Сергей Бехтеев

Vision of the Diveyevo oxbow Winter night and biting frost in the yard, Spruces and pines stand silently in silver. Quiet, deserted, not a sound can be heard around, The age-old boron was forgotten in a mysterious sleep. Alone in a gray fog over a white clearing Timidly, like a ghost, the golden moon glides, Shines with lights on the loose diamond snow, Brightly playing on the monastery's red crosses. The monastery sleeps peacefully in the snowdrifts, Only in the distance a lonely light shines. In a pine cell, shrouded in tremulous darkness, The lamp burns hotly in front of the holy icon. The flame, flickering, then goes out, then, flaring up, trembles, Elder Ksenya looks at the image with love. Tears are rolling down from old, blind eyes, The lips whisper: “O Lord, intercede for us! Russia is dying, sedition is growing throughout the kingdom, The unclean, simple Orthodox people are stirring up trouble. Blood stained native forests and fields, Our land-nurse cries and groans. Have pity, Savior, over the dark, crazy country: Humble your souls, inflamed by the long war. Orthodox Russia is dying, to the delight of its enemies, Have mercy, Lord, do not punish us for our sins. Great God, who created both the firmament and the seas, Come down to us and give us back our dear Tsar!..” The old woman looks and sees Christ before her: Sorrowful eyes look at her with love, As if they want to calm her down, console her, Gently say: “Don’t be sad, poor daughter, Don’t lose heart, hope, pray and believe.” Timidly the lamp, flickering in the darkness, burns, The old woman looks mournfully into the darkness, into hopelessness. He looks and sees, making an honest prayer, Next to Christ is the passion-bearing King himself. His face is mournful, sadness on his sovereign face, Instead of a crown he stands in a crown of thorns, Drops of blood quietly fall from the forehead, Deep thought lay in the folds of the eyebrows. The hermit looks, looks, and it seems to her - They merge into a single image in the abyss of shadows The image of the Lord and the image of the suffering King... Ksenya prays, with humble faith of grief: “God, Great, One, Sinless, Holy, Reveal the essence of the vision to the untalented slave, Enlighten my mind so that I can understand with my soul The grace of Your will is inaccessible to me!..” The lamp burns hot before the image of the Savior, Elder Ksenya looks into the darkness, into infinity. She sees a radiant, otherworldly palace, There is a table installed in the church, standing across: Dishes and bowls stand in rows for those invited, Together with Jesus the Twelve sit at the breakfast table, And at the table, closest to His right hand, She sees Nicholas, her Tsar. Meek and bright is his triumphant face, As if he had realized the happiness desired by his heart, It was as if they had opened up to his luminous eyes Secrets invisible to our sinful eyes. His precious crown glitters in diamonds, A scarlet scarlet falls from the shoulders of porphyry, The sovereign, jubilant gaze was as bright as the sun, Clear, boundless, like the azure expanse of the sky. Tears fall from old, blind eyes: “Father Tsar, pray for us, breadwinner!” – The old woman whispers, and her lips quietly open, The word is heard, the cherished word of Christ: “Daughter, don’t be sad. I love your king, I will place the saints with Me first in the Kingdom!” From the chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery 1767–75 - in Diveyevo, on the site of an old wooden church, mother Alexandra Melgunov, a nun of the Kiev-Florovsky Monastery, erected a stone church in honor of the Kazan Mother of God and built cells for herself and four novices. This community was established on land indicated by the Most Holy Theotokos Herself. 1825 – Elder Seraphim took an active part in the life of the Diveyevo community. 1828 - the Church of the Nativity of Christ was founded (on the western side of the Kazan Church), which a year later was built and consecrated through the efforts of M.V. Manturov. 1829 - through the prayer of Fr. Seraphim Mill community was donated three acres of land. This land was dug into a trench three arshins deep, placing the excavated soil inside the allotted area to form a shaft. This is how the groove of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared. 1861 – Seraphim-Diveevo monastery was transformed into a monastery. 1862 – Mother Maria (Ushakova) was appointed abbess of the monastery; headed the monastery for more than 40 years. 1864 - construction of the Holy Trinity Cathedral was resumed, the foundation was consecrated back in 1848 by the Right Reverend Jacob at the place indicated by the Monk Seraphim. 1875 - the cathedral was consecrated in honor of the Holy Trinity. The interior decoration of the cathedral was continued by the sisters of the monastery. August 19, 1904 – death of Abbess Maria. There were about 1000 sisters in the monastery, and the economic structure was “abundant in everything.” Mother Alexandra (Trakovskaya) became the viceroy. 1905 – a huge warm cathedral was laid opposite the ditch. Built according to the design of the architect A. A. Rumyantsev and painted by the sisters of the monastery under the direction of the artist Parilov (1915–1916). The cathedral was supposed to be consecrated in February 1917, but it was never consecrated. November 1917 – monastery farmsteads were confiscated. 1927 – the artel organized at the monastery was closed, divine services were prohibited. 1937 - according to the court of the “troika”, the remaining nuns were exiled to camps in Central Asia. 1989 – Trinity Cathedral was handed over to believers. In Paris, under the leadership of N.D. Khvostova, a fund was founded to help Russians living in dispersion for the restoration of the Trinity Cathedral. On March 31, 1990, on the Feast of the Praise of the Mother of God, Archbishop Nicholas of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas re-consecrated the Trinity Cathedral. Only one sister of the pre-revolutionary Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery lived to see this time - schema-nun Margarita (Lakhtionova). On July 30, 1991, the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov were solemnly brought into the Trinity Cathedral of the monastery. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' took part in the glorification of the great saint of God Seraphim.