9. К вопросу духовничества прп. Паисия Величковского в Константиновской келлии на Афоне

An important addition to the Athos period of the biography of St. Paisiy Velichkovsky can serve as brief evidence from the case of the fugitive monk of the Chernigov Holy Dormition Yelets Monastery, Hierodeacon Joasaph (in the world Ivan Yukhimovich Petrenko, a hereditary Cossack of the Kiselyov hundred of the Chernigov regiment) 100. From the archival materials of the Chernigov spiritual consistory for 1760, we learn that Father Joasaph fled from the Yeletsky monastery at night in October 1756 due to the tyranny of the abbot of the monastery. From Chernigov he moved to the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - to the Moshnogorsk monastery of the Pereyaslav diocese in Right Bank Ukraine, and from there a month later - to Athos, to the Cossack monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary "Cherny Vyr" ("Mavrovyr"), founded by the Cossacks, where he lived for more than a year. From the case of Hierodeacon Joasaph we learn one very important detail. After asceticism for more than a year in the “Black Vyr” monastery, he went to confession, as stated in the testimony, to the “spiritual father Paisius” from the monastery of St. Tsar Constantine at the Pantocrator Monastery. Paisios mentioned here is the same St. Paisiy Velichkovsky, who at one time also began his monastic path in the Chernigov region, but then fled from the Lyubech monastery to Right Bank Ukraine, controlled by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and from there to Moldova and Mount Athos. Having spent more than a year on the Holy Mountain, Hierodeacon Joasaph left on some business for the Zaporozhye Sich, from there to the Cossack Mezhigorsky monastery, and from there, having learned about the change of abbot of the Yeletsky monastery, he returned to Chernigov. By the time of visiting Fr. Joasaph on Athos St. The last Paisius of Velichkovsky was only 35 years old, however, apparently, the fame of the young ascetic was already beginning to spread among the Slavic and Moldavian saints of the Holy Mountains, and every year the number of brethren around him grew rapidly. In the testimony of Fr. St. Joasapha Paisiy is called the “confessor” to whom he went to confession from the remote Ukrainian monastery “Black Vyr”. This fact indicates that the young ascetic at that time already enjoyed a certain spiritual authority among the Holy Mountain residents. From the testimony of Hierodeacon Joasaph, we also learn that during confession, “spiritual father Paisios” advised him not to serve and to proceed to the Divine Mysteries “in the monastic way” 101. Il. 21–23. Photocopies of pages with the testimony of Hierodeacon Joasaph (Petrenko). The case of the Chernigov spiritual consistory. March-April 1760 Published for the first time This short message is valuable because to this day all information about the initial stay of St. Paisius in the cell of St. Constantine at the Pantocrator Monastery, the elder's biographers borrowed exclusively from the texts of the Life of the Saint, compiled after his death on the basis of the narrative of schemamonk Mitrofan 102. In particular, such works include works by OO. Isaac, Gregory and Plato (in Moldavian and Slavic languages). However, neither Fr. Mitrofan, nor the mentioned fathers who used his work, were not witnesses to the Athonite period of asceticism of Elder Paisius. There were no other documents confirming this fact, which is why all available descriptions of the elder’s stay in the Athos cell of St. Constantine could not be double-checked for accuracy. There is not a word about this fact from the saint himself. Paisius, neither in his autobiography, nor in his letters. Therefore, all researchers, when mentioning the stay of St. Paisius at the Constantine Monastery on Athos were forced to take the word of Schemamonk Mitrofan and his successors. Now this fact has been confirmed in the materials of the case of the Chernigov spiritual consistory for 1760, where Hierodeacon Joasaph, in his testimony, also reports on the stay of the “spiritual” Paisius on Athos - in the monastery of the holy King Constantine at the Pantocrator Monastery. Il. 24. Portrait of St. Paisia. Engraving from the book “Sfantul Paisie De La Neamt. Cuvinte Si Scrisori Duhovnicesti", 1817 Just by the end of 1757, his brotherhood consisted of twelve people (seven Moldovans and five Slavs), and therefore the former small cell of St. Konstantina could no longer accommodate everyone who wanted to join the Velichkovsky brotherhood 103. Therefore, Rev. Paisius bought the abandoned cell of St. from the Greeks. Elijah, which through the efforts of the monk was transformed into a monastery. From the testimony of Hierodeacon Joasaph (Petrenko) it is clear that the inhabitants of the Athonite skete “Black Vyr”, founded by the former Cossack Hieroschemamonk Gregory (Golubenko), even then maintained close relations with St. Paisiy Velichkovsky and even considered him a “spiritual father.” Thus, we can talk about the existence of some kind of unspoken spiritual union and interaction between the two “Little Russian” monasteries on Mount Athos and their elders - oo. Grigory (Golubenko) and Paisiy (Velichkovsky). Il. 25. Monastery of Simonopetra. Modern look. Photo by Yuri Latsis GACHO. F. 679. Op. 1. D. 762. L. 1–12. 101 GACHO. F. 679. Op. 1. D. 762. L. 8, 10–11. Anthony-Emil N. Tachiaos. The Revival of Byzantine Mysticism Among Slavs and Romanians in the XVIIIth Century. Texts Relating to the Life and Activity of Paisy Velichkovsky (1722–1794). Thessaloniki, 1986. LV+296 rub.; The life and writings of the Moldavian elder Paisius Velichkovsky. Moscow, edition of the Kozelskaya Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage, 1847; Tahiaos A.-E. Preliminary list of a complete bibliography about St. Paisiya Velichkovsky // Cyrillomethodianum, 1993–1994, 17–18. pp. 212–227; Zhgun P. B., Zhgun M. A. Schema-Archimandrite Paisiy (Velichkovsky) Nyametsky // Prin ortodoxie úi umanism spre reintegrarea Moldovei. Materialele ConferinĠei útiinĠifico-Teologice. Chiúinău, 2008. pp. 28–29. Rev. Paisiy Velichkovsky. Life and selected works. Serpukhov: “Heritage of the Orthodox East”, 2014. pp. 217–219; Chetverikov S., prot. Moldavian elder Paisiy Velichkovsky. His life, teaching and influence on Orthodox monasticism. Minsk, 2006. pp. 103–105; Fennel N., Troitsky P., Talalai M. Elias Monastery on Athos. M.: “Indrik”, 2011. P. 8, 15.