ЧАСТЬ ПЕРВАЯ. ЖИЗНЬ ДОМА И В ШКОЛЕ (1722–1739)

You are my patience, O Lord, Lord, my hope from my youth... from my mother’s womb You are my protector (Ps. 71:5-6) Chapter 1. THE HOMELAND OF ELDER PAISY VELICHKOVSKY The homeland of Elder Paisius (Velichkovsky) was blessed Ukraine. At the beginning of the 18th century, the entire left bank of Ukraine was a rich and prosperous region. Neither the Cossack wars of the 17th century, nor the Tatar raids, nor the Swedish invasions and other disasters could undermine the well-being of this region. Even then, these virgin places were famous for their healthy air, extraordinary fertility, abundance and variety of God's gifts. The population of the region was numerous and especially began to increase in the second half of the 17th century, when the inhabitants of the right bank of Ukraine, devastated by continuous wars and oppression from the Turks and Poles, left their old nests in droves and moved to the left bank of the Dnieper, to the free steppes of the Poltava and Kharkov regions, forming here the settlements of suburban Ukraine. Due to the vastness of the free land space that did not belong to anyone, the cultivators did not have time to cultivate the fields. They had a lot of hay cuttings, fishing grounds, and orchards. They traded in hemp, flax, tobacco, honey, wax, wool, and salt. In the villages and farmsteads one could see a lot of poultry and pigs. But even more than their prosperity, what attracts attention is the spiritual qualities of the Little Russians of that time, their devotion to Orthodoxy, love of education, and concern for the poor. It was a time of special spiritual upsurge. A difficult two-century struggle for faith and nationality, which was threatened by the Poles and the Jesuits and Uniates, had just been experienced. This struggle aroused great enthusiasm among the people and brought forward a number of figures who became famous for their holiness of life, high education and love for the Motherland. The people consciously lived by their faith, and their entire life, simple and modest, was enveloped in the spirit of their native Orthodox church. Numerous churches stood everywhere, distinguished by the beauty of their architecture and the artistic execution of sacred images. We are still amazed at the grace, complexity and subtlety of the design of Ukrainian iconostases of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the beauty, richness and durability of the embroidery on church vestments of that time. Beautiful, harmonious and touching singing was a ubiquitous feature of the worship service of that time. The piety of the Little Russians was not limited to love for church splendor. It was also expressed in works of mercy. The suffering endured for the faith and homeland and the great number of disadvantaged people disposed everyone to generous charity. In every village one could see “spitals”, shelters for old people and orphans, hung outside and inside with many icons. Orphans and widows, of whom there were especially many at that time (due to continuous wars), received generous alms in every home. The Little Russians’ love for education was also remarkable. Almost all of them, and even most of the women, could read and knew the order of church services and church chants. The priests taught the orphans and did not allow them to wander the streets as ignoramuses. After liberation from the Poles, everyone began to learn reading and church singing with special zeal. Each parish church had a school. Parish brotherhoods took a lot of care about schools, which arose everywhere to protect Orthodoxy and the Orthodox way of life from the onslaught of Roman Catholicism and the Union. Those brotherhoods existed not only in cities and towns, but also in villages and united Orthodox people into close and friendly unions. Parish brotherhoods had their own parish houses. Here meetings of brothers took place, parish affairs were discussed, brotherly property was kept, and brotherly justice was held. On the days of great holidays, so-called “eves” were celebrated in fraternal houses and courtyards, honey was brewed, and the money collected was used to maintain schools and “spitals.” In the schools of that time, orphans and children of the poor were not only educated, but also lived. The school was often a shelter for traveling teachers, “manipulated clerks” and “dragging monks.” The school was inhabited by “schoolchildren” or “youngsters”. The “adults” were not students, but they themselves earned a living as teachers; they often traveled from one school to another. These were young people who had not yet finally chosen their profession and, according to the custom of that time, moved from place to place “to see more of the world and human relations.” Some of them eventually became real clerks and even priests, others moved to clerk positions or were engaged in trade; others went to Zaporozhye, etc. The parishioners provided these wandering singers and teachers with free shelter in the church house with the condition that in return they would “serve” the Church of God in the choir. Moreover, they were obliged to educate children, for which the parents of the latter gave them a special reward according to the condition, and church teachers collected alms in money and supplies for their benefit from parishioners. Thanks to the existence of parish orphanage schools and the care of the clergy and parishioners, sometimes the poorest and most abandoned children received a sufficient education and, as they say, went out into the world. Under the special historical conditions of that time, greater independence and independence of spirit developed among the Ukrainian people, and the characters of the people were strong and persistent. The population took an active part in all public affairs and issues. Until 1722, even bishops and the Kyiv metropolitans themselves were elected by the free votes of the clergy, Cossacks and philistines. Administratively, left-bank Ukraine was then divided into 10 regiments, the centers of which were regimental cities. In addition to 10 regimental cities in left-bank Ukraine, there were up to 126 towns and many villages, hamlets and hamlets. The literary, official, and partly the colloquial language of the upper and educated classes of Little Russian society of that time differed significantly from our modern language and contained many words and figures of speech in Polish and Latin. The city of Poltava, in which Elder Paisiy was born, was one of the regimental cities of the left bank of Ukraine. 200 years ago no one would have recognized today's Poltava. It was a small fortress located on the southern outskirts of Little Russia, at the border of the vast steppes, beyond which the Tatar and Turkish lands began. Standing on the edge of a high and steep hill, from where a wonderful view of the Vorskla River and distant Zavorsklya opens, Poltava provided all the convenience to be an advanced stronghold for the protection of southern Russian settlements from the attacks of wild steppe predators. The advantageous guard position of Poltava has long been appreciated by the southern Russian princes, and already in the chronicles of the 12th century it is mentioned as a guard border fortification. At the beginning of the 18th century, Poltava occupied a small area surrounded by a moat with an earthen rampart and a wooden palisade, with five bastions and five fortress gates. After the Battle of Poltava, the Poltava fortress was put in order, and the fortifications existed until the 19th century. The city buildings were not distinguished by either significant size or beauty. Even many years later, contemporaries described Poltava as a small town with a thousand wooden, low and cleanly whitewashed houses, two or three of which were stone, without regular streets or decent buildings. The best decoration of the city were the gardens in which Poltava was buried. Among the buildings of the city, the churches of God stood out, of which there were many. The then Assumption Cathedral was wooden and stood almost in the same place where the stone one later stood, the beginning of construction of which dates back to 1748. The Church of the Savior, which stood next to the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, now no longer existing, was preserved in its original form, and was only covered with a stone cover to protect it from the destructive influence of time. In this church, Emperor Peter the Great served a thanksgiving prayer service after his victory over the Swedes. Many defenders of the Motherland and the city were buried in the graveyard of the Spasskaya Church. In the area called Mazurovka, at the beginning of the 18th century there was a convent of the Intercession for women, founded by nuns from Podolia and in 1721 moved to the village of Pushkarevka, 4 versts from Poltava. There was also a male Monastery of the Exaltation of the Cross at that time, beautifully located on the top of a mountain covered with dense forest, one mile from the city. This monastery was founded in 1650 with the assistance of the Poltava colonel Martyn Pushkar in memory of the victory he won over the Poles. The main church of the monastery, in the name of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, was built, as some believe, shortly after the Poltava victory, by Poltava Colonel Kochubey (son of the executed Vasily Leontyevich Kochubey), according to others, by Vasily Leontyevich himself at the end of the 17th century. The population of Poltava was insignificant - it did not exceed four thousand people. But Poltava, as now, was surrounded by numerous hamlets, villages and towns. Occupying an advantageous position at a crossroads between many cities and states - Turkey, Crimea, Poland, Moscow, Persia - Poltava conducted brisk trade. Its two large fairs attracted merchants from Great Russia, Lithuania, Poland, Crimea and the East. Booksellers from Kyiv and Nizhyn also came: this means there was a demand for books. There were then a lot of Jews in Poltava who were engaged in trade and crafts. They traveled to fairs, selling vodka. Elder Paisius himself, on his mother’s side, had Jews in his family, as he himself talks about in his notes. The highest and most influential persons in the city at that time were considered to be the colonel, cathedral archpriest, regimental judge, regimental esauls, city chieftain, etc. Such was the region and the city where the future Elder Paisius was born. Even in his early youth, he left these places, but until the end of his life he did not forget his native and beloved Poltava and Ukraine, retained his Ukrainian speech and in his letters and writings he liked to add the words “native of Poltava” after his signature. Chapter 2. ORIGIN OF ELDER PAISIOUS. CHILDREN'S YEARS IN THE FAMILY. ADMISSION TO THE Kyiv ACADEMY. ORDERS OF ACADEMIC LIFE. Elder Paisiy was born in Poltava and came from an old, pious and universally respected Little Russian spiritual family. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were Poltava archpriests. On his mother’s side, the elder’s great-grandfather was a certain Mandya, a famous and wealthy Jewish merchant who was baptized with his entire household. The elder’s maternal grandmother, the daughter of a baptized Jew, entered the monastery and subsequently became the abbess of the Intercession Convent. His mother’s sister Agafya also lived as a nun in the same monastery. Subsequently, the elder’s mother herself, having become a widow and having lost all her children, took monastic vows in the same Intercession Monastery with the name Juliania. Thus, the entire Velichkovsky family was particularly religious. At the same time, he stood out for his talent. The chronicler Samuil Velichko speaks of the elder’s grandfather as a man “full of God’s grace and wisdom,” and says that his son, the elder’s father, when in 1687 Hetman Ivan Samoilovich, setting off on the Crimean campaign, passed through Poltava, greeted him with verses of “his own composition.” It is also known that the elder’s father graduated from a course at the Kyiv fraternal college. Elder Paisiy was born on December 21, 1722, on the day of remembrance of the Holy Metropolitan of Kyiv Peter, which is why he was named Peter, after him. Peter was the eleventh child in the family. Younger than him was only his brother Theodore, who died at the age of seven. Peter's successor at Holy Baptism was Poltava Colonel Vasily Vasilyevich Kochubey, who had great affection for the Velichkovsky family. Peter was four years old when his father died and Peter's brother John became rector of the cathedral. Soon after this, Peter began to be taught to read and write. Sent by his mother to a school, most likely a church school at the cathedral, Peter studied the primer, the Book of Hours and the Psalter for a little over two years, and learned to write from his older brother, a priest. As soon as Peter learned to read, reading became his favorite pastime. He re-read all the spiritual books that he could find in his home and in the cathedral library: all the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the lives of the saints, the teachings of St. John Chrysostom and St. Ephraim the Syrian and many other books. He was a very quiet, meek, serious, silent and deeply religious boy. Under the influence of constant spiritual reading, especially the lives of holy ascetics, he was imbued with a special love for monastic life. The pious example of his own family, the stories of wanderers about holy places, and church services supported and strengthened this mood in Peter. He began to retire to his room, devoting himself, in his own words, to “voracious reading” of books and prayer. His silence was amazing. Relatives did not hear a single word from him for whole days. He was neither gloomy nor despondent; on the contrary, joy and friendliness shone in his face, but he was completely immersed in his inner life, in his intimate prayerful stay with God. With people, in the words of his life writer, he was “extremely bashful and insolent,” so that even his own mother almost never heard his voice. When relatives with children gathered at the Velichkovskys’ on major holidays, neither the children could force him to take part in the games, nor the adults could invite him to talk with gifts. Not getting an answer from the boy, they asked their mother in surprise: “Isn’t he dumb?” “No,” answered the mother, “we ourselves never hear anything from him, except one or two words, otherwise everything is silent.” So Peter lived at home until he was twelve years old. At this time, his elder brother, a priest, died, and his mother, according to the custom of that time, wanted to retain the place of priest at the cathedral for her youngest son Peter. Poltava residents also sympathized with her desire. Having secured letters from Peter’s godfather, Colonel Kochubey, and other honorable citizens, the mother, together with her son and his uncle, and her brother, went to Kyiv, to the then Kyiv Archbishop Rafail Zaborovsky, who was in charge of Poltava at that time. Going to Kyiv, Peter, as was customary then, learned a certain poem, which he had to recite before the archbishop. It was in vain that his mother and uncle asked Peter to tell them this poem: due to his shyness, he did not dare to do so. When they arrived in Kyiv and came to the archbishop, the boy, to the surprise of his relatives, clearly and loudly uttered poetry without the slightest timidity. The archbishop liked Peter so much that he willingly fulfilled his mother’s request and said to Peter: “You will be the heir.” The corresponding letter was immediately prepared, and it was ordered to admit the boy to the “Kiev Brotherhood School.” The delighted mother returned with her son to Poltava, equipped him for the journey and, when the time came for school, took him to Kyiv again. This was in 1735. The Kyiv of that time was not much like the current one. It was limited to the boundaries of old Kyiv. The houses were low and the streets were unpaved. There were no buildings between Lavra and Podil. There was a continuous forest here. The famous Lavra bell tower was just under construction. There was no Church of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called yet. Not long before, a terrible fire devastated Kyiv. Most of the Lavra buildings perished in the fire, and along with them an ancient, very valuable library, which contained manuscripts from the time of Yaroslav the Wise. The Bratsk Epiphany Monastery and its academy also suffered from this fire. The areas devastated by the fire were slowly rebuilt. Only in 1733, Archbishop Raphael decorated the Brethren Monastery with a new building - a dormitory for the poorest students of the academy and built a second floor over the stone Mazepa building with a huge colonnade of the Tuscan order. The academic Church of the Annunciation was built on this floor. Contemporaries of Elder Paisius, partly from studying at the academy, partly from living in Kyiv, were the later famous: George of Kanissky, Archbishop of Mogilev, G.S. Skovoroda, the wandering Ukrainian philosopher Simon Todorokiy, Archbishop of Pskov, linguist and teacher of the law of Empress Catherine II, Arseny Matseevich, Metropolitan of Rostov, etc. Found Paisius in Kyiv and the future Bishop of Belgorod Iosaf Gorlenko, at that time hieromonk of the Sofia Metropolitan House and Pavel Konyuskevich, later Metropolitan of Tobolsk, and at that time hierodeacon of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. The names of these remarkable church leaders and holy ascetics show how much the family, household, and school conditions of that time were favorable to the spiritual education of the Orthodox youth of that time. Of course, the center of the spiritual life of Kyiv, the main source of piety and Christian asceticism at that time were the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the St. Michael's Monastery with the relics of the Great Martyr Barbara and other monasteries that shone with many ascetics of high life. The “Kiev fraternal school”, where Peter was ordered to be sent, was at that time a rather complex educational institution. It was a combination of lower, middle and higher schools, located in the fence of the fraternal Epiphany Monastery, under the general name of the Kiev-Mohyla, Epiphany-Brotherly Academy. Originating at the end of the 16th century as a small school aimed at providing primary education to Russian Orthodox boys, this educational institution, thanks to a number of generous donors and caring patrons, gradually turned into an educational institution of the highest level. In 1633, it was transformed by Metropolitan Peter Mogila into a college, and in 1701, by a charter from Emperor Peter the Great, into an academy. By the beginning of the 18th century, the academy was organized on the model of higher foreign schools and became a hotbed of higher education and a nursery for mentors of glorious Russia. It produced from its walls church leaders who were famous not only for their learning and talents, but also for their holiness of life, such as, for example: Theodosius of Chernigov, Dimitri, Metropolitan of Rostov, Innocent, Bishop of Irkutsk, John, Metropolitan of Tobolsk, etc. Created by the labors, concerns and resources of the Kyiv metropolitans, generous benefactors and all, one might say, the Little Russian people, who saw in it a stronghold against the onslaught of the Jesuits and Uniates, the Kiev Academy of that time was not a narrow-class institution. It opened its doors wide to children of all classes of society, spiritual and secular, rich and poor, noble and simple. She also accepted foreigners, but only Orthodox ones. Even Anna Gulevicheva, bequeathing her estate to the Kyiv Brotherhood Monastery in 1615, wrote in her will that she was transferring her property to a school for children, both noble and philistine, of the Orthodox faith; and since then, the all-class character of the school has been strictly preserved, confirmed by repeated decrees of the brothers, investors and Kyiv archpastors. How large the number of students at the academy was can be seen from the following figures: in 1715 there were 1,100 students in it, in 1742 - 1,234, in 1744 - 1,160, of which 388 belonged to the clergy, and 772 to nobles and commoners. Education at the academy was organized as follows (Archbishop Raphael Zaborovsky drew up a special “instruction” for professors and students of the academy in 1736. See appendix 1 at the end of the book) - in the four junior classes, the main attention was paid to the study of languages: Latin, Greek, Polish and Slavic. The first class was called "analogy" or "headlight". The second class was called "infima". These two classes taught reading and writing in all the above-mentioned languages ​​and engaged in initial grammar analysis. The next two classes were called “grammar” and “syntax”. As their names indicate, these classes included a detailed study of grammar and syntax. In addition to languages, these classes taught catechism, arithmetic, notation and music. These four classes ended the lower school, and the students moved on to the middle school. There were two middle classes: “piitika” and “rhetoric”. Both classes took place over the course of one year. From the rhetoric class, students moved to the higher department of the academy, which consisted of two classes - philosophy and theology. The philosophy course was studied for two years, the theology course for four years. Before the transition to philosophy, students were called students; upon transition to philosophy, they received the name students. The academy was headed by the rector (who was also the abbot of the Bratsk Epiphany Monastery). The rector taught theology. The rector's closest assistant was the prefect, who taught philosophy. Each of the other classes had its own teacher who taught all subjects in it. When moving from class to class, students were examined by the teacher of the class to which the students were moving. The superintendent monitored the behavior of the students. His assistants were visitators who visited the apartments of students who lived outside the monastery, seniors, elders in student dormitories, and censors who monitored the behavior of students in the church. In the class, students ranked according to their success. Whoever studied better sat in front. Those who studied worse were sent back. Wealth and nobility did not matter at school: all students were equal and differed only in ability and diligence. The classes were very crowded. To facilitate the teacher, the most diligent students were selected, who were entrusted with observing and supervising the progress of their comrades and who were obliged to check their knowledge before the start of the lesson. These older students were called auditors. After listening to each of the comrades assigned to them, they, under personal responsibility, noted his knowledge and ignorance on a special sheet and presented this sheet to the teacher. Any relaxation on the part of the auditor was strictly punished: the culprit was deprived of his audit title, and sometimes subjected to corporal punishment. For each week, 4 people on duty were assigned in order, two of whom were supposed to record those who stood badly in the church or behaved indecently on the street and were generally faulty in any way. The other two had to come to school early, sweep the floor, light the stove and sit by the door, recording those who came to school late. Particular attention was paid to the study of the Latin language. Pupils in all junior classes were required to speak Latin among themselves. Those who violated this rule were fined. To arouse greater interest in the classes, various types of competitions were practiced. In the lower grades, competition in homework was allowed. The student wrote on his notebook the name of the comrade with whom he wanted to enter into a competition or whom he considered unfairly certified above himself. If the claimant was right in his claim and won, he received what he demanded. If he was defeated, he was punished at the discretion of his opponent. In the higher classes, starting with philosophy, there were no exams. Instead of exams, debates were practiced here. The debates were weekly, at home, without outsiders. The professor himself sometimes became a defender, allowing each of the students to object to the lessons taught to them during the week. Sometimes (in the presence or with the participation of the professor) the students entered into a debate with each other about one or another issue raised by the professor. The annual debates were especially solemn. The Metropolitan himself presided over them, and the most distinguished persons of the city were present. Here is an interesting description of one of these disputes that took place in the forties of the 18th century, i.e. almost at the same time when P. Velichkovsky was studying at the academy. “On the day appointed for the dispute, all the noblest dignitaries of Kyiv and all the surrounding landowners, who had gathered in the city for that celebration, went early in the morning to the Lavra, where the Metropolitan had been staying since the evening. At about nine o'clock in the morning the ceremonial train set off from the Lavra towards Podol. The Metropolitan rode in a carriage drawn by eight horses. The train was so long that when its head appeared on the descent of Alexander Mountain, its tail was still near the Lavra. At that moment, bells rang out in all the bell towers of Podol, and the Metropolitan’s carriage slowly approached the Brotherly Monastery, surrounded by guild badges and countless people, occupying the entire square and the academic courtyard. On the large gate of the Bratsky Monastery there was a large, elaborately decorated sheet, informing the people of Kiev about the time and subject of the scientific debate. As soon as the Metropolitan's carriage stopped at the holy gates, the ringing in the fraternal bell tower stopped and the ringing in all the other churches immediately ceased. But at the same moment there was a loud concert of two academic choirs located in the holy gates of the monastery, and one of the students greeted the Metropolitan with a speech. The Metropolitan followed into the hall, preceded by the choristers, and in the vast gallery of the main building the academic orchestra thundered in a counter march. When the Metropolitan reached the middle of the hall, the music stopped, and the singers, already seated in the choir, sang: “To the Heavenly King.” Following this, greetings began in different languages ​​in verse and prose, and meanwhile the rest of the participants in the celebration gradually arrived and filled the hall. When the Metropolitan and the most distinguished guests took their places, the prefect presented them with painted theses of the upcoming debate. Here are some of these theses. According to philosophy: a) “The purpose of philosophy is to bring to man possible happiness on earth, to know the truth and to improve man in virtue.” According to logic: “The subject of logic is essential: to adjust the activity of the mind; formal: to present well-known forms.” On ethics: a) “Ethics is a science that has as its subject the activity of the will directed towards moral good,” b) “Wild animals do not act with a specific purpose,” c) “Whoever goes out to a duel does not prove any valor,” d) “There is no known reason why a person could take his own life.” According to physics: “The rational soul is created and enters into man from God Himself and is essentially immortal.” According to metaphysics: a) “Metaphysics is a science, the subject of which is nature, alien to everything material,” b) “God is a Being that exists by Himself: but His existence is discerned from phenomena.” These theses, the program said, under the leadership of Professor Kazachinsky, at the Kyiv Orthodox Mogilo-Zaborovsky Academy will be defended by A.A.Z.Z., and one of the most excellent students of philosophy, Vasily Dumnitsky, will object. Due to the vastness of the program, it could not be carried out in its entirety, and at the direction of the Metropolitan, several theses were selected. In between debates, the choristers sang concertos and cants, the orchestra played various pieces, and the lower and middle school students recited dialogues and poems. At the end of the debate, the Metropolitan and the most honored guests retired to the chambers of the rector of the academy, where they were offered refreshments.” All academy students were divided into two groups. The smaller one lived in a dormitory at the academy, the larger one, to which Velichkovsky belonged, lived in apartments outside the academy. Pupils in this category mostly huddled in schools and at parish churches. Being under the supervision of parish priests, in addition to their direct educational activities, they were obliged to learn to read and sing in church. The senior assigned to each such school dormitory dressed up two students in turn for church every day, and where there were many of them, there were three or four - for reading the Psalter, canons and for singing. On holidays, all pupils living in the school were obliged to be present in their parish church, and those who were able to sing were obliged to attend the choir. For this work, the schoolchildren received heating and money from the church, however, very meager. The following entry has been preserved in one of the parish churches: “Two kopecks were given to schoolchildren for the “holiday” for the Intercession, on the first day of Easter two kopecks were given to schoolchildren for the holiday.” Due to extreme poverty, many schoolchildren went from house to house to collect alms on the days of great holidays. The schoolchildren lived very closely. Sometimes they had to crowd into one room together with the family of the priest and his students from ordinary children, and then only one table was the inviolable property of the schoolchildren. It is not surprising that with such close quarters, many unpleasant and sometimes funny misunderstandings occurred between schoolchildren and their owners. But the students endured everything, just so as not to lose the title of academy students. During the holidays, and sometimes during school periods, academicians dispersed for training, almost throughout Little Russia, continuing to be listed as students of the academy. Some of the students earned their livelihood by chanting spiritual poems. Every day at lunchtime they walked along the streets of Kyiv and sang hymns in front of each house at the window or at the gate, begging for alms. In the evenings, they gathered in the square in front of a meeting of merchants who stayed overnight near their shops, and sang portes cants in honor of saints or miraculous icons, especially in honor of the Mother of God. The music and words of these cants were always the composition of the students themselves. With the onset of the summer holidays, when some of the students of the academy went to the shelter of their parents and relatives, and the homeless and homeless joined in traveling troupes in order to somehow get enough food before the start of their studies, these hymns and cants were heard throughout the villages and fields throughout Ukraine. Even under Metropolitan Peter Mogila in the first half of the 17th century, students of the college composed and performed dramatic performances depicting biblical events. St. also worked a lot in composing such spiritual plays. Dimitri, future Metropolitan of Rostov. The venue for the performance was usually an academic hall, and sometimes an open clearing in some grove, where both teachers and students went together during the so-called “recreations”, which happened three times a year. Some holidays and significant days were celebrated with special solemnity at the academy. So, on Palm Saturday, all the students of the academy, together with their superiors, gathered before Vespers in the enclosure of the St. Sophia Cathedral. Having received the blessing of the Metropolitan, they, singing the stichera “Today the grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us,” with willows in their hands, headed to Podol, where in the great church of the Brotherly Monastery vespers were celebrated and a sermon was said. On major academic holidays, students stood at the service with candles in their hands, participating in a large cherubic exit. In religious processions during funeral processions, pupils walked by class, and on the flank of each class walked a standard bearer, in whose hands was a badge on a pole with the image of the Savior and the Mother of God in the stars. To conclude this brief sketch of academic life, let us describe the appearance of the then academy student. The student's outer clothing was a "kireya", a type of overcoat without a hood, with folding sleeves, extending to the heels. In the summer it was made of silk among the rich, and from Chinese fabric among the poor, and in the winter it was made of cloth, and the edges were trimmed with red or yellow lace in patterns. In the winter, a sheepskin casing was worn under the kirey, belted with a silk or woolen sash, and in the summer, a short caftan made of some material, fastened to the top with metal buttons. The dandies' pants were red or blue and extremely wide. The hat was made from smushka with some colored top. Boots also came in different colors: dandies wore red or yellow ones with cuffs, high heels, and jingling horseshoes. These were the Kyiv fraternal schools where Pyotr Velichkovsky was brought by his mother at the beginning of the 1735–36 academic year. It was the only school not only in all of Ukraine, but also in all of Russia, not inferior in the level of education to the best foreign schools, and at the same time a people's school, strictly Orthodox, a true people's and Orthodox university, a subject of consolation and pride of the Ukrainian people. It is clear that joining such a school was the cherished dream and happiness of every talented and inquisitive Little Russian youth of that time. Chapter 3. LIFE OF PETER VELICHKOVSKY IN THE Kyiv ACADEMY. INCREASING ATTRACTION TO MONASKING. UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO ENTER THE KITAEVSKY SKETE. EXPLANATION WITH THE PREFECT OF THE ACADEMY. LAST DATE WITH MOTHER. ESCAPE FROM THE WORLD. However, neither study sessions, nor academic celebrations, nor a cheerful, friendly life attracted the heart of young Velichkovsky. His heart was completely captured by the magnificent churches, holy monasteries, silent caves and solitary conversations with friends about the wandering life. In his first school years, Velichkovsky studied conscientiously and was annually transferred from class to class, but in the depths of his soul special inner work was taking place, special decisions were ripening in it. Prayerful communication with God strengthened in her, the idea of ​​complete dedication to God, of complete renunciation of the world was affirmed. Already at this time, he established the following three rules for himself: 1) not to judge his neighbor, even if he saw him sin with his own eyes, 2) not to have hatred for anyone, and 3) to forgive offenses with all his heart. Taking a closer look at his comrades, Peter found among them friends who shared his thoughts. They often gathered together in some inconspicuous corner and spent entire nights until the ringing of matins in intimate conversations, planning to leave the world together and become wanderers. They swore an oath to each other not to take monastic vows and not to live in rich monasteries, where it was impossible to imitate the poverty of Christ, and to live in any kind of cramped conditions and suffering. “It is better,” they said to each other, “to remain in the world than, having renounced worldly goods for the sake of appearance, to spend a carefree and broad life in the monastery - to the temptation of the laity, to the desecration of the monastic order and to the eternal condemnation of their souls on the day of God’s Judgment.” Here in the monastery, Peter’s first spiritual mentor was found, the pious hieroschemamonk Pachomius, who spent many years wandering and in the desert. Peter loved to listen to his stories about his wanderings, about the difficulties of hermit life and at the same time about the conveniences of desert living for a silent, prayerful stay with God. Pachomius supplied Peter with books of spiritual content, the reading of which strengthened his prayerful monastic mood even more. In the summer from July 15 to September 15, Peter came to his native Poltava and continued to live his special spiritual life here. Already at this time he acquired the habit of making extracts from the most remarkable passages from the books he read. When the third winter of Velichkovsky’s stay at the academy arrived, his zeal for schoolwork began to weaken more and more, and his desire for monasticism began to overcome. A special event further influenced him in this direction. One day, two of his friends disappeared from school. Thinking about where they could have gone, Peter decided that they had gone to a monastery and were, in all likelihood, in the Kitaevsky monastery of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. He decided to find them. Having chosen a convenient time, he quietly went to the Kitaevsky monastery from his superiors. His friends were actually there. They were very happy about him, fed him and after the evening service, together with him and other novices, began reading the book of St. Ephraim the Syrian. After a long reading, they said goodbye to each other, leaving Peter to spend the night in the refectory. The next day after the liturgy, Velichkovsky was invited by the head of the monastery to share a common meal with the brethren. The reverent silence that reigned during the meal and the attentive listening to the prescribed reading made a deep impression on Peter: it seemed to him that he was sitting among the Angels of God, that he was not on earth, but in Heaven. After the meal, Peter's friends again talked with him for a long time and persuaded him to stay with them in the monastery. He himself was ready to do this, but he was afraid of his mother, who, as he well knew, would never agree to him entering the monastery and would take him from there by force. On the third day, having said goodbye to his friends, Peter returned to the city. A three-day stay in the monastery among his former school friends further strengthened Peter in his intention to renounce the world. When the summer of 1738 arrived, he did not go home, but stayed in Kyiv with the goal of visiting Kyiv shrines and looking for an opportunity to fulfill his desire. At this time, he lived in Podol, near the Church of St. Nicholas the Good, with an old widow who loved him and took care of him as if she were her own son. Taking advantage of his vacation freedom, Velichkovsky diligently attended all church services. He loved to visit the St. Sophia Cathedral and pray at the relics of St. Macarius, and often visited the Holy Great Martyr Barbara at the St. Michael's Monastery. But Peter’s most favorite place was the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. He went there most often on Sundays and holidays to listen to the early and late liturgy. Sometimes he came in the evenings and, together with the wanderers, spent the night in nearby caves, near the church, or stayed overnight in the Lavra itself near the bell tower until the church ringing. Standing in the church and seeing many monks around him, he, in his own words, was moved and rejoiced, as if seeing the Pechersk saints themselves in front of him, and glorified God for deigning him to be in such a holy place. At the end of the service in the great church, he walked with the pilgrims through the caves and enjoyed the silence and silence that reigned there, which is impossible to imagine on top of the earth. His heart burned with the desire to stay forever in this holy place, but, remembering his mother, he realized that it was not in Kyiv that he would have to fulfill his desire. So the summer passed unnoticed, and Peter wanted to visit Kitaevo again. He remembered the pale, haggard faces of the local monks and the extraordinary beauty of the singing, since in Kitaev not only the irmos and stichera, but also “Lord, have mercy” and “Give, Lord” and “Amen” were sung with such sweet tenderness and quietness that even the hardest and most stubborn heart, as it seemed to him, was supposed to soften and shed tears of tenderness from these tunes. The very location of Kitaev, its modest, wooden, cruciform church in the name of the great desert dweller St. Sergius of Radonezh, decorated with images of the venerable fathers of Great Russia, the deep silence and silence of the place - everything involuntarily disposed to prayer and pacified the soul. Peter had a joyful hope that maybe this time he would be able to enroll here, and his mother would be merciful and allow him to stay there. And now he crosses the threshold of the holy monastery for the second time. Entering the fence, with trepidation and joy he saw first of all the head of the monastery himself, standing near the church; Peter approached him and, bowing to the ground, asked for his blessing to remain in the monastery forever. The chief took him to his cell. Here Peter bowed to him again and humbly stood at the door. The boss invited him to sit next to him. Peter, according to him, was horrified by that proposal and, bowing again, remained in his place; the boss ordered Peter to sit down for the second and third time, but he only bowed and did not move from his place. Then the chief said: “You ask to be accepted into our monastery. But I see that in you there is not even a trace of monastic humility, obedience and cutting off your will. I ordered you to sit next to me three times, and you did not listen, but had to carry out my order at my first word. How can you, without obedience, dare to ask me to accept you into the monastery? He who does not have obedience is unworthy of the monastic image.” Noticing that his words greatly upset Velichkovsky, the boss spoke more softly: “My dear child! Know that I put you to the test so that until the end of your days you do not forget that the beginning and root and foundation of true monasticism lies in obedience and cutting off your will. And everyone who wants to leave the world and everything in the world must leave their will and reasoning, and obey their mentor according to God in everything. Do not be embarrassed by the test to which I subjected you, and do not be faint-hearted, since it was not out of stubbornness that you did not listen to me. Therefore, may God forgive you, child, and I forgive you, a sinner!” After this, the boss began to ask Peter where he was from, whose son he was, and whether his relatives were preventing him from entering the monastery. When Peter frankly told him all his circumstances, the boss said: “My child, although you ask to accept you into our monastery, but according to your story, I cannot do this, so as not to cause trouble for both us and you, since your mother, having learned about your whereabouts, can easily take you from here with the assistance of the authorities. Do not mourn, but place all your hope in God. Believe me that Almighty God will not leave you and will help you fulfill your desire.” With these words, the elder blessed Peter and released him from the monastery. September arrived and academic studies resumed. Peter was already in the rhetoric class, but he was almost not involved in academic matters. At this time, to conclude peace with the Turks, Moldavian Metropolitan Anthony came to Kyiv and was warmly received by Archbishop Raphael. While in the Bratsk Monastery, Metropolitan Anthony saw Hieroschemamonk Pachomius, whom he knew, and with the permission of the archbishop, he took him into his chambers. Often visiting his spiritual mentor, Peter had the opportunity more than once to receive the blessing of the Moldavian Metropolitan. He really liked Anthony’s celebration of the liturgy in the Moldavian language, and from then on, according to him, a love for the Moldavian language and the Moldavian people arose in him. Meanwhile, at the end of January, one student, Peter’s fellow countryman, noticing that he had completely stopped studying, went to the prefect, who was then Sylvester Kulloka, and informed him that Velichkovsky was not studying at all and his mother was wasting money on him. The prefect immediately sent two students for Velichkovsky, and when they brought him, the prefect sternly asked him why he was not studying. Peter, although he had always been timid and shy, this time answered with a courage incomprehensible to himself: “The first reason is that, having a firm intention to become a monk and realizing the uncertainty of the hour of death, I want to take monastic vows as soon as possible. The second reason is that from external teaching I do not see any benefit for my soul: I hear only the names of pagan gods and sages - Cicero, Aristotle, Plato... Learning wisdom from them, modern people have become completely blind and have retreated from the right path: they utter clever words, but inside they are full of darkness and darkness, and all their wisdom is only on earth. Not seeing the benefit of such a teaching and fearing that I myself might be corrupted by it, I left it. Finally, the third reason is the following: considering the fruits of this teaching in the clergy of the monastic order, I notice that they, like worldly dignitaries, live in great honor and glory, are adorned with expensive clothes, ride on magnificent horses and in beautiful carriages (I say not to condemn them, let them not!). I am afraid and trembling, as if I myself, having learned external wisdom and becoming a monk, will not fall into even worse infirmities. It is for all these reasons that I left external teaching.” Having listened attentively to the words of the young rhetorician, Sylvester answered him with a lengthy speech in which he explained his ignorance. He pointed out to him that external teaching also has great benefits, and if he does not realize this, this is not surprising, since he had barely touched this teaching, that the greatest fathers of the Church, St. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom diligently studied pagan poets and sages, and this external wisdom cannot prevent him from becoming a true monk, just as it did not prevent the same great fathers from becoming lamps of Orthodoxy and true servants of Christ. Noticing, however, that his words did not make the proper impression on Velichkovsky, Sylvester became angry and threatened him with merciless corporal punishment for disobedience. The holidays have arrived. Peter went to his mother in Poltava, where he had not been for two years. This was the last summer he spent at home. He firmly decided not to return to the academy and begin a wandering life. It was sad for him to part with his family, with his usual and favorite places. But the hardest thing for him was the upcoming separation from his mother. He knew her thoughts and plans and understood what a heavy blow his departure from the world would be for her. And he wanted to somehow prepare her for this event. But as soon as Peter spoke with all caution to his mother about his intention, great sorrow and sadness gripped her soul. With bitter tears, she began to convince him not to leave her. He tried to calm her down and console her, begging her not to grieve, but to rejoice that the Lord had inspired such an intention in him. But seeing that his words did not reach their goal and that his mother was giving in to more and more sadness, Peter told his spiritual father about this, who advised him not to insist on his desire. Then Peter spoke to his mother differently. He told her that he really needed to finish school first and then choose his future path. From these words, the mother cheered up and began to hope that he would change his decision. Peter had a friend in Poltava - Dimitri. They both held the same thoughts and decided to leave together not only from their native Poltava, but also from the borders of their fatherland. When the holidays began to come to an end, Peter and Dimitri agreed to go together to Kyiv, supposedly to study, but in fact with the goal of going abroad from there. But at this time Peter fell ill and could not leave with Demetrius. His friend went to Kyiv and had to prepare everything there for their escape. When Peter recovered, his mother, having equipped him for the journey, went with him to accompany him to Reshetilovka, a place 36 versts from Poltava. In Reshetilovka, mother and son spent the night, and the mother saw him off a little more and, stopping, as if feeling that her son was leaving her forever and that she would never see him again in this life, she cried bitterly and once again asked not to leave her, to study diligently and to come to Poltava every summer so that she could see him. Peter, realizing that he was parting with his mother forever, also began to cry and, falling at her feet, asked for her maternal forgiveness and blessing, repeatedly kissing her hand with tears. Finally they parted. Mother returned to Poltava, and Peter went to Kyiv. He felt a double feeling in himself: on the one hand, deep sorrow for his abandoned mother, on the other, a joyful consciousness of his liberation from the bonds of the world. Moving towards Kyiv, he suddenly, to his greatest amazement and fear, saw in front of him his friend Dimitri, who was returning from Kyiv to Poltava. Taking Demetrius aside, Peter asked him what made him return to Poltava. Dimitri said that, having arrived in Kyiv and lived there for several days, he did not know what to do next, and decided to return to Poltava to his friend. To this Peter said to him: “You should have waited for my arrival in Kyiv, but since you did not do this, and now the Lord has helped us meet with you, then quickly take your things and go with me back to Kyiv to arrange our business there together.” To which Dimitri replied: “Since we are located not far from our hometown, let me go there to say goodbye to my mother and receive her last blessing. Then I will immediately come to you in Kyiv and maybe even catch up with you on the road.” Hearing this answer, Peter shuddered and thought: “How strong is people’s attachment to their parents and to this world!” And he began earnestly to ask his friend not to leave him and not to go to Poltava. But seeing that Demetrius stubbornly stood his ground, Peter said bitterly: “I see, my friend, that the zeal of God has faded in your soul, and you have loved your mother and the world more than Christ! This world will bind you so that later, although you will repent and want to leave it, you will no longer be able to do this, you will take a wife, you will be entwined with care for her and children, and you will end your life in the world.” To this Demetrius replied: “Who will keep me in the world if I want to be a monk? I would rather endure death itself than submit to those who would prevent me from fulfilling my desire. Yes, I don’t have people like that, as you yourself know. So, believe me, I will just take my mother’s blessing and return to you right away!” Then Peter said again: “Let it be that no one will keep you in the world, but I will still tell you that even without any coercion, the secret love for the world, which you are not aware of in yourself, will keep you in it forever. And believe me, you will never see me again in this life. Therefore, I will not wait for you and will go alone on my journey, where the Lord Christ, my Savior, will direct me.” The friends kissed and parted. Peter continued his journey to Kyiv, grieving that the envious world had stolen his beloved friend from him. Upon arrival in Kyiv, Peter released his driver, writing a letter to his mother that with God’s help and her holy prayers he arrived in Kyiv safely. Then he began to think about what he should do and where to direct his further steps. The first decisive turning point took place in Peter's life - the end of his carefree childhood, his quiet life under the wing of his mother and school. From now on, he embarks on an independent path in life. Surrendering to the inner inspiration of his heart, he broke all the strongest bonds of the world and stood alone in the endless desert of the world, in the face of the invisible God, placing all his hope in Him and clinging to Him alone with all his soul. At this time he was seventeen years old without three months. You might be interested in: