Настоятельство в Сретенском монастыре

Simultaneously with his episcopal consecration, Bishop Hilarion was appointed rector of the Sretensky Monastery, which was going through difficult times in its history. Back in 1918, the authorities tried to close the monastery. The conditions for the inhabitants there became more difficult every year. In the same 1918, “the commandant for the requisition of premises announced that, by decree, only 10 brethren should be left in the Sretensky Monastery to serve the church and they, together with the abbot, “should be provided with only 6 rooms” 308. At the beginning of Bishop Hilarion’s abbotship in Sretensky, namely in June 1920, no one lived in the monastery: “everyone was evicted” 309. For this reason, Bishop Ilari-on, having assumed the position of rector, continues to live in the apartment of his friend from the MLA, priest Vladimir Strakhov. This apartment was located not far from the monastery at the address: Sretenka Street, 29, apt. 1 310. Secular people were settled in the monastery, and they often indulged in inappropriate behavior. The monastery churches fell into disrepair: “The churches of the said monastery require radical repairs of roofs and drainpipes and their painting, due to the rusting of which leaks have formed in many places, causing dangerous harm to the integrity of the churches, which is especially sharply revealed in relation to the St. Nicholas Church...” 311 Monastery property was confiscated by government officials, sometimes without any documents. For example, in February 1920, sleighs, horse harnesses, as well as orders and medals belonging to the monastery were seized and confiscated 312. In February 1921, “the organizational and accounting department of the justice department of the Moscow Council of Deputies issued a mandate... to transport property from the storeroom of the Sretensky Monastery to the justice department.” In the same year, four monastery bells were confiscated 313. Almost a year after Bishop Hilarion’s episcopal consecration and assumption of office as rector of the monastery, Sretensky Monastery does not even have vestments for participation in the divine services of its rector. In March 1921, the community of believers of the Sretensky Monastery turned to the justice department of the Moscow City Council “with a request to provide it with bishop’s vestments - yellow, white and black,” since “it is headed by a bishop, and it does not have any of its own bishop’s vestments” 314. Of course, economic concerns, for which Bishop Hilarion had no particular inclination, in the noted unfavorable conditions created additional difficulties for the newly ordained bishop. Quote by: John (Ludishchev), Hierom. Events of church life in 1923 and Sretensky Monastery. URL: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/sm/54512.html Shutova T.A. Priest Alexander Elchaninov. Tiflis period of biography // Sretensky collection. Vol. 1. M., 2010. P. 261. Cited. by: John (Ludishchev), Hierom. Sretensky Monastery in 1920. URL: http://www.pravoslavie. ru/sm/51560.html Safonov Dmitry. Hierarchical service of Hieromartyr Hilarion (Trinity) in 1920 - the first half of 1923 URL: http:// www.pravoslavie.ru/5822.html From a letter from the abbot of the Sretensky Monastery, Archimandrite Sergius (Plaksin), to the Department for the Protection of Ancient Monuments dated June 14, 1921. Quote by: John (Ludishchev), Hierom. Events of church life in 1923 and Sretensky Monastery. URL: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/sm/54512.html John (Ludishchev), priest. Sretensky Monastery in 1920. URL: http://www.pravoslavie. ru/sm/51560.html Quote by: John, (Ludishchev), Hierom. Sretensky Monastery in 1921. URL: http://www. pravoslavie.ru/sm/52023.html