Leushinsky monastery. The route of his last trips is clearly traced in his diary. And the abbess of the Leushinsky monastery, Taisiya, writes about his visit to the monastery: “He was already very weak, could eat almost nothing, spoke little... but served daily in the cathedral church.” Diary entry about unbearable pain: “Night. I sinned before the Lord, I became faint-hearted, I grumbled... It was harder for me than ever... Oh, how severe the pain is!” Experiencing such suffering, Father John at the same time fully saw and felt the beauty of God’s earthly world: “I am amazed and cannot marvel at the goodness, power and wisdom of the one Creator in the Trinity... And if the visible world is so beautiful, diverse, full of life and beauty, then what is the invisible world like?! Creativity and God’s Providence on flowers, on grass... on every creation... Thank God for the snow, for the frost, for the warmth and cold.” Thus, before their death, in complete humility, the great saints, bearers of God’s grace, glorified and thanked the Lord for all their joys and sorrows. "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Rom. 8:9). Think deeply about these words, and keep them in your heart, and implement them with your life.” This admonition of the great elder at the end of the diary, addressed to all of us, reminds us of the main goal of our earthly life. “I thank You, Lord... by Your mercy I celebrate the 80th year of my life. Unspeakable mercy. Due to my sins, I was not worthy to see the 40th year of my life, but here I am the 80th year. Oh, the countless bounties of my Lord! What will I bring or what will I render to You, my Creator, my Savior, my Provider, my Physician, my Glory, my Strength! But grant me a good end, Lord, and do not disgrace me!” (From a diary for 1908) 3 entries on the cover at the beginning of the diary notebook Novgorod province, Cherepovets district, village of Konechnoye. Priest Nikolai Staropolsky. 19 Sent 360 rub. September 10, 1908. Sopotskin station Suwalki province. 20 Tyagunov 21 sent 250 rubles. St. Petersburg, Gorokhovaya, building 62, apt. 31. November 6, 1908. Vorontsov Convent. Pskov province. Kholmsky district. Tyapolovo station. Evdokim Fidelin; 22 children: Ivan, Nina, Yuri, Serafima, Ksenia. August 27. Abolish, Lord, Metropolitan Anthony. St. Petersburg Sergiy Petrovich Tservitsky - eternal memory. Do not eat anything other than the Holy Gifts for the sake of the Gifts. Teolin Monastery (Sopotskin station) ate. September 11 (two weeks earlier, too) 200 rub. Alex. Peter. Chernenko?, car wash, merchant, recommend Mikhail Andreevich Zaitsev. October 1, 1908. Should I ask Vera for chasuble? road - Taisiya, Stakheeva, etc. Send Patriarch Gregory of Antioch 500 rubles. to the Patriarchate. Apollonia, 23 abbess – 300 rub. To the priest Peter Alex. Mirtov 24 – 300 rub. Tula Abbess Magdalene 25 – 200 rub. “Further in the manuscript there are two words that cannot be read. Abbess of Velikolutskaya ate food for Lyudmila. 200 rub. Suwalki province. Art. Sopotskin. Abbess Lyudmila. Teolin Monastery. Not sent to Sedletsk province. Art. Sokolov. Virovskaya Abbess 26 – 200. No mountains sent. Bela Sedletsk province. Lesninsky Monastery. Abbess 27 – 200. Natalya Bondareva. St. Petersburg Vasilyevsky Island, 18 line, building 7, apt. 20. Marya Mikhailova was sent to the Sursky courtyard? House of Diligence 28 – 1000 rub. August 12, 1908. Buy transfer forms, envelopes in 1 and a quarter sheets and eighth sheets. Sura Deacon Peter Nikolsky. October 11, 1908. Priest of the Lavel village Apolloniy Nikiforov October 29 – 11. Gennady Paramonovich Ivanchenko. 30 Warden of the Sur post office. Vokhonovsky Monastery of the Mariinsky Baltic Railway. Elisavetino station. Dyletsk post office. Florence. 31 Vladimir Antonovich Kondratyev 32 is a caretaker at the new Naval Cathedral. Sursky parish deacon Alexey Andreevich Koposov, and monastery deacon Pyotr Vasilyevich Nikolsky. October 17. Deacon of the Sursky Metochion in Arkhangelsk Pavel Veroyatov. I received a letter from him on October 22. The entry in the manuscript has been crossed out. God bless! New diary. May 24, 1908 Whose words are these: “Take, eat: this is My Body, which was broken for you for the remission of sins. And drink of it, all of you; this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:26–28; 1 ​​Cor. 11:24)? Are these not the words of the all-good and all-powerful Creator and the all-generous Savior of the entire human race, “the Lamb of God,” who takes away “the sins of the whole world” (John 1:29)? The heretic Aryan relegated the Creator to the genus of creatures and did not recognize Him as consubstantial and co-eternal with the Father, one with Him and the Holy Spirit. Can a creature transform the essence of things into a completely different nature, for example, wheat bread into the most pure Body of God and red grape wine into the most pure life-giving Blood of God? Isn’t it only the Almighty Creator who can create and implement this? But Arius and his like-minded people, of whom there were tens of thousands, did not recognize Jesus Christ as the Creator. This was the great misfortune for the Orthodox and heretics: if they trusted Arius, they would have lost communion with the Church and eternal salvation. The heretic Arius wanted to destroy the saving Orthodox faith and introduce a heretical, destructive faith. Therefore, Orthodox bishops, clergy and Orthodox laymen strongly opposed Arius, as well as the pious Emperor Constantine Equal-to-the-Apostles himself, who gathered saints from all over the Orthodox world - bishops, presbyters and, partly, deacons, among whom was St. Archdeacon Athanasius of Alexandria, later appointed Archbishop of Alexandria in Egypt. They examined, weighed and refuted the wicked teaching of Arius and his associates and condemned them as ungodly and destructive, and compiled an exposition of the Orthodox faith, or the Creed, for all times until the end of the age according to the clear and powerful and wise teaching of the Holy Spirit of God. And to this day we unanimously and unanimously believe in this Creed and do not add one iota to it, so as not to lose salvation for a false addition or insertion, like Catholics, Lutherans and Anglicans. Glory to our God in the Trinity forever and ever. Amen. 4 pm. May 24. The exclamation of the priest from the Eucharistic canon (following the Divine Liturgy). July 15. 9 pm. “Shine in our hearts the true sun of righteousness” (Mal. 4:2) Yours - that is, the Church prays to the Lord on behalf of every Orthodox Christian, so that He will teach us His perfect truth, so that it, like the sun, will illuminate our heart and our soul, and our thoughts, so that not a single dark passion of sin, not a single evil thought, no hostile feeling towards anyone will remain in us, so that a person will be clothed with “righteousness” according to “loins and truth according to his sides” (Isa. 11:5), so that he “loved” one “righteousness and hated iniquity” (Heb. 1:9). This is what it means: “shine in our hearts” your true “sun of righteousness,” O Lord! Secret prayer of the priest before reading the Gospel (“Shine in our hearts Your imperishable light of God”). Chapter 26 Isaiah, Art. 10. Notice how harmful impunity for wrongdoing is. How disgusting sin, whatever it may be, is to the All-Holy Lord! This is an abomination that separates the sinning soul from Him. Be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Anna Andreevna, Sofya Yakovlevna and Varvara Ivanovna 33 from Moscow arrived in Vaulovo at 1 o’clock in the afternoon, had lunch; Communion of the Holy Mysteries tomorrow, July 26, 1908 I sinned when I envied the priest Mikhail in Vaulov because he took a lot of land into his possession - a whole mile, planting a thousand trees in it, making vegetable gardens for all sorts of vegetables and a large place for a beekeeper. But then he repented and changed his envy to goodwill - let him use this plot for his benefit and his family. The monastery has a lot of land - 800 acres, both forest and hay, and sown with grain seeds, or arable land. Father Mikhail is a good priest, simple, sober, well-behaved, efficient in his service, helpful, but also a family man. We thank the Lord for all His mercy. “Tuna eat, give tuna” (Matthew 10:8). For nothing, by accident, we received from the Lord such a land gift from the city of Senator Mordvinov. July 25, 1908 (The space was accidentally left for the entry). The birthday girl is the head of Eupraxia, a nun. Memory of the holy women, Olympias and Eupraxia. Olympias, student of John Chrysostom, holy universal teacher and saint. Lord, forgive my sins and give me complete dispassion: grant me “in heaven” to have “treasure,” and not “on earth,” where “aphids decay, and thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19–20). To my chagrin, the Ministry of Railways gave me a separate carriage - disgusting, filled with tobacco smoke, so that it was impossible to breathe freely either in the evening, or at night, or in the morning until noon; and I positively suffered in this walking prison. I was glad when I went out into the fresh air at the Lyazhchevo station and got into the carriage. The weather was terrible - cold, like winter; The water is icy, like in a washstand in winter. At home I am used to clean air; There was no tobacco smell at all. I repented that I got into the carriage - oh, damned tobacco smoking! Meanwhile, nowadays even small children smoke. Oh, destruction! May 26. Monday. Don’t eat milk: my stomach doesn’t tolerate it, can’t cope with it. Krupyanka on mushrooms (pearl barley), do not eat pies; cheesecakes too; in general, drink very little after the Liturgy. May 26. Evening. For Your speedy mercy, Lord, I thank you; I was angry with Eupraxia, the head of Vaulov, 34 I was embarrassed, hurt, repented and received forgiveness and peace from the Lord. Glory to Thee, Quick to Hear, Lord! Amen. The creativity and providence of God is on flowers, on grass, on bushes and trees, on birds, domestic animals and beasts, on fish, on shells and shells of living creatures - on every creation. A thought in advance (invented) - a drawing of all the creatures, color, shape, smell ad infinitum (various). “Even if the hay of the village is swept into the oven today and in the morning, God clothes it like that...” (Matthew 6:30). Hot barley (pottage) is a good thing for my weak stomach; sprinkles are also useful. God bless! May 30. Have mercy, Lord, on Your servant, Abbess Angelina, who is tormented by the evil spirit of Asmodeus. 35 Instill in her, O Lord, humility and give her fervor of heart towards You, the God of our life. After the seizure I came to my senses and felt well. May nothing like this happen to her in the future. June 1st. Holy Trinity Day. Severe thunderstorm at 1 p.m.; pouring rain, reviving all the vegetation. I slept on the terrace; deaf - didn’t hear thunder, didn’t see lightning - it’s already stopped. Glory to God, who visited the earth with His mercy! On May 28, Exarch Nikon was killed in Tiflis by Georgians. 36 Hieromartyr. Glorify him, Lord, in Your Kingdom. Lord, change my heart with a change of forgiveness, kindness, meekness, quietness, love, patience, and forbearance. I repent of my irritation, forgive me, Most Merciful! June 3. Tuesday in the Holy Spirit. Amen. Remember, O Lord, Thy servant Eupraxia in Thy Kingdom. What a playwright the devil is, what scenes he produces in dreams in the spirit of the present time of self-will, disobedience of the lower ones to the higher ones, their rudeness, mockery of the elders. Scene of sextons. – Train yourself, you accursed one, for endless ages in “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12) with all your temptations. Well, that’s drama, pure hellish drama! June 4. Trinity Wednesday. I thank the Lord for His long-suffering towards me, a sinner, for giving me another day (I don’t eat milk: it worries me too much). By the Righteous Judgment of God my illness was sent to me, 37 and I must generously and gratefully endure and pray. I thank you and praise you, Lord my God! Amen. Catholics. Why don’t you have the great litanies and these irreplaceable words glorifying “with all the saints our Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary,” etc. You only magnify the pope, but you humiliate the Mother of God and the saints, and Christ Himself: you have blasphemously ascended, proudly! Holy Church with Head and Members; “Head” is “Christ” (Eph. 5:23), members are the Mother of God, holy apostles, prophets, saints, martyrs, saints, unmercenaries, righteous and all saints; then on earth the members are the bishopric, the presbytery, the deaconry, all the pious laity; then those who have fallen asleep in faith are saints, priests, kings and people of every worldly rank and title: “all are alive with God” (Luke 20:38). Here is the Church with its Head and members. Do Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans have this? Eating at the wrong time, just torment? June 21. I command myself not to eat anything for dinner: dinner causes a lot of grief to the gland. June 22. The common Provider of all, the Lord, thought about everyone and everything before all centuries, and now he thinks and cares about everyone, and sends everything to everyone, and helps everyone. - Glory to You. Forgive me, Lord, my sin - the sin of irritation, anger, bitterness towards those who contradict me (Taisia) 38. Teach me meekness, humility, patience, kindness, and everlasting quietness by Your Holy Spirit. Now I feel in my heart that You have had mercy on me for my repentance, taking away “sorrow and oppression” (Rom. 2:9) from my soul and giving peace and space to my heart. Thank you. June 25. By all accounts, it has been noted that my illness was brought upon me by God through the action of Satan, the “destroyer of the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7). What kind of dreams do you see mocking from a monster spirit, especially in the morning? How unprepared am I when I begin to celebrate the Liturgy, how gluttonous, how unreasonable, careless, stupid, senseless?! - And the possessed girl, in the form of whom Satan appeared to me today, with an open mouth and teeth, rushed at some person - and at me later. Horror. Secret murmur against God because of bad weather - damp, cold. I recognize my sin and repent, I blame myself; Because of our sins, we are worthy of even worse. Have mercy, Lord! I am dust (Gen. 2:7). New Sura deacon Koposov. Monastery deacon in Sura - Peter Nikolsky 39; voiceless, protege of Ioannikis - the bishop, relative of the bishop's secretary, personal. Don't send him a penny. What kind of a spectacle is the secretary? Secretary of the Spiritual Consistory Nikolai Nikitin. Not a single drop of rain will fall without the will of God. Remember this and don’t complain about excess? rain every day. – June 25. In a sleepy dream, Satan presented to me, in brilliant wedding pomp, the upcoming marriage of a priest, with his living wife, to some old woman; metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, priests and many military men (marriage was supposed to take place in the regimental church) and people of every rank - military and civilian, male and female - gathered; the bride was not shown to him for a long time, and when he asked, they showed him a sick old woman in bed and said that lice appeared on her; he loudly and indignantly refused the bride. This is the illusion of Satan over the servants of God! Matt. 11, 12: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and those who use force take it.” – Two invisible forces constantly act on a person: good and evil; the power of God, the power of grace and the power of the devil, the evil and all-destructive power. Man is placed in this world as if between two fires, one of which is life-giving, about which the Lord says: I came to bring down fire “on the earth” (Luke 12:49); and the other is a scorching and burning fire. A person must exert effort on himself in order to arouse in himself the fire of God, the fire of faith and love for God and neighbor. Man lost his first Divine dignity, his rightness, holiness, goodness, meekness and filled his soul with all sorts of sins. You don’t have purity of heart - this is a big loss, you need to acquire it; there is no sympathy for your neighbor in his sorrow, misfortune, misfortune, disaster, illness - change yourself, be sympathetic; you do not have zeal for prayer, for God, you do not have a spiritual taste for prayer, you do not have a spiritual ear for listening to the Word of God - transform yourself, develop a spiritual taste, a spiritual ear, so that you can listen to the Word of God with love, in order to feel the sweetness of prayer and the sweetness of good deeds. If you are proud, humble yourself; if you are greedy for food and drink, be abstinent, etc. Evil strongly fights a person and forces him to do evil, but good attracts him to himself with his moral beauty, spiritual peace, spiritual freedom; good attracts the promise of eternal life for victory over passions: “To him who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne...” (Rev. 3:21). “The Kingdom of Heaven,” that is, holiness and purity, righteousness, abstinence, prayer, chastity, love for God and neighbor – “is taken by force,” that is, by the power of God’s gracious help and their own zeal, and “those who use force” acquire it. The flesh resists the spirit (Gal. 5:17), that is, all virtue, so that we do not do what we want for the sake of God and the salvation of the soul and for the good of our neighbors. Man is placed in this life between two currents: good and evil, between two fires: the fire of God, life-giving, and the fire of the devil, scorching and tormenting. What is required is human resistance to all evil, all passions of the flesh and spirit, all lusts, and learning and assimilation of all virtues. Real life is a spiritual school, a struggle, a feat, a battle with sin or “with the spirits of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12), fighting us against evil. Everyone needs to learn to overcome sin within themselves with the help of God, for without God there is no way to reach the threshold. And God has given us all the Divine powers for life and piety; we just need to not be lazy in using them. – Do you want to learn how to delight the Kingdom of Heaven with force? – Learn from the saints, how they labored, how they used every effort on themselves; what selflessness they had, what impartiality to wealth, to worldly honor and glory, to carnal pleasures; what abstinence they had, what zeal for God, what constant prayer, what work, what humility, kindness, obedience, patience, mercy towards their neighbors. And how by faith they reached the Kingdom of God! None of them were put to shame; everyone has received incorruptible life and eternal glory, eternal bliss and are beyond any fear of losing the acquired Kingdom of Heaven. Imitate you too, each according to his own strength; read, listen to the Word of God, delve into it, understand it, strive tirelessly for the goal of your life - and receive eternal salvation. After all, you all work one way or another for the earth, for earthly prosperity; strive especially to obtain eternal life; “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this,” all earthly blessings “will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Amen. July 2. Rest the soul of Your servant Lydia, Lord! She was pleasing to You, “not of this world” (John 15:19), meek, kind, pure, humble, and benevolent. July 3. It can be seen that human nature is wonderfully and divinely (god-like) structure, that to recreate it it took such a supernatural means - the incarnation of the Son of God, His life on earth, countless miracles, the Divine teaching, suffering, death and resurrection. – The fallen “image of God” (Gen. 1:27), unvalued, to which the whole world is unequal, was the reason for such supernatural providence of God. Do people understand this? Not many understand and appreciate, and therefore they live unworthily, at random, as if by chance, without thinking about the high goal of the Christian title, they live in the vanity of all sorts of addictions. Do not hide... “where aphids corrupt, and where people steal” (Matthew 6:19). “The image of this world passes away” (1 Cor. 7:31), like corruption, with all its beauty, wealth, sweetness, glory and honor. There are only eternal blessings, eternal treasures, eternal life, truth, love with the holiness and peace of God. – Direct the “eyes of the heart” (Eph. 1:18) there, come there, “from nowhere” comes help. (Ps. 120:1). July 10. Thursday. 4th day in Ustyuzhna. 40 I served every day except the day of arrival. Every day he spoke a word; today - on the text: “Holy and sanctified by the One” (Heb. 2:11). Today from one o'clock in the afternoon or earlier there is a thunderstorm: thunder, lightning, rain, downpour. I anticipated this bad weather (strong wind) two days in advance - in some mild bouts of illness. The kindness of the owners and everyone at home towards me is extraordinary. I'm not worth it. I thank the Lord. Send two hundred rubles to the Vyshnevolotsky convent 41; in Verkolsky 42 – one hundred rubles; in Hills 43 – one hundred; Shenkursky 44 – one hundred. Ivan Efimovich Shuvalov is a peasant worker who accompanies us every day on walks in his carriage. My iron and my stomach constantly require warmth. When they are warm, I am healthy and calm. When my stomach is cold, I am unwell. July 11. Euphemia of all praise and Olga of Russia 45. He served the Liturgy and preached a sermon on the topic that one must often partake of the most pure Body and Blood of Christ. Why does the Orthodox Church give communion under both types? According to the commandment of Christ - once; secondly, because in the blood is the soul of man and man is conceived from the blood of his mother and because Christ accepted flesh and blood; thirdly, in the Old Testament, the Blood of Christ was depicted as animal sacrifices: rams, bulls and goats, and Moses sprinkled hyssop dipped in blood on all the utensils of the tabernacle - books and all things (Heb. 9:19-21). Are you, brothers and sisters, interested in the all-redemptive work of Christ, His Economy for human salvation? Are you interested in the Church, the teaching of the Gospel, the Sacraments? Are you interested in the work of heartfelt prayer, unfeigned repentance with works of repentance? Are you interested in eternal life, in which all the holy apostles of Christ, saints, martyrs, saints, pillars, and unmercenaries were completely selflessly interested? Which all sensible, sensible people were interested in? We are interested in everything, often in mere trifles; Why aren’t we interested in these things that are infinitely important to us? Where is the mind? Where is the purpose of life? A reasonable goal? - Everyone has many goals: food, drink, clothing, wealth, various pleasures, games, shows, lists, cards?, tobacco. And where is “the only thing needed” (Luke 10:42)? Where is the soul? Her holiness, truth and mercy towards people? Fasting, abstinence in everything? Lord, Creator and Provider of all, I submit, Thy unworthy servant, my prayer before You for the servants - Alexander, Helen 46 and their children and for Your servants - Jacob, Paraskeva and their children, and for the fulfillment of their good and life desires according to all the petitions that they have set forth in writing before Your face. Grant, O Lord, their desires according to all their requests. Treat them as you treat everyone who turned to You in the simplicity of faith and heart. How are you unenvious? We send up glory to You, the Source and Giver of all good things, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. July 12. Saturday. I thank the Lord for the word I spoke in church, the subject of which was the word “Sabbath” and why was the Sabbath day established in the Old Testament and in the New Testament? What does the rest or sabbath provided by God mean for people who obey Him? – In order to be rewarded with the eternal rest of the righteous, everyone must work here for the sake of the Kingdom of God, they need constant repentance, prayer, abstinence, alms, patience; water does not flow under a lying stone, you need to strive: “The kingdom of heaven is taken by force, and those who use force” acquire “(delight) it” (Matthew 11:12). It is necessary to dig up 47 the soil of the heart and tear out all the roots of passions and bad habits and plant the wheat of virtue on this (Matthew 13:24-30). July 13. Sunday. The Gospel of the healing of the paralytic (Matthew 9:2–8). During the Liturgy, he spoke improvisationally about how sins weaken a person’s entire being; that you need constant repentance, constant forcing yourself to virtue. Praying is lazy; to restrain oneself is laziness; living chastely is laziness; Giving alms is laziness. The reason for the fall of the human race was the first of all angels - Dennitsa, strong, wise, beautiful, bright, who himself fell through pride and disobedience. The reason for the restoration of fallen man must also have been the first Angel, or Archangel. This is how Archangel Gabriel was chosen by God. God bless! Every day the Lord recreates and recreates me through the service of the Liturgy and the communion of the holy life-giving Mysteries - I see, feel, feel this Divine miracle and thank my Creator and Recreator, a new creature, me, who recreates, heals, pacifies. “What will I bring or what will I render to You, Lord?” Prayer 4, St. Macarius the Great, from prayers for the future sleep. I have nothing good of my own, everything is Yours. Teach me to fervently love You, thank and glorify You, O Lord, my God! July 13. 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Tomorrow, the 14th, Monday, we leave from Ustyuzhna to Yaroslavl, and from there to Vaulovo along the cast iron to the Lyazhchevo stop 48. May God have a safe journey. Send a guardian angel, O Lord, a companion and guardian. Deliver us from evil and crafty people! Bless, Lord, the Council of Archpastors and Shepherds and all 49 gathered at the congress, or Council, and be in their midst; speak in them, as in the prophets and in the ancient fathers of the holy Ecumenical and local Councils, for Your glory and for the good and glory of the Church. July 14. Monday. How the enemy alienates and tries to alienate me from God in sleepy dreams, through various faces, things, actions of worthless people - he represents what in reality, thank God, you will never see. Here is a kind of worthless, nasty, all-evil novelist, but what a subtle, cunning, dreamy one in a million different ways and ways, what an endlessly inventive, what a dreamer - and all this in the most bad, vile, disgusting, abusive form! “Why is he allowed to mock us like that!” And it is clear that the enemy nests in our heart, in our “old man” (Eph. 4:22)! Oh, how should we crucify our old, godless one? a person in whom mental reptiles, devils of every kind, nest! Ask for some cloudberries after mass, eat them, and take them on the boat for the trip. “For everything I thank the Lord, who provides everything we need, everything for our good and innocent pleasure.” – I kiss your invisible hand, Lord; I behold You in all the works of Your hands! They are innumerable because of their multitude, like the sand of the sea and the stars of heaven. July 15. 3 o'clock in the afternoon. We stood at the bank of the Mologa River for almost twenty hours because of the logs scattered by the storm that happened on July 10 (floating timber for sale), including the logs of Yakov Mikhailovich Pozdeev 50 that were broken. Who spoiled us all, and especially me, with this storm? - Satan, by the permission of the Lord, like Job - with a storm that killed his children and livestock with a thunderstorm (Job. 1, 16, 19). – But here there is also God’s punishment for the timber merchants for their sins. July 16. 5 o'clock in the morning. By God's grace we are in Yaroslavl; From here it’s ten o’clock by car 51 – to Vaulovo, to the Lyazhchevo stop. The river in Vaulovo - Sderzhinozhka: a characteristic name is given to it - Hold back the leg - it is all cluttered with branches and bushes. Did Mordvinov’s heirs open the manor’s house to us? The priest from the Lapps of Arkhangelsk, Ivan Vasilyevich Bykov, arrived to me in Vaulovo on July 16 in the evening, at about eight o’clock; brought prosphora from the Arkhangelsk courtyard 52 and pleased me with the news of all sorts of order in the courtyard and the cleanliness of all the premises. I thank the Lord. Sick with him from seizures, Sergius, a simple layman. Heal him, Lord! Your mercy is inexhaustible forever; May our faith in You not dry up, our Lord, Lord! Archimandrite Ignatius 53, vicar of the Patriarch of Antioch, also came to Vaulovo to serve. Save him, Lord, and His Holiness Patriarch Gregory. Description of the fall of Dennitsa by the prophet Ezekiel. Chapter 28 Text of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 26, art. 10: “If the wicked are shown mercy, he will not learn righteousness,” “he will commit evil in the land of the righteous and will not look upon the greatness of the Lord.” July 18. Friday. Mass. Service with deacon Father Nicholas the voiceless. A temptation occurred: another day the deacon did not help in the most important part of the Liturgy; evades the offering of the Holy Gifts and does not receive communion; this upset me and created in me a secret dislike for him; I was embarrassed, but immediately secretly repented to the Lord, asking the deacon to change the evil disposition of my heart to a good, meek one, with forgiveness, and to give me peace and a worthy celebration of the Sacrament with communion - and the Lord miraculously changed my heart, renewing and pacifying me. God bless. It seems that I am in his debt, having forgotten to pay for previous services. Pay him back today. Reading with attention the church services to the saints for every day of the year and contemplating their deeds in spirit, I cannot be amazed at their selfless love for the Lord and the inexpressible condescension of God towards them, and the love of God for them. How many spiritual gifts did they receive from God? what miracles they performed, what gift of prophecy they had; both during their lives and after their death God glorified them, and dwelt in them, and honored them with unspeakable glory and honor. Other saints shone “like the sun” (Matthew 13:43) at their very death, and Angels were their companions to heaven! So what? This means a human soul, cleansed of sins and loving its Creator with all its heart! God does not remain a debtor. Evgenia is sick, mother of Claudia (Krasilnikova). (Evgenia threw it out, bile spilled out). Oh, grief, oh, troubles! Oh, thousands of troubles! Oh, our sins! July 19. Saturday. After mass, 10 o'clock. I thank the Lord, who performed a miracle of mercy on me - the revival of my inner self after my secret deep repentance of contempt (contempt, neglect) "(church glory)." . and pride towards some rural women and irritation with them, who often tried to come up to me when I was driving, tired, to breathe clean air and secretly pray to the Lord and thank Him for the communion of the Holy Mysteries. My sin was grave - I was deprived of peace and joy after communion of the Holy Mysteries; grace left me, for I offended her and grieved the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30). But after deep repentance, the Lord miraculously changed my heart and gave me heavenly peace and space of heart. July 20. In order to inherit heaven and eternal life and be worthy of the eternal community of holy Angels and holy men, you must here on earth first purify yourself, hate sin and love righteousness, righteousness alone, and thus become like God and His saints, “for what fellowship is there between light and darkness, righteousness and lawlessness? Christ and Belial? (2 Cor. 6:14–15). The saints spent their whole lives preparing and cleansing themselves “from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit (Prayer 1, St. Macarius the Great, to God the Father, from prayers for those coming to sleep); We especially need to learn humility, for the beginning of sin is pride. Dennitsa fell with pride. July 21. To the God-loving assembly of 54 in the mother of Russian cities, God-saved Kyiv, the Right Reverend Bishops and the entire consecrated Council with the pious zealots of the Holy Orthodox Church from the laity - my heartfelt greeting in the Lord, in the spirit of Christ's filial and brotherly love. “Where two or three are gathered in My name, I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Present with you is His Holiness “Head of the Church” Himself - the Lord Jesus “Christ” (Eph. 5:23), who loved her and gave Himself for her; “Let the glorious Church present it to itself, not having any filth, or vice, or anything of the kind, but let it be holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:27). With you are the faces of the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, saints and all saints; The entire Russian Church in the person of its sincere children is with you in thought. July 21. After mass, at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, they found clouds with thunder and lightning and there was a lot of rain and downpour; alternately lasted several hours. A premonition a day before - it was hard the day before; sweated at night; health is extremely weak; the voice was completely exhausted. – Last year’s cloudberry (juice), soaked (I only ate the juice, no berries). At one o'clock there is a grain. July 23. I thank the Lord, who saved me from an internal secret fall during the celebration of the Liturgy in its most important part (before and after “I Believe”), when Father Priest Michael covered the sacred chalice with a handkerchief, and I, out of willfulness, took it off and left the vessel open; I wanted to make a small protest against him with this, because it seemed that he was too helpful and literal (according to the template). The peace of God has left me; I soon apologized to him, because he began to shy away a little from serving me for fear of a reprimand. Things went smoothly: peace returned to my soul, and I celebrated the Liturgy peacefully, just as I had received communion. But I was irritable in the morning; my heart was unprepared for God (Ps. 56:8) due to long sleep and unpreparedness in prayer. We must get up earlier and prepare more diligently for the Liturgy. He took communion without condemnation. He spoke improvisation graciously, indescribably passionately. About the argument of the Apostle Peter to the Savior and the Lord’s answer to him: “Follow Me, Satan, you are an offense to Me, for you think not about the things of God, but about the things of men...” (Matthew 16:23). Then about self-sacrifice. “Whoever wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). Prophet Jeremiah 50, Art. 41–46. About the fall of Babylon. Wonderful, powerful speech of the Lord of hosts, the Lord of all creation, v. 44: “Who is like Me? And who demands an answer from Me? And what shepherd will resist Me?..” v. 46: “At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth will shake, and a cry will be heard among the nations.” Ch. 51, art. 1–2: “Thus says the Lord: I will raise up My adversaries against Babylon and against those who dwell in her midst, and I will send winnowers against Babylon, and they will scatter her and lay waste her land; for on the day of disaster they will attack him from all sides” (beginning of chapter 51). Chapter 51, verses 20 and 21: “You are with Me” – “a hammer, a weapon of war; with you I have struck down nations and with you I have destroyed kingdoms; with you you smote the horse and its rider, and with you you smote the chariot and its driver,” and so on. Catholics are to blame, among other things, for unfairly considering us heretics and schismatics, for scolding and cursing our holy, immaculate, catholic and apostolic Church; they do not want to trace our Orthodox teaching, our liturgical books, canons, hierarchy; out of contempt, pride and disgust, they do not even want to set foot in our church, considering this a desecration. Satanic hatred! I will soon have to leave the earth - away from the absurd addiction that is deadening to everything earthly; may I love “the one thing I need” (Luke 10:42), may I love the only Lord, my life-giving, inexhaustible Treasure. “The wicked will not see Your glory, O Christ” (irmos Oktoekha - Ed.), that is, unbelievers, wrong believers, evil Catholics, Lutherans blasphemers and reformists, Jews, Mohammedans, all Buddhists, all pagans. Will we see? It depends on our life, faith, piety. If we have the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9), if we are “a new creation in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17), then we will undoubtedly see the glory of Christ and enjoy it forever. Who is wise and will understand this? – Who will force himself to achieve the Kingdom of God (Matthew 11:12)? An amazing creature is the human soul, created “in the image and likeness of God” (Gen. 1:26–27), although fallen. For what is it like in the saints who have diligently served the Lord in this temporary life? How devoted she is to God through love and self-denial, prayer, abstinence, and unceasing vision towards God! How pure, bright, firm, fragrant! And the very bodies of saints emit fragrances. And what is the end? How peaceful, glorious, bright, holy! I wish all the best to Father Priest Mikhail Sretensky, as well as to myself. - Let him use God’s gift of the earth - without restraint, and work on the bees. The owner, after the head of the skete here, is Father Mikhail Sretensky, as a priest and confessor, and mentor. - I must be a master, a master - in myself, in my heart, I must rule over all passions and kill them, and give dominance to grace and all good, especially love for one’s neighbor, in order to love him most of all, for love for God is also tested in love for one’s neighbor. “He who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?” - “And we have this commandment from Him, that he who loves God should also love his brother” (1 John 4:20-21). “He who hates his brother” is “a murderer” (1 John 3:15). The First Epistle of John. Remember the only wealth of Elijah the prophet - the mantle (sheepskin; outerwear, sheepskin cloak), sent down on Elisha during the ascension of the prophet (2 Kings 2:11-14). Oh, how he - Elijah loved God, how alien he was to all worldly passions! He was all in God and before he was taken to heaven he lived with his heart in heaven with God. “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand” (1 Kings 17:1), he said! - Boast in the Cross, “to whom the world has been crucified, and to the world” (Gal. 6:14). So be it. Amen. – July 25. Grant me, Lord, a kind heart, kind to my enemies or Russia; grant me to realize that my most evil enemy is me, myself. Amen. July 26, 1908. Varvara Ivanovna Fedosikhina. 55 July 25, 1908. Priest Nikolai Vasilyevich Vinogradov, Yaroslavl province, Romanovsky district, village of Malakhovo. The phrase in the manuscript is written in pencil. When you pray before the image of the Lord or the Mother of God, or the saints, ask yourself internally: do you sincerely and with love look (look) at the holy icons, raising your gaze with faith to the Primordial? Do you pray with all your heart and with all your thoughts, with all your hope? Is your heart not asleep, is your thought not asleep? Is it not the slumber of the heart that your lips utter? How small I am, how insignificant I am in God’s creation, how sinful among earthly beings, and, moreover, how conceited, crafty, judgmental regarding deeds and words or the rashness of those in authority, even kings and the highest persons, and regarding all people! How irritable, angry, envious, proud, unkind, ill-willed towards many, lazy, negligent, selfish, careless, lascivious, not diligent in holy deeds, for example, prayer and repentance! From early youth I burdened myself with sins and have remained stuck in them until now, despite the “abundant grace” (2 Cor. 9:14) given to me by God in reading the Word of God and serving the daily Liturgy. Today, July 28, Monday, the Most Reverend Archbishop Tikhon of Yaroslavl and Rostov came to the Vaulovsky Assumption Skete, stood and prayed throughout mass, drank tea, had a snack, inspected the monastery (from 11 o’clock to noon), at 1 o’clock in the afternoon he deigned to have lunch and at 2 o’clock he left for St. Nicholas parish, 56 and from there to the merchants Lopatin. July 31st. In the gift of the Divine Liturgy to the Orthodox Church and in the granting of other Sacraments to it, God has given so much that no human mind can appreciate the greatness of these gifts; the gifts of rebirth, adoption, renewal, the right to eternal life, entry into heaven, cohabitation with the Angels and all the saints and eternal reconciliation with the Heavenly Father and participation in His holiness and blessedness. Do you, Orthodox Christians, value this gift of God and do you try to live worthy of the Christian title - in purity and holiness and in all virtue? The Son of God “came not to be served, but to serve” (our salvation) “and to give His soul as a ransom for many” (believers) (Matthew 20:28). Unbelievers will not be saved; and many of the Orthodox will not be saved for their hardness of heart and lack of mercy. “Before” you did not “create only these least of my brethren,” nor “have you created for me” (Matthew 25:40). Few escaped. “Many are called, but few are chosen. Not a single man of those called will taste My supper” (Luke 14:24) for addiction to this life and for unbelief and coldness towards God and whiteness of heart (Isa. 6:10). “Foxes have holes, and birds of heaven have nests: but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). “Can you drink the cup that I will drink, and be baptized with the baptism” with which I will be baptized (Matthew 20:22)? The two brothers softened their answer by saying, “we can.” If not for this answer or this willingness to lay down their lives for Christ, their request would have been very offensive to all the apostles; and even then, they were offended; - it is said: they were indignant at James and John. – The Lord enlightened them (Matthew 20:20-28). Our salvation is in the Church, as in Noah’s Ark, and nowhere else. “If the church disobeys, you will be like a pagan and a publican” (Matthew 18:17). – The Church is us, “the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:27), and He, Christ, is the Savior of the body; and we are members of the body, of His flesh and of His bones. The helmsman is the Holy Spirit, that is, the verbal ship of the Church. Only in the Church, as in Noah’s Ark, can one be saved. The pious Cornelius the centurion, a former pagan who always prayed and gave alms, was instructed by an Angel to call the Apostle Peter and from him hear the word of salvation and receive baptism with the whole house (Acts 10: 1-31). Significant. – “Whoever is not born of water and the Spirit cannot enter the Kingdom of God” (John 3:5); Mohammedans - will not enter, Jews - will not enter, idolaters - will not enter, heretics - will not enter, sectarians - will not enter; “Fornicators, adulterers, covetous people,” offenders, “drunkards, thieves” - “They will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-10). Quickly lay hold of eternal life and prepare for it. Don't be late. Only by true faith in Christ and in His Church will we be saved and by works of love. August 1st. In the picturesque face of the Savior, the Mother of God, the Forerunner and the saints, the very holiness, truth, goodness, meekness, humility, mercy are depicted, and in the faces of the saints - complete devotion to God. With what love we must look at holy icons, at images of the Holy Cross, at the Gospel and other shrines that remind us of the great deeds and words of God and the holy saints! So look, and don’t lower your face to the ground, don’t be alienated with your heart and eyes, like the Lutherans and Pashkovites 57 or the Jews. Appropriate yourself to the heavenly Church. You love monuments of famous people in some way, you love looking at their portraits, photographs - why don’t you like looking at the faces of saints? You are inconsistent and very, very stupid, false and wild. Stop by Leushinsky Compound 58 on Baseinaya upon arrival in St. Petersburg. August 1st. The phrase in the manuscript is written in pencil. “The plants in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of our God” (Ps. 91:14). A verse based on the verse of St. Blessed Basil, the Moscow Wonderworker. Only in the Orthodox Church of God is there incorruption of relics, but outside the Church there is no such thing, neither among Catholics, nor among Lutherans, much less among Jews and Mohammedans. Hold on to the Church with a sincere heart. August 2. Saturday. Had dinner - ate fish soup; bad; my stomach is upset. Do not replace cereal grains with any food; keep her alone. 7 o'clock in the morning. Malignant and vain blindness covers the heartfelt eyes of Christians, and not Christians especially. What kind of blindness? The one that people forget about the perishability, impermanence and disappearance of all material goods: beauty and physical health; earthly wealth; food and drink that delight the larynx; earthly awards and honors; shows and various games, works of art. People do not think or think very little about eternal life and about the heavenly, incorruptible abodes prepared for those who love God “from the creation” or before the creation of the “world” (Matthew 25:34). Only a few of the many strove for this latter with all their souls, “for many are called, but few are chosen” (Luke 14:24). Be gone, heart blindness; Give me, Lord, clear eyes of heart, so that I can clearly see the eternal blessings You have prepared for me. August 3. Sunday. If “anyone does not hate his own life” and so on, “he cannot be” My disciple (Luke 14:26). Indeed, I must hate my soul, for it is full of all sorts of passions that alienate me from God - my Life; she is an instrument of the devil, she is my implacable enemy. - Oh, I'm damned! Prophet Isaiah 26, Art. 1 ff art. 1–12: “In that day a song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; He gave salvation instead of wall and rampart. Open the gate; let a righteous people enter in, keeping the truth. You keep him who is strong in spirit in perfect peace, for he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting stronghold: He has overthrown those who dwelt on high, the city that stood on high; threw him down, threw him to the ground, threw him into the dust. Foot tramples him, the feet of the poor, the feet of the beggars. The path of the righteous is straight; You make the path of the righteous smooth. And on the path of Your judgments, O Lord, we trusted in You; Our soul yearned for Your name and the remembrance of You. With my soul I have longed for You at night, and with my spirit I will seek You in my inmost being from early morning: for when Your judgments are carried out on earth, then those who live in the world (the universe) learn righteousness. If the wicked are shown mercy, he will not learn righteousness, he will commit evil in the land of the righteous, and will not look upon the greatness of the Lord. God! Your hand was raised high, but they did not see it; Those who hate Your people will see and be ashamed; fire will devour your enemies. God! You give us peace; for You also arrange all our affairs for us.” 19th century “Your dead will live, your dead bodies will rise!” “Yes” is experienced by “a man for himself, and so he eats bread and meat...” (1 Cor. 11:28). Everyone test yourself - and humiliate yourself, and repent to the priest several times a year, at least ten times. The phrase in the manuscript is written in pencil. August 4th. Monday. Thank God for the bath I took last night. May it be for my benefit and for the glory of God. Amen. Antonina (Kosova) from Astrakhan, a 16-year-old girl, an unbeliever, disobedient, proud, angry, disobedient, a curser, a despiser of her mother, who cries because of her and almost goes crazy. The boys, Fyodor, 14 years old, and Sergius, 12, also imitate their sister Antonina and are rude to her. The father does not take care of the children - he is angry, busy with trade to the point of becoming addicted to it. Lord, punish Antonina for her insolence and send her illness and misfortune, so that she humbles herself and learns to obey her mother and honor her, kind, simple, illiterate. August 5th. Tuesday. Morning. Today, by the grace of God, I am leaving the Vaulovsky Assumption Skete for St. Petersburg, to the Ivanovo Monastery. 59 O Lord, bless our path. Thank You for the gift of health. - “Make my steps in Your paths, so that my steps may not move” (Ps. 16:5). - Before mass. Remember, Lord, all “those who commanded me, unworthy, to pray for them.” The quick medicine worked very well without relaxing me (yogurt). August 11. Christian logic, it seems, is not difficult and can easily be understood and studied, and is too vital to love and study, and assimilate it with all your heart; and yet it is this, this Christian logic, that almost everyone has forgotten: both simple and learned (pseudo-scientists), they do not delve into it and do not study it with diligence, like other earthly and utilitarian sciences, arts and artistic skills; and this heavenly logic and “wisdom are justified by her children” (Matthew 11:19), like Seraphim of Sarov, Theodosius of Chernigov, Tikhon of Zadonsk, Mitrofan of Voronezh and all the ancient, medieval and new holy saints of God. Which of the laity is now looking for this pearl of great price (the soul “in the image and likeness of God”), this treasure hidden in the field, this mustard seed, this leaven that the woman put in three measures of flour (Matthew 13:45, 44, 31–32, 33)? August 12. The Roman popes worked for more than a thousand years in favor of arrogance and pride and all kinds of lies, and not for Christ, not for His Church, inventing many false teachings - about the primacy of the pope in the church, about infallibility, about unleavened bread at the Liturgy, about communion in one Body without Blood, about purgatory, etc.; they have piled up so many new, unheard of dogmas (about the immaculate conception) that it is impossible for anyone to be saved, but only for those who profess the Catholic faith and recognize Catholic lies as the truth. “A good tree produces good fruit, but an evil tree produces evil fruit. By their fruits you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:17,20). Do not be arrogant, Catholics, God himself condemned you in lies, like Christ of the Pharisees and Sadducees and the high priests of the Jews (Matthew 16:1-12). It is not for nothing that the Jews and Poles act together, in the same spirit. August 15, 1908 Lord, seal the lips and dry up the writing hand of V. Rozanov, 60 speaking incorrect blasphemy against the All-Russian Kiev Congress of Missionaries. 61. The treasure of treasures in the field is the Church (Matthew 13:44); This treasure is hidden by the truth of God from those who pretend to be wise - the scientists of this age. They walk around and around this Divine treasure, but will not find it, or even “seeing,” as if “they do not see,” and “hearing, they do not understand...” (Matthew 13:13). Give a sermon on this topic. August 12. God! Is it you, who is immeasurably good and constantly benefits us in every possible way, that we grieve with all sorts of sins - malice, envy, wickedness, partiality, hypocrisy, murmuring, blasphemy, impatience, lustful and nasty thoughts, coldness, ingratitude, laziness, sinful insensibility and all sorts of passions. Correct us “by our destinies” and show us worthy of You, so that we may live worthy of our Christian calling and election. Prayer of the 3rd hour (“Master God, Father Almighty...”). Evening, 9 o'clock. I thank the Lord, who had mercy on me with a majestic pardon in the morning, when I was irritated with the servant Eugene 62 for being late (it seemed) for the Oranienbaum steamer to go to the Prince of Oldenburg 63 , and almost hit her. Grace left me, and I felt very bad, vague, cramped, gloomy, deadly; and I repented from the depths of my soul, and how I repented! Like David after his sin (Ps. 50), like Manasseh, the captive king of the Jews (2 Chron. 33, 12-13)! How convincing both for yourself and for the Lord! And I repented secretly for a long time, driving to the pier, and finally felt that I had been pardoned, that my sin had been forgiven. And how disgusting, senseless, unrighteous my anger was! For I made it to the ship on time, and was still waiting for its departure. I have sinned, Lord, by disliking the crooked, the deaf (although I am deaf myself), the lame, those disfigured in the face by rowan ridges or scars, those without a real nose, mouth, and others who are in one way or another disfigured by illness or various accidents, forgetting that they are the same people as those who are pleasant in face and with the correct structure of the whole body, that their souls are also “in the image of God” and, perhaps, they are much more beautiful than us in the inner dignity, according to virtue, secret or obvious. Correct my passionate heart, O Lord, so that I love everyone according to Your commandment: love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39). I thank the Lord for today’s early Liturgy and the good communion of myself and others in church and at home. Great grace! On the night of August 15, in what frequent attacks and in what frequent terrible detention was I from ethereal and disgusting robbers, like death, who wanted to rob and kill me! And how afraid I was; how he shouted when they attacked, but there was no help from anywhere. This is for my intemperance and for violating holy fasting: in order for my stomach to be resolved, I ate milk several times, yogurt, when I was full without it, to satisfy my greed and my boundless appetite for milk. I sinned against God and the Most Holy Lady Theotokos by not attending the all-night vigil in the Assumption Duma Church 64 and not reading the akathist! I repent, I repent, I repent, to the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos, Whom I offended by my intemperance to delicacies! May God grant that I never break my fast again, especially during my daily celebration of the Liturgy and the communion of the Holy Mysteries! August 15. Lord, command Suvorin to publish my answer to the desecrator of the shrine Rozanov in the newspaper “Novoe Vremya”. What a Divine militia surrounds us, members of the Orthodox Church (if only we are truly members) - I mean the council of all the holy apostles, prophets, patriarchs and saints, martyrs, saints and righteous people and all saints! For they are one spiritual body, one Divine army. What kind of help should we look for if not heavenly? To whom should one turn in adversity, illness and sorrow, if not to the holy members of the Church of God, especially to the Lord Himself, the Mother of God, the Forerunner and others? God! We thank You for the fine, warm weather, which makes it easier for farmers to harvest the present grain from the fields, and for others - hay. Glory to Your Fatherly supervision and care! Glory to Your all-good and wise Providence! Amen. – 9 pm. August 15. Most Holy Theotokos, save us! - Lord, protect Your Church, which is being reviled by the scribbler Rozanov. He raised his head high against Your Church (Isa. 37:23)! Humble him! Amen. August 15. Late in the evening I asked myself for a ripe melon - the servant gave me a very ripe and sweet one. I got carried away, ate more than I needed and upset my stomach and irritated my bladder, causing harm to myself. I sinned before God and before myself (Luke 15, 18, 21). Forgive me, Lord! “Litany for Communion” (“Forgive, accept...”), “from the follow-up of the Divine Liturgy.” Do parish, city and monastic priests worthily partake of every Liturgy? No, many are unworthy. God sees what they think and do after the service sometimes. Lord! You are the “righteous Judge” (2 Tim. 4:8) of everyone - do not judge us, unworthy, who daily partake of the Chalice of Your Holy Body. - Behold, we are all unworthy of “Thy terrible and heavenly and life-giving Mysteries.” May your immeasurable mercy cover our sins. Reconcile me, Lord, with the memory of Emperor Alexander II, who was killed by villains, 65 who, although he sinned gravely in life, did so through human sins, of which I, a great sinner, am not alien. Forgive him and me, voluntary and involuntary sins, and pour into my heart love for the crowned martyr, whose sins You forgave for his violent death. – He was a believer and benevolent; he loved Russia and himself was in the war for the liberation of the Slavs of the same faith. If it is true that the factory in Sura 66 (the monastery) was set on fire by the workers, then they punished themselves by being left without income; if not, then the loss should be felt especially by the abbess 67 (oversight). – If the fire was the work of God, then “blessed be the name of the Lord,” and God gave, God took away (Job 1:21), and is again strong and good to restore it better than before. "Blessed be the name of the Lord." When we pray for our neighbors, the Lord looks at our hearts - do we sincerely desire salvation and all good for our neighbors as for ourselves; secondly, whether we sincerely abhor sin and love repentance and virtue; thirdly, whether we sincerely love the Lord and are heartily devoted to Him; fourthly, aren’t we angry at anyone, aren’t we at enmity? “If you bring your gift to the altar and remember her, as if your brother had something for you: leave your gift to her... and go first and humble yourself...” (Matthew 5:23-24). We should not have a hostile attitude towards anyone, but should have a loving, patient, all-forgiving attitude, so that God would forgive us... How slyly some officers philosophize! I had a young officer of a noble and wealthy family, and among other things he talked about martyrs like this: what would it take for another martyr, just for show, to throw a piece of incense in honor of an idol - and he would be released! “I explained to him what that meant.” August 18. The word of our Savior Lord Jesus Christ is true: “Whoever is not with Me is against Me” (Matthew 12:30). Catholics, Lutherans and Reformed people have fallen away from the Church of Christ - and they are not with us, not of the same mind with us, they are strongly at enmity against us, persecuting us to death, oppressing us in every possible way for our faith, ridiculing it and us and doing all sorts of dirty tricks to us, especially in the main places of their settlements; they clearly go against Christ and His Church, do not venerate the Life-giving Cross, holy icons, holy relics, do not respect fasting, and transform * the holy dogmas of the saving faith. They are not with us, but against us and against Christ. Turn them, Lord, to Thy true Church and save them. My Lord Jesus Christ delivered me and is delivering me from all sorrows and sorrows, and I thank Him for that with all my heart. And how quickly the enemy is often overwhelmed by unexpectedly inflicted sorrows, especially from evil and crafty people or from unforeseen circumstances! - Glory to You, who protects my belly from sorrows and sorrows! August 18, 1908 Morning. 6th hour. Insatiably, joyfully and unceasingly, the countless heavenly angels, more innumerable than the sand of the sea, glorify the Lord the All-Creator; and holy people too; and we, earthly and grounded, stout, are so lazy in prayer, praise and thanksgiving. Why? Because they are addicted to the earth, to the voluptuous and lazy flesh, to earthly acquisitions, games, and various sensual pleasures. In order to worthily glorify and love the Creator, one must eradicate sinful pride, selfishness, and selfishness. - “Whoever wants to come after Me must deny himself and take up his cross and come after Me” (Matt. 16:24). All the saints will be witnesses of the saving faith of Christ against all our learned secular ignoramuses who boast of their false education, against all non-Orthodox Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, pagans, especially those who are called only Orthodox Christians, who have long since betrayed their faith in practice. That is why martyrs are called witnesses in Greek. Remember, Christian, how many witnesses there will be against you at the judgment of Christ. Christian man! Remember how much caring and wonderful Providence the Lord showed about your salvation, predetermining to save you before “the ages were created” (Heb. 1:2), announcing His coming to earth through the prophets and various righteous men of the Old Testament - how He came to earth and fulfilled all His wondrous vision for you, founding the Church with shepherding and sacraments, giving it saving The word, “grace upon grace” (John 1:16), is an all-saving means to life and piety! Remember the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ for you, the atoning death on the cross, the resurrection and ascension into heaven and the promise to come to earth a second time with glory for the Judgment of the living and the dead. Tell me, what are you doing for your own salvation, for the Kingdom of Heaven is acquired through effort, and “those who use effort” acquire it (Matthew 11:12)? Be ashamed of yourself, repent, mourn your unbelief, negligence, inertia, laziness, vanity, madness, pride, envy, covetousness, intemperance, debauchery, fornication and every passion - and quickly get down to the work of your salvation. Read the Word of God, read how holy, servile people lived and labored. August 20. Do you, O priest, who officiates and celebrates the Liturgy every day, value the fruits of communion of the “Holy, life-giving and terrible heavenly Mysteries?” Do you feel cleansing of sins, renewal, rebirth, sanctification, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:7), a good “yoke” and a light burden (Matthew 11:30), freedom of spirit, “joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17)? Blessed are you if you feel all this and thank God. “Warm up” the “gift of God” within yourself (2 Tim. 1:6), do not be indifferent, insensitive, or ungrateful. For the feeling of gratitude you will be rewarded with greater grace; Correct yourself in everything, strive for the perfection of life and virtue, so that you may be worthy to hear the voice from the Lord: “Good, good and faithful servant: when you were a child,” “I am faithful, I will place you over many: enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25, 21, 23). Amen. The nail of Catholic pride and Catholic deceit in dogmas, in government and moral teaching is the imaginary supremacy of the pope and an incorrect understanding of the Savior’s saying: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). All the holy fathers of the first and subsequent centuries recognized and the first Orthodox popes themselves that by the foundation - the stone - we must understand the Lord Jesus Christ Himself: “the stone is Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4). As proof of the most accurate and visual evidence, I cite words that have a similar turn from the Gospel of John: “Destroy this church” (John 2:19) (by church we mean the Church of the Body of the Lord not made with hands, and not the Temple of Jerusalem, as one might understand from the flow of speech). By the church the Lord meant His Most Pure Body, just as by the foundation stone one must understand Christ Himself, and not the successor of Peter the Apostle or Peter himself. This is clear. And the popes imagined themselves to be the heads of the Church and its foundation, and even the vicars of Christ, which is absurd and incongruous with anything. And hence all the arrogance of the Roman popes and their long-standing claims to supremacy and unauthorized control of the entire Universal Church. Well, the popes have already created various tricks in their papal church, various false dogmas that lead to falsehood both in faith and in life. This is a completely heretical church. August 19. Forgive me, Lord, that I violated the main principle of Your law - love for one's neighbor and became irritated with my servant and called her a “fool” in anger. I repent. Forgive, correct, do not allow the sin to happen in the future. In our “old man” there is a habit when reading the Word of God or liturgical books, or the writings of the patristic and holy books in general - to secretly resist the predicate, that is, what is said and written. This is the secret voice of the old enemy, Satan, who was the first to learn and teach fallen spirits and people to resist God, His holy truth and righteousness. So I noticed and notice that he secretly resists me, my heart and mind, when reading prayers, canons, stichera, the Creed, and I must overcome and overthrow his plans. Oh, accursed one, get away from me, the enemy of the truth and righteousness of God! You lead those who listen to you, like Adam and Eve, to lies, damnation and death. 68. October 9. My excessive consumption of yogurt causes countless harm: constant pain, cutting pain. Do not eat curdled milk; Enough of the Holy Mysteries for you. Amen. August 19. Every day seeing the solid and invariably correct flow of all the celestial bodies and planets and the solid standing of the globe (circle) with all the mountains and valleys, with all the seas, lakes, rivers and springs, with all the fields, meadows, forests and an infinite variety of plants, fruits, amazingly beautiful flowers and the entire animal kingdom - people, livestock, animals, birds, insects, fish, the kingdom of fossil wealth or metals, combustible oil riches, I am surprised and cannot marvel at the goodness, power and wisdom of the One Creator in the Trinity and, mentally transporting myself to the invisible, incorruptible, eternal world, incomparably superior to the visible world, I am even more amazed at the Creator of all worlds, visible and invisible. And if the visible world is so beautiful, diverse, full of life and beauty, then what is the invisible world like? It is not in vain that it is said in the Word of God that “eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and” no one “has entered into the heart of what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). Love God immediately, all intelligent Christians, and achieve perfection in love and eternal truth. August 20. Holy Prophet Samuel. I thank the Lord with all my heart for the speedy, merciful, benevolent, sovereign deliverance of me from spiritual death, “sorrow and distress,” which befell me righteously for irritation and anger at the priest Sukin 69 (from St. Petersburg), who invited me to confess his sins. I said: go away and go to another priest; I'm sick and can't study with you. “I deeply and strongly repented to the Lord in secret - and the Lord, seeing the depth of repentance, forgave and revived me, and I served the Liturgy in peace and said an animated, reasonable sermon on Christ’s parable about leaven: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven” (Matthew 13:33). I thank the Lord, who makes me wise and gives me the word to preach. Continue to become wise for Your glory and for the salvation of Your faithful people. Amen. Evening. 9 o'clock. Witnesses of the true saving faith of our Orthodox faith are all the holy patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, saints, saints and all the multitude of those who have pleased God in various ways. And at the second coming of the Lord, they will all become witnesses against the unfaithful and lawless and will condemn them. The first apostate from God, the devil, who became proud before the Creator, declared war on God and His truth and then on the human race, which listened to his flattering speeches in the person of Adam and Eve. A person defeated by inattention and frivolity by the enemy and captive from the enemy by all kinds of sins must wage a continuous war with the enemy and sin and defeat him with the help of God in order to regain the truth of God, the holiness and peace of God lost frivolously, and achieve the crowns of victory and incorruption (1 Cor. 9:25). - This is required by the truth of God. Bring back the lost likeness of God and a blissful life with immortality. New Russian naval fleet 70 instead of the lost old one in Japanese waters. About fourteen or fifteen years ago, and perhaps less, the Russian government ordered the release of 50 million for the construction of sea giants, armadillos with different names of pagan gods and goddesses 71 and some Russian epic glorious heroes - as opposed to the English, French and German ones; they built it, although not all of it; it turned out that some ships were ready, but there were no maritime personnel capable of operating them; there were people of little ability, untrained or who did not like maritime affairs and sea vessels; But the war happened - there was no one to send, and the ships turned out to be below the criticism of experts in maritime affairs. They were sent to war with the Japanese as a joke: they lost the ships, they lost the war. Now it has been ordered to allocate one hundred million for the construction of such shells; but there are no capable officers, and most importantly, no desire for work, patriotism or religion is expected in future sailors, and future sea monsters will again be doomed to extermination. - Gentlemen, excuse me, but listen to an outsider who cares about the fleet. First prepare officers who love Russia and God and are devoted with all their hearts to the cause, as in Germany and England. Listen to the smart speeches of Emperor Wilhelm: what makes Germany and its emperor strong? What do they firmly hope for in the event of war and not allow themselves to be offended? Hey, you, the leading officials and classes of the military system of the sea and land, listen to the wise speeches of Wilhelm, the royal orator, do what he did and is doing for the German army of the land and sea - and you will not be mistaken in your calculations. Sat sapienti ** “For him who understands it is enough.” From a letter from retired archpriest Elder Mikhail Ivanovich Sibirtsev, I was convinced (August 23) that too much respect for anyone, especially the elderly, is very harmful for those who respect them; because the respected ones are extremely arrogant and ask for the almost impossible. He asked me to apply for an additional pension of 72, 300 rubles annually. I sent mine. - And first I asked for space in the chambers of the new Sursky compound. I myself am the cause of my illness through intemperance, albeit small. After communion of the Holy Mysteries, I must completely abstain. – Juva, oh Deus! Help, O Lord! (Latin). Two bellies, two lives are intended for man by God; to chosen people: temporary - earthly, and eternal - heavenly. This [earthly] life is given to us independently of us; the future, eternal, without us, without our faith and desire, without good deeds, cannot be given to anyone. You need to firmly and constantly believe in the future resurrection of the dead and in the future endless life, you need to educate yourself for it, stock up on the oil of good deeds (Matthew 25:1-13) or alms: for “mercies will be shown to you” (Matthew 5:7). Therefore, in this Gospel, the Lord pointed out to a rich young man, who wanted to know about the path to the Kingdom of God, to give alms, and generous ones at that, but the word about distributing property to the poor seemed inappropriate to the young man, and he left the Heavenly Teacher with sadness in his heart (Matthew 19:16-26). The Lord said on this occasion that “it is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:23), for it is impossible for “God and Mammon” to “work” together (Matthew 6:24). – The passion for covetousness makes a person an idolater; “covetousness is idolatry” (Col. 3:5), says the Apostle. Remember what greed brought Judas to. This is the enemy of God and man, covetousness. Flee covetousness - it makes a person stony-hearted, an enemy of God and people. August 24. 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I thank You, Lord, for this gift (thousands), which I accepted this hour from a woman from the Saratov province, a landowner. How long, Lord, do you tolerate the worst atheist who has confused the whole world, Leo Tolstoy? 73 How long will You not call him to Your judgment? “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward everyone according to his work” (Rev. 22:12). Lord, the earth is tired of tolerating his blasphemy. Lord, incline the heart of Your servant Archbishop Ioannikis 74 to the fulfillment of my request for a deacon for the Sursky metochion in Arkhangelsk. Hey, wake up! Amen, From You, Lord, “every perfect gift” comes down (James 1:17). August 21. Tsvetkova and Rodionova were given 75 rubles to move from the dacha. Now issued in October. Archpriest Alexey Stepanovich Shadritsky, retired (from Odessa), now in the Ochakov Vorontsov metochion 76 as an assistant to priest Nikolai. Communion of the Holy Mysteries at every Liturgy makes me healthy, peaceful, and renewed. I thank the Lord, who revives me with these wonderful Mysteries. How many greatest gifts are hidden in the Liturgy. Orthodox Christians! Worship the Liturgy, which idolizes us by the grace of God! Priests and laity, be renewed by it every day. Glory to the bounties of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Who made me feel as good as today and yesterday and the third day! Your gift, all-merciful Lord! August 29. I thank You, Lord, for healing my womb through the communion of “Divine life-giving and terrible Mysteries.” I thank You for the joy given to me. - But how I suffered yesterday afternoon, evening and night from my womb! September 1st. I had Vasily Mikhailovich Birm, the husband of Tatyana Vasilievna, the daughter of the former fire chief Vasily Ivanovich Balykin. He asked for money. He gave me 50 rubles. Never eat eggs or unleavened milk in the evening - this satiety is sinful and extremely harmful for the disease and for the soul: the soul becomes white and grows cold towards God. I suffered a lot in the evening and all night from the extremely painful pressure of eggs and milk on my disease - the gland. How careless and greedy I am! I rightly suffer very hard! Serves it right! Lord, Lord of kingdoms and nations! Disperse the treasonous State Duma 77 soon - so that not a single one of its members will exist; choose people you like. You fell into spiritual captivity due to inattention and ingratitude and pride; try to free yourself from this captivity with the help of the all-powerful Warrior of the Lord Jesus Christ, who defeated our common enemy and adversary; That is why all Divine powers have been given to you. Look at the example of the struggle of the apostles, saints, martyrs, saints, unmercenaries and all the saints, and they help those who call. “Did you not sow good seed in your village” (of Your Church); “Whence comes the tares” (Matthew 13:27): heresies, schisms, the admission of new dogmas; all sorts of vices: pride, hypocrisy, vanity, desire for domination, supremacy in the Catholic Church; distortion of Divine services, Sacraments, rituals (unleavened bread)? The Lord answered: “The enemy man has done this” (Matthew 13:28), human pride and malice. Do you want, say the Angels, we will go and weed out the bad grass? No, says the Master of the field (the Church and the human heart), “leave both to grow until the harvest,” etc.; “Gather the wheat into My granary” (Matthew 13:28–30), and burn the tares with “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12). Are we talking about the Churches, Orthodox and heretical, and about morals? Christian. September 4. Thursday. Yesterday in the evening and all night I was tormented by my illness due to yogurt, which I consumed in excess (in between I started drinking several times). Forgive me, Lord! - Forgive me, I have sinned before You and before myself. September 6. Lord, do not allow Leo Tolstoy, the heretic who surpassed all heretics, to reach the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, whom he terribly blasphemed and blasphemes. Take him from the ground - this stinking corpse, which stinks the whole earth with its pride. Amen. 9 pm. He severely punished and continues to punish Catholics for deliberately falsely interpreting the words of Christ to the Apostle Peter: “On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Considering the pope, and not Christ, to be the cornerstone of the Church, and imagining themselves as the head of the Church and the vicars of Christ on earth, the popes fell into the most gross, disastrous mistakes and dragged the entire Catholic world into the abyss of lies, inventing new false dogmas and distorting the ancient ones necessary for salvation. Catholics fell from the “Stone of Faith” of Christ and fell into the abyss of sins and all sorts of passions, especially into pride and arrogance, into a terrible hostility towards the Eastern true Church and its dogmas and Divine services with its rituals, established from time immemorial. Catholics hate the Orthodox Church and Orthodox Christians with diabolical hatred and call them all sorts of blasphemous names; through this they blaspheme “Christ” himself - “Head of the Church” (Eph. 5:23), the holy apostles, Ecumenical and local Councils and all the saints of the Orthodox Church glorified by God. September 8. Lord, the seriously ill Anna (Grigorieva) 78 earnestly prays to You for her healing through my indignity. Heal her, Physician of souls and bodies ***, and surprise us with Your mercy and power **** (“Lord, Lover of Mankind...”). – Morning, 5 and a half hours. Through sin, we have lost the likeness of God, according to which we were created by the Creator, and have become strangers to Him, unfree? He Himself deigned to become like us, to become a man, without ceasing to be God; to make us like Him - born from the Mother, the Pure Virgin, without a seed - from the Holy Spirit. Oh, miracle of miracles! September 17. Holy martyrs Sophia and her daughters Faith, Hope and Love. What lesson do the saints celebrated today, the martyrs, teach us? The lesson is that for all people who inherited sin from their forefathers and lost holiness and the Kingdom of God through sin, the “path” to holiness and the eternal Kingdom is “narrow” (Matthew 7:14), full of sorrows, suffering, deprivation, illness, the path of martyrdom, for this is what the Truth of God requires, expecting from us repentance, faith, humility, patience, obedience to the Truth of God, which we have rejected, giving in to all sorts of lies. – The path to the Kingdom and eternal life is the path of the Cross, indicated to us by the Savior, our God, who suffered for us. So, everyone who bears the names of Sophia, Faith, Hope and Love, all female and male, do not forget that you must achieve the Kingdom of God through faith, repentance, patience, obedience, abstinence, spiritual and physical labor. Irmos of the 3rd song of the Prayer Canon to the Most Holy Theotokos, ch. 2nd. “Either you make a good tree and its fruit good; or you make an evil tree and its fruit evil” (Matthew 12:33); for a tree is known by its fruit. “They eat figs from the burrs, or from the bushes” (thorns) of the “clusters” (grapes) (Matthew 7:16). – The Catholic Church has not had a single saint since its separation from the Eastern Church, but the Orthodox Church has always had and has many saints glorified by God in it. Where is the apple, the core of the discord and hatred of the Catholic Church towards the Orthodox? – In the too exaggerated opinion of the popes about themselves, about the superiority of the Eastern Orthodox hierarchs over the bishops, in their immense pride; in a false interpretation of the words of the Lord spoken to the Apostle Peter: “Thou art Peter, and on this stone...” (Matthew 16:18). The stone is Christ, and not Peter, who denied three times, although he made amends for his rejection and acceptance with tears of repentance? in the face of the apostle. Compare, Catholics, these words of the Lord to Peter with the words spoken by the Savior to the Pharisees: “destroy this church” (His Body), “and in three days I will raise it up (He spoke “about the church of His Body)” (John 2:19, 21), and there He spoke about the universal Church and together about the rising of His body, that is, the resurrection. The idea that the Lord supposedly created the Church on Peter, and not on Himself - this idea, which lay in the heads of the popes and Catholics and was interpreted by them in favor of the successors of Peter, the popes, as the heads of the Church and the vicars of Christ - put everything upside down in the Catholic Church: they, in their opinion, are the vicars of Christ with unlimited power, with predominance over the entire Church of Christ; as if they were the judges of all bishops; they are the founders and interpreters of dogmas; They can supposedly change the very Sacraments in the Church at their own discretion; they canonize saints they do not have; they deprive the laity of the Blood of Christ; they pour water on babies being baptized, rather than immersing them in water, etc. Colony Shabo, Akkerman district, Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Evgenievich Andreyanov 79 last. ***** send “or” sent? 300 rubles. September 20. Natalya Yakovlevna Grot. Znamenskaya street, building 17, apt. 4. October 1st. 80 September 24. I thank the Lord for the daily renewal of my entire being through daily communion of the Divine Mysteries of His Most Holy Body and Blood, for the gift of peace of mind and victory over all passions. I thank the Lord for the curdled milk, which brings me great relief in my illness. Lord, I thank You that You have vouchsafed me to be a member of Your “Church,” “holy, catholic” and “apostolic ******,” and its priest, and the celebrant of the Holy Sacraments, and a communicant. September 25. The Tolstoyan deacon 81 who baptized the infants Nicholas and Mary. The freedom of all press has made the Holy Scriptures, liturgical and patristic writings neglected, and almost only secular books and newspapers are read; as a result, faith and piety fall; The liberalizing government learned from Leo Tolstoy all kinds of unbelief and blasphemy and condones the press, which stinks of all the filth of passions. Everyone will give an answer to God - all the tricks. September 28. How many times have I sinned daily with irritation, pride, partiality, contempt, envy, coldness and indifference to the sorrows, illnesses and poverty of loved ones and, having repented, received forgiveness from the merciful Lord and Lover of Mankind. Thank the Lord! Do not, Lord, leave me to perish in sins. – When I’m sick, I get irritated especially often. - Glory to Your long-suffering, O Lord, towards me, a sinner. Amen. Bulgaria was proclaimed the Kingdom of Bulgaria. 82 Good, fair. 1 am on September 28th. Sunday. Now, due to my sins, I suffered violence in a dream from an evil spirit for drinking a large excess of Caucasian water (Prince of Oldenburg); he attacked me, he was in the form of a young man, about seventeen years old; and began to extort money from me by force, but I persisted; and when he pressed me hard, I began to bite his hands, and he fell behind, and then attacked again with redoubled force. I started screaming and woke up. – I drank the water at the wrong time: it was half past 1 am, I sinned before God. Peasant Damian Antonovich Khodzhik asks for prayers. On September 29. Again in the night, at about 12 o'clock, in a dream there was a meeting with an evil spirit in the form of a beggar? boy; My soul froze, my soul was paralyzed at these moments, frozen; his white face was half-closed; I told him: open your face - he opened it halfway and moved his pupils; I couldn’t move, and I fell to the ground at the beginning of Andreevskaya Street. 83 Caught. And then at the cathedral 84 on the porch two strangers confused me. I asked them: who is the next one in the yard? They lied; one said that it was Anton’s turn, but we don’t have that. When I left them, one of them was talking about someone, cursing them satiatedly. And am I the one who is satiated with the Holy Mysteries and milk? I am a sinner. Sick priest you. Iv. Skvortsov. His mother Maria Nikolaevna. Does he serve on September 30? Lord, I thank You for all kinds of untold generosity, of which there is no number. September 30. Night. I sinned before the Lord, became faint-hearted, grumbled, spoke crazy words about God, the Mother of God and the saints, when the gland became extremely unbearably sore, ached, and inflamed due to the fact that I ate steamed beets with liquid mustard at night and ate salted cod fish soup. It was hard for me as never before, and I grumbled greatly that God Himself had abandoned me, “God,” Who “is Love” (1 John 4:8, 16) and Mercy; The Mother of God has left, all the saints - no one seems to sympathize, has compassion, does not hear, does not have mercy. Then he repented from the soul and heartily, with faith and tenderness, raised his heart’s eyes to God and the Mother of God, and immediately felt relief. I thank the Lord and the Mother of God. Oh, how severe the pain is - this gland, this boil. Deliver him from him, Lord. October 2. Woe to me from the curdled milk: I was completely tormented on the night of October 2, I couldn’t get warm. How much I, damned one, have allowed myself to indulge in excess in the consumption of curdled milk - there is no number, but everything is harm to myself. October 1st. In heaven they understand and accept only the sincere language of the heart of a believer, praying, repentant, merciful and compassionate towards others, pure and chaste; The Lord turns away His face from the evil heart. What brings us closer to God or what makes us peculiar, dear to God, His children? - The living Image of God, implanted or innate in our soul, the union of faith into which we entered with God at baptism, being born by water and the Spirit (John 3:5) and being adopted by God (cf. Eph. 1:5), is an obligation on both sides: on the part of the Lord - to have mercy on us and educate us spiritually for the Kingdom of Heaven for eternal life in God; on our part - the desire and effort to love God, who loved us immeasurably, to please Him by fulfilling Him; commandments and live holy, shunning sins and bringing repentance to Him. This is what makes us yours! God, His close children. – And sin keeps increasing in intensity to alienate us from God, to make us cool towards Him, to make us wild, like animals and beasts. The “ox” knows his master, “and the donkey his master’s manger,” but man often does not know his Lord (Isa. 1:3). October 3. Friday. After sleep until lunch. I was extremely chilled: the stove was not lit; He picked on Evgenia, scolded her, got extremely angry with her for her malfunctions, and almost hit her with his hand. I repent, I grieve, there are no tears yet. I am writing this before the Lord as a testimony of my repentance. Forgive, Lord, correct, do not judge, teach me goodness, kindness and meekness. October 3. Do not grieve inconsolably about the misfortune of the fatherland 85, about the lost wars (with Japan), about the attack on us by Austria, Germany, England, Finland, Poland (even though these are two parts of Russia), Italy; about the loss of warships (“Oleg”, deliberately pushed onto the stones by Girs at the beginning of this year 86), about the enormous losses of the state from arson (various factories). Sorrow that you are making poor progress towards the incorruptible, eternal fatherland prepared in heaven, that your heart is far from God. The earthly fatherland suffers for the sins of the tsar and the people, for the lack of faith and short-sightedness of the tsar, for his indulgence in the unbelief and blasphemy of Leo Tolstoy and the entire so-called educated world of ministers, officials, officers, and student youth. Pray to God with tears of blood for the general lack of faith and corruption of Russia. I am constantly amazed by God’s all-good, all-wise structure for the salvation of human souls, created “in the image and likeness” of the all-good, all-wise, eternal God - from the very beginning of the human race, until now and until the end of the age. Listen and delve into what has been done and is being done by God for this great humane work; from the very beginning of the fall of the first people into sin, curse and death, from their first removal from Him and the greatest disasters - how much concern for salvation; what a glorious promise about the Seed of the Woman, who has to erase the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15)! How much care there is for the chosen seed - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah - for all the patriarchs of the chosen people, as well as for the people! How many wonderful industries, how many miracles during the exodus from Egypt, how many miracles in the desert, under the judges, under the kings of the chosen people! How many Fatherly punishments from the Lord God of a stubborn, criminal people, how many terrible captivities, how many deaths of those guilty before God! And various idolatrous peoples - what scourges of God they served to punish the Jews, who themselves were later crushed by the righteous Judgment of God. And in the New Testament? – Appearance of Archangel Zechariah, birth of the Forerunner, Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin; Nativity of the Savior of the world. Lord, by faith I pray to Thee, Omnipotent: raise the water in the Pinega River 87 and safely carry the steamer “St. Nicholas the Wonderworker" to the village of Sura. Amen. Says: and it will be (Ps. 32:9). Mikhail Al-ch! I am dealing only with the Countess: please leave here in the kitchen. - Remember him, a flatterer and a tall scoundrel, and direct him to your business, your family. – If you want to talk to me, come separately (to Mikhail). Next in the manuscript there is a word that cannot be read. October 7. Night, 3 o'clock. The instructiveness of dreams. I saw Pyotr Nikolaevich Yanish, the former director of the Kronstadt gymnasium, not for the first time; I saw in some institution, as if in a gymnasium: with some governor, walking together; the governor did not greet me, but rudely advised him that I was the caretaker of this establishment (lied?). The director invited some teacher who was with me to tea, but I did not. I felt bad. This is a lesson for me. I did not remember Pyotr Nikolaevich and have not yet remembered him at the proskomedia. Careless, soulless; and did not remember many; So he didn’t remember Fyodor Nadezhdin. I sinned. October 7. Tuesday. I thank the Lord, who sent rain to the earth; and I asked Him, with faith in secret prayer, to fill the Pinega River with water for the unhindered milking of the steamship “St. Nicholas the Wonderworker" to Sura with the abbess and the Ioannikov sisters. 88 Lord, take away M. Anthony 89, J. Janitcheva and other unfaithful people! Send us strong in faith and piety. Wake up! L. Tolstoro take it. Even before his death, Leo Tolstoy, out of his incomprehensible and stubborn pride, occupied himself with fables about some simple-hearted shepherdess 90 (and Tolstoy doesn’t have any simplicity), who would really like to wash God’s feet and so on; and Moses, the prophet, having allegedly learned about this, threatened him: why are you representing God as a man and asking Him for what He does not need? and from that time on the shepherd became angry with God and did not ask Him for anything. God allegedly reprimanded Moses: why did he drive this simple man away from Him, from the Lord? And I, says Tolstoy, want to be like this shepherd boy, and not through anyone, but personally, I want to please Him as best I can. What an idyll! What nonsense in old age! What satanic pride: I don’t want to know the Son of God, through whom alone one can come to God; I don’t want the Trinity; I don't want the Church! - What ignorance, savagery! Lord, forgive me for my anger towards my servant Evgenia. I have upset you and “sorrowed the Holy Spirit.” I repent. Prayer 4, Rev. Simeon Metaphrastus, from prayers for Holy Communion (Canon). “Born of vipers! Who told you to flee from the future wrath? Produce fruits worthy of repentance” (Matthew 3:7–8). “Already the ax lies at the root of the tree” (Matthew 3:10). “He has the spade in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn,” “and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12). Pay attention to the sermon of the Forerunner - how formidable and all-true it is! How instructive! My soul trembles at the Last Judgment of the Lord... “I tremble at the terrible day of judgment... But hope... have mercy on me... *******.” Notice, this is the main core of the entire sermon of repentance of John the Baptist... Repent immediately, do the work of repentance. I thank the Lord, who soon heard my secret prayer for reconciliation with Joseph Babenko and immediately brought him to my feet with humility and tenderness. October 8. With all my heart I forgive Joseph Babenko for his rudeness and unnecessary reproaches to me in his letter. I only took him out of my living room because his arrival was at the wrong time. I sent him 100 rubles, and he did not notify me with a single word and said rude things. I forgive him. In a dream I saw Metropolitan Isidore 91 in the form of a caricature, ugly, inauthentic, rude, mocking, mocking - fat, like a barrel. This is how the devil portrays him. Why did I see him and not the other one like this?? “Remember” him, “Lord, in Your Kingdom” (Luke 23:42). I served under him for a long time and was not without distinction. Although I haven’t heard a single kind word from him. The king was in the form of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon: he was affectionate with women, but terribly rude with men. Remember not, Lord, his sins. Isn't he? was the first member of the Synod. Pobedonostsev, and not he, the Metropolitan, ruled. October 10. Lord, give the students reason; bring some sense into the authorities; give them Your righteousness and Your strength, Your might. Lord, may the sleeping king, who has ceased to exercise his power, arise; give him courage, wisdom, foresight. Lord, the world is in turmoil; The devil triumphs, but truth is desecrated. Arise, Lord, to help the Holy Church. Amen. God! Look in Thy truth and Thy mercy at Thy creatures Ivan Adamovich and his wife Mary - the offended one and protect her from her husband’s malice and turn his evil heart into good: All things are possible for You. How long will this servant devoted to You and her son—partakers of Your Holy Mysteries—be in extreme persecution? Behold, I appeal to You - save them. Mother of God, protect the offended and bring reason to the offender. Here in the Vaulovsky monastery there is a lot of forest, there is nowhere to put it. Use it for the glory of God and for the benefit of the Ivanovo monastery - arrange carpentry and other sawing works in the monastery: make tables, chairs, boxes, cups, spoons, crosses, in general useful things in the dormitory - baskets from splinters and other things; buy all the tools, hire a master; purchase all kinds of drawings of things produced externally (handicrafts). Tell the abbess about this. There are many rooms in the monastery - enough for everything. October 10, 1908 Natalya Bondareva. St. Petersburg, Vasilyevsky Island, 18th line, building No. 7, apt. 20. Abbess Virovskaya Susanna. Send. I ate pressed caviar with the official Preobrazhensky, drank red wine - and my gland tormented me extremely all evening and all night. October 11, 1908. Lord! I sinned before You by receiving communion a second time at home (after a church service) with three particles left over from the communion in my house. - Having slept at home after mass, I saw an extremely unpleasant dream, presented to me by the devil, regarding my mother 92, long deceased, as if she came to me alive in an abnormal form. Lord, have mercy on my mother, Theodora. As if some peasant had offended her on the way. You need to pay special attention to some of the Savior’s words, for example, to the words: if they do this to the green tree (Christ), then what will happen to the dry one? (Luke 23:31). And these dry trees are us, sinners. Or: if I “be lifted up from the earth” (to the Cross), then I will “draw everyone to Me...” (John 12:32). If “a grain of wheat falls” into the ground “does not die,” then one thing remains, but if it “dies,” it will bear much fruit (an ear) (John 12:24). “Wisdom is justified from her children” of all (Matthew 11:19) (righteous people). October 12. Sunday night. Who is worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven among people? One who tries with all his might to become like God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in holiness, goodness, mercy towards his neighbor, who tries to become like the saints in repentance, prayer, abstinence, patience, meekness, quietness, obedience, humility, unfeigned love (and we are all prone to partiality, especially me, who is multi-passionate). In heaven there is only a place for holiness, love, like-mindedness, one holy and immaculate will. “The kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). God! I constantly sin before You and before people by the lack of living and active love, self-love, voluptuousness, ill-will, envy, pride, partiality, hard-heartedness, stinginess, greed, impatience, murmuring, laziness, lack of faith, sometimes doubt, disobedience, contempt, lustful thoughts and carnal movements. The “old man” still lives and reigns in me, and I, indecent, am Your servant, worthy of all condemnation. Christ raised Lazarus from the dead with a word (John 11:43) - which means He is the Creator of Lazarus, the Creator of the human race. He raised up the widow's son with a word (Luke 7:14) - which means that He, with the same word, created the world from nothingness. He forbade the winds and waters with a word (Matthew 8:26) - which means He created them with His word, to which everything obeys; He walked on the waves of the sea (Matthew 14:25), as if on dry land, which means He is the Creator of seas, lakes, rivers, and all kinds of sources; He transformed fire into dew (Dan. 3:50), water into wine (John 2:7-8), rivers into blood (Exodus 7:17), the dust of the earth into midges (Exodus 8:16), and brought frogs out of the sea (Exodus 8:2) to punish the Egyptians - which means He is the Creator of the elements - in a word. By the same word of Him in the last times the earth will turn into a huge blazing fire, and “the elements that are burned will be destroyed” (2 Pet. 3:10). This means that by the same word of the Lord the dead will all be resurrected. He turned fire into dew for three youths: Ananias, Azariah and Mishael (Dan. 3:50) - with one command - which means that with one command He created fire, water and all the elements. Do atheists understand this wonderful Creativity and Providence of the Lord about the world? Lord, save Your servant Agathia, who was slain? passion for drunkenness. Remember, Lord, the servants Konstantin with his wife, children and grandchildren, and Your servant Vasily Pavlovich Krutov with his wife and children; remember all those who require Your love for mankind and help: the whole Church, all Your people. Amen. October 12, 1908. Sunday. Lord, protect and keep Bishop Hermogenes in Saratov, 93 and may the wicked not prevail over him. Amen. The Lord God is a beginningless, eternal Being of infinite holiness, truth, goodness and mercy; unimaginable, immeasurable lightness, for there is an “Ever-Essential Light”, from Which all the “second” countless “Lights” are angelic councils; From whom comes the light of the sun, moon and stars; from whom are thunder and lightning, rain, snow, hail, earth, air, waters, mountains and hills and all valleys, all the animal kingdoms, living and organic, all vegetation, all metals, precious stones and minerals, and every grain of sand in the world. God is a Being of infinite, most solid order, unspeakable beauty, eternal peace, unshakable. 94. Troparion of the Transfiguration of the Lord, ch. 7th. Stichera on “Lord, I cried,” ch. 4th from the Service to the Cathedral of St. Archangel Michael. As the Holy One and having created us in the image of His holiness, He demands from us holiness and complete aversion from all sin, which is darkness, confusion, ugliness, lawlessness and withdrawal from life and a fall into damnation and death. Judge for yourself, sinful people, fallen, darkened, mortals - what should you do urgently? – Continuously repent, pray, correct yourself, do good deeds and become like God. Christian faith, Christianity is the restoration by God, according to His immeasurable goodness, of the image of God in man - fallen, defiled, corrupted, darkened; reconciliation of the Creator with the ungrateful, disobedient, proud creature; permission from righteous curse and bestowal of blessing; the opening of the heaven that is closed for us - “from here you will see the heavens opened” (John 1:51); and victory over death and the abolition of it, as well as the devil, its author; introduction to heaven and the granting of eternal life; and also, first of all, a person’s perception of lost righteousness and the deification of a person. How many, how countless blessings have been given by God to the Christian faith, to the believing person who is obedient to the Gospel and commandments of Christ! What is the matter, Christians? Why are you sleeping? Rise up, stay awake, pray, repent, reform, do good deeds, ascend to heaven. October 16, 1 am. A drachma lost by a woman who had 10 drachmas (Luke 15:8). October 16. 8 pm. Lord, I thank You for your speedy, life-giving mercy on me, Your sinful and wretched servant. When I came to the cathedral today, at Matins, and an outsider deacon, Theodore, who serves at the church of the insane, approached me, asking me to help financially the girl Natalya, his sister-in-law, who lives with him, I first refused him with grief, and then gave him 7.5 rubles, also with grief, unkindly and with hostility towards him, the deacon; but then, feeling “sorrow and oppression,” and the wrath of God against me, I deeply repented and received clear forgiveness, Peace, tranquility of conscience, spaciousness of heart and Boldness. He performed the Proskomedia calmly and the Liturgy too, although he was very weak. God bless! Because of yogurt, the gland suffers greatly, and so do I. Why did I eat it? - Stop it. Polycarp Mikhailov, deceased - to remember, his living wife - Alexandra, son Eustathius. October 17. Is he mentally ill and suicidal, Noskov? Konstantin Apollonovich, wife Lydia Nikolaevna. Dmitry Nikolaevich Loman, wife Olga Vasilievna, daughter Nadezhda and son Georgy. October 17. October 18. Evening. 7 o'clock. I thank the Lord, who has now accepted my secret repentance of irritation with my servant Evgenia. Having been deprived of grace, peace and space, and the boldness of my heart, I turned with ordinary hope to God, my Savior, asking sincerely and tenderly for forgiveness in that, because of vanity, I became like an evil enemy, and did not remain faithful to the good, meek and gentle God - and received forgiveness and peace with boldness, and joy of heart with ease. God bless! October 24. Thursday. I sinned before the Lord and before people that in unrighteous anger I hit God’s servant Nadezhda on the cheek, with whom I had previously traveled to St. Petersburg from house to house to pray. She brought to me for communion the mentally ill wife of a former employee of the Real School, Varvara, who loves to talk a lot. October 19. I thank You, Lord, who deigned to see me on my birthday and baptism and my namesake; By Your grace I am celebrating the 80th year of my life. Unspeakable mercy. Due to my sins, I was not worthy to see the 40th year of my life, but here I am the 80th year. Oh, the countless bounties of my Lord! “What will I bring or what will I reward to You?” My Creator, my Savior, my Provider, my Physician, my Glory, my Strength! But grant me a good end ********, Lord, and do not disgrace me! “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he said to his servants: Having tied his hands and feet, throw him into the utter darkness; There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:12-14). Christ God, our Life-Giver, likens Himself to the Holy Bridegroom, the beautiful, luminous, eternal, who deigned to be betrothed with an eternal, incorruptible, vital betrothal in the future non-finite life and in this here, earthly one, offering Himself to the faithful soul. To become engaged to faithful souls, but who have desecrated the robe of their souls with countless sins, who have distorted the image of God and who have distanced themselves from God, who have become strangers to Him because of their sins. The Lord gave them beautiful, incorruptible spiritual clothing in the Sacrament of Baptism and sealing with the Holy Spirit through anointing with holy myrrh. But man again desecrated the robe of Baptism and again withdrew from God, and clothed himself in the stinking rags of passions, breaking and dishonoring his betrothal to God. The Lord, in His mercy, deigned to give him the wedding robe again in sincere repentance and in communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and the person again receives the wedding robe and is united in the closest way with the Heavenly Bridegroom in order to be careful in every possible way not to pollute the wedding robe again and to live in holiness. Who are these souls betrothed to Christ, the Heavenly Bridegroom? Where are they? – These souls are you, brothers and sisters. I ask you: is your wedding garment clean and adorned? Have you adorned your souls with good deeds - simplicity, meekness, goodness, humility, mercy, unforgettable malice, patience, abstinence, holiness and chastity? What will you bring to the Wedding Supper, to the Kingdom of Heaven? Are you constantly preparing for where the wonderful Bridegroom awaits us - the King of all men and all saints? Get ready immediately: time flows and brings you closer to the end of your life, and then you will have to make a reckoning with the Righteous Householder for your entire life. To her, I say, let us all prepare to acquire the robe of the soul, pure, holy, pleasing to the Heavenly Bridegroom. Amen. October 19. October 19. Evening. 8 o'clock. “He will not break a bruised reed, nor will he quench the smoking flax” (a fervently repentant person) (Matthew 12:20). This always comes true for me and has always come true. Glory to Your long-suffering, O Lord, towards me, a sinner. – A wonderful property of God, the most attractive. October 23. I saw in a dream before the morning two live pigs, covered with dough, as they do before Easter 95 - on Good Friday or Saturday. These pigs are you, glutton. On the night of October 25. (Friday). Before the morning, at about three o'clock, I saw the late Emperor Alexander III 96 praying in my bedroom, praying earnestly. I am lying down on a chair, and he is standing and praying; someone from the royal family knocked hard on the door - and he came out. The heir of the baby 97 was seen in several acts, very affectionate; I saw a solemn procession of some kind of royal wedding (brightly, as if it were real), a mixture of everything great and funny. October 25. The reverent celebration of the Liturgy is the sure guarantee of your salvation, O priest, for it is an all-giving service to God, all-propitiatory and all-purifying. Here the Church, heavenly and earthly, prays with you and for you. The Divine Liturgy instills in us the greatest hope - hope for pardon and salvation. Bride Vlad. Mikhailov? Murashova - Evgenia Leonidovna Burkova. Wedding in Warsaw in the church of the women's gymnasium (invited August? Antonovich and Stefany Kospi). At Your feet, Lord, I lie in tears of repentance with all the weeping saints, prophets, apostles, holy martyrs, saints, pillars, unmercenaries and all the righteous - and I ask You for mercy through their prayers, and the salvation of the soul, and the Kingdom of Heaven, although I am unworthy of it because of my sins. I bring to Your intercession Your Most Pure Mother, the councils of Angels and all rational creation - have mercy and save me, a sinner, according to Your grace and mercy. Hey, Amen. Save my wife 98 and all my spiritual children, all my spiritual brethren, all the priesthood and all the pious laity. Today, October 26, with a north wind, in the evening, a fair amount of snow fell, so that the roofs and roads and streets turned white. Thank God for the snow, for the frost, for the warmth and cold. October 28. Sunday ********* . What is the waywardness and malice of my “old man!” - to my own surprise. During early mass they sang a Cherubic song, an excellent melody, harmonious, gentle, sensitive - and what? My old scoundrel didn’t like it - why the same tune several times in a row, it needs to be diversified! - And hostility towards the regent and the singers and the chanting began! But I barely persuaded myself, humbled myself, imagined that the singing was harmonious, sensitive and, moreover, not repeated very often! But it’s not enough to sing just one tune - irmos, dogmatists, troparia, kontakions and it doesn’t get boring, but, on the contrary, it delights the heart and ear! Damned, old, stupid man! Scoundrel! You're a crafty one! Remember, Lord, the extravagant Olga, 17 years old, in love with a Jew, 40 years old, a family man, a newspaper man; Remember the blast furnace, Lord, who is sick. October 28. 5 o'clock in the morning. Take the translation from Nifont Ivanovsky 99 - send it to Alexander, deacon (Ivanovsky). Bashmakova wants to live at my expense by giving me useless mines in Siberia. You're deceiving me, old one. How cunning you are, woman! You want to force your belongings on me and rob me. ... October 27. Night. I thank the Lord with all my heart for quickly delivering me, in the secret of my heart, from the fierce devilish misfortune that befell me because of the evil whim of my heart against Vera (Pertsova), Maria and also Natalya, who came to the forefront in the church. As soon as through prayer and humility I got rid of the enemy’s anger, which gripped my heart and drowned me. - Oh, how glad I was about my salvation from the Lord! - Glory to You! October 26. We speak to the King of Heaven **********, because He reigns completely in all the powers of the Angels, who obey Him completely and continually; and on earth He reigns only in a chosen few; There is a lot of sin on earth, and He does not live in sinful people. His Excellency Vladimir Karlovich Sabler. 100 St. Petersburg, Zhukovskaya st., 24th house no., money has been sent. Bashmakova’s mining establishment stood idle for several years, and she cannot take rent from me, because there was no work in my favor at the site. Meanwhile, I paid rent 100 rubles in the month of September, for what? – Due to illness, I cannot accept her gift, and most importantly, due to lack of funds. Need money and money. Lord, destroy the treacherous business of Irina Bashmakova 101 and remove her from me forever to her place from where she came. She is insidious, malicious; I should not have her as my spiritual daughter and should not partake of the Holy Mysteries to her. This is Judas. Here, know people, do business. “A new living ear from the spiritual field of John of Kronstadt” 102. (Title of the new book). October 28. Tuesday. Remember Your creation, Alexy (Poldnev?), the drunkard, and deliver him from the claws of ethereal enemies, I pray to You and for his wife through me. Amen. (Sister of Vasily Pavlovich Krutov). Lord, show me where my speech to the Holy Synod lies 103. Wake up! – November 1. Unleavened milk is harmful to me, it irritates the gland very much. - Lord, have mercy! I ate the filling of a pie with milk untimely in the evening - I burdened myself, senseless and passionate. Through sin, man became divided and fell away from God. “You cannot work for God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Solid psychological truth. November 11. Tuesday. Today, during the early Liturgy, at its most important moments, I found myself in terrible spiritual trouble and was almost swallowed up by the spiritual whale the devil, having secretly taken unrighteous hostility towards the singers because they sang protractedly (slowly). The enemy confused and squeezed my soul so much that I was as if I was dead, but immediately I secretly repented with all my soul, sincerely condemning myself, and acquitting the singers, because they sang very harmoniously and inspiringly. God had mercy on me. The communication of the Catholic Church with the heavenly Church is completely pitiful, cold, brief, lifeless, not like in the Orthodox Church - living, wise, complete, all-sincere, all-reverent. Everywhere and everywhere dad and dad; he is given honor everywhere, and not the saints; The saints of the East and West are diminished, hidden, placed in obscurity and are only sometimes shown to believers, especially tourists, for show. And the dismissal of the liturgical services in the Catholic Church is so careless, cold: “go, mass is over.” And we, in the Orthodox Church, have such reverent, modest, full of hope Christ’s exclamations: “Christ, our true God, through the prayers of His Most Pure Mother and all the saints will have mercy and save us, for He is Good and Lover of Mankind.” The Pope controls the fate of the heavenly and earthly churches, disposes of the merits of the saints at will: he brings them into purgatory and takes them out at will, indulges (distributes indulgences to believers). It would just be ridiculous if it weren't extremely sad and harmful. – And how the popes, cardinals, prelates, priests, Jesuits themselves do not notice this. After all, the Catholic faith was established hastily. Everything is sold; The Pope took everything into his power, the entire salvation of Catholics. And that is why Catholics now have no, no glorified saints; there are only fabricated ones?, made according to papal arbitrariness. And the Orthodox Church, like the Garden of Eden, is seated with saints; Here is a new saint - Joasaph Gorlenko, Archbishop of Belgorod, how many miracles he has performed, but has not yet been canonized. So many are ready to open! O Orthodox Church! How vital, how holy, how venerable you are! How beloved by all true Orthodox Christians! Listen?, in the Apocalypse of John the Theologian, which Church is spoken of: “Imam will vomit thee out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:16)? I'm thinking about Catholic and Reformed. Look what the popes have made of the Orthodox faith of Christ?! What nonsense?! Who's dad? – Idol, not Christ. “The ministers told him publicly: you are the vicar of Christ.” God! The enemy has occupied me through the forefather of the prophet and king and Godfather David - deliver me from his barking and grant me to always love his [David] psalms. Where will our bosses and professors of Academies, Universities and all higher, middle and lower institutions with their students be at the Last Judgment? – According to the dignity of his spirit or unworthiness, everyone will receive his own. But for the Sodomites and Gomorrites 104, for the Tyrians and Sidonians, for the Ninevites and others, “it will be more joyful” (Matthew 10:15) than for the Christians who belonged to the Church of Christ, who had the Gospel, the Divine Service, the Sacraments, and who neglected all this. 105. What? Is it creepy, gentlemen? Hurry to correct everything; The trial is approaching. “If anyone” does not have the “Spirit of Christ,” he is not “His” (Rom. 8:9). Think deeply about these words and keep them in your heart, and implement them in your life. How many will it be necessary to say that this one is not His and these are not His, but someone else’s as if they were different? - Hoodies or heretics, or so-and-so is a gambler, and this one is a billiards player, and this one is a lover of horse racing, and this one is a low slave of Maria or Varinka, or Olinka, and this one is a slave and admirer of his master or a rich ace, who has no concept of true mercy, without which all life is nothing. For sincere alms alone can save our souls. 3 entries on the cover at the end of the diary notebook Georgy Yakovlevich? Kosov and Maria Silantievna, children: Antonina, Feodor and Sergius, Dimitri, 28 years old, went to the Caucasus for treatment. – August 4, 1908. Son-in-law Gavriil Grigorievich Vetlugin?, Lyubov Egorovna in Remno, daughter of the Kosovs from Astrakhan. Guide the Kosovo family on the path of peace, Lord. You do not want the sinner to die, but for him to be converted and live (Ezek. 18:23). Amen. (The Zaitsevs indicated my location to Kosova). Elisaveta Milovidova, Yakimakh’s aunt, broke her leg and can’t walk. September 4. Lord, remember in Your Kingdom the suicide Marina, born from an officer with an alcoholic father (nee Ustryalova). Her mother Olga asked; her husband Vladimir. Heal, Lord, God's servant Olga, who is seriously ill. October 8, 1908. Tuesday. In December 1908, Russia said goodbye to its beloved shepherd, man of prayer and benefactor - Father John of Kronstadt. “It was an extraordinary funeral,” Bishop Alexy of Tauride would later write, “crowds of weeping people could be observed throughout the entire space from Kronstadt to Oranienbaum and from the Baltic Station in Petrograd to the Ioannovsky Monastery. “Father, you are ours, to whom are you leaving us?” - ordinary people cried in despair... The tears of the people were so bitter and sincere that sometimes even the singers of the Life Guards of the Pavlovsk Regiment (the least nervous people) could not restrain themselves from sobbing... The sad ringing of bells with the quiet flickering of candles in the twilight of a foggy St. Petersburg evening, the singing of the Great Canon and the tears of the people - all this merged into such a majestic a powerful chord that witnesses to the sad event will not soon forget.” (Bishop Alexy. True missionary / In the world of prayer. New York, 1987. P. 90). At the end of the 19th century. in Russia, according to contemporaries, there was, perhaps, not a single person who had not heard the name of Father John. “His popularity was unparalleled,” writes Fr. Peter Albitsky. – Everyone in Russia knew him: old and young, Orthodox and non-Orthodox, Russians and foreigners. He was known in Western Europe, America, and Asia... There was no other “Father John”. “Father of Kronstadt was alone.” (Prot. Peter Albitsky. Fr. John of Kronstadt as a shepherd and public figure/In the world of prayer. New York, 1987. P. 122). In the last years of his life, the popularity of Father John of Kronstadt reached completely extraordinary proportions... “As soon as he appeared in the capital,” recalls one of his contemporaries, “he was almost torn to pieces, transported from house to house... on the street it was difficult for him to reach his carriage; a crowd was running behind his carriage, clutching the wheels with their hands, ready to expose themselves to all sorts of dangers, just to see the dear face of Father, just to hear his word, to catch it. look..." (Ibid., p. 125). To this extraordinary popularity of Father, which caused him a lot of trouble and often caused criticism and attacks from different sides, since 1904 there were added difficulties associated with the so-called “Johnnites” who pursued him everywhere. Father’s sincere requests, his admonitions and even penance for some of them yielded almost no results. Several times, at the request of the Holy Synod, Father John traveled to remote villages in the St. Petersburg and Kostroma provinces, where “Johnnites preached”... And yet, despite the Johannites and the malicious attacks from some part of society, “the last years of Fr. John of Kronstadt, - according to Bishop Alexander Semenov-Tien-Shansky, - turned out to be successful... he continued to enjoy the veneration of very wide circles and was surrounded by the concerns of many respectable persons. ... He was elected an honorary member of many societies, trustees, brotherhoods, and from the end of 1907 he was appointed Present in the Holy Synod.” (Bishop Alexander Semenov-Tian-Shansky. Father John of Kronstadt. - “Nadezhda”, 1998. P. 327). And in the spiritual life of Father John, according to eyewitnesses, everything remained the same as in previous years: he serves the Liturgy every day, administers communion, confesses, administers unction, receives the sick and all those who suffer and expect help from him. “He sleeps,” according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, “no more than 2–3 hours a day and, despite his already advanced age, looks no more than 55 years old” (Ibid.). But, seeing only one, and, moreover, purely external side of the public activity of Father John of Kronstadt, few of his contemporaries guessed about his inner spiritual life, about his constant struggle with himself, about his spiritual joys and losses - as evidenced by the entries in his last diary... “At times, re-reading your diary and, as it were, looking back at yourself, you see clearly: whether you are moving forward or whether you have stopped in your movement, or even leaned back. Therefore, I consider keeping a diary so important that I try not to let a single day pass without writing at least the shortest note. Always looking after yourself and getting to know yourself more and more, you recognize your helplessness in all respects, without the help of God’s grace, especially in defeating evil, and through this you come to humility, to submission to the will of God, always and in everything good and perfect, and you also learn to look at other people with love, compassionately, with a readiness to always and in everything help them” (Conversation with Sarapul shepherds (in 1904). "Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt in the memoirs of samovids. M., 1997. P. 20). In the last months of his life, Father John writes in his diary almost daily. Having no free time, he makes notes on the deck of a steamship or in a railway carriage, most often at night, after a long, hard day... Fr. Philosopher Ornatsky, whom Father John trusted to publish entries from his later diaries, addressing those gathered at the Ioannovsky Monastery for the funeral service on December 23, 1908, spoke about Father John’s work on his diaries: “Returning to his home, often after All day hard work among many people, when it seemed natural to give himself rest, he sat down to write and poured out his most sincere thoughts and feelings about God and truth, about the Holy Church and the Sacraments, about sin and grace, about the redemption of the human race. These are the diaries of Fr. John, are diaries not in the sense of daily records of the external events of his life, but indicators of his internal growth, his struggles with the external man, his aspirations towards God. This is Father John’s “knowledge of God and self-knowledge,” “acquired from experience,” as he himself put it about his diaries.” (Funeral speech of Father Philosopher Ornatsky. Published by St. John's Monastery, 1909. P. 19). The first date in the published diary is May 24 – the day of Father John’s arrival in Vaulovo. In a letter to Abbess Taisia ​​dated May 27, Father writes: “... I am in Vaulovo, beautiful as God’s paradise; all the vegetation is in full beauty and fragrance. I serve daily, speaking the word of God, which nourishes and strengthens the souls of the faithful; I offer communion to the sisters and people. After mass I ride with Eupraxia through the monastery meadows.” And he adds: “My health is the same. ... However, the Lord sends temptation according to his strength, so that it can be endured. I’m thinking of staying here for four weeks; and then what God will give...” (Letters from Father Archpriest John Sergiev to the abbess of the St. John the Baptist Leushinsky first-class monastery, Abbess Taisia. St. Petersburg, 1909. pp. 97–98). Father John stayed in Vaulovo not for four weeks, as he had planned, but for five. On June 28, fulfilling his promise to Abbess Taisia, he was already in Leushin and stayed here until July 6. The stay in Leushin is not reflected in the diary: only the date July 3 is mentioned - regardless of the monastery. This gap is somewhat filled by the abbess herself in the famous work “Conversations about. Archpriest John with the abbess of the St. John the Baptist Leushinsky first-class monastery, Abbess Taisiya" (Pg., 1915). She writes: “... He was already very weak, could hardly eat anything, spoke little, read more and more, retired into solitude, but served daily in the cathedral church, which he always praised so much and about which he spoke repeatedly that it was easy for him to serve in it.... He stayed with us in the monastery for 9 days...” His further journey lay through Ustyuzhna, where Father John spent four whole days with his good friends and spiritual children of the Pozdeevs; On July 16 he was already in Yaroslavl, and in the evening of that day he was in Vaulovo. On the way here, he served both on the ship and in the houses of friends and strangers. In Vaulovo, Father makes entries in his diary, responding to all the news that awaited him here (for example, from Arkhangelsk) and various events - the arrival in Vaulovo of the vicar of the Patriarch of Antioch, Archimandrite Ignatius, the appearance here of Archbishop Tikhon of Yaroslavl and Rostov (the future Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'), to the things he had just read “church services to the saints for every day of the year” (p. 30), for the next All-Russian Missionary Congress that opened in Kyiv. He wrote down in his diary various kinds of reflections for the next books, continuing the book “My Life in Christ.” Among such entries, piercing lines suddenly appear, which express deeply hidden, but sometimes unbearable physical pain and the murmur caused by it - these are the lines under the date “September 30. Night" (p. 66). Elsewhere, at the moment when the illness recedes, lines of a different nature appear: “Who made me feel as good as I did today and yesterday and the third day! Your gift, all-merciful Lord! (p. 59). And as the final chord, the words sound, and this is not so much personal as it is an instruction to everyone remaining on earth: “I will soon have to leave the earth - away from the absurd addiction that is deadening to everything earthly; may I love the one thing I need, may I love the one and only Lord, my life-giving, inexhaustible Treasure” (p. 34). Father John leaves Vaulov on the morning of August 5, noting in his diary: “to the Ivanovo Monastery” (p. 42). And even earlier, in an entry dated August 1, he noted: “To stop by the Leushinsky courtyard on Basseynaya upon arrival in St. Petersburg” (p. 39). And indeed, on August 6, he serves mass in his St. John’s Monastery, where, as always, “...there was a crowd of people.” He even says "little word." “After mass,” writes one of his spiritual daughters, “addressing Abbess Angelina Fr. John said: “My God, what a terrible mess they have created today! After all, it is absolutely impossible to serve here. I wanted to include everyone, but, seeing this terrible crush, I had to leave involuntarily"" (Dukhonina E. How Father John of Kronstadt put me on the path of salvation. M., 1998. P. 321. Reprint ed.: St. Petersburg, 1911). The next morning, as he had intended, he served the Liturgy in the Leushinsky metochion (Kotlin, 1908, August 8, No. 179) and only after that he went to Kronstadt. On August 12, Father, at the invitation of Princess Eugenia Maximillianovna of Oldenburg, visited Old Peterhof with the Holy Gifts and gave farewell to the princess before her trip for treatment abroad. In the remaining four months of his life (the diary reflected the events of three of them), Father John continues to serve the Liturgy daily in St. Andrew’s Cathedral and give communion to the people. “In my absence,” he wrote to Abbess Taisia ​​on August 20, “there were almost no people in the cathedral; with his arrival, he began to fill up...” (Letters... to Abbess Taisia, pp. 99–100). Infrequently, but still he happens to be in St. Petersburg: on September 9 he served mass in the Ioannovsky Monastery and after the solemn service he spoke the word “about the great mercy and love of the Lord for us,” who gives “in holy communion all of Himself... to us for our salvation.” (Dukhonina. Decree, op., pp. 322–323). Leaving the monastery, Father Superior gave Angelina his pectoral cross and holy icon on the day of her Angel. On August 19, Father John serves the Liturgy in St. Andrew's Cathedral and in the evening leaves several deeply significant entries in his diary, which, like the entire diary of 1908, can serve as “a comforting spiritual testament left by dear Father to all sincerely believing people, who, by faith in God and the Holy Church, want to save their soul.” (Preface A. Ivanovsky to the ed.: A living ear from the spiritual field of Father John of Kronstadt. St. Petersburg, 1909). Anticipating his imminent death and discussing the beauty and infinite diversity of the world created by the Creator, Father John exclaims: “And if the visible world is so beautiful, diverse, full of life and beauty, then what is the invisible world like? It is not in vain that it is said in the Word of God that eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and no one has entered into the heart what God has prepared for those who love Him. Love God immediately, all intelligent Christians, and achieve perfection...” (p. 54). The last date in the diary is November 11th. In front of it are several entries - about the early Liturgy held in St. Andrew's Cathedral, about the “vitality, holiness and venerability” of the Orthodox Church in comparison with the “lifeless” Catholic Church; here is a call to educators of youth to “hurry to correct themselves” before the coming Last Judgment and an appeal to everyone, without exception, to think about the words: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.... For sincere alms alone can save our souls” (p. 87). By this time, Father John was handing over to the publishers a collection of extracts from his diaries for 1907 and 1908 that he had prepared. (including selections from this diary) and asks to release it before Christmas (Preface by A. Ivanovsky to the publication: A living ear from the spiritual field of Father John of Kronstadt. St. Petersburg, 1909). In the first days of December, Father John (after the patronal feast day in St. Andrew's Cathedral on November 30) serves the early Liturgy in St. John's Monastery, and on December 10 - his last Liturgy in St. Andrew's Cathedral, and concludes it with “a rather lengthy word, although... he was so weak that he was carried out of the cathedral in their arms” (Ornatsky I. Life and Works of the Ever-Memorable Archpriest of the Righteous Fr. John of Kronstadt. M., 1916. P. 45). After this, Father John almost never leaves the house. On December 19, he received Holy Communion at home; at 5 o’clock in the evening he was visited by the sacristan of St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Archpriest Alexander Popov, whom, according to Archpriest I.N. Ornatsky, who was present, Father received him very kindly and kissed his hand. Later, psalmist I.P. Kiselev came to Father John, accompanied by Father, he walked through the entire apartment and then, sitting down in a chair, fell into temporary oblivion (ibid.). On the night of December 20, Father John, at the request of his wife Elizaveta Konstantinovna, stayed with Father John, Father’s relative, priest John of Ornatsky, and Mother’s niece, R.G. Shemyakina. At 10 o'clock in the evening, Father John wanted to get up from his chair and go to bed, but after a few minutes he asked to be returned to his chair. At two o'clock in the morning he again wanted to get up, but his strength failed him, and he was put to bed. We had to speed up the celebration of the Liturgy, which began at 3 o’clock in the morning. At 4 o'clock Father John took Holy Communion for the last time, wiped his lips and was completely calm for some time. His last words were: “It’s stuffy, it’s stuffy.” With signs, he asked to take off his excess clothes and soon fell into oblivion. Father John of Ornatsky began to read the canon on the exodus of the soul, and then the departure. At 7:40 am on December 20 (O.S.). Father John died. On December 21, immediately after the removal of Father’s body to St. Andrew’s Cathedral, bailiff A. Vitovich made an inventory of his property in his apartment, according to which his diary and notebook were transferred to the Ioannovsky Monastery on January 27, 1909. At the end of 1909, at the request of some heirs, guardianship was established over the property of Father John, and the keymaster of St. Andrew's Cathedral, Archpriest Alexander Popov, was appointed guardian, to whom this diary was transferred along with all of Father's property. This is evidenced by the entry made by Fr. Alexander Popov on the back of the last page of the notebook cover: “This manuscript contains one hundred (100) pages and constitutes a diary written in his own hand (from May 4, 1908 to November 11) by Fr. Ioann Ilyich Sergiev. This diary is listed in the inventory of the property of the late archpriest, compiled by bailiff Vitovich, under No. 235 and on January 27, 1909 it was transferred to the custody of Abbess Angelina's attorney, sworn Khoetsky. This diary was transferred into custody only on September 20, 1910. The guardian of the property is Archpriest Alexander Popov. September 22, 1910." K o. Alexander also received a notebook from Father John (its location is unknown). In 1911, according to the Highest Decree, the diary was transferred for storage to the secret department of the Holy Synod, where the notebook was carefully sewn into a linen bag specially prepared for it and sealed with three wax seals until further notice. The relevant document reads: Holy Governing Synod No. 00181 – January 4 1911 Chancellery VI.P. No. 1 – 1911 to the Holy Governing Synod Synodal Member Anthony, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Report The guardian of the property in Bose of the deceased rector of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt, John Ilyich Sergiev, the current rector of this cathedral, Archpriest Alexander Popov, in his report to me dated December 22, No. 169, stated the following: “By the Decree (of the St. Petersburg Diocesan Trusteeship) of February 3, 1910, No. 100 I was appointed guardian of the property of the late Archpriest Fr. Ioann Ilyich Sergiev. An inventory of this property was compiled by bailiff Vitović. Before being handed over to me, the property was under the responsibility of the bailiff for 13 months and was stored in different places and with different persons. Among the items given to me on September 20 of this year (after 21 months from the death of Fr. John) was “The last diary of the deceased and an old memorial book” (according to inventory No. 245), and in March I accepted two baskets of letters addressed to Fr. John with different faces. This diary and many letters, for many reasons, cannot currently be made public and be transferred to private individuals - heirs, but must be transferred to the special disposal of the highest spiritual authority and, in my opinion, should be deposited in the archives of the Holy Synod as one of the secret papers to be published, for example, in 50 years. In presenting these considerations, I have in mind the precedent of the diary and correspondence of the famous head of the Jerusalem Spiritual Mission of the deceased (1894). Archimandrite Antonin, with whom I had to serve in Jerusalem and bury him. The former chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, K.P. Pobedonostsev, having learned about the death of Archimandrite Antonin, requested, through the Jerusalem consul S.V. Arsenyev, the diary and other correspondence of the deceased, since “in these papers (the words of the letter), due to the official position of the late Archimandrite Antonin and the diverse personal relationships, there may be much that is not subject to publicity.” This can be seen from the attached letter from Chief Prosecutor K.P. Pobedonostsev to Consul Sergei Vasilyevich Arsenyev (Archive of the Office of Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod. Case 1894 No. 107). Having such a clear example with the diary and correspondence of Archimandrite Antonin (and the correspondence of K.P. Pobedonostsev himself was handed over to the Rumyantsev Museum in Moscow), I would think, for my part, in order to avoid and stop various rumors that are already beginning to appear in the press, I would immediately hand over the diary and other papers of the late Fr. John Ilyich Sergiev to the secret archive of the Holy Synod. For this, I need a command from the highest Spiritual authority, for which I have the honor to intercede with Your Eminence.” Reporting what has been written and, for my part, recognizing the petition of Archpriest Popov as worthy of special attention, I consider it my duty to respectfully submit this petition for the consideration of the Holy Governing Synod, enclosing the mentioned copy from the letter of the late K.P. Pobedonostsev addressed to the former Jerusalem consul S.V. Arsenyev. Your Holiness's most humble novice Anthony, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga No. 11748 December 30, 1910. About the diary of the late Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev and other papers left after him. Application Archive of the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of St. Synod. Case 1894. No. 107 A copy of a handwritten letter from the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod dated April 29, 1894 addressed to Sergei Vasilyevich Arsenyev (Jerusalem Consul) The Most Honorable Sergei Vasilyevich, I sincerely thank you for the letter dated April 3 (received on the 27th) and for all your orders to protect the property of the Mission and the Holy Synod. I hasten to answer you that, in my opinion, his diary and correspondence should not be given to the relatives of Archimandrite Antonin, since in these papers, due to his official position and diverse personal relationships, there may be much that is not subject to publicity, and perhaps even requiring special orders of the Holy Synod. Therefore, I humbly ask you to forward all these papers to me for a thorough disassembly at the Holy Synod, after which everything relating to private and family relations can be transferred to his relatives. On April 3, apparently, Archimandrite had not yet arrived in Jerusalem. Arseny. However, he was sent from the Holy Synod only temporarily. Appointment of a permanent successor to Fr. Antonina is the subject of special discussion. Sincerely devoted K. Pobedonostsev. Petersburg. April 29, 1894 K No. 169. (Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA), p. 796, op. 193, d. 1432, pp. 1–3). No. 10. 1911 January 4 days. By Decree of His Imperial Majesty, the Holy Governing Synod HISTORED: report of His Grace Metropolitan of St. Petersburg dated December 30, 1910 No. 11748 on the report of the rector of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt, Archpriest Alexander Popov, about those remaining after the death of Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev his diary and other papers. ORDERED: to instruct the St. Petersburg diocesan authorities to order the rector of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt, Archpriest Alexander Popov, to forward his diary and other papers remaining after the late Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev to the Manager of the Synodal Chancellery for presentation to the Holy Synod, about which to send to the Most Reverend Metropolitan St. Petersburg decree. The original definition was signed by the fathers, members of the Holy Synod, and was released for execution on January 4, 1911. Executed: January 4 days, 1911. Decree to the Eminence No. 15. (Id., l. 4). No. 111 U1.P. No. 1 - 1911 Rector of St. Andrew's Cathedral January 13, 1911 No. 5 Kronstadt To His Excellency the Manager of the Synodal Chancellery In pursuance of the Decree of the Most Holy Governing Synod of January 4, 1911 No. 15 and the resolution of His Eminence Anthony, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, dated January 13, 1911 No. 234, I have the honor to present to Your Excellency a sealed diary and other papers in a sealed box (weighing 4.5 pounds) the late Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev for storage in the secret archive of the Holy Synod. Archpriest Alexander Popov. (Ibid., l. 5). ManagerSt. Synod by the Chancellery of January 13, 1911 No. 457 Delivered by the rector of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt, Archpriest Alexander Popov, in pursuance of the Decree of the Holy Synod of January 4, No. 15, in sealed form, the diary and other papers in a sealed box (weighing 4.5 pounds) of the late Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev were received by me on January 13. Office Manager S. Grigorovsky The diary of Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev mentioned here was presented by me on February 1 at the meeting of the Holy Synod and, by order of it, was handed over for viewing to the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod S.M. Lukyanov. Received. S. Lukyanov. 1 P 1911 The sealed box mentioned here containing the papers of the late Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev was accepted for storage in the Archives of the Holy Synod on January 13, 1911. I received the above-mentioned diary of Archpriest Ioann Ilyich Sergiev on April 20 from the Synodal Chief Prosecutor S.M. Lukyanov with a view to seeking permission from the Holy Synod to hand over this diary in a package sealed with 3 government seals with the following inscription on it: “This package, sealed with 3 government seals and containing the last diary of Archpriest Ioann Ilyich Sergiev (Kronstadt), kept in the Secret Department of the Archives of the Holy Synod until called upon by the Holy Synod. April 30, 1911. Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod S. Lukyanov.” – To the Secret Department of the Archives of the Holy Synod. Manager of the Office of the Holy Synod S. Grigorovsky. April 30, 1911 The last diary of Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev (Kronstadt), sealed with three official seals, was accepted by the head of the Archive and Library of the Holy Synod, K. Zdravomyslov, for storage in the Secret Department of the Archives of the Holy Synod. 10 V.11 (Ibid. pp. 6–6v). Priest Nikolai Staropolsky. 360 rubles sent. September 10... – Father Nikolai from the village. The end of Cherepovetskogo u. Novgorod province responded to the help of Father John with the following letter: “My dear, invaluable and kind Father! It is with a feeling of deep gratitude that I write you this letter. You did not leave me and my family in this difficult hour of life. How I thank you, our dear, and also family. May the Lord prolong your life for many years, and for my part I will make every effort to pray for you at the throne of the Most High. I remain your loving and grateful unworthy priest Nikolai Staropolsky” (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 7g, l. 327). An earlier letter from Fr. Nicholas, when he was still a deacon (no date). He asked Father John for advice on what to do, because due to illness he could not serve (Ibid., l. 91). Sopotskin station, Suwalki province (see in the same place: Teolin Monastery... 200 rubles, and also p. 12: “Suwalki province. ... Abbess Lyudmila. Teolin Monastery). – Father John was personally acquainted with the abbess of the Teolinsky monastery (one of the branches of the Lesninsky monastery) Lyudmila, probably from the end of 1901, when she came to Kronstadt (in a letter to Father dated December 22, 1901, she, thanking him for sending 300 rubles, writes that she always remembers Kronstadt and the “wonderful St. Andrew’s Cathedral” - Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 56, l. 1–1ob). In a letter dated September 17, 1908, the abbess thanked Father John for the 200 rubles he had just received. and announced her intention to soon visit St. Petersburg again, despite the fact that she was afraid of the cholera that was raging there (Ibid., ll. 32–33). Previously, Father John sent larger sums to the monastery - 400, 600, 3000 rubles. etc., but they were constantly not enough to maintain the monastery. Realizing that this money, although regularly sent, was not enough, he more than once turned to high-ranking officials and organizations with requests for help to the monastery (for example, to the Holy Synod, personally to V.K. Sabler). The abbess herself advised: “There are many good people in Rus', if only they knew your needs, let them know about yourself” (quoted from the letter of Abbess Lyudmila to Father John dated January 9 (without indicating the year). - Ibid., pp. 34–35v). But despite all the efforts of Father John, the debts of the monastery grew, which once even caused a reproach from the Father. Responding to his next letter (unknown), the abbess quotes his words: “I thought that I had paid all my debts for you, because I sent you more than what you told me, but now it turns out that you have new debts” (Ibid., ll. 26–27). Tyagunov sent 250 rubles. ...November 6, 1908. – Gabriel and Evdokia Tyagunov were longtime admirers of Father: they stood at the origins of his widest fame. Their names opened the “Statement of Thanks,” placed in No. 2807 of “New Time” for December 20, 1883. The first wrote in his statement: “Through the prayers of the worthy Archpriest John, I received from the merciful Lord God complete healing in my serious illnesses. For four years I suffered from relaxation and aching in my legs, severe rheumatism in my head, and I also had severe chest pain. Previously, I visited doctors many times, but no remedies helped. Gavrila Tyagunov. Sennaya, Gorokhovaya st., 2, apt. 41". The second testified: “For more than three years I suffered from heart disease, combined with severe pain in my head, in addition, my legs hurt very much, in a word, I was all relaxed; I contacted doctors, but in vain. She received complete healing from Father John. Evdokia Tyagunova." Later letters from the Tyagunovs to Father John have also been preserved. So on September 2, 1894, G.N. Tyagunov wrote: “I rise up and go to my father (Luke 15:18). Dear Father John, Bless. Father, we earnestly ask for your holy blessing and your holy prayers in absentia. Father, bless us to send our adopted daughter Lyonya to school to learn to read and write, bless her, pray for her, she is an orphan, we are thinking of sending her to a rural parish school from October 1st. Dear Father, pray for Lena. We are confident that your holy prayers and St. blessings can be many, especially for an innocent little one on the first step of learning. Father, we sincerely thank you for blessing us to leave for our homeland. Hosha, it is not easy for us to drag out life, but for your holy prayers it is calm and gratifying that I have been morally reborn. I thank God and you, Avdotya Gavrilovna suffers from her head much less, but you, dear Father, do not believe anyone that we left with a lot of capital, no. We only brought seven hundred silver rubles. Hosha, I owe a lot to stay, but three times less than what people say. I and myself had many left in debt, there was nothing to get from them, and I just brought seven hundred rubles to my homeland, which I swear to you by God and everything that is holy to me, and the money was spent on what was necessary for trade, the Lord also visited us with a fire on July 8th, which also caused us a significant amount, at the moment we are fighting very hard, but I am so glad from the heart that I myself have become completely new. Father, the only thing we miss about you is that we don’t see or hear you. Father, if you please, honor us, the unworthy, with one line of letter. Avdotya Gavrilovna would like to go to Kronstadt, but we don’t have the means, although the roads are inexpensive, well, extreme circumstances and need have made it difficult, apparently, it’s God’s will. But we hope for your holy prayers that we may not perish forever. Sincerely loving you, your spiritual unworthy children Gabriel, Evdokia, Elena Tyagunov. September 2, 1894. Our address: Gavrilo Nikiforov Tyagunov in the village of Visokinich, Tarusa district, Kaluga province" (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 14a, pp. 40–41). Evdokim Fidelin ... - Two letters from his nephew and several letters from his wife to Father John for 1908 have been preserved, from which the nature of their close relationship is clear, which remained unchanged until the end: “January 9, 1908 St. Petersburg. Dear uncle! We congratulate you, dear uncle, on the New Year, wishing you health and all the best. Before the New Year, I fell ill with influenza and was lying in bed, only today I got up, and my lower back still hurts. On January 1st, my youngest son, 5 years old, fell ill with scarlet fever, the rest of the children are healthy. The younger girls, Sima and Ksyuta, are separated and live with friends. My wife became completely ill from all the troubles, her nerves were greatly shaken. I ask you, dear uncle, to pray for her and all of us. During the holidays, my wife and I visited Archpriest Dernov, but he was not at home; they wanted to talk to him about a place about which nothing had been heard so far. Without any place, it’s very difficult to live, and most importantly, I’m bored (sitting around doing nothing). God grant that something comes out soon. Here we have to raise 2 younger daughters, and if I don’t get a position, then I myself will not be able to give them an education, I don’t know how we will live. God grant, dear uncle, health, then life is not scary, since you do not leave us with your mercy and help. We ask for your blessings and prayers for us sinners. We all kiss you warmly and wish you health. Please convey our regards and congratulations to your aunt. Those who love you, your nephew E. Fidelin and his family” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 5, l. 54). “January 29, 1908 St. Petersburg. Dear uncle! Now I came from Mikhail Grigorievich, who advised me to contact Vladimir Ivanovich Savin, State Councilor - Director of the 1st Russian Fear. A society that respects you very much. I ask you, dear uncle, to write him a letter with which I will come to him and whether he will provide any place in the Insurance Company. This Saturday I visited Archpriest Dernov, who had recently returned from vacation. He told me that when he meets with the mayor, he always reminds him, but he says there are no vacancies yet, we need to wait. Today I visited a member of the mountains. The administration of Mr. Buzov, who also promised to assist in determining the location. Mikhail Grigorievich said that we will keep all this in mind, we will expect it, but for now we need to act - look for another place. If it comes out, then you can always move from something worse to something better. Mich. Grieg, kisses your hand, dear uncle. Today Khionia Sofontevna visited us and I am sending this letter with her. We are all healthy, we kiss you warmly. Your loving nephew E. Fidelin” (Ibid., l. 56). Apollonia, abbess – 300 rub. – Father John was connected with the abbess of the Vokhonovsky monastery Apollonia not only by business relations - the constant financial support he provided - but also by cordial relations with her and the sisters of the monastery, as evidenced by two surviving letters from the abbess herself to Father: “Your High Blessing, Most Honorable Father John Ilyich. With a bow to the ground I come running to you, most merciful Father, and I beg you, if possible, do not refuse our convincing request! One tradesman, Ivan Alekseevich Medyntsov, donated part of his land near the Kikerino Balt station to our monastery. zhel. roads to build a chapel on it. But as all the merchants there know, I have nothing but a lot of debts - they, that is, the merchants and some other residents near the station. Kicherino, expressed a desire to build a chapel at their own expense, without demanding anything from me except consent and advice on how best to build the chapel. Deeply grateful for their diligence, I gave them written consent, and they will submit a petition to the Eminence Metropolitan for permission to build a chapel. Today, the final strengthening of the donated land behind the monastery has been received. It is necessary to consecrate the place and make a bookmark. We were told, Most Honest Father, that on May 27 you will leave for your homeland, and probably for a long time. Please be kind enough to come and lay the foundation stone for the chapel on Friday the 24th of this May, which will indescribably comfort us all! On Sunday, the kind residents of Kikerin promised to come to me, wanting to build a chapel at their own expense, and on Monday they will probably go to submit a petition to the Bishop for permission to build. We all really want, Dear Gracious Father, for you to make a bookmark with our clergy. All of us who need it would arrive at the station in advance, and when the train brings our Benefactor, Father, we will meet him and we will all go together or go to the laying site; and upon completion, come to our monastery. Most honorable father, we must bless all the sisters and sick elders to visit and bless. I told Agrippina Nazarovna to definitely find you, Most Honest Father, and give an answer by telegram without delay. We ask for your Pastoral blessing and holy prayers, Most Honorable Father. Your spiritual children, sinful abbess Apollonia, nun Feofaniya and all the sisters of the monastery and Sofya Ivanovna Snessareva. May 17, 1902" (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 16a, l. 121–121 vol.). And the second letter: “Christ is Risen! Your High Blessing Most Honorable Benefactor Father John Ilyich, on Friday the 30th of this April we will have a church holiday in the monastery, for the first time in the newly built, consecrated chapel on January 21, in the name of St. Apostle James Zebedee. The chapel was built through the diligence and support of Mrs. Agrippina Yakovlevna Drago, an 82-year-old woman. She herself does not come to our monastery, she is old and has no strength. – The day is not a service day, according to the calendar it is not a public day. Hoping that you, Most Honest Father, are free to console us that day, we come running to you with a bow to the ground and a convincing request: be kind to us to serve on our new church holiday. Arrive the day before, i.e. On Thursday the 29th, on the morning train, serve an all-night vigil, and on the 30th a mass and prayer service. And you will go back at half past 3 o'clock, etc. .... There are no more trains until May 6th, except for the evening one at 7 o'clock. I am sending this letter to Alexandra Stepanovna Matveeva, with a request that she find you, our dear Father, where you are, and bring you to us, if your gracious consent follows. – If you come to us, tell Alexandra Stepanovna which station to send for you: Elizavetino or Kikerino? If I go to Elizavetino, I’ll send a carriage, and if I go to Kikerino, I’ll send a carriage or a tarantass, depending on how the road is: they’re working on an unfinished mile of the highway, so I’ll have to take a detour, where if it wasn’t heavy rain it’s good to go in a carriage, but if the road is damaged, then I’ll have to go in a tarantass. With Elizabeth you can always travel in a carriage, except in winter. We await your gracious consent and response, we ask for holy prayers and blessings, spiritual children, sinful abbess Apollonia and nun Feofania and all the sisters of the monastery. April 25, 1904" (Ibid., pp. 171–172). To the priest Peter Alex. Mirtov – 300 rub. – Obviously, this was money intended to complete the construction of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ (Warsaw) near the Warsaw Station. On December 14, 1908, its solemn consecration took place. Most likely, the amount sent was another one. The rector of the church, Fr. Back in April 1908, P.A. Mirtov turned to Father John (through I.N. Ornatsky) with a request for material support to complete the construction. “I was informed,” he wrote, “that a miter worth 1,500 rubles is now being prepared in Meshkov’s store for Father John. It was ordered by an old woman (her name and surname will be given to me this evening), who received healing through the prayers of Fr. John. This old lady owns a large capital of 69 million rubles. Of course, here we must see a hyperbole, which is very common when determining the volume of “someone else’s bite.” We have plenty of such millionaires. But there is no doubt that the old woman is a wealthy person. And if Fr. John threw one line to this admirer of his - our Resurrection Church would have been completed. Could you please ask Fr. John? Recently (about two weeks ago) I wrote to him, but, of course, where can he answer all the letters that come to him? Your priest P. Mirtov. 1908 April 10th day" (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 11, pp. 137–138). Tula Abbess Magdalene – 200 rubles. – To the Tula Assumption Convent (founded in 1587). Father John partially sent money, especially after the fire that happened there, which Abbess Magdalene told Father in a letter dated November 23, 1901: “V.P.I. Tula Dormition Convent of the Mother Superior. November 23, 1901 Tula. Your Reverence. All-honorable and kindest Father, Archpriest John Ilyich! The premonition that weighed on me during your visit to Lyubov Ivanovna Trukhina in Moscow on November 15th did not deceive me. The visit of God was truly menacing: on the night of November 15, the largest, three-story building of the monastery became a victim of flame. The fire started at two o'clock in the morning, when the sisters of the monastery were sleeping peacefully, and was noticed already when the stairs on all three floors were in flames, and the wooden corridor was filled with terrible, suffocating smoke. The awakened sisters came out of their cells in the clothes they had only been in bed and with terrible efforts made their way out of the house engulfed in flames, while some from the second floor went down to the windows along the provided stairs. And so 75 sisters were left homeless, without food, since the monastery kitchen and dining room also burned down, undressed, without shoes. Distributing them among the rest of the sisters presents great difficulties; it is even more difficult to console at least a little, to calm the terribly frightened, grief-stricken over the loss of the small property and wealth that each of them owned before the fire. Finally, repairing a burnt building, in which only charred walls stick out, building a new stone building and stairs in it is such a difficult, seemingly impossible task for me, before which I just give up. All the funds and savings of previous years were spent by me on the construction of the monastery cathedral, which only this year was completed in rough construction, so I positively cannot imagine where I could get the funds required in the amount of 50-60 thousand rubles to correct all the damage caused by the fire. In such sad circumstances, I dare to turn to your well-known kindness and compassion, to your generosity and mercy with my most humble request to support me, weak, to provide me with your assistance and help, first of all, with your strong and effective prayer for the gracious help and blessing of God in such difficult moments of my life; 2) by inviting benefactors and philanthropists known to you to support and help me with a material donation for the construction of burnt cells, none of which were insured, for the speedy construction of a monastery refectory and kitchen, where the sisters could find a ready-made table, which they are all currently deprived of, and for supplying fire victims with clothes, shoes, linen and bedding. Merciful father! Open your golden heart for sympathy and help to our grief, wipe away with your participation the tears of 75 sisters of the monastery and their much-sorrowful abbess, so that we ourselves will not only offer from grateful hearts unceasing prayers to the Throne of the Almighty for the prosperity and longevity of our father and benefactor, but also command the same to future generations of sisters of our holy monastery. Your Most Reverend Gracious Father and Benefactor, humble novice of the Tula Assumption Convent, abbess Magdalene” (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 16a, pp. 103–104). Not sent to Sedletsk province. Art. Sokolov. Virovskaya Abbess – 200. – The entry in the diary is crossed out, which most likely means that the money was sent to Abbess Susanna (See, for example: TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 22, l. 80). A letter from M. Susanna dated October 3, 1908 has been preserved: “Dear, our dear Father! Help our grief, pray for this poor girl Maria Afanasyeva, who is having more and more seizures. I believe that through your prayers the demon will leave her. Do not forget us, distant ones, our dear Father and benefactor. We also constantly pray to the Lord to strengthen your strength, to restore what is dear to all true Christians - your health. For all your kindnesses to us, we thank you again and bow to the ground. Do not forget us in your holy prayers. Bless us. Your zealous pilgrims, Abbess Susanna with her sisters and children. 3rd Oct. 1908 Virovskaya Pustyn" (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 7v, pp. 165–166v).. No mountains sent. White... Abbess - 200. - The entry in the manuscript is crossed out (see before, notes).. The abbess of the Lesninsky Mother of God Monastery under Father John was M. Catherine (in the world Countess Evgenia Borisovna Efimovskaya; 1851-1925), to whose name Father John regularly sent various amounts (see, for example: Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 22, l. 75, 80) and with whom he often corresponded and met on almost every visit to St. Petersburg. Her letters to Father John for the years 1897–1907 have been preserved. In one of them, the abbess wrote: “Your Reverence, beloved in the Lord, my dear Father. I bow to you and thank you with all my heart for the five hundred rubles you sent me and for the great consolation that your letter brought me. It was received at the monastery without me and sent here to me. I arrived in St. Petersburg at the end of November. I really want to meet you. Several times I thought about going to Kronstadt. Yes, I’m afraid to miss you and not catch you. There are rumors that you often visit Mother Taisia ​​here on Basseynaya. We live so close from there. My brother is very eager to see you and receive your blessing. His apartment is on the first floor, so there is no need to climb. We won't tell anyone that you are welcome. Just take the trouble to set a day and hour. Nun Anna is here and is also so eager to see you. Address: Sergievskaya st., 26, apt. No. 2. Instruct Alexander Alekseevich to notify us of your decision. I warmly kiss your holy hands and ask for your blessing. Your unworthy novice, spiritually devoted to you, your abbess Catherine” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 7a, pp. 137–138). House of Diligence - 1000 rubles. – Another sum of money for the needs of the Kronstadt House of Diligence, constantly supported by Father Ioanam. Priest of Lavel village Apolloniy Nikiforov. October 11. – Apparently, on this day, Father John sent money to Lavela for the repair of the chapel mentioned in the next response letter from Fr. Apollonia: “November 3. 1908. S. Lavela. Dear Father O. Archpriest John Ilyich! I hereby notify you, Your Reverence, our dear benefactor, that by the grace of God, with your help and the assistance of good people, we have now rebuilt, updated, and on October 26 of this year, after the Divine Liturgy, we consecrated the ancient chapel of Yavzor in the name of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius the Wonderworker of Thessaloniki. But the renovation of the chapel is not finished yet, because it needs to be sheathed and painted, which will require another 150 rubles. The peasants donate planks for cladding, but they do not promise to give any more money due to their poverty. It is desirable for me and the peasants of the village of Yavzory to complete the repair of the chapel, and in view of this I dare to ask and bother you further, Our dear: benefactor O. John Ilyich! Would you please provide us with financial assistance in funds for this holy cause, the completion of the renovation of the Yavzor chapel and for the needs of the Yavzor church, which also needs a lot. With spiritual joy I inform you, dear Father, that thank God, my Yavzor parishioners are beginning to awaken from centuries of spiritual sleep, for they are beginning to diligently attend church services. On October 26, more than 60 people were present at the service in the Yavzor church, and they also participated in the consecration of the Yavzor chapel and prayed to the Lord God for your health and longevity. I ask you, dear Father John! Pray for me, an unworthy priest, to the Lord God, may He help me to carry out this great service among the lost and schismatics who have fallen away from the church, may the Lord turn them to the path of truth and salvation. Your Most Reverend, most humble servant and pilgrim, priest of the Lavel parish of the Pinega district of the Arkhangelsk diocese, Apolloniy Nikiforov. Surskoe post office" (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 4, pp. 189–190).. Gennady Paramonovich Ivanchenko. Caretaker of the Sur post office. – Through the Sura post office, Father John sent large sums of money several times a year to be distributed to the poor Sura residents and residents of nearby villages. In 1908, these amounts were distributed by the local priest, Fr. Venedikt Titov, probably with the participation of the postal supervisor, after which the payroll was sent to Father John. For 1908, three letters from Fr. Venedicta - from February 10, May 7 and September 4. Below is the text of the last letter: “Your Reverence, Venerable O. Archpriest John Ilyich! Presenting at the same time the justification document for the distribution of the thousands (1000) rubles you sent in my name to the Suryans, I have the most respectful duty to express to Your Reverence sincere and deep gratitude on behalf of the recipients for the generous alms they completely unexpected from you and the heartfelt wish for you, Dear Kindred and Benefactor, for many, many years of life for the benefit of their fellow countrymen and for the salvation of many!! Dear Father! Due to shallow water, on the occasion of a dry summer and due to absence from the parish of Fr. Aifala, from the first days of August until now this year, it was not possible to go to the city of Arkhangelsk to purchase provisions and the latter for the school and dormitory will have to be bought from local merchants and paid almost double the price for everything; which should have a harmful impact on my pocket as the head of the school, and therefore, Your Reverence, Dear O. Archpriest, if possible, do not refuse all possible help. With sincere wishes for you strong and long-term health and all the best in your life, with the deepest respect, your humble servant and to your grave, Bogomolets, Sursky parish priest Venedikt Titov. R.8. I take the liberty of presenting two letters of assistance at your discretion at the request of the said petitioners.” Attached to the letter was a “journal for recording persons, peasants of the Sursky parish, in their receipt of financial assistance” - 375 signatures on the distribution of 1002 rubles. 50 kopecks (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 4, l. 172–172v.; “magazine” – l. 173–188v).. Florence. Vokhonovsky Monastery... - The last known letter from Father John to Mother Florentia was written on January 30. Perhaps there was a later one, in which Father announced his departure to Vaulovo. The letter below from M. Florentia is probably a response to it: “Dear Father! I respectfully congratulate you on the upcoming solemn day of the Bright Resurrection of Christ and always pray to the Almighty to preserve your life for many years to come!!! The rare mercy of God for your kindness is upon you, dear father, and with a feeling of my deepest respect I raise my weak voice among your countless admirers and say: “Christ is risen.” I kiss your hands and feet, begging St. Your prayers for yourself - Florence and for the repose of nun Macrina. I really miss the thought that I am an orphan alone. I’ve been sick all winter and I’m sick now: my legs and arms are swollen and painful, shortness of breath, hoarseness, cough. I beg St. Your prayers. Don't forget me, poor Florentia. On May 26th it will be a year since my mother passed away. Our father asks you to bless his cassock (yours), my most gracious father and benefactor. Before your departure, I would very much like to visit you in Kronstadt and take communion, listen to your soul-saving words, which are a pleasure for me. The most sinful, weak, always praying for you. Unworthy M.F. April 10th. 1908" In the margins: “Bless and pray in absentia. Nothing and no one is nice to me, I miss my mother so much. You are the only consolation” (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 146, l. 110–110v).. Vladimir Antonovich Kondratyev is the caretaker of the new Naval Cathedral. – Probably, Father John sent a note to Kondratiev with a request, to which he received the following answer on the same day: “Dear dear father! According to the inquiries I made, it turned out that all the workers on the construction of the Naval Cathedral were 130 people, including 2 foreman. Dear father, bless me, a sinner, and my whole family. V. Kondratiev. The giver of this is the trusted Ivan Emelyanov. October 17, 1908" (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 16, l. 8). It is also possible that the note is related to Father’s visit to the Cathedral under construction, which took place at the end of August and which Father John himself spoke about in a telegram addressed to the Emperor. Nicholas P. It said: “...deeply interested in the Naval Cathedral in Kronstadt, which was being built on your initiative [initiative], I, with the help of people, visited it, examined its interior from a hill and was surprised by its beauty, size, architecture, courage and high artistic taste of the architect and his assistant...” (“Kotlin”, 1908, August 29, no. 196). Anna Andreevna, Sofya Yakovlevna and Varvara Ivanovna ... – This means A.A. Gorpinchenko, S.Ya. Burkhard and V.I. Fedosikhina. The latter, upon returning from Vaulov, wrote to Father John: “Upon arrival from you from Dulov, how good it was, how joyful it was in my soul, just the vivid imagination of Your Lordship in front of the Throne of the King of Kings evoked copious tears, and for a long time I warmed my soul with these tears, like rays from the sun... I ask one thing, help me, my joy, dear Father, my patron and father, so that the Lord will give me the strength to fight to the end temptations..." (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 2, l. 18–19v).. On October 18, Father John received a congratulatory telegram from Burkhard and Gorpinchenko, and on the 9th - “from old friends” - Nadezhda and Alexandra Gorpinchenko (Ibid., lol. 133, 240). head of the Vaulovsky ... - This refers to the Vaulovsky Assumption Skete of the St. Petersburg Ioannovsky Convent. It was located in the village. Vaulov on the territory of the former family estate of Senator V.P. Mordvinov in Romanov-Borisoglebsky district. Yaroslavl province, donated by him to the monastery in August 1903. Established by Decree of the Holy Synod in 1903. The monastery had two stone churches - in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God (consecrated on August 14, 1751). and in the name of Rev. Alexander of Svirsky (consecrated on September 30, 1767; Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, f. 19, op. 113, d. 4106, l. 40ob).. In a report to His Grace Antonin, Bishop of Narva, dated March 14, 1905, the dean of the monasteries of the Yaroslavl diocese, Archimandrite German, wrote that “in The monastic sisters of the monastery, led by the nun Eupraxia, who runs the monastery, set a good example with their modest monastic life, expressing this by unforgivingly attending all Divine services and reverently standing in the church. The service is celebrated slowly according to the rules of Theodore the Studite. During non-liturgical times, the sisters are busy fulfilling various obediences assigned to them by the manager of the monastery: they prepare building materials for the construction of the monastery’s dormitory, conduct field farming and engage in cattle breeding... The surrounding population treats the monastery with visible sympathy, expressing this by frequent attendance at divine services and feasible sacrifices for the construction of the monastery” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 19, op. 96, d. 45, pp. 59–60). Here, in the Mordvinovs’ house, Father John often rested on the road from Sura to St. Petersburg. Archpriest Fr. Pavel Levitsky wrote down, from the words of M. Eupraxia, a story about Father John’s last stay in Vaulovo: “Living in Vaulovo in the summer of 1908, Father suffered seriously from an intensified illness: he spent entire nights without sleep, sitting in a chair, because he could not lie down. “One day,” Mother Eupraxia told me, “I came to Father and saw him sitting in his chair with his eyes closed and saying a mental prayer. It’s hard for him, but there’s no murmur or groan. I felt sorry for him to the point of tears, but how can I help and console him? I think: I’ll pray for him. I read in my mind the troparion to the Dormition of the Mother of God, I have an icon of this holiday in my corner, and I see that Father turned his face to this icon and bowed. I begin to read: “The zealous Intercessor...” - Father bowed to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Apparently, Father read in my soul." (Prot. P.L. Levitsky. Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev of Kronstadt. Pg., 1916. P. 70–71). Asmodeus is a demonic creature in Judaism, the chief of demons, or the king of demons (Tov. 3, 8-17); in the Russian tradition, a synonym for the evil spirit, devil, demon, Satan (Dal V. Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language. M., 1978. T. I, p. 26, column 2). ...killed in Tiflis by Georgians Exarch Nikon. – In No. 121 of the Kotlin newspaper for May 29, it was reported that “The Eminence ... was killed on May 28 at 11 o’clock. morning by natives on the way to a meeting of the Georgian-Imereti Synodal Office. The killers were not found." The next day an obituary appeared in the newspaper. According to the biographer, “the appointment of Archbishop Nikon, as a Russian, as the head of the Georgian church in the Caucasus was unfriendlyly received by the Georgian clergy and part of the Georgian society” (Sofia L.I. Eminence Nikon, Archbishop of Kartala and Kakheti. St. Petersburg, 1909. P. 110). Another biography of the Exarch says: “His view on the issue of Georgian autocephaly was imbued with wisdom, directness and was not complicated by any types of secular politics, but directly flowed from the idea of ​​​​the essence of the Church. He found it expedient to separate from the existing composition of the Georgian Exarchate parts with a Russian and Greek population and annex them to the Russian dioceses; the Georgian parts of the Exarchate should be given a certain amount of independence. He tried to implement this view with caution, remembering that any thoughtless division in this case threatens to turn into tearing apart the Robe of Christ, which is a great sin before the Lord. ... When Georgia was seething with hatred against everything Russian, he was filled with good intentions towards the Georgian Church. On his initiative, repairs to the famous monument of Georgian church antiquity, the Mtskheta Cathedral, began, for which he requested significant funds from the Holy Synod - more than 30,000 rubles. On his initiative, a revision and correction of sacred and liturgical books in Georgian began, for which a special commission was formed. ... His struggle with the autocephalists ended tragically” (Metropolitan Manuel (Lemeshevsky). Russian Orthodox hierarchs. T. V. Erlangen, 1987. pp. 265–266). By the righteous judgment of God, my illness was sent to me, and I must generously and gratefully endure and pray, - This entry under the date “June 4” was made a month after Dr. V.B. Bertenson “a completely frank opinion,” which Father John himself demanded to express. Having listened to the recommendations (“... special treatment under the guidance of a specialist doctor, complete rest, constant exposure to clean country air, the strictest regime, refusal of all worship...”), Father replied: “Thank you.... But I will never give up worship, fasting and prayers for the sick, until the disease completely pins me to bed. I will carry out only one of your advice: I will go, like every year, to the Arkhangelsk province...” (Bertenson V.B. For 30 years (sheets from memoirs). St. Petersburg, type. Suvorin, 1914. pp. 188–190). However, Father John did not make it to Sura, limiting himself to resting in Vaulovo and the Leushinsky monastery. Taisiya. – This entry for June 22 means that Abbess Taisiya accompanied Father John on his trip to Vaulovo and went with him to the Leushinsky Monastery. In her memoirs, she writes about the time Father John spent in Leushin (from June 28 to July 6): “This was his last visit; He was already very weak, could hardly eat anything, spoke little, read more and more, retired into seclusion, but served every day in the cathedral church, which he always praised so much and about which he spoke repeatedly that it was easy for him to serve in it. ... He stayed with us in the monastery for 9 days and on the day of departure he asked me: “How many days did I stay with you, mother?” When I answered, he continued: “I’ve celebrated the nineties on my own, I won’t be with you anymore. Thank you, thank you for all your diligence, for your love, for everything!” The sisters saw him off, as usual, with singing and tears - it was clear to everyone that the priceless lamp was burning out. When he and I left the monastery and, having passed the village of Leushino, turned left into the fields, Father began to turn back and look at the monastery. Assuming that he had forgotten something or wanted to say something to those driving behind us, I asked him about it, but he answered: “I admire your monastery once again: a quiet, holy monastery! May the Lord protect her; truly God is with you!” Now these wonderful, joyful words serve us as great, high consolation. From the Borki pier we took a boat to Rybinsk and down the Volga to the distant Kama, where Father was invited. With us were 5 sister singers, who, by order of Father, conducted services on the ship and sang to him during the day at his request. This remained the only consolation from the usual passing of time on the ship. On the eve of the day when we were supposed to part with Father, he asked the sister singers to sing all the Cherubic songs that they knew. There were a lot of them (since they had the notes with them), and the sisters, standing next to Father, began to sing. When it was the turn of “Simonovskaya” Kherubimskaya, Father said: “This is my favorite song, I sang it myself when I was a boy,” and asked to repeat it. Then they sang, according to Father’s instructions: “He rejoices in You” and “The Highest of Heaven.” During the entire singing, the priest sat in a chair at the side of the ship, wrapped in a warm cassock, and, sitting, chanted with his right hand and sang along. When they sang “The Highest of Heaven,” he remarked: “This is good, but it’s a new tune, and I sang differently,” and in his melodious, but already senile, trembling voice, he sang this whole song to the end, that is, until we can be saved. Everyone shed tears, and how could it have been otherwise? Having sung, Father stood up and, turning to the singers, said: “Well, God grant that we all be saved! Thank you, sisters, for your beautiful sweet singing, with which you have always consoled me.” The next day, Father and I parted: it was July 6, 1908” (Conversations of Father Archpriest John with the abbess of the St. John the Baptist Leushinsky first-class monastery, Abbess Taisiya. Pg., 1915. pp. 52–54). The monastery deacon in Sura is Peter Nikolsky ... protege of Ioannikis - the bishop... - Father John knew that the deacon was sent to Sura by the bishop from a letter to him from the deacon himself dated September 27, 1906 (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 2, l. 145-145ob).. And yet in the word “protégé” one senses Father’s negative attitude towards the archbishop, and it was not unfair. Father John knew about the archbishop’s attitude towards the monastery and towards himself from letters sent to him by Abbess Porfiria and novice Anastasia Efimova. The first one wrote: “... Why doesn’t he love you so much? And no matter what you do, everything will be bad, but he tells me that if you want to please Father, you must cover all the shortcomings of the treasurer sent; If she doesn’t know how to act as a treasurer, then give her something else to do. I bowed at his feet and cried...” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 2, pp. 80v.–81v.)... And nevertheless, Father tried to maintain good relations with the archbishop. It is known, for example, that he congratulated him on receiving the miter and soon received a letter of gratitude. At that time P.V. Nikolsky was the deacon of the Sursky St. John the Theological Convent. Back in 1899, Father John founded a women's monastic community in his homeland, which the following year was transformed into a monastery. Here “the nuns settled who came to Sura with the blessing of Father John from St. Petersburg, Kronstadt and Peterhof. About 120 nuns and novices lived in modest cells” (Denisov L.I. Orthodox monasteries of the Russian Empire. M., 1908. P.35). At the beginning of the 20th century. On the territory of the monastery a church was built in the name of St. ap. John the Theologian, monastery schools, a hotel for pilgrims, a hospital, a handicraft factory, a refectory. “A one-class parochial school for girls with a handicraft class and a dormitory was supported by interest from the untouchable capital of 40 thousand, placed in its name by Archpriest John Sergiev (Kronstadt)” (RGIA, f. 796, op. 442, d. 2255, pp. 14–14ob).. 4th day in Ustyuzhna. Every day I served... - In this district town in Novgorod province. on the river Father John visited Mologa almost every year on his way to Sura and repeatedly served in the main church of the city - the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. ...Send two hundred rubles to the Vyshnevolotsky convent. – Monastery in Vyshny Volochyok in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which belonged to the Tver diocese and was originally (since 1872). community, had five churches, one of which housed the main monastery shrine - the ancient Andronicus Icon of the Mother of God, which originated from Greece. Father John regularly sent money transfers of 200–250 rubles to this monastery in the name of Abbess Dosithea. (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 22, pp. 79, 84, etc.).. ...to Verkolsky - one hundred rubles. – To the Verkolsky Artemiev Monastery on the river. Pinega, located not far from Sura, Father John visited on each of his visits to his homeland. And in his youth, returning home on vacation from the Arkhangelsk Theological School, Father John often stopped by the monastery on pilgrimage. He sent 100 rubles a month to this monastery. (see receipts for the monastery receiving money: Central State Historical Archive St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 22, pp. 28, 29, etc.) In response to the previous amount sent, Archimandrite Barsanuphius wrote: “Your Reverence. Heartily beloved and dear father! Your new donation of 100 rubles in favor of the Verkolsky Monastery was accepted by the brethren with the greatest gratitude. We pray earnestly for the Lord to send you strength and health for further service to the Church and the Fatherland. Do not forget, dear father, us in your holy and auspicious prayers to God. The most humble novice who loves you in Christ, the abbot of the Verkolsky monastery, Archimandrite Barsanuphius and his brethren. 1908 Oct. 20 days" (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 16a, l. 1). ...to the Hills... - Two cities bore this name: the first was a district town in Pskov province, near which the Vorontsov Convent was located; and the second is a provincial city in western Russia, the center of the Kholm diocese, on the territory of which were the Lesninsky Holy Mother of God and Virovsky monasteries in the name of the Most Merciful Savior. But, judging by the context (“to the Hills - a hundred”), here we are talking about the Assumption Convent in Kholmogory (Arkhangelsk province), to which Father John regularly sent money and which he always visited during his trips to Sura (his sister Anna Ilyinichna Fidelina lived near the monastery). The last time he would receive a letter from the abbess of the Angelina Monastery with gratitude for the next hundred rubles was in mid-December 1908. This letter reported on the visit of the new Archbishop Micah to his native places. The letter dated December 10 said: “Your Reverence! Our Most Honest, Most Gracious, Great Benefactor, Dear Father Father John Ilyich! I humbly fall at your holy feet and with a contrite heart and tears I touch your most holy right hand. Dear Father, I ask for your most holy prayers and blessings on myself, unworthy, on the sisters and on the entire Holy Monastery, in which, by the grace of God, the Intercessor’s Protection and your most holy prayers are safe and preserved. Most merciful loving Father and Benefactor, consolation of the mourning, Dear Father John, I throw myself at your holy feet and with a reverent feeling of my heartfelt gratitude with hot tears I offer you, dear Father, sincere gratitude for your great mercies, I, unworthy, have been honored to receive your generous sacrifice of one hundred rubles. Dear Father! I cannot express my joy when I received, I cannot express and adequately thank with hot tears I prayed to the Creator God, may he reward you with all Heavenly mercies, may he prolong your precious life for many, many years, may the Lord God strengthen and renew your strength, for which our humble abode fervently prays. Upon receipt of your great joyful sacrifice, on the 10th of this December, we served a prayer service for the health and salvation of your Merciful Lord God and Patroness of the Holy Monastery - the Queen of Heaven, in never-ending prayers, to Her Glorious Dormition, may He hear our unworthy but fervent prayer; with tears, kneeling and longevity, we offered a common prayer for you, dear Father, may your precious life last to console those unworthy of us, your children. Most Gracious Dear Father! We were honored to meet our new Archpastor, His Grace Bishop Micah, who visited our Holy Monastery. On the 8th and 9th in the morning we proceeded to the Verkolsky Monastery and the Sura Convent, back on the 17th and 18th they deigned to be at our monastery to rest. Glory and Thanksgiving to the Merciful Creator Lord, who has given us the most merciful Archpastor and Father Bishop Micah. Dear Father! We often talked about you. He is your spiritual son, devoted to you with soul, just like we, your unworthy children, devoted to you with all our soul and heart. Your sister, Mother Anna Ilyinichna, was brought to the meeting of the Bishop, with a joyful heart we all united, remembering you, dear Father, and earnestly praying to the Lord God, may he grant us, unworthy, to see your shrine, with a trembling heart we all await a joyful spring. Entrusting herself and her sisters to Your Most Holy prayers and Fatherly blessing, Your Reverence’s unworthy novice and wretched, zealous prayer book Abbess Angelina for Christ with her sisters. There is a note on the side: “Dear Father! Your sister Anna Ilyinishna bows to you, asks for your blessing and Holy prayers, earnestly prays to God for your health” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 7c, pp. 13–14v).. In... Shenkursky - one hundred. – Father John also regularly sent 100 rubles to the Holy Trinity Convent in the name of Abbess Iovilla. (see, for example: TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 22, l. 81). July 11. Euphemia of All Valence and Olga of Russia. – On this day the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga, led. Princess of Russia, and remembers the miracle of St. Great Martyr Euphemia the All-Valuable. .. Alexandra, Elena... – We are probably talking about the spiritual children and friends of Father John, spouses A.S. and E.M. Mironov. Alexander Semenovich Mironov, a Moscow manufacturer, at the request of Father John, made material for the robes of the Sura nuns; Father John usually stayed in his house during his stay in Moscow. The Mironovs' house was located on Razgulyai, No. 34. ...Yakova, Paraskeva and their children and their grandchildren... - We are talking about the spouses of Ya.M. and P.N. Pozdeevs. The names of their daughters are known - Claudia and Elizabeth. After the death of the first in 1907, Ya.M. and P.N. The Pozdeevs took in four orphaned grandchildren; the eldest of them, Nikolai, later became his grandfather’s secretary (See also note on p. 123). ...from Ustyuzhna to Yaroslavl, and from there to Vaulovo along the cast iron to the stop Lyazhchevo. – This was Father John’s usual route to the Vaulovsky Monastery: first to Yaroslavl by boat along the river. Mologa, connecting the Novgorod and Yaroslavl provinces, and then by train from Yaroslavl to the station. Lyazhchevo. ... Council of Archpastors and Shepherds and all ... - We are talking about the All-Russian Missionary Congress, held in Kyiv from July 12 to July 26, 1908. This was the fourth congress, which opened after an eleven-year break. More than 300 participants attended the congress. The trustee of the congress was His Eminence Flavian, Metropolitan of Kyiv and Tallinn. Bishop Anthony of Volyn and Zhitomir presided over the congress. The welcoming speech at the opening of the congress was read by the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, P.P. Izvolsky. The episcopate of the Russian Orthodox Church was widely represented at the congress: 26 hierarchs from almost all dioceses of the Russian Empire. The following people took part in the congress: Anthony, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga; Vladimir, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna; Nazariy, Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas; Tikhon, Bishop of Nikolaev, vicar of the Samara diocese; Alexy, Bishop of Chistopol, vicar of the Kazan diocese; Eulogius, Bishop of Kholm and Lublin; Stefan, Bishop of Mogilev and Mstislav; Mikhail, Bishop of Grodno and Bobruisk; Nikon, Bishop of Vologda and Totemsky, etc. On July 16, at the general meeting of members of the congress, the issue of the Johannites was discussed, spreading the opinion that in the person of Father John the Lord Jesus Christ himself came to earth for the second time. The Johannites appeared in the early 1880s. in the Kronstadt House of Diligence (the most famous of them were: Marfa Drygina - a former cook; Ivan Varlamov - a former coachman; Ivan Bychek - a letter carrier, later the treasurer of the sect; Mikhail Golubkov - a former novice; Ekaterina Karchaeva - a former maid who opened a "flower workshop" in Kronstadt - "Katka Belaya"; Dmitriev Nazariy is the main leader around whom the sect of St. John the Khlysts began to form; Vnukov Ivan Matveevich - “John the Sick”) and soon spread throughout Russia. The congress decided to recognize Johannity as a sectarian movement, although not fully formed and close to Khlystism. The commission that considered the issue recommended asking Father John himself to expose the Johannites of their heresy. (Kievlanin, 1908, July 18, No. 197; Latest news, 1908, July 16, No. 414). ...and the logs of Yakov Mikhailovich Pozdeev. – Y.M. Pozdeev was not a timber merchant. Floating timber previously belonged to the heirs of Nikolai Ivanovich Pozdeev (d. 1906), who was engaged in the timber trade in Mologsky district. Yaroslavl province, he owned a sawmill near Ustyuzhnaya. About the Pozdeev family Vorotyntseva E. Pozdeev / Ustyuzhenskaya regional newspaper “Forward”, 1998, April 22, No. 32. ...from the Arkhangelsk metochion... – The metochion of the Sursky St. John the Theological Convent, built with the personal funds of Father John (RGIA, f. 796, op. 442, d. 2255, l. 10), was located in Arkhangelsk on Opera Square. It was opened in 1903. Initially, the courtyard consisted of a wooden two-story house and a chapel; later it was built and consecrated (October 19, 1907). a stone church in the name of the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear” (ibid., fol. 11v.; a congratulatory telegram to Father John from the contractor Shamin has been preserved: “with the Angel and the consecration of the new church of the Sursky metochion” - Central State Historical Archive St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 206, l. 79); a room for a refectory and cells for sisters were built. During 1906–1908 Father John regularly sent money for the construction of the farmstead (Ibid., d. 2, pp. 34, 44, 72). In a letter to Father John (probably in response), an official of the treasury chamber of the city of Arkhangelsk A.P. Kulakov wrote: “Your brainchild is Surskoe in the city. The Arkhangelsk courtyard with its beautifully decorated church of God is not only for local city residents, but also for all people from everywhere who have one or another communication with the city, a lamp where believers see the true Light, mysteriously perceive the Heavenly Spirit, find the true faith... As for order, such an exemplary order that is maintained in the courtyard can only be welcomed. I was simply amazed by such a wonderful, in all respects, exemplary arrangement and order that reigns in the courtyard... The sisters, judging by the expressions on their faces, are all cheerful and happy with their position, and, apparently, peace reigns in their souls” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 2, l. 206, 232–233). Archimandrite Ignatius... also came to Vaulovo to serve. – At the beginning of the year, Father John sent the archimandrite a letter (unknown), in which he probably invited him to “travel” together in the summer. This becomes known from the response letter of Archbishop Ignatius dated February 16, 1908. He wrote: “Your Reverence, sincerely revered by everyone, respected by the whole universe, our spiritual teacher and Father, Archpriest Father John Ilyich Sergiev! Christ is in our midst! Once again, dear Father, you have honored me with your fatherly attention and love in the Lord. I humbly thank you for your handwritten letter, for the generous gift of your love, for the great consolation that you deigned to give me. I am now blessed from head to toe by your mercies and immersed in the waves of your bounties. I believe that your reward in heaven will increase because of me, for you have looked upon me - sire, strange and small. May what you have done for me and my homeland be written in the books of life. I rejoice in the Lord that you are recovering in health, may the Lord give you a complete recovery for consolation and spiritual power and the salvation of people. ... From our Patriarch Gregory I received a letter for you, which I am sending to you with a translation. Forgiveness Sunday is coming, I most humbly ask for your forgiveness, I ask your Holy prayers to spend the fast and all the days of my life with dignity and salvation. Once again I prostrate myself before your Shrine, expressing the feelings of deep heartfelt gratitude that always cover my soul for your love and alms to me and for your fatherly attention to me. ... May the Lord deign us to travel with you again in the summer, may the Grace of the Lord be abundantly upon your honorable head. For my part, I unforgettably publicly remember your holy name at every service. I ask you from the Lord for many, many years in full health. Your Reverence’s lesser brother, devoted to you with all his soul and your co-servant in the Lord, Archimandrite Ignatius of Antioch. 1908 Feb. 16 days" (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 7v, pp. 114–115v).. To the God-loving assembly...my heartfelt greetings... – About the All-Russian Missionary Congress, see above, p. 122. The text of Father John’s greeting did not appear in Kyiv newspapers. ...Father Priest Mikhail... – Priest Mikhail mentioned in this entry, as well as his father, Archpriest Leonid Sretensky of the Romanov-Borisoglebsky Resurrection Cathedral, were longtime acquaintances of Father John. Even in a letter to Father, written in the summer of 1905, Fr. Leonid, rejoicing at the recovery of Father John from a serious illness, wrote: “Especially we, I dare say, your neighbors, impatiently awaiting your arrival in Vaulovo, for the great mercy of God, we honor your visit to this holy monastery and hope to be honored to see you and serve the Divine Liturgy with you. ... I and the clergyman of the Romanov-Borisoglebsky Resurrection Cathedral, Mr. Priest Mikhail, subordinate to me (not to mention the 3rd priest Mikhail - my son and your constant pilgrim in Vaulovo) and the cathedral deacon pray for you every Liturgy and every Sunday at the cathedral akathist before the miraculous image of the Savior...” (TSGIA) St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1 206, pp. 39–40rpm).. Varvara Ivanovna Fedosikhina. July 25, 1908. – This entry can be associated both with a letter from the priest of the Arkhangelsk Compound of the Sursky Monastery, Fr. Dimitri Fedosikhin, in which he thanks Father John “for all the good deeds” and conveys bows and requests for the blessing of his wife V.I. Fedosikhin and children - Dmitry and Angelina (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 14v, l. 11-11ob)., and with a response letter from herself V.I. Fedosikhina dated the 20th (without a year), in which she writes that upon receiving a letter from Father John, she “came to life spiritually,” and talks about the solemn service at the Arkhangelsk courtyard on the day of the Angel Father (Ibid., d. 7d, pp. 3–4v).. St. Nicholas parish - in the village. Malakhov, where the above-mentioned priest Nikolai Vasilyevich Vinogradov served. The Pashkovites are followers of a religious sect that began to exist as a result of the sermons of Lord Redstock (England), whose follower, retired guard Colonel V.A. Pashkov, received permission to establish a Protestant “Society for the Encouragement of Spiritual and Moral Reading.” In 1884, by order of the Holy Synod, the “Society” was closed, but the sect continued to exist. ... Leushinsky monastery ... – St. John the Theologian monastery of the Leushinsky monastery was built by the abbess of the Leushinsky monastery Taisiya with the blessing of Father John. Construction began in the first half of June 1893. The newspaper “Petersburg Leaflet” of June 18 reported: “New courtyard. These days, the construction of a stone courtyard with a church has begun on Basseynaya Street, on the site number 31. This courtyard of the Leushinsky St. John the Baptist Monastery is being built using the voluntary donations of donors according to the design and under the supervision of the architect N.N. Nikonov. During construction, the diocesan authorities have authorized the construction of a temporary wooden chapel within the temporary fence.” The consecration of the main church of the metochion took place on November 21, 1894, in concelebration with Father John. The first priest of the metochion was John of Ornatsky, a relative of Father. Father John of Kronstadt often served at the metochion; here, on the 2nd floor, chambers were arranged for him. Upon returning from Vaulov (August 6), Father John celebrated the Liturgy in the courtyard; the next morning he again served the Liturgy in the Leushinsky metochion (Kotlin, 1908, August 8, No. 179). ... to the Ivanovsky Monastery. – Ioannovsky Convent for Women in St. Petersburg. In 1901, Father John on a plot of land donated to him by hereditary honorary citizen S.G. Ramensky along the river embankment. Karpovka in St. Petersburg, the courtyard of the Sursky convent was built. Determination of the Holy Synod (1902–1903). the metochion was “turned into an independent monastery with as many monastics as the monastery is able to support at its own expense, and this monastery, called Ioannovsky, was transferred from the Arkhangelsk diocese to St. Petersburg” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 19, op. 113, d. 4106, l. 39ob).. In the main stone building of the monastery, churches were built: the upper one - with the main altar in the name of the 12 Apostles and chapels - in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and in the name of St. Andrei Kritsky and etc. Mary of Egypt; lower - in the name of St. John of Rylsky, and - a church-tomb. In addition, the building of the monastery housed two small church sacristies, a refectory, a library, chambers for the founder of the monastery - Father John, cells for the abbess and sisters, a painting room, handicrafts, prosphora, bread, etc. (TsGIA SPb., f. 19, op. 113, d. 4106, pp. 39 rev.–40). After 1917, the monastery entered a period of testing. Already in 1918, a club was opened in its upper church, but services continued to be held in the lower church and in the tomb church. In the fall of 1923, the monastery premises were taken away from the community and given to workers of the Elektrik plant for housing. For some time there was a department of the Scientific and Reclamation Institute here. Until 1989, the premises of the monastery housed 12 organizations. In 1989, the building of the Ioannovsky Monastery was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. The first all-night vigil was celebrated on October 31, 1989, on the eve of the day of remembrance of St. John of Rila and the birthday of St. right John of Kronstadt. In 1989, the courtyard of the Pukhtitsa Assumption Convent was established here. Nowadays it is an active, independent, St. John's stauropegial convent (Arch. Augustine (Nikitin). Revival of the St. Petersburg St. John's Monastery / Bulletin of the Leningrad Theological Academy. 1990, No. 2. pp. 156–158; see also: St. John's stauropegic convent. History of the monastery. St. Petersburg, 1998, pp. 11–43). ... V. Rozanov, speaking incorrect blasphemy against the All-Russian Kyiv Congress of Missionaries. (See also p. 46: ...to the desecrator of the sacred Rozanov... and p. 47: ...Humble him!) - About the congress, see above, p. 122. Here, obviously, we are referring to the following articles by V.V. Rozanov, published in July 1908 in Novoye Vremya: “Under the golden domes in Kyiv” (July 21), where the author spoke ironically about the speeches of His Eminence Anthony, Bishop. Volynsky, and the famous missionary V.M. Skvortsov; “Mixed marriages” (August 3), as well as “Who to follow” (August 13) - regarding the congress’s decision to ban mixed marriages, that is, marriages of Orthodox Christians with non-Orthodox Christians, throughout Russia, with the exception of some northwestern provinces. Rozanov somewhat “humbled himself” only by 1911 (See his entries for that year in the autobiographical book “Solitary,” which bears the characteristic subtitle “Almost on the right of the manuscript.” The entry dated December 9 begins with the words: “About the kindness of our clergy...” And a few days later, on December 14, Rozanov writes: “The Church is the only poetic, the only deep thing on earth. God, how crazy it was that for 11 years I did everything I could to destroy it. And how good it was that it didn’t work out. What would the earth be without the Church? Suddenly I would become senseless and cold.” – Rozanov V. About himself and his life. M., 1990. S. 121, 127). ... became irritated with the servant Eugene... (see also p. 68: ... extremely angry with her... and p. 71: ... a movement of anger at my servant..). – These records are not accidental. Father John repeatedly received letters with complaints about E.G. Gerasimova. In one of them, her sister Margarita Yanovskaya wrote, for example, that Evgenia “with her loyalty ... was the most terrible bribe-taker, she took 10 rubles from us. for every time to bring you to you”, that “she is jealous of you to the point of madness when she sees that you are sincerely loved and that you yourself are disposed”, that she, for example, “left the priest to die without repentance, without waking you” and that “Mother [Elizabeth Konstantinovna. – Ed.] scolds her as a fool, crazy,” etc. (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 6, l. 12–12v).. ...to go to the Prince of Oldenburg... - On this day (August 12) Father John visited the family of Prince A.P. Oldenburg in Old Peterhof. The visit was caused by a request from Princess Eugenia Maximillianovna to give her farewell before going abroad for treatment. The prince made a similar request to Father John on June 27, 1906. He wrote: “I ask you, deeply revered Father John, to pray for the healing of my sick brother Prince Constantine” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 26, l. 94). The prince’s letter dated January 25 (without a year) is also known with an invitation to Father John to Old Peterhof to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Shelter of Prince P.G. Oldenburg (Ibid., no. 3, l. 238). ...in the Assumption Duma Church... – The Church in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary (house) at the city council in Kronstadt was built according to the designs of architects A.P. Bryullov and E.H. Ahnert in 1836 and consecrated in 1842. Initially, it had two altars: in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary and in the name of St. John the Baptist. In 1866, in memory of the rescue of Emperor. Alexander II (from the assassination attempt on April 4), another chapel was built in the name of St. Petersburg, celebrated on this day. Joseph the Songsinger. From the first year of his ministry in Kronstadt, Father John often served in this church. (See the letter of gratitude to him from her parishioners. - RGALI, f. 402, op. 1., d. 284, l. 3). ...with the memory of Emperor Alexander II killed by villains... – March 1, 1881 Alexander II, after the first five failed assassination attempts, was killed by a bomb thrown by a member of the “Narodnaya Volya”, an ardent propagandist of terror, Ignatius Grinevitsky. If it is true that the plant in Sura... was set on fire by workers... it should be restored better than before. – Father John’s doubts about the causes of the fire most likely were not resolved. The letter he received shortly before the commented entry from Anastasia Efimova, a novice of the Sursky metochion in Arkhangelsk, did not clarify what happened, which said: “...I am writing in detail what I know and hear. I haven’t been to Sura either. But I hear from letters that this is not true, that the plant did not suffer from arson, apparently from negligence or due to their oversight. And our former steamship driver Pyotr Romanov works at the plant. He was very pleased that he was given this job, and no one asked for an increase, at least that’s what I heard. But I haven’t been to Sura. I write what I hear...” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 12, l. 97–97ob).. The monastery plant, which consisted of a sawmill and a brick department, was completely destroyed as a result of a fire. In a letter to Father John dated August 23, 1908, the Sursky priest Fr. Georgy Makkaveev wrote about the measures taken to restore the plant: “According to your letter, I drew up an estimate for the resumption of our plant, which was expressed in order to start putting into operation a locomotive, a flour mill and a sawmill” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 2, l. 215). In another letter to Father John dated September 9, 1908. George reports the following: “By the grace of God and for your prayers, everything is fine here. On September 6, according to church rites, the plant was laid, calling in prayer to St. Archangel Michael, whose miracle is remembered on that day by the Holy Church, to whose patronage we entrust our new plant” (Ibid., l. 218). especially the abbess... - The abbess of the Sursky monastery at that time was M. Porfiria. ...a young officer of a noble and wealthy family... - Unidentified person. ...on priest Sukin (from St. Petersburg)... – A priest with that last name could not be found among the St. Petersburg clergy, but in Kronstadt there was a midshipman Mikhail Ivanovich Sukin. A new Russian navy replaces the lost old one in Japanese waters. – We are apparently talking about events dating back to 1889–1898, when the Russian Maritime Department drew up a draft of a new shipbuilding program, adopted in 1898. The program provided for the construction of 5 squadron battleships, 6 cruisers and 36 destroyers, mainly for the needs of the Far East, since Japan, after the war with China, began to take a hostile position in these years in relation to Russia. The new shipbuilding program required about 200 million rubles, which was a huge amount of expenditure for the state budget, and aroused objections from the Minister of Finance S.Yu. Witte, who proposed reducing expenses to 50 million rubles. At a meeting held on February 6, 1898, chaired by Emperor. Nicholas II, it was decided to allocate 200 million rubles to the Maritime Department for the construction of ships, but in installments - 16–20 million rubles. annually until 1904; 90 million rubles it was decided to extradite immediately, in the same 1898 (Petrov M.L.. Preparing Russia for the World War at Sea. M., 1926. P. 49–50). ...with different names of pagan gods and goddesses and some Russian epic heroes... - In the late 90s. XIX century cruisers were built - “Bayan”, “Gromoboy”, “Diana”, “Pallada”, “Askold”, “Varyag”, “Aurora”; Coast Guard battleships - "Perun", "Unicorn" and subsequently lost by Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, squadron battleships "Oslyabya" and "Peresvet". "Inversion of the famous Latin expression:"_ ...asked me to petition for an additional pension of 300 rubles annually. – M.I. Sibirtsev asked Father John about this in a letter dated August 19, 1908. He wrote: “Your letter of July 31 did not console me, and I admit, I myself am to blame; I, in the words of the prophet Elijah to Elisha: I have become hardened to ask, i.e. asked a lot and difficult things; forgive me. Now I am glad that you returned safely to Kronstadt, as I read in the newspapers, and have served more than one liturgy in St. Petersburg. This circumstance gives me the bright idea that your precious health has sufficiently recovered. Therefore, I still want to try my luck in turning to you with another, perhaps less inconvenient, albeit annoying, request - it is the following. You, as a person and clergyman, known throughout Russia, as enjoying universal high honor and having earned the deep respect of people of power and influence, and even having acquired special royal favor, you, finally, as a member present in St. Synod, you have not only access, but also the boldness to high-ranking persons and those who have power and strength in our spiritual sphere, - would you therefore deign to take on the work of petitioning the Synod and its Chief Prosecutor for the adaptation of the pension I receive for seminary service, by adding to it at least up to 300 rubles for diocesan service... Your word is weighty, strong, powerful, and really the authorities at the helm of the government will not sympathize with an 86-year-old man who served both the theological school and the Church of God for 62 years... I asked for a similar petition from the local Eminence, but his petition will hardly have the same power as yours...” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 28, pp. 39–40v).. In a letter dated 23 August 1908 Sibirtsev thanked Father for the large sum of money sent to him: “Such an abundance... of means of subsistence throughout my entire life have not accumulated at the same time as much as I have now received from your generosity at one time. And thank God and thanks to you - with them I mended many of the holes in my unenviable life and eased the burden of my needs, which is why I began to feel somewhat calmer and more complacent. How can I not thank you, my Great Benefactor, who provided me with such timely and beneficial help, truly, I will say without hesitation, in my present difficult situation? How to remain indifferent and cool-headed? No, God save me from the black feeling of ingratitude!” (Ibid., pp. 146v.–147). How long, Lord, do you tolerate the worst atheist, who has troubled the whole world, Leo Tolstoy? – Religious views of L.N. Tolstoy was expounded by him in the works “Confession” (1878–1882), “Criticism of Dogmatic Theology” (1880), “A Brief Exposition of the Gospel” (1881), “What is My Faith?” (1884), “Resurrection” (1899), “Response to the resolution of the Synod of February 20–22 and to the letters I received on this matter” (1901) and “Appeal to the clergy” (1902). Having gone through the period of “test of faith,” Tolstoy developed his own moral and religious teaching of a sectarian nature, contrary to Orthodoxy and Christianity. In one of his diary entries dating back to 1896, Father John noted: “This new self-proclaimed teacher and writer humiliates all the saints of the Orthodox Church, all the apostles, martyrs, saints, ecumenical teachers and inimitable heroes - Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and all the great ascetics and teachers of Christianity, humiliates the entire Church, without recognizing its Divinity authority, truth and salvation, elevating himself and his mind alone and raising it to an unattainable height, attributing infallibility to himself alone. But the tree is known by its fruits. Look what Tolstoy's teaching gave rise to in Russians: unbridled minds, hearts and wills, licentiousness of morals, breaking of sacred marriage bonds, Epicurean enjoyment of life, unbelief and godlessness of many, worship of one's own reason, self-delusion, demonic pride and suicide. Reasonable and God-fearing people, of course, will soon recognize the absurdity and destruction of Tolstoy’s teaching; but many are carried away by it, because like all heresies, like Tolstoy’s, they have in themselves some temptation for the weak. May the Lord save the Russian people from such and similar destructive teachings and may He establish us in unanimity and right faith and fear of God. Let us all try to bring God the fruits of repentance and good deeds, let us crucify the flesh with passions and lusts as corruptible and transitory, and be diligent about the immortal soul, about correcting it and adorning it with every virtue. Amen. Oct 18 1896. Prot. I. Sergiev" (Conversations between Father Archpriest John and the abbess of the St. John the Baptist Leushinsky first-class monastery, Abbess Taisiya. Pg., 1915. pp. 60–61). Father John objected to Tolstoy in his sermons; he wrote more than 20 articles in defense of Orthodox doctrine, and among them “Answer of the Church Pastor to Leo Tolstoy to his “Address to the Clergy”” (St. Petersburg, 1903), “On the soul-destroying heresy of Count L.N. Tolstoy” (St. Petersburg, 1907, 4th ed.), “In denouncing the false teaching of Count L. Tolstoy. From the diary" (St. Petersburg, 1910). On February 20–22, 1901, by resolution of the Holy Synod No. 557, Tolstoy was recognized as having fallen away from the Church: “... And in our days, by God’s permission, a new false teacher has appeared - Count Leo Tolstoy. A world-famous writer, Russian by birth, Orthodox by baptism and upbringing, Count Tolstoy, in the seduction of his proud mind, boldly rebelled against the Lord and against His Christ and His holy heritage, clearly before everyone renounced the Mother who fed and raised him, the Orthodox Church, and devoted his literary activity and the talent given to him from God to the dissemination among the people of teachings contrary to Christ and the Church, and to the destruction of in the minds and hearts of people of the paternal faith, the Orthodox faith, which established the universe, by which our ancestors lived and were saved, and by which Holy Rus' has hitherto held on and been strong. In his writings and letters, scattered in large numbers by him and his disciples all over the world, especially within our dear Fatherland, he preaches with the zeal of a fanatic the overthrow of all the dogmas of the Orthodox Church and the very essence of the Christian faith: he rejects the personal Living God, glorified in the Holy Trinity, the Creator and Provider of the universe, denies the Lord Jesus Christ - the God-man, the Redeemer and Savior of the world, who suffered for us people and ours for the sake of salvation and resurrection from the dead, denies the seedless conception of Christ the Lord and virginity before the birth and after the birth of the Most Pure Theotokos, the Ever-Virgin Mary, does not recognize the afterlife and reward, rejects all the Sacraments of the Church and the grace-filled action of the Holy Spirit in them and, swearing at the most sacred objects of faith of the Orthodox people, did not shudder to mock the highest of the Sacraments - the Holy Eucharist. Count Leo Tolstoy preaches all this continuously, in word and in writing, to the temptation and horror of the entire Orthodox world, and thus, not in secret, but clearly before everyone, he consciously and intentionally rejected himself from all communication with the Orthodox Church. The previous attempts, to his understanding, were not crowned with success. Therefore, the Church does not consider him a member and cannot count him until he repents and restores his communion with her. Now we testify to this before the whole Church for the confirmation of the righteous and the admonition of the erring, especially for the new admonition of Count Tolstoy himself. Many of his neighbors who keep the faith think with sorrow that at the end of his days he remains without faith in God and the Lord our Savior, having rejected the blessings and prayers of the Church and from all communication with her. Therefore, testifying to his falling away from the Church, we pray together that the Lord will grant him repentance into the mind of truth (2 Tim. 2:25). We pray, merciful Lord, do not want the death of sinners, hear and have mercy and turn him to Your holy Church. Amen" (Church Gazette. 1901, No. 8, February 24, p. 45–47). However, in his “Response to the Synod” (April 1901). Tolstoy confirmed the finality of his renunciation of the Church. ...Lord, incline the heart of Your servant Archbishop Ioannikis to fulfill my request for a deacon for the Sursky metochion in Arkhangelsk. – This appeal of Father John to the Lord is not mentioned in the recording by chance. He knew about the archbishop’s dislike both towards himself and the new Sursky monastery. In a letter to Father John dated the first half of September 1908, Abbess Porfiria spoke about her meeting with the bishop: “... he gave me so many instructions that the Shenkur sisters are smart, not like the Sur sisters, and scold the monastery and those living in it. He really doesn’t like our monastery... Father George flattered our eyes, but to me he scolded him as a scoundrel and a thief, how poor we are, that we are in his Diocese, and nothing good will happen to us as long as this Bishop. Why doesn't he love you so much? And whatever you don’t do, everything will be bad...” (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 2, pp. 80–81). In a letter dated November 13 of the same year, the abbess reported that it was not the first time that a representative of the clergy (Makarov) had traveled from Arkhangelsk to St. Petersburg with a request to change the archbishop: “... and if now the request is not respected, then they will apply for the Most High Name, Metropolitan Anthony hoped that they will replace him” (Ibid., l. 93–93v).. Father’s petition. John was performed by the Right Reverend Ioannikiy, and Pavel Veroyatov became the deacon of the Sursk metochion, who wrote to Father John: “Your Reverence Fr. John! Having lived, dear Father, in Maimaksa for thirteen years (in the rank of deacon for 8 years), I very rarely had to serve as a deacon in the psalm vacancy. With the construction of the Sursky courtyard, it was often on my mind whether it was possible to enter the service there. I saw in a dream the Surskoye building with the image of St. icons that are on it, went to the church for the divine service, really liked it, and began to ask Mr. Severian Kyrkalov to intercede on the petition for a resolution with the following content: “Psalmist Deacon Pavel Veroyatov is transferred with the same title to the Sursky metochion of the city of Arkhangelsk.” Having lived here for a month now, I really like it here, the sisters are very kind. In my family I have: wife Anna, sons Boris 4 years old and Vasily 3 months old, mother Kaleria. Thank you for your acceptance, I ask for your warm pastoral prayers and blessings on my service here. Forgive me generously for my inept message. Just a minute I received a telegram from you about a photographic card, I’ll go take a photo and send it soon. I congratulate you, father, on the upcoming Angel Day and pray to the Almighty for many years of good health to you. Your humble servant and pilgrim, Deacon Pavel Veroyatov. Arkhangelsk October 14 days. 1908" (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 2, pp. 224–225). ...given 75 rubles for moving from the dacha. – The money was sent in response to the request of E.K. Sergieva’s niece E.G. Rodionova. She wrote: “Dear and kind uncle! I ask you, do not refuse to send me as much as you can to the dacha, since I need to move, but I have nothing. I would come to ask you myself, my priceless uncle, but my aunt won’t let me go. I beg you, send it to me. I ask for your prayers. Liza, who loves you dearly” (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 4, l. 92). ...in the Ochakov Vorontsovsky metochion... – We are talking about the church in the name of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God at the Vorontsovsky metochion in St. Petersburg, located on Ochakovskaya street, no. 7. Lord... Disperse the treasonous State Duma soon - may there not be a single one of its members... - Father John is referring to the Third State Duma, which operated from 1907 to June 9, 1912. The Chairman of this Duma was the “Octobrist” N.A. Khomyakov. The Duma included 442 deputies, among whom were: 171 from the “right”, 113 “Octobrists”, 101 cadets, 13 “Trudoviks”, 18 Social Democrats and 14 Bolsheviks. Lord, the seriously ill Anna (Grigorieva) strongly prays to You for her healing... - Father John was not only Anyuta’s spiritual father (as she called herself in letters to him), but also the godfather of her daughter. In a letter to Father dated January 13, 1908, Anyuta asked him: “I ask you in absentia for your blessing for yourself and your goddaughter Vera. I ask for your holy prayers for us sinners” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 27, pp. 10–11v). The secret prayer of the priest according to the “Our Father” (“We give thanks to Thee, the invisible King...”), from the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. "Prayer of St. John of Damascus, from prayers for the future sleep"_ .. Andreyanov last. 300 rubles. – Father John with this sending of money is probably responding to another letter from N.E. Andreyanov. Here is the text of the letter he received in December 1906: “Highly revered and kind Father John! I don’t know what to cry more about: about my fate or about the fate of Russia. It is incredible, outrageous that I have not been given either a pension or assignment for service for more than a year, after the Emperor returned everything to me. This is what German ministers do. It is unknown where to complain about him. My situation is desperate! It’s winter – and all the children are barefoot, naked, and hungry. I live in a simple peasant’s hut, without a floor, with a thatched roof, and I can’t manage everything for food, fuel, clothes, receiving 26 rubles. per month emeritus. My sorrow and poverty are limitless. There is nowhere to wait for help except you, and I beg you, help me (as you have already saved me several times) - as much as your soul wants. Several times the thought occurred to me: take a revolver and shoot my wife, children and myself in order to immediately end all suffering; but faith in God and your portrait (standing on my desk) always kept my despair at bay. I know your kindness and believe that you will help me again! For God's sake, don't leave me to die - right from hunger and cold! Nikolai Andreyanov, who truly honors and sincerely loves you. 7 Dec. 1906 I read with delight in Svet about your consecration of the banner of the Russian people. Your participation in this outstanding celebration is and will be of great importance. My address: Posad Shabo, Akkerman district. Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Evgenievich Andreyanov." (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 146, l. 76–76ob). “This is how the word is abbreviated in the diary manuscript:"_ Natalya Yakovlevna Grot. Znamenskaya street, building 17, apt. 4. October 1st. – The recording was made for memory. Father John received a letter (undated) from N.Ya. Grot informing him of his upcoming move to a new apartment on Znamenskaya Street. and a request to bless it with “the icon of the Sign of the Mother of God (if any)” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 14c, l. 2). Father John might have been familiar with N.Ya. Grot, the daughter of the vice-president of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, J.K. Grot, since the Grot family lived next to the Ioannovsky Monastery. One of the authors of memoirs about Father John writes: “The lateral part of the monastery abutted the property of the Grotov family, which at that time represented a completely rural corner in the middle of St. Petersburg, with a huge shady garden and the manor’s house visible behind the trees.” (Zverev V.N. In memory of Father John of Kronstadt/"Orthodox Life", 1951, No. 1. P. 16). Deacon-Tolstoyan... – Unidentified person. Bulgaria is declared the Kingdom of Bulgaria. – September 22 (Old style). In 1908, Bulgaria was declared an independent kingdom in Tarnovo. ...at the beginning of Andreevskaya street. – A street in Kronstadt, at the end of which there is a post office with the apartment of Father John. ...at the cathedral... – That is, at the cathedral in the name of St. ap. Andrew the First-Called (consecrated on August 21, 1817). in Kronstadt on Nikolaevsky Avenue. Here Father John served for 53 years. P. 68. Do not grieve inconsolably over the misfortune of the fatherland... (even though these are essentially two parts of Russia)... – The recording was made by Father John on the eve of the Bosnian crisis caused by the announcement of the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary (October 7, 1908).. The announcement of annexation without warning the Russian government about this violated the so-called Berlin Treaty and infringed on Russia’s interests in Balkans. The implementation of the plans of Austria-Hungary with the support of Germany led to a serious international conflict, which increased the threat of war. Italy, as a member of the Triple Alliance (bloc - Austria, Germany, Italy), through its aggressive policy, also played a certain role in the Bosnian crisis. The weakening of Russia after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. England also used it to implement its plans. Having created tension in relations between Russia and its ally, Japan, in the spring of 1907, British diplomats forced the conclusion of an Anglo-Russian agreement on the division of spheres of influence in Iran, Afghanistan and Tibet on terms favorable to themselves. During the same period, demands for full autonomy within Russia intensified in Finland and Poland. ...about the loss of warships... Girs... – At the beginning of October 1908, the cruiser “Oleg” under the command of Captain 1st Rank L.K. Girs ran aground at the Steinort lighthouse near Libau. But already on October 4, the ship, with the help of the icebreaker Ermak and the transport ships Moguchiy and Vladimir, and with the participation of the diving team, was refloated and “under its own steam successfully entered the port of Libau” (“New Time”, 1908, October 5, No. 240). However, in 1909, a trial in this case took place (Kotlin, 1909, December 4, No. 275). ... raise water in the Pinega River... – Navigation along the Pinega was difficult due to the large number of sandbanks (“sastrugi”) and the shallowing of the river in the hot summer. When going to Sura, Father John usually waited for the time of maximum rise of the water, but he often had to complete his journey on horseback. Steamship "St. Nicholas the Wonderworker,” built at the expense of Father John by engineers E.G. Gulyaev and V.I. Afonasyev, belonged to the wheeled type and was designed specifically for navigation along shallow northern rivers, i.e. had a slight draft. But during the first voyage to Sura in the summer of 1897, it suffered an accident, and the following year a new steamship with the same name was dedicated at the shipyards of Goloday Island. The newspaper “Kotlin” reported that the steamship “St. Nicholas the Wonderworker” has excellent qualities: it is stable, its speed is quite fast; in oncoming rapids, against a strong current, it rose on its own, without tugs” (“Kotlin”, 1898, July 1, No. 142). ...and the Ioannikov sisters. – The abbess of the Ioannovsky Monastery, Angelina, and her sisters were heading to Sura. Lord, take away M. Anthony, J. Janitcheva... – In this recording one can feel that Father John was acutely aware of the attitude of both the Metropolitan and the confessor of Their Imperial Majesties towards him. “It must be said,” writes the biographer of Father John, “that Metropolitan Anthony of St. Petersburg was jealous of the fame of Fr. John and did not love him. True, I myself once saw how, at the end of the solemn meeting of the “Society for the Propagation of Religious and Moral Education in the Spirit of the Orthodox Church,” where the Holy Synod was present in its entirety, including Fr. John, who was a Member of the Holy Synod, the people uncontrollably rushed to Fr. John, asking for blessings. Father John turned to the metropolitans sitting next to him with a request to allow him to bless the people and, having received permission, began to bless. The metropolitans, having left the stage, headed for the exit, but the people, rushing to Fr. John, pushed them into a corner. The people understood that a simple saint is better than the holiest, i.e. Members of the Holy Synod. Like, for example, simply St. Sergius is better than the highly reverend archimandrites of the Sergius Lavra, and simply the Sovereign is much better than the “gracious sovereign.” Hatred of Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) of St. Petersburg towards Fr. Ioannou received its vivid expression after the blessed death of the Great Prayer Book of the Russian Land and Wonderworker, when the Metropolitan forbade prayer services to be served in the church-tomb of Fr. John" (Sursky I.K. Father John of Kronstadt. M., 1994. P. 118). Outwardly, the relationship between Father John and the Bishop remained ordinary: Father repeatedly served with the Metropolitan; in 1908, the Metropolitan consecrated the main church of the Ioannovsky Monastery and the tomb of Father John. Father John's negative attitude towards Fr. I. Yanyshev’s relationship may have stemmed from their different understanding of the foundations of Orthodoxy. Yes, oh. John Yanyshev was inspired primarily by the works of the contemporary Western Church (especially Protestant), while Father John of Kronstadt, in his sermons and books, zealously defended the Church from Catholic and Protestant influence. He fought for the patristic understanding of the Church, against the “Protestant school” that rejected the foundations of Orthodoxy, the voices of whose representatives sounded ever louder from professorial chairs. ...is busy with fables about some simple-hearted shepherdess... - Father John is referring to what was published in 1906–1907. “The Legend” from the collection “Reading Circle. Selected, collected and arranged for every day by Leo Tolstoy, the thoughts of many writers about truth, life and behavior”: “There is such an Arabic legend: Moses allegedly, while wandering in the desert, heard a shepherd praying to God. The shepherd prayed like this: “Oh, Lord, how can I come close to You and become Your servant. With what joy I would put shoes on You, wash Your feet and kiss them, comb Your hair, wash Your clothes, clean Your home and bring You milk from my flock. My heart desires You." Hearing such words, Moses became angry with the shepherd and said: “You are a blasphemer. God has no body, He does not need clothing, housing, or servants. You speak badly." And the shepherd became sad. He could not imagine God without a body and without bodily needs, and he could no longer pray and serve God, and he fell into despair. Then God said to Moses: “Why have you driven away My faithful servant from Me? Every person has his own thoughts and his own speeches. What is bad for you is good for someone else, what is poison for you is sweet honey for someone else. Words mean nothing; I see the heart of the one who turns to Me"" (L. Tolstoy. For every day (1906–1910). - Pol. collected works. In 90 volumes. M., 1929. T. 43. P. 124). “Repentant troparia for Matins of Great Lent, ch. 6th"_ ...Metropolitan Isidore... I served under him for a long time and was not without distinction. – On March 16, 1860, Father John was awarded a legguard; April 21, 1861 - velvet purple skufiya; March 26, 1866 - velvet purple kamilavka; April 19, 1870 – golden pectoral cross from the Holy Synod; April 15, 1878 – Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree; May 15 – Order of Anna, 2nd degree; in 1887 - the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree (Formular list of the Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral of the Keymaster Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev from November 4 days 1889 - RGIA, f. 796, op. 438, item 2989). Pobedonostsev, and not he, the Metropolitan, ruled. – In addition to official ones, Father John also had personal relations that had developed (on Pobedonostsev’s initiative) and, probably, frequent meetings, with the all-powerful Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod. This is evidenced by one of the surviving letters from the Chief Prosecutor to Father, which is of a purely personal nature. “Reverend Father John,” wrote Pobedonostsev. “My wife told you today about the girl Babanina, who came to seek from you spiritual consolation and pacification of her troubled soul. She is going to Kronstadt tomorrow, Friday. Talk to her and pray for her. This is truly one of the sorrowing and embittered souls, demanding God’s help and mercy. She is stricken with great grief and is unable to get out of the darkness with which her soul is clothed and permeated. It is a good thing to bring her back to life and show her the light. Sincerely respectful and devoted K. Pobedonostsev. 21 Jan. 1899" (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 26, l. 5). ...my mother, long deceased... - Feodora Vlasyevna Sergieva died in Kronstadt, where she had recently arrived to visit her son. The illness began suddenly, late at night. Father John wrote in his diary for 1871: “July 4th... surprise, Lord, Thy mercy and Thy almighty power on my mother Theodora, who was severely ill with cholera, changed and weakened to the extreme in a few hours (from 4 in the morning to 12 in the evening), - heal her, - let us glorify You for this, as for all Your mercies, Lord.” And further: “On July 6, at 7 o’clock in the morning, my parent Feodora Vlasevna, 63 years old, died of cholera. Rest, O Lord, the soul of my beloved mother, Thy servant Theodora, in the villages of the righteous... Where, after my mother, will I meet such tender love, such simplicity, artlessness, unhypocrisy, such sincere humility? The words: “hello, child, bless, child,” will remain in my heartfelt memory forever, all her services are unconditional, prompt. Apparently, the Lord wanted me to follow her during her mortal illness and bury her, pray for the repose of her soul.” This is followed by records of the funeral services of Father John at his mother’s grave on the 9th and 20th days (GARF, f. 1076, op. 1, d. 16, ll. 46v.–51v).. Letters from Father John to his mother have not survived, but one letter from her to her son, written shortly before the last trip to Kronstadt, has survived. In the accompanying letter from the Verkol abbot Theodosius, a letter from Father John to his mother is also mentioned. The abbot wrote: "The old lady - your parent - was with me on this day. And someone here wrote a letter to her. She is very happy and thanks you from the depths of her soul with tears. When I read the letter to her (which she asked me for), the old lady cried and rejoiced, and she kept crossing herself and thanking God. The great old lady Your Parent - only she needs consolation, and I noticed that she really wants to see you - she misses immensely, even my heart hurts...” In a letter to her son dated May 4, 1870, Feodora Vlasevna wrote: “Christ is Risen, Dear Son, Father John. I congratulate you on the current Feast of the Bright Resurrection of Christ and St. Pentecost with the wish for you all the best from the Merciful Lord, and especially health of soul and body. At the same time, I notify you that I received your letter containing eleven rubles on May 3rd. Vasily Ivanovich went on a pilgrimage to the Solovetsky Monastery, and when he arrives, he will write to you. We all remain, thank God, alive and well and we bow to you and entrust ourselves to your Holy Prayers. I remain Your Mother Feodora Vlasevna. S. Verkol. May 4, 1870." (TsGIA SPb., f. 2219, op. 1, d. 5, pp. 1–2). Lord, protect and keep Bishop Hermogenes in Saratov, and may the wicked not prevail over him. – Father John highly valued Bishop Hermogenes, knowing his steadfastness in faith and steadfastness in defending the interests of the state and church. He was grateful to the bishop for his passionate speech in the Saratov press against the slanderous “play” of a certain Protopopov, called “Black Crows” and shown on the stages of the province and St. Petersburg, for the lengthy telegram he sent to the Holy Synod and for the article “Black Crows” published on November 12, 1907 in the Kronstadt Mayak (text its Source of Living Water. St. Petersburg, 1995. pp. 782–789). At the beginning of December 1908, Bishop. Hermogenes visited Kronstadt with Bishop. Seraphim (Chichagov) and prot. John Vostorgov. They asked for Father's blessing to hold the Congress of the Union of the Russian People. On December 9, the saints prayed at the Ioannovsky Monastery on Karpovka for the health of the ill Father John. (Ibid., pp. 804–805). Father John also knew about the bishop’s disagreements with the Saratov governor and the Saratov City Duma on the issue of honoring L. Tolstoy in connection with his anniversary (1908). Bishop Hermogenes made a decisive refusal to hold celebrations in his diocese. At the beginning of September 1908, he sent out a pastoral order to explain the heresy of L. Tolstoy. The governor and the Saratov Duma complained about the bishop to the Synod. Later, the bishop once again showed persistence and independence in judgment, entering into confrontation with the Holy Synod itself regarding the cases that were there regarding the possibility of establishing in the Moscow Martha and Mary monastery the institution of deaconesses in the Protestant manner and a special rite of requiem for non-Christians. In his telegram to the Tsar, the Right Reverend pointed out the anti-canonical nature of such innovations, “open connivance and unauthorized, disorderly indulgence towards opponents of the Orthodox Church.” This telegram made the presence of Bishop. Hermogenes in the Synod was impossible: he was condemned, and on January 3, 1912. An order was followed to dismiss him from his presence in the Synod. Soon the saint was removed from the administration of the Saratov diocese and exiled to the Zhirovitsky Assumption Monastery of the Grodno diocese. Here is the ep. Hermogen stayed until 1915, after which he was transferred to the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery of the Moscow Diocese. On March 8, 1917, he was appointed to the Tobolsk department. In April 1918, during Holy Week, he was arrested by the Bolsheviks and brought to Yekaterinburg. The believers who gathered a special delegation tried to ransom the bishop, but they themselves were captured and brought with the saint to Tyumen. From here on the steamship "Petrograd" Bishop. Hermogenes was to be taken to Tobolsk “to stand trial.” However, the city was taken by the Whites, and on June 16, 1918, by order of the commissar, the holy martyr was drowned in the Tura River, a tributary of the Tobol, not far from the village of Pokrovskoye. (Metropolitan Manuel (Lemeshevsky). Russian Orthodox hierarchs. T. II. Erlangen, 1981. pp. 336–345). The phrase in the manuscript is written in pencil Prayer 7th, St. John Chrysostom, from prayers for the future sleep. I saw in a dream... two pigs... covered with dough, as they do before Easter... - There is a well-known Russian folk custom at the end of Lent to bake a pig and on Easter to bless it in the church along with eggs and Easter cakes. ...I saw before the morning, at about three o'clock, the late Emperor Alexander III praying in my bedroom... - The entry is obviously related to the impressions of Father John, who was present in Yalta at the death of the emperor. Father shared these impressions with P.P. Levitsky, who recorded this entire live story from his words. Levitsky writes: “What a truly Russian man this Sovereign was! – as if talking to himself, Father exclaimed. – How now I see his pure gaze before me. How he loved Russia, how sincerely he was devoted to the Church of God, how kindly he treated us, the spiritual. I found the Emperor very weak. For the most part, only the closest members of the August family and two or three members of his retinue were with him. When, blessing the Emperor and praying for him, I laid my hand on his head, the Emperor deigned to say to me: “I feel better. At least the headache subsides. Hold my head again, Father.” I held this noble head of the royal crown-bearer with both hands, calling on the goodness of God to the faithful son of our holy Church - I prayed to the Lord to reduce the suffering of the Sovereign. In the interval, when the pain subsided, the Emperor, with charming tenderness, but in a noticeably fallen voice, said to me: “Father, your hands are swollen. Rest." However, the desire to somehow be useful to the strong-willed sufferer made me forget my fatigue. And again, as much as I could, I held the Tsar’s head tightly in my palms” (Prot. P.P. Levitsky. Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev of Kronstadt. Pg., 1916). ...I saw the baby's heir... very affectionate... - In one of the diary entries for 1905–1906. Father John recalls: “I thank the Lord, who has given me the greatest honor and joy to be present and pray in all the splendor of the priestly rank at the baptism of the newly born Heir to the All-Russian throne, the Blessed Sovereign Tsarevich and Grand Duke Alexy Nikolaevich (Wednesday August 11, 1904) in the church of the Peterhof Palace and to see Russia in all its highest representatives of male and female floor." (In the book: Grief of the Heart. From the diary of Archpriest Ioann Ilyich Sergiev. St. Petersburg, 1908. P. 120). In memory of this event, Father John in his chambers in the Ioannovsky Monastery ordered a framed telegram from the Emperor to be hung on one of the walls. Nicholas II with an invitation to the baptism of the heir-Tsarevich (Lebedeva EL. Petrograd and its shrines. St. Petersburg, 1992. P. 56). Father John was present at the baptism of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, and in memory of this event he was awarded a gold pectoral cross decorated with sapphires, diamonds and two gold medallions. Save my wife too... - E.K. Sergiev. Father John treated Elizaveta Konstantinovna with touching care and officially always called her his wife. Priest Vasily Shustin, who often visited Father’s house, writes: “Mother generally told us little about the life of Fr. John. She called him “brother Ivan,” since in reality he was never her husband. She even wanted to divorce him and sued him. But he was adamant, and she resigned herself. Now she was also old, her legs hurt, she could not move independently, but she did not care about herself, but only about “brother Ivan”" (Priest Vasily Shustin. Record of Father John of Kronstadt and the Optina Elders. White Church, 1929. P. 15). In reality, Sunday was October 26th. Take the translation from Nifont Ivanovsky and forward it to Alexander, deacon (Ivanovsky). – The mentioned money transfer to Deacon Alexander, who served in the Pinega Cathedral of the Arkhangelsk Diocese, was probably mistakenly received by his brother, the psalm-reader of the same cathedral, Nifont. Having received his translation, Deacon Alexander wrote to Father: “Upon receiving from you by yesterday’s mail the 200 rubles you sent us. We received it with such unexpected joy that both we and our family even cried; the first thing we did after receiving the money was to buy shoes and dresses for the holiday for all our children; with the rest we bought provisions and the most necessary things for the household. We sincerely thank you, kind Fr. John Ilyich, for your kindness and sympathy for our poverty, both before God and before you, Fr. John, we confess our shortcomings and cannot even express to what extent we could become impoverished, but the Lord heard our prayers, us sinners, on whom we placed all our hope, and He helped us in the most difficult days” (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 7c, l. 138–139). ...Vladimir Karlovich Sabler...money has been sent. – Father John had friendly and business relations with V.K. Sabler. The comrade chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod was a member of the construction commission that supervised the construction of the Sursky metochion (the future St. John's Monastery) in St. Petersburg. Bashmakova’s mountain establishment stood idle for several years... I shouldn’t have her as my spiritual daughter... - I.A. Bashmakova is an old friend of Father John, his addressee since 1902. Her first known telegram to Father dated November 2, 1902 contains a request to pray for her sick brother Ivan and sister Maria (TsGIA St. Petersburg, f. 2219, op. 1, d. 14a, l. 167). In 1904, she invited Father John to take ownership of her gold mine, but Father, on reflection, refused; in 1907, reporting the plight of her family, Bashmakova asked him for financial help (Ibid., no. 61, pp. 1, 2–4). Probably, persistent letters with requests came from her later, and Father John even had to resort to the help of his good friend and spiritual son M.A. Krivoshlyk, who in a telegram dated October 31 told him: “... I am glad that I was able to successfully fulfill your request regarding Bashmakova” (Ibid., d. 146, l. 133). "A new living ear from the spiritual field of John of Kronstadt." The title of the new book. – The book was published posthumously at the beginning of 1909 under the title “A Living Ear from the Spiritual Field of Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev-Kronstadt: Extracts from the Diary of 1907–1908.” With a portrait and epigraph of the author. Posthumous publication in favor of St. Petersburg. Ioannovsky Convent" (St. Petersburg, Synod, typ., 1909). The book was published by the chairman of the Society for the Propagation of Religious and Moral Education in the Spirit of the Orthodox Church, Fr. Philosopher Nikolaevich Ornatsky, to whom Father John handed over the manuscript a month and a half before his death (Filimonov V.P. The sky is opened with the Cross. St. Petersburg, 2000. P. 95–96). The book was presented to the emperor. Nicholas II through the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod S.M. Lukyanov, who in a letter dated April 3, 1909 wrote to Fr. To the philosopher: “...Sovereign Emperor... Having most mercifully accepted the said book, He most Highly commanded to thank Your Reverence for presenting the said book. I have the honor to notify Your Eminence of such All-Merciful gratitude...” (Ibid., p. 96). Lord, show me where my speech to the Holy Synod lies... November 1st. – In the first half of November, the following issues were discussed at the meetings of the Synod: on the separation of clergy from their wives (Church Gazette, No. 47, pp. 342–344); on the collection of fees for general diocesan needs from clergy who are not part of the parish clergy (Ibid., pp. 347–348); on the participation of inspectors of theological seminaries and assistant superintendents of theological schools in the regular duties of inspection members; on the admission of female teachers to teach new languages ​​in theological seminaries and schools (Ibid., No. 48, pp. 353–354). It is unknown which of these questions Father John’s speech could be related to, since its text has not been discovered (Father himself was not at the Synod due to illness). Sodomites and Gomorrites are residents of the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which once existed in the Siddim Valley, at the mouth of the river. Jordan. They were distinguished by extreme licentiousness of morals, unnatural debauchery, for which they were subjected to the wrath of God - the cities were burned by fire cast down from heaven (Gen. 19: 1-29). Tyrians are residents of the ancient Phoenician city of Tire, once the largest trading port. The luxury, vice and idolatry of the Tyrians were repeatedly exposed by the prophets, who predicted their final destruction for this (Isa. 23:1; Jer. 25:27). In 1291 the city was destroyed by Muslims. The Sidonians are the inhabitants of the ancient Phoenician city of Sidon, known even before the time of the prophet Moses. The licentiousness and decline of morals of the inhabitants of Sidon brought upon him the wrath of God, and Sidon was destroyed (Judges 18:7). The Ninevites are residents of the ancient city of Nineveh, which was once the capital of the Assyrian state. The vicious lifestyle of the Ninevites, their dishonor, was repeatedly exposed by the Old Testament prophets (Matthew 12:41); For this, Nineveh suffered the wrath of God - in 607 the city was completely destroyed by the Medes. Further in the manuscript there is a phrase that cannot be read You might be interested in: